Bosmer - Wood Elf
In the beginning, there was formlessness. The beings which rose from the primordial ooze could not hold their shapes. They shifted wildly from one kind of creature to another, never able to maintain a sense of self. J'ffre, the spirit of Valenwood, took pity on these poor creatures, and through His gift of storytelling, named and gave singular shape to all the mortal creatures of Nirn. In return for this gift, the Wood Elves swore to protect the plant life of their forest home, and survive off meat alone, and to never forsake the sacred form given to them. This became the Green Pact the central driving oath of all bosmer living within Valenwood. Theirs is a culture of brutally efficient hunters, who practice ritual cannibalism on their fallen foes, and eschew all use of plantlife in their crafts. Their weapons are of bone and hair and stone, their clothes of leather, and their homes are carefully shaped from the living trees themselves.
The First Era came to an end when the last heir of Reman Cyrodiil was assassinated. Though his dynasty had ended, his Second Empire of Man persisted a few more centuries under the stewardship of the Akaviri Potentates. They too met their end by the dagger of the Morag Tong, and the Ruby Throne of Cyrodiil was left open for any who dared take it. In the year 2E 580, Queen Ayrenn of Alinor approached the leaders of the Kingdom of Valenwood and the Elsweyr Confederacy with a proposition to form an alliance. Citing the then-ancient treaty of the Camoran Dynasty as precedent, the Aldmeri Dominion was founded with the express purpose of taking the throne for elven rule, with Ayrenn as its ruler, Elden Root as its capitol, and Pellitine as its economic engine. Dominion propaganda spread the idea that human stewardship of Cyrodiil had been doomed to fail, and only the long-lived elves, and their millennia of uninterrupted civilizations, possessed the wisdom to rule Tamriel properly. The Khajiit of Elsweyr, by admission of their own creation myth, are cousins of the Bosmer, and therefore of the Aldmer as well, although their participation in the dominion was spurred largely by the will of the nobility. The Dominion's claim did not go unchallenged, as two other alliances each claimed their own right to rule, and the protracted Three Banners War, leaving scars still visible across Cyrodiil. None of these factions ultimately held the throne for long, and the war turned cold as each alliance was forced to deal with resurfacing conflicts between their member cultures, and eventual dissolution.
A Second Aldmeri Dominion was formed in 2E 830 when Summerset successfully conquered Valenwood while the Bosmer tribes were engulfed in endless border skirmishes with Colovian warlords. The high elves installed Camoran Anaxemes as the new King of Valenwood as the territory being fought for was supposedly his by rights of ancient treaty. An iteration of the Thalmor, the espionage arm of the First Dominion, was put in place to enforce and advise Anaxemes' rule. Under this second Dominon, Valenwood became a police state. For decades, freedom was stymied, and large swaths of wilderness were cut down to make way for Altmeri colonies. This age of fear was broken when Cyrodill was conquered by the forces of a warlord from Falkreath called Cuhlecain. On the eve of his coronation, Cuhlecain was assassinated, but his general, who had adopted the Imperial name Tiber Septim, was crowned Emperor instead, and quickly set about expanding his holdings.
Septim's Legions were able to overtake the Dominion in Valenwood, helped by rebels seizing the opportunity from within. The Altmer soldiers retreated to the coastal waters territories, where they could be continuously reinforced by their stronghold islands. This turned into a war of attrition, made worse for the Imperials as the Bosmeri rebels had turned their tactics against their new occupiers. With the war at a standstill, Septim turned to a secret weapon, given to him by the Tribunal on their surrender of Morrowind. A weapon he was never supposed to be able to use. The ancient artificial god of the long-vanished Dwemer, the Brass Tower Numidium. Its power devastated the Dominion, quickly pushing the line back to Summerset, and then physically walking through the Sea of the Blue Divide and devastating the Altmeri homeland, the first successful invasion of Summerset in history. The Numidium was destroyed by Zurin Arctus, Septim's own Battlemage. Both Arctus and the Numidium disappeared from record until centuries later. In one day, both Valenwood and the Summerset Isles, for the first time in history, had fallen under human rule. Septim declared this victory the start of a new Third Era.
