Hellmouth, I really doubt that. You know how tight-lipped Bethesda is about their games. If an actual member of the Beth team said "The next game will be set 200 years after Oblivion," we would have confirmation of an upcoming TES game and everyone here would know about it. But that is obviously not the case. http://www.tesnexus.com/news/index.php?id=730 the rumor of "200 years after Oblivion" got started. If you can provide a source backing up your claim, then that'd be great, but for now I really can't believe what you claim is true.

I have to agree. Some book company isn't exactly the greatest source of information. I mean, Bethesda don't come up with an exact plan and stick to it exactly. That could have been an idea they where toying around with. It could have even been them trying to stir up the fanbase. (though I doubt that)

I just hope it's not too far away.

meh, w/e

I can see a mistake like this easily happening. It's either an unprofessional joke, or it was an honest, accidental leak.


Yes and no. I imagine they cling to the over-arching plot, allowing room for various interpretations. Obviously, they can change a province's climate without complication. In an interview with Keyes revealed he had a few creative freedoms.

As long as we're back to normal. Mages' Guild for example... Why'd he get rid of it?

Bethesda probably told him to, or he was just exercising creative freedom. I hated the mages' guild anyway. The two new guilds sound much more interesting.

1) They were incredibly stagnant
2) They were tied WAY too much to the empire and got way too involved with politics
3) You should have seen it coming anyway by the end of the MG quest-line in OB.

I completely stand by my position that Traven was the worst thing to happen to the Mages Guild. Even worse than that hack, Trebonius Artorius.

The Mages' Guild should be an extremely powerful organization, both politically and physically. Traven made Artorius look like a shining beacon of intellect. Why was the Mages' Guild stagnant? A long chain of incompetent leaders.

The guild needs to be run by a much more aggressive leader. He should outlaw the use of magic without a membership with the guild. The Emperor can say, "Hey, that's not happening."

The Arch Mage can respond, "We're hte heart of magic in Tamriel, back off or we can get rid of you."

I don't care how bad you think you are, Blades. You're spies. A guild of wizards and sorcerers could easily overthrow Septim, Mede, whoever is in rule. You don't mess with spellcasters. The Imperial Leigon has thousands of member, there are thousands of wizards, and they can each summon more minions from the meek scamps to powerful creatures like liches and xivilai.

Another problem I had was the outlaw of Necromancy? Why? Half of the council of the Mages' Guild resigned when Traven was made Arch Mage, a little sign for anyone else? The guild deserves to remain, if it can prove its worth.

Well, it was strong, which is why Mede split it.

The Guild was in deep [censored] because a few necromancer cells popped up. Also, because they were incredibly tied to the old empire, once it fell, they lost that political power.


Traven just smiled and said these people are evil, kill them. He was a bad leader if half of the council left upon being the head, especially since the practice of necromancy is sanctioned by plenty of governments, even the empire, going as far as donating fresh bodies of bandits and executed prisoners to necromancers as a way to fund their research.


A long chain of incompetent leaders, magical studies losing it, and the banning levitation.


Actually, the empire sanctioned that they can stop organizations from teaching magics, they did it all the time in Morrowind.


Then they get tried for treason, lose their charter, and die off. There are not that many wizards.


Something like that almost happened in Summerset...it ended very badly for that army with all the mages. Very badly. Also, there really and truely are not that many mages. For every 1 mage, there is around 100 normal people.


Most wizards are not that powerful, and the ones that are tend to be in extreme higher up positions, which is not that many. Also, the Imperial Legion has its own division of spellcasters, the Imperial battlemages. These guys are hardcoe, with one green battlemage able to infiltrate deep in Oblivion to stop Mehrunes Dagon from invading (TES: Battlespire). These guys are legion through and through. However, do not doubt the power of a standing army. It was just an army of some kingdom in High Rock who stopped Cameran the Usurper, whose army was filled with undead and daedra. It was Tiber Septim's army who just by showing up to the front door caused the battlemages of the Nibenese to surrender immediately. Good tactics win wars, not mages.


And they didn't.

Anybody could see they were going to.

I may be ignorant, but if I'm right, wasn't Necromancy already banned before Traven? Or was it just not banned in Cyrodil?

Secular necromancy is only completely banned in Morrowind, though temple necromancy is holy. Everywhere else it's "legal" though same places place very heavy restrictions (Summerset) or you're playing with food, which isn't cool (Valenwood). Arkay's Blessing also prevents necromancers from playing with dead bodies, but bandits and the condemned are almost never giving Arkay's blessing, and are often donated to necromancers typically in human ran countries, and Elswyer (then again, you can get anything you want there, and no one really gives a damn).

