Tsaesci

Tsaesci is the name of one of the regions on the continent of Akavir, the one most familiar to inhabitants of Tamriel. It appears to be the largest and most powerful of the Akaviri kingdoms, and is the one most geographically close to Tamriel. The name is also used by the inhabitants of the region to refer to themselves.

The First Tsaesci Invasion
For thousands of years, the Tsaesci lived, and presumably thrived, on Akavir, without disturbing or being disturbed by Tamriel. Late in the First Era, around 2703, the Tsaesci invaded Tamriel, at a time when the Cyrodiilic empire was still fairly small. This invasion is usually credited with forcing the Colovian Empire to officially join the Cyrodiilic Empire, under then-Emperor King Reman I. The invaders managed to fight their way through northern Tamriel, into the Jerall Mountains near modern-day Bruma. Reman eventually defeated the Tsaesci, trapping them at Pale Pass and cutting off their supply lines until they died or fled back to Akavir.

After their defeat, the Empire granted amnesty to many of the remaining Tsaesci men, including taking them on in key political and military roles. The Tsaesci presumably bred into the Imperial families, as Tsaesci surnames are now considered a thing of pride among Imperial nobility. There are rumored to be small clans of "true" Akaviri still on Tamriel, though the details are sketchy. The military prowess of the Tsaesci was one of the key reasons the Empire was able to expand as successfully as it did.

A Serpent King
At the end of the First Era, in 1E 2920, a Tsaesci Potentate named Versidue Shaie was advisor to Emperor Reman III as part of the emperor's attempt to conquer Morrowind. The Potentate however, was secretly plotting to eliminate the royal family (another possible source of their depiction in as "snake-men"), and eventually succeeded. The heirs of Reman III were all killed, in battle or by hired assassins, and eventually Reman himself died without a successor. The Potentate assumed command of the Empire, and his bloodline ruled for a few decades, until he and his son were assassinated by the Morag Tong and Dark Brotherhood, and the Elder Council put an Imperial back on the throne. At that point, the Tsaesci and Akavir in general disappeared from historical record, until the time of Uriel V and his Akaviri invasion.

Uriel and the Tsaesci
Around 3E 290, Near the end of his reign, Emperor Uriel Septim V launched an invasion of Akavir. Septim had mostly succeeded in stabilizing his empire on Tamriel, including retaking lands recently lost to revolt, and was anxious to focus the might of the Empire outside of itself. Relying primarily on information retained from the First Era Potentates, and extensive reconnaissance of the areas between Akavir and Tamriel, the Emperor launched a military intiative to conquer the small island kingdoms in the Padomaic Ocean, to the east of Morrowind. When he finally reached Akavir itself (roughly 2400 miles east of Tamriel), he landed in the kingdom of Tsaesci, on the southeastern Akaviri coast.

According to the official record of the invasion, it was initially successful, but primarily due to a lack of Tsaesci resistance. Once the Tsaesci armies decided to put up a fight, the Imperial armies were routed in short order, with nearly the entire invasion force lost. Only a fraction of one naval fleet managed to return across the ocean to safety back home. The Emperor himself was killed before he was able to flee Akavir, and to date there has not been any subsequent attempts to invade the continent. In addition to the obvious military prowess of the Tsaesci, there are persistant rumors that the Tsaesci mages possess very potent abilities, including changing the weather patterns off the Akaviri coast, and large-scale disruption of magical communication lines.

Tsaesci Appearance
The continent of Akavir, in general, is the least understood of all of Nirn's continents. Only three times in recorded history have inhabitants from the two continents mingled, all three being military invasions, two of which involved the Tsaesci. Thus, the Tsaesci are the only race on Akavir that the majority of Tamriel has even heard of. What little we do know about Akavir's other races comes from accounts related by the Tsaesci Potentates near the end of the First Era.

Even though the Tsaesci are the best known of Akavir's inhabitants, very little is known about them, and much of it is contradictory or cryptic. Within the current lore of Tamriel, there are two quite different depictions of the Tsaesci. Some evidence seems to indicate that the Tsaesci are humans, much like the Nords and Redguards from their respective continents. Other evidence, however, paints a much stranger picture of the Tsaesci, as vampiric snake-like creatures that feed on humans. To date, there has not been sufficient evidence gathered to conclusively prove or disprove either, or both, of these depictions.

Snake Folk
Early depictions of the Tsaesci almost invariably describe them as having the upper body of a man but the lower body of a snake. The most direct evidence of these "snake folk" comes from Mysterious Akavir, which claims that the vampire snakes of Tsaesci ate all of the humans that once lived on Akavir. The reputability of this book is frequently questioned, however, as few of its other claims have been independently verified. A much more reliable source is the series of 2920 books that describe the events that ushered in the Second Era. One of the key elements of this series is the plot by the Tsaesci Potentate, a close advisor to Emperor Reman III, to have the king and his heirs assassinated, and assume the throne in his place. Though the books are written in a narrative, as opposed to a historical style. They are extensive, detailed, and the author is considered to be quite credible. These books explicitly describe the Tsaesci Potentate, and his son, in serpentine terms (as "eels", moving by "slithering", etc.) An obscure text known as And We Ate It To Become It, purporting to be the Tsaesci's version of the creation myth, is strongly steeped in snake-like and reptile-like symbolism and phraseology. i like turtels and chicken dippers, and turkeys scare me.

