Lore:Nede

The Nedes (more commonly known as Nedic peoples) were a race of men who were widespread in Tamriel until the First Era, when they were absorbed into the bloodlines of the modern human races. Their characteristics and ancestry are unknown because of conflicting historical accounts and definitions of the word, but modern-day Cyrodiils (especially the Nibenese) are known to be their closest relatives. The true story of their origins became lost and confused during Tamriel's violent past, and is now a subject of debate among students of history. Efforts to interpret surviving records have given rise to several schools of thought, and some explanation is needed to separate fact from the overlooked details and possible propaganda of official accounts. (Those who seek quick reference on the importance of this race should skip to the Legacy of the Nedics section.)

Scholarly Confusion

As stated prior, the term Nede, or Nedic, is itself the subject of debate. Sources may be referring to very different groups of people when they use this name, a discrepancy which is an endless source of confusion.

The document Before the Ages of Man uses the word Nedic as a synonym for Nordic: the Atmoran settlers who followed Ysgramor to Tamriel. According to this text and some others, Nedes are simply Nords.

Frontier, Conquest corrects the earlier documents, identifying the Nedic peoples as those who migrated to Tamriel in a slow trickle over hundreds of years, since time immemorial up to the day Ysgramor set sail. The third edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire endorses this view. Here, Nedes are Nordic by race but not necessarily by custom or religion, as they arrived in small numbers in a continent already populated by many cultures of elves and indigenous men.

This brings us to the hitherto-unexamined memoirs of the demigod Morihaus, The Adabal-a. This ancient account of Cyrodiil under Ayleid rule uncovers for the first time the existence of humans who hail from neither Yokuda nor Atmora: the indigenous tribes of Cyrod. Listed here are the Kothri, the Al-Gemha, Men-of-Ge, Al-Hared and Men-of-Ket. This partial list, though vague, has large implications for the study of human history. It is probable that all these tribes are like the Kothringi: men who always lived as a minority in elven lands. They are no longer known by their own names, but their blood is present in veins of modern Cyrodiil, just as their customs formed the cultural background of the province, Nibenay in particular. The Nedes are presented as yet another of these groups, and no mention is made of their having come from Atmora. Here, it can be surmised that the Nedic people are indigenous, and racially unrelated to those of Atmoran descent.

With the insight gained from this source, the document Frontier, Conquest, Accommodation reads differently. It describes aboriginals and peoples who have lived in Tamriel since recorded history began. When one considers that the Nords believe Skyrim to be the place where they were created (specifically, on the mountain High Hrothgar), the line between Atmoran and indigenous blurs, since the Nords may have been originally from Tamriel as well (the Cyrodilic Moth Priests claim that all life originated on the central continent). This raises the possibility that The Abadal-a and Frontier, Conquest, Accommodation could be in agreement, and that the latter document's Atmoran migrants may have been lumped together with indigenous people under the label Nedic.

Why has the term "Nedic peoples" been in use while the names of the other tribes have been forgotten? The plural "peoples" provides a clue. It now appears probable that the term "Nedic" has been used by historians to refer to all human people not of Atmoran or Yokudan descent, a catch-all for the forgotten cultures of Tamriel's confused past. In fact, the singular form of the word, "Nede" is only seen in the Adabal-a, where it refers to a single tribe, not several races or a diverse collection of immigrants. Readers should therefore consider just who the word may be referring to in any given source.

Given the convoluted, magical tale that is the development of Tamriel's races, this confusion is understandable. It may also have been increased by propaganda. Tiber Septim revitalized the capital and with it Cyrodiil's cultural vitality, but he was also closely tied to Skyrim politically and ideologically. He claimed that he was born in Atmora, a physical impossibility given that no ship had come from the icy continent in hundreds of years. Sources setting his birth at Alcaire in High Rock also give his birth name as Hjalti Early-Beard, an unmistakably Nordic identity. This preference continued when he came to power, as he famously founded a school dedicated to the lost art of thu'um. Sources prior to this courting of Nordic identity regard the Nedes as separate from Atmora; after this cultural shift, they are identified as coming from the north.

Legacy of the Nedics

The Nedic peoples, though often neglected by the written histories, contributed greatly to the culture and attributes of the modern human races. The Bretons trace their lineage back to the early Nedic inhabitants of High Rock who intermingled with the Direnni Altmer of the region, as well as Atmoran slaves taken from Skyrim. At the time of the Alessian Rebellion, the Nedes were a prominent tribe of Cyrodiil, having shared it with the other tribes of the region for generations. Thus, the modern Imperial is a product of many bloodlines: Nordic, pre-Ysgramor Atmoran, and that of the many indigenous tribes, such as the Keptu and Kothringi. Long before Ysgramor's return and the final wave of migration from Atmora, the Nedic peoples populated coastal settlements in western Cyrodiil, Hammerfell, and possibly Morrowind. The Nedic peoples, whether this term refers to pre-Ysgramor Atmorans, one tribe out of many, or all of them together, played a lasting role in the development of the continent.

References

Note: the following references are not found in game. They are included to provide a rounder background to this article, but may not reflect established lore.