Interview with Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset (2021/2023)

The Eltheriad

An Interview with Ted Peterson: Legendary Edition

Back in 2021, I had the opportunity to interview Ted Peterson, one of the original developers of the Elder Scrolls series. Ted was a designer and writer for the first four main games and the author of many memorable lore books. More recently, he and another lead developer of the early series, Julian LeFay, have set up an independent game development studio, Oncelost Games, and are working on a new open-world fantasy RPG and spiritual successor to TES2: Daggerfall – The Wayward Realms

In this updated and expanded version, Ted has kindly provided answers to some further questions and clarified some of his original responses. I’ve added some information to explain the purpose and scope of the Q&A, included additional material and reordered it in a more readable format, while maintaining the accuracy of the original.

What was the reason for this interview?

The interview was conducted to support a lore project known as The Eltheriad, as well as offer insights for the lore team of Beyond Skyrim: iliac Bay. Ted agreed to an interview covering his thoughts on the early series lore with which he was most involved, and further insight into texts he wrote throughout the series. As with my Q&A with Lawrence Schick, this interview was purely unofficial and none of these answers are absolute truth or intended to constrain future lore in any way.

How was it conducted?

I interviewed Ted via a video call on Discord. The intention was to record it, but the recording software had other plans. After a few failed attempts, I resorted to typing brief notes on Ted’s responses as he spoke and tried to grab as much information as possible so I could recreate the interview accurately. Ted then read the final piece and confirmed its accuracy, alongside providing some additional information via text.

What is the Eltheriad?

A fan-project to create an illustrated primer on Western Tamrielic religious and cosmogonic beliefs from the early Merethic Era onwards. The intention is to explore the mysteries of the Anuic philosophies of Tamriel since so much of the more esoteric lore to date has focused on Padomaic beliefs. I have been supported in this by many great people over the years and I cannot thank them enough.

How does this interview differ from the original?

It includes more questions and answers, further background information and clarification from my original notes where I felt it was useful or necessary. The only thing I have not included is any private conversation not relevant to the Q&A. I hope you find it enjoyable reading!

An Interview with Ted Peterson

The Daggerfall Map

• Atharaon:

• The general shape of Tamriel has been consistent since Arena. Even in Daggerfall, the continent map of Tamriel is the same shape we expect. However, the in-game Iliac Bay map differs substantially, especially the High Rock peninsula. It looks like it was cut off prematurely around where Glenpoint was in Arena. Is that so, and why did that happen?

• Ted Peterson:

• The Daggerfall game map needed to fit the rectangular shape of a monitor. It wasn’t made to have north at the top or to be exact with the coastal shape. The intention was to take an in-depth look at the political situation in the lliac Bay specifically, so the map’s function was to fit as much of that region as possible into the rectangular confines. We were making the most of the space.

• Atharaon:

• A couple of places appear to have shifted dramatically between Arena and Daggerfall. Daggerfall city is a major example. Normally on the west coast, here it appears on the east. You wrote A History of Daggerfall, a lorebook within the game that describes the city as in the west. What is happening here?

• Ted Peterson:

• A big part of the background is the War of Betony, a dispute between Daggerfall and Sentinel over control of the island. We wanted to have Betony be halfway between the two cities for narrative purposes. I didn’t have a strong preference for the east or west coast as long as that geographical relationship was maintained for the story. It should probably be on the ocean and to the south of the peninsula.

• Atharaon:

• Was Camlorn meant to be outside of the area of the map, just above where it cuts off at the top?

• Ted Peterson:

• That makes sense.

• Atharaon:

• Let’s pretend that the size constraints didn’t exist and we could have seen a true-sized
  Iliac Bay map without the squashed peninsula. Would those settlements nearest the
  southwest end of the Daggerfall map (Tulune, Glenumbra Moors, Shalgora and so on) be
  placed further south on the peninsula in the expanded map or are they fairly accurately
  placed already, with only the Kingdom of Daggerfall expanding southwards?

