Lore:Ayrenn

Queen Ayrenn of Alinor
Queen Ayrenn of Alinor
Race	Altmer	Gender	Female
Born		2E 555, 5th of Second Seed
Resided in		Alinor
Reign		2E 580-
Previous Ruler		Hidellith
Appears in		ESO, Legends

Queen Ayrenn Arana Aldmeri was a member of the royal family of Alinor in the Second Era, and one of the major faction leaders of the Three Banners War. She founded the first Aldmeri Dominion in the Second Era during in the midst of the Interregnum, which she created through an alliance with the Bosmer and Khajiit. Her adventures prior to her ascension to queen opened her eyes to the corruption brewing at the very heart of Tamriel. She competed against High King Emeric of the Daggerfall Covenant and Jorunn the Skald-King of the Ebonheart Pact for the Ruby Throne, seeking to utilize its station so she may usher in a new age of Elven rule across Tamriel in order to protect it from the reckless tendencies of the younger races, particularly those of men, who she saw as shortsighted due to their brief lives.

History

Early Life

Lotus, Ayrenn's childhood pet

Ayrenn was born on the 5th of Second Seed in 2E 555 to her father King Hidellith and her mother Kinlady Tuinden, and all of the Summerset Isle reportedly celebrated for fifty-five days. She was nimble and quick-witted in her youth, and would often disappear for days at a time. In 2E 573, amid many signs and portents, she disappeared, and her brother Naemon was eventually named heir to the throne. She spent some time in the Royal Menagerie of Sil-Var-Woad, where she spent many days of her childhood with her pet indrik Lotus.

The Adventurer Queen

Razum-dar

In truth, Ayrenn had decided to travel through Tamriel, seeking adventure and life lessons that can't be taught through schools. The first of Queen Ayrenn's travels brough her to the Isle of Balfiera, where she trained with the Direnni in the art of war. She became a seasoned blade-dancer and she partook in studies of the arcane arts.

There are many stories about how Ayrenn spent the intervening years, which Ayrenn herself states were greatly exaggerated. She did confirm stories involving her riding a bear and her time with Maormer pirates who taught her weather magic to be true. Some of these tales involve her hunting frost trolls in Skyrim, exploring Dwemer ruins, and dancing with Nereids in the Ilessan Hills. In Cyrodiil, she crewed with a pirate captain. However, when she visited the Imperial City, Ayrenn suffered personally at the hands of Abnur Tharn. This encounter would be one of the reasons for she would push for the Aldmeri Dominion to enter the Three Banners War, with her platform being that humans have proven time and time again that they are bloodthirsty and are not fit to rule.

Queen Ayrenn laid some groundwork before she attempted to go back to Summerset and reclaim her throne through her Eyes of the Queen, which was originally an underground agency working to secure her rise to power for many years beforehand her coronation. They were later legitimized with Ayrenn's rise to power and functioned as her personal guard and intelligence organization. She met Razum-dar during her time adventuring the mainland, either in Wayrest or Whiterun. The story involved a drunken schoolmarm and a purple velvet dress. She recruited him as the first among her Eyes of the Queen, on a day where an incident involving "a certain High Elf noble seeking adventure, three bottles of whiskey, and a small fire" convinced a young Raz to leave home and go on an adventure. Never particularly fond of small-town life, Raz took the first opportunity he had to leave. Having to keep his future role as an Eye of the Queen secret, Raz chose not to tell his family that the young elf was the future Queen Ayrenn, and his mother assumed he left to chase after another pretty face.

The Unforeseen Queen

The sigil of the First Aldmeri Dominion

"I have no hatred for the races of Man, but they are young. Like all children, they are driven by emotion. They lack the wisdom that comes with age. I would sooner place an Altmer infant on the Ruby Throne than surrender Tamriel to their capricious whims.
The Altmer, the Bosmer and the Khajiit share the common traits of intelligence, patience and reason. We do not seek riches or plunder. Domination is not our goal, nor is the acclamation of power for its own sake.
Today we make our stand. Today we take back the Ruby Throne, which is ours by ancient right and the blessings of the Divines.
Stand with us."
—Ayrenn Arana Aldmeri

When her father died in 2E 580, she surfaced in Velyn Harbor to the surprise of all and returned to formally claim her birthright, becoming Queen on the 7th of Frostfall (hence her nickname, the "Unforeseen Queen"). That year, the Elden Accord was signed by Queen Ayrenn, King Aeradan Camoran of the Camoran Dynasty, and Lord Gharesh-ri of the Elsweyr Confederacy, which resulted in the formation of the first Aldmeri Dominion in 2E 580. The Bosmer joined Ayrenn's cause thanks to the Dominion facilitating Aeradan's claim to the throne of Valenwood by stopping the Blacksap Rebellion with the massacre in Cormount, orchestrated by the Jade Butcher, General Endare. The Khajiit Joined the Dominion out of respect and gratitude for the many elves who had rendered aid during the worst years of the Knahaten Flu.

