The timeline of the Elder Scrolls universe is divided into four ages—except there are also two ages before those, and one of them is entirely non-linear and yet somehow manages to contain a sequence of events in which supernatural beings come to existence from nothing. And then, at later points in the timeline, this timeless primordial chaos leaks through into the physical world and recurs, like reality itself is having an acid flashback.

The Elder Scrolls games have a complicated history, is what I'm saying. 

That's part of what makes them appealing to a certain kind of player. They give you the surface stuff of big, freeform open-world fantasy roleplaying, but if you want to dig for it there's more to find. There's even a recurring theme of the game's internal histories being contradictory because they're told from biased viewpoints, as if they're predesigned to be fodder for competing fan theories.

This timeline presents a broad overview of things that happen on the world of Nirn, and also puts the games in order. Each of the mainline Elder Scrolls RPGs is separated by years, sometimes a lot of them, and The Elder Scrolls Online confusingly leaps back in time to fill in a gap. You don't have to know this to enjoy them, but then you don't have to read the books and yet some of us do it anyway. Getting a handle on the history and metaphysics is entirely optional, but it adds to my enjoyment and maybe if you take a dip into it, it'll add to yours too.

The Dawn Era 

There are multiple creation myths in The Elder Scrolls, but the easiest one to grasp is the Anuad, because it comes in a handy children's version. According to the Anuad the first two beings to exist when everything else was void are the brothers Anu and Padomay, who represent order and chaos, light and dark. Where the light and darkness mingle Nir is brought into existence, and both brothers fall in love with her. She loves only Anu, however, and their coupling brings into existence 12 words. In his jealousy Padomay kills Nir and destroys the 12 worlds, but Anu saves enough of their fragments to create one: Nirn.

Anu and Padomay fight a final time, and where Padomay's blood falls it creates the demons or Daedra, while Anu's blood creates the stars, and where their blood mixes the gods or Aedra are made. That's the kid's book version.

Among the first of those gods is Lorkhan, a trickster, who convinces the Aedra to create the mortal plane, while the Daedra go off to make their own planes within Oblivion. Some of the Aedra realize Lorkhan isn't being upfront about the cost of this creation, that they'll have to sacrifice much of their own power in the act. They leave for Aetherius, a plane of pure magic, allowing magicka to leak into the world through the holes their departure leaves. Other Aedra step back to resume their godhood, becoming the Divines. According to human myths the gods then create mortals, while the elves believe some Aedra stay permanently to sacrifice their immortality and become their ancestors. 

But before that, the Aedra convene to determine how Lorkhan should be punished for tricking them. Akatosh, dragon god of time, builds the Adamantine Tower on the continent of Tamriel to be their courthouse. Lorkhan's punishment is to have his heart torn out, and it forms the Red Mountain on the island of Vvardenfell.

That's just one version of the story of course. The in-game book called The Monomyth is a handy collection of competing creation stories.  

The Merethic Era 

Known as the Merethic Era because it's dominated by the Mer, a.k.a. the elves, this period of 2,500 years begins with the construction of the Adamantine Tower and ends with the founding of the Camoran Dynasty. In between, the elves travel to the continent of Tamriel when their homeland of Aldmeri is lost, settling in different areas. The Dwemer take up residence underground, the Altmer on Summerset Isle, the Bosmer in the forests, the Chimer (who later become the Dunmer) in Morrowind, and the Ayleids take slaves from the local human population and found the Ayleid Empire. The Orsimer are corrupted by Daedra and become the orcs, while humans from the northern continent of Atmora also emigrate to Tamriel under the leadership of Ysgramor. 

Ysgramor's creation of the runic language allows human recorded history to begin, ushering in the First Era and some actual dates. 

The First Era

0

King Eplear unites the Bosmer wood elves, founds the nation of Valenwood, and begins the Camoran Dynasty. 

143 

Harald, a descendent of Ysgramor, is crowned first High King of the Nords and declares Windhelm the capital of his nation, Skyrim. 

240 

High King Vrage the Gifted of Skyrim begins a campaign of conquest in various elven lands, taking High Rock, all of Morrowind except Vvardenfell, and parts of Cyrodiil, most of which is at this time held by the elven Ayleid Empire. 

243 

Human slaves in the Ayleid Empire rebel and take control of the White-Gold Tower at its centre. Their leader Alessia declares herself first Empress of the Cyrodillic Empire, goes on to formalize worship of the Divines, and is later declared a saint.

369 

A dispute over who will be crowned High King of the Nords leads to the War of Succession, and the Nordic territories outside Skyrim take this opportunity to begin struggling for independence. 

416 

The Chimer and Dwemer unite to drive the Nords out of Morrowind. 

700 

When the Chimer learn the Dwemer are constructing a golem called the Numidium powered by the Heart of Lorkhan and that this "brass god" is intended to become a blasphemous new deity, the peace between them is broken. They go to war at the Battle of Red Mountain, during which the Dwemer vanish—an event that's never explained. 

