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| Subsequent are the revisions, differentiated between hope and the distraught, situations that are only required by the periodic death of the immutable. Cosmic time is repeated: I wrote of this in an earlier life. | ||
~ The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon Thirty-Five |
FINALLY!
At long last, here it is. The long fabled, long promised Elder Scrolls revisions are here. And they are happening.
As usual, I offer my most sincere thanks and greatest credit to my friend Ultima, who with his considerable (incalculable) effort made it possible to finish this endeavor.
But before we begin, I must bring a reminder to all of you: As the Elder Scrolls Universe is incredibly intricate, often convoluted, and deals with very complex concepts and ideas, there is no realistic way I can detail everything with citations in this thread.
As such, this thread is going to be a Tl;Dr version of the Revisions, with all the quotes and detailed explanations being featured on the following two blogs:
I understand it's not realistic to expect everyone to read all of the two blogs, as they are both very long and can be confusing for newcomers (Specially the second), but I assure you all that all the evidence is contained in them. I have been getting into the Elder Scrolls Franchise since January, and actively researching it since May or so.
With all that said, let's get into the revisions proper.
The Revisions
Given the extensive nature of these revisions, I am dividing them into two segments: A brief explanation of the Cosmology and the scale of the series, and a brief explanation of the various' tiers.
That way things will be more manageable. Hope this is okay.
Part I: Cosmology Summary
The Elder Scrolls Universe has a very unique and bizarre cosmology that frequently defies common sense and usual assumptions, and as such is often misinterpreted and seem as far lesser than it really is. Here I will briefly describe each level of the Cosmology, and where they stand on the Tiering System.
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Nirn: The Planet where The Elder Scrolls series takes place, and perhaps the most deceptive part of the cosmology. Nirn isn't a regular planet at all, but rather an entire plane of existence of extreme metaphysical importance. Nirn is the center of creation, the hub around which the Wheels of Heaven spin. Nirn isn't a regular ball of rock floating space, but an entire reality containing at least four spatial dimensions. The laws of nature observed on Nirn don't apply anywhere else, up to and including the concept of linear time. And they aren't defined by physics, but by the Ehlnofey, gods bound to the plane[t] as the "Earthbones", the metaphorical skeleton which holds Nirn together. Furthermore, in the Elder Scrolls Universe, water is literally made of memory, and the oceans of Nirn are time itself. As such, each continent is located in a different temporal position. Tamriel is at the center, and as such is the literal center of time. Yokuda is to the west and is in the past. Akavir is to the east and is in the future. Yokuda to the north is frozen in time, while Aldmeris to the south is so accelerated in time it doesn't exist. To destroy Nirn one must destroy the Earthbones, breaking the very laws which hold the plane together. And this act will often destroy linear time in the process, effectively resetting Nirn's timeline. As such, destroying Nirn is a Low 2-C feat, and not a 5-B one. Worth nothing that there are potentially an infinite number of parallel Nirns in the form of Adjacent Places, literal parallel universes. Shadows are doorways to parallel realities, and connect the adjacent places together. Mundus: The Mortal Plane which surrounds Nirn. Mundus has been outright stated to be a multiverse twice, and the plane[t]s of Mundus which orbit around Nirn have outright been described as infinite and higher-dimensional, in relation to Nirn which is outright stated to be "finite". This applies not only to the Plane(t)s of the Aedra, but also to the moons orbiting around Nirn and said planes, which are also infinite in size, albeit less infinite than the planes. Given Mundus is composed of various planes of existence which are infinite and higher-dimensional in relation to Nirn, which are themselves encompassed by a larger interplanar void, Mundus is likely a sixth-dimensional construct (Nirn = 4D, Divine Planes = 5D, Mundus itself = 6D). And destroying it would be a Low 1-C feat. Oblivion: Outside of Mundus is the endless Void of Oblivion. In comparison to Oblivion, Mundus is often described as small, limited, and even mundane, which should give you an idea of how great Oblivion is. Oblivion is described as containing infinite spatial dimensions, which is backed by references to beings containing 1,000 and infinite spatial angles, as opposed to just three like humans. It also contains an infinite number of planes, sub-planes and minor realms, all of which are bound only to the whim and will of their lord, who can define their form, structure, contents, number of spatial dimensions, and their very flow of time. As such, destroying Oblivion would be a High 1-B feat. Aetherius: Outside of Oblivion is Aetherius, the realm of light and harmony, and the source of magic. Aetherius if far greater than Oblivion, and far less restrictive than it. It contains an incalculable number of its own planes, most notably the afterlives of all mortal cultures on Nirn. Destroying Aetherius would be a High 1-B feat, albeit of far greater magnitude than destroying Oblivion. The Aurbis: The Aurbis is the name of the Elder Scrolls Multiverse as a whole, containing not only Mundus, Oblivion and Aetherius, but quite literally infinite less structured realms beyond. It is described as made of Wheels within Wheels, and Worlds within Worlds, endlessly. It is at the highest level of High 1-B there is. Outside of the Aurbis is an endless, formless void of nothingness, and the infinite light of everything. And there is when the cosmology reaches 1-A territory. |
Having covered the overall cosmology of the setting, I'll now detail the general Tier of the various important characters and groups. It goes without saying that this will obviously not cover every individual character in the series, specially not the weaker mortals, as there are far too many of them.
