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#3E-Cultural Awareness
madefornurses · 2 years
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Contexts of Nursing
Contexts of Nursing 3e builds on the strengths of previous editions and continues to provide nursing students with comprehensive coverage of core ideas and perspectives underpinning the practice of nursing. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. New material on Cultural Awareness and Contemporary Approaches in Nursing has been introduced to reflect the realities of practice.…
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benevolentbirdgal · 4 years
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A “brief” reference guide to modern Jewish denominations / Jewish Writing Advice / Jewish Identity / Jewish Reference Guide [graphic at bottom]
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Writing a Jew or Jewish family? Aware that Judaism is not a monolith and want to honor that? Great! Need help with that? 100% cool - I’m here as your friendly (virtual) neighborhood Jewish professional to help. Just want to know more about Jewish denominations in comparison to one another? Also great! Fair warning - this is a long one. At least I included a graphic at the bottom?
Quick notes to acknowledge: As always, this is an American and Americanish perspective (and denominations as discussed here are MOSTLY relevant in the U.S. anyways). Additionally, the modern denominations as we think of them today really sprung from Ashkenazi communities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most extant U.S. synagogues, day schools, and groups follow Ashkenazi customs and align with a denomination born of Ashkenazi tradition (aligning with the approximately 90% of Jewish-Americans who are Ashkenazi or Ashkenazi plus another community). Sephardi, Mizrachi, and other Jewish communities have their own traditions and jurisprudence. Most organized non-Ashkenazi communities in the U.S. identify as nondenominational but most closely compare in practice to orthodoxy, and many non-Ashkenazi Jews (especially outside of major population centers that may have other specific subgroup’s synagogues) are members of and very involved in Ashkenazi-originating movements, institutions, and synagogues. 
For the purpose’s of today’s discussion, we’ll start in the 19th century, because Karaites vs Pharisees vs Sadducees is a (his)story for another time. This also isn’t a history of how these denominations came to be-with the exception of some ultraorthodox groups, which may have sprung from the shtel a little earlier, all the below movements popped out of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I’m also going to list approximate percentage of the American Jewish population, and I’m going to (kinda) go in order from most to least strict/traditionally observant. 
Ultraorthodox (aka Haredi): The strictest, more traditional and expansive observance of the Torah, Talmud, and minhagim (customs). About 1% of American Jews are ultraorthodox. Ultraorthodox is not a unified movement. 
1a. Haredi, Satmar, and most other groups generally isolate themselves from the wider Jewish world and secular world.
1b. Chabad is also ultraorthodox, but specially seeks to interact with less observant Jews. I wouldn’t call it proselytizing, because they don’t seek to make gentiles Jewish, but they do try and find less observant Jews and bring them closer to Judaism, also establishes small synagogues around the country and world in isolated place. 
1c. Ultraorthodox are the most visibly Jewish attired group, wearing Kippahs for all men and boys and tichels (headscarves) and/or wigs for married women. Very modest attire for all. In Ashkenazi Ultraorthodox communities, men also tend to only wear black and white, hats in addition to their kippah (for grown and married men), and wearing tzitzit (a garmet with four corners with strings attached worn under a shirt with the threads sticking out). 
1d. Most likely to speak Yiddish or Hebrew as first language.
1e. No gender equality, very strict kosher, and intense community adherence to particular brand of Judaism.
1f. Communities generally led by a Rabbi and a Rebbetzin (Rabbi’s wife) as pair (rabbis are generally expected to be married).
1g. No female Rabbis, same-sex marriage, or intermarriage. Lots of children. Pretty much all boys have Bar Mitzahs, rarely do girls have Bat Mitzvahs. 
1h. Services entirely in Hebrew (except maybe the sermon).
1i. Only count matrilineal Jews and converts-Jewish father and gentile mother doesn’t count for them. 
1j. Very strict observance of prohibitions and commandments pertaining to Shabbat and holidays. 
Modern orthodox: Orthodox, but with some adaptations to modern life. Roughly 9% of American Jews. Also some division within modern orthodoxy (with some congregations being more liberal than others, particularly in regards to women and LGBTQ+ folks), but there are a couple of major organizations that most modox rabbis and congregations affiliate with one another through larger denomination movements (i.e. the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of America). 
2a. Modern orthodox Jews regularly interact with other Jews who are more liberal. They tend to live in more Jewish communities but no issues with interacting with outside world.
2b. Modest clothing and men wear kippot everywhere (when safe). Married women also usually cover their hair (with wigs or tichels). Men also typically wear tzitzit. 
2b. Gender roles, but progress being made. Handful of female rabbis emerging in 2010s/2020s. Whether women count in a minyan depends on the specific congregation and many modern orthodox shuls will have separate women’s prayer groups. The prevalence of Bat Mitzvahs also varies wildly congregation to congregation.
2c. Like ultraorthodox, communities are typically led by a Rabbi and his wife the Rebbetzin. Some acceptance of homosexual individuals as members of the community, but no same-sex marriage (some alternate ceremonies emerging). Like one out gay male rabbi. No intermarriage.
2d. Very strict adherence to kosher, would likely not eat at someone less kosher’s home.
2e. Usually have on the higher end of a “normal” amount of children. Services entirely in Hebrew (except sermon).
2f. Only count matrilineal Jews and converts-Jewish father and gentile mother doesn’t count for them.
Less traditionally observant than this is often known as “liberal Judaism” - around 90% of American Jews.
2g.  Very strict observance of prohibitions and commandments pertaining to Shabbat and holidays. 
Conservative: Brands itself as middle of the road Jewish movement. about 18% of the American Jewish population. No connection to conservative politics, most Conservative with a C Jews are liberal or moderate politically. Often called “Masorti” outside the U.S and hypothetically a unified movement under several connected organizations (i.e. the Masorti Olami and the Jewish Theological Seminary). 
3a. Gender equality. Female rabbis and LGBTQ rabbis definitely an acceptable thing, but not as common as with Reform or Reconstructionist. 
3b. Formally sanctioned ceremony for same-sex couples to wed under Jewish law since 2012 and affirmation ceremonies since 2006.
3c. Modesty in synagogues but comparable to regular American attire otherwise.
3d. Generally comparable family size to other American families.
3e. Kosher, but not as strict as orthodoxy. Many Conservative Jews have kosher homes but are willing to be more lax when eating out. Synagogues are always kosher.
3f. Services mostly in Hebrew, sermons and some prayers definitely in local language.
3g. Intermarriage is frowned upon, but many otherwise Conservative Jews will be married by a less traditional rabbi or justice of the peace to non-Jewish partners. Although Conservative rabbis do not perform interfaith marriages, many interfaith couples are in Conservative synagogues. In the 90s/2000s it was way less friendly to interfaith couples/families (laughs in having a goyish dad) but that has improved in the past 3-5 years substantially. 
3h. Observance of prohibitions and commandments pertaining to Shabbat and holidays is regulated but less strict than orthodoxy. Varies a bit by community. A good example to illustrate this is getting to synagogue on Shabbat:
By the book (not necessarily reflected by attendees): Orthodoxy says you have to walk there (no driving), Reform says it’s no issue to drive on Shabbat, and Conservative says you can drive but only to get to shul and back. 
3i. As with orthodoxy, only matrilineal Jews count. Most interfaith families with non-Jewish moms (or moms who converted post-birth of the kid), particularly those who want to participate in Conservative communities will convert the child as a baby so they can have a normal Jewish upbringing (beyond an extra blessing/prayer in the Bnai Mitzvah process and social awkwardness that oft accompanies interfaith families in Jewish spaces).
3j. Most dress comparably to others in geographic area (synagogue notwithstanding, see my other post). Men on the higher end of observant might also wear kippahs all the time as well. Outside of explicitly Jewish contexts, similar lifestyles to surrounding populations. Around the same number of children as in gentile families. 
Reform: Not at all traditionally observant. About 35% of American Jews. More or less a cohesive movement linked by organizations (i.e. Women of Reform Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism).
4a. Reform Judaism is the largest group. It generally views Judaism through the lens of social justice, repairing the world, and cultural heritage as opposed to religious mandate. 
4b. Very big on personal choice in what one observes, I like to call it “choose your own adventure” Judaism. 
4c. Keeping kosher is uncommon. Some shuls aren’t even kosher.
4d. Reform services use the least Hebrew, although this is changing in some places. 
4e. Reform’s standard of Jewishness is 1+ Jewish parent(s) and raised doing Jewish things, regardless of which parent is Jewish. 
4f. Very feminist/egalitarian and welcoming to LGBTQ+ folks. Highest number of not-straight rabbis and female rabbis. 
4g. Intermarriage very common and can be performed by Reform rabbis. 
4h. Reform Judaism was way ahead of the curve in terms of LGBTQ+ rights and religion. The movement has had members advocating for homosexual rights (protection in housing, employment, civil marriage, and other nondiscrimination protections) since 1965 (finally passing formal resolutions in 1977), began proactively including/welcoming out gay rabbis in 1990, created same-gender marriage Jewish ceremonies in 1996/7, and has made resolutions explicitly including bi and trans people as well since 2004 (stuff earlier than that generally specified “gay and lesbian”). An additional resolution was passed in 2015 regarding trans and nonbinary inclusion, alongside guides to help congregations do so. 
4i. See #3j - also applies here. 
Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform, are the biggest and “standard” movements people will most typically list and identify with, most likely to appear in surveys and studies, are older than everything listed below. Modern Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform all started in the 19th century and some Ultraorthodox groups trace back further than that. I’ve outlined some practical differences, but the basic theoretical difference is that Orthodox considers traditional Jewish law (Halacha) binding and you can’t change it, Conservative believes it it’s binding but the community can change it, and Reform believes that it’s nonbinding. 