The Chimer lord Indoril Nerevar, favored of the Daedric Prince Azura, dies under mysterious circumstances, for which Azura curses their people to be transformed into the Dunmer or dark elves. (There's a lot going on here and you should honestly just play Morrowind for a much fuller explanation.)

792 

The land of Yokuda is destroyed and the survivors flee to Hammerfell, where they eventually become known as the Redguards. 

950 

The city of Orsinium, capital of the orcs, is attacked by a union of neighboring kingdoms. The siege lasts 30 years, after which the city finally falls and is razed. 

1029 

High Rock joins the Alessian Empire. 

1200

A monotheistic sect of anti-elf extremists called the Alessian Order, who have dominated the Alessian Empire since the fourth century, attempt a ritual to separate the elven god Auriel from Akatosh, the Dragon God of Time (the two are closely connected, and possibly just aspects of the same being viewed by different cultures). This goes so wrong that time shatters and the non-linearity of the Dawn Era recurs in an event called the Dragon Break. For 1,008 years time ceases to function properly.

This is all just a theory, and an alternate theory states that a clerical error left official records blank during this period.

2321 

Western Cyrodiil attempts to gain independence from the Alessian Empire in a decade-long conflict called the War of Righteousness.

2703 

Invaders from the land of Akavir land in Tamriel, forcing Cyrodiil to unite against them, forging the Second Empire and beginning the Reman Dynasty. 

2714 

The Second Empire conquers Valenwood. 

2811 

Reman II goes to war against the Argonian lizardfolk, and their home of Black Marsh becomes an Imperial province. 

2920 

A truce between Morrowind and the Empire is broken when a Dunmer fortress is sacked. In response the dark elf assassins guild, the Morag Tong, murder Reman III and his son. An Akaviri Potentate takes over and declares the end of the Reman Dynasty and the beginning of the Second Era. 

The Second Era

230

The Mages Guild is formed by Vanus Galerion after he leaves an older magical fraternity called the Psijic Order. Galerion opposes the practice of necromancy, and proposes to make magical items and potions available to the public for a price.

283 

Potentate Versidue-Shaie declares martial law across the Empire, beginning 37 years of warfare that leaves the Imperial Legion the only military force of any strength in Tamriel.

309 

The Khajiit cat-people found the province of Elsweyr by uniting two minor kingdoms. 

320 

In response to a rise in banditry due to the absence of military forces beyond the Legion, the forerunner of the Fighters Guild is founded. 

324 

The Morag Tong assassinate Potentate Versidue-Shaie. 

430 

Potentate Savirien-Chorak and all his heirs are assassinated, bringing the Second Empire to an end. Historians dispute who was responsible but what do you want, three guesses?

431 

No longer protected by the Empire, the rebuilt orc capital of Orsinium is sacked again, this time by the Bretons and Redguards.

567 

The Daggerfall Covenant unites High Rock, Hammerfell, and Orsinium, and the orcs are given the right to rebuild their capital one more time. 

572 

A second Akaviri invasion captures Windhelm in Skyrim but is defeated after being trapped between the Dunmer and a united force of Nords and Argonians. Morrowind, Skyrim, and Black Marsh sign the Ebonheart Pact to make this temporary alliance permanent. 

580 

Elsweyr, Valenwood, and the Summerset Isles unite as the Aldmeri Dominion.

583 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls Online. 

852 

Tiber Septim begins the Tiber Wars in an attempt to unite the nations of Tamriel and form the Third Empire.  

864 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. 

896 

Tiber Septim uses a rebuilt Numidium to complete his conquest of Tamriel, destroying the golem afterwards. Then he declares the Second Era over. 

The Third Era

38 

Tiber Septim dies. Followers of Talos believe he ascends to godhood. 

119 

Pelagius III, later known as Pelagius the Mad, becomes emperor. (He's worth a mention just because his hip bone forms the basis of a fun sidequest in Skyrim.) 

172 

Start date of An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire. 

249 

The Camoran Usurper invades Valenwood. 

399 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls: Arena. 

405 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall.

417 

The Numidium is rebuilt again. Something about this powerful artifact's use results in another brief Dragon Break, called The Warp in the West, during which the Numidium is seen in six different places at once, fulfilling the aims of different factions. (This conveniently makes all six potential endings of Daggerfall canon simultaneously.) 

427 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.

433 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. 

The Fourth Era

5 

In Vvardenfell the large rock containing the Ministry of Truth that hovers over Vivec falls, devastating the city and causes floods and landslides. The Red Mountain erupts. 

22

The elven supremacist faction called the Thalmor take over Summerset Isle, and the high elves leave the Empire. Within a decade they take Valenwood as well, beginning a new Aldmeri Dominion. 

98 

During the 'Void Nights' both moons, Masser and Secunda, vanish from the sky. The Khajiit, who are bound to the Lunar Lattice and whose children have adult forms determined by the phase of the moons they're born under, are particularly distraught. When the Thalmor take credit for the moons' return, Elsweyr agrees to join the resurgent Aldmeri Dominion. 

