Nedes

Nedes were the native Men of Tamriel prior to the coming of the Aldmer. They were a largely primitive people, communicating with runes, organising in clans or petty kingdoms, and generally achieving little in terms of cultural advancement. They were eventually subjugated by Mer after their arrival to mainland Tamriel. The most aggressive subjugation was carried out by the Ayleids of the Ayleid Empire, who brutally enslaved the Nedes until their Empire's eventual fall.

Over centuries the Nedes faded into the the many modern races of men: mating with Aldmer resulted in the Bretons, mating with Yokudans resulted in Redguards (particularly in Eastern Hammerfell), and mating with the newly-arrived Atmorans of the northern continent resulted in the Nords. Other Nedes did not breed themselves into extinction, but rather died out on their own, such as the Kothri.

Ethnicity

The Nedic peoples were far from a homogeneous group, and contained several ethnicities spanning hundreds of settlements over the many regions of Tamriel. Some Nedes looked similar to their Atmoran ancestors, while others developed differing characteristics over the centuries. The following are the known ethnicities of Nedes throughout Tamrielic history:

• Nedes of Cyrodiil were simply known as 'Nedes', or referred to by the individual tribes from where they originated.
• Kothri, a silver-skinned people who lived in a single secluded tribe in Black Marsh. These later evolved into the Kothringi, who, according to legend, still live in the bogs of Black Marsh.
• Manmeri, a dark-haired and fair-skinned people that inhabited High Rock prior to the coming of the Aldmer. These later evolved into the modern-day Bretons through mating with their Aldmeri invaders.
• Men-of-Kreath, a yellow-haired and fair-skinned people that inhabited parts of Skyrim prior to the coming of the Aldmer. These were the Atmorans who, upon landing in Skyrim, remained in that land and did not migrate to other regions. They eventually joined forces with the Atmorans during the Return, leading to the eventual creation of the Nordic race.
• Perena, the dark-haired and olive-skinned people that inhabited the furthest reaches of western Hammerfell prior to the Yokudan migration. They eventually bred with the migrating Yokudans and led to the creation of the 'Stony' Redguard ethnicity.

Culture

The Nedes were primarily a tribal people, petty kingdoms existed though they were often primitive. It was the Aldmer that introduced steel weaponry to the Nedes during the coming of the Aldmer, though it was often at swordpoint. Prior to the Coming, the Nedes had used stone and iron tools, though some had successfully learned how to forge bronze.

Even after the Coming, Nedes continued to gather in their tribes, though they were subservient to their Aldmeri overlords. Some tribes were forcefully broken apart, leading to degrees of interweaving of both blood and culture.

Language

The Nedes spoke in the Old Tongue, the language they inherited from their Atmoran ancestors who crossed to Tamriel from the northern continent. Several dialects were spoken across Tamriel, though they were all sufficiently similar to allow a certain degree of communication between the hundreds of tribes.

The Nedic peoples wrote in runes carved on stone, wood, or clay, and were not known to use parchment or other more advanced systems of writing, which were later introduced by the Aldmer during the Coming. The lack of a proper system of writing meant that many of the histories and legends of the Nedes were passed down by religious figures, or proto-priests, as their religion, the old gods, did not have any unified priesthood.

Religion

The Nedes, like their Atmoran ancestors, worshipped the old gods, faceless and nameless deities that inhabited the very world around them, finding their "homes" in streams, trees, stone, etc. Like the Atmorans, the Nedes ascribed some of these gods names, elevating them above others. However, the vast majority of the Nedic peoples regarded the hundreds of old gods in equal esteem, whether they bore names or not.

Unlike the Church of Alaxon on the Summerset Archipelago, the Nedes did not have a centralised religious institution of priests or chanters. Their faith had no priesthood or militant order, and was thus a heavily decentralised religion that relied mostly on the spiritual interpretation of an individual rather than the word of a religious head. The nature of their faith did not stop some from elevating themselves as authority figures in the worship of the old gods, many of which would collect tales, histories, and legends to pass on to others through word of mouth as they travelled from tribe to tribe.

Fashion

Clothing among the Nedes was a simple affair, as many wore animal skins or roughspun garments. Some soldiers bore iron or bronze chainmail into battle, and the wealthiest of Nedes, such as petty kings, were able to have themselves forged an entire suit of bronze armour to wear into battle. Some such suits of armour remain to this day, now passed from parent to child as family heirlooms of those Houses which trace their decent from the ancient Nedes.