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The Firstborn

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As the first of Midgard's sapiences to arise, the high mammoths and the giants are collectively known as the Firstborn.

The high mammoths, Mammuthus rationalis, first appeared around two million years ago in Siberia during an interglacial period. Despite their resemblance to the woolly mammoth (M. primigenius) the two species are fairly distant. The high mammoth line split from the other mammoths fairly early in the genus' evolution, while the woolly mammoth only appeared around 200,000 years ago in similar climatic conditions.

The high mammoths are Midgard's most intelligent beings. By human standards, an prepubescent calf would easily be accepted into Mensa. An adult would find the most challenging of mathematical problems trivial - so long as they have been schooled in the subject. As such, a multitude of daedric lords who pride themselves on their vast intellect, including Athena and Hermaeus Mora (who are also the only two so far who have been able to understand basic calculus), have tested themselves against mammoth herds. The mammoths in question usually become bored and suggest that these literal gods could make themselves more useful by entertaining the young calves for a while. The calves would eventually become bored too, humiliating the daedra further. There's a reason the daedra prefer to deal with hominins.

Though the mammoths never developed any form of civilisation or technology, they are credited with the summoning of the elder scrolls, which to this day are more powerful than any daedra and can be more destructive than even the largest nuclear weapons. They contain vast amounts of information and have consciousnesses of their own. They also have the ability to break the laws of physics entirely and travel through time and space instantaneously, and can be used to banish something from the universe. They can reveal both the future and the past of any location within the Mundus (where planets and stars and galaxies occur) and Oblivion. However, they have yet to reveal alternate universes and the reasons behind this are still debated. Even the most powerful of daedra - literal deities - would never dare to tamper with the scrolls and many, such as Alduin, Morgoth, and Gaia, have been vanquished by mortals who wielded them. The exact reason behind the summoning of the scrolls is unknown, but the most likely hypothesis is disturbing to the extreme - "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

Following their spread across northern Endor the high mammoths in Rhûn began selectively breeding populations of Homo erectus, already a highly intelligent species, to make them grow larger and smarter. The result was Homo maximus, the giants, who became the second true sapience, arising around 1.5 million years ago. The hominins eventually became fully sapient naturally around 900,000 years later with Homo ehlnofex; the ancestral species of humans, elves, and dwarves.

The two species spread south into Harad and eventually crossed a land bridge into Tamriel (along with the ancestors of the imga) around 700,000 years ago. From there they spread along Atmora's coastline into Westeros, where they encountered the wohdaks. However, with the emergence of Homo elhnofex and the spread of the khajiit, the Firstborn became rare in Endor and the high mammoths eventually became extinct everywhere except Skyrim. Meanwhile woolly mammoths can be found across northern Endor and even in Westeros. Giants can still be found in small populations in northwestern Endor, Skyrim, and Westeros (beyond the Wall only). Only in Skyrim do the giants still live as they did in the ancient times.

Giants stand at 11 feet tall on average, high mammoths at 13 feet. These examples of the Firstborn were rendered in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
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iwannasetstuffonfire's avatar
How smart are the giants?