Was the Black Marsh conquered by the Imperials? : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Sun May 01, 2011 2:04 pm

From the Official Codex.

Little is known and less is understood about the reptilian denizens of Black Marsh. Years of defending their borders have made the Argonians experts in guerilla warfare, and their natural abilities make them equally at home in water and on land. They are well-suited for the treacherous swamps of their homeland, and have developed natural immunities to the diseases and poisons that have doomed many would-be explorers into the region. Their seemingly expressionless faces belie a calm intelligence, and many Argonians are well-versed in the magical arts. Others rely on stealth or steel to survive, and their natural agility makes them adept at either. They are, in general, a reserved people, slow to trust and hard to know. Yet, they are fiercely loyal, and will fight to the death for those they have named as friends.

Does that mean that The Black Marsh was never conquered by the Empire? If they weren't, does that mean that they're the only country not under Imperial control?

» Mon May 02, 2011 4:13 am

How many Imperial settlements are there in Black Marsh? Well they constructed that many and probably put down a comparable number of local resistances at some point or another. That's "conquest" as far as the swamps are concerned.

» Sun May 01, 2011 1:02 pm

hey ho isn't a disease wiped out all human inhabitants of black marsh or something like that ?, i guess there might be settlements of humans and outposts colonies near the beaches of argonia, but i think the imperial didn't survive it that far into the jungle, remember even now-a-days many parts of the south america jungle aren't that good explored.

» Mon May 02, 2011 12:15 am

From the Official Codex.
Does that mean that The Black Marsh was never conquered by the Empire? If they weren't, does that mean that they're the only country not under Imperial control?

The Imperials control the edges of Black Marsh, but not the deep swamps. They control all the cities, and agricultural regions. We don't really know what is at the heart of Argonia, though, and it is not under Imperial control.

It's like the Ashlanders and the Alik'r desert. The landscape and the nature of the inhabatants make it hard to say that you "control" the area, even though, officially, you do.

» Mon May 02, 2011 1:56 am

There's lines on the map, and then there's reality on the ground. I don't believe they often coincide.

At any rate, those years of defending their borders could also include the defense of internal borders, as various tribes raid one another.

» Sun May 01, 2011 11:49 pm

Walking trees! Those things are invincible.

» Sun May 01, 2011 3:16 pm

At any rate, those years of defending their borders could also include the defense of internal borders, as various tribes raid one another.

More likely Dunmer slavers and Kothringi raiders.

» Sun May 01, 2011 10:43 pm

There was a Fort Swampmoth, but I believe that the Imperials have recently abandoned it. Also, the Blackwood Company was supposedly hired by the Empire for some sort of mission into Black Marsh.

» Mon May 02, 2011 2:52 am

There was a Fort Swampmoth, but I believe that the Imperials have recently abandoned it.

Eh. I suppose. But it's worth noting that all the forts from the Morrowind period - Moonmoth, Dustmoth, etc. - take their names from actual moth species. The Ancestor Moths are also a kind of gypsy moth. They had some level of significance, therefore, and weren't just compounds formed by tacking "-moth" onto another word. Since the Firemoth plugin, though, that has been the case.

Useless trivia for the day. Pardon.

» Sun May 01, 2011 4:48 pm

Eh. I suppose. But it's worth noting that all the forts from the Morrowind period - Moonmoth, Dustmoth, etc. - take their names from actual moth species. The Ancestor Moths are also a kind of gypsy moth. They had some level of significance, therefore, and weren't just compounds formed by tacking "-moth" onto another word. Since the Firemoth plugin, though, that has been the case.

Useless trivia for the day. Pardon.

So there isn't a Swampmoth species?

That's a shame.

» Sun May 01, 2011 11:14 pm

Eh. I suppose. But it's worth noting that all the forts from the Morrowind period - Moonmoth, Dustmoth, etc. - take their names from actual moth species. The Ancestor Moths are also a kind of gypsy moth. They had some level of significance, therefore, and weren't just compounds formed by tacking "-moth" onto another word. Since the Firemoth plugin, though, that has been the case.

Useless trivia for the day. Pardon.

Didn't know.

The fort names intrigued me anyway, though. I always assumed that it was all references to the gypsy, and therefore, Nibenean culture.

» Sun May 01, 2011 6:34 pm

From the Pocket Guide, 3rd Edition:

The borders of the province fell easily to his forces, but he wisely decided to avoid strategically unimportant inner swamps, and thus met with little resistance.

So Black Marsh is really only part of the Empire by name, but little more.

» Sun May 01, 2011 4:52 pm

The http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/brendanarticle1.shtml is a jumbo article on basically everything Argonian. I read it a few weeks ago, and it speaks in some parts of it on the few times that Black Marsh has been 'conquered'.

~TK.R