Ayleid

From the OblivioWiki – your guide to everything Oblivion

The Ayleid, or Heartland High Elves, were a race of mer which ruled over the empire of Cyrod, part of modern-day Cyrodiil, during most of the Mythic Era into the early First Era. They were responsible for building much of the Imperial City, and establishing portions of what would become the pantheon of the Eight Divines.

Contents 1 Appearance 2 Culture 3 Decline 4 Literary References 5 See also

[edit] Appearance

Much like the Dwemer, what little is known about the appearance of the Ayleid comes primarily from their architecture, and early writings. Most Ayleid ruins include at least one statue, presumably of an Ayleid warrior, usually holding a sword aloft. The general appearance looks similar to that of the Altmer, which most scholars consider fairly likely given the Altmer's concerted effort to maintain a "pure" Aldmeri appearance. A brief description given in volume 5, Second Seed, of 2920 describes them as "darker than Altmer, but lighter than Dunmer", suggesting a tannish complexion similar to that of the Bosmer.

[edit] Culture

The Ayleid were one of the branches of the Aldmer who, according to Altmer legend, fled from their home continent of Aldmeri, to southern Tamriel, early in the Mythic Era. They are a splinter group of these settlers who left the Summerset Isles by boat, until they discovered the Niben River and sailed north into Lake Rumare under the guidance of Torval the Pilot. Here, they settled on the large island, built the White Gold Tower, and began to conquer the forested regions immediately surrounding the lake. Nominally, their empire was a vassal state of Summerset Island's king, but in practice was its own sovereign nation.

While the other races of mer on Tamriel primarily spoke a language called Old Aldmeris, the Ayleid continued to speak the language of their distant ancestors, the Ehlnofey. The most obvious example of this is their name: Ayleid, which translates roughly into "Ancient Ones" in their language, does not contain the word mer. Most of this language has been lost, with what remains not sufficient material for one to learn to speak it. Mostly, scholars have managed to translate words, or short phrases, based on writings left in the various Ayleid ruins, including the names of these ruins themselves. (For those interested, the undead lich of Umaril will speak Ayleid to the player when he is encounterd; the Mage's Guild also has a document containing fragmentary translations of Ayleid writings.)

The Ayleid were known, most than any other race, for their potent mastery of magic. Their magic involved not the numerous schools known today, which derive from the Psijic Order via Galerion and the Mage's Guild. Instead, their magic focused on four elements: earth, air, water, and light (fire, in this view, is merely a weak and corrupt form of light.) In older writings, their form of magic has been referred to as Welkynd magic, though that is an Aldmeri word (for "sky magic" or "sky child"), and likely not a name given by the Ayleid themselves. The potentcy of their magic is evident to anyone who has entered an Ayleid ruin. Even thousands of years after the last Ayleid mage inhabited the ruins, the ruins are magically lit by pools of pure magicka, and the concentrated power of their Welkynd Stones and Varla Stones still functions.

[edit] Decline

By the middle of the Mythic Era, the Ayleids controlled a large swath of land in what is modern-day Cyrodiil. This included at least the forested areas around the Niben river basin, parts of the Valus and Jerall Mountains, and areas west into Colovia. However, they were not ruled, as is often assumed, by a single, powerful central government. By the start of the First Era, a powerful aristocracy had divided the region up into a number of small kingdoms. Modern scholars are aware of at least three, with their capital cities being Lindai, Nenalata, and Miscarcand. The White Gold Tower itself appears to have been used for some sort of central council chamber, or at least held significance over that of any one capital city, as its defeat marked the end of the Ayleid civilization.

About a century into the First Era, a slave woman was born to the humans living on Ayleid-controlled Niben. This slave, who eventually ended up at the now-sacred Ayleid site of Sancre Tor (Golden Hill), would receive divine inspiration, and direct divine help, to rouse her fellow slaves and revolt against their masters. She became known to her people as Alessia, the Slave Queen, and her army, with the help of the Nords and likely some of the more radical Ayleid nobles, defeated the Ayleid empire and conquered the land in the name of the Cyrodiilic Empire. (In an interesting side note, the city of Sancre Tor itself, where Alessia is said to have formulated her revolt, ended up in the neighboring kingdom of Colovia until near the end of the First Era.)

Within about 400 years of their overthrown, the strongly anti-mer Alessian Order had driven out, or exterminated, most remaining Ayleid settlements. Scholars generally believe that the Ayleid immigrated en masse to Valenwood, and possibly Summerset Isles, where they were integrated into those mer races. There are persistant rumors, which can not be rejected outright, that wild tribes of pure Ayleid still hide within the Cyrodiilic forests. In any case, the Ayleid abandoned their cities, which have fallen into ruin, though the magic and mechanical traps which were installed near the end of their history still function.

There are at least 52 Ayleid ruins so far discovered in Cyrodiil. For a current list of their names and locations, see Ayleid Ruin.

Ayleids had lived into the Second Era, with credible sightings stating that they had lived in a reclusive tribal society. As stated by the book On Wild Elves:

Indeed, one of the finest sages of the University of Gwilym was a civilized Ayleid Elf, Tjurhane Fyrre (1E2790-2E227), whose published work on Wild Elves suggests a lively, vibrant culture. Fyrre is one of the very few Ayleids to speak freely on his people and religion, and he himself said "the nature of the Ayleid tribes is multihued, their personalities often wildly different from their neighbor[ing] tribes" (Fyrre, T., Nature of Ayleidic Poesy, p. 8, University of Gwilym Press, 2E12).

[edit] Literary References

The following books provide a good deal of information on the Ayleid and their culture:

• On Wild Elves, by Kier-jo Chorvak
• The Last King of the Ayleid, by Herminia Cinna
• Magic from the Sky, by Irlav Jarol

[edit] See also

• Ayleid Ruin
• Ayleid Well