Some smaller movements: 
Reconstructionist - Newest even remotely well-known and organized movement, founded in the 1920s as an offshoot of the Conservative movement. I would describe it as “build your own adventure but Halacha matters (or at least some of it).” The first thing almost every recon Jew I’ve ever met has told me when describing reconstructionism is that they invented the bat mitzvah in 1922, which basically translates to “tradition matters but also egalitarianism.”
Maybe 2%-5% of American Jews today self-ID as Reconstructionist, but I would argue that a lot of nondenominal practitioners have philosophies fairly aligned with the recon ethos. 
Jewish Renewal: very small and relatively disorganized movement started in the 1960s. Attempts to bring Jewish tradition and modern sensibilities, hippie Jews who care about Halacha. Big on mysticism and music, doing Jewish enthusiastically, and a tendency towards more traditional observance in conjunction with progressive politics. Kind of the laid-back cousin of reconstructionism, although neither sprung from the other. 
(Cultural) Humanistic Judaism: “Non-theistic” Judaism for atheist Jews who still want a connection to their history, culture, and celebrations. 
Nondenominational - Nondenominational and post-denominational Jews are the fast growing group. Variety of liberal/non-traditionally observant beliefs and practices, but most will still contextualize themselves around the denominational scale.
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Karma’s Backstory HC
So your homeboy doesn’t really have much of one to be honest. Breaking down what we do know: 
His parents are wealth day traders 
He’s left home alone most of the time
They’re really into India 
They’re free spirits who care more about whims than responsibility
Now, just a prewarning that literally none of what I’m about to say after this is canon. This is just the ideas I’ve developed over the years of having to come up with stuff for fics, and it’s the narrative I use for canon based fics. That being said, anyone who has a hard time coming up with this stuff is totally free to use it however they want! It’s weirdly in depth, I will say. 
Karma’s father comes from Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan - famous for farming and lots of snow), mostly because I really like Hokkaido, but there’s definitely this countryside kind of reputation that comes with it. 
His family is very much one of those generational farmer families who don’t feel the need to leave their community. He has three sisters, but he’s the only son. He went to Sapporo for university which was a shock to the family. 
Kind of a Japanese cultural no no to be honest. 
During his time at university, studying business, he decided to travel Asia a bit, eventually meeting his future wife (who is also Japanese, as fun as Karma being mixed headcanons are to me) on some kind of trip. They’re around the same age, maybe give or take a year or two. 
The two of them ended up falling for each other very fast, the whole ‘if you know you know’ thing. 
Her family are from Nagoya, just normal business people with nothing special about them. She’s an only child and they always had this view that she’d marry into a nice stable life. 
They get married pretty much as soon as he graduates, moving to be close to Tokyo since it was the best option for their jobs. Neither of their families is happy about this, but they don’t really care. 
Karma comes along pretty soon after, before they’ve really had a chance to settle into their lives together. They’re caught up in the whirlwind of their romance, soon, so they think having a baby is a great idea. 
Pretty soon, the itch of staying too long in one place starts to set in. Furthermore, the reality of a kid is very different to the fantasy. I think Karma probably cried a lot, even as a baby quickly figuring out the way to get attention. Karma’s mother doesn’t give up work, either, so managing everything starts to get stressful. 
After maybe a year of stability, they decide instead to just go back to the people they really are, moving around wherever the work takes them. Even as a toddler now, Karma starts to really get attached to things he has, because without much of a permanent home he doesn’t get to own a whole bunch of toys etc. 
When they’re not travelling for work, they’re travelling abroad. Actually, I think they took Karma with them a lot when he was old enough to have some kind of awareness of what’s happening around him. He really enjoyed those times, but he didn’t have a new normal yet. This fit in with their cute life vision, at the time. 
I picture them being Hindus, but not very strictly? Japanese attitudes towards religion are a fascinating subject honestly, but the long and short of it is that strictly following one down to the ‘rules’ isn’t that common. I think they’d like it more for aesthetic reasons than actually believing in it. 
Controversial, but I actually think Karma was genuinely a pretty sweet and quiet kid. Due to moving so much, he never really got to settle in anywhere and make friends, so his social skills are lacking when it comes to people his age. 
Around that age, his parents teach him stuff that’s not so appropriate for a child, such as how to manipulate people into doing business deals with you, the value of money etc. 
However, once again they started to get a little tried with him. Karma’s a really curious kid, which leads him into running off and not always doing what his parents want him to, asking questions about things to the point it gets irritating to them. They feel like he’s now holding them back. So, increasingly, they reach out to neighbours they have at the time, asking them to watch after Karma when they go on these trips together. 
Karma starts to develop this really bad separation anxiety, like he doesn’t understand what’s happening when they’re suddenly leaving him. He gets the idea to start lashing out at whoever’s meant to be looking after him, in the hopes that they’ll be forced to come back. Most of the time, they don’t have a choice. 
Karma begins to resent his parents, and they begin to resent him further for misbehaving. 
Since this is some kind of solution to him now, he applies it to his school life. At this point it’s the age where kids really know how to pick on people and target. Karma shuts that down quickly, by fighting his way out of it. 
Since he ends up getting suspended a lot, he has free time to learn ahead of school. He genuinely likes that part of school, but it’s just the everything else he doesn’t. 
He’s actually very passionate about the things he enjoys, but he’s learnt that expressing it at school would get him teased, and his parents don’t care at all. It’s rare even as he goes into canon and beyond, then, that he expresses his more fanboy sides. 
Even when his parents are in the country, they find it suitable around the age of 7 or so to let Karma be in the house alone whilst they work for long hours. As such, he gets really into watching movies as a distraction. 
They don’t hate Karma by any means, they definitely ‘love’ him in a way, though it’s not the same kind of parental love most people receive. They try to placate him with gifts, when they leave the country, but Karma doesn’t easily just forgive and forget. After a time he just asks them to bring him spices, in a sort of self protest of not wanting their gifts. Those spices become his prized possession. 
By about 10, Karma stops fighting it. He locks his feelings about them away and accepts that nothing he does will make his parents stay. Whilst he doesn’t purposely act out to get attention, acting out at this point has morphed into a normal part of his personality. 
There’s been nobody to teach him right from wrong, so he’s left to make mostly his own decisions about it. 
When he’s approaching eleven, and his parents are just the slightest bit more responsible, and decide that in the effort of not messing up their son’s entire education, they’re going to buy a house and make it a permanent home until he at least graduates junior high. 
Did I say responsible? Because that also comes with the decision that he’s old enough to be left at home alone. At first it’s only for a night or two, but it slowly becomes weeks and months at a time, until Karma’s practically living alone with barely even a phone call from them. 
Karma’s actually really lonely, though he shrugs it off and perfects his act of being unbothered. He misses them, but he shoves that embarrassing feeling right down and ignores it. 
Since he has to, Karma learns how to cook, along with general domestic stuff such as shopping for a reasonable budget and 
His parents send a ridiculous allowance, though, which he doesn’t like to touch much of if he can help it.
He also booby traps his bedroom, and other areas of the house. Just in case. 
Nagisa’s his first genuine friend. 
It’s not until 3E where he finally develops healthy bonds with multiple people, and really learns that it’s okay to trust.  
Wow that got long. As I said, I have thought about this a lot. I feel like it would explain why Karma is the way he is. Honestly, it’s a bit depressing too. I just don’t see Karma’s parents being Good People. 
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lunadea-nox-arcana · 5 years
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Ayleids
The Ayleids, also known as the Wild Elves,[1]Heartland High Elves[2] (or simply Heartland Elves),[3][4] and Saliache,[5] were a race of Mer who ruled over Cyrodiil during the First Era.[3]
King Laloriaran Dynar, an Ayleid.
History
Merethic Era
The Ayleids were one of the descendants of the Aldmer. The Aldmer were an ancient race of Mer who were the descendants of the Ehlnofey. During the middle of the Merethic Era, the Aldmer allegedly left their homeland, known as Aldmeris, and relocated to the Summerset Isles, which is southwest of Tamriel.[6] A short time after the Aldmer settled in the Summerset Isles, many explorers, which notably included Topal the Pilot, began venturing out towards the coastline of Tamriel to map out the area and explore the lands.[7]
The White Gold Tower.
