Cultures - AllisonNil/Elder-Kings-2-Wiki GitHub Wiki
Cultural Mechanics
See the official Crusader Kings III Community Wiki for mechanics and information relating to culture not introduced by Elder Kings 2.
List of Cultures
Aldmeri
The tall and light-skinned High Elves hail from the Summerset Isles. Forever mourning their lost Aldmeris, they consider themselves direct descendants of the Gods who created this world and strive to honor them with their every action. This devotion to their ancestors has led them to develop a very constrained society, but one in which every Altmer is considered divine. Those not of their tribe, however, are less fortunate and are referred to as 'lesser races.'
Argonian
The Argonians of Black Marsh are a race in many forms, some lizardlike, and others serpentine. In their own language, they are the Saxhleel — people of the roots — as they are guided in all things by the roots of the Hist. Every tribe lives among these thinking trees, who are their patrons and leaders. Thanks to the Hist, Argonians thrive in the marshes as nobody else can — but without these revered trees, all other lands are alien wastes, fit only for the most daring and detached.
Atmoran
A fierce and warlike culture, the Nords are the descendants of the last Atmoran settlers of Skyrim. They first arrived under the command of Ysgramor and came to conquer all of Skyrim. They are hardy and resilient people, and approach every endeavour with elemental violence. The Nords see themselves as eternal outsiders and invaders, and even when they conquer and rule another people, they rarely feel kinship with them.
Ayleid
The Ayleids — also known as Saliache, Wild Elves, and Heartland High Elves — are, as their many names imply, a people with a storied history. They began as Aldmeri colonists of Ald-Cyrod and lived in a great multitude of vibrant and quarrelsome city-states, with each attempting to be as different from the rest as possible. What some scholars refer to as their gruesome Empire that Alessia overthrew, the Imperatum Saliache, was likely not a conventional state, but a web of allied Ayleid cities and their vassals. They are world-weary sorcerers and artists, who once pursued limitless passions to cruel or bizarre ends, but now only long for a safe haven, and dream of their long-lost homes in the shadow of the White-Gold Tower.
Bosmeri
The Bosmer are a race of Elven clan-folk of Valenwood, a forested province in southwestern Tamriel. In the Dawn Era, Y'ffre shaped them out of the primordial Ooze in exchange for abiding by the Green Pact, a prescription that forbids harming any plant life within Valenwood and advocates a strictly carnivorous diet. Typical Bosmer are short, tanned Mer and may sport horns, flat pupils or eerie pitch black eyes. These expert bowmen coalesce in tight-knit clans, hardened by the trials of nature and internecine warfare.
Breton
No Men have felt the imprint of Elves on their culture more than the Bretons. Their name may come from the beratu (“half blood”) of the Direnni Hegemony but most Bretons have little Mer blood now. After the Battle of Glenumbra Moors they threw off the Direnni yoke to pursue their own ambitions.
With “every hill, a castle. Every castle, a kingdom”, Breton princes are fiercely independent and competitive, making use of any means necessary in their bid for power. They take pride in arcane knowledge and adherence to chivalric virtues.
Chimeri
Thousands of years ago during the Merethic Era, a Mer named Veloth received a vision bidding him to go east along with all who would listen. Soon he gathered other dissidents from Summerset Isles, all eager to shun the mainstream Aedric pantheon of the Altmer and freely worship Daedra.
During this Exodus, the Velothi overcame many ordeals and proved their faith: even a God-King failed to prevent their migration! At last they reached their destination, the lands of Resdayn. Gradually they were taught prophecy, betrayal and intrigue by their patron gods, whom they dubbed the 'Good Daedra': Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala. Under their guidance, they established a thriving civilization despite ruinous infighting and competitition with godless Dwemer and warlike Men for resources.
They became the Chimer, the Northern Folk.
