[Handbasket]

I sat down and read Warp in the West again today. I never did get it when I'd skimmed it before. Just an odd story, I thouht. it didn't seem to explain the lore I knew, although I'm not quite as hardcore as some, having not played Daggerfall or Arena, so maybe that's something that was covered in those games' lore. I didn't think so, though, because the book probably would also have existed in TES3:Morrowind. Remember as you read this that TESIV:Oblivion was being planned even before all the expansions to Morrowind were out, AND, even in vanilla Morrowind, there was a book, a teaser for the next game I've always thought, called "On Oblivion".

The account takes place 3 decades before the events in TesIVOblivion.

If I may, from the UESP Wiki, on the event.

Quote

"In 417 of the Third Era, events stemming from the death of King Lysandus of Daggerfall set in motion a upheaval in Hammerfell and High Rock. This event is called the Warp in the West. Someone, who is believed to be an agent of the Blades, gained control of a mighty artifact known as the Totem of Tiber Septim. While unable to use it himself/herself, it is believed that the major factions of the Iliac region engaged in a bidding war, attempting to purchase the artifact. In the end, Sentinel, Wayrest, Daggerfall, Orsinium, and the Emperor all gained control of this artifact and used it to consolidate their political powers, somehow at the same exact time. On the 9th of Frostfall, there were 44 citystates. On the 11th, after a number of mysterious cataclysms and anomalies, there were only 4, Sentinel, Wayrest, Daggerfall, and Orsinium, all swearing loyalty to the Emperor."

After reading the news at Nexus about the next Elder Scrolls game being set two centuries after the events of Oblivion, I started thinking about that sweet Project Offset video, and speculation I'd heard about it perhaps being TESV. The news coupled with that vid AND the book, makes ya go hmmm.....

From the book, Warp in the West, found in Oblivion, about a strange even that happened in 3E 417, sixteen years prior to the events of Oblivion, which seem to contain shades of that very video, and the latest TESV "leak":

Quote

[Bold/Italics mine.]

"The catastrophic destruction of landscape and property and the large loss of life attending upon this miracle is understood to have been 'tragic, and beyond mortal comprehension.'"

"The other remarkable features of these events -- mass disappearances, armies mysteriously transported hundreds of miles or completely annihilated, titanic storms and celestial phenomena, apparent local discontinuities of time -- fit comfortably into the notion that these events are part of a vast, mysterious divine intervention."

"I think I must have fallen into a state of semi-consciousness, for I distinctly remember falling as the ground seemed to give way beneath me. Then there was a series of explosions in the distance, to the south, and I heard high whistling noises that were getting louder, coming closer. I had my shield with me, and fortunately anticipated that volleys of some sort were falling from the sky. Though I could not see them, I could hear them coming from a distance away, and was able to use my shield to block them from striking me."

[that's one stout shield, lady, if my theory is correct!]

"The battles continue on, now months later, as I return to the Imperial City to make my report. What more do I have to say? They are bloody, violent clashes, as is always the case with modern warfare, but I have been to the blackened, desolate no-man's land between the four remaining kingdoms. No mortal army caused that devastation.

I can say that the force that shook the Iliac Bay on the 10th of Frostfall 3E 417 was infinitesimally greater than the power these mighty kingdoms are wielding today."

Hmmm, no? Heh.
Regardless, C.F.W. applies, as usual with TESgames.
Can't Freakin' Wait.

[Squishy1218]

As I recall Warp in the West is a slight retcon of the events in Daggerfall, as told by various Blades agents near Lilac bay at the time. It wasn't in Morrowind as the retcon'd portions had yet to be done [At least if it wasn't in Morrowind, but I am sure it wasn't.]

Meh, I never really considered "On Oblivion," a teaser for anything as it is more of a short book on the Super-Plane of Oblivion it's self. I mean, I didn't take any of the books on The Valen Wood in Morrowind to be indicative that TES IV would take place in the same province, if you catch my meaning.

[Dark0ne]

I recall seeing one of those videos about 3 years ago back when Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was getting hyped up. They had their own forums and everything, and I'm pretty sure I signed up there. Back then it was really something special, one to look out for, but the anticipation peetered out and the engine that once looked revolutionary is no longer anything very special.