Originally published on r/teslore back in May.
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Before I get started I want to make a shout-out to u/DanielK2312, u/Axo25 and u/Vicious223 for their post dissecting the Tsaesci Creation Myth, which proved invaluable in the making of this post. Also a special thank you to u/DanielK2312 for the brainstorming sessions and for being the one to proof-read every stage of this post.
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The Lefthanded elves are an enigma with a few mentions strewn throughout the lore, but never expanded upon. This piece intends to collate all the disparate mentions, as well as try to deduce meaning from what little information we have to hopefully build a somewhat coherent picture of who they were and where they came from. In the text Cries from Empty Mouths, they call themselves Kanuryai and that's the name I will be using throughout this post.
History
What we know for certain of the Kanuryai is two-fold: they fought a war against the Yokudans and lost;
He was instrumental to the defeat of the Lefthanded Elves, as he brought orichalc weapons to the Yokudan people to win the fight.
Varieties of Faith
Redguard stories say that when the Ra Gada first arrived on these shores, they found Nilata still inhabited by Elves. Having fought the Lefthanded Elves on Yokuda for a thousand years, wherever the newcomers found Elves in Hammerfell, they exterminated them.
Nilata Ruins loading screen
In their homeland of Yokuda, the precursors of the Redguards fought long and bitter conflicts with the Lefthanded Elves. When the Ra Gada came to Tamriel and found Elven colonies on the Hammerfell coasts, they set out to eradicate them.
Ash’abah Pass loading screen
and they fled to the Systres where they conquered the islands until Mount Firesong erupted and killed most of them. Whatever remnants remained of them were later killed when the first wave of Ra Gada from Yokuda made landfall on the Systres.
In 1E 660 or thereabouts, the so-called Lefthanded Elves arrived from Yokuda and began their conquest of the archipelago. They found a foothold on Amenos and constructed a fortress there to serve as their base while they assaulted the other islands and laid siege to Y'ffelon. Who knows what state the archipelago would be in today if the Lefthanded Elves hadn't been consumed in the eruption of Mount Firesong in 1E 676? What few remained on Amenos were wiped out by the encroaching Ra Gada in 1E 785.
Secrets of Amenos
So far it’s pretty straight-forward. They were an old enemy of the Yokudans who were wiped out. But who were they?
Culture
This is where things start to get interesting. From different antiquity codexes in ESO we can start to form a picture of a people with a strong craftsmanship culture for anything from masonry;
It's rare to find a Yokudan statue that isn't wielding a sword. Well done. This looks like a depiction of Morwha—the fertility goddess. Based on the items she's holding, I'd say this statue came from Yokuda itself. [...] Ra Gada-era sculptors rarely took the time to render softer details like those flowers. Bloody conquest took priority. The lack of orichalc does give me pause, though. Yokudan statuary normally features a metallic element. [...] Look at the stone. This Morwha's rendered in gypsum alabaster--a favored material of the Yokudans' hated enemies, the Sinistral Mer. The sculptor probably acquired the stone during the early days of the Ra Gada, thus explaining the lack of orichalc.
Morwha’s Blessing antiquity codex
to leatherworking and husbandry;
According to Yokudan histories, the boundary between pet and livestock was a hazy line for the Lefthanders. Yath Asp leather was stout stuff--resistant to cuts and gouges. It was the perfect material for a stylish war girdle.
Asp-Leather Strap antiquity codex
to gemcutting;
According to my studies, most of the onyx mines in pre-Ra Gada Yokuda were seized from the Lefthanded Elves as spoils of war. The Redguards' ancestors never really developed the knack for this sort of gemcutting. I think this is a Lefthander relic.
Grand Hattu Onyx antiquity codex
These unique gems were considered a sign of royalty in Yokuda since before the rise of the Na-Totambu. It has something to do with the golden inclusions, I believe. The Yokudan's enemies, the Lefthanded Elves, embedded them in many of their weapons. [...] Chrysocollas are strongly associated with defense, but in the Yoku tongue, the term defense is just a different tense of offense. They placed far less emphasis on defense as a concept that than the Lefthanders did. This is definitely Elven.