Men
Other written accounts of the Tsaesci seem to contradict the popular legend, however. A religious text on the Imperial creation myth, The Annotated Anuad, lists the Tsaesci alongside the Redguard and Nedes as one of the races of men. A detailed report of Uriel V's invasion of Akavir, which first attempted to conquer Tsaesci, describes them as mounted men, and makes no mention of snake-like qualities.

In addition, the Tsaesci had a very strong influence on Imperial culture dating from the early Second Era, including being the genesis for the Fighter's Guild and the Imperial special forces, the Blades. Despite this, there are no pictorial depictions, or any other physical evidence, that would indicate that the Tsaesci were anything other than human. The question has been further complicated by a recent re-discovery of a Tsaesci fortress, deep in the Pale Pass on the Cyrodiil/Skyrim border. The remains of the Tsaesci found inside, including the apparition of a Tsaesci officer, all appeared entirely human. The Tsaesci also interbred heavily with the aristocracy of the time. Modern-day nobles consider it a high honor to possess a Tsaesci surname and facial features.

Theories
There are a variety of theories that attempt to explain this contradiction. The most clear-cut are simply that one or the other of these conflicting images of the Tsaesci are simply wrong. Many scholars have attempted to reconcile the contradiction in a more practical manner. Some of the better-known theories are:


 * The Tsaesci are entirely human, but their choice of armor (dragonscale), fighting style (katana blades with martial arts like maneuvers), and mounts (red dragons) earned them the name "snake men" from the Imperial Armies. Over centuries, this name came to be taken literally, until modern legend paints them as actual half-snake-half-man monsters,


 * The Tsaesci are entirely snakes, but have enslaved the humans on their continent (instead of eating them) and use the humans to make up the bulk of their armies. As political savants, the Tsaesci were wise enough to limit their direct interation with humans from other lands to only high-ranking nobles of both races. In this case, both the snake people and their human slaves would be considered Tsaesci, with the humans being able to blend in with Imperial society. This also puts a slightly different spin on the "amnesty" granted by Reman I -- it may have been more of an asylum for the human slaves against their Tsaesci masters.


 * The snake-like Tsaesci recruited mercenaries, pirates, and other for-hire fighters to make up the bulk of their armies for their first invasion of Tamriel. There are many reasons they may have chosen to do so, not the least of which is that it seems to have worked better than Uriel V's tactic of sending his own armies into a totally foreign land. To do so, the Tsaesci would have likely needed to train, and possibly breed, humans on their home continent, and used the remnants of their armies to defend Akavir after their failed invasion. In this scenario, the citizens of Tamriel may have falsely believed the human mercenaries to be Tsaesci, and the mercenries weren't inclined to correct them.


 * The Tsaesci are a powerful race of magical, vampiric beings with the ability to "absorb" other races and take on their characteristics. This theory is supported by some of the more oblique writings on the Tsaesci, which describe them as "eating" all of the men on Akavir, and as constantly changing until ultimately they took on a final form, which they "ate" so as "to become it". (Thus the title of their creation myth.) Under this theory the snake-like Tsaesci devoured humans, including the entire human population of Akavir, but were able to take on their form when it suited them, such as interacting with Tamriel's population, it is possible that their appearance changed as they devoured humans thus creating the argonian race.
 * The Tsaesci are snakes, who along with the Ka Po' Tun have a magical ability to shape shift into the animals they identify with their cultures. This gives them the ability to take on the power of that animal. The eating of humans is a symbolic reference to the Tsaesci ability of adapting foreign cultures into their own. For instance "the eating of the Ka Po' Tun" is symbolism describing cultural absorption in their large empire. The rumor that they are literally snakes either comes from the confusion of Tsaesci magic or cultural prejudice against them.

Tsaesci Culture
Regardless of which of the views of the Tsaesci people are correct, there is a good bit of information available on their culture, dating from the time of their first invasion. The Tsaesci were known as powerful warriors, especially when mounted, and are very disciplined soldiers. Their battle prowess made them ideal as guardsmen, and by the Third Era, the Akaviri men were training nearly the entire Imperial Army, and Imperial Guard, and made up the bulk of the Fighter's Guild and the Emperor's personal guard. The Emperors of Cyrodiil also traditionally kept a Tsaesci adviser, or Potentate on hand.

The Tsaesci fought with daikatana blades, and wore dragonscale armor. The Tsaesci army gear became the source of most of the traditional dress and banners of the Blades. The Tsaesci also apparently had tamed, and perhaps even rode, the Akaviri dragons in battle. The red dragon was eventually adopted as the main symbol of the Imperial Septim Dynasty. Of particular note is the fact that Reman I was the Emperor who instituted the tradition of lighting the dragonfires, and Reman was ruling Cyrodiil at the time of the Tsaesci invasion.

In addition to being powerful individual warriors, the Tsaesci are very potent as a unified military force. A relatively small invasion force managed to fight its way through all of Skyrim, and into the northern Jerall Mountains, before ultimately being stopped only by the combined armies of Cyrodiil, Colovia, and their allies. When Uriel V invaded Akavir, with as large an army as he dared pull out of Cyrodiil, he was soundly defeated by a Tsaesci army that, by all reports, was barely even seen before they struck. The military prowess of the Tsaesci so impressed Reman I that he granted amnesty to any Tsaesci left on Tamriel after their failed invasion, and promoted a Tsaesci advisor to the high political office of Potentate.

Tsaesci