Queen Ayrenn expanded the Thalmor's role to become the executive arm of the alliance, and it incorporated representatives from all three races in the Dominion's territory, in ratios appropriate to their administrative abilities. The Thalmor Inner Council served as Ayrenn's personal advisors, and included such notables as King Aeradan Camoran and Lord Gharesh-ri, as well as a number of other Bosmeri and Khajiiti nobles who were included largely as figureheads.

The Aldmeri Dominion would later come into conflict with the Daggerfall Covenant and the Ebonheart Pact, with their competing ideologies setting them on a course for war. This conflict began in earnest sometime in 2E 580. Tensions between the alliances were further exacerbated by the Soulburst and subsequent military aggression of the Empire of Cyrodiil under Empress Regent Clivia Tharn. Each alliance saw the opportunity to overthrow the corrupt Imperial regime by capturing the Imperial City and installing their own emperor on the Ruby Throne, but also had to deal with the other two alliances.

Conflict within Dominion Borders

Ayrenn readies her weapon

Altmeri nationalism and xenophobia culminated in the rise of the Veiled Heritance, in response to the rise of Queen Ayrenn and the Aldmeri Dominion. Vehemently against the young queen and her Bosmer and Khajiit allies, they sought to depose her and appoint their own monarch, the Veiled Queen, High Kinlady Estre of Errinorne. The Heritance consisted mainly of disenfranchised veterans and youths. Many more traditional Altmer despised the Dominion due to their feelings of racial superiority and disliked Ayrenn due to her unorthodox wanderings as a youth, and as such the Heritance enjoyed widespread support. However, Estre's plot was stopped and she was slain at Firsthold

Queen Ayrenn subsequently traveled to Elden Root to begin her ratification ceremony, which would divine her capacity to rule as Empress. But in order to go forward with the process, the ceremony needed three items of importance, a "divine spark," an Ayleid source of power, and a skilled operator. The Vestige traveled to separate corners of the region, to the west, they traveled to the Falinesti Winter Site, where they acquired the "divine spark," Rajhin's Mantle. To the northeast, they traveled to the Reliquary of Stars, where they would locate the Heart of Anumaril, which originally brought life to the Orrery. Finally, they traveled to the southwest, to the town of Southpoint, where the Conservator, Daraneth was located. With every component in hand, the ratification ceremony started as scheduled, but before the Queen would enter the Orrery, Naemon entered first and was transformed into an Ogrim. He was slain by the Vestige and despite the death of her brother, Ayrenn continued with the ceremony and received a vision of the Imperial City and Tamriel, at peace under the Aldmeri Dominion.

Ayrenn's rule had solidified further, but when the Staff of Magnus was stolen from Marbruk, she sent the Vestige to locate it. It had been stolen by Vicereeve Pelidil for the Veiled Heritance, who had resurrected the recently deceased Prince Naemon as a lich. Naemon's shade took the staff to Hectahame, an Ayleid ruin where the Heart of Valenwood was kept, and began the process of using the staff to corrupt the Heart. He also used it to subdue ancient wards protecting the ruins from necromancy, which had been put in place long ago after a failed attempt to raise an army of undead there. The Heritance hoped to kill the entire Valenwood by corrupting the Heart, turning it into an evil realm known as Shadow Wood. However, the Dominion were successful in infiltrating the ruins and killing the lich-lord, and the staff was returned to Queen Ayrenn.