Later, during the middle of the Merethic Era, some Aldmer groups departed from the Summerset Isles and relocated towards Tamriel. The ones who traveled to pre-modern-day Valenwood became the Bosmer; the ones who went to pre-modern-day Morrowind became the Chimer; the ones who stayed in the Summerset Isles eventually became the Altmer; and the ones who traveled towards pre-modern-day Cyrodiil became the Ayleids, where they established the first empire on the continent. During this time, the Ayleid civilization flourished and expanded.[6][8] In the Heartlands of Cyrodiil, the Ayleids constructed the White-Gold Tower.[6][9][UL 1] The White Gold Tower appeared to be used as a central council chamber that held significance over other capital cities of the Ayleid empire, as its defeat marked the end of the Ayleid civilization. The Ayleids prominently controlled a large swath of land in what is modern-day Cyrodiil. This included at least the forested areas around the Niben river basin, parts of the Valus and Jerall Mountains, and areas west into Colovia. However, they were not ruled, as is often assumed, by a single, powerful central government. By the start of the First Era, a powerful aristocracy had divided the region up into a number of small kingdoms. Modern scholars are aware of at least three, with their capital cities being Lindai, Nenalata, and Miscarcand.[10] The Ayleid empire expanded beyond Cyrodiil, where they established a massive, flourishing empire on Tamriel. This expansive empire existed throughout many parts of Tamriel, which included most of Cyrodiil, as well as different parts of Black Marsh, Valenwood, High Rock and Hammerfell. In Valenwood, great cities such as Haven, Woodhearth, Silvenar and Elden Root were established.[11] In Black Marsh, an Ayleid tribe known as the Barsaebic Ayleids built two great cities, known in the modern era as Gideon and Stormhold.[12]
First Era
Alessian Slave Rebellion
A statue of Saint Alessia in the Imperial City as it appears in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
About a century into the First Era, a slave woman was born to the humans living on Ayleid-controlled Niben. This slave, who eventually ended up at the now-sacred Ayleid site of Sancre Tor (Golden Hill[13]), would receive divine inspiration, and direct divine help, to rouse her fellow slaves and revolt against their masters. She became known to her people as Alessia, the Slave Queen.[14]
In 1E 242, the revolution began.[15][16] The rebellion coincided with a period of civil war within the Ayleid empire.[3] Alessia and the Nedes were given some help from the Nords and,[15][17] due to the Ayleid civil war, help from some of the more radical Ayleid nobles.[3] Many battles took place, including ones at Sancre Tor, Ninendava, Ceyatatar, Narlemae, Celediil, Vahtacen, Sedor, the Bridge of Heldon, and the event of the First Pogrom.[18][19]
The revolution eventually came to an end with the Fall of the White-Gold Tower in 1E 243. During the battle, Pelinal Whitestrake, one of the leading generals of the Nedic army, fought Umaril the Unfeathered. Both were killed in the fight.[18] With Alessia leading the Nedes, and with the help of the Nords and some of the more radical Ayleid nobles, they defeated the Ayleids and overthrew their kingdoms. They conquered the land in the name of the new Cyrodiilic Empire. The war ended in 1E 243.[3][15][20] As the newly formed Alessian Order began to eliminate the remains of the Ayleid empire, one famous battle that occurred was the Battle of Bravil.[21]
Late Ayleid Period
The Late Ayleid Period was one of the last sections of history for the Ayleids. The Late Ayleid Period lasted from 1E 243 to 1E 498.[3] Even with the Fall of the White-Gold Tower, the Ayleids showed little sign of being defeated. In 1E 361, the Alessian Order decreed and issued the Alessian Doctrines. The Alessian Doctrines enforced harsh policies upon the Ayleid people. Alessian armies slowly began to eliminate the Ayleid communities one by one. The balance of power between the two factions was upside down, with the Alessians owning complete dominance over the Ayleids. Most Ayleids decided to just pack up and leave Cyrodiil, as their lives were hard in Cyrodiil.[3] The Alessian Order was eradicating the Ayleids in Cyrodiil and forcibly taking down their empire. In addition to defeating the Ayleids themselves, the Alessian Empire destroyed many artifacts, relics and books that were of Ayleid origin.[22] There were some Ayleids who stayed in Cyrodiil who served as teachers and mentors for the human rulers.[23]
Ayleid Diaspora
The Ayleid Diaspora began when the Ayleids started to leave Cyrodiil. The Ayleids in Cyrodiil were abandoning their homes to find better lives elsewhere in Tamriel. The ones who traveled north were all killed by the Nords, led by Vrage the Butcher. The ones who went to Black Marsh to join the Barsaebic Tribe were denied admittance into Black Marsh, though most of those who went on the journey to Black Marsh died during the expeditions in Elsweyr. Some journeyed to the Iliac Bay in High Rock, where they joined the Direnni of Balfiera. The Ayleids who went to Valenwood happened to be the most successful of all of the departing Ayleids. The clans of Anutwyll, Vilverin, Talwinque, Bawn and Varondo all traveled to Valenwood to forge a new life for themselves. The native Bosmer of Valenwood welcomed the Ayleids with open arms, as long as the Ayleids adopted aspects of the Green Pact and refrain from harming the forests, which they did.[24]
Valenwood.
There were varying theories on how the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared from Valenwood. One theory, the Theorem of Disheritage, notably supported by Gelgarad the Velaspid, attempted to explain that the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared because they became unable to breed with each other and could only produce offspring by mating with the local Bosmer. A competing theory was proposed by Doctor Thetis of the Shimmerene Academy. Her theory attempts to explain that the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared because the Ayleids declined on the over-consumption of a beverage made by the Bosmer. The theory also stated that, as the Ayleids were quite vulnerable in their sadness and loss, fell to the Bosmers’ cultural drinks and simply gave up.[24]
Within about 400 years of their overthrow, the strongly anti-mer Alessian Order had driven out, or exterminated, most remaining Ayleid settlements. Scholars generally believe that the Ayleid immigrated en masse to Valenwood, and possibly Summerset Isles, where they were integrated into those mer races. There are persistent rumors, which cannot be rejected outright, that wild tribes of pure Ayleid still hide within the Cyrodiilic forests. In any case, the Ayleid abandoned their cities, which have fallen into ruin, though the magic and mechanical traps which were installed near the end of their history still function.
Second Era
“An Ayleid? I thought they were all, you know, dead.”―Darien Gautier, 2E 582[src]
Ayleid Crown of Nenalata.
Ayleids had lived into the Second Era, with credible sightings stating that they had lived in a reclusive tribal society.[1] One of the members of the University of Gwylim was a civilized Ayleid, Tjurhane Fyrre, who was one of the finest sages at the University. He wrote a text on his people, called The Wild Elves, though he died in 2E 227.[1]
The last known surviving pure Ayleid was King Laloriaran Dynar. He originally lived during the early first era, after Alessia’s slave rebellion. Dynar ruled over Nenalata after his father, when it served as a vassal-state of the Alessian Empire. After an ultimatum from the emperor, Dynar was forced to leave Cyrodiil.[25] When Dynar visited the Hollow City, it was attacked by Molag Bal and he was captured. Dynar remained in Coldharbour for over three millennium before being rescued by the Vestige. He took command of the Fighters Guild, but died in 2E 582 after defending the city. He gave the Vestige his sword as a symbol of trust and friendship in his dying moments.[26]
Third and Fourth Eras
In 3E 397, the Soul of Conflict met with an Ayleid ghost known as Captain Nym after having collected all seven Star Teeth. In life, Captain Nym commandeered an airship which had originally captured the Teeth, though it crashed into the glacier of Glacier Crawl long ago. After the hero ended Pergan Asuul and Jagar Tharn’s plans to control the Umbra’ Keth, Nym gifted the hero with the Star Coif, a very valuable lightweight helmet.[27]
During the Oblivion Crisis in 3E 433, the Auroran-Ayleid known as Umaril re-emerged. Umaril was later slain by the Hero of Kvatch after the Knights of the Nine were reformed.[28]
No living Ayleids have been seen or reported during the Third and Fourth Eras, and as of the Fourth Era, scholars presume that they are extinct.
Culture
“In the caverns of lore, ugly and obscure, shines the gold of truth.”―Raelys Anine[src]
Appearance
An Ayleid ruin found in Malabal Tor as it appears in Elder Scrolls Online.
Much like the Dwemer, what little is known about the appearance of the Ayleid comes primarily from their architecture and early writings. Most Ayleid Ruins include at the very least one statue, presumably of an Ayleid warrior, usually holding a sword aloft.[29] The general appearance looks similar to that of the Altmer, which most scholars consider fairly likely, given the Altmer’s concerted effort to maintain a “pure” Aldmeri appearance. A brief description given in volume 5, Second Seed, of 2920 describes them as “darker than Altmer, but lighter than Dunmer,” suggesting a complexion similar to that of the Bosmer.[30]
Ayleids in The Elder Scrolls Online are identical in appearance to Altmer, with skin tones ranging from white to dark yellow, though with eye colors such as blue, yellow and green.
Society
Ayleid society was heavily centered in magic/arcane arts, and their people were particularly skilled in the arcane. Even as all Mer were naturally skilled in the arcane arts, Ayleid society focused on the civilization’s advancement in magic.[31] Magic was an important part of Ayleid culture and society, and their people were particularly skilled in it.[31][32] The Ayleids were able to preserve many of the ancient runes, Dawn Era magic, and lore of the Ehlnofey.[6][33]
The Ayleids lived in a tribal society, with each “tribe” being different from the next. They were notable for building the Imperial City.
At one point, the Ayleids controlled the entirety of the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil, and enslaved the Cyrodiilic and Nordic populations (which at that point were both part of the same prototypical race of men). During this time, the Ayleids made great strides in the arcane arts. The downfall of the Ayleid civilization was a combination of cultural hubris and revolution fomented amongst their slaves. With the blessing of the Aedra, the slave Alessia led the revolt that resulted in the destruction of the Ayleid civilization. The surviving Ayleids frequently showed up as civil servants to the nobility in the Alessian empire, or fled to Valenwoodand interbred with the Bosmer. The last known King of the Ayleids was the ruler of the city of Nenalata who controlled eastern Cyrodiil.[34] During the height of their civilization, the Ayleid empire existed everywhere in Tamriel except for Skyrim, Morrowind and the Summerset Isles.[UL 2] After their downfall during the First Era, many of their cities fell into ruin. Many would-be treasure hunters have died trying to plunder these lost ruins of the Ayleids.[29] In Stros M'Kai, the Ayleids created a powerful relic powered by souls.[35]
By the First Era and Second Era, the Ayleids were driven into a state many would regard as “primitive,” hence the term Wild Elves, and lived deep within the forests of Cyrodiil, though little is still known of modern Ayleids and their culture. Their tribes apparently possessed wildly disparate cultures, but shared a thread of xenophobia, likely remaining from the Alessian Reformation when Ayleidic culture was nearly destroyed. The last reported sighting of an Ayleid occurred nearly a thousand years before the Third Era. It is unknown whether a few Ayleids still survive in the wilds of Cyrodiil, or whether their ancient race finally expired and passed into memory.[1]
Language and Writing System
Of the Ayleid language and writing system, much was known about it and many words, letters and ancient texts have been translated as a result of deep research and delving into Ayleid Ruins. The Ayleid language and writing system was very similar to the Aldmeri Language, just like the languages of the other races of Mer.[36][37]
Origins
The Ayleid language was extremely similar to other Mer languages and writing systems, due to the fact that all Mer descend from the Aldmer. Because of this, the Ayleid language shares many terms and words with other Elven languages, such as the shared Ayleid and Dunmeri word, “Bal,” which means stone.[38]
Religion
A statue of Meridia found in Skyrim.