• Ted Peterson:

• I would like to have settlements near a source of water. Historically, this was a major factor in where villages and towns were established. That’s the main thing. However, we weren’t able to put every city near one due to technical constraints, so they all appear further inland than they should be. The map was procedurally generated. I came up with the names, but the procedural generation decided where they would be placed. My preference is to have them on the coast.

At this point I live-streamed a map with Ted so we could look at it together and annotate as agreed. Below is a tidied-up version of the resulting map.

• Atharaon:

• Let’s talk about specific places then. If we were to place the towns from Daggerfall on the Arena map, can you tell me where they would be located?

• Ted Peterson:

• Sure.

• Atharaon:

• Would we keep Daggerfallwhere it is in Arena?

See “Daggerfall (Ocean)” on the annotated map.

• Ted Peterson:

• Yep. As long as Betony is midway between there and Sentinel.

• Atharaon:

• What about Tulune?

• Ted Peterson:

• It almost sounds like a Hammerfell name? I don’t know, it doesn’t sound Breton to me.

• Atharaon:

• Could it be elven?

• Ted Peterson:

• Could be, yes. Let’s say that’s south of Daggerfall, on the west coast, because it’s got a less Bretonic name.

• Atharaon:

• Glenumbra Moors then?

• Ted Peterson:

• That’s definitely more Breton-sounding. To the north of Daggerfall, on the west coast.

• Atharaon:

• That corresponds well with your book, A History of Daggerfall. And Northmoor?

• Ted Peterson:

• North of Glenumlbra Moors, since that’s its name.

• Atharaon:

• Reich Gradkeep/Anticlere? It changes position quite considerably from Arenato Daggerfall.

• Ted Peterson:

• As I said, I always favour a coastal location. I think it should be on that little bit of land jutting out in the Daggerfall map. So on the lliac Bay coast.

• Atharaon:

• Glenpoint is described as being on the coast in The Wolf Queen but appears to be inland on both the TES7 and TESZ maps. Where would you say it should be? And is that an inlet west of it on the Arena map? It looks like a body of water cutting info the peninsula.

• Ted Peterson:

• Glenpoint is a Breton name. Looking on the map, it’s hard to tell for sure. I’ll say east coast since it looks slightly closer to the east on the Arena map.

• Atharaon:

• If I’m right and that is an inlet to the west, then I think it’s almost midway between that and the east coast if we go by the road rather than the map marker. The map marker definitely leans east. Looking at the Daggerfall map though, it would be a lot less disruptive if it moved west than east (assuming any of its borders are to be kept). It would also be closer to an oceanic Daggerfall which helps emphasise their previous rivalry.

• Ted Peterson:

• Either works well. You decide.

Both possibilities are then marked on the map with our names beside each to distinguish them since I didn’t feel comfortable just choosing my version and running with it without at least acknowledging the discussion. We also briefly covered Ykalon, Phrygias and llessan Hills, all of which have minor changes.

• Atharaon:

• You’ve introduced a LOT of places into the lore, many of which don’t make it onto the maps. What are your thoughts on the locations of these places? For example, Calder, Glenmoril, Oloine, and so on.

• Ted Peterson:

• Some of them don’t appear because they’re not political units, such as the Ravennian Forest. I’m surprised I introduced places like Oloine and Umbington without having them on a map. I don’t know why I didn’t just choose places that already existed.

• Atharaon:

• Can you confirm whether or not the Dellese Isles is the name of the island chain which includes Balfiera?

• Ted Peterson:

• That’s PGE], so probably better to ask Michael. I don’t know where they are but if I was to guess, I’d say they are on the other side of High Rock, in the ocean. There are too many islands in the lliac already.

• Atharaon:

• Finally, Glenumbra Moors or Glenumbria Moors? Which name is correct?

• Ted Peterson:

• Haha. believe Glenumbria was meant to be a region, and Glenumbria Moors was a region within that region. Either spelling works.

Summerset Isles

• Atharaon:

• Moving on to Summerset then. Or should I say Summurset? I know you prefer the latter.

• Ted Peterson:

• That’s my fault too, I think. I probably used a number of different spellings. I don’t actually mind too much. It makes sense that names change over time for a number of reasons as language changes. As for where the name came from, I’m a huge Anglophile. I probably saw the name on the map and thought, “Oh, that sounds nice!”

• Atharaon:

• Any suggestions for where Moridunon, Runcibae and Potansa were meant to be?

• Ted Peterson:

• I think the main idea was that they were meant to be similar to that place in Harry Potter, Diagon Alley. I think of them as sort of in-between places that allow access to Artaeum. If the Psijics decide to let you join them or if you want to contact them, you go to these intermediate places first before you can reach Artaeum. I don’t recall exactly where they are located within Summerset.

Breton City-States and Factions

• Atharaon:

• How do you pronounce Kambria?

• Ted Peterson:

• I’m from the midwest and we pronounce all sorts of stuff weird. Don’t ask me!

• Atharaon:

• Well I’m keen to know how you personally would pronounce it.

• Ted Peterson:

• KAYM-bria.

• Atharaon:

• Did you develop any background information on any of the city-states of the Iliac Bay, like their history and culture, when they were founded? If so, is any of this still possible to access? Particularly the areas of Kambria and Dwynnen.

• Ted Peterson:

• There was some on Dwynnen (pronounced to rhyme with “linen”) since we had a D&D campaign based around Baron Othrok, but not a lot of lore for anywhere else. I don’t know when they were founded.

• Atharaon:

• A number of factions didn’t make it into the game. Do you remember anything about the intentions for the Gryphon Knights faction? What about the Knights of the Isle?

• Ted Peterson:

• I’m not sure about the Gryphon Knights. Usually, the knights were the protectors of a particular faction or kingdom, so they’d take their name from the symbol that represents it. If there’s a territory or faction with a gryphon symbol, that’s where they’d belong. Not sure about the Knights of the Isle, but I’d imagine they represent Balfiera. Betony is too small to have its own order.

The Settlement of High Rock

• Atharaon:

• In Arena, it was said the Bretons descended from the “Druids of Galen.” Can you tell us anything about them?

• Ted Peterson:

• I don’t know anything about them, sorry.

• Atharaon:

• In Arena, it was said the Bretons descended from the “Druids of Galen.” Can you tell us
  anything about them?

• Ted Peterson:

• I’m sure the Merethic Era was around back then. Did we not mention it in Daggerfall? I think I possibly made up the word, so I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. But we did have an idea of it, yes.

• Atharaon:

• In the Third Pocket Guide, you wrote that the first people to permanently settle High Rock (besides unknown “beastfolk”) were Aldmer. Was that something that was planned as far back as Daggerfail?

• Ted Peterson:

• Yeah, that’s about right. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the Breton history was actually elven and it’s being reclaimed by them now. It’s a big topic currently within High Rock.

• Atharaon:

• Do you think the Altmer of ancient High Rock came from Summerset or were they always there?

• Ted Peterson:

• I think they came from Summerset a long, long time ago.

• Atharaon:

• Also in the Third Pocket Guide, you wrote the following:“Most scholars believe that the Aldmer settled Summerset first, and then spread out across the rest of Tamriel, but there is some evidence to support the theory that Summerset was only one of several initial settlements of the earliest Aldmer.”

  Where else did you intend the initial settlements of the Aldmer to be, if not Summerset? Somewhere in the west?

• Ted Peterson:

• Yes, my intention was to imply High Rock as another settlement site.

• Atharaon:

• So these Aldmer who settled High Rock when the first wave of Elves arrived from their mysterious homeland, did they encounter anyone else in the region when they arrived? Did they have any conflicts or issues with the later Altmer arrivals from Summerset?