Totambu Chrysocollas antiquity codex
and metalworking:
What a curious relic. It's a belt clasp, certainly, but the metal and configuration are quite unique. Do you see how it cinches from the left? This may have belonged to a Lefthander noble from ancient Yokuda! [...] This metal looks like an alloy--nine parts steel and one part orichalcum. Redguards call it Singersteel. According to the myths, the Yokudans used orichalc to drive the Elves out. Maybe the Lefthanders got their hands on a bit of orichalcum as well? [...] I wouldn't tell a Crown that Lefthanders made belts from sacred metal!
Singersteel Clasp antiquity codex
It is of note that the Yokudans and Kanuryai are mentioned in the same breath many times throughout these codexes, and a lot of the materials used in crafting these items seem to be known today as Yokudan materials, used by the Redguard ancestors. This could either mean that the two peoples simply had access to the same kinds of materials, or perhaps that there was a trade situation going on in which they exchanged goods and services. War rarely involves the entire population after all. When the soldiers are fighting on the front lines, life continues in the settlements. The Yokudans and the Kanuryai may have had a situation similar to the Atmorans and the Falmer before the Night of Tears.
We can also surmise that the Kanuryai had a culture of swordsmanship. How skilled they were is another debate, but considering how long the war was going on, they seem to have been able to hold their own against the Yokudans. In Cries from Empty Mouths, the teacher repeatedly refers to his student as “bladed one”, suggesting that the student is a swordsman soldier:
Our enemy believes a falsehood while they live, bladed one. [...] We know that truth, don't we bladed one?
The same text also gives us reason to believe that the Yokudans and the Kanuryai had mingled linguistically:
We know very little of the Sinestral language, which complicates efforts of translation into the common word. I've used Yoku as a starting foundation, but the two languages diverge considerably despite the geographical proximity of the relevant people.
While the author claims that the languages diverge considerably, using Yoku as a base still enabled her to translate the entire text, which suggests that despite their differences they still have plenty in common.
As for their beliefs, they didn’t believe in an afterlife, although they were aware of the kalpic cycles. They venerated the Real and seemed to await the Nothing that would be once the cycle ended.
"Our enemy believes a falsehood while they live, bladed one. Like us, the Yokudan knows life is brief and nothing awaits them in the final after. Rather than accept this, they tell stories that hide and obscure. Stories of an immortality that awaits after a mortal death. Their society clings to these beliefs, and through repetition hopes to make them real.
"As their life draws to a close, the Yokudan's grip on these stories slips. The dying see clearly what we Kanuryai know—nothing awaits past the final after. [...]
Bile rose into my throat
to imagine a people convinced
the Real has no hold on us all. [...]
"We know that truth, don't we bladed one? There is bone and dirt. Blood and smoke. Flesh and metal. This is the Real. While many stages of death exist, in the final after there is nothing. Knowing this makes our people strong. We tell no stories for comfort, so we fight to stay in the here and now." [...]
Life beyond this one enticed me.
A seductive story to hear.
The fire popped and cinders leapt out,
the glowing motes landing on my hand.
Through the pain, understanding came.
That which I see and feel is the truth.
Cries from Empty Mouths
On the opposite side of this, one particular antiquity codex makes mention of a belief in souls:
According to Zirad's Guide to Yokuda, Lefthanded Elves worked hard to protect the abdomen because that was the throne of the soul.
Gilded Disk antiquity codex
This seems contradictory; why believe in souls if there’s no belief in an afterlife? More on this later.
Curiously, the Kanuryai are referred to, or likened to, snakes more than once:
Diagna (Orichalc God of the Sideways Blade): Hoary thuggish cult of the Redguards. Originated in Yokuda during the Twenty Seven Snake Folk Slaughter. Diagna was an avatar of the HoonDing (the Yokudan God of Make Way, see below) that achieved permanence. He was instrumental to the defeat of the Lefthanded Elves, as he brought orichalc weapons to the Yokudan people to win the fight.