As if hearing their prayers, an army of formless undead, those who had broken the Green Pact and had been condemned to return to the Ouze, rose up and pushed back the Daedra. They had gotten the upper hand in a pitched battle on every front, freeing up the survivors to perform a ritual to purify the scorched lands from Daedrot, an environmental plague born from daedric corpses which devastated much of the rest of Tamriel in the wake of the Crisis. At the same time, Mehrunes Dagon had been personally assaulting the Imperial City. When the Prince was finally defeated by an aspect of Akatosh, the Oblivion Gates closed, and the Fourth Era began.
In the decade since the Oblivion Crisis, something has shifted in the hearts of the Bosmer. Due to the name Camoran being connected to the Mythic Dawn cult, wood elves have faced unprecedented discrimination across Tamriel. For the same reason, the royal family of the province were forced to step down. The Bosmer are divided into two governments, the Tribal Council, and the Provincial Governor appointed by Potentate Ocato. Meanwhile, a new spiritual leader known only as The Precursor has gained a following, preaching that Y'ffre will soon return to walk His forests as a fully fledged Ehlnofey once again.. He says the nature-god will have new gifts and new directives for His people to usher in this new age.
Green-Sap
In their earliest oral traditions, wood elves were called "Boiche", a name with long-lost connotation. Their ancestors were descendants of the Earth Bones, nature spirits who sacrificed their consciousness to give shape and laws to the physical world. The greatest of these Earth Bones was Y'ffre, who passed on a gift to the forest children. This was the Perchance Acorn. When planted, this artifact simultaneously formed the oldest of the many migratory Graht Oaks throughout Valenwood. They were, in fact, the same sacred tree, existing across space, the Tower of Green-Sap, a unifying shared responsibility of the many clans of the boiche.The Naming of the Elves
The High Elves of the Summerset Isles contest the Boiche creation myth. They claim the wood-elves are descendants of the Aldmer, as are every other race of elves in the known world. According to tapestries found in the Crystal Tower, three fleets were sent off in the early Merethic Era from Summerset, each with a different heading, in search of their lost homeland of Aldmeris. Two of these fleets were lost at sea. In later expeditions the Aldmer discovered what they called Bosmer living in the wilderness on the coast of a largely unexplored Tamriel. They surmised that these were the descendants of one of the lost fleets, and sent ambassadors to reconnect with their lost cousins. These savage elves treated them as a curiosity at first. Then one day, a young elf plucked a piece of fruit off a nearby tree, causing the Bosmer to attack the team, killing several, and driving the rest back to their ship. Later attempts to contact the Bosmer were more useful. They learned of the local custom of the Green Pact, and were able to move forward more cautiously from there. Over the centuries, attempts at reintegrating the Bosmer failed spectacularly, resulting in wars and mistrust, which stymied ambitions of expansion into the mainland. With multiple splinter groups quickly appearing across Tamriel, some changing physically as well as culturally to be unrecognizable, the people of Summerset began to fear what the outside world would do to them, that it would take them even farther from the divinity stolen from their ancestors. They closed off their borders to outsiders, even to other elves, and limited contact to the outside world, focusing entirely on preserving their own way of life. This arguably makes the Bosmer responsible for the Altmer race today.After centuries of contact with the Aldmer, the people of Valenwood had learned to see themselves in the wider context of the elves. To this day, the Aldmeri and Boiche origins are debated in Bosmer society, but they have come to recognize other Aldmeri gods as their ancestors as well. They have adapted linguistic and architectural styles of the Aldmer into their own, and a more cosmopolitan class of Bosmer began settling in the outer and coastal territories, where the Green Pact has less reach.
The Wild Hunt
Bosmer often possess notable animal-like qualities. Antlers, eyes, fangs, some are even born with digitigrade legs with hooves. It is said that Fauns and Centaurs are offshoots of the wood elves, although little anthropological evidence corroborates that. These traits are not genetic, but occur rarely as random mutations in adolescence. This phenomenon lends credence to the shapeless origin myth of the wood elves. Hearkening back to a time when they were unable to hold a single form for longer than a moment before becoming something unrecognizable. What they do not prefer to talk about, is that they have the ability to return to this state of shapelessness. The Wild Hunt is a ritual undertaken by five or more Bosmer, in which they forsake the name given to them by Y'ffre, and become mindless, incomprehensible creatures, of writhing, shifting form, with single-minded purpose of destroying a specific enemy. This transformation is irreversible, and when their target is killed, they will settle into a new permanent appearance, and promptly turn on eachother, and any living thing around them in a bloodbath. Bosmer believe the progenitors of every monster in Tamriel were from a previous Wild Hunt.