With Ayrenn and other important figures watching at the Two Moons Path temple, the Vestige and Lunar Champion walked the last path—the Two Moons Path, where they would face Javad Tharn, and the sister would become the Mane. They traveled to the Plane of Jode and witnessed a possible future which would result in the fall of the Aldmeri Dominion, should they fail in their quest. The pair persevered and made it to the last leg of their journey. At the Den of Lorkhaj, they encountered both Javad, and the other Lunar Champion whom was possessed by the Dark Mane. Tharn planned for his tainted Lunar Champion to walk the Path to become the Mane, as they represent the soul of the Khajiiti people, and would then ensure that the Khajiiti people would be plunged into darkness. In the end, the Mane and the Moon Hallowed had prevailed, and the battle against Javad Tharn was over. The other Lunar Champion that was tainted sacrificed herself and was set free by this, and thus was able to reach Aetherius. After their victory, at Dune, Rid-Thar-ri'Datta gave his blessing for the new Mane of Elsweyr, and the Dominion was truly unified.

While Ayrenn was occupied by matters elsewhere, her cousin Alwinarwe took the title of 'Proxy Queen' and sat on the Throne of Alinor, governing Summerset in Ayrenn's stead. When Ayrenn decreed Summerset's borders open to trade and travel, she faced opposition from Summerset's nobility, although this sentiment wasn't shared by all.

A Chance for Peace

Ayrenn, Emeric, and Jorunn were subsequently targeted by the Ascendant Order, a pan-Tamrielic movement turned terrorist organization. The leaders of the Ascendant Order were secretly nobles, utilizing disgruntled commoners to fulfill their goals. The Ascendant Magus was Count Damard of House Dufort, while the Ascendant Lord was Lord Bacaro of House Volorus from Cyrodiil. Bacaro's partner and children were killed during the conflict of the Colovian Revolt, and when the Three Banners War came around, he had created the Society of the Steadfast to serve as a humanitarian organization. Lord Bacaro later settled in his holdings on the Systres and overtime, built goodwill through his Steadfast Society. He then planned to leverage his reputation to lure the major players responsible for the Three Banners War to their deaths with peace talks hosted on High Isle.

The Ascendant Lord watches as Three Banners Alliance ships sink

The Ascendant Order tampered with the invitation medallions that the Society of the Steadfast had intended for the peace talks. The medallions were intercepted, and the curses they contained were dispelled. The ships carrying the leaders of the Three Banners War sailed to Gonfalon Bay for the peace summit on High Isle, but as they approached the region from the north, their ships were caught in a brutal, albeit uncontrollable storm conjured by the Ascendant Magus. These ships were subsequently wrecked on Loch Abhain in High Isle and while their captains were apprehended by the Ascendant Order, the alliance leaders, Queen Ayrenn, King Emeric, and Prince Irnskar were lost to sea and washed ashore on Amenos' north coast. One of Amenos' prison gangs, the Green Serpents, put up a bounty for the capture of these three nobles for the Ascendant Order. And while Ayrenn and Emeric managed to escape their clutches, Prince Irnskar was taken to their hideaway, Old Coin Fort on the north coast. Arabelle sent Jakarn and the Vestige to retrieve the nobles. They both infiltrated Amenos Station's stockade to gather intel and the latter delved into the jungle to find the allied leaders. The adventurer found Ayrenn and Emeric in the wilderness but had to fight their way through the fort to rescue the prince. With their combined efforts, they safely escaped the island.

The Peace Talks

During the Ascendant Order's assassination attempt at All Flags Islet, the Ascendant Magus was unmasked and killed. Bacaro's death soon followed, his goal to ascend to become the Druid King and use its power to decimate Tamriel's armies with a dormant volcano spirit ruined. Although the peace talks were initially a trap set by Lord Bacaro, the Steadfast Society were kept in the dark about his plans and had no involvement with the Ascendant Order. Even with Lord Bacaro gone, they continued his original vision of helping those suffering from war and disaster. As Lord Bacaro had set up a trust many years ago, the society was self-sufficient, and they continued to sponsor the peace talks and take care of all the expenses. The outcome of these peace talks remains unknown, though the Three Banners faction leaders named the Vestige "Champion of the Alliances".

Legacy

In the Fourth Era, Ayrenn is still remembered for believing that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is said that she ensured every Aldmeri soldier was well fed to set oneself up for a successful day. However, some accounts say that she starved her soldiers.

Gallery

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  Ayrenn (ESO)

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  Ayrenn in ESO: High Isle

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  Ayrenn praying (Legends)

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  Ayrenn as she appears in concept art

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  Depiction of Ayrenn on horseback

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  Official commission of Ayrenn for the High Isle Chapter

Notes

• Ayrenn was originally named Ayarynne in early drafts of the ESO questline.

See Also

• For game-specific information, see the ESO and Legends Ayrenn and Ayrenn, Dominion Queen articles.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.

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