The Bottom Line: Newly unearthed D&D campaign notes from the late Julian LeFay—the "Father of the Elder Scrolls"—reveal that the DNA of Tamriel was hard-coded years before Daggerfall hit shelves. These documents, preserved by the UESP and The Imperial Library, provide the first concrete evidence that modern locations like Summerset Isles and icons like Vanus Galerion weren't just random additions, but carefully crafted tabletop legacies.
For those of us who grew up navigating the janky, procedurally generated corridors of Arena and the dizzying scale of Daggerfall, there has always been a "missing link" in the lore. We’ve heard the rumors for decades: "The Elder Scrolls started as a homebrew D&D game." Today, that’s no longer a rumor. Following the passing of Bethesda pioneer Julian LeFay, his family and the community have released scans of the "Sumurset" and "Dwynnen" campaigns. These aren't just doodles; they are the architectural blueprints for the entire franchise.
The Blueprint of a Continent
Our analysis of these notes highlights a startling level of consistency. While Bethesda is famous for its "unreliable narrator" trope and heavy-handed retcons—like famously turning the jungles of Cyrodiil into generic European forests in Oblivion—the maps of Auridon and Alinor found in LeFay’s notes are almost identical to what we see in modern titles like The Elder Scrolls Online.
This suggests that while the tech was struggling to keep up, the vision for the world was already locked in. The "Sumurset" notes, in particular, are a goldmine for lore-beards. We’re seeing the birth of the Mages Guild through the character sheet of Vanus Galerion. It turns out one of the most powerful NPCs in the mythos started as a player character, complete with a handwritten origin story and a list of "mates" that reads like a proto-social graph for the entire guild questline.
Key Lore Revelations from the LeFay Archives
| Feature | Legacy Impact | Modern Context |
|---|---|---|
| The "Sumurset" Map | Established Alinor and Auridon geography. | Remains largely unchanged in ESO: Summerset. |
| Vanus Galerion Notes | Hard-coded the origins of the Mages Guild. | Confirmed the "Witch in the wood" lore seed. |
| Baron Alastor | Set the tone for "snob" Altmer nobility. | The DNA of the Dark Brotherhood targets we love to hate. |
| The Deryk Twins | A 100-year civil war over a single barony. | Classic Bethesda environmental storytelling/quest design. |
Why This Matters for the Future of the Series
We believe these notes offer a refreshing look at what makes this series work. In an era where we are waiting—and waiting, and waiting—for any scrap of news regarding the next mainline entry, these documents remind us that the best parts of the series come from character-driven weirdness, not just "infinite" map markers.
The description of Baron Deryk and his twin sister, who have spent a century swapping places between a throne and a "lavish prison," is exactly the kind of high-concept, slightly absurd questing that the series has lacked in its more "sanitized" recent iterations. It's the kind of stuff that would make a great Skyrim mod or, better yet, a core questline in a future title.
Our Take: LeFay’s notes prove that the "Bethesda Magic" wasn't some corporate formula; it was the result of a few nerds sitting around a table, writing mean things about powerful barons. As the community preserves these documents, it’s a vital reminder to the current devs: the tech changes, but a "mean-spirited" baron that everyone hates is eternal. If The Elder Scrolls VI wants to recapture the soul of the series, they should spend less time on procedural tech and more time looking at Julian’s "witch in the wood."
The UESP and The Imperial Library deserve a massive shout-out for their archival work here. Preserving this history isn't just about nostalgia—it's about protecting the foundation of the RPG genre. We'll be watching for the deeper dive promised by the UESP later this week.