So we know that the Dawn Era is where all of creation happened and the mortal plane was formed by the et'Ada, having been either convinced or tricked by Lorkhan.

After the et'Ada finish the creation, they rip out Lorkhan's heart and toss it, where it lands, Red Mountain forms, which is a volcano.

Now, how exactly does this description of events fit in with linear Elven history beginning with the Merethic Era right after that, if supposedly there were other kalpas before the one that all our playable characters are in? It would imply that all of those kalpas happened before the Merethic Era, but after the Dawn Era, and yet the Elves are around right after the Dawn Era, yet the Ehlnofey are reported as being the Earth Bones, laws of nature, and progenitors of all fractured races from the men of Yokuda to the Tsaesci of Akavir.

The Imperial Library says:


With Magic being the same as Magnus. So Magnus and the Magne-Ge leave the mortal plane, tearing holes in the firmament (including the Sun, a hole from Magnus himself) which results in the stabilization of time for the Cosmos.

So, my question is, how in the hell does this fit with the Kalpa system? Was Red Mountain a volcano in the previous Dreugh-ruled Kalpa in which most of Nirn was water? Was a deep sea vent? When Alduin eats the world, does it leave geographic distinctions intact and merely manipulate souls?

Also, the Merethic Era is most definitely part of our Kalpa, and all sources report it as having started immediately after the Dawn Era, in which creation took place.

Unless of course, there is a deeper mystery and all of those Kalpas happened simultaneously somehow when Magnus was present and thus time was unstable... Alduin as the world-eater might make a bit more sense if he was eating worlds in a state of flux, and he wasn't necessarily a dragon-sized creature as doing so, but more so his Dawn Era god-form. Our Kalpa might be unique in that its the first to occur in a linear fashion? Alduin tried to do what he did in the Dawn Era, eat the world, but our Kalpa's setup invariably led to the DB being able to defeat him?

Each Kalpa begins at Convention but I'm not sure if each Kalpa ends at Convention.