171 

The Aldmeri Dominion demand tribute from the Empire, as well as the banning of Talos worship, the ceding of a significant portion of Hammerfell, and the disbanding of the Emperor's order of spies and bodyguards, the Blades. Emperor Titus II refuses all demands, and the Great War begins. (The singleplayer campaign of The Elder Scrolls: Legends takes place during this war.)

175 

The Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire sign a treaty called the White-Gold Concordat, agreeing to enforce a ban on Talos worship.  

201 

Start date of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

If you managed to make it all the way through this, why not follow it up with Major events in the Fallout timeline?

Modders have been hard at work updating Skyrim mods to work with its Special Edition re-release, and you will be—or at least should be—delighted to hear that Ravelen's Sinister Seven mod has officially made the jump. Originally released in early 2015, the Sinister Seven adds seven powerful NPC assassins that hunt you down as you level up, injecting a little tension into the main story. 

"Each of the seven unique assassins is at least twice the player's level and will track them down across the map," Mnikjom, who helped update the mod for Skyrim Special Edition, writes on Nexus Mods. "They're also imbued with unique abilities outside your normal Skyrim bandit and thus may result in unusual battle tactics to win the fight. Some may be more challenging to particular player archetypes, others less so. They may show up when you're sleeping, when you're exploring a cave, or just on the road. You can try to fight them or run into the wilderness, which should buy you some time, but don't expect them to give up." 

Normal assassins will also show up periodically, but the killer seven are the mod's main selling point. By default, the boss assassins will show up every two levels once you reach level 12, though you can tweak the mod's values to make them more aggressive. Defeating the assassins earns you custom masks with unique enchantments, as well as two armor sets.

You can find download and installation instructions on Nexus Mods.  

My favorite Skyrim mods are usually ones that alter the flow of the game, or add more character personalizing options. Every time I reinstall Skyrim, Alternate Start—Live Another Life is at the top of the queue. I'm much pickier about quest mods. Adding new story to Skyrim means new writing and voice acting and those are hard things to get right—Enderal managed it, mostly, but it's a rare exception. One of my favorite narrative mods, Sea of Ghosts, gets around the problem by focusing on new locations that are empty, a string of spooky islands.

The Forgotten City, however, does not shy away from new characters. It's a quest mod that adds an entire settlement full of new people, fully voiced, with their own stories all wrapped up in one overarching plot about time travel and human nature and the role of law in shaping a society. It's ambitious is what I'm saying. It even has its own original score.

As for why I'm playing a mod from 2015, a standalone version of The Forgotten City was announced at E3. It'll be a re-imagining, one that takes away all the specifics of the Elder Scrolls universe, changing the characters and the endings but leaving the basics of the structure in place.

I feel pretty confident that having played the mod won't ruin the standalone version, because there's a lot about it that's specific to Skyrim. Once you enter the city (by traveling back in time to a point before its fall), you find that it's divided along familiar lines. The Imperials run things while the Nords do the work, and although there are a couple of non-humans the beast races aren't visible at all. One of the inhabitants turns out to be a member of the Dark Brotherhood, and one's an Imperial soldier who wants to escape so he can get back to fighting Stormcloaks. It's a place entirely cut off from the rest of the country—once you enter it, jumping down a hole in a cave, you can't leave—but everybody's brought their existing prejudices with them.

In spite of all that tension, The Forgotten City should be a place of peace. All the people here, whether they deliberately escaped Skyrim or just blundered down the hole, are under the jurisdiction of the "Dwarves' Law". This place was built by the Dwemer, and they left behind a safeguard for anyone who took up residence after them. If anyone in the settlement sins, the whole population will be punished for it. Fatally.

Having seen the city's future, you know that's about to happen. Something's going to set off the magical punishment left behind by the dwarves and you've only got a limited time to figure out what it was and prevent that from happening. Fortunately, you can make multiple attempts. If you fail you can go back to the moment of your arrival, starting another time loop armed with everything you've learned. There's even new dialogue to take this into account, including some funny stuff when you try to convince someone you know what they're going to say next.

As well as getting to know the people, you get to know the location as well. It doesn't seem huge at first. There's a palace, a single district and a lakehouse, but there are other places to unlock and secrets to find. The limits to the area mean that you learn your way around properly, and eventually figure out where everybody lives and how to navigate it at speed. It's the characters I keep thinking about, though. The two researchers happy to have this opportunity to dive into understanding the Dwemer, even if they can't share what they learn. The paranoiac who correctly believes they're all in danger, but responds to it by wandering around with an axe like a maniac. The self-declared jarl who sounds like someone doing an impersonation of Patrick Stewart, and the merchant who swears he's honest, and the cynical healer who hates being stuck in the Forgotten City but says it "Could be worse, though. You could be living in bloody Skyrim."

It's maybe a bit ridiculous that all these people got here by just jumping down a hole (OK, one of them was pushed), but having them stuck together in one place where they all know each other makes for much more interesting interactions. The Forgotten City feels like an argument in favor of constrained locations, for how great open-world games can be when they focus on depth rather than width. And that's why I'm looking forward to the game it eventually becomes, once it cuts the ties to Skyrim and transforms into something new.