Are you sure?

What you're missing, Wad of Me, is that the Nords may have taken Red Mountain, and then somehow... they may have gotten the heart... just imagine if a Nord ate it... his spawn would be Lorkhanic...

I think the spawn would be called: Norkhan.

Norkhan:Soon to be inheriter-thingie of Numidium, and Mundus: The ultimate chessboard.

YEARGGGG!!!
*throws gauntlet*

"YEARGGGG!!!
*throws gauntlet*"

He he, I love you too.

"Norkhan:Soon to be inheriter-thingie of Numidium, and Mundus: The ultimate chessboard."

Ha ha, indeed just what I thought.

Where did you find out that the Imperial Mananaughts of the elder council had spaceships?

Mananaught-mana+astro= ?

They're flying in 'vehkships' to Aetherius, which is in the sky.

I know how the word is made up, but where does it say that they actually had spaceships?
The only reference to them I've seen is in the PGE 3E where it says the Reman dynasty attempted to reach aethurius.

These are MK's ideas we're talking about here. More concrete evidence you will never find.

Let's not forget
Flyin' high... cliff racers flyin' high in the sky... flyin' high...

that's about it. By the way, it's Mananauts

They're also referenced in the Census on Daedra Lords, under HermaMora. Nothing really revealing, though.

"Visit to Aetherius occur even less frequently than to Oblivion, for the void is a long expanse and only the stars offer portal for aetherial travel, or the judicious use of magic. The expeditions of the Reman Dynasty and the Sun Birds of Alinor are the most famous attempts in our histories, and it is a cosmic irony that both of them were eventually dissolved for the same reason: the untenable expenditures required to reach magic by magicka. Their only legacy is the Royal Imperial Mananauts of the Elder Council and the great Orrery at Firsthold, whose spheres are made up of genuine celestial mineral gathered by travelers during the Merethic Era."
- http://www.imperial-library.info/pge3/arena_supermundus.shtml

Oh, and my personal favourite:
"Auriel-that-is-Akatosh returned to Mundex Arena from his dominion planet, signalling all Aedra to convene at a static meeting that would last outside of aurbic time. His sleek and silver vessel became a spike into the changing earth and the glimmerwinds of its impact warned any spirit that entered aura with it would become recorded-- that by consent of presence their actions here would last of a period unassailable, and would be so whatever might come later to these spirits, even if they rejoined the aether or succumbed willingly or by treachery to a sithite erasure. Thus could the Aedra and their cohorts truly covene in realness."
- http://www.imperial-library.info/obscure_text/nu-hatta_nu-mantia.shtml

If you'd like to see a spaceship, I'd recommend a trip to Balfiera.
"When Magic (Magnus), architect of the plans for the mortal world, decided to terminate the project, the Gods convened at the Adamantine Tower [Direnni Tower, the oldest known structure in Tamriel] and decided what to do."
- http://www.imperial-library.info/obbooks/before_the_ages_of_man.shtml

"Magic from the Sky
by Irlav Jarol

The ancient Ayleids believed that Nirn was composed of four basic elements -- earth, water, air, and light -- and of these four elements, they believed the most sublime form of light was star light. The stars are our links to the plane of Aetherius, the source of all magical power, and therefore, light from the stars is the most potent and exalted of all magical powers.

From time to time, fragments of Aetherius fall from the heavens. The people know these fragments as 'shooting stars', and from time to time, such Aetherial fragments are found on Nirn. The most common varieties are known as 'meteoric iron'; this metal is prized by armorers and enchanters for its properties in the forging of enchanted weapons and armors. This meteoric iron is also the primary component in 'Ayleid Wells,' ancient enchanted artifacts found throughout Cyrodiil.

Another, rarer form of Aetherial fragment is called 'meteroic glass'. It is from such fragments that other rare Ayleid enchanted artifacts are crafted -- Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones."

TWM: Indeed if you're right about the PC, then we got a very disturbing future at hand ™.

As for the combination of magic and science/technology in games, the best I know so far is Arcanum by Troika. They did a grand job there, although I don't think the duality concept of it can be applied in TES. Ironic isn't it? With all the duality cr... I mean stuff

Mannimarco seems to have grown in power on the Forums lately. Where e'er I look there be Necromancy.

In that case, any concrete evidence I'll never find.

EDIT: Remember that Umaril's minions could appear anywhere without warning. That makes them very dangerous. If he wanted, he could probably could have reclaimed White Gold Tower.

The faith of the followers makes the god stronger. (See Vehk's words to the Nerevarine concerning his persecution of the Dissident Priests)

The Divines are powerful spirits indeed. (See the words of the Urshalaku Wise Woman to the Nerevarine)

Umaril likely needed to weaken the faith of the flock.

___TWM

But that IS what he wanted, yet he didn't reclaim it.

Probably, as he knew the Eight held the key to defeating him. And the One held the key to destroying him.

It actually makes a lot of sense to me that in a few centuries, Tamriel's great cities will be industrialized, and we'd have a steampunk setting, somewhere in the Fourth Era. I think we'd have at least one more game to set out the transition from the Third Era to the Fourth, however.

I'm still wondering about the original post's question, however. It seems to me as if there's something important missing from TES IV. That is, we've got Mankar Camoran, a rebel who is descended from the ancient Ayleid kings. We have a sidequest (and an easy one to miss) featuring Umbacano, an Ayleid king who wants to reclaim his throne. We have the large add-on, Knights of the Nine, centered around defeating the ancient Ayleid king Umaril. We have an enormous number of Ayleid ruins. We have the hints in the Nu-Hatta Intercept that the Ayleids are a major threat.

What's missing is what ties this all together. Also missing are the legendarily elusive Ayleids who still live in hiding in the forests of Cyrodiil. And, somehow Meridia seems crucial to all this, but her role seems inexplicable. Her Daedric artifact quest doesn't seem to offer any clues, but just portrays her as one of the "nice" Daedric princes.

It would make sense, for instance, if ultimately, Mankar Camoran's base of power was the hidden Ayleid nation, and that at some point in the main quest, Ayleid sorceror-warriors started pouring out of the woodwork. But, that's not what happened; instead, we had Mehrunes Dagon's Daedric minions. And, in the case of Umaril, instead of Ayleid warriors, we had Meridia's Aurorans.

It seems unlikely that we'll get a better look at Cyrodiil in future TES installments, so whatever answers there are, should be in TES IV. Yet I feel that something important was simply left out, and we're left with loose ends.

Yup. As to the baresark aspect of Pelinal's personality, that's entirely correct for a classical Hero, from Herculese to Lancelot. The Hollywood / Disney versions of "heroes" have almost no relationship to the characters actually in the stories.

Elves tend to have long lifespans and large egos. Hence they don't like losing land to humans. Same with in Morrowind, the Chimer didn't see anything wrong with taking land from the Nords, but when the Empire annexed Morrowind, the Dunmer treat it like the crime of the Era.


The whole Meridia-Ayleid angle was largely unexplored in vanilla OB, although it was alluded to Sideways Cave.

To be fair, I don't think there were any Ayleids in Daggerall either. In TES IV, it's said that the remaining Ayleids rejoined other elven kingdoms after the Alessian Order decided to get rid of them. Given the information in TES IV, I'm leaning towards The Wild Elves simply being inaccurate. I'd say retcon, but there was never any real evidence to back it up before.