There are only three recorded instances of the Wild Hunt in history. They have been used in times of desperation to stop an otherwise overwhelming enemy, and has always been successful, but at great cost for subsequent generations. The last survivor of one such Wild Hunt was King Dead Wolf-Dear, a being, believed to have once been an actual bosmer king, who hunted the people of Silvenar Grove for millennia. In addition to sacrificing themselves, at the moment of the ritual, their shapelessness infects all natural things around them, blending insects, plants, and animals into twisted, violent creatures that plague the countryside as well. The Wild Hunt also has suspicious similarities with the Ritual of the Innocent Quarry, a regular ritual hunt conducted by the minions of the Daedric Prince Hircine, which is also colloquially referred to as the "Great Hunt" or the "Wild Hunt". Hircine is notably responsible for the creation of Lycanthropy. For all of these reasons, the Wild Hunt is regarded with shame and secrecy by the wood elves, and performance of the ritual, even in defense of Valenwood, is believed to condemn their souls to the Ouze.
The Camoran Dynasty
Few individuals have had a wider impact on history than King Eplear Camoran. From the beginning of history, bosmer were united in the Green Pact, and very little else. They were numerous tribes, hidden in domains of deep forest and jungle. Their numbers were unknowable, and each tribe possessed complete knowledge of their territory and could effectively outmaneuver enemies of any size, including other tribes. It is no exaggeration that Eplear's successful conquest of all of Valenwood under a single dynasty is the greatest military achievement in Tamrielic history. Camoran's first major reform was to adopt the Aldmeri calendar, which formalized a 12 month year based on the Ayleid system some three hundred years prior. Over time, the year King Eplear declared Year 0 of his divine rule would be recognized as the first year of the First Era. This is due mainly to a preemptive treaty signed by several kings of Summerset, three of the Chimeri Great Houses, and the Arch-Curate of the hidden Temple of Auri-El, which held religious authority over the Snow Elf Confederacy. Eplear's conquests had been a subject of anxiety across Tamriel. Even the proud rulers of Summerset were eager to avoid conflict with him. This treaty essentially halted the expansion of Valenwood, but in exchange, the rest of the elven world adopted the Camoran Calendar system, as well as a number of trade concessions. This ancient alliance would later be referenced as a foundation of the first Aldmeri Dominion. When the Alessian Empire of humanity was founded, the first wave of the Ayleid Diaspora sought shelter in the surrounding regions still friendly to elves. Largely, they took refuge in the Direnni-controlled High Rock, and in the outer territories of Valenwood, where they were welcomed in by the Camoran dynasty. The humbled and grateful heartland elves did their best to honor the Green Pact as guests, building their distinctive stone cities in clearings, and expanding underground. As a gesture of unity between their peoples, the famed Ayleid sorcerer and architect King Anumaril built an Orrey in a village where a manifestation of the Elden Tower had been resting. This gesture was a trick, however. The Orrey was secretly a component of a plan to steal a manifestation of the Perchance Acorn, which formed the heart of the manifold Green Sap Tower, and transform it into a new White Gold Tower. This plan failed in its goal, as he did not fully understand the shapeless magic of the Elden Tower, but it did have the effect of decoupling it from its many duplicates. The duplicates diminished, and the one in the village grew, before taking root in its place, never to walk again. The village came to be known as Elden Root, and became the capitol of the country. Camoran's army attempted to capture King Anumaril for his treachery, but he disappeared. To this day, his fate is unknown. The Ayleid diaspora grew in the following centuries, as the cult of the Alessian Order grew more xenophobic and hostile to elves, the Ayleid city-states which allied with the human rebellion were gradually stripped of their protected status and purged by the Legion. Although Ayleids