#ashlander lore

A few years ago, when I picked up Morrowind again after a long time away from TES (like before I started my degree, so a good decade had passed between picking it up again). Upon my newest play through (with his royal Joshiness- was trying to plan out Sleepers Awake) I noticed that I recognised/ could easily read a lot of the place names as well as the names of a lot of the Dunmer who are labelled as Ashlanders in game. I'd been learning Akkadian on and off for a good decade at that point, so I was getting used to how it worked in the field. As I was needing time off due to illness, my brain decided to focus on "What's this assortment of things I recognise in the game I like?" So I started making a mental list of prefixes and suffixes- particularly because I'd decided on making Joshi half Ashlander by that point, so he kinda needed a good last name to reflect that. I noticed that most of the names are made up of variants of Assur/Ashur/Esar- Ahhe - Ammu - Adad - Bael/Baal/Bal - Dan - Ilba- Nasir - Pal/Pli You see similar names splashed across the board when you study Assyriology, especially if your focus is on the seat of Assyria (which dates from a small city state in the early Bronze Age all the way to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the early to mid-Iron Age.) So I decided to do a bit of a comparison between the Assyrian and Sumerian/Akkad King Lists and the list of Dunmeri names on the UESP. I'll list some names below to show what I mean. Ashlanders-

Addarnat Assardidairan

Abibaal Assillariran

Ashur-Dan

Pilun Ashapaladdon

Sargon Santumatus

Yahaz Ashurnasaddas

Assyrian Kings List-

Šarru-kīn/Sargon

Puzur-Aššur

Sin-Iddinam

Ashur-nadin-ahhe

Aššur-dān

Esarhaddon

Kings of Sumer and Akkad-

Ur-Nammu

Erra-imitti

Hammurabi

Shulgi

Iddin-Dagan

Ishbi-Erra

Generally speaking, the examples of Ashland and Chimeri we get in game (I'm assuming the names of Morrowind's High Velothi ruins reflect Chimeri.) show more similarities with East Semitic languages than they do with Sumerian, though I do see some Sumerian words peppered in there, which isn't surprising. (There's also a bit of Turkic in there, with words like Khan and Yurt, but East Semitic dominates).

So, when I wanted to give Josh a last name that reflected his background, my first point of call was the Assyrian Kings list.

Why not go with a modification of one of my favourite Neo-Assyrian Kings?

Esarhaddon or 𒀭𒊹𒉽𒋧𒈾 Aššur-aḫa-iddina if you wanna really get into the Cuneiform. When broken down, the name means "Assur(god) has given me a brother."

Without getting too far into Sleepers Awake spoilers, this name meaning is very fitting for what I'm doing with Joshi's paternal line. The term Assur/Ashur/Esar in this case is a god name and since there's no evidence that the Ashlanders worship our buddy Assur in game, (though given how often the prefix appears in Ashlander names and Velothi place names, I'm going to HC that there's a great ancestor named Assur in Sleepers Awake.) I decided to substitute a more neutral Sumerian term in place of the god name. I settle on the term Ensi which means "Great Man" and was usually reserved for independent rulers of city states in early Sumer, later on these Ensi were subordinate to a Lugal (Also meaning "Great Man" but more great, I guess). This works for both how I conceive early Chimeri/Velothi culture, as well as how I conceive Nerevar's position as he gradually gathered his power in Resdayn.

So this gave me the name Ensirhaddon "Our Lord has given me a brother."

You might notice, in the examples above, that Ashlanders tend to have long last names and shorter first names (if the last name is included at all). I decided to stick with this theme when naming my other Ashlander OCs and sorting out the names of named NPCs. So now we get into how I arrange Ashlander names. From what I can tell, with how Dunmeri names in general work, the last name seems to go before the first name unless they are signing Imperial documents. This is fairly common in East Asian and some Central Asian cultures, both of which influence how the Dunmer are written in TES. So I decided to play on that a bit. So given that, I conceive Ashlander names as flowing thusly- Family Name - Clan Name - Personal Name - Tribal Affiliation. Ensirhaddon'Sero - Sul - Teldryn - am'Urshilaku

Clan names will change with marriage and gender, and will be dropped if the mer leaves their clan. Usually having the clan name missing implied the mer has been exiled, and you will also find that they drop Tribal affiliations as well if that's the case. I'll list a few names below to give a better idea, as well as indicate gender to show where the gendered differences are. These are two related families that frequently intermarry. Ensirhaddon-Ammu Yani am'Erabenimsun ♂ Ensirhaddon-Khamishi Libali am'Erabemimsun ♀ Ensirhaddon-Khamishi Manirai am'Erabenimsun ♀

