The first ones were brothers: Anu (Light) and Padomay (Darkness). They came through the Limbo Rift into the Void, and Time began. As Anu and Padomay wandered the Void, the interplay of Light and Darkness created Nir (Pattern/Possibility). Both Anu and Padomay were amazed and delighted with her appearance, but she loved Anu alone, and Padomay retreated from them in bitterness.
Nir became pregnant, but before she gave birth, Padomay returned, professing his love for Nir. She told him that she loved only Anu, and Padomay beat her in rage. Anu returned from the fields, fought Padomay, and cast him back through the Limbo Rift. Nir gave birth to Creation, which were the worlds of the sun, but died from her injuries soon after. Anu, grieving, hid himself in the sun and slept.
Meanwhile, life sprang up on the worlds and flourished. After long ages, the alignment of the planets allowed Padomay to open the Limbo Rift and return to Time. He saw Creation and hated it. He swung his sword, shattering the planets in their alignment. Anu awoke, and fought Padomay again. The long and furious battle ended with Anu the victor. He cast aside the body of his brother, who he thought dead. He then attempted to save Creation by forming the remnants of the shattered worlds into one — Nirn, the world of Tamriel. As he was doing so, Padomay struck him through the chest with one last blow. Anu grappled him, and flung them both through the Limbo Rift, sealing it behind them forever.
The blood of Padomay became the Daedra. The blood of Anu became the Eight Aedra. The mingled blood of both became the bones of the cosmos.
On the world of Nirn, all was chaos. The only surviving sentient forms from the worlds of Creation were the Ehlnofey and the Hist. The Ehlnofey are the ancestors of the Mer and Men. The Hist are the Trees.
Nirn originally was all land, with interspersed seas, but no oceans. A large fragment of the Ehlnofey world landed on Nirn relatively intact, and the Ehlnofey living there were the ancestors of the Mer. These Ehlnofey fortified their borders from the chaos outside, hid their pocket of calm, and attempted to live on as before. Other Ehlnofey arrived on Nirn scattered amid the confused jumble of the shattered worlds, wandering and finding each other over the years. Eventually, the wandering Ehlnofey found the hidden land of Old Ehlnofey, and were amazed and joyful to find their kin living amid the splendor of ages past. The wandering Ehlnofey expected to be welcomed into the peaceful realm, but the Old Ehlnofey looked on them as degenerates, fallen from their former glory. For whatever reason, war broke out, and raged across the whole of Nirn. The Old Ehlnofey retained their ancient power and knowledge, but the Wanderers were more numerous, and toughened by their long struggle to survive on Nirn. This war reshaped the face of the world, sinking much of the land beneath new oceans, and leaving the continents as we know them (Tamriel, Akavir, Atmora, Yokuda). The Old Ehlnofey realm was ruined, and so they took to their sea-slivers, making for the Starry Heart of the World. The remnants of the Wanderers were left divided on the other continents.
Over long ages, the Ehlnofey of Tamriel became the Mer. On the other continents, the Wandering Ehlnofey became Men.
This text was originally posted on The Essential Site prior to the release of TES3. It has a few notable differences from the final version: