General:Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset

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Writer	Ted Peterson
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Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset

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This interview with Ted Peterson was conducted in 2021 by Atharaon on behalf of The Eltheriad, a fan project to write and illustrate a primer on Aldmeri/Western Tamrielic religious and cosmogonic beliefs from the Early Merethic Era onwards. He notes that, "The following answers aren’t meant to constrain present and future writers, but give a clearer understanding of the older lore and Ted’s thoughts on how it could be presented.". These comments were originally archived by The Imperial Library.

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Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset - Geography

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:

"The Daggerfall game map needed to fit a rectangle shape. It wasn’t made to have north at the top, but to fit in as much of the Iliac Bay as possible. The goal was to take an in-depth look at Iliac Bay specifically."

Atharaon:

"A couple of places appear to have shifted dramatically between TES1 and TES2. 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:

"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. 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:

"That makes sense."

Atharaon:

"In terms of the placement of locations in TES2, was it intended that those nearest the southwest end (e.g. Tulune, Glenumbra Moors, Shalgora…) would’ve been placed further down on a true-size peninsula map, or is it only the Daggerfall territory itself that has been shrunk and the rest are in their proper locations?

Ted:

"I wanted to have settlements near a source of water. 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 said where they would be placed. My preference is to have them on the coast.

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?

[At this point I live-streamed a map with Ted so we could look at it together and annotate as agreed.]

Ted:

"Sure."

Atharaon:

"Would we keep Daggerfall where it is in Arena? [“Daggerfall A” on the map]"

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

"What about Tulune?"

Ted:

"It almost sounds like a Hammerfell name. I don’t know, it doesn’t sound Breton."

Atharaon:

"Could it be elven?"

Ted:

"Could be. 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:

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

Atharaon:

"That corresponds well with your A History of Daggerfall. And Northmoor?"

Ted:

"North of Glenumbra Moors, since that’s its name."

Atharaon:

"Reich Gradkeep/Anticlere? It changes position quite considerably from Arena to Daggerfall."

Ted:

"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 Iliac coast."

Atharaon:

"Glenpoint is described as being on the coast in The Wolf Queen but appears to be inland on both the TES1 and TES2 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 into the peninsula."

Ted:

"Glenpoint is a Breton name. Looking on the map, it’s hard to tell for sure. I’ll say east coast since it looks closer on the Arena map, but either works well. You decide."

[Two possibilities are then marked on the map with our names beside each. We also briefly discussed Ykalon, Phrygias and Ilessan Hills.]

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, etc."

Ted:

"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, or are they located elsewhere?

Ted:

"That’s PGE1, 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 Iliac already."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"That’s my fault 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:

"I think the main idea with them was 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."

Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset - Culture

Atharaon:

"In TES1, it was said the Bretons descended from the “Druids of Galen”. Can you tell us anything about them?"

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

"The Daggerfall Chronicles only list dates from the First Era onwards. Was the "Merethic Era" a thing back then or was it only invented after TES2?"

Ted:

"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:

"Later lore told us the original people in the land were Aldmer. Was that something that was planned? Do you have any opinions on that?"

Ted:

"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."

Atharaon:

"I know that the name Direnni came from Julien’s roleplaying campaign, and that you had originally said they were a noble family that came to power for a time in the First Era. Later lore says they actually discovered the Tower in the middle Merethic Era and subsequently mixed with Nedes to create the Bretons. So we end up with this weird discrepancy about when they arrived. You also portrayed them as Bretons in TES2. Did you ever imagine Direnni elves in High Rock at that time predating Bretons?"

Ted:

"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 supershady, claiming stuff they didn’t do. They’ve claimed the history of the elves who came before them."

Atharaon:

"So you mean whatever Aldmer discovered the Tower and settled the lands in the Merethic weren’t necessarily Direnni, but the Direnni are claiming that they were?"

Ted:

"Yes. It’s shady."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"I think they came from Summerset a long, long time ago. Way back at the start."

Atharaon:

"How do you pronounce Kambria?"

Ted:

"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:

"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:

"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:

"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."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"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:

"I don’t recall."

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:

"They were based in Cyrodiil, but spread outside that province after the collapse of their civilisation (1E 243)."

Atharaon:

"When did the Orcs first come to High Rock? You’ve said in The Pig Children that they’ve 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 existed there since the Dawn and may have a claim to all of the northeast?"

Ted:

"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."

Ted Peterson on High Rock and Summerset - Religion

Atharaon:

"TES1 introduced most of the gods we are familiar with today, albeit most, if not all of them were post-mortal spirits (Kynareth was buried in Skyrim, Magnus was an archmage, etc.). TES2 introduced new gods but these were not really elaborated upon in the game. Later games portrayed many of the same beings as “always divine” and substantially developed more metaphysical lore.

Did you have any influence on the new “pantheons” seen in Varieties of Faith and the concept of the Mundus? What did you think about the shift from ascended mortals to always divine Aedra?"

Ted:

"I 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. But we tried not to make the Daedra purely bad as it’s really more of a grey area."

Atharaon:

"Did you write any of the Artifact descriptions in Arena?"

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

"Were some of the more obscure gods, like Xarxes, Phynaster and Syrabane, or those I mentioned earlier, meant to be seen as divine in TES I or as great heroes of legend? Were any of the rumours about them meant to be true or simply old wive’s tales?"

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

"Some of the rumours were hilarious - like the one about someone knowing someone else who swears he knows someone who knew the great, great granduncle of this maid who used to clean up for Xarses' sister-in-law. It doesn’t quite gel with the idea of Xarxes as a god."

Ted:

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

Atharaon:

"How would you square, for example, the artifact rumours about Phynaster (being a hero whose race matches the player, who made a ring for adventures and was killed for it by thieves), with the later lore about him being a god-ancestor of the Aldmer? This also doesn’t exactly scream “divine”, haha."

Ted:

"They’re not the same person. Phynaster the ring-forging hero of TES I 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:

"One of the many shrines to heroes and gods found in TES2 is the Shelter of Phen. Any relation to Phynaster or was that just coincidence?"

Ted:

"Not sure, but it works well."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"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 worth 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?"

Ted:

"Yeah. Cause that’s what they do."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"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:

"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:

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

Atharaon:

"Who did you envision building Ceporah Tower?"

Ted:

"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.”"

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 envision the “original race” to be? Ehlnofey?"

Ted:

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Atharaon:

"You also say in The Wild Elves that the Ayleids “descended philosophically if not directly from the original inhabitants of the land” - were these Aldmer?"

Ted:

"Yeah, that also makes sense."

Atharaon:

"Can you tell us anything about the unique gods of TES2 (Raen, God of Agriculture; Notorgo, Messenger God; Shandar, God of War; Vigryl, God of the Sea; Q'Olwen; Ephen, God of the Wild) and why they didn’t become a larger part of the lore? Would you like to see us reference them in our project?"

Ted:

"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, etc."

Ted:

"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 always 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 existed previous to the Dunmer as a name for a nature god?"

Ted:

"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 was named after the god."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"Nope."

Atharaon:

"Ius (God of Animals) and Arius (Volcano God in TES1 class questionnaire) - are these actually worshipped deities or just in-universe jokes?"

Ted:

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

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:

"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:

"It has been requested that I ask you the following, though I admit I’m not sure of the reasons behind the question, so please don’t ask: Was there ever any concept of water-as-memory back when this book was written?"

Ted:

"No."

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:

"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:

"I 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:

"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."

Atharaon:

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

Ted:

"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."