The Ayleids held a close relationship with the Daedric Princes, and even worshipped them.[39] The Ayleids of Delodiil notably worshiped Meridia, who was commonly referred to as Merid-Nunda. Delodiil’s rival city-state was Abargarlas, whose people notably worshiped Molag Bal.[40] The Ayleids of Varsa Baalim notably worshiped Mehrunes Dagon, [4] and the people of Bisnensel worshiped Hermaeus Mora. [41] It was implied that they used the Daedric magic to increase their strength to the point where they could conquer the Cyrodiilic and Nordic races. This could have been a contributing factor to the Aedra giving their aid to the human races against the Ayleids to help destroy or otherwise cripple Daedric influence in Nirn. The Nefarivigum was an ancient Daedric artifact of Mehrunes Dagon. The Ayleids coveted this artifact, so a city was built around the artifact so they could use it.[4] There were some Ayleids who also worshiped the Aedra. The Ayleids worshiped Magnus, the god of Magic, as well as Auri-El. Statues were built in their cities to honor both gods.[32]
Architecture
“The marble benches of the central plaza faced out across the surrounding waters to tall columns and sharp arches supporting the high dome. From the central island, stately bridges spanned the still pools to narrow walkways behind the columns, with broad vaulted avenues and limpid ever-deeping gloom into darkness.”―Alexandre Hetrard[src]
Ayleid cities were built partly above and partly below the surface of the land.[41] Ayleid architecture appears to be a whitish rock,[42] similar to Snow Elf architecture. Ayleid architecture was also integrated with magical artifacts as well, including Great Welkynd Stones, which were large variations of Welkynd Stones, which were used to power cities and increase the power of the people’s enchantments.[31] Many statues were built by the Ayleids in their cities to honor the Gods they worshiped. This included statues dedicated to the Aedric Gods Magnus and Auri-El.[32]
The White-Gold Tower, one of the most impressive and most famous structures in all of Cyrodiil.
The White-Gold Tower, the central spire of the Imperial City in Cyrodiil, was originally the central temple of the Ayleids. After the fall of the Ayleid empire in the First Era, it served as the Imperial Palace for the Tamrielic Empire. The rest of their capital city was either razed or buried beneath the Imperial City. It was unknown why the Nedes left the White Gold Tower alone during the Alessian Slave Rebellion.
Magic
A Welkynd Stone.
Magic was an extremely important aspect of the Ayleids and of their society. They developed magics far more advanced and powerful than any other at the time. The Ayleids were notable for developing the arcane art of Alteration.[43] In terms of both science and magic, their people believed in the four elements of Altmer religion, which states that Nirn was composed of four basic elements: earth, water, air, and light.[31] While modern natural philosophy states that Nirn is composed of four basic elements: earth, water, air, and fire, which they recognized, they believed the most important form of light was starlight. The Ayleids regarded fire as a weak and corrupt form of light. Instead, the Ayleids regarded starlight as a fundamentally significant form of light. For Nirn and its people, it was common knowledge that stars were linked to the plane of Aetherius. Aetherius was the source of all magical power and all things magical, so light from the stars was the most powerful and grand of all magical powers.[31][32]
Sometimes, objects called Aetherial fragments come from Aetherius to Mundus, specifically Nirn. There were two known types of Aetherial fragments: Meteoric Iron and Meteoric Glass. Many, if not all, of the magical devices and technology created by Ayleid engineers and architects were made of meteoric iron and meteoric glass. One of the magical devices created by the Ayleids were Ayleid Wells. These Ayleid Wells were scattered across Cyrodiil, and were not associated with any Ayleid cities, settlements or other sites. Made from Meteoric Iron, Ayleid Wells were designed to harvest and collect magical power from starlight. The Wells were located at the meeting point of ancient lines of magical power, though this was merely theorized by modern Ayleid scholars. For mages, and even for anyone without any magical talent, they could draw magicka from the Wells to restore their own sources of magicka. When people worked with Ayleid Wells, no ritual, basic academic or arcane knowledge was required to harvest the magicka, and were designed to serve people who were not skilled in the magical/arcane arts. When they do finally drain, the Wells replenish at midnight when the stars are out. Once recharged, they radiate some of the magical power back into the sky. This was most likely a cultural, religious, or ritualized magical significance.[31]
A Varla stone.
Another Ayleid device is the Welkynd Stone. Welkynd Stones were designed and used as storage devices for magical resources and magicka reserves, and to power the magicka itself; Mages and enchanters could restore their own magicka reserves. The Ayleids had their own laws and knowledge for storing, removing and using Welkynd Stones. Currently, in the modern era, anybody who did not have proper knowledge of using Welkynd Stones would see these stones crumble to dust after use. A variant of the Welkynd Stones, known as Great Welkynd Stones, were exceptionally large Ayleid devices made of enchanted Meteoric Glass. At the heart of each Ayleid city, a Great Welkynd Stone was the source of the city’s power, magical resources and magical enchantments. These great, grand stones were directly connected to the lesser stones within a city, which restored and maintained their power as the stones worked together to power the city. Yet another Ayleid device were Varla Stones, which were made of Meteoric Glass and were used to enable trained and even untrained enchanters to add and restore magical energy to any enchanted items and magical artifacts. The Varla Stones were of great value and utility, and though they were quite rare, small and easily concealed, diligent, patient, careful and focused explorers could still come across these rare Ayleid devices in any Ayleid Ruin.[31]
Ayleid mages experimented with magic and technology that was capable of absorbing lightning bolts and converting them into magical energy. They possessed a specific way of absorbing magical energy from lightning, which was a spell known as the Finger of the Mountain. A magical pillar was also required to extract the magical energy from the lightning.[44]
Artifacts
The Ayleids produced many artifacts, both regular and unique, that were heavily based in magic and the arcane arts. The impact these Ayleid artifacts had in the future on the Ayleid scholar community was significant; many scholars and adventurers, both single and in groups, dared to go deep into ancient Ayleid ruins to discover these lost treasures.[39]
The Amulet of Kings.
Possibly one of the most famous and renowned of all Ayleid artifacts was the Amulet of Kings. The Amulet of Kings, also known as the Chim El-Adabal, was an amulet worn by Cyrodiilic Emperors of the bloodline of Saint Alessia. The symbol of the Imperial Empires of Tamriel, the Red Diamond, stemmed from the amulet and became the royal seal of the Septim Dynasty much later.[45] Some theories report that the amulet is a Soul Gem of Ayleid origin.[46]
The Ayleid Crown of Lindai and the Ayleid Crown of Nenalata were two unique and powerful light Ayleid helmets bearing powerful enchantments. The Crown of Lindai could resist magic from 10%-35%, fortify Illusion from 5 to 15 points and fortify alteration 5 to 15 points. The Crown of Nenalata could reflect spells from 8%-25%, fortify alteration 5 to 15 points and fortify conjuration 5 to 15 points.[10]
Notable Ayleid
Hadhuul: Hadhuul, colloquially referred to as the Fire King, was the King of Ceyatatar in Cyrodiil. His armies were powerful and were never defeated until the Battle of Ceyatatar, when they suffered their first defeat at the hands of Pelinal Whitestrake and the Imperial slaves who were launching a rebellion against the rule of the Ayleids. Hadhuul was killed by Whitestrake during the battle.[18]
Celethelel: Celethelel, colloquially referred to as “Celethelel the Singer,” was an Ayleid during the First Era. In 1E 242, Celethelel killed Pelinal’s companion Huna with an arrow, driving the Whitestrake into a fierce rage.[18]
Umaril the Unfeathered, a half Ayleid.
Laloriaran Dynar, an Ayleid king and the last known surviving Ayleid.
Tjurhane Fyrre, an Ayleid author.
Captain Nym, an Ayleid ghost who collected Star Teeth in life.
Endarre, an Ayleid hero who led a band of four other members who destroyed the city of Abagarlas and hid the Prismatic Crystal.
King Anumaril, the king of Abagarlas who worshipped Molag Bal.
Curano
Lanath
Ostarand
Valasha
Prince Malyon, the king’s son.
Queen Palolel, the king’s wife.
Trivia
Like the Aldmeri, Snow Elves, Dwemer and Chimer, the Ayleids are one of the “ancient civilizations” of Tamriel.
Courtesy of  tesworldthink
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theskyrimlibrary · 4 years
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A Dance in Fire, v1
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A Dance in Fire Chapter 1
by Waughin Jarth
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Scene: The Imperial City, Cyrodiil Date: 7 Frost Fall, 3E 397
It seemed as if the palace had always housed the Atrius Building Commission, the company of clerks and estate agents who authored and notarized nearly every construction of any note in the Empire. It had stood for two hundred and fifty years, since the reign of the Emperor Magnus, a plain-fronted and austere hall on a minor but respectable plaza in the Imperial City. Energetic and ambitious middle-class lads and ladies worked there, as well as complacent middle-aged ones like Decumus Scotti. No one could imagine a world without the Commission, least of all Scotti. To be accurate, he could not imagine a world without himself in the Commission.
“Lord Atrius is perfectly aware of your contributions,” said the managing clerk, closing the shutter that demarcated Scotti’s office behind him. “But you know that things have been difficult.”
“Yes,” said Scotti, stiffly.
“Lord Vanech’s men have been giving us a lot of competition lately, and we must be more efficient if we are to survive. Unfortunately, that means releasing some of our historically best but presently underachieving senior clerks.”
“I understand. Can’t be helped.”
“I’m glad that you understand,” smiled the managing clerk, smiling thinly and withdrawing. “Please have your room cleared immediately.”