continued to be let into Valenwood, they were no longer permitted to build their own settlements there. Forced to adapt to the Green Pact fully, Ayleids intermarried with Bosmer, and slowly faded as a distinct culture. Their impact on the Bosmer was minimal, although the nobility of Valenwood still has more Aldmeri features than the general public. The impact of the Bosmer on Ayleids, however, is considerable. In the third millennium of the First Era, rumors began to circulate of a new race of elves, appearing far from any settlement, but within the wilderness of almost every province. These Wild Elves were aloof, avoided contact with outsiders, were rumored to speak only in a dialect of old Ayleidoon, and are sometimes described as shape-shifters. These elves have physical and cultural connections to both the Bosmer and the Ayleids, and are believed to be the last living remnants of the Ayleid civilization.The Aldmeri Dominion
The Camoran Usurper
Septim installed the original Camoran family as provincial Kings. Valenwood, like Summerset, Black Marsh, and Morrowind, proved tactically and logistically impossible to govern fully, and enjoyed a great deal of independence within the Empire. Although there were colonial efforts, and Imperial Cult missionaries made some inroads, the regions not already developed by the two Dominions were not targeted, and the Green Pact was largely respected, save a few diplomatic incidents. Cosmopolitan Bosmer settled into Imperial and Altmer colonies, and adapted to both cultures. For the first time, many bosmer set out into the wider world to participate in this new continent-spanning empire. Although without the vicious veneer of their tribal cousins, these "Imperialized" Wood Elfs were rather unimposing, and treated like fools, suffering a great deal of discrimination abroad. In 3E 249, a Bosmeri warlord called Haymon Hart-King claimed himself the true heir of the original Camoran Dynsasty. Forming an army of mercenaries and daedra, he cut a bloody swath across Valenwood before continuing north. His army conquered territories throughout the Colovian Highlands, parts of Hammerfell, and into High Rock. His daedric soldiers had no qualms raising their victims as undead soldiers to increase their numbers exponentially with each conquest. The Empire at the time was embroiled in civil war, and were not able to mount a defense. Haymon was believed to have served a Daedric Prince, who allowed him to effectively command daedra. Some time during his conquests of High Rock, he seemed to have lost favor with his patron, slowing his advancement significantly. Even stripped down to only his mortal mercenary army, he had proven an effective tactician, and a ruthless mer to cross, and continued his march unabated. What finally defeated him was an alliance of several Breton kingdoms, whose combined army boxed him in at the city of Dwynnen, while their navy bombarded them from the coast. After twenty-four nights under constant canon and spellfire, Haymon Hart-King met his end by the blade of a subordinate, a fourteen year old Redguard who had been pressed into mercenary work at a young age. With no reason to go on fighting, the mercenary army surrendered, and the atrocities of the Camoran Usurper came to an end.The Fourth Era
The final years of the Third Era were not glamorous for the wood elves. Since the days of the Usurper, Valenwood had turned fully insular, participating less and less in the wider Empire, and even as a culture, with the locals taking more pride in their own tribe than anything. The Five Years War against Elsweyr resulted in great losses for the wood elves, and ended when a group of refugees broke the taboo of the Wild Hunt, pushing back the Khajiiti army, but releasing a new kind of mindless beast into the world as a result. In 3E 433, a cult led by a high elf calling himself Mankar Camoran, rumored to be the illegitimate son of Haymon Camoran, assassinated the Emperor and his heirs. This released Tamriel from the protection of an ancient covenant, allowing the forces of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon to invade all corners of the known world. This Oblivion Crisis was devastating, slaughtering millions, and nearly destroying Green Sap. The splintered and isolationist wood elves could not mount an organized defense. Although they were able to hold the daedra at bay using gorilla tactics, the daedra resorted to decimating their forests so they would have no where to hide. A second Wild Hunt in half a century was called to counter-attack, overtaking the main forces assaulting Elden Root, and even running into the Oblivion Gate and overrunning the stronghold on the other side. In a last act of free will, one of the creatures shut down the oblivion gate, trapping their fellow creatures inside to protect Valenwood from yet another monster. Their fate is unknown.Naming Traditions
