In the foothills of the Jerall Mountains, west of Kingscrest Keep, three ghostly figures can be found guarding the sealed entrance to the Ayleid ruins of Sedor. These ruins play an important part in human history, for it was here during the Alessian Slave Rebellion that the wandering King, Pelinal Whitestrake, won back the freedom of the ‘Thousand-Strong of Sedor’, a human tribe enslaved and held captive by the ancient Mer who inhabited here.

To humans, especially Cyrods, Whitestrake is a hero and a saint, a Divine Crusader who helped free Cyrodiil from Mer oppression. To the Ayleid’s he was a villain, a bloodthirsty warlord whose sole aspiration was the annihilation of their culture. I wonder how modern Mer view Whitestrake now? I am certain none would call him a hero, but could they acknowledge his achievements in context of Tamriel’s history? Probably not, for our histories are forever dyed by the colour of our suffering.

It is a lie that history is always written by the victors. When two cultures clash both sides record the event from their own biased perspectives. Whether they be the winners, losers, or onlookers, we all see the same acts from different angles. Our libraries are filled with our perception of history, whist libraries in foreign lands are filled with their own, often conflicting with our version of the same events.

The wise will say that we must learn from history so as to not repeat it, but we can never learn from a history that teaches us that we are forever the oppressed and never the oppressor. Every single group of people in Tamriel have been both the oppressor and the oppressed at some point in time. Every single nation and religion has persecuted other people for being different or not accepting their god, and yet we look back in our own history books and record only where we have been challenged, hurt, betrayed, and beaten. And It goes on still, because the only history we have not learnt from is that of our enemies.

S.K