Read “a provisional C0DA” below, as arranged by Tyermali, with artwork by Mikhail Pabor, Katy Hargrove, Ksenia Mamaeva, Jesse Samson, M.C. Barrett, Manuel Dupong, William Weird, Nadmoremtumana, Enolez Drata, Floating Heads, MarkynazVader, noxfoxArts, Llennococonnell, Vophoha Neka, VictoriaDaedra, LordEd, Nadezhda Sennikova, seedyvagrant, Wrath-Of-Egg, Lady Nerevar and Michael Kirkbride.
>>New Readers & Non-TES Readers
You may want to refer to the C0DA page on UESP, and explore further from there.
If you cannot read the pdf via the embedded view below, click here to download it. If you prefer a long scroll on a single page with in-progress HTML formatting, you can find it here.
The Original Script of C0DA
If you cannot read the pdf in the embedded viewer, click here to download it.
What is C0DA?
C0DA is a graphic novel script by Michael Kirkbride, which exists “unofficially” within the Elder Scrolls universe, and was never fully illustrated. It first appeared online on Valentine’s Day 2014. Within the context of TES lore, it presents a story in which survivors of Nirn have relocated to the moon Masser, following an apocalyptic event called Landfall. The story follows Jubal-lun-Sul, a Dunmer who sets out to slay the Numidium. >>Read a more in-depth summary on UESP.
C0DA is a work of metafiction intended to break the fourth wall, and encourages the idea that the TES world is a living emergent reality, which is actively shaped by our own individual and collective interaction with it. The text encourages readers/players to deconstruct their concept of “canon,” and consider their own part in open-source lore/fandom communities, and to explore what the lore means to them personally. (Just as we all get to define our own realities based on what we do/do not believe or choose to engage with personally.) C0DA is also (maybe) commentary on creative works as produced within collective structures under economic/environmental/social pressure, characters/cultural icons and their unfolding influence on humanity then and now, and (potentially) spiritual egregores (real or fictional) as they exist within digital spaces (and beyond). It is also an exploration of reality, divinity, interconnection, individual and shared memory, self, and self-empowerment within digital context. C0DA invites the reader/player to be a direct participant in the experience of emergent reality in the age of the internet, global media culture, and the digital reality we all collectively share in today. The fact this website still exists is a testament to C0DA’s underlying theme.