Headscratchers / The Elder Scrolls Online

• A lot of people were annoyed with the retcon of Cyrodiil not being a jungle but didn't Tiber Septim CHIMed the universe so that Cyrodiil was not a jungle even before he was born?
  • Yes, but it's the exact same explanation as Oblivion made retroactive. People hated the explanation back in 2006, so why should they feel differently about it now?
• Why did the developers feel the need to include so many books from the Third and Fourth Eras in this game set in the Second Era? Even worse is that they try to re-write some of them to make them seem like they were written during that period, as opposed to when they were really written. Instead of screwing up the timeline even further, why didn't they just...you know, not have the books there at all?
  • Just guessing, would assume any books from the 4th era were republishes/2nd3rd4th5th etc editions. Unless there are actually books of events from the fourth era (I haven't noticed yet if there are) in which case the only solution comes from the whole Underking/Numidium storyline in Daggerfall. SPOILER: the energy released by the defeat of the two of them caused a time distortion in which things and people were flung around throughout Tamriel. People in the same places would give accounts of different events, or remember what happened accurately only to find their memories strangely altered later on.
    • There is at least one book written by a guy whom the dragonborn meets in Skyrim. It also has a note in front of the eso text saying it was discovered behind a shelf by a moth priest and that he thinks the print date citing the Fourth Era
• On a related note, is there any real reason why this game is set during the Second Era? Most of the content seems to be from the Third and Fourth Eras, anyway. Did ZeniMax intend to make a contemporary MMO for The Elder Scrolls, only to change it at the last minute?
  • Word of God has it that this time period was chosen specifically because there was a nice gap where nothing much had happened, so it gave them more creative room than if it took place at any other time.
• All dragon lore in TESV:Skyrim notwithstanding, what is the situation with the existence of dragon related abilities under the Draconic abilities tier? Last I recall, the last sect to have any involvement with dragons was the Dragon Cult and I'm mostly sure they weren't cult knighting people. Can the Akaviri somehow fit in to this?