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Kurt Kuhlmann's Posts

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Kurt Kuhlmann
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Kurt Kuhlmann has both a regular account, Maturin, and an in-character roleplay account, Hasphat Antabolis. 

On the origin of Nedes, as Hasphat Antabolis

The usual Imperial arrogance. The hoary old "Out of Atmora" theory has been widely discredited (no reputable archaeologist would publicly support it these days), but the Imperial Geographers continue to beat the drum of the Nordic Fatherland in the best tradition of the Septim Empire. They seem to think that the imprimature of officialdom gives their outdated scholarship added weight -- which, unfortunately, it appears to in the eyes of the ever-gullible public which continues to snap up the latest Pocket Guides along with the rest of their Imperial Certified pablum.

 

On the usage of -mer and -meri suffixes in the 3rd era (08/17/99)

"[x]mer" Can stand for either singular and plural. It is confusing, but is an artifact of the oral form.

"[x]meri" The adjectival. So a High Elven dagger is an Altmeri dagger. EXCEPT in the case of proper names, in which it can be all three, adjectival, singular, and plural. Example: He is a Direnni, they are the Direnni, that looks of Direnni manufacture.

IN FACT, the current third era proper name usage is an artifact of all previous era's usages. To whit, the Pocket Guide to the Empire, which uses [x]mer and [x]meri (and all their usages) interchangeably.

THAT, my friends, is why, when Slave Queen Alessia overthrew the Ayleids (Wild Elves, don't ask) and established Slave's Cant (eventual Cyrodilic) as the lingua franca, Cyrodiil c. 1E240, she said: "Enough of this! He's an Elf, they are Elves, and their Elven tyranny is over!"

 

On the Maormer, as Hasphat Antabolis (02/23/02)

What's in the PGE is the long and short of it. I was overcome by a brief flirtation with the cultures of the Maomer after a colleague of mine on the mainland sent me a collection of jelly-stones he found in an abandoned water-mock temple of the original Aldmeri shore-tower masons. The stones were possessed of a remarkable aftertone process, whose tendencies ran towards the sorrow spectrum, not unlike those mentioned in the minutes of the Orgnum conference during last year's Moth Assembly. Where was I..?

How I do miss Cyrodiil. I have been too far away; even the skooma visions have lost their power (though none of their degenerative effects on my tuning bone) to help me remember those lovely lads in the Two Tibers Make Something of It Phalanx or the bug-bearded creation shepherd who headed the research department.

Mm, we were talking about the chimeric Maormer, weren't we? I'm sorry, my native belly-guest has arrived with snakes in her mouth. Whatever could that mean?

Was Vvardenfell at one point connected to the Morrowind mainland? As Hasphat Antabolis. (03/06/02)

While I would of course defer to my esteemed colleague Prof. Ghan in all matters geologic, I may perhaps contribute my own small mite to this discussion.

In my research in the very oldest Nord records, I found ancient maps which showed no island in the north of modern Morrowind -- just a region labeled "Dwemereth" which encompassed the island of Vvardenfell as we know it as well as a rather wide swath of what is now the mainland. Indeed, as best as could be made out from the rather crude map, the coastline once extended some distance further north than Vvardenfell does now.

I defer to my more learned colleagues to determine the process of formation of the geologic structures of present- day Morrowind, but I have no doubt that in ancient times Vvardenfell was part of the mainland.

Did the Amulet of Kings exist prior to Alessia? (09/24/05)

From the timeline (apologies to the moth-priests who would have us blanketly dismiss them-- I wonder if they would if certain of elements contained therein supported their case):

"1E266 Shezarr, the missing sibling god of the Eight Divines, arrives at the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City and transforms the dying Alessia into the first of the Cyrodilic saints. Thus Empress Alessia becomes the first gem in the Cyrodilic Amulet of Kings. The Elder Council elects Belharza the Man-Bull as the second Emperor of Cyrodiil."

Emphasis my own, but let us not think that the Chim-el Adabal came after its "first gem".

The meaning of Chim-el Ada-bal (09/24/05)

Chim: in this case, 'royalty'.

El: 'high'

Ada: 'spirit'

Bal: 'stone'

So, "the spirit stone of high royalty."

When the Amulet of Kings is called the Chim-el Adabal, it is never meant as a literal translation. Intent is key. While it is, in a sense, a surrogate name, the speaker is instead using it when being especially reverent, referring to the amulet's ancient ties to the power of White-Gold Tower.

Michael Kirkbride's influence on Skyrim (10/08/11)

We all try not to take it to heart that only MK can save Skyrim from the trash heap - but I can say that even without directly writing any books, I'd say there's more of his influence on Skyrim than Oblivion. Probably a lot more - if you look at the chapter from the PGE on Skyrim, (pretty sure that was one of his - I can't remember any more who wrote which one, it's Bilbo and Strider all over again), and that chapter is the foundation for the whole setting. And if you look really hard, you might even find a painted cow. (No comment on flying whales.)

Painted cows in Skyrim (14/11/11)

It's a damn shame the Civil War mission to befriend a giant by bringing him a painted cow didn't survive... but at least the painted cow got into the game.

Ysgramor is a dragon? As Hasphat Antabolis. (08/03/12)

An interesting theory. But as usual, the credulous minds gravitate to the most outlandish theories.

If Ysgramor was indeed a "dragon", most likely he was a Dragon Priest - in the Late Merethic Era, it would be unlikely for a leader of Ysgramor's reported stature to be unconnected to the Dragon Cult. But connecting the Nord hero Ysgramor with the now-reviled Dragon Cult is of course anathema to those who favor chauvinism over historical truth.

Other possibilities are that Ysgramor was not an individual but an amalgamation of several people - his reported exploits encompass an unreasonable amount of time for a single individual. At the time, anyone of high stature or great prowess in battle would have been considered a "dragon" (the highest compliment imaginable). This does not mean that Ysgramor was in fact an actual dragon, but I have no doubt that the literal-minded among us will not hesitate to jump to the most obvious conclusions. True scholars will of course be more circumspect.  -Hasphat Antabolis