Elder Scrolls Lore » Discussions


A Lurking Threat

  • December 14, 2012
    We all know of the eruption of Red Mountain, and the catastrophic consequences it had. I have a short speculative article for you, one of a threat completely overlooked. Bonestrewn Crest, dragonwall in Eastmarch, is perhaps Skyrim's greatest threat. How, you might ask. Why simply, it's a volcano ready to erupt. Eastmarch is a hold rife with signs of lava lakes beneath it. The tar pits, hot springs, and geysers are all created due to the presence of a volcano nearby, Bonestrewn Crest is right in the center of the activity also, the only mountain in the area. The eription of Red Mountain may have stirred up the area reactivatibg the dormant volcano, if you want a more ominous sign then vents close to and on the mountain are pooring steam and smoke. A tremor large enough could cause widescale devestation. Now we'll look at the effects. Windhelm and most of Eastmarch or mote will be buried in ash, much like Vaardenfell, ever wonder why there are no ruins in central Eastmarch? It is likely they are buried, under the ash and dust from the last eruption. There will be constant ash storms battering the nearby holds, crippling any movement. There will be mass deaths of plants and wildlife. Even the Dragons won't be able to take advantage due to tons of dust and ash spewing into the air. There are to many other effects to count, none good. Watch out, Bonestrewn Crest awakens from it's slumber.
  • Member
    December 14, 2012
    There are Nordic ruins in the volcanic tundra... In the Northern section...
  • December 14, 2012
    Yes, but near the hot springs, tar pits, etc.?
  • Member
    December 14, 2012
    If it is a volcano, wouldn't the ruins in the immediate vicinity have been destroyed by lava floes and the landscape be noticeably changed by ash plumes, shock waves, and pyroclastic activity... The Eastmach section of the White River wouldn't exist, nor would the mountain on which Morvunskar sits...
  • December 14, 2012
    I was saying that the volcano was dormant but the Red Mountain eruption reactivated it.
  • Member
    December 14, 2012
    I thought it was a rock formation... Not a mountain...
  • December 14, 2012
    It's a mountain, really volcano.
  • December 14, 2012

    Well, that entirely depends on what kind of volcano central Eastmarch is, really.  Since much of Eastmarch is very reminiscent of Yellowstone's volcanic features, the vast plain is very likely a wide, open caldera.  I suspect Bonestrewn Crest is a resurgent dome within the larger caldera.  If this is the case, then its elevation should be closely monitored by the Jarl as the dome is formed by the increase and decrease in volume of magma beneath the surface.  

    Given Eastmarch's size, the explosion of a caldera of that size would be nothing short of catastrophic for not only Skyrim, but any of the provinces surrounding the area.  This is namely due to the fact that historically, explosive calderas (like Yellowstone, and in this case Eastmarch) tend to cause massive eruptions, expelling more matter than most mountain-shaped volcanoes (indeed, those are actually safer as they have thicker lava that flows more slowly and expel less gas and ash).  It would cause greater devastation over a longer period of time than any Vesuvian volcano.  The last time Yellowstone erupted (some half a million years ago), ash covered over one-third of the US (where as Mt. St Helen's eruption only covered the breadth of a few miles).

  • January 29, 2014

    I think that this is an interesting idea, but I don't believe that bonestrewn crest is a volcano. The mineral pools have existed before the red year, I know that they definitely been around since the second era, as they appear in the elder scrolls online in the interactive map of Eastmarch. Also, the word wall at the top of the mountain has been there since the myrethic era. If a volcano existed there and has buried the nearby ruins in ash as you say, then why would a word wall, constructed at the same time as the ruins, still be intact at the top of the mountain. Finally, the Eldergleam sanctuary exists below the hot springs, at the foot of the bonestrewn crest, and going under the mountain, and there is no evidence of any magma or volcanic heat source within the sanctuary.

  • Member
    February 8, 2014

    Actually, couldn't the eldergleam sanctuary be the result of fertile, ash-enriched soil and high levels of CO2 generated by the burning of things beneath the earth of Eastmarch? I think this explains why the plants and fauna in that area are so healthy. Not the influence of an Aedra ( unless Kynareth is influencing the formation of geo-thermal energy), but Nirn's natural cadence of tectonic activity. I'd love to see a map of the planet's fault lines and tectonic activity over the vast period of it's existence.