Ensirhaddon'Sero-Sul Teldryn am'Urshilaku ♂

Ilaba'andul-Sul Erra am'Urshilaku-Ahemmusa ♂

Ilaba'andul-Sul Erishum am'Urshilaku ♂

Ilaba'andul-Maesa Ashera am'Urshilaku ♀

Ilaba'andul-Sul Etana am'Urshilaku ♂ Ilaba'andul-Maesa Ki am'Urshilaku ♀

Here the epithet 'am simply means "Of" so the name "Ensirhaddon'Sero-Sul Teldryn am'Urshilaku" is really just "Teldryn Ensirhaddon'Sero-Sul of the Urshilaku Tribe."

In Joshi's case, he uses both the last names of his parents in his full name, though will go by Sero in most cases as it garners less raised eyebrows than Ensirhaddon does outside the Ashlands. He will do the opposite when dealing with Ashlanders, where using the name Ensirhaddon goes down better. When naming Erra I went from scratch, I knew I wanted an Ashlander Warrior OC and naturally went looking through my lists. Erra (Pronounced Irrah) had a pretty great ring to it, and the god in question does serve as some of his inspiration. His family name, Ilaba'andul, is also from the Sumer lists and means "Ilaba (God name 𒀭𒀀𒂷) is the protection" (Ilaba would serve here as another Great Ancestor). The addition of Sul as his Clan name is simply because, in creating the character, I decided that he's the great nephew of the current Urshilaku Ashkhan, Sul-Matuul. I decided that Sul (which appears in the name of the previous Ashkhan, Sul-Senipul who Matuul confirms is his father in dialogue). We also know that Alandro-Sul went on to go live with one of the Ashlander clans after the Battle of Red Mountain and is credited with spreading the version of Nerevar's death that involves the Tribunal murdering Nerevar. I'd imagine that someone as significant to the Nerevar mythos as his demigod Shield Companion living with the Ashlanders would result in at least some semblance of his name being passed down through the generations. (If you've figured out who one of Erra's ancestors is, then you get a cookie 🍪). So Sul becomes one of the Clan names of the Urshilaku ruling class. I head canon that generally the names of Great Ancestors are taken for names in general, usually these are from early Ashkhans and heros from the Merethic Era and into the 1st Era.

Personal names are given after a three-year period of deliberation. Usually taking into account the various signs and omens surrounding a child's birth and their first three years of life. Personal names usually belong to an ancestor who presented with similar signs, and whose personality the family wishes to imbue onto the child. The naming ceremony usually coincides with the child's first haircut (I have a whole head canon about hair too, so...). When a mer is married, they will take on the name of their spouse's clan and attach it to their full name. In Joshi's case he added the name "Sul" to his name, as his father, being an exile, had dropped the name "Ammu" as he fled and therefore was not permitted to pass it down to his son. The equivalent name for women of the Ilaba'andul-Sul family is "Maesa". Clan names denote specific family branches, and can be useful for understanding relation amongst the Tribes.

Different branches of the Ilaba'andul Family are:- Ilaba'andul-Lammak ♂

Ilaba'andul-Chodala ♂ Ilaba'andul-Sul ♂

Ilaba'andul-Maesa ♀

Ilaba'andul-Rasi ♀

She had, after all, foreseen her mother’s death. That, too, was another Sign. It was the heaviest of them, and she had trusted it to only one other—Sul-Matuul. He was her best friend—and perhaps the only true friend she had. When one was marked by the stars as she was, there were few who would look past the perception of power bestowed by her eventual title. But Sul had known the shape of her soul since they were children. Azura knew he’d likely known her across every lifetime. She felt their connection to be a foundational truth of the universe, and had told him as much. Despite her current worries, she smiled at the memory of his response. He’d woven his fingers through hers and sighed in exasperation, only to laugh his agreement at the sentiment. He’d insisted he’d never been one for poetry, or he’d have said it himself.

Nibani was positive that in every lifetime, she’d have to be the one to proclaim such truths—and would do so again, and again.

She set down the basket she had been carrying and smoothed the stray strands of her thick, auburn braids, pulling them back over her shoulders. Sul was there across the plains, sparring with Zabamund—though she wished he wouldn’t. There was a reason Grandmother’s voice would not empty from her mind this day. It was imperative to talk about it. He would try to understand, and would remind her of her strength all the while. For now, he was preoccupied. He had a role to fill, too—he would be named Ashkhan, though the Gods only knew when. It didn’t stop his father from insisting he act as if the title was already his.

To the hearth there comes a stranger, journeyed far 'neath moon and star…