Hammerfell/History

First Era
The history of Hammerfell began long before the arrival of the Redguards upon its shores. The land between the Iliac Bay and the Gold Coast of Cyrodiil was called Hegathe, roughly meaning "Death Lands", in the tongue of the Aldmerpeoples. The Ayleid elves set up coastal settlements in the southern portion of what is now Hammerfell, though none survived into the Third Era. The northern Elves, and their Breton descendants, also set up coastal settlements, which became, after the Ra Gada conquest, the cities of Sentinel and Lainlyn.

The Dwemer became the first to fully settle Hammerfell in the year 1E 420. The Rourken Clan of Dwemer left theirMorrowind brethren after the formation of the First Council alliance between the Dwemer and the Chimer. Legend has it that the leader of the Rourken threw his hammer, Volendrung, and built Volenfell, the capital of the Western Dwemer, where it landed. Other famous Dwemer cities include the citadel on the island of Stros M'kai and Fang Lair in theDragontail Mountains. After the Battle of Red Mountain and the disappearance of the Dwemer in the year 1E 700, their fantastical cities were lost to looters, professional expedition groups, the Falmer and the elements of nature. Savage beasts that had once been kept at bay by the Dwemer returned to Hammerfell once more.

The arrival of the Ra Gada (Warrior Wave) in the year 1E 808, marked the beginning of a modern era for Hammerfell.

Leaving their homeland of Yokuda following its decimation in the early eight hundreds, the Ra Gada first landed on the isles of Herne, and then continued onto the other eastern isles and to the mainland by way of the Hew's Bane peninsula. The Redguards - as the Ra Gada came to be called - were a fierce and warlike people, and easily conquered the Breton and Imperial peoples along with the savage beasts and beast-folk of the province.

The Redguards, due to their warrior prowess, managed to subdue all of Hammerfell in a few battles. They quickly built cities atop the ruins of newly conquered cities and ancient ones alike, and within a matter of years the province was theirs. The Imperial, Nord, and Breton peoples did not forgive the Redguard conquest of their lands, and skirmishes continued along the borders for the rest of the century.

Only when the Orsimer nation of Orsinium appeared to challenge their dominance did the Redguards join forces with the Bretons. An alliance of the Sword Singer Order of Diagna, led by Gaiden Shinji; the kingdom of Daggerfall, led by King Joile; and the armies of Sentinel, began an epic siege of Orsinium in the year 950. After thirty years of constant warfare, the Orc kingdom proved to be too much for the alliance. This shared battle led to improved diplomacy between the Redguards and their neighbors. The Redguards opened their borders for trade and to assist other nations in their own wars - such as the alliance with Bendu Olo of the Cyrodilic kingdom of Anvil against the Sload.

Bringing in experience from their native Yokuda, the Redguards were able to tame the harsh land and thrive where others perished. Their culture, religion, and even government were transplanted whole to the new land and their civilization flourished. The new environment did however bring about change. The Yoku language was replaced with the common tongue of Tamriel to better trade with their neighbors, and some of the Ra Gada gods, minor deities in particular, began to take on more Tamrielic aspects. Many of the lower class Yoku and the Ra Gada wanted to adapt and assimilate to the ways of their new land, while the upper class and the Na-Totambu, or ruling class, wanted to keep their traditional ways.

Cities along the border, such as Sentinel in the north and Rihad in the south, adapted particularly fast to the new Tamrielic culture. Trade and cultural interaction encouraged assimilation, and the peoples in those areas became increasingly Imperial. Over time, their views and customs differed enough from that of the traditional Redguards for them to separate into a wholly new sociopolitical faction: The Forebears. Tension between the factions continued to build for the next two thousand years.

Second Era
In the year 862 of the Second Era, High King Thassad II died of natural causes and the province plunged into a bloody civil war between the Crowns and the Forebears. Prince A'Tor, heir to the throne of Hammerfell, led the Crown forces against the Forebears. Just as the Crown victory appeared certain, the Forebears made a pact with Tiber Septim, who agreed to send his forces into Hammerfell to defeat A'Tor in exchange for Hammerfell's allegiance to the Septim Empire.

