Books:Pocket Guide to the Empire: 1st Edition

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It has been proposed that Books:Pocket Guide to the Empire: 1st Edition be renamed and moved to Books:A Pocket Guide to the Empire and its environs.
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BK-cover-PGE1.jpg
Release Date 1998
Time Period 2E 864
Author(s) Michael Kirkbride
Kurt Kuhlmann
Publisher Bethesda Softworks
Pages 46
Game Redguard
To read the content of this booklet, see the Lore article: Pocket Guide to the Empire, 1st Edition

A Pocket Guide to the Empire and its environs (now commonly referred to as the 1st Edition or PGE1 to distinguish it from a subsequent Pocket Guide) was a sourcebook featured in the The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard game manual, and provided the first detailed background information on the lands and peoples of Tamriel and beyond.

An in-universe pamphlet distributed during the rise of the Septim Empire, it is evidently an item of propaganda, aggrandizing the nascent Empire—especially its leader, Tiber Septim—and demonizing elves, beastfolk, and any peoples not yet subjugated. The guide has added annotations and drawings from a "YR", an Altmeri traveler who provides commentary on the inaccuracies and biases they perceive in the pamphlet. An accompanying note explains that YR has sent this copy of the guide to his home in the Aldmeri Dominion as a warning of the rising hegemony of mankind and Septim's expansionist aspirations. As YR cautioned, the Aldmeri Dominion itself was invaded and conquered by Septim soon after the Pocket Guide was published.

The guide begins with a brief introduction, followed by chapters on the Empire's provincial territories of Skyrim, Cyrodiil, High Rock, and Hammerfell; the Aldmeri Dominion (then comprised of Summerset Isle and Valenwood); the Elsweyr Confederacy; Morrowind; and what it deems the "Wild Regions", Argonia, Pyandonea, Thras and Orsinium.

Behind the Scenes[edit]

  • While Michael Kirkbride and Kurt Kuhlmann are named as the guide's authors, Redguard's credits note that there was additional writing provided by (or "help and liberal theft from") Ken Rolston and Richard Guy.[1] Kirkbride stated that Guy provided the sidebar The Tongues on page 6.[2]
  • According to Kirkbride, the Pocket Guide was written in a span of five weeks, hurried due to him having to draw the illustrations and in anticipation of Redguard's shipping date.[3]
  • Acknowledging that YR is right to question information in the pamphlet, Kirkbride also suggested that "something is wrong with the Altmeri Traveler".[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Redguard:Credits
  2. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (7 April 2020). Comment on "The Elder Scrolls 25th Anniversary Picture Is A Picture Of All The Different Towers That Hold Mundus Together.". Reddit.
  3. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (9 September 2020). Comment on "Cocaine?". Reddit.
  4. ^ Kirkbride, M. [MKirkbride]. (18 March 2014). Comment on "What do you guys think about Lawrence Schick?". Reddit.