Varieties of Faith
In a later entry, Tussad describes an attack on one of High Isle's shrines, stating: "The swordfolk walked shield-to-shoulder, in great lines like snakes of the field." It is in this entry that we find the truth.
Systres History
The people most commonly referred to as snakes are the Tsaesci of Akavir. Could this possibly be a connection?
There is much in Redguard history which suggests ancient connections to the Tsaesci as well. Not only are many of the greatest heroes clearly influenced by Akaviri as well as Redguard culture - Gaiden Shinji, for example - But the whole cult of Satakal and the dungeon called Fang Lair... It is too coincidental.
Interview with Three Writers
This comfortably brings us to the next section of this piece: geography.
Geography
The different elvish races are commonly believed to have migrated from a single point of origin, although there are doubts when this happened for elves such as dwemer, falmer and bosmer, or if it happened at all. When Nirn first came into existence all land was connected in a pangea situation, as detailed by the Anuad:
Nirn originally was all land, with interspersed seas, but no oceans.
The war between the Ehlnofey then reshaped the land into the continents we know today, which creates the supposition that Aldmeris is the pangea continent, but that’s a different story. I propose a different theory: that the Kanuryai, after the war, ended up on the continent which would come to be known as Akavir and from there migrated West. The two Akaviri invasions we know of have come from the East, which makes sense considering the eastern Tamrielic coastlines are closer to Akavir, but there are a few mentions of Akaviri having reached as far West as High Rock.
Their first appearance in history was as pirates, which we may now assume were also scouts for the eventual invasions. Ships manned by bizarre beastfolk bewildered and horrified the earliest inhabitants of Tamriel. Contemporary scholars find references to pirates with rat-like features, and still others who appeared canine, suggesting Akaviri cultures yet undiscovered and perhaps extinct.
Pocket Guide to the Empire, 3rd Edition: Other Lands
In ancient times, there lived a hero named Lyrisius. He fought against the Akaviri slavetraders and single-handedly slew hundreds.
The Story of Lyrisius
The traders and fishermen of Wayrest were surrounded by hostile parties: the orc capital Orsinium had grown like a poison weed to the north, and the Akaviri pirates and raiders crowded the islands to the west.
Wayrest: Jewel of the Bay
In the ESO version of Wayrest: Jewel of the Bay the word “Akaviri” is cut out of the text, hinting at a possible retcon of the Akaviri ever reaching as far west as Wayrest, and The Story of Lyrisius never made it out of Daggerfall (unless you count the replica of Fearstruck that shows up in ESO), however PGE3 is contemporary with Oblivion, suggesting a lingering narrative where the Akaviri were seafaring and pirates. This creates a possibility that an Akaviri culture of elves travelled the seas to settle on Yokuda, influencing the humans there in ways that are now seen as Tsaesci, but which may have potentially been elven in origin. Mysterious Akavir notes that there are no elves there, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that there may once have been.
Akavir is the kingdom of the beasts. No Men or Mer live in Akavir, though Men once did. These Men, however, were eaten long ago by the vampiric Serpent Folk of Tsaesci.
Mysterious Akavir
So what does this have to do with the Kanuryai being called snakes? As we have seen, the people of Tamriel sometimes conflate the term snake-people to mean “people from Akavir” regardless of whether they are Tsaesci at all. The text Against the Snakes is the most obvious example of this:
Been thinking about our fight against the Akaviri. I've got opinions. Think I'll write them down. The whole damned war could have been avoided if those idiots in Windhelm had the sense to throw the Snakes back into the sea. Shor take them! [...] Jorunn fortified Riften, but the Snakes rolled right past. Why go straight to the Ashlands? [...] The Snakes push into Stonefalls after the fall of Fort Virak. Why? What were they after? [...] Shor take the whole Snake island.
This text talks about the second invasion which we know was perpetrated by the Kamal, the snow demons, not the Tsaesci. I take them being referenced as snake folk as a reference to their Akaviri origins.
There is a passage in the Tsaesci Creation Myth which mentions the dragons migrating from Akavir to Atmora, abandoning the Akaviri people.
