De La Grande Bibliotheque de Tamriel
Developer's text Real author : [Unknown] Publication date : 2012
The Abiding Eye: Argonia
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Although folk tales of silver-skinned Kothringi had been prevalent since the late 1st era, the modern notion arises primarily out of an archeological discovery in 2E865 by Augustus Plongian, who has since been discredited and largely forgotten. Plongian had been excavating Ìitsha, a Kothri village just north of modern-day Soulrest, when he discovered a mass grave, remarkably preserved in the bog. Like all mummies, the bodies were a dark gray color. The high mineral content of the slick, watery ground gave the bodies a glister. Plongian used this as ‘evidence’ of the Kothringi being silver-skinned in an attempt to preserve the near-mythical significance he had attributed to the tribe. His books, which are now rightly seen as fiction rather than science, painted the Kothringi as a peaceful and educated people, obsessed with astronomy and theology, who brought civilization to the previously savage marsh.
The source of the original myths which fueled Plongian’s obsessions have proven harder to track down. Excavations around the Topal Bay have uncovered a remarkable number of silver artifacts attributed to the Kothri, and they are known to be one of the first makers of scale mail (likely inspired by their Argonian neighbors). Of particular interest are the intricate silver masks found in upper class burials - contemporary accounts describe Kothringi nobility as clad in head-to-toe in fine cloth, with only their face showing. It could be that the silver of the mask or the scale armor was mistaken for skin by the historians.
"Silver" could also simply be a mistranslation of the Mesonedic (c. 1E 800-1500) iisirbró, which was used to describe the luster of the moon and carried a distinctive connotation of holiness. Since many Kothringi embraced the Alessian Doctrines, it could be that their whole race was called moon-like and holy in praise.
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