The Coral Tower

[legoless]

"We emerged from what appeared to be a solid wall of cloud that extended in an unbroken circle around the islands of the Sloads. Our first view of the largest island was awe-inspiring: a tower, taller than any I have ever seen and made of blood-red coral, reached into the sky. A terrible blue light flickered at its apex like an strange bud upon the tower's stalk."

The new information about the sinking of Thras by the All-Flags navy mentions a Coral Tower (source). Its destruction unmade the archipelago, and tore a permanent rift into Coldharbour. Is this an echo of Ada-Mantia, or a necromantic/Daedric perversion? The Sload are always portrayed as nasty fellows, so it makes sense that their Tower would be a mockery of Convention.

It's interesting that the whirlpool opened by the tower's collapse remained in place, and the Thrassian Archipelago was raised elsewhere. The Doors of Oblivion mentions the "Maelstrom of Bal", a distinctly separate place from modern Thras. The book also mentions the "Pillar of Thras", a great coral pillar where the Sload send sacrifices to Oblivion. Perhaps they mimicked the Coral Tower to remake Thras after its sinking?

It's also worth noting that the tower was recreated within Coldharbour, seemingly at the behest of Molag Bal. We know he has a penchant for stealing parts of Mundus, including White-Gold.

[Minor Edits]

It can be an echo of Ada-Mantia in form and a perversion in function, like Walk-Brass.

It seems possible that the Pillar of Thras and the Coral Tower are one and the same.

[legoless]

Unlikely, since The Doors of Oblivion seems to be set after the Tower's destruction.

[Minor Edits]

But the remains of the Coral Tower may very well resemble a pillar.

Although, am I mixing up the Sload and the Maormer? They both fall in the "mysterious southern baddies" category, so I sometimes get them confused.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Only Mer erect Towers. In places there have never been Mer, there are no Towers.

[legoless]

But the remains of the Coral Tower may very well resemble a pillar.

The Journal of Tsona-Ei describes the tower's "collapse into the sea" and the creation of a maelstrom in its place. We know that the maelstrom was still there during the time of ESO, and that modern Thras is nowhere to be found (One-Eye doesn't mention it, and The Doors of Oblivion describes the maelstrom as a place in the middle of the Abecean).

Only Mer erect Towers. In places there have never been Mer, there are no Towers.

Maybe the Sload ate them.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Maybe. Who knows? Maybe they simply inherited a Tower, the way the Cyrodiil race did. We only have this one reference to the Tower. It almost sounds like the Sload destroyed it themselves on purpose to wipe out the majority of the fleet that decimated their ranks.

We know Admiral Olo himself survived, and Archmage Syrabane. Those two went on to be great Tamrielic leaders. A lot of the fleet died and were trapped in Coldharbour, though. I played those quests in ESO. There are a few hundred people at least, and that's a scaled-down thing. You can still see the bottom part of the whirlpool in the sky above. Coldharbour is surprisingly rich in lore and beautiful landscapes. This particular spot is filled with Coral, from Thras, and the undead Admiral of the fleet is actually trying to build a tower through which his minions and he can escape back into Nirn.

As for the book itself, that the thread is discussing, Mr. Schick informed me and Lady N that it's one of the ones he personally wrote, on the FB group. He wrote around 200 books in the game. It's pretty easy to guess which ones are his, as they're some of the best.

[legoless]

As an update on this, it seems the Coral Tower is indeed related to the Towers in some way. Got a question about it answered on the newest loremaster's archive, and the Pillar of Thras even gets a mention further down the page.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Keep in mind the Unreliable Narrator. Telenger is the first to admit Tower Lore isn't his area of expertise. It's a tantalizing statement, but not made by an expert in-universe.