There was the Biting, which broke the twelve worlds and their name-eggs, and the Biters chewed new names of the lesser serpents until soon death was known to the smallest and your alphabets disappeared but ours did not. The state of rest became worthy of blame, however segmented, so heat was wasted across the right eye. And in mercy we gave to you language that was dead yet walking if you used it, which you did, though transient food-forms became problematic. There was the Slithering, when scales were now name-bites that moved freely, and the dead language speakers bled out into non-talk, which is egg-naming inverted, which slides into the shedding of more dead, which cannot be redeemed in the hunger quadrant,
In this the dragons reach backwards from future-set Akavir to gift the mortals with their language, the thu’um, which confirms that thu’um and kiai are the same thing:
The breath and the voice are the vital essence of a Nord. [...] The power of a Nord can be articulated into a shout, like the kiai of an Akaviri swordsman.
Children of the Sky
I propose that the elves followed the dragons, but after arriving decided to reach even further backwards. This mimics the journey Vivec made with Nerevar in Sermon 17:
Soon they were walking across the eastern sea to the land of snakes and snow demons. [...] They walked to the north to the Elder Wood and found nothing but frozen bearded kings. They came to the west where the black men dwelt.
Metaphysics & Theorycrafting
So the Kanuryai allegedly believed that the stomach was the throne of the soul, but let’s look at it less literally. The Tsaesci Creation Myth, refers to the Void Ghost, a.k.a Lorkhan, as the Stomach at least once, similarly the Redguard/Yokudan creation myth calls Padomay/Sithis the Hungry Stomach, Akel.
Stomach signals wrote a complex document of conditions. This was the variation map, called dai.
The Tsaesci Creation Myth
And so the worlds called to something to save them, to let them out, but of course there was nothing outside the First Serpent, so aid had to come from inside it; this was Akel, the Hungry Stomach. Akel made itself known, and Satak could only think about what it was, and it was the best hunger, so it ate and ate.
The Monomyth: Satakal the Worldskin
The above mentioned passage from the TCM refers to Lorkhan establishing the Psijic Endeavor and, via proxy of the Three Good Daedra, presenting it to the mortals. The Kanuryai’s belief that the stomach is the throne of the soul, may simply be an acknowledgement of the mortals’ inherent potential to ascend.
"If mortals knew the power they harbored, and how so unearned, a grace inexplicably given by the outer gods who provide too-plenty and without good guidance – "If they knew, they may wise work as hard to keep the within as much as their precious withouts -- that easily slipped-bare skin that withers as paper before flame – "For that is the truth of it: the body houses that which it cannot ever for long withstand.""
N’Gasta
This may be what Cries From Empty Mouths intended, because why would a people that doesn’t believe in an afterlife have any use of believing in souls? In that way Cries From Empty Mouths presents a narrative discrepancy with the Lefthander’s Aegis Belt antiquity codex.
"We know that truth, don't we bladed one? There is bone and dirt. Blood and smoke. Flesh and metal. This is the Real. While many stages of death exist, in the final after there is nothing. Knowing this makes our people strong. We tell no stories for comfort, so we fight to stay in the here and now."
Cries From Empty Mouths
This passage may also allude to them being aware of the kalpas, and potentially the Amaranth. “In the final after there is nothing”. When the cycle ends, there is nothing left. Similarly the TCM acknowledges the kalpas in the very first sentences:
There was the Striking, and the Egg was split into twelve worlds, one for each serpent who had a name, and the names of the serpents were alive and coiled into themselves and became more eggs, for names are self-maters, and the Naming went and went. According to the calculations, the random sequence learned very cunningly that fragmentation reserved itself to the left eye. Variation realms were the evidence needed.
And of course the Redguard/Yokudan creation myth also acknowledges the kalpas, as we know:
As Satakal ate itself over and over, the strongest spirits learned to bypass the cycle by moving at strange angles. They called this process the Walkabout, a way of striding between the worldskins. Ruptga was so big that he was able to place the stars in the sky so that weaker spirits might find their way easier. This practice became so easy for the spirits that it became a place, called the Far Shores, a time of waiting until the next skin.
