Cyro-Bretic Historical Ties, an Examination

Cyro-Bretic Historical Ties, an Examination

By Pharresia Thysk


I.	On the origins of the Cyrodils and the Bretons

	There is little in the way of evidence regarding human settlement on Tamriel predating the late Merethic era. For this reason, a large gap exists between the divergence of the Wandering Ehlnofey from their more conservative kin and the establishment of the first tribal associations with regional cultures that may be considered the ancestors of the modern Nedic peoples. What can be surmised through observation of archaic texts and practices, however, is that very soon after beginning their nomadic existence, the descendants of the Ehlnofey soon began to drift away from a monolithic identity. As they grew in numbers and dispersed themselves into all corners of Tamriel, the proto-Nedic peoples would have had little opportunity for interaction between geographically isolated and diverse locations, so any cultural and linguistic links were bound to weaken or even disappear.

	After the children of the Wanderers grew apart so, there was very little indication that they would ever come together once again. Furthermore, additional divisions became ever emergent. Where there were once one people, tribes would drift off and become a people of their own. The clans of Bretony drifted away from those of the Reach, which likewise grew further apart from those of the Kreath, the Jerall Mountains, or the greater Colovian highlands. But the phenomenon did not end there.
	Taking the peoples of the Jeralls as an example, we may observe a fragmentation of the initial population of the wider Hrothgar-Jerall-Valus area – which, in itself, was merely a splinter group from that which once dominated the lands between Goldmoor and the Velothi Mountains. The process continued with the further division along the Jerall Mountains and again on the Jerall-Valus axis.
	Most scholars agree that the main line of division lies between the Reach and the Kreath, although there is no clean-cut divide as far as language and culture are concerned. The Reach represents the last connection between the Nedic people of Greater Bretony and Cyrodiil, a “land bridge” of sorts, left over after the Ra’Gada invasions. Prior to the great catastrophe that swept across the Deathlands, the continuum which exists today in the Reach was far wider, connecting Nedes across Hammerfell from Goldmoor to the Iliac Bay. Remnants of the pre-Ra’Gada population remain alive today, but the dynamic exchange of cultural and linguistic affinities broke down.

II.	(Cyro-)Breticism

	The first period of the so-called Breticist cultural influence coincided with the establishment of the Alessian Empire in 1E 243. During the Alessian Slave Rebellion, the Nordic mercenary bands that had aided the forces of Alessia were joined by many a Breton seeking adventure and riches in the wild, war-torn south. After victory was proclaimed at the steps of the White-Gold Palace, some Bretons decided to settle down in the Heartlands while many more arrived from Bretony, attracted by the stories brought back to the peninsula by some of the returning Bretons.
	There was little animosity towards the Altmer to be found among the people who, in many cases, themselves lived among the Altbaliche. In fact, some of those returning bands of Bretons were accompanied by Ayleid refugees moving to Altbal, and their company proved a blessing at a time when Nordic anti-Mer sentiment was at its highest (this was a number of decades after the frenzied northerners had driven the last of the Falmer out of Skyrim and only a few years since the Nordic Empire had occupied much of High Rock and terrorised the Mer living there).
	With them, the Bretic mercenaries brought ideas largely unknown to the Cyrodils; stories of chivalrous, adventurous warriors whose campaigns are fuelled by romantic pursuits of honour and fame. There was little in the way of notions of revenge or self-liberation; the Bretic man viewed the Altbaliche not as enemies but as healthy competition in his journey towards a life of fame and fortune. The many Altmer colonies in the Iliac bay were simply seen as possible avenues of attaining some of that fame and fortune, as legions of young Bretons rallied around those city states as mercenaries and bounty hunters. Very little of these cultural elements left any noticeable footprint in the Heartlands of the time as the political landscape was dominated by Nedic warlords who had either risen up in rebellion to overthrow their masters, or who had risen to the occasion in the interest of furthering their power in a post-Ayleid world, and who adopted an anti-Mer stance out of pragmatism. It was in the outlying territories that these Bretic traditions saw more successful adoption. There, the rebellion was not as bloody or could not truly be classified as a rebellion, so the power structures were not so hostile towards the Ayleids to discard all notions of peaceful accommodation. In fact, many sources from the period recognise the similarities between the societal development in both High Rock and Cyrodiil, noting the rise of a new class of Manmer in both regions.

	Although the climate in the fledgling empire was noticeably hostile towards any notions of Ayleid accommodation, it should be noted that this was nevertheless first and foremost a form of conduct necessary to, on one hand secure support for the rebellion and on the other, to strengthen the new authority after the establishment of the empire. In reality, once the fighting had mostly moved away from the Heartlands, repression against the Ayleid populace had largely subsided and many an Ayleid city-state was admitted into the Empire peacefully.
	It was only with the ascension of the Alessian Order and the enforcing of Alessian reforms that one may speak of an organised anti-Mer effort, at which point, the first period of Breticism ended as strict cultural regulations infringed on any ideas that conflicted with the dull, monolithic directions charted by the Alessian Order. Not only that but as the Alessian forces of Skyrim and Cyrodiil turned their attention towards the Direnni Altbal, most effort on the side of enterprising Breton warriors and adventurers likewise shifted as for the first time, much of the nation of Bretony was united under a single house, the Direnni mercantile clan.

	The Breton notions of adventurehood emerged in all their glory with the coming of the First Interregnum. For more than three centuries, man went against man, which naturally led Breton mercenaries into Cyrodiil again. Such was life until one Reman Cyrodiil united Cyrodiil once more before conquering much of Tamriel. Bretons became an important cultural factor again during the Potentate era, when the Syffim, the forerunners of the Fighters’ Guild, accepted many Bretons into their ranks. During the Second Interregnum, independent Breton mercenaries and Breton members of the Guild of Fighters paid an important role in the politics of a divided Cyrodiil.
	Bretic cultural imports in Cyrodiil truly thrived with the ascension of Tiber Septim, formerly Hjalti Earlybeard, onto the throne of the new Empire. Courtly intrigue, arena theatrics and the ideals of chivalrous knighthood forever changed Cyrodiil under the Septim dynasty.

	On the opposite bank, Cyro-Breticism manifested itself in truly interesting ways in High Rock. In Shornhelm, a rather minor city compared to the cities of the Iliac Bay, Andorak Septim assumed his throne after having lost the right to the Imperial throne. Andorak, son to a half Breton, half Dunmer emperor, brought much of the Heartland spirit into the kingdom as he became king and through large projects, the city of Shornhelm was transformed from its previous rather modest incarnation into a metropolis truly deserving of the title of “the Imperial City of the West”.