Daedra
Latest
Six things you will and will not find in The Elder Scrolls Online
The Elder Scrolls series launched in 1994 with Arena. The game was sold on floppy disks, for goodness' sake. It's been around for a long time. With that extended life comes convoluted and complicated lore. Even after I'd heard the time period for The Elder Scrolls Online, I had to research to find out whether certain pieces of lore would actually appear in the game. Of course, I'm not going to be able to tell you everything in this one article, but before ESO launches, I can hit some of the highlights.
Tamriel Infinium: Where does ESO fit in Elder Scrolls history?
Where does the Elder Scrolls Online fit in the Elder Scrolls universe? I could tell you that it starts 2E 583, but in the grand scheme of things that really doesn't mean anything unless you're a huge Elder Scrolls lore nut. If I told you that it was 324 years before the start of the classic Elder Scrolls era, that might mean more to you. If I told you that it was 723 years before Arena or 757 years before Oblivion or 958 years before Skyrim, it might mean a bit more to you. But those dates are really distant and don't have any real relevance to your character. No one alive during ESO lives to see Skyrim's timeframe except the immortals. MMOs with existing intellectual properties, like Lord of the Rings Online or Star Wars: The Old Republic, struggle with keeping the game engaging for those who are interested in the lore and keeping it from interfering with the established timeline. LotRO interweaves the MMO plot with the classic story of Frodo and the fellowship traveling to Mordor to destroy the One Ring. SWTOR takes a similar approach to ESO by setting the MMO far in a past that contains very little established lore. However, unlike these other MMOs, Elder Scrolls Online actually plays a significant role in the history of Tamriel. To understand this significance, we have to talk about Tiber Septim and the eight Divines.
Tamriel Infinium: An Elder Scrolls Online community connection
The primary reason I play the MMOs I play stems from the people I play with and the community as a whole. The Elder Scrolls, being a well-established intellectual property, already has a well-established community. MMO players, like many of you who read Massively, have their own culture and community as well. With the Elder Scrolls Online, we see a melding of these two communities, but not necessarily in the same places. Some sites tend to be MMO-focused, as I try to be in this column; others focus on the Elder Scrolls. I've mentioned Tamriel Foundry from time to time. This site started in August last year as a theory-crafting and mechanics site for ESO. But it's blossomed into a large community that focuses on many parts of the ESO landscape, from lore and classes to guilds and armoring. Although founder Andrew "Atropos" Clayton and his team have been writing articles for well over a year now, the recent articles have touched on some solid mechanics and gameplay issues. But given the growth and nature of the community there, the team has branched out to cover more than just the mechanics of the game and has covered a bit of lore as well. Let me highlight a few of my favorite bits, and then we will tackle a statement from a Massively community member.
Tamriel Infinium: What you need to know about Daedra in The Elder Scrolls Online
Who are the scariest monsters in The Elder Scrolls Online? With Halloween being yesterday, it might be appropriate to talk about some of the quintessential spooky monsters found in ESO. The traditional fantasy monsters like dragons and orcs, obviously, found their way into the Elder Scrolls universe, but traditional scary-movie monsters find a home in Tamriel, too. We've seen vampires, and ZeniMax even did a write-up on werewolves. However, I want to talk about devils, or as they are called in ESO, Daedra. You might argue that Daedra aren't devils. They have been compared to Greco-Roman gods and demigods. I'll accept that opinion, but they carry too many demon-like qualities for me to believe some of them aren't at least comparable to those evil creatures, especially when you consider the variety of creatures that fall under the category of demons. Because Daedra are so essential to the world of Elder Scrolls, we should probably know as much about them as we can.