The Monomyth: Satakal the Worldskin
Here we have to make a distinction on what MK intended Akavir to be when he wrote the Tsaesci Creation Myth. In this Tosh-Raka was intended to be the Flower Child of Vivec and Jubal from the end of C0DA. Akavir is future-set and the realm of the new Amaranth.
The waters obeyed and dead names took up their place in the random sequence. The first serpents returned to us in transmissions that answered the alphabet-virus which we then consumed at last. By the relative dai, we egg-named it and swallowed all source-information to preserve the virus and became immortal thereby. Past the star line, dead-talking continued. The Laying then happened, and we moved into forms that had been granted from the source information of the first serpents, which was gold-walking, which is pattern. The scales became intertwined in the random sequence with music that ate forever, which we fed with you. Low forms created a seeking egg but we fed it to the music, too. Then the Biter-Shedding grew sideways into the reception field and knew a Coiling and mastery was ours borne from the calculations. The final name was Tsaescence and we ate it to become it and there are no more variations.
The Tsaesci Creation Myth
In this section Tosh-Raka is the one who consumes the alphabet-virus, Talos, and completes Lorkhan’s endeavor. The dragons are driven out of Akavir by the Tsaesci who don’t accept Tosh-Raka’s claim, into the past where people are still stuck to the past ways: “Past the star line, dead-talking continued”. Tosh-Raka as the Amaranth creates a new world that isn’t forced into linearity and separation, they can all exist at once. No more kalpas. “We ate it to become it and there are no more variations.”
Is it thus feasible to claim that the Kanuryai were exiles from Akavir who sailed past Atmora and northern Tamriel to settle on Yokuda after the Flower Child of Vivec landed on future-set Akavir? They worship nothing, having seen the end-game, their culture instead venerating the nothing that comes after the cycles are done. But what is the nothing? The IS NOT. Padomay, Sithis, Lorkhan. They venerate the Real, that which they can see and feel. Mundus. The creation of Lorkhan.
No moons rose on the wagon ride home.
In the thick black, I thought on these words.
What cowards do we fight? What weakness?
Bile rose into my throat
to imagine a people convinced
the Real has no hold on us all.
Once more I sought my teacher,
his placid face ready for questions.
"Our enemy hears their wailing kin.
How can they still believe in stories? [...]
"We know that truth, don't we bladed one? There is bone and dirt. Blood and smoke. Flesh and metal. This is the Real. While many stages of death exist, in the final after there is nothing. Knowing this makes our people strong. We tell no stories for comfort, so we fight to stay in the here and now."A fire flickered and cracked,
throwing shadows around my home.
I sat, still, by my rough stone hearth
feeling its heat enter my skin.
Life beyond this one enticed me.
A seductive story to hear.
The fire popped and cinders leapt out,
the glowing motes landing on my hand.
Through the pain, understanding came.
That which I see and feel is the truth.
Cries From Empty Mouths
Lorkhan is the Stomach is the Heart is the Soul. The abdomen is the throne of the soul. Who taught the mortals about the Endeavor? Lorkhan by Tri-une proxy. They venerate the Real because it’s the plane that gives them the platform from which to ascend, and the potential to ascend sits in the abdomen: the hunger. They left because in Tosh-Raka’s world there is no more Endeavor to attempt, because Tosh-Raka is the completion.
Next, let’s explore the connection to Boethiah, which exists in their given name: Lefthanded.
Boethiah’s emblem depicts a left hand in a fist with a snake coiled around it. She is the warrior queen, the rebel, Lorkhaj’s beloved in Khajiiti myth, and noticeably left-handed in many of her depictions. This is where GHARTOK comes in. GHARTOK is the weapon hand or the left hand of god, associated with destruction or change. Change is Padomay is Sithis is Lorkhan.
They came to the west where the black men dwelt. For a year they studied under their sword saints and then for another Vivec taught them the virtue of the little reward. Vivec chose a king for a wife and made another race of monsters which ended up destroying the west completely.
