Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-5227390-20130210010500/@comment-5227390-20130210021810

No bias is unwarranted, we all have our own interests so no worries... I enjoy all the different races and their unique histories.

Yes, the Altmer are a bit aristocratic in their regards for themselves... but afterall, in the realm of Mer, they hold themselves to be the "purest" of them all.. so in some sense, that self-importance and esteem is a bit justified.

The reason the Altmer have gained such a nefarious reputation is the fact that in light of their self-regarded 'superiority,'  they chose to expand into the other areas of Tamriel (obviously by the negative influence to which I have referred previously.)  Expansion was not originally in the interests of the Altmer nor the Bosmer. Something changed in their interests... and the influence behind that change is what I wish to see driven out. That desire for expansion belongs inherantly to almost all other races but the Altmer and Bosmer. From humans to even the Argonians to a degree, they sought to spread their influence and power... the Altmeri/Bosmeri people were content remaining in their corner of Tamriel originally. (The Bosmer moved only far enough away to observe their take on ancestral rights and religion, neither of which meshed with traditional Aldmer/Altmer belief structure)

There IS something noble about an ancient race (or two) that wish only to remain in their ancestral home, meditate on their magic, their deities, and their purity. To remain as close to divine as their existance would allow. From the outside looking in, it all sounds a bit arrogant of their culture, but in reality they truly were gifted in their heritage, and close to their deitous origins. It's not that they actively despise other Mer races, but merely that they feel the Altmer presence on Nirn is more of an intended one rather than the nature of evolution and other 'divine' influences.

I'm sorry, but it kind of comes off as a bit racist... but it's all in context and culture. There's no need to revile other races if there's no need to even consider them. They were not racist... merely indifferent.

The Mer struggles in Valenwood and Sumerset Isle are actually some of the most influential events in all of Tamriel... directly effecting at different times what happened with the formation of the Empire, which led to important turning points in the homelands of the Nords, the Cyrodilic humans, the Argonians, in Hammerfell, and other areas. The Thalmor and Mer also actively chose when to engage significantly into the affairs or domination of the other races based on the major mile-stones in each race's current history making events suc has war or expansion.

Gotta give it up to the collective writers of TES lore. It's a very intricate (if not at times convoluded) and interesting history to each race and to Nirn in general. Makes each game not only fluidly move into and out of the next and prior.... but just makes a believable realm in general that we can use to imagine ourselves a part of while the controller is in our hands.