Lore:Dawnway

Vashabar, home to the followers of the Dawnway

"The roots of the Dawnway are all around us." —King Nantharion

The Dawnway is a philosophy and way of life that emerged among the Bosmer of Valenwood during the Interregnum of the Second Era. It stood in contrast to the Green Pact as an alternate way of life for followers of the Green. The Dawnway is primarily associated with the Dawnwood, a jungled region of Cyrodiil which followers of the Dawnway regarded as their historic homeland.

The Dawnway can trace its origins to the tradition of dawnwalking, which had been maintained by Bosmeri families who could trace their lineages back to the Ayleid Diaspora. The philosophy emerged circa 2E 582 when the forgotten Daedric Prince Ithelia escaped from her imprisonment in Apocrypha, resulting in the denizens of Tamriel remembering her existence for the first time since the Merethic Era. A cult dedicated to Ithelia emerged as a result, and began calling themselves the Recollection. Members of the Recollection were primarily Bosmer who placed great importance in their ancestral links to the Ayleid Diaspora; many Bosmer can trace their ancestry back to Ayleid refugees who fled Cyrodiil following the Alessian Slave Rebellion. Over the centuries, the diaspora in Valenwood were required to adopt the Green Pact and were gradually absorbed into the native Bosmer population. The Recollection were secretly led by Nantharion of Silvenar, who persuaded a group of Bosmer to migrate to the newly-grown Dawnwood in Cyrodiil. In truth, the Recollection were responsible for the growth of the Dawnwood through the use of corrupted greenspring rituals. Nantharion founded the city of Vashabar and proclaimed himself king.

Unlike Green Pact Bosmer, followers of the Dawnway had no qualms about cultivating crops or harvesting wood from the forest. They would make use of deadwood in place of traditional Bosmeri crafting materials when required. These differences would sometimes bring Dawnway Bosmer into conflict with followers of the Green Pact, who were otherwise welcomed to Dawnwood as neighbors. However, Dawnway priests still revered Y'ffre and the Green, and followers of the philosophy still made use of Greenspeakers in the construction of tree-pod dwellings. Dawnway Bosmer would still defer to ancient Bosmeri rites and customs when invoked, such as the Rite of Propagation.

King Nantharion and the Recollection planned to expand the Greenway to cover the entirety of the West Weald and attempted to found a fortified settlement at Hoperoot. When his treachery was revealed, Nantharion brought Ithelia to Vashabar, where she opened an entrance to the lost Ayleid ruins of Miscarcand below. Nantharion was killed within the ruins, ending the threat posed by the Recollection. Leadership of the Bosmer population in Vashabar was given to Greenspeaker Darolith, a follower of the Green Pact who hoped that the Dawnway was not inherently flawed as a philosophy in the absence of Ithelia's continued influence.

The Dawnway Bosmer also established another settlement at Strid River Valley, built on the site of an older Imperial village. However, it was short-lived, as it was decimated by the Daedric crisis that followed.

By the end of the Third Era, the Dawnwood no longer existed within the borders of Cyrodiil. It is unknown if any Bosmer continued to follow the Dawnway.

See Also

• Ayleid Revivalists