7 years ago this map was hanging in the office of Lawrence Schick, the lead lore writer of Elder Scrolls Online
Lawrence Schick (Lorekeeper of Elder Scrolls Online):
The Elder Scrolls is not our intellectual property. It belongs to Bethesda Softworks and we're borrowing it. So they've got certain red lines that they don't want us to cross. There are certain areas of information that they don't want us to expound upon because they think they might do something with it later in life. So part of my job is to say, "No we don't mess with that. Just keep away from those guys" because, you know, Bethesda's reserving them.
Look what's hanging on his map, there's a book about Swashbuckling Adventure, and postcards of Alik'r Desert and coastal areas of Hammerfell while he talks about "not crossing lines and keeping away from that".
And the leaked Bethesda employee pinterest board has seas, ocean and fish in it, which screams Swashbuckling Adventure to me.
I bet Hammerfell is full of pirate adventure, grottos and caves, oriental cities, magical lamps, empty deserts, but also tropical jungles and boats and palm trees and concubines, hidden oasis, ancient tombs hidden beneath the sand, skooma cartels and gold.