• Ted Peterson:

• Issues with previous occupants of High Rock and the Aldmer? Not really. In the book that Ken Rolston commissioned me to write about beast folk, there was some indigenous population implied but I like the idea that strife was largely internal [between elven groups]. Leading obviously to the Orsimer of High Rock.

• Atharaon:

• You also wrote Father of the Niben, right?

• Ted Peterson:

• I did, but I had lots of direction from Ken Rolston.

• Atharaon:

• Did the first-wave Aldmer have any connections to the Snow Elves?

• Ted Peterson:

• Ha! No idea.

• Atharaon:

• What do you think their religious outlook might have been? Devotees of the Elven pantheon? Pantheistic Anui-El worship? Something else entirely?

• Ted Peterson:

• Pantheistic.

• Atharaon:

• You’ve previously said that the name Direnni came from Julian Lefay’s roleplaying campaign, and that they were a Breton noble family that came to power for a time in the First Era. Post-Daggerfalllore claims they were High Elves who discovered the Adamantine Tower in the Middle Merethic Era and subsequently mingled with Men, leading to the birth of the half-elven Bretons. It creates a weird discrepancy in dating when they arrived, when they ruled and who they were. Did you ever imagine Direnni elves in High Rock predating the Bretons?

• Ted Peterson:

• Well, the Bretons were always intended to be semi-elves, right? And the Direnni are Bretons in that sense. Just older and with more elven heritage. I like the idea that they were actually the original Bretons, but their history is mixed up. They were always meant to be this backwards noble family, impoverished now, but with a lot of influence in the past. They’re on the decline. I see them like the Medicis of the First Era – doing a lot of good, sponsoring artists and so on, but also kind of… ‘fascist’ bastards. They’re super shady, claiming stuff they didn’t do, including the history of the elves who came before them.

• Atharaon:

• So you mean the elves who discovered the Adamantine Tower and settled Balfiera in the Merethic weren’t necessarily Direnni, but the Direnni claim that they were anyway?

• Ted Peterson:

• Yes. As I said, it’s shady.

• Atharaon:

• Which is taller: White-Gold Tower or the Adamantine Tower?

• Ted Peterson:

• Adamantine.

• Atharaon:

• If the Hegemony was officially founded in 355, but the Direnni were already associated with Balfiera, from whom did Ryain buy the island in 461? Another Direnni branch? The High King of Alinor? The other elves of High Rock?

• Ted Peterson:

• I think other elves.

• Atharaon:

• Where did the first men of High Rock come from?

• Ted Peterson:

• I assume this is contradicted somewhere, but I assumed they came in like the Nords and assimilated with the elves creating the Bretons.

• Atharaon:

• From Atmora or Tamriel? Both?

• Ted Peterson:

• Atmora.

• Atharaon:

• Was elven-human assimilation forced, done freely or did it depend on local circumstances?

• Ted Peterson:

• Freely.

• Atharaon:

• Returning to Father of the Niben, one interpretation we’ve considered is that the beastfolk mentioned within are stand-ins for other elven groups who are being cast as inferior primitives compared to the Summerset Elves for political and/or entertainment purposes, rather than literal orcs or bird-folk (not including the Khajiit and Argonians, obviously).

• Ted Peterson:

• I can see how you’d think that. I also wrote The Pig Children.

• Atharaon:

• Had you intended the epic’s “Orsimer” to be a reflection of those elves who initially settled
  High Rock? Was it Ken’s idea to include Orsimer?

• Ted Peterson:

• Not sure. Probably mine. Ken just wanted a dude who sailed around and encountered beast folk.

• Atharaon:

• Another possibility raised was that the “Orsimer” were giant goblins. Is that likely?

• Ted Peterson:

• Honestly I don’t remember what I meant at the time, heh heh. I think I would have written Giant Goblins though if that’s what I was thinking.