Scotti began the task of organizing all his work to pass on to his successor. It would probably be young Imbrallius who would take most of it on, which was as it should be, he considered philosophically. The lad knew how to find business. Scotti wondered idly what the fellow would do with the contracts for the new statue of St Alessia for which the Temple of the One had applied. Probably invent a clerical error, blame it on his old predecessor Decumus Scotti, and require an additional cost to rectify.
“I have correspondence for Decumus Scotti of the Atrius Building Commission.”
Scotti looked up. A fat-faced courier had entered his office and was thrusting forth a sealed scroll. He handed the boy a gold piece, and opened it up. By the poor penmanship, atrocious spelling and grammar, and overall unprofessional tone, it was manifestly evident who the writer was. Liodes Jurus, a fellow clerk some years before, who had left the Commission after being accused of unethical business practices.
“Dear Sckotti, 
I emagine you alway wondered what happened to me, and the last plase you would have expected to find me is out in the woods. But thats exactly where I am. Ha ha. If your’e smart and want to make lot of extra gold for Lord Atrius (and yourself, ha ha), youll come down to Vallinwood too. If you have’nt or have been following the politics hear lately, you may or may not know that ther’s bin a war between the Boshmer and there neighbors Elswere over the past two years. Things have only just calm down, and ther’s a lot that needs to be rebuilt.
Now Ive got more business than I can handel, but I need someone with some clout, someone representing a respected agencie to get the quill in the ink. That somone is you, my fiend. Come G meat me at the M’ther Paskos Tavern in Falinnesti, Vallinwood. Ill be here 2 weeks and you wont be sorrie.
- - Jurus
P.S.: Bring a wagenload of timber if you can.”
“What do you have there, Scotti?” asked a voice.
Scotti started. It was Imbrallius, his damnably handsome face peeking through the shutters, smiling in that way that melted the hearts of the stingiest of patrons and the roughest of stonemasons. Scotti shoved the letter in his jacket pocket.
“Personal correspondence,” he sniffed. “I’ll be cleared up here in a just a moment.”
“I don’t want to hurry you,” said Imbrallius, grabbing a few sheets of blank contracts from Scotti’s desk. “I’ve just gone through a stack, and the junior scribes hands are all cramping up, so I thought you wouldn’t miss a few.”
The lad vanished. Scotti retrieved the letter and read it again. He thought about his life, something he rarely did. It seemed a sea of gray with a black insurmountable wall looming. There was only one narrow passage he could see in that wall. Quickly, before he had a moment to reconsider it, he grabbed a dozen of the blank contracts with the shimmering gold leaf ATRIUS BUILDING COMMISSION BY APPOINTMENT OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY and hid them in the satchel with his personal effects.
The next day he began his adventure with a giddy lack of hesitation. He arranged a sear in a caravan bound for Valenwood, the single escorted conveyance to the southeast leaving the Imperial City that week. He had scarcely hours to pack, but he remembered to purchase a wagonload of timber.
“It will be extra gold to pay for a horse to pull that,” frowned the convoy head.
“So I anticipated,” smiled Scotti with his best Imbrallius grin.
Ten wagons in all set off that afternoon through the familiar Cyrodilic countryside. Past fields of wildflowers, gently rolling woodlands, friendly hamlets. The clop of the horses’ hooves against the sound stone road reminded Scotti that the Atrius Building Commission constructed it. Five of the eighteen necessary contracts for its completion were drafted by his own hand.
“Very smart of you to bring that wood along,” said a gray-whiskered Breton man next to him on his wagon. “You must be in Commerce.”
“Of a sort,” said Scotti, in a way he hoped was mysterious, before introducing himself: “Decumus Scotti.”
“Gryf Mallon,” said the man. “I’m a poet, actually a translator of old Bosmer literature. I was researching some newly discovered tracts of the Mnoriad Pley Bar two years ago when the war broke out and I had to leave. You are no doubt familiar with the Mnoriad, if you’re aware of the Green Pact.”
Scotti thought the man might be speaking perfect gibberish, but he nodded his head.
“Naturally, I don’t pretend that the Mnoriad is as renowned as the Meh Ayleidion, or as ancient as the Dansir Gol, but I think it has a remarkable significance to understanding the nature of the merelithic Bosmer mind. The origin of the Wood Elf aversion to cutting their own wood or eating any plant material at all, yet paradoxically their willingness to import plantstuff from other cultures, I feel can be linked to a passage in the Mnoriad,” Mallon shuffled through some of his papers, searching for the appropriate text.
To Scotti’s vast relief, the carriage soon stopped to camp for the night. They were high on a bluff over a gray stream, and before them was the great valley of Valenwood. Only the cry of seabirds declared the presence of the ocean to the bay to the west: here the timber was so tall and wide, twisting around itself like an impossible knot begun eons ago, to be impenetrable. A few more modest trees, only fifty feet to the lowest branches, stood on the cliff at the edge of the camp. The sight was so alien to Scotti and he found himself so anxious about the proposition of entering the wilderness that he could not imagine sleeping.
Fortunately, Mallon had supposed he had found another academic with a passion for the riddles of ancient cultures. Long into the night, he recited Bosmer verse in the original and in his own translation, sobbing and bellowing and whispering wherever appropriate. Gradually, Scotti began to feel drowsy, but a sudden crack of wood snapping made him sit straight up.
“What was that?”
Mallon smiled: “I like it too. ‘Convocation in the malignity of the moonless speculum, a dance of fire --’”
“There are some enormous birds up in the trees moving around,” whispered Scotti, pointing in the direction of the dark shapes above.
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Mallon, irritated with his audience. “Now listen to how the poet characterizes Herma-Mora’s invocation in the eighteenth stanza of the fourth book.”
The dark shapes in the trees were some of them perched like birds, others slithered like snakes, and still others stood up straight like men. As Mallon recited his verse, Scotti watched the figures softly leap from branch to branch, half-gliding across impossible distances for anything without wings. They gathered in groups and then reorganized until they had spread to every tree around the camp. Suddenly, they plummeted from the heights.
“Mara!” cried Scotti. “They’re falling like rain!”
“Probably seed pods,” Mallon shrugged, not turning around. “Some of the trees have remarkable - - “
The camp erupted into chaos. Fires burst out in the wagons, the horses wailed from mortal blows, casks of wine, fresh water, and liquor gushed their contents to the ground. A nimble shadow dashed past Scotti and Mallon, gathering sacks of grain and gold with impossible agility and grace. Scotti had only one glanced at it, lit up by a sudden nearby burst of flame. It was a sleek creature with pointed ears, wide yellow eyes, mottled pied fur and a tail like a whip.
“Werewolf,” he whimpered, shrinking back.
“Cathay-raht,” groaned Mallon. “Much worse. Khajiti cousins or some such thing, come to plunder.”
“Are you sure?”
As quickly as they struck, the creatures retreated, diving off the bluff before the battlemage and knight, the caravan’s escorts, had fully opened their eyes. Mallon and Scotti ran to the precipice and saw a hundred feet below the tiny figures dash out of the water, shake themselves, and disappear into the wood.
“Werewolves aren’t acrobats like that,” said Mallon. “They were definitely Cathay-raht. Bastard thieves. Thank Stendarr they didn’t realize the value of my notebooks. It wasn’t a complete loss.”
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bretongirlwrites · 4 years
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To my fellow mages
Julianne Traven’s address to the Guild of Mages, on the occasion of her being elected Arch-Mage, 3E 428
My dear fellow-mages,
I am, of course, most honoured to stand before you, as Arch-Mage: I am truly thankful that you consider me worthy of such a position and title, and I shall do my utmost to ensure that I deserve it. The Guild of Mages has ever been close to my heart, and it is my promise to every one of you that, under my leadership, we will continue to hold to the tenets laid down by Vanus Galerion, and which were so honourable and forward-thinking as to deserve reverence even today.
Firstly, that the Guild be a means of bringing magical education and services to every level of society. Galerion risked, and indeed faced, vitriol for such ideas, and yet today, the idea of a society where magic is kept within exclusive circles is absolutely inconceivable, and should continue to be inconceivable.
For a thousand years, we have ensured that even those who cannot do magic, are allowed access to it: whether it be through the sale of spell-scrolls and enchanted items, or through enchanting services, or through commission work. For a thousand years, we have defied the exclusionist teachings of those who would oppose our mission: unlike the Psijiics, we believe that education in magic should be available to the masses; unlike the College of Winterhold, we believe that resources and knowledge must be combined and cross-examined, to be of any use; unlike the Telvanni, we believe in helping each other, and others, rather than insisting upon internal and external competition.
We will continue this mission under my leadership, and it is in pursuit of this mission that I introduce some reforms as to the admissions process. While it is wise to have some measure of checking process, I intend to do two things: the first one being to relax the rule regarding postulating members with a criminal record, using common sense to determine if the aforementioned candidate is reformed, and will not cause trouble; the second one being to lower slightly our subs overall, and to exempt from paying them any member who can prove that they are in financial difficulty.
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Secondly, that the Guild promote a safe use of magic, that it dissuade its members, and others, from the corrupting arts. While this has been variously upheld by the leaders of the Guild, we have for ten years now seen devoted pursuit of this ideal, under my predecessor Hannibal Traven, and I am much inclined to continue such a method.
For ten years, the Guild of Mages has refused to deal with anyone suspected of practising necromancy. While this was at first a near-necessary measure, and while I do not disagree with it, I should say that under my leadership, we shall be cautiously allowing those who formerly practised the dark arts, and who have since repented, to join the Guild, or to use its services. This is in the hope of encouraging necromancers away from their art. Of course, this will require very careful examination of every candidate; however, I hope that it leads to some reform.