Feminine names
Aerin, Aglaril, Anrel, Aradraen, Arangaer, Aranwen, Ardhil, Aredhel, Bauril, Baurin, Belwen, Berwen, Borwen, Celegil, Cirwedh, Cuunel, Distel, Dondreth, Dothiel, Dothruviel, Eindel, Elegnan, Elphiron, Emelin, Eraldil, Estinan, Falion, Fara, Filbeneth, Galbedir, Galdiir, Gelduin, Gildan, Giningil, Glathel, Hyna, Iingail, Indrel, Irwaen, Kirsty, Liette, Lorchel, Mara, Menelin, Milbereth, Nael, Natesse, Nathien, Nilioniel, Nona, Penglithil, Radras, Samia, Thaeril
Masculine names
Aengvir, Amragor, Anglor, Anguilon, Athragar, Athrelor, Baenlin, Baeralorn, Brellin, Brithaur, Brodras, Bolwing, Caenlin, Caenlorn, Cingaer, Cingor, Daenlin, Dervenin, Engorm, Enilroth, Eridor, Erthor, Fimmion, Fithragaer, Foroch, Gelephor, Glarthir, Gloorolros, Gundalas, Gwinas, Hagaer, Hundolin, Maenlorn, Maglir, Nedhelfin, Niraegaer, Nordinor, Rindir, Thadon, Thaurron, Thoronir, Thrangirfin, Thurindil, Ungolim, Urunil, Uungor, Uuras
Family names
Bosmer largely do not have family names. There are some tribes which have become defunct, and were adapted by their cosmopolitan descendants as clan names, especially among the nobility. They typically list these clan names last, although there is no formal structure, and some believe listing the clan name first emphasizes their noble status.
The largest of these are:
Caerllin, Camoran, Balfix, Benoch, Elmlock, Oreyn, Branck, Drurel, Garnona, Helomaine, Ledure, Marvos, Ramothran, Salandas, Vayn
Culture
Funerary and Memorial customs
- Burial Groves - In contrast to the other elven peoples, Bosmer largely do not place emphasis on their ancestors in their worship, instead preferring to focus their spiritual wellbeing on "the Now." They believe in an aspect of the Green Pact called the Meat Mandate. Bosmer cannibalize both their family members, as well as any enemies they slay within three days of death. Their bones are buried in secret groves, and their souls are believed to pass through the Sea of Sap before incarnating in the Next Aetherius as gods of the next world.
- The Ouze - For any who violate the Green Pact, their souls, and sometimes bodies, are ritually condemned to the Ouze. More than a spiritual purgatory, the Ouze is an actual region within Valenwood, where the laws of J'ffre are incomplete. Everything from the trees, to the stones, to the very laws of physics break down into a shifting, viscous sludge. This is a maddening state of existence where trapped souls cannot find rest within ever shifting forms as they were before their Naming. These sinners are known as the Oathbreakers.
- Cosmopolitan Bosmer in the outskirts of the province may not observe the Green Pact in their day-to-day lives, but they still feel a deep connection to Y'ffre and to nature. Cities such as Arenthia along the border are known for their verdant Ash Groves, where saplings infused with the ashes of the dead are planted within and around the city.
- During the Oblivion Crisis, the Oathbreakers of the Ouze were gifted temporary forms and allowed to rise out of the muck to defend their homeland against the Daedric onslaught. When the Gates closed, and the living Bosmer completed the ritual of purification, the Oathbreakers instantly collapsed into mud, their souls released at last to Aetherius.
Aetherius and the Tragedy of Nir
- Aurellos convinced His closest friends to help protect Her body from the Daedra. He wanted to preserve Her for eternity in His infinite grief. This was foolish, as Aurellos is the God of Time. His very presence in Her sky inherently advances Her decay. His followers killed Lor for what He did to Nir and the other Earthbones. They ripped out the Trickster's Heart and buried it somewhere in Nir's crust Lor's body is tethered in the sky, forever just out of reach of Her.
