Topal the Pilot

Statue of Topal The Pilot located in Leyawiin, Cyrodiil.

For the location in Oblivion, see Topal Bay.

Topal the Pilot (also known as Torval the Pilot) was an Aldmer explorer who discovered the Niben River and charted Tamriel's sea lanes in the Merethic Era. Topal was the pilot of the ship called the Niben. One of the other ships in that voyage was the Pasquiniel. Torval sailed into Topal (which was subsequently named after him) and up through the Niben River until he was deep in Cyrodiil. There, he taught the Beastfolk natives how to read and write in exchange for the Eight Islands (the site of the Imperial City and the White-Gold Tower). Several of his maps are recorded in the Crystal Tower of the Summerset Isles.

Topal first encountered Tamriel at High Rock, allegedly encountering a number of Orsimer in the region. The fragments of recordings are lost until he reaches the land of Morrowind, and the Isle of Gorne. The third fragmentary note records how he found the "fetid swamps" of Black Marsh until at last reaching what is now known as the Topal Bay. He continued up the river, in what is today known as the Niben River. Going along the river, he eventually reached Lake Rumare, encountering Bird Men and early ancestors of the Khajiit along the way, far from their Elsweyr homeland of today.

Sources

• Father of the Niben
• Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Cyrodiil
• Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Elsweyr
• Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Summerset Isles
• Pocket Guide to the Empire, Third Edition: Black Marsh