The practise of necromancy by Guild-members will continue not to be tolerated, and anyone found guilty of it will be expelled. While expulsion may be contested, and potentially reversed, it is to be understood that necromancy in all its forms violates the most fundamental aspects of the Guild, and judgement will be accordingly.
Members in Morrowind should be aware that I am currently in talks with Skink-in-Tree’s-Shade as to the status of necromancy in that province, and it is possible that, following local custom, necromancy will be treated there as it was under Hannibal Traven, that is, with less laxity than in Cyrodiil and elsewhere. Its status in Skyrim is also yet to be confirmed.
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Indeed, the Guild is keen to work with local governments to ensure that its practices respect and mirror cultural variations. As a member of the Council of Mages, I was interested to see the respective attitudes in the other provinces towards the works of the Guild, and I will be sure to apply what I learnt to my future dealings in those regions. It is imperative that we as the central government of the Guild do not ignore those further out.
I am the Arch-Mage: that means that most, if not all, Guild-business, goes past me. I do not wish it to be the case that I wield all of the power, and that I should make all of the decisions, or indeed that the Council of Mages should act without first consulting those elsewhere in the Guild. Each province will retain its own Arch-Mage, reporting to the central authority, but acting with essential autonomy on all but the most significant matters. Each province will also from now on be able to elect, and, equally, protest and remove, its Arch-Mage, without central intervention.
I hope that such changes will be of reassurance to provincial members; and indeed, that even within Cyrodiil, every member not residing in the University itself will feel just as involved in Guild-matters. Unlike many Imperial organisations, we are devoted not to politics, but to study, and as we all know, collaborative efforts are the key to stability and progress.
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I have outlined the important changes which I pledged to make prior to my election, and which I now promise to implement, as quickly and as effectively as possible. I will not go on all evening regarding these; there are other matters to attend to, and I sense that you rather expected my speech to be brief and to the point.
I wish to reiterate, above anything else, the purpose, word-for-word, of the Guild of Mages, as laid down in the Mages’ Guild Charter. This is: that the Guild be dedicated to the collection, preservation and distribution of magical knowledge, with an emphasis on ensuring that all citizens of Tamriel benefit from this knowledge. It is easy, in academia, to lose sight of the outside world, to lose sight of any purpose beyond one’s single discovery. But, as I have already said, we have a duty broader than that, and it is important, every so often, to remember it.
My father told me, on the revelation of the election result, to ‘Lead your fellow mages, and lead them well’. It is a simple sentiment, to be sure. I hope that I shall fulfil it. I hope that you will be content that I have fulfilled it. In such simplicity, it is easy to miss the word ‘fellow’...
Fellow mages. I address you all as fellows; and you interact as fellows. All of us work with and for each other. The Guild of Mages is an altruistic guild as well as an academic one. I shall lead you, my fellows, and I shall, with any luck, lead you well. But my greatest pride comes not from being at your head, but from being with you. My fellow mages, know that you are all extraordinary people, with extraordinary potential: and know that my speech has been in the full knowledge that every one of you is capable of realising the Guild’s tenets.
Ours is an extraordinary mission, and a fine one: as mine is. But, as with mine, it hides a delicious simplicity... We have lasted a thousand years, and we shall last a thousand more.
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I shall not keep you too much longer. It remains only, I think, to thank my father, Hannibal Traven, for his own service as Arch-Mage. I trust you will agree with me that he has been an excellent Arch-Mage, that his tenure has been splendid, despite everything that might have aimed to make it otherwise. A round of applause, then, for the outgoing Arch-Mage!...
Hannibal Traven, as the applause fades: Another round of applause for the incoming Arch-Mage!
Julianne Traven: I cannot tell you how proud I am to be here... I shall lead you, my fellow mages, and I shall lead you well! Thank you, and goodnight!
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3ecpasg-blog · 4 years
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tesworldthink · 5 years
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Ayleids / Айлейды
The Ayleids, also known as the Wild Elves,[1] Heartland High Elves[2] (or simply Heartland Elves),[3][4] and Saliache,[5] were a race of Mer who ruled over Cyrodiil during the First Era.[3]
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King Laloriaran Dynar, an Ayleid.
History
Merethic Era
The Ayleids were one of the descendants of the Aldmer. The Aldmer were an ancient race of Mer who were the descendants of the Ehlnofey. During the middle of the Merethic Era, the Aldmer allegedly left their homeland, known as Aldmeris, and relocated to the Summerset Isles, which is southwest of Tamriel.[6] A short time after the Aldmer settled in the Summerset Isles, many explorers, which notably included Topal the Pilot, began venturing out towards the coastline of Tamriel to map out the area and explore the lands.[7]
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The White Gold Tower.
Later, during the middle of the Merethic Era, some Aldmer groups departed from the Summerset Isles and relocated towards Tamriel. The ones who traveled to pre-modern-day Valenwood became the Bosmer; the ones who went to pre-modern-day Morrowind became the Chimer; the ones who stayed in the Summerset Isles eventually became the Altmer; and the ones who traveled towards pre-modern-day Cyrodiil became the Ayleids, where they established the first empire on the continent. During this time, the Ayleid civilization flourished and expanded.[6][8] In the Heartlands of Cyrodiil, the Ayleids constructed the White-Gold Tower.[6][9][UL 1] The White Gold Tower appeared to be used as a central council chamber that held significance over other capital cities of the Ayleid empire, as its defeat marked the end of the Ayleid civilization. The Ayleids prominently controlled a large swath of land in what is modern-day Cyrodiil. This included at least the forested areas around the Niben river basin, parts of the Valus and Jerall Mountains, and areas west into Colovia. However, they were not ruled, as is often assumed, by a single, powerful central government. By the start of the First Era, a powerful aristocracy had divided the region up into a number of small kingdoms. Modern scholars are aware of at least three, with their capital cities being Lindai, Nenalata, and Miscarcand.[10] The Ayleid empire expanded beyond Cyrodiil, where they established a massive, flourishing empire on Tamriel. This expansive empire existed throughout many parts of Tamriel, which included most of Cyrodiil, as well as different parts of Black Marsh, Valenwood, High Rock and Hammerfell. In Valenwood, great cities such as Haven, Woodhearth, Silvenar and Elden Root were established.[11] In Black Marsh, an Ayleid tribe known as the Barsaebic Ayleids built two great cities, known in the modern era as Gideon and Stormhold.[12]
First Era
Alessian Slave Rebellion
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A statue of Saint Alessia in the Imperial City as it appears in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
About a century into the First Era, a slave woman was born to the humans living on Ayleid-controlled Niben. This slave, who eventually ended up at the now-sacred Ayleid site of Sancre Tor (Golden Hill[13]), would receive divine inspiration, and direct divine help, to rouse her fellow slaves and revolt against their masters. She became known to her people as Alessia, the Slave Queen.[14]
In 1E 242, the revolution began.[15][16] The rebellion coincided with a period of civil war within the Ayleid empire.[3] Alessia and the Nedes were given some help from the Nords and,[15][17] due to the Ayleid civil war, help from some of the more radical Ayleid nobles.[3] Many battles took place, including ones at Sancre Tor, Ninendava, Ceyatatar, Narlemae, Celediil, Vahtacen, Sedor, the Bridge of Heldon, and the event of the First Pogrom.[18][19]
The revolution eventually came to an end with the Fall of the White-Gold Tower in 1E 243. During the battle, Pelinal Whitestrake, one of the leading generals of the Nedic army, fought Umaril the Unfeathered. Both were killed in the fight.[18] With Alessia leading the Nedes, and with the help of the Nords and some of the more radical Ayleid nobles, they defeated the Ayleids and overthrew their kingdoms. They conquered the land in the name of the new Cyrodiilic Empire. The war ended in 1E 243.[3][15][20] As the newly formed Alessian Order began to eliminate the remains of the Ayleid empire, one famous battle that occurred was the Battle of Bravil.[21]
Late Ayleid Period
The Late Ayleid Period was one of the last sections of history for the Ayleids. The Late Ayleid Period lasted from 1E 243 to 1E 498.[3] Even with the Fall of the White-Gold Tower, the Ayleids showed little sign of being defeated. In 1E 361, the Alessian Order decreed and issued the Alessian Doctrines. The Alessian Doctrines enforced harsh policies upon the Ayleid people. Alessian armies slowly began to eliminate the Ayleid communities one by one. The balance of power between the two factions was upside down, with the Alessians owning complete dominance over the Ayleids. Most Ayleids decided to just pack up and leave Cyrodiil, as their lives were hard in Cyrodiil.[3] The Alessian Order was eradicating the Ayleids in Cyrodiil and forcibly taking down their empire. In addition to defeating the Ayleids themselves, the Alessian Empire destroyed many artifacts, relics and books that were of Ayleid origin.[22] There were some Ayleids who stayed in Cyrodiil who served as teachers and mentors for the human rulers.[23]
Ayleid Diaspora
The Ayleid Diaspora began when the Ayleids started to leave Cyrodiil. The Ayleids in Cyrodiil were abandoning their homes to find better lives elsewhere in Tamriel. The ones who traveled north were all killed by the Nords, led by Vrage the Butcher. The ones who went to Black Marsh to join the Barsaebic Tribe were denied admittance into Black Marsh, though most of those who went on the journey to Black Marsh died during the expeditions in Elsweyr. Some journeyed to the Iliac Bay in High Rock, where they joined the Direnni of Balfiera. The Ayleids who went to Valenwood happened to be the most successful of all of the departing Ayleids. The clans of Anutwyll, Vilverin, Talwinque, Bawn and Varondo all traveled to Valenwood to forge a new life for themselves. The native Bosmer of Valenwood welcomed the Ayleids with open arms, as long as the Ayleids adopted aspects of the Green Pact and refrain from harming the forests, which they did.[24]
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Valenwood.
