What are the Sunbirds of Alinor? : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Sat Oct 16, 2010 8:41 pm

Hey there everyone! I was just wondering if someone could tell and give a source for the Sunbirds of Alinor?

Much appreciated,
Marn

» Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:15 pm

The Sunbirds are another term for Mananauts , i.e people who pass through the trears in Oblivion to reach Aetherius.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:34 am

Thanks. Another question though. In that case, how exactly could a "Mananaut" just pass through a tear in Oblivion to reach Aetherius?

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 12:27 am

Rocket ships.

Komaka needs clarification, Sun Bird is not another name for Mananaut. The Sun Birds and the Mananauts are too seperate programs reaching Aetherius, one from Alinor and one from Nibennium.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 3:42 am

I always thought "Mananaut" was the formal term for anyone who travels through the Tears.

Just like the Russians use the term "cosmonaut", but the term "astronaut" is generally used to describe spacemen.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:28 am

Okay, I think I'm beginning to understand. So these... Mananauts, yes? They travel in/on Sunbirds? Or, the Mananauts come from Nibennium and the Sunbrids of Alinor.

Then what is Nibennium referring to?

» Sat Oct 16, 2010 9:34 pm

Okay, I think I'm beginning to understand. So these... Mananauts, yes? They travel in/on Sunbirds? Or, the Mananauts come from Nibennium and the Sunbrids of Alinor.

Then what is Nibennium referring to?

No no no, Sunbirds are Alinor Mananauts (Quimper, you know what I mean).

Nibennium refers to the Niben, an in extenso to entire Cyrodiil. I think.

» Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:30 pm

Tsk. Nibennium is the City of the Niben, which is the only city in Tamriel.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 1:43 am

Aha! I completely understand.

Thanks a bunch,
Marn

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:26 am

Where have you heard of the sunbird, i can't find anything on TIL. Who in the game says something about sunbirds?

» Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:25 pm

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://til.gamingsource.net/pge3/arena_supermundus.shtml

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 6:49 am

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://til.gamingsource.net/pge3/arena_supermundus.shtml

Nice, models of gods made of gods.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 7:43 am

Tsk. Nibennium is the City of the Niben, which is the only city in Tamriel.

Ah. So it has a name, finally.

I don't suppose you could post your source, could you?

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:59 am

Niben+nium, probably.

Like Orsinium.

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 1:04 am

Komaka is right. I made it up. I think it sounds better than Cyrodiil, Cyrodiil, but we've gotta keep that to write the musical. I also would call it the White Gold City.

Post Script:

The naming of the One City In Tamriel has a muddled and confusing history.

The Ayleids had many names for it, which all had one thing in common: all ended with nium, denoting a city, and a large one. This usage predates any other use of this suffix, which alone suggests its grandeur. In fact, one early name for the city was simply Nium, and some scholars believe it to be the original name for the city, which later became the word meaning city. Others include Aldnium (The Old City), Altnium (The High City), Erosnium (The First and Final City), and Balanium (The Stone City). The last suggests that it was the first city to be made of stone. It's most common name towards the end of the Ayleid reign was Nibennium (The City of the Niben), which it was also given by the early mannish emperors.

The island itself is named Cyra, and the region around Lake Rumare was the original land of Cyrod (both pronounced with a soft C, though the early Nords called it Kyrod and Kyra, possibly to relate it to the word kystik, meaning southern). The etymology of these names is uncertain, though the word cyranon means "vantage point" or "where the subject watched from." No logical connection has been made. Eventually, Cyrod spread to mean all of Niben, and later to include a variety of other regions: Colovia, Rimmen, Kreath, Topal Island, Stirk, North Argon?a, even, though only once in record, Anequina. The adjective form of this was Cyrodiil, and eventually it became the noun form as well, for reasons uncertain. Reman I, when adopting a name for his house, chose Cyrodiil. This may have been a political move: it would have improved his popularity to seem like a sort of everyman.

With such a confused history, Pelagius I made a wise decision in 3E 41, when he decided to make the official name for his capital not a descendent of Cyra or Nium or anything else, but instead to give it a simple title: The Imperial City, though other names persist colloquially.
~Grastus Molocades

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 12:54 am

Tsk. Nibennium is the City of the Niben, which is the only city in Tamriel.

Yes, this is necromancy raised to the third power. But has anyone else heard of this? Nibennium? It's elegant enough to be true.

Edit: Holy [censored] I didn't even read the rest of the thread yet. Someone lock it and save me some face. :facepalm:

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:53 am

in what are Mananauts mentioned. By this I mean what text?

» Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:04 am

Closed for thread necromancy. 16 months dead is too dead even for a professional necromancer.