On The Species of Tamriel, Volume II: The Aldmer/An Introduction On Mer

''Welcome back to the second part of this summary of the intelligent species of Tamriel. This issue is designed to give a rounder background to the elven inhabitants of our continent, and to explain where they came from. With out further ado: the second part of this encyclopedia.''

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Even though not much is known about the Aldmer, I will include them anyway, as they are of incredible importance, both for the modern day Merkinds, and the rest of Tamriel.

The Aldmer are believed to be direct descendents of the old Ehlnofey (as explained in the first volume), and are said to have lived on the mythical continent of Aldmeris (see note 1). The Aldmer were probably the first technologically and Magickally sophisticated race on Nirn.

Not much is known about their biology, though they most likely resembled the modern day Altmer, since they take pride in their heritage and are rumoured to do selective breeding to retain these traits (seeing the lack of actual information about Aldmeri appearance, we cannot say how well they managed). Even though the limited accounts, we can deduct some physical traits of the Aldmer by looking at the extinct and extant races of mer we know more about: they most likely had the same pointed ears as all the elvenkinds, as well as a respectable longevity, compared to the races of man. Alongside these visible aspects, they probably had a strong affinity to magicka, which was strong enough to still be present in the Bretons of High Rock, who are descendents of the Aldmer and their Nedic slaves.

There is a bit more, yet still little, known about the culture of the Aldmer. One of the few things known for certain are the facts that they spoke Aldmeris (in their tongue, Aldmer means 'Elder' or 'Old People'), and that they hated Lorkhan intensely, as they blamed him for turning them mortal. Instead, they focused on worshipping the Aedra, which takes the form of ancestor worship Seeing the trends in Altmeri magickal and technological advances, it is likely that the Aldmer also pursued attaining immortality again.

The Aldmer most likely had, seeing the modern day Altmer culture, a very strict and hierarchically society.

Besides being very prominent mages and scientists, the Aldmer appeared to be excellent archers as well. Some Aldmeri bows have been found by archaeologists, which, according to some, are still deadly.

At some point in time, the Aldmer presumably left Aldmeris (see note 1) and stranded on the Summerset Isles, unable to find their way back. From there on out, they spread across Tamriel, changing in the present day Merkinds.

''Note 1: the existence or past existence of Aldmeris is debatable. It is advised to regard Aldmeris as a metaphor for the time when the elves were not yet divided, and it most likely denotes a cultural unity. In this light, the Aldmer leaving Aldmeris might be interpretated as the Aldmer experiencing the first cracks in their society, or the fact that they felt themselves getting further and further away from their divine history.''