There were varying theories on how the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared from Valenwood. One theory, the Theorem of Disheritage, notably supported by Gelgarad the Velaspid, attempted to explain that the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared because they became unable to breed with each other and could only produce offspring by mating with the local Bosmer. A competing theory was proposed by Doctor Thetis of the Shimmerene Academy. Her theory attempts to explain that the Valenwood Ayleids disappeared because the Ayleids declined on the over-consumption of a beverage made by the Bosmer. The theory also stated that, as the Ayleids were quite vulnerable in their sadness and loss, fell to the Bosmers' cultural drinks and simply gave up.[24]
Within about 400 years of their overthrow, the strongly anti-mer Alessian Order had driven out, or exterminated, most remaining Ayleid settlements. Scholars generally believe that the Ayleid immigrated en masse to Valenwood, and possibly Summerset Isles, where they were integrated into those mer races. There are persistent rumors, which cannot be rejected outright, that wild tribes of pure Ayleid still hide within the Cyrodiilic forests. In any case, the Ayleid abandoned their cities, which have fallen into ruin, though the magic and mechanical traps which were installed near the end of their history still function.
Second Era
"An Ayleid? I thought they were all, you know, dead."―Darien Gautier, 2E 582[src]
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Ayleid Crown of Nenalata.
Ayleids had lived into the Second Era, with credible sightings stating that they had lived in a reclusive tribal society.[1] One of the members of the University of Gwylim was a civilized Ayleid, Tjurhane Fyrre, who was one of the finest sages at the University. He wrote a text on his people, called The Wild Elves, though he died in 2E 227.[1]
The last known surviving pure Ayleid was King Laloriaran Dynar. He originally lived during the early first era, after Alessia's slave rebellion. Dynar ruled over Nenalata after his father, when it served as a vassal-state of the Alessian Empire. After an ultimatum from the emperor, Dynar was forced to leave Cyrodiil.[25] When Dynar visited the Hollow City, it was attacked by Molag Bal and he was captured. Dynar remained in Coldharbour for over three millennium before being rescued by the Vestige. He took command of the Fighters Guild, but died in 2E 582 after defending the city. He gave the Vestige his sword as a symbol of trust and friendship in his dying moments.[26]
Third and Fourth Eras
In 3E 397, the Soul of Conflict met with an Ayleid ghost known as Captain Nym after having collected all seven Star Teeth. In life, Captain Nym commandeered an airship which had originally captured the Teeth, though it crashed into the glacier of Glacier Crawl long ago. After the hero ended Pergan Asuul and Jagar Tharn's plans to control the Umbra' Keth, Nym gifted the hero with the Star Coif, a very valuable lightweight helmet.[27]
During the Oblivion Crisis in 3E 433, the Auroran-Ayleid known as Umaril re-emerged. Umaril was later slain by the Hero of Kvatch after the Knights of the Nine were reformed.[28]
No living Ayleids have been seen or reported during the Third and Fourth Eras, and as of the Fourth Era, scholars presume that they are extinct.
Culture
"In the caverns of lore, ugly and obscure, shines the gold of truth."―Raelys Anine[src]
Appearance
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An Ayleid ruin found in Malabal Tor as it appears in Elder Scrolls Online.
Much like the Dwemer, what little is known about the appearance of the Ayleid comes primarily from their architecture and early writings. Most Ayleid Ruins include at the very least one statue, presumably of an Ayleid warrior, usually holding a sword aloft.[29] The general appearance looks similar to that of the Altmer, which most scholars consider fairly likely, given the Altmer's concerted effort to maintain a "pure" Aldmeri appearance. A brief description given in volume 5, Second Seed, of 2920 describes them as "darker than Altmer, but lighter than Dunmer," suggesting a complexion similar to that of the Bosmer.[30]
Ayleids in The Elder Scrolls Online are identical in appearance to Altmer, with skin tones ranging from white to dark yellow, though with eye colors such as blue, yellow and green.
Society
Ayleid society was heavily centered in magic/arcane arts, and their people were particularly skilled in the arcane. Even as all Mer were naturally skilled in the arcane arts, Ayleid society focused on the civilization's advancement in magic.[31] Magic was an important part of Ayleid culture and society, and their people were particularly skilled in it.[31][32] The Ayleids were able to preserve many of the ancient runes, Dawn Era magic, and lore of the Ehlnofey.[6][33]
The Ayleids lived in a tribal society, with each "tribe" being different from the next. They were notable for building the Imperial City.
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At one point, the Ayleids controlled the entirety of the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil, and enslaved the Cyrodiilic and Nordic populations (which at that point were both part of the same prototypical race of men). During this time, the Ayleids made great strides in the arcane arts. The downfall of the Ayleid civilization was a combination of cultural hubris and revolution fomented amongst their slaves. With the blessing of the Aedra, the slave Alessia led the revolt that resulted in the destruction of the Ayleid civilization. The surviving Ayleids frequently showed up as civil servants to the nobility in the Alessian empire, or fled to Valenwoodand interbred with the Bosmer. The last known King of the Ayleids was the ruler of the city of Nenalata who controlled eastern Cyrodiil.[34] During the height of their civilization, the Ayleid empire existed everywhere in Tamriel except for Skyrim, Morrowind and the Summerset Isles.[UL 2] After their downfall during the First Era, many of their cities fell into ruin. Many would-be treasure hunters have died trying to plunder these lost ruins of the Ayleids.[29] In Stros M'Kai, the Ayleids created a powerful relic powered by souls.[35]
By the First Era and Second Era, the Ayleids were driven into a state many would regard as "primitive," hence the term Wild Elves, and lived deep within the forests of Cyrodiil, though little is still known of modern Ayleids and their culture. Their tribes apparently possessed wildly disparate cultures, but shared a thread of xenophobia, likely remaining from the Alessian Reformation when Ayleidic culture was nearly destroyed. The last reported sighting of an Ayleid occurred nearly a thousand years before the Third Era. It is unknown whether a few Ayleids still survive in the wilds of Cyrodiil, or whether their ancient race finally expired and passed into memory.[1]
Language and Writing System
Of the Ayleid language and writing system, much was known about it and many words, letters and ancient texts have been translated as a result of deep research and delving into Ayleid Ruins. The Ayleid language and writing system was very similar to the Aldmeri Language, just like the languages of the other races of Mer.[36][37]
Origins
The Ayleid language was extremely similar to other Mer languages and writing systems, due to the fact that all Mer descend from the Aldmer. Because of this, the Ayleid language shares many terms and words with other Elven languages, such as the shared Ayleid and Dunmeri word, "Bal," which means stone.[38]
Religion
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A statue of Meridia found in Skyrim.
The Ayleids held a close relationship with the Daedric Princes, and even worshipped them.[39] The Ayleids of Delodiil notably worshiped Meridia, who was commonly referred to as Merid-Nunda. Delodiil's rival city-state was Abargarlas, whose people notably worshiped Molag Bal.[40] The Ayleids of Varsa Baalim notably worshiped Mehrunes Dagon, [4] and the people of Bisnensel worshiped Hermaeus Mora. [41] It was implied that they used the Daedric magic to increase their strength to the point where they could conquer the Cyrodiilic and Nordic races. This could have been a contributing factor to the Aedra giving their aid to the human races against the Ayleids to help destroy or otherwise cripple Daedric influence in Nirn. The Nefarivigum was an ancient Daedric artifact of Mehrunes Dagon. The Ayleids coveted this artifact, so a city was built around the artifact so they could use it.[4] There were some Ayleids who also worshiped the Aedra. The Ayleids worshiped Magnus, the god of Magic, as well as Auri-El. Statues were built in their cities to honor both gods.[32]
Architecture
"The marble benches of the central plaza faced out across the surrounding waters to tall columns and sharp arches supporting the high dome. From the central island, stately bridges spanned the still pools to narrow walkways behind the columns, with broad vaulted avenues and limpid ever-deeping gloom into darkness."―Alexandre Hetrard[src]
Ayleid cities were built partly above and partly below the surface of the land.[41] Ayleid architecture appears to be a whitish rock,[42] similar to Snow Elf architecture. Ayleid architecture was also integrated with magical artifacts as well, including Great Welkynd Stones, which were large variations of Welkynd Stones, which were used to power cities and increase the power of the people's enchantments.[31] Many statues were built by the Ayleids in their cities to honor the Gods they worshiped. This included statues dedicated to the Aedric Gods Magnus and Auri-El.[32]
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The White-Gold Tower, one of the most impressive and most famous structures in all of Cyrodiil.
The White-Gold Tower, the central spire of the Imperial City in Cyrodiil, was originally the central temple of the Ayleids. After the fall of the Ayleid empire in the First Era, it served as the Imperial Palace for the Tamrielic Empire. The rest of their capital city was either razed or buried beneath the Imperial City. It was unknown why the Nedes left the White Gold Tower alone during the Alessian Slave Rebellion.
Magic
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A Welkynd Stone.
Magic was an extremely important aspect of the Ayleids and of their society. They developed magics far more advanced and powerful than any other at the time. The Ayleids were notable for developing the arcane art of Alteration.[43] In terms of both science and magic, their people believed in the four elements of Altmer religion, which states that Nirn was composed of four basic elements: earth, water, air, and light.[31] While modern natural philosophy states that Nirn is composed of four basic elements: earth, water, air, and fire, which they recognized, they believed the most important form of light was starlight. The Ayleids regarded fire as a weak and corrupt form of light. Instead, the Ayleids regarded starlight as a fundamentally significant form of light. For Nirn and its people, it was common knowledge that stars were linked to the plane of Aetherius. Aetherius was the source of all magical power and all things magical, so light from the stars was the most powerful and grand of all magical powers.[31][32]
Sometimes, objects called Aetherial fragments come from Aetherius to Mundus, specifically Nirn. There were two known types of Aetherial fragments: Meteoric Iron and Meteoric Glass. Many, if not all, of the magical devices and technology created by Ayleid engineers and architects were made of meteoric iron and meteoric glass. One of the magical devices created by the Ayleids were Ayleid Wells. These Ayleid Wells were scattered across Cyrodiil, and were not associated with any Ayleid cities, settlements or other sites. Made from Meteoric Iron, Ayleid Wells were designed to harvest and collect magical power from starlight. The Wells were located at the meeting point of ancient lines of magical power, though this was merely theorized by modern Ayleid scholars. For mages, and even for anyone without any magical talent, they could draw magicka from the Wells to restore their own sources of magicka. When people worked with Ayleid Wells, no ritual, basic academic or arcane knowledge was required to harvest the magicka, and were designed to serve people who were not skilled in the magical/arcane arts. When they do finally drain, the Wells replenish at midnight when the stars are out. Once recharged, they radiate some of the magical power back into the sky. This was most likely a cultural, religious, or ritualized magical significance.[31]
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A Varla stone.