Cyrodiilic
Native to the heartlands of Tamriel, the Cyrodiilics, also known as "Imperials", have dominated the continent's political and cultural arena ever since the fall of the Ayleid Empire, toppled by Saint Alessia, the Slave-Queen. Their traditional central position has left the Cyrodiilics open to the influences of most of the realms that neighbour Cyrodiil, especially from the Nords and Bretons.
Cyrodiilics take pride in their civilised manners and general competence in all pursuits, whether military, scholarly or administrative. Much of Tamriel's literature is produced by Imperial scholars (with some clear biases at times) which is a testament to their far ranging networks and advanced scholarly infrastructure.
The vastness of Cyrodiil has given origin to many local subcultures, of which the most known are the Colovians of the west and the Nibenese of the east.
Daedric
Most mortals would conjure the image of a Dremora if asked to describe Daedra: a tall armor-clad humanoid with pallid grey to ashen black skin, baleful horns and war tattoos.
Dremora clans enforce a strict hierarchy, held together by oaths of loyalty alongside worship of a patron god. Dremora are typically warlike to the extreme, with the highest positions doubling as military ranks. It is no coincidence that many clans serve Molag Bal and Mehrunes Dagon.
Dunmeri
The ashen-skinned, red-eyed Dark Elves hail from grim Morrowind in the east of Tamriel. After the Battle of Red Mountain in 1E 700, their Chimeri ancestors were changed, becoming the Dunmer of today. They have long lived under the Great Houses and Tribunal Temple, or in Ashlander clans clinging to the old Velothi pantheon.
Dwemeri
The Dwemer were reclusive subterranean Mer found all over Northern Tamriel, from the sands of Hammerfell to the ashlands of Morrowind.
No god was worthy of adoration in their eyes, the numinous cravings of other intelligent peoples being very strange to the Deep Folk. They would rather uncover the Aurbis' secrets and the path to a higher state of existence. The effortless use of Elder Scrolls demonstrates their knowledge of key secrets.
The Dwemer freehold relied on their signature metal — golden and stainless — and Animunculi, constructs powered by steam and soul magic for war and labor. Usually, settlements were independent and self-sustaining but there are records of great Dwemer kingdoms in Volenfell and Vvardenfell.
The Dwemer completely vanished after the Battle of Red Mountain in 1E 700
Falmeri
The Falmer — or "Snow Elves" — are a group of pale-skinned Mer of Aldmeri descent indigenous to what is now Skyrim. Following the Sack of Saarthal and the infamous Return, the disunited Falmer were decimated, routed or enslaved by the Nordic settlers, leaving sparse testimonies of their civilisation. While thought extinct or at least forced into hiding, some sporadic accounts claim encounters with pallid Mer; yet the descriptions of these cattle-slaughtering ghosts greatly stretch the definition of an elf with superstition.
Goblinken
Small and hunchbacked, the stunted look of the Goblin-Ken doesn't help alleviate their meagre existences. They suffer endless ridicule and mistreatment from other races, most not even considering them to be sapient beings on the same level despite plenty evidence to the contrary. They are nevertheless hardy and resilient in the face of a world stacked against them.
Imga
The apefolk known as 'Imga' are denizens of Greenshade, claiming to predate even the Bosmer. Their frequent polyglossia has given birth to rumors of extreme xenophily. In truth, the Imga appreciate nobility and courage, reputed to be common among wayfarers. This can be traced back to the Early First Era, when many Imga leveraged the administrative vacuum to become itinerant governors or merchants under Camoran mandate.
Newly enriched, some households trekked outside of their native Valenwood in search of further opportunities. Stubborn legends claim that one of those tribes harbored the ancestors of Marukh, the Prophet of the One. Although no source has corroborated that he was an Imga, it's widely assumed he was, due to his physique.
- Imga
Khajiiti
The feline Khajiit (from the Ta'agra “Sandwalkers”) are natives of Elsweyr, a land of deserts and jungles. The archetypal humanoid Cathay is only one of many forms. Called Furstocks, they assume these shortly after their birth depending on the Moons' phases.
The diversity of Khajiit forms doesn't lose out to the depth of their culture which is roughly split along the northern and southern biomes of Elsweyr.