• Atharaon:

• When did the Orcs first come to High Rock? In The Pig Children, you wrote that they’d been terrorising the lands of the Bjoulsae since at least the early years of the First Era. What do you make of ESO suggesting Orcs might have lived there since the Dawn and maybe even have a claim to all of the northeast?

• Ted Peterson:

• There’s something about the Wrothgarian Mountains that draws the orcs to them, If they weren’t always there, they definitely wanted to be. They’re like a diaspora that wants to return home. Without being political about it, it’s a bit like the situation with Israel. They feel compelled to return to the Mountains. I don’t know what the reason is but that was the idea.

• Atharaon:

• You’ve said there were Ayleids in almost every province of Tamriel. Did you envision them as having extensive territories even outside of Cyrodiil or was this due to their later exile?

• Ted Peterson:

• They were based in Cyrodiil, but spread outside that province after the collapse of their civilisation at the hands of Men.

• Atharaon:

• To summarise all this then, does this timeline roughly reflect your ideas on the settlement of High Rock, from earliest arrivals to latest:

  • Mysterious Beastfolk
  • First-wave Aldmer from Aldmeris
  • Alimer colonists from Summerset
  • Orsimer from Summerset
  • Men from Atmora
  • Bretons through assimilation between Men and Mere Nords from Skyrim
  • Ayleids from Cyrodiil
  • Ted Peterson:

  • Looks OK.

  The Aedra

  • Atharaon:

  • Arena lore introduced a number of deceased heroes whose remarkable deeds ensured their names would live on in the legends of Tamriel. Notable examples include: Kynareth, who created the Lord’s Mail, died and was buried in Skyrim e Magnus, who entrusted the location of his Staff to the Blades just before his own demise Rajhin, whose friend reveals (for a fee) that he recently died and his spirit is now bound to the Ring of Khdjiit until someone finds it Were any of these hero figures supposed to be interpreted as divine in Arena or is it correct to say they were all just great heroes of legend?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • At the time, they weren’t meant to be divine, but old heroes. That lore hadn’t been developed yet.

  • Atharaon:

  • Many of these hero figures would be reimagined as the Aedra, gods who came into existence at the beginning of time. Did you have any influence on the new pantheons seen in Varieties of Faith? What did you think of the shift from powerful mortals to divine Aedra?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Wasn’t really involved with that. I think there should be good arguments both ways about the origins of the gods. Like with magic, I don’t think there should be a clear-cut answer. The moment there is one, it loses its power. We wanted to have the Aedra be uninterested in mortal affairs, off doing cosmic stuff while the Daedra are there tempting you to go do awful things. Even then, we tried not to make the Daedra purely bad – it’s really more of a grey area.

  • Atharaon:

  • Did you write The Old Ways as an in-game attempt to reconcile the development of the gods from dead mortal heroes to Divines? Who were the original Acharyai the Psijics mentioned as the first spirits?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • It’s important to say that this is just their point of view but not necessarily the right one. It’s enough that it feels real, but I always say to my team, don’t write the truth. Write around it. Ancestor worship is this important aspect for the elves and so they would be inclined to see everyone as formerly an elven ancestor. Your good relatives are worthy of praise and your bad relatives you cut off. Elves have a high opinion of themselves so they’d claim the gods as ancestors even if they weren’t.

  • Atharaon:

  • So even gods like Phynaster or Xarxes might not be their literal ancestors but they’d just say that anyway because they approve of them?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yeah. Cause that’s what they do.

  • Atharaon:

  • Did you write any of the Artifact descriptions or tavern rumours in Arena?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • I might have been involved in that. I think I did.

  • Atharaon:

  • Were the tavern rumours credible or more fiction than fact? Some of them were hilarious, like the one about the teller knowing someone “who swears he knows someone who knew the great, great granduncle of this maid who used to clean up for Xarses’ sister-in-law, and he says he knows how to find the Infinium.” This weird chain of transmission regarding a powerful tome sounds implausible in itself, never mind that it doesn’t quite gel with the idea of Xarxes as an ancient god.