Another Ayleid device is the Welkynd Stone. Welkynd Stones were designed and used as storage devices for magical resources and magicka reserves, and to power the magicka itself; Mages and enchanters could restore their own magicka reserves. The Ayleids had their own laws and knowledge for storing, removing and using Welkynd Stones. Currently, in the modern era, anybody who did not have proper knowledge of using Welkynd Stones would see these stones crumble to dust after use. A variant of the Welkynd Stones, known as Great Welkynd Stones, were exceptionally large Ayleid devices made of enchanted Meteoric Glass. At the heart of each Ayleid city, a Great Welkynd Stone was the source of the city's power, magical resources and magical enchantments. These great, grand stones were directly connected to the lesser stones within a city, which restored and maintained their power as the stones worked together to power the city. Yet another Ayleid device were Varla Stones, which were made of Meteoric Glass and were used to enable trained and even untrained enchanters to add and restore magical energy to any enchanted items and magical artifacts. The Varla Stones were of great value and utility, and though they were quite rare, small and easily concealed, diligent, patient, careful and focused explorers could still come across these rare Ayleid devices in any Ayleid Ruin.[31]
Ayleid mages experimented with magic and technology that was capable of absorbing lightning bolts and converting them into magical energy. They possessed a specific way of absorbing magical energy from lightning, which was a spell known as the Finger of the Mountain. A magical pillar was also required to extract the magical energy from the lightning.[44]
Artifacts
The Ayleids produced many artifacts, both regular and unique, that were heavily based in magic and the arcane arts. The impact these Ayleid artifacts had in the future on the Ayleid scholar community was significant; many scholars and adventurers, both single and in groups, dared to go deep into ancient Ayleid ruins to discover these lost treasures.[39]
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The Amulet of Kings.
Possibly one of the most famous and renowned of all Ayleid artifacts was the Amulet of Kings. The Amulet of Kings, also known as the Chim El-Adabal, was an amulet worn by Cyrodiilic Emperors of the bloodline of Saint Alessia. The symbol of the Imperial Empires of Tamriel, the Red Diamond, stemmed from the amulet and became the royal seal of the Septim Dynasty much later.[45] Some theories report that the amulet is a Soul Gem of Ayleid origin.[46]
The Ayleid Crown of Lindai and the Ayleid Crown of Nenalata were two unique and powerful light Ayleid helmets bearing powerful enchantments. The Crown of Lindai could resist magic from 10%-35%, fortify Illusion from 5 to 15 points and fortify alteration 5 to 15 points. The Crown of Nenalata could reflect spells from 8%-25%, fortify alteration 5 to 15 points and fortify conjuration 5 to 15 points.[10]
Notable Ayleid
Hadhuul: Hadhuul, colloquially referred to as the Fire King, was the King of Ceyatatar in Cyrodiil. His armies were powerful and were never defeated until the Battle of Ceyatatar, when they suffered their first defeat at the hands of Pelinal Whitestrake and the Imperial slaves who were launching a rebellion against the rule of the Ayleids. Hadhuul was killed by Whitestrake during the battle.[18]
Celethelel: Celethelel, colloquially referred to as "Celethelel the Singer," was an Ayleid during the First Era. In 1E 242, Celethelel killed Pelinal's companion Huna with an arrow, driving the Whitestrake into a fierce rage.[18]
Umaril the Unfeathered, a half Ayleid.
Laloriaran Dynar, an Ayleid king and the last known surviving Ayleid.
Tjurhane Fyrre, an Ayleid author.
Captain Nym, an Ayleid ghost who collected Star Teeth in life.
Endarre, an Ayleid hero who led a band of four other members who destroyed the city of Abagarlas and hid the Prismatic Crystal.
King Anumaril, the king of Abagarlas who worshipped Molag Bal.
Curano
Lanath
Ostarand
Valasha
Prince Malyon, the king's son.
Queen Palolel, the king's wife.
Trivia
Like the Aldmeri, Snow Elves, Dwemer and Chimer, the Ayleids are one of the "ancient civilizations" of Tamriel.
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Айлейдские руины Мискарканд
Общие сведения
Айлейды, дикие эльфы, салиачи или хартлендские высокие эльфы, они же эшмеры(по МК) — одна из эльфийских рас, ушедшая с островов Саммерсет и поселившаяся отдельно от других меров на территории современного Сиродила(Хартленда/Средиземья) и, частично, Чернотопья (барсебические айлейды) примерно в середине Меретийской (Меретической) эры. В Первой эре по ряду причин были вынуждены переселиться в Валенвуд, Хаммерфелл, Скайрим и Хай Рок.
Известно, что они были особенно высокомерным народом, отрицавшим возможность равного общения с другими расами, из-за чего и получили прозвание «дикие эльфы». Как и все представители эльфийского рода, айлейды имели хрупкое строение тела, но были очень ловкими. Выглядели представители данной расы как и все эльфы того времени (приблизительно как современные альтмеры), но отличительной особенностью этого народа был ещё более золотистый цвет кожи.
История
Появление. Ранний айлейдский период
История айлейдов как отдельной расы эльфов берёт своё начало ещё во времена начала Меретической эры, когда отдельная группа альдмеров под предводительством Топала Мореходаисследует и картографирует морские пути Тамриэля в частности — реку Нибен, находящуюся на юге материка. Он заплывает глубоко в центральный Сиродил, где получает в своё владение Восемь Островов на озере Румаре) — земли, где впоследствии будет расположена Башня Белого Золота. Этот дар преподнёс ему обитавший в тех краях звериный народ, который он и его команда обучили письменности (так же бытует мнение, что Топал и его флот просто-напросто уничтожили живших там людей-птиц и присвоили острова).
Со временем Топал и его команда, а также небольшие группы альдмеров, постепенно переселяются на вновь открытую территорию Сиродила, где начинают освоение джунглей вокруг реки Нибен и строительство первых городов-государств. Так появились первые айлейды.
Золотой век
Где-то в середине Меретической эры начинается и завершается строительство Башни Белого Золота, а также города вокруг неё, ныне известного как Старый путь. Башня и её окрестности становятся культурным и политическим центром айлейдских городов-государств до самого падения их империи.
В течение всего промежутка власти айлейдов (несколько тысячелетий) эта раса всё более и более расширяет свои границы, отстраивая все больше новых городов-государств. Постепенно они полностью подчинили себе местность вдоль побережья Нибена, а со временем и весь Сиродил. За его пределы айлейды предпочли не выходить, создав своё собственное, обособленное от других эльфийских народов, феодальное государство.
Падение
Так продолжалось примерно до 1Э 242, когда произошло восстание порабощённых недийских племен во главе с «Королевой рабов», также известной как Ал-Эш, что в переводе на наш язык значит «ваше высочество».
В начале войны удача была полностью на стороне айлейдских королей: восставшие люди были загнаны в угол и практически полностью истреблены. Однако ��роизошло событие, в корне изменившее расстановку сил — пришествие Пелинала Вайтстрейка (очень таинственная и спорная личность). Ведомые Пелиналом (практически самолично истреблявшим целые армии эльфов) неды начали вытеснение своих бывших хозяев. Чуть позже племянник Пелинала Морихаус привёл за собой армии «Старого Королевства» нордов, принявших сначала Вайтстрейка за своего бога Шора.
Объединённая армия представляла собой несокрушимую силу, которая быстро завоевала все города-государства Сиродила. Последней целью их кампании стала Башня Белого Золота — самая могучая цитадель айлейдов.
В 1Э 243 Башня Белого Золота пала под натиском людских полчищ, что положило конец айлейдскому правлению.
Послевоенные годы. Поздний айлейдский период
Хотя некоторые из айлейдских королей и смогли заключить договор с новой Империей людей, поддерживая свои города ещё несколько столетий, однако постепенно эти города стали приходить в упадок, пока не были заброшены совсем. Известно, что некоторая часть салиачи покинула свои города и переселилась в другие эльфийские державы. Последним заселённым айлейдским городом Сиродила стала Неналата.
В 1Э 393 Алессианский орден, возглавляемый аббатом Космасом, производит зачистку древнего айлейдского храма Малада (что с эльфийского переводится как Высокий Собор). Сообщалось, что под сводами храма обитали «демоны», но они были все уничтожены при нападении. Вероятнее всего, это было последней масштабной попыткой эльфов вернуть себе утраченные позиции.
В дальнейшем некогда «дикие эльфы» были постепенно ассимилированы или вытеснены, что в конечном итоге привело к полному исчезновению этой расы.
Религия
В первую очередь салиачи почитали даэдра. Частое упоминание Меридии (например, в «Трактате о Мерид-Нунде») позволяет предположить, что она считалась покровительницей данной расы. С другой стороны, из исторических источников становится ясно, что по крайней мере в Поздний айлейдский период один из кланов салиачи (беженцы из Неналаты) был служителем Даэдрического Принца