Tiber crushed the weakened Crown forces and took mainland Hammerfell. A'Tor and the loyal Crown forces were forced to flee to Stros M'kai, an island fortress in the south of Hammerfell. At the Battle of Hunding Bay, A'Tor met the forces of Tiber Septim in a magnificent naval battle. Just as the Crown forces were about to defeat the Imperial Navy, Dram, a famous Dunmer assassin, shot Prince A'Tor with a poisoned arrow. The Dragon Nafaalilagus, thrall of the Empire, burned down the remaining Redguard forces - and with them the hopes of Hammerfell's sovereignty. Tiber Septim garrisoned Imperial forces in each of Hammerfell's cities and installed Imperial governors to rule the province.

Shortly after, in the year 2E 864, rebellion again arose on Stros M'kai. Cyrus, a Redguard mercenary, defeated first Nafaalilagus and then Governor Amiel Richton, forcing Tiber Septim to sue for peace with Hammerfell. The Empire conceded to let Hammerfell keep many of their traditions and government, and removed the Imperial garrisons and governors from the provinces.

Cyrus, Sura in the Yoku tongue, was the center of many legends. Many Redguard considered him an incarnation of theHoonDing - the Yokudan god of Make Way and Perseverance over Infidels - due to his defeat of the Empire at Stros M'kai. Additionally, there were legends of him battling the Dunmer god Vivec among the wreckage of Yokuda.

Third Era
The coming of the Empire only widened the rift between the Crowns and Forebears however. When the Camoran Usurpermarched on Hammerfell, the Crowns refused assistance to their Forebear brethren in Rihad and Taneth, leading to their defeat and the fall of southern Hammerfell in the Battle of Dragontooth in 3E 253. The Camoran Usurper decimated much of western Hammerfell until he was finally defeated by the navy of High Rock.

Neither did the Forebears come to the assistance of the Crowns in 3E 396, when the Nords attacked Hammerfell in what was known in the Third Era as the War of Bend'r-mahk. That division left Hammerfell weakened, allowing the Nords to capture significant parts of eastern Hammerfell, including the cities of Elinhir, and Dragonstar. Dragonstar became divided into two distinct cities, its eastern half controlled by Skyrim and its western half controlled by Hammerfell. That division remained into the Fourth Era.

War came again to Hammerfell in the year 3E 402, when the kingdoms of Sentinel and Daggerfall went to war over who was to control Betony Island in the Iliac Bay. Priest Vanech of Daggerfall considered the island a holy realm of Kynarethand refused to cede it to Hammerfell. The High Rock city-state Reich Gradkeep agreed to meditate between Lysandus of Daggerfall and Camaron of Sentinel. At those negotiations, Vanech submitted a fake treaty which upset Camaron and eventually plunged the city-state into chaos. Total war erupted between Daggerfall and Sentinel. The war reached its climax at the Battle of Cryngaine Field. King Lysandus was slain on the field of battle, and his son, Gothryd, was crowned King of Daggerfall. King Camaron was likewise slain, and Lord Oresme surrendered to High Rock.

In an attempt to cement peace between the rival states of Sentinel and Daggerfall, King Gothryd of Daggerfall was married to Princess Aubk-I of Sentinel.

In the year 3E 417 conflict again plagued the Iliac Bay region as the kingdoms of Sentinel, Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Orsinium, as well as the Blades, the Underking, and the Order of the Black Worm, vied over the control of the Numidium, a powerful Dwemer golem used by Tiber Septim to conquer the continent. The Mantella, a device needed to power the Numidium, was in the hands of the Hero of Daggerfall.

In the end, it was not known who received control of the Numidium. It was said that the various squabbling factions destroyed each other, bringing about the mysterious event known as the Dragonbreak, or, in that case, the Miracle of Peace.

The Miracle of Peace redefined politics in the Iliac Bay. High Rock, once a realm of over a hundred squabbling city-states, consisted of only three after the Miracle of Peace: Daggerfall, Wayrest, and Nova Orsinium. Mannimarco, the King of Worms and the leader of the Order of the Black Worm, ascended into godhood and the Underking was able to die a mortal death after the Mantella, which was made from his life-force, was returned to him. Finally, there was peace between High Rock, Hammerfell, and Orsinium.[2] Following the Miracle of Peace, the Forebear kingdom of Sentinel grew to encompass the entirety of the northern coast of Hammerfell, for Abibon-Gora in the west to Satakalaam in the east, at the mouth of the Bjoulsae River. As most of the formerly independent lands in this northern area were Crown in sympathy, King Lhotun was continually involved in military, diplomatic, and even religious missions to keep them under his wing. Lhotun was forced to create what some considered a third party, one with reverence for the Yokudan past but respect for the Imperial ways which, appropriately enough, came to be called the Lhotunic.