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yeah, I think in that case it’s clearly just rumours without basis.

  • Atharaon:

  • It’s like playing a game of Telephone, so part of the fun is trying to work out the truth buried under all the accreted errors. Another example which illustrates the uncertainty involves the Ring of Phynaster. Did Phynaster die at the hands of the Wharf Rats who now possess his ring, or has the ring instead been passed from person to person over hundreds of years to help them on their own adventures? Is he even dead, or is he just ‘some guy [whol apparently lost his ring”? Even his race is dependent on the player’s own. How would you reconcile that with the later lore about him being a god-ancestor of the Aldmer?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • They’re not the same person. Phynaster the ring-forging hero of Arena wasn’t Phynaster the god. It’s not uncommon to share names with the divine. Even in real life, plenty of people are called Jesus.

  • Atharaon:

  • You mention the “Earth Bones” in Notes on Racial Phylogeny. The term has been used to describe multiple things, from the ancestors of mortals, to the Aedra, to Y’ffre, to sensory perception and the Laws of Nature. How do you understand that term?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • I’m surprised I said that. I thought that was an MK thing. I’m not sure, I’d need to look into it.

  • Atharaon:

  • Was there ever any concept of water-as-memory back when this book was written?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • No.

  • Atharaon:

  • Do you know whether it was yourself or someone else who came up with the term “et’Ada”?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Pretty sure it wasn’t me.

  • Atharaon:

  • I believe it first appears in The Light and the Dark.

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Huh. I’ll reread.

  • Atharaon:

  • In the Third Pocket Guide, you (as the Imperial Geographical Society) write that the early Aldmer imported ancestor worship wholesale from Aldmeris, and that they elevated a select few of the ancestor spirits to godhood: Auriel, Trinimac, Syrabane and Phynaster. The Altmer themselves claim they directly descend from the et’Ada. Were these figures meant to be the efAda?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Are ancestor spirits Et’Ada? Well, it’s up to creative interpretation what I meant, and future TES contributors will continue to take my vague description and morph it to their needs which is fine. I kinda don’t want to say how it really works since we’re adopting something closer to ancestor worship and apotheosis in Wayward Realms.

  • Atharaon:

  • I’d like to address these gods individually and get your opinion on each. Starting with Auri-El, is he an et’Ada and is he equivalent to Akatosh?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yes.

  • Atharaon:

  • Is Trinimac an et Ada and does he have an Imperial equivalent or is he unique?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yes, he’s an et’Ada and he’s unique.

  • Atharaon:

  • What distinguishes an ascended mortal from an et’Ada if both are ancestor spirits adopted in the distant past? Might Trinimac be an ascended mortal in some myths?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yes.

  • Atharaon:

  • Is Phynaster an et’Ada or an ascended mortal depending on which way you look at it, similar to Trinimac?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Also yes.

  • Atharaon:

  • In those myths where he is an ascended mortal, did this happen in the Dawn or the early Merethic?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • In the Merethic.

  • Atharaon:

  • What about Syrabane?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • He’s an ascended mortal.

  The Psijic Order

  • Atharaon:

  • So given the Psijic adherence to the Old Ways, why do they have a statue of Syrabane on Artaeum?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • In the sense that he was an earlier magician, they built that in his memory. I can’t remember exactly what he was famous for. But they built that to honour him. A bit like Vanus Galerion.

  • Atharaon:

  • I assume there must be a substantial difference since Vanus isn’t worshipped as a god.

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yeah, definitely, but I don’t remember much about it, sorry.

  • Atharaon:

  • Did you ever have a list of the Eleven Forces? Can you tell us of any other than “Change”?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • You might want to put this more flowery, but the honest answer is I just made that shit up, haha.

  • Atharaon:

  • You’ve said they learned the Elder Way from the original race that inhabited Tamriel, and that the Ceporah Tower predates the High Elves. Who did you consider the “original race” to be? Ehinofey?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yeah, that makes sense.