Lilmothiit
The crafty founders of Blackrose and Lilmoth, the Lilmothiit are said to be distant cousins of the Khajiit and, perplexingly, the Bosmer. Once found all over Black Marsh, a series of catastrophes throughout history left but a remnant population on the edge of Murkwood. They lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle where migratory kinship groups and compact meritocratic cities coexist in delicate cooperation. A curious detail of Lilmothiit physiology is their apparent lack of gender dimorphism which is emphasized in their Lorkhanic myths.
Maormeri
The Maormer are the descendants of the Aldmeri insurrectionists who were banished from Aldmeris to Pyandonea for the crime of change-seeking. They are commonly believed to be led by the god-king Orgnum, but far from all Maormer recognize his spiritual or temporal primacy. Indeed, many of those exiles had nothing to do with Orgnum's rebellion; the Aldmer lumped all their dissidents together and sent them off beyond the veil of mist in the south.
Today, Pyandonea lives in flux, divided between the fane-dwelling Orgnumic mainlanders and the heterodox islanders who cling still to their baroque Aldmeri thought. Thus the home of the Maormer is never at peace: the islands clash against the mainland, and the mainland strives for Orgnum's fickle favor, for theirs is a reclusive master.
Central Nedic
Nedes are the collective human tribes native to Tamriel. Originally inhabiting the Iliac Bay, Southern Skyrim, Cyrodiil and Argonia; many tribes would be displaced or subsumed by later migrations of man and mer. The largest extant population of Nedes are the $reachfolk$ of the Reach, natively 'The Karth' - once a kingdom in its own right prior to Reman splitting the lands between High Rock and Skyrim.
While many of their cultures are extinct or near to it, an aspiring ruler could lead their revival...
North Nedic
Nedes are the collective human tribes native to Tamriel. Originally inhabiting the Iliac Bay, Southern Skyrim, Cyrodiil and Argonia; many tribes would be displaced or subsumed by later migrations of man and mer. The largest extant population of Nedes are the Reachfolk of the Reach, natively 'The Karth' - once a kingdom in its own right prior to Reman splitting the lands between High Rock and Skyrim.
While many of their cultures are extinct or near to it, an aspiring ruler could lead their revival...
South Nedic
Nedes are the collective human tribes native to Tamriel. Originally inhabiting the Iliac Bay, Southern Skyrim, Cyrodiil and Argonia; many tribes would be displaced or subsumed by later migrations of man and mer. The largest extant population of Nedes are the Reachfolk of the Reach, natively 'The Karth' - once a kingdom in its own right prior to Reman splitting the lands between High Rock and Skyrim.
While many of their cultures are extinct or near to it, an aspiring ruler could lead their revival...
Orcish
The Orcs are a green-skinned and tusked race. Scattered across Tamriel, thriving mostly in stark mountains and harsh terrain, they are united by their respect for strength — for which they are recognised across Tamriel as soldiers and smiths — and their distrust for outsiders. Beyond this, few orcish settlements are the same as others. Some orcs are mobile, and others settled; some live in large cities and fortifications, and others in strongholds with their clans.
Tsaesci
The lush emerald valleys of Akavir are home to the Tsaesci, whose bloodline originates from across the Padomaic Ocean. The core trait of all Tsaesci cultures is their adherence to the art and philosophy of Tsaescence. A macabre, yet elegant practice, which is often villified by those who don't understand it.
Yokudan
The Yokudans are dark-skinned, wiry-haired humans native to the western continent of Yokuda, across the Eltheric Ocean. In the Early First Era Yokuda was destroyed as a conclusion of a long series of civil wars, though some scholars dispute it and blame its destruction on natural catastrophic quakes. This event forced many of them into a bloody and ruthless migration to Tamriel, in the lands that are now called Hammerfell. Descendants of Yokudans in Tamriel are known as Redguards, a term coined after the infamous Ra Gada, or 'warrior waves'.