- Azria, one of the Daedra who had no part in Her death, did not wish to steal Her light. She loathed the Anuic spirits' obsession with order, and vowed to make something worthwhile out of Her sacrifice. Taking the weakest of Her children, Azria gave them numerous shapes, believing it would give them their best chance in a chaotic universe. She found a harsh land for them and taught them to embrace every change. She wished to prepare them for the challenges of any possible future, knowing full well She never could.
- Y'ffre, who loved and understood Her the most, did what no other spirit could bring themselves to. He killed Her. Sacrificing His body to give structure to Her shell, He consumed the Ouze that had spread across Her body like a cancer. He took all Her children and gave them singular names, and shape, and purpose, but left growth and age, and the possibility of change. He created a world where structure and decay meet, where the mortal children of the gods could simply exist in harmony with nature. He did not try to preserve His lost love in vain, nor did he concern Himself with an unpredictable future. Instead, He taught Her children how to live in the Now, and left them the choice to shape their own destiny. Though His roots stretched across the crust of the decaying body of Nir, Y'ffre concentrated Himself in one place, where a little of the shapeless madness survived. He had no more of Himself left to tame it, and so He created the Boiche to guard the Green, which keeps the Ouze from spreading across the surface again.
The Sea of Sap and Next Aetherius
Bosmer Traits
Your character has a variety of natural abilities, gifted to you by J'ffre.Ability Score Increase
Your Dexterity and Wisdom scores increase by 2.Age
Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, mer age at very different rates, slowing to a stop in their 30s, and remaining virtually static until their late 100s. An elf will have lived a long life when they have reached 350. Cosmopolitan bosmer who choose to live outside of Valenwood tend to live much longer than their brethren.Alignment
Bosmer are a complex people who fiercely defend their beliefs and understand that in nature, there is no good and evil between a hunter and their prey. Your attitude toward the laws of mortals may vary, but your Alignment will likely be Neutral.Size
Wood Elves are shorter on average than other mer. Males tend to be between 4 and 5 1/2 feet tall. Females range from 4 1/2 to 6 feet. Your size is Medium.Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.Darkvision
Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.Shaped by Nature
You have proficiency in the Perception and Nature skills as well as all ranged weapons.Ehlnofey Ancestry
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.Languages
You can speak, read, and write Cyrodilic and Bosmeri. While their native tongue is intelligible to anyone who speaks Altmeri or Dunmeri, their variant of the Aldmeri tongue is far more lyrical in nature. Its grammar structure is fluid and changing. Root words are freely associated to communicate feeling more than ideas. Some scholars believe that modern Bosmeri actually has more in common with ancient Ehlnofex, the root of all known languages of Tamriel.Morphs
Bosmer appear broadly similar to other elves in their youth, but often accrue mutations through adolescence. These can range from cloven feet, to animal-like eyes, to horns and antlers, lending some to believe they are related to beastfolk such as Fauns and Centaurs. These distinctions are even harder for outsiders to understand, as some Bosmer do, in fact, change their species.Swanmay
Sky Shape
Once per Long Rest, you may cast Shapechange for up to One Hour. Using this ability, you can only transform into either an Aetherial Swan, or a Nocturnal Swan. This ability replaces the Shaped by Nature Trait.Boggart
Malevolent Madness
While they remain sapient, mortal creatures, Boggle can only feed off of the misery of other mortals at least once every week or they will whither away. They also feel constant discomfort in their distorted bodies. While some may resist this instinct toward Evil at first, they know it is a foregone conclusion unless they find a way to cure their condition. Boggle are invariably quite mad, and likely tend toward Chaotic alignments. This replaces the standard Alignment trait of Bosmer.Ephemeral
Boggle may cast Shadowstep as a free action once per Long or Short Rest. This replaces the Ehlnofey Ancestry Trait.Contortion
Boggle are gangly, boney creatures, who may grow over 8 feet tall. Your size is Medium. Despite this, you can twist and contort your body to hide in very small spaces. You may spend your full movement to compress yourself into a tight or narrow space within 5 feet of you, treating yourself as one size smaller, and rolling with advantage on stealth checks while contorted. You may spend half your movement speed to leave the space and return to your full height, or move at half speed while maintaining your compact shape. This ability replaces the Size and Shaped by Nature Traits.
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