  • Atharaon:

  • Who do you think built Ceporah Tower?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • I’d like that to remain a mystery. I’d like it to be there when they first arrived. Just a symbol that says “You are not the first.”

  Gods of Daggerfall

  • Atharaon:

  • One of the many shrines to heroes and gods found in Daggerfallis the Shelter of Phen. Any relation to Phynaster or was that just coincidence?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Not sure, but it works well.

  • Atharaon:

  • Can you tell us anything about the unique gods of Daggerfall (Raen, Notorgo, Shanda, Vigryl, Q’Olwen; Ephen, etc.) and why they didn’t become a larger part of the lore? Would you like to see us reference them in our project?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • We wanted to honour the beta testers in some way and we couldn’t afford to pay them, so we instead named the gods after them in recognition. We had some of those other gods but various constraints meant we had to cut some stuff. I’d love to see them used again. We had some stuff on Ebonarm but not really anything on the rest.

  • Atharaon:

  • Ebonarm is quite like Zenithar in his symbolism – anvils, war, etc.

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Yeah, as I said, we named them after beta testers and it works – both are trying to fix what’s wrong!

  • Atharaon:

  • Was Ephen/S’ephen intended to be a Dunmer of the First Era, an actual Breton god or both? How did he relate to Jephre? Could the name have pre-existed the Dunmer’s promotion to divinity as a name for an older nature god?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • The King Edward series was never finished. They’re not still using that in the games, are they? Anyway, rising to godhood is standard for the series so in that sense, it’s proof of concept. Both Ephen and Jephre are nature gods. But yeah, I think a pre-existing nature god might have been the idea. The Dunmer might have been named after the god.

  • Atharaon:

  • Was there any background lore on those deities mentioned in the Breton Calendar, like Druagaa or Secunda?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Nope.

  • Atharaon:

  • Ius (God of Animals) and Arius (Volcano God in Arena’s class questionnaire) – are these actually worshipped deities or just in-universe jokes?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Haha, they were jokes. Not meant to be worshipped.

  A Dance in Fire

  • Atharaon:

  • One of my favourite books, A Dance in Fire, has a main character known as Decumus Scotti. How do you pronounce that name?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Dess-i-mus Scott-ee. He’s also one of my favourite characters. Such a loser.

  • Atharaon:

  • You outlined the concept of the Silvenar as the Voice of the People. What did you think of the idea of the Green Lady lore in TESO?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Didn’t know they’d introduced a Green Lady. Interesting.

  • Atharaon:

  • Did you ever have any plans for further adventures of Decumus Scotti? Would you ever consider writing a new one? I’d love to include a new tale in our book. We’ll even illustrate it!

  • Ted Peterson:

  • That would be awesome. If you can speak to your team, I’d enjoy writing another one. I think I’d set this one in Elsweyr. He’s been to Valenwood and Black Marsh. Elsweyr is next.

  Miscellaneous Questions

  • Atharaon:

  • What was the story behind the Horn of Summoning? How did it work?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • I have no recollection of that, sorry.

  • Atharaon:

  • Broken Diamonds has a song in Old Bretic which mentions the “Sephavre Souls of our fathers” – can you tell us what that means?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • I don’t recall.

  • Atharaon:

  • Do you have any opinion on whether Sheor worship was more acceptable in the past before elven influence?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Pass.

  • Atharaon:

  • Do you know anything about Eleidon? For example, was he a Breton Knight under the Direnni?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • Pass.

  Final Thoughts

  • Atharaon:

  • Any advice for us in terms of how we approach the lore?

  • Ted Peterson:

  • If you’re gonna establish something, back it up. For example, Michael established that Cyrodiil was a jungle. Then TES4 came out and it was European countryside. Why include lore saying it’s a jungle if you’re not going to do that? It’s important to be consistent.