I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it... But I bet some of the buffs here know more then I have been able to gather...

Giants are also from Atmora. Giants and Nords left fleeing a civil war. Then, it froze over and is now inhospitable. There are likely millenia worth of frozen Nordic and Giant ruins, possibly inhabited by sleeping Draugr. The only things living on the surface might be Ice Wraiths.

Think about this for a second: Giant Draugr. Just think about that.

And yes, Giants used to be just like Nords. The king of Atmora was supposedly a Giant.

Giants used to be intelligent enough to make draugr?

Yeah. The Giants had a king. The Giants supposedly became what they are now after the Nords betrayed them. The Giants fled into the mountains, and when they came back down to Skyrim generations later, they just gave stupid stares and refused to talk to the Nords.

Antarctica.

Except Atmora is North. Antarctica is South.

I know you know, I just had to point out your error

The Earth is round, there is no up or down.

Umm... Magnetic poles duh? You know how Earth has an iron core? It created this magnetic pole that protects us from solar winds, and allows our planet to retain an atmosphere and protects life.

Not saying Nirn has magnetism. You said Earth though.

Though Nirn does use compasses I think, so there you go.

What about when it wasn't a wasteland. What was the culture like?

Like the early Nords. They had Draugr I think. They lived with the Giants. They assigned an animal totem to each divine, instead of worshipping them by name.

Except when you really think about it there is is no north or south in the universe, because, quintessentially, north and south are human concepts.

Yes. But they are natural too. Magnetic. We just assigned a name to a natural occurance. It's naturally occuring on our planet anyway. The compass points north after all.

I wanna keep this topic alive. I want to know more about Atmora too. You piqued my interest.

The Totem Gods appear to have been the old Nordic pantheon.

Source: Shor having a totem form in Shor son of Shor.

I think their architecture was the same as Sarthaal. They had little wood up there so they had a lot of stone buildings, I assume.

I've noticed the earliest settlements on Skyrim are that one barrow in the windhelm area and Sarthral... But I think Atmoran architecture might have looked like Laberynthin well... that and some of the concept art... http://www.flickr.com/photos/47857688@N08/sets/72157629321466509/

[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6877604385_af0724b03a_z.jpg[/img][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/6877604205_a9d23183f9_z.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7177/6877600273_dc11c63118_z.jpg[/img][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7199/6877599731_cc31b66f0a_z.jpg[/img]

[img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/6877598559_fbb48386e7_z.jpg[/img][img]http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7180/6877596775_ea371ca1c9_z.jpg[/img]


Somthing like that

I wouldnt mind DLC that takes us to Atmora... It would be kinda dead though. Unless there are still people up there, just not on the southern coast. I doubt it, but hey, Nords are resistant to cold. Maybe plants can be too.

or maybe Atmora is the north pole, and there's life on the opposite side. Or it get warmer the farther North you go, and there's just a big stripe of coldness. Its magical.

Hmmm, I gotta ask, is Nirn round or flat?

The more I read anything Atmora related, and I'm fascinated by it for some strange reason, I get the impression that there are some parallels to draw with the Earth region of Greenland. Historically, the Scandinavian vikings settled Greenland, and these settlements continued to be inhabited for several generations after the first settlers arrived. What ended up happening however, is that supposedly, the weather just got colder over time (not much green in Greenland anymore, I'm afraid), and as a result, the population started to starve. I'm not sure if the Scandinavians had necessarily gone extinct there (they could have married into local Inuit tribes), but after the 1400s or so, these communities went off of Europe's rader, so to speak. Much of what we know of this comes from Roman Catholic Church records, too.

Now, to draw my Nirn connection, after Ysgramor and his Companions left Atmora, they probably lost connection with it then and there, outside that one incident of sailors from Atmora begging to gain entry into one of Skyrim's ports (with most of the crew dead). This seems to be like the conditions that affected Greenland, don't you think? The people wanted to leave because the conditions got worse, and famine set in.

I would suggest that like Greenland however, a hardy few remained alive there in Atmora, and didn't die out entirely. They might have even adopted a more nomadic lifestyle, not unlike the Inuits (Eskimos) or Siberian natives. Now, this is speculation, so we don't have much to go on at this point.



I would love an Expansion pack to let us travel to Atmora, but why do you say not on the southern coast? I would assume that the southern coast is warmer than the northern.

Nobody knows. Nobody has been around it yet. It could be flat and infinite. Or round and boring. We just don't know.

Well, Giants could have survived too. I kinda doubt it because Giants would need more food, but maybe.. And if there are still people up there they would be a different race than the Nords now. They would probably be more badass and hard and aggressive.

Interesting, I never knew about the giants being from Atmora, but when do you suppose they set sail for Skyrim? Surely, they did not join the Nedes/early Nords in going across, right?

I think Nirn was described as a Planet. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Nirn

Also if it was flat the celestial bodies would have to be moving around the earth in some kind of a mosaic. The Sun orbits the sky so I think the Earth is rotating. I think it is safe to assume it is round. Don't quote me on it though.