General:Kurt Kuhlmann's Posts

Kurt Kuhlmann's Posts
Medium/Format	Online Forum
Interviewee(s)	Kurt Kuhlmann
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These are a few notable comments from Kurt Kuhlmann on The Elder Scrolls setting. Kuhlmann is known as Hasphat Antabolis and Maturin on the forums. These comments were originally archived by The Imperial Library.

Undated

On the origin of Nedes, as Hasphat Antabolis

The usual Imperial arrogance. The hoary old "Out of Atmora" theory has been widely discredited (no reputable archaeologist would publicly support it these days), but the Imperial Geographers continue to beat the drum of the Nordic Fatherland in the best tradition of the Septim Empire. They seem to think that the imprimature of officialdom gives their outdated scholarship added weight -- which, unfortunately, it appears to in the eyes of the ever-gullible public which continues to snap up the latest Pocket Guides along with the rest of their Imperial Certified pablum.

1999

On Tiber Septim's race, as Hasphat Antabolis (circa 1999-02)

The notion that Tiber Septim was born in High Rock is a lie spread by proponents of the so-called "Arcturian Heresy". Pay no attention to them.

On the usage of -mer and -meri suffixes in the 3rd era (1999-08-17)

"[x]mer" Can stand for either singular and plural. It is confusing, but is an artifact of the oral form.

"[x]meri" The adjectival. So a High Elven dagger is an Altmeri dagger. EXCEPT in the case of proper names, in which it can be all three, adjectival, singular, and plural. Example: He is a Direnni, they are the Direnni, that looks of Direnni manufacture.

IN FACT, the current third era proper name usage is an artifact of all previous era's usages. To whit, the Pocket Guide to the Empire, which uses [x]mer and [x]meri (and all their usages) interchangeably.

THAT, my friends, is why, when Slave Queen Alessia overthrew the Ayleids (Wild Elves, don't ask) and established Slave's Cant (eventual Cyrodilic) as the lingua franca, Cyrodiil c. 1E240, she said: "Enough of this! He's an Elf, they are Elves, and their Elven tyranny is over!"

2002

On the Maormer, as Hasphat Antabolis (2002-02-23)

What's in the PGE is the long and short of it. I was overcome by a brief flirtation with the cultures of the Maomer after a colleague of mine on the mainland sent me a collection of jelly-stones he found in an abandoned water-mock temple of the original Aldmeri shore-tower masons. The stones were possessed of a remarkable aftertone process, whose tendencies ran towards the sorrow spectrum, not unlike those mentioned in the minutes of the Orgnum conference during last year's Moth Assembly. Where was I..?

How I do miss Cyrodiil. I have been too far away; even the skooma visions have lost their power (though none of their degenerative effects on my tuning bone) to help me remember those lovely lads in the Two Tibers Make Something of It Phalanx or the bug-bearded creation shepherd who headed the research department.

Mm, we were talking about the chimeric Maormer, weren't we? I'm sorry, my native belly-guest has arrived with snakes in her mouth. Whatever could that mean?

Was Vvardenfell at one point connected to the Morrowind mainland? As Hasphat Antabolis (2002-03-06)

While I would of course defer to my esteemed colleague Prof. Ghan in all matters geologic, I may perhaps contribute my own small mite to this discussion.

In my research in the very oldest Nord records, I found ancient maps which showed no island in the north of modern Morrowind -- just a region labeled "Dwemereth" which encompassed the island of Vvardenfell as we know it as well as a rather wide swath of what is now the mainland. Indeed, as best as could be made out from the rather crude map, the coastline once extended some distance further north than Vvardenfell does now.

I defer to my more learned colleagues to determine the process of formation of the geologic structures of present- day Morrowind, but I have no doubt that in ancient times Vvardenfell was part of the mainland.