Unsurprisingly, the moderate Lhotunics attracted nothing but contempt from the Crown and Forebear kingdoms alike. Clavilla, the Queen of Taneth, tried without success to have the charters of the independent guilds revoked from all sentinel lands, saying that the accepted worship of Satakal was grounds enough for heresy against the Empire. Ayaan-si, High Prophet of Elinhir, called upon the True Crowns of the north to rebel against Lhotun, and financed a number of forays against the borders in Bergama and Dak'fron. His one success was significant. The land of Totambu, named in ancient days after the Na-Totambu of Yokuda, the progenitors of the Crowns, returned to his fold and declared independence from Sentinel. As Lhotun's kingdom surrounded Totambu on all four sides, it was questionable how much longer it could have afforded to assert itself, but nonetheless, its people held their resistance.

Eastern Hammerfell, less concerned with Sentinel, continued its efforts to take back the lands conquered by Skyrim in the War of Bend'r-Mahk. There was no question that Redguards, while lacking the cohesiveness as a society to form effective armies, were once and still remain, excellent warriors and unmatched in guerrilla warfare. Still, little ground was regained, for the Nords too were renowned warriors.

Fourth Era
The Fourth Era made the Empire even more of a shadow of its former glory. Valenwood and Elsweyr had been ceded to the Thalmor, Black Marsh had been lost to Imperial rule since the Oblivion Crisis, Morrowind had yet to fully recover from the eruption of Red Mountain,  and Hammerfell was plagued by infighting between the Crowns and Forebearsfactions. Only Skyrim, High Rock and Cyrodiil remained prosperous.

4E 171 — The Great War begins with armies from the Aldmeri Dominion invading the Imperial provinces of Hammerfell and Cyrodiil.

After Titus II rejects an ultimatum to make massive concessions to the Thalmor, Aldmeri armies invade. An army led by Thalmor general Lord Naarifin emerges from hidden camps in northern Elsweyr and assaults southern Cyrodiil, flanking Imperial defenses along the Valenwood border. Leyawiin falls to the invaders, and Bravil is surrounded and besieged. Simultaneously, an army under Lady Arannelya crosses western Cyrodiil, bypassing Anvil and Kvatch and entering Hammerfell. This army is joined by smaller forces landing on Hammerfell's coast. Imperial troops are forced into retreat across the Alik'r Desert.

4E 174 — The Imperial City is sacked by Aldmeri forces.

Titus II flees north from the city, smashing through the surrounding Aldmeri forces with his main army and linking up with reinforcements heading south from Skyrim under General Jonna. The Imperial City falls to the invaders. The Imperial Palace is burned, White-Gold Tower is looted, and the Aldmeri commit many atrocities against the defenseless populace.

4E 175 — The Battle of the Red Ring results in the complete destruction of the Aldmeri army in Cyrodiil, a victory for the Empire precipitating the end of the Great War.

The Imperial City is retaken and Titus II's decision to withdraw from it the previous year is vindicated. Despite this resounding victory, however, the Empire is exhausted and unable to continue the war. Realizing this, Titus II seeks to negotiate with the Aldmeri Dominion to end the war.

4E 175 — The Great War ends with the White-Gold Concordat.

The Concordat is a peace treaty between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion. The terms of treaty gave the Thalmor free reign to stamp out the worship of Talos throughout the Empire, and ceded a large section of southern Hammerfell. Critics note that these terms are almost identical to the ultimatum that Titus Mede II rejected at the start of the war.

4E 175 — Hammerfell leaves the Empire after rejecting the White-Gold Concordat.

Titus II renounces Hammerfell as a province of the Empire to preserve the treaty after the Redguards oppose ceding their lands. The Redguards see this as a betrayal, and a lasting bitterness between Hammerfell and the Empire is sown to the delight of the Thalmor. Hammerfell continues to war with the Aldmeri Dominion for the next five years.

4E 180 — The Second Treaty of Stros M'kai is signed.

Having been fought to a standstill by the Redguards, the Aldmeri Dominion completely withdraws from Hammerfell, making Hammerfell the only nation to defeat the Third Aldmeri Dominion. The fact that this was done largely by themselves makes this feat more impressive. Finally, through the cooperation between Forebearers and Crowns, the civil war in Hammerfell ends.