ESO and ancient Tamriel

The First and Second Era

The long foundations of Tamriel before the Septim Empire.

6 steps1 min read

What it is

The early eras are the deep history of Tamriel: cultures form, empires rise and fall, and the provinces develop the identities later games use as political fault lines.

The Elder Scrolls Online is set in this earlier world, where competing alliances and Daedric threats make the continent feel familiar but not yet shaped by the later Septim order.

The early eras establish Tamriel as a place where empire, local cultures and divine claims repeatedly overlap. Their value is not a single chronology to memorize, but a record of why later heroes inherit incompatible stories about legitimacy and the gods.

The eras are not background wallpaper for later games. They explain why a province can see the same imperial symbol as protection, occupation, sacred inheritance or a reason to rebel.

The short version

  • ESO explores Tamriel before the later single-player games.
  • The provinces already have distinct cultures and rival ambitions.
  • Daedric intervention is a recurring pressure across every era.
  • Tamrielic history is contested inside the setting, which is why myths and political records often tell different truths about the same past.

The story in 6 steps

  1. Step 1

    Build Tamriel

    Peoples and provinces establish the identities later empires try to rule.

  2. Step 2

    Fight for alliances

    Power is distributed among competing kingdoms rather than one stable Empire.

  3. Step 3

    Meet the Daedra

    Otherworldly powers repeatedly exploit mortal division.

  4. Step 4

    Lead into the Third Era

    The foundations explain why later imperial unity is always fragile.

  5. Step 5

    Read history as a conflict

    Begin with the idea that every empire and faith preserves a version of the past that supports its present authority.

  6. Step 6

    Compare competing inheritances

    When a later character invokes history, ask which version of Tamriel's past gives that claim authority and which communities remember it differently.

Where to go next

All regions of The Elder Scrolls

Games set here