Instead, this is just a general summary of the power of the various gods and mythic figures of The Elder Scrolls universe.
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Lesser Beings: Most weaker gods, demigods, and even rare mortals will sit around the Low 2-C scale of power. Feats which corroborate to this idea include Alduin "eating the world", destroying the Earthbones and resetting the Kalpa (timeline), Shor creating his plane of Sovngarde and matching Alduin, the Celestial Serpent's Avatar being able to destroy Nirn and return it to the beginning of time, and even powerful servant Daedra having their own sub-planes of Oblivion. Also, the extremely weakened version of Vivec in Morrowind is completely transcendent over the concept of linear time and exists outside of it in the divine timeless world, and that would scale to most every god. Minor Gods: More powerful deities, such as those ruling moons orbiting around Divine Plane[t]s, and Demiprinces of Oblivion, will be around the High 2-A to Low 1-C range. A fact which supports this are the beings who call themselves "The Ideal Masters", who transcended the boundaries of mortality and Nirn and now rule over the Oblivion Plane of Soul Cairn, where they exist as "distant Platonic Ideals" separate from time, space, matter and limitations. Obviously they are not true Platonic Beings, only such when compared to Nirn. When compared to the rest of Oblivion, the Ideal Masters are weak and insignificant, and their self-proclaimed perfection is nothing but a delusion. The Demiprince Fa-Nuit-Hen considers their plane to be "tiny" in scope, and when describing his own plane, the Maelstrom, he goes to explain how he has complete control over it, and could easily manipulate the number of spatial and temporal dimensions it contains. But chooses not to to make it "mortal friendly". Aedric Divines and Daedric Princes: The Aedra and Daedra, the major divinities of Mundus and Oblivion respectively, should comfortably sit around the Low 1-C scale. The Aedra rule over infinite, higher-dimensional Plane[t]s which dwarf the already infinite and higher-dimensional moons of their orbiting minor deities. Similarly impressive, the true form of the Celestials have enough power to destroy all of Mundus by merely entering it, and they are notably not as important as neither the Divines nor the Princes. And speaking of the Princes, their power is unrivaled in all of Oblivion, with their planes dwarfing all others in size and scope. Fa-Nuit-Hen himself admits he is nothing compared to them, and his own plane is but a mere Sub-Plane inside the Plane of Boethiah. The Et'Ada: The Et'Ada, or Original Spirits, refer to the original form of the gods who existed in the formless and chaotic void before the Aurbis was given. Originally the Et'Ada were boundless and infinite, separated from the very concepts of space and time and duality, which hadn't even been invented at the time. This clearly makes them 1-A beings. After the creation of space and time, which stabilized and gave form to the whole Aurbis, the Et'Ada were bound to it as well, gaining form and definition. However, they were still powerful enough give shape and structure to the Aurbis as a whole. This makes them High 1-B to an astounding degree. Those that obtain CHIM are also 1-A, as they transcend all boundaries and limitations, and the concepts of space, time and duality, with their souls reaching a primal state compared to that of the Et'Ada. The Amaranth: Aso known as the Godhead, or the Dreamer, the Amaranth is the supreme "being" of the Elder Scrolls Setting. Not only the whole Aurbis, but the whole setting is its dream, including the Et'Ada, Anui-El and Sithis (The concepts of Everything and Nothing which are above the Et'Ada), and even Anu and Padomay (The concepts of Stasis and Change of which Anui-El and Sithis are mere fragments of). The Amaranth isn't even a being, but rather a state of limitless 0 from which all numbers spring. It gives origin to all ideas, dualities and numbers, and embodies each and everything that exists and doesn't exist. It exists above the highest level of existence and simultaneously below the lowest level of existence. It is the only thing to be described in a manner akin to a Omnipotent Monotheistic God in Elder Scrolls, too. "God outside all thing but its own consciousness, unerased and all being". As such, the Amaranth should be a High 1-A being. Tier 0 is going to be removed in the near future so I'm not pushing for that. |
I understand that this is a lot to process. Even my attempt at a summarized revision became gigantic, but this is due to the highly complex nature of the series and the necessity to explain everything to people.
In order to do these revisions I will basically need to edit all profiles in the series, and it will be an ever-continuing project as all profiles are edited and remade, and new ones are made in conjunction.
There's not many people I honestly truest to realistically help me with the profiles besides Ultima, although those that are more familiar with the series are welcome to offer help and show Sandbox Drafts of profiles.
That's basically it, don't really have anything else to say here. Thank you if you stuck around for this long.