The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 17
'You alone, though you come again and again, can unmake him. Whether I allow it is within my wisdom. Go unarmed into his den with these words of power: AE GHARTOK PADHOME [CHIM] AE ALTADOON. Or do not. The temporal myth is man. Reach heaven by violence. This magic I give to you: the world you will rule is only an intermittent hope and you must be the letter written in uncertainty.'
The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 15
This Ehlnofex phrase translates to “In the hands of change, royalty is a weapon”. In the Tsaesci Creation Myth it’s stated that “the dead language speakers bled out into non-talk” which means that despite the thu’um given to them by the dragons of Akavir, they still chose violence, the sword, which is action rather than communication.
The paragraph from Sermon 17 quoted above alludes to Vivec having created the Kanuryai as a race of monsters after taking a Yokudan king for a wife, but I say that’s too literal. Vivec probably sowed the sparks of war, which made their actions monstrous, rather than created a whole new race. This paragraph also alludes to it having been the Kanuryai who destroyed Yokuda. However, Vivec claims in the sword-meet with Cyrus that the Yokudans used the Pankratosword, the sword-cut that could cut the atomos, the uncuttable. The technique that allegedly sank Yokuda and was struck from all records afterwards.
"You would destroy the home of your ancestors even more? And in the fashion that they had done, which is now forbidden in your hands?" [...] "Cut the atomos and you die, too." [...] "What, the Barons of Move Like This didn't teach you a countermove to this?" Cyrus said. "Oh, wait, they wouldn't have. The Pankratosword is stricken from the record." [...] "And I had so wanted to see the Pankratosword, and so believed you ired enough to bring its ruin on us both. What stopped you, Surahoon?" [...] Cyrus, you see, never knew how to actually use the Pankratosword, only how to hold it at threat. After all, its use was forbidden and thus held in no stone at all after the fall of Old Yokuda.
Lord Vivec’s Sword-Meeting with Cyrus the Restless
According to Vivec’s Sword-Meet with Cyrus the Restless, Hoon-Ding was left-handed:
"Do-sura fights right handed," he said, voice low, "Yet you just held your saber with your left**."**.
So where does all this get us? We have a people of crafts- and swordsmen who venerated the Real and believed in Nothing, who left the future-set Akavir with the dragons and settled on Yokuda where they mingled peacefully with the native Yokudans until something happened that sparked a war that eventually sundered Yokuda.
The name Lefthanded comes from GHARTOK, the left hand of destruction, in an attempt to slander the enemies of the Yokudans. We have a cultural connection between the Tsaesci/Akaviri and the Redguard, suggesting that they peacefully intermingled for a time. Enough time that their cultures and languages mixed, to a degree. This mimics the Atmoran arrival to Tamriel where they mingled peacefully with the Falmer until the Night of Tears, but unlike the Atmorans, the Kanuryai couldn’t sail away to gather reinforcements.
If Yokuda is past-set, as the remembrance of a past kalpa, then the conflict between the Kanuryai and the Yokudans mirror the conflict between Akatosh and Lorkhan, as above so below. Redguards are notably the only current race of men that views Mundus as a prison, an ordinarily elven view. Each kalpa is a variation of half-remembered things from the previous cycle. If we were to assign sides in the Akatosh/Lorkhan conflict, then it looks as if the Yokudans were on Akatosh’s side, and the Kanuryai on Lorkhan’s, it mirrors Lorkhan’s constant loss in the conflict against Akatosh, or alternatively Padomay’s loss against Anu, and the subsequent sundering of the twelve worlds = the sundering of Yokuda.
The Kanuryai are left with the Lefthander epithet, they carry the burden of being named GHARTOK, they are accused of destroying the west in the Sermons. It’s the victor who writes the history, and in this story the Kanuryai are both the instigators and the victims, the blamed and the vanquished.
He was so hungry he could not think straight.
The Monomyth
The Stomach is the throne of the Soul.
Your house is safe now
So why is it--
Your house is safe now
So why is it–
Sermon 19
