The world
Skyrim after the fall
The last Dragonborn flew from Dragonsreach to challenge Alduin in Sovngarde. They never returned. Two centuries later, Skyrim still bears the scars of that catastrophe. The Skaal cross the Sea of Ghosts in search of a new home.
The scorching
The last stronghold falls
Fire swept across Skyrim. The old factions broke, and survivors fled into caves and bitter mountain peaks. Whiterun, humanity's last standing stronghold, waited for the inevitable.
Alduin descended upon the city himself. Whiterun burned to ash, and Dragonsreach was shattered so that no dragon could ever be trapped within its walls again.
Two centuries in shadow
The sealed holds
In the years that followed, the surviving walled capitals became prisons. Their gates were sealed, and their people were forced to toil under the doctrine of dragon priests.
Tribute was paid in blood and gold. Beyond those gates, little of the old world remained.
Beyond the gates
The wild claims the holds
The unwalled holds have been swallowed by the land. Dawnstar lies beneath creeping frost and glacial ice. Morthal sinks into a toxic swamp, while great roots and overgrowth strangle Falkreath and Winterhold.
Beasts, ancient spirits, and unchecked monstrosities now prowl the ruins of the old world.
The Great Severance
A world drained of magic
From Apocrypha, Miraak's influence grew unchecked. Over two centuries, the traitor gathered the power to shatter the tether between Mundus and Aetherius, draining the world's arcane currents. Spell tomes faded to blank parchment; Skyrim's mages were left powerless.
On Solstheim, his will seeped through the All-Maker Stones. Sacred conduits of natural harmony became vessels of corruption, and dark magic bled into the soil.
The last ward
The breaking of the Skaal
For generations, Skaal shamans had drawn upon the All-Maker to shelter their village beneath a barrier of wind and frost. It was their final defence against Miraak's reach.
Exhausted by two centuries of resistance, they could no longer sustain it. The ward shattered, the skies above Solstheim tore open, and Miraak's thralls threatened to overrun the village.
Across the Sea of Ghosts
A hope in the frozen ashes
Facing subjugation or death, the Skaal abandoned their ancestral home. They loaded their remaining longboats and fled across the Sea of Ghosts, carrying the last flicker of the All-Maker's magic.
Their destination is a mainland scarred by tyranny and ruin. Their hope is a new foothold in the frozen ruins of Windhelm.