Ok. I haven't completed the main quest yet in Skyrim, but I am beginning to recognise that the dragons returning isn't the biggest thing that has happened in Tamriel. The rise of the Thalmor and between Oblivion and Skyrim a major war happened between the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire. The Aldmeri Dominion is headed by the Thalmor.


All this has caused me to want to know more. I understand the Thalmor / Aldmeri Dominion invaded Hammerfell which sparked the war with the Empire which eventually ended with a peace treaty that has left the Thalmor being given southern lands in Hammerfell and a dominant position over Talos worship throughout the Empire.

I also heard somewhere that they have made allegiance with the Maormer (Sea Elves ) of Pyandonea (a tropical island in the ocean to the south west of Summerset Isles).

I understand that the Elven United armies had a superior naval fleet to the Empire but where beaten on the land by the Imperial legion in a major battle that happened in Cyrodil.


What I want to know is who and what the Thalmor actually are, what are their beliefs and what is their relationship with the Bosmer, the Maomer and the Khajiit?

I am also curious at some of the remarks made by the Thalmor ambassador in the Thalmor Embassy which lead me to believe the war was just a taste of bigger things to come..

Anyone?

Now I don't know much about any alliance with Maormers (is funny that they bring back all that old Mer races) but the Thalmor are an Altmeri clan/family like the Camorans. They have been pretty small and not worth mentioning until the Oblivion crisis occured. Back then the Sumerset isles were in need of strong rulers and the Thalmor could provide it. You can think of the Thalmor as of Nazis; they pretty much did the same thing and if they won't be stopped they will go as mad as the Nazis actually did. I think the Thalmor are equally fascistic as the Ayleids were; maybe even more.

'Scuse the pedantry, but the Ayleids were not unified under a single polity, so that rules out fascism (some city-states even fought on Alessia's side). The phrase you're looking for "decadent and depraved".

So what are the Thalmor's attitude towards their allies.

I'm guessing its like the Nazis who although believed in an aryan super race of blond haired Caucasians, they still honoured and had allegiance with Italy and Japan and also employed many Indians into their armies.

I've just read something that leads me to believe that the Altmer walked into Vallenwood and took it by force. Is this correct? Is it like Germany taking France?

My understanding is that the Bosmer detest the Thalmor leaders of the Aldmeri Dominion because of the way they attacked and conquered Valenwood, but recognise that they are more powerful / organized than they are and so go along with the flow.

Attitude towards allies: Use them until they are no longer useful and put them down like the other inferior races.

Valenwood however had many families and power blocks that were pro-Dominion from before Tiber conquered the Isles, families who remained their until this day. The Dominion used revolution and military action to bring Valenwood to their side and it wasn't done by outright military conquest.

The Thalmor aren't new to the series. The Thalmor were the ruling body of the Dominion, back in the Common Era.

That alliance with the Maomer is strange, considering who the king of the Maormer is.

Really? An alliance with the Maomer? Who, what, when, where and why?? Thats indeed strange.

The OP said so. I'd like to see a source.

.

The Thalmor are a political faction of Altmer (high elves) that now rules the re-formed Aldmeri Dominion. They originally ruled the original Aldmeri Dominion before Tiber Septim conquered all of Tamriel, and after Summerset Isle and Valenwood had become part of the Empire, became a influential but minority faction on Summerset.

After the Oblivion crisis, they claimed that they were the "Saviours of Mer-kind" because they it was mostly from their efforts that Summerset and Valenwood survived the Oblivion gates. This has some basis, as according to a book written by an Imperial scholar, they did help fight the Daedra and to close some gates. However, ALL the gates eventually became permanently closed because of Martin Septim's sacrifice. They choose to ignore the fact that a human is responsible for closing the gates.

However, their claims allowed them to gain more power on Summerset Isle. They become the ruling party on Alinor (Summersets Isles new name), after and including instigating a coup to overthrow and kill the kings, queens, and ruling families of that island.

They believe the following things: 1) Mer are superior to Men, 2) Altmer are superior to all other Mer, 3) That they need to unmake all creation to return themselves to the time before creation began, when every being was a non-corporeal spirit. To do the last one, they need to: 1)Ban Talos worship, 2) destroy Talos, 3) destory all mankind, 4) destroy all of Mundus, 5)Profit! (?).

I haven't heard of the Moarmer connection, but just from what I've seen and heard about them, they may view the Bosmer as "cousins", but they are obviously subservient to the Altmer Thalmor. Not sure about Khajit, but again I haven't seem any Khajit in a position of power among the Thalmor, so I'm guessing that they don't view them as equals.

He might've gotten it from me. I believe I theorized briefly that the Thalmor had to have had some assurance that the Maormer weren't going to attack, either a formal political treaty or just superior intelligence gathering, if they wanted to conduct a full-scale war on half of Tamriel. The Maormer have historically been one of the greatest checks on Altmeri power after all.

Though, if he produces a source, I'll be impressed.

"The Elves made allies with some Reachmen, the Maormer of Pyandonea, and the Elsweyr Confederacy"

source:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Aldmeri_Dominion

That's weird...but when I read the last part of the author's note:
That said, the full truth of some events may never be known. I have done my best to fill in the gaps with educated conjectures based on my experience as well as my hard-earned knowledge of the enemy.

I would be very surprised if the actually have an alliance with King Orgnum. It's hard to think the Altmer would so easily forget the constant raids on their coastal settlements. They could have been severely weakened after the War of the Isle but I think Summerset would have killed them off rather than form an alliance. If there is one it would be a very uneasy one indeed.

edit - the2crow is right. I thought it was in "A Concise Account of the Great War Between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion" but it's not there.

That claim isn't made in the source UESP cites. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the editor that put it in the article was basing it off suppositions from this very forum.

Actually, it's from the pocket guide, first edition.

Kragus, that statement about the maormer applies to the first Aldmeri Dominion (That is, the one TIber Septim destroyed), not the second one (the one we know in the fourth era).

oooh, I see.

This does lead to some questions about Pyandonea in the 4th era and their relationship with the Aldmeri Dominion.

It actually doesn't. The Maormer have no friends in the lines of the Altmer anymore.

Ahh I see where the confusion comes from, as others have said, that's outdated information by several hundred and more than likely isn't valid anymore. The 1st Dominion has ceased to be a political entity since then.

Ya, 'bout to say "forgive me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the Confederacy dissolved?"

I still stand that they probably did have some assurance, even just from superior intelligence that the Maormer weren't going to attack them while they were preoccupied with Mede.

Ok, I didn't realise. Thanks

Why the name change to alinor?

"...hearkens back to an earlier age before the ascendency of man." - The Great War

Also, Sumurset was the name of an Imperial province. The Dominion are not a province of the Empire.