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Elder Scrolls
Sestres

Map from The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard showing the Sea of Pearls.

Thras, also known as the Coral Kingdom, or the Coral Kingdom of Thras,[1] is a partially-submerged archipelago in the Sea of Pearls[2] that has been a powerful, antagonizing power against the Summerset Isles since before recorded time. The Sload may at one time have even called Summerset part of Thras.[3] For millennia, the hulking, slug like creatures, notorious for their necromantic mastery, terrorized the Altmer, conjuring sea monsters along the coast and laying siege to Skywatch. But for all of the attacks, horror, and devastation coming from Thras,[4] very little is known about the land itself.[5]

Geography[]

Thras has a very moist climate.[5] The Sload live in both the waters and islands of Thras, growing in the water during their youth before moving onto the land when they mature.[1][6]

The first maps that were made by cartographers, who sailed to Thras and lived to tell the tale, show a group of sixteen islands in a semicircle, like a partially submerged coral atoll. Over the centuries, other maps have been charted by spies and the number and size of the islands have varied, suggesting that the amphibious Sload have a volatile kingdom which fluctuates in land mass, either by the tides or some other, less natural means.

Thras is found southwest of the Chain and near Summerset,[1] in the Cursed Sea[7] within the Sea of Pearls. The largest of the islands, Agonio, seems the most stable, though later maps show it considerably larger than earlier maps.[4] Thras is much too small to be considered a continent on its own, and is not part of Tamriel in any kind of political or cultural way.[UL 1] Descriptions of the Sea of Pearls place it in the vicinity of Pankor and The Systres, but whether these islands are considered part of Thras or not is not stated.

The true and permanent aspect of Thras, however, is not something mapmakers would know merely by looking at the land above the surface. Many Altmer have been captured by the Sload, but a few were able to escape to tell of the brackish lagoon in the center of the island chain. There, the buoyant creatures move about with relative quickness and grace through an intricate network of coral formations and ancient shipwrecks.[4]

Notable locations[]

History[]

Early History[]

Much like the beastfolk being the aboriginals of Tamriel since the early Merethic,[8] the Sload are the tribe of beastmen native to Thras.[1][5] The Sload of Thras may have been original inhabitants of Summerset as well,[4] as the oldest of all the ruins there are made of coral, thought to have been carried a great many miles away from the sea. The material and the style of the ruins strongly suggest that the Sload may have once counted Summerset as a part of their kingdom of Thras.[3]

The Sload used necromantic magic and infernal machines to attack the Altmer since before recorded time, conjuring sea monsters along the coasts and capturing many Altmer, though they have never succeeded in reclaiming Summerset.[4] During the first of the Altmeri formwars, some Altmer took on aquatic forms to become dreughs and sieged the necromantic "meatmerchants" of Thras back into their misdesigned corals sandboxes.[9][UL 2] An unnamed ship of Topal's fleet travelled north-west Summerset, towards Thras and Yokuda. It is thought that this ship and Pasquiniel may have perished at the hands of the ancient Sload, as they did not return.[10]

The first maps from cartographers who sailed to Thras and returned to tell the tale showed a group of sixteen islands, and over the centuries other maps with a different number of islands and layouts have been charted by spies, suggesting that the region is a fluctuates its landmass. Agonio has been shown to be getting bigger as the years go by.[4] The sload visited horrors upon Summerset during the Sack of Skywatch in 1E 1301, capturing some Altmer to bring them back to Thras.[3] The few Altmer that escape mention being kept in a lagoon at the center.[4]

Thrassian Plague and Fall of the Sload[]

All Flags Navy 5

The wreckage in Thras after the attack on Thras by the All Flags Navy

The Sload unleashed the Thrassian Plague in 1E 2200, which decimated more than half of Tamriel's population, particularly the western coastlands closest to Thras.[11][12] In an event known as the Fall of the Sload,[13] Bendu Olo, the Baron-Admiral of the All Flags Navy, led the largest allied naval force in Tamrielic history to Thras, slaughtered all the Sload they could find, and sunk their coral kingdoms into the sea with great unknown magicks.[1] While it's unknown when the disease fully subsided, cases of the Thrassian Plague were still being reported near Wayrest over four hundred years after its initial outbreak.[14] The effects of the Plague and the Fall were very impactful; Olo was thereafter known as the "dealer of swift justice" to the Foul Spot of Thras,[1] and the glory of the Cyrodilic people became known throughout the world.[11] Elsweyr was reduced from 16 down to 2 kingdoms,[15] Valenwood later fell to the Empire from being weakened by the plague,[16] and Hammerfell was on friendlier terms with its neigbours, all as a result of the Fall.[17]

Post-Sinking and Rise[]

The Sload were long presumed extinct after the Fall.[1] They recovered by the end of the era, and waged the War of the Uvichil from 1E 2911 to 1E 2917, regarded as one of the most terrible events in Tamriel's history.[3]

By 2E 864, Thras was considered a "free" or "wild region" by the Septim Empire, and it was reported that it had risen again. Imperial authorities encouraged citizens to report the existence its masters, the Sload, if seen in the various areas of Tamriel.[1] The Sload N'Gasta resided on an island west of Stros M'Kai at this time.[18]

In 3E 120, maps of lands beyond Tamriel, including Thras, could be seen in the Map Room of the Blue Palace.[19] By the waning years of the Third Era, from 3E 402 to 3E 432, the western seas were very quiet and Agonio had become considerably great in size, giving hope to Tamriel that the Sload had retreated back to Thras for good.[4]

Culture[]

All their heroic myths from Thras are about individuals who "sit around and think for years" on end, consulting cautiously with wise Sload, until finally they act with deliberation, always successfully. All their mythic villains act quickly, and always fail.[1] Though a godless people, the Sload Priests commune with the God of Worms following the Warp in the West.[UL 3]

The Sload sacrifice victims atop the Pillar of Thras, where some are killed by the fall, while some vanish before being dashed on the rocks. The sload do not seem certain why some were taken and some died, or even care regardless.[20] When mummifying corpses in Thras, a higher amount of salt is needed for them to be saturated due to the region's moisture.[21] It is uncertain whether Sload only practice Necromancy on other races in Thras, like they do in Tamriel, or if they practice it on each other in their homeland.[5]

Transportation[]

Younger adults lack essential surface survival skills, and are rarely seen on land. All land-traveling Sload know the Recall spell, and use it casually and frequently as the default mode of travel around Thras.[1] Sload floaters are a type of airship that run off a type of intestinal gasbags for mass transit across Thras,[22][23] along with carrying slaves from Tear and corpses from Senchal.[5] Abecean sailors commonly have sload-clusters barnacled to their ships, and beat sloadbags so that the "Thras gas" can steer them farther.[22][UL 4] The buoyant native creatures may move about with relative quickness and grace in the brackish lagoon at the center of the island chain, through an intricate network of coral formations and ancient shipwrecks.[24]

Environment[]

The Sload are native to Thras.[5] They are known to conjure "sea monsters" to attack Summerset.[24]

Appearances[]

References[]

Notice: The following are unlicensed references. They are not copyrighted by a ZeniMax Media company, but can still be considered part of The Elder Scrolls lore and are included for completeness.
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