2005

Did the Amulet of Kings exist prior to Alessia? (2005-09-24)

From the timeline (apologies to the moth-priests who would have us blanketly dismiss them-- I wonder if they would if certain of elements contained therein supported their case):

"1E266 Shezarr, the missing sibling god of the Eight Divines, arrives at the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City and transforms the dying Alessia into the first of the Cyrodilic saints. Thus Empress Alessia becomes the first gem in the Cyrodilic Amulet of Kings. The Elder Council elects Belharza the Man-Bull as the second Emperor of Cyrodiil."

Emphasis my own, but let us not think that the Chim-el Adabal came after its "first gem".

The meaning of Chim-el Ada-bal (2005-09-24)

Chim: in this case, 'royalty'.

El: 'high'

Ada: 'spirit'

Bal: 'stone'

So, "the spirit stone of high royalty."

When the Amulet of Kings is called the Chim-el Adabal, it is never meant as a literal translation. Intent is key. While it is, in a sense, a surrogate name, the speaker is instead using it when being especially reverent, referring to the amulet's ancient ties to the power of White-Gold Tower.

2006

On Martin and the Amulet of Kings (2006-07-01)

Does it not bother you that you are told no one but Martin can wear the Amulet of Kings, and then the bad guy wears it with no problems?

Hmm. What could that mean? It seems to me to be a mystery, with a number of possible (some even interesting) explanations. One of which is that it is just an error on our part.

Does it not bother you that Martin Septim isn't related to Alessia (who made the covenant) in any way,

I'm curious. How do you know that Martin (or Tiber Septim, or anyone else) is not related to Alessia? Alessia, who lived... about 3,000 years before Martin?

and that neither Uriel nor Martin is descended by blood from Tiber Septim?

True, if you take a literal, scientific -- modern? -- view of blood and descent. It is entirely possible that these things work differently in Tamriel (especially when you have Dragon Blood and Covenants with the gods involved). But certainly your view is one way to look at it.

2009

On the alternate spelling of Solstheim in The Infernal City (2009-12-06)

Just to make one thing clear: Soulstheim is a typo. Despite it being hard to believe that it got past us due to how often it appears... imagine all the things that didn't get past us that you'll never have to worry about. :)

Responding to fan theorizations on the Loveletter (2009-12-09)

This is all fascinating to me. I don't know that the Loveletter is as clear-cut as you all seem to think (after all, look who wrote it). I think many details are being conveniently glossed over in the rush to make it mean what you want it to mean.

2010

On the Ayleids' resemblance to Aurorans (2010-08-05)

do you know why the Aurorans seem to look Ayleid?

Another possibility is that you've got it backwards. (Why do the Ayleids seem to look Auroran?) :)

2011

Michael Kirkbride's influence on Skyrim (2011-08-10)

We all try not to take it to heart that only MK can save Skyrim from the trash heap - but I can say that even without directly writing any books, I'd say there's more of his influence on Skyrim than Oblivion. Probably a lot more - if you look at the chapter from the PGE on Skyrim, (pretty sure that was one of his - I can't remember any more who wrote which one, it's Bilbo and Strider all over again), and that chapter is the foundation for the whole setting. And if you look really hard, you might even find a painted cow. (No comment on flying whales.)

Painted cows in Skyrim (2011-11-14)

It's a damn shame the Civil War mission to befriend a giant by bringing him a painted cow didn't survive... but at least the painted cow got into the game.

2021

On Esbern's Dream (2021-08-14)

We wrote a long speech for Esbern (voiced by Max von Sydow) that I think was originally intended to use in a trailer; we recorded it but I don't think we ended up using it in any trailers, probably because it was too long.

It seemed a shame to not use such an evocative speech, so you can find Esbern at Sky Haven Temple standing on a cliff gazing out into the distance and recounting his dream to Delphine.

On the of Speech of Sovngarde Characters (2021-08-27)

I actually wrote all the dialogue for these NPCs in alliterative verse, as a nod to the Norse epics and in particular as an homage to J.R.R. Tolkien who used this verse form extensively in his epic poems.

After struggling through this process, I gained a lot of respect for anyone able to write book-length poems in this format.