User blog comment:Zippertrain85/The reasons why Serana is not from the First Era./@comment-9156240-20130508234036

Just saying about the age thing and how everyone in the court knew who she was:


 * Harkon is the leader of the vampires, and I'm sure that Serana is very important to him, Maybe he doesn't love her as much as a father should, but I'm certain that he tells others about her. He most likely told the court about her over time so that on the day she returned, they would know how to properly welcome and treat her.

As for the modernized cities:


 * Skyrim is very very VERY old, and you must remember that Solitude is one of the most important cities in all of Skyrim. It's the CAPITAL! It's where the High King is supposed to live. It's got to be looking fresh. They most likely renovated the city a little bit at a time until it looked completely different, but I'm almost certain that it was around for a long time. Cities like Windhelm are not as important as Solitude, and they probably don't think it's necessary to be renovated. Besides, Skyrim isn't made out of money. They probably can't afford to make all their cities look so nice, and like I said, they most likely took their time tidying up Solitude to spread out the costs.

You should also recall that:


 * Harkon, Valerica, and Serana are the FIRST vampires. They were transformed by Molag-Bal a very very long time ago. It could have been WELL over 4,000 years. Being vampires, they lived to be very old and intelligent, they could have very likely developed their own clothing designs, or perhaps the style was a gift from Molag-Bal himself or even one of the other Daedric Princes. Who knows.


 * Moth Priests do not come from the Empire. They came from the Akaviri, who were a very intelligent race for their time and who were also renowned dragonhunters.


 * All the Nordic crypts with Draugr in them are ancient, especially the ones with Dragon Priests. It's said that they were punished with undeath for worshipping and serving Dragons, and we all know that Dragons disappeared for a VERY long time before Skyrim came out.


 * Also, it is likely that the area around Serana's protective coffin changed throughout time. It could have once been some other type of zone, like a crypt or a castle, or even deep within a large labriynth where only the strange puzzle-like coffin remained intact.