Also, the only people that banned necromancy, other than the dunmer, is just the Mages Guild. Outside the guild, it's a legal study. I mean, most necromancers tend to just study anatomy or how to make a better butler. It's not really a school of black evil and awesome power, it's just playing with dead bodies. Destruction is much more evil, as it is a school dedicated to harm, and conjuration requires practitioners to bind daedra to them when they summon a being from Oblivion.

Honestly, with two guilds of mages now competing, they have something to work for. Innovation and discovery is usually quicker in competition. Just look at the human genome project.

Mages' Guild could've earned its status. And charter lost or not, they'd wipe out a good chunk of the Empire and the upper echelon would go in hiding and regroup. I said it quite bluntly, too bluntly. The Mages' Guild would brown-nose the Emperor to his face, but mysterious attacks by 'rogue' mages would occur all over Tamriel.

The Duke of Vvardenfell was slain by a mage using a lightning spell.

Strange, the leader of the Tongues in Skyrim was killed by a fire spell as well.

What? Oreyn Bearclaw was killed by a frost spell, could it be the same guy?

The Mages' Guild wouldn't die that easily. They're far too deep-rooted. If they wanted to, they could've with EASE overthrown Mede in his early days. Galerion would turn over in his grave over all this crap. The guild wouldn't fall like flies in an inferno, they'd fight tooth, nail, and spell. I could see the Fighters' Guild eliminated, but not a guild of mages.

I think it was a quick bit of lore he added, because he disliked Traven. I won't deny these new factions interest me. The Synod are inquisitors. The College of Whispers are the new, more elitist Mages' Guild from my hypothesis (House Telvanni V. II). Personally if I was an ancient member of the High Council of the Mages' Guild and some punk told me, "I'm conquering the Empire, get out or we'll put you out of business."

I'd teleport him to Thras, not tell him, "Yessir, I'll be out by Mondas!"

The Mages' Guild'd be wiped out...now that they're established. Before, it'd be like fighting the most stable and powerful organization on Tamriel. Just my opinion on the facts. I always viewed the guild as much stronger than their Oblivion portrayal.

Pre-Oblivion: We're a guild of scholars in our lower ranks, you dare mess with the upper ranks and you'll find yourself in the Dreamsleeve faster than you can say, "Sorry."

Oblivion: We're here to fight evil bad guys.

Simply put, the Guild wouldn't of fallen that easily

Galerion wanted the guild to end because it became way too political and bureaucratic! And for the last time, mages can be powerful, but they're not that powerful. Even Zurin Arctus, one of the most powerful mages, was killed from a non-mage. And the Tongues? Really? Stop it with the hyperboles.

My point is valid, the guild wouldn't fall with their hands in the air.

Like any powerful organization, high ranking members of the mages guild probably weren't buddies. Not only were they weakened by the empire's collapse, but I would guess that immediately after, in-fighting and disagreement probably led to the split. Titus Mede didn't just rip the guild in two. Members with certain opinions saw this as a good time to split from the members with opposing opinions.

You bring up a good point, but some would work together to fight for their guild.

How.Do.You.Know? We're given that the guild is now completely defunct. They don't even own their own guildhalls.

Mede broke the guild, not the mages. The University is still there, their charter isn't. That is all.

There's another problem with Kalarn's idea, imo. The Mage's Guild would never overthrow the empire, or even blackmail it, because all the most powerful members of the mage's guild probably *are* the empire. What I mean is that any decent mage is probably in the employ of the empire. Count's advisors, Battle Mages, council members... If you're a powerful mage, you're probably someone important. And if you're someone important, there's a good chance you have a position in the empire.
No one is going to comfortably threaten the system that provides them with their employment, their lifestyle, their wages, their very *identity*.
And if some nutjob archmage tried it, I can't imagine he'd get much support. He wouldn't stay archmage for very long.

Edit: Also, Hellmouth mentioned something about a ban on levitation. Is that the actual lore explanation for the lack of levitation in oblivion?

Yes, that is the Levitation Act of 421.

Magics that aided fugitives in escaping the police (Levetation and teleportation) are forbidden from being tought.

What seti18 said. It's in OB when someone (I think in the Imperial City) talks about how a certain alteration teacher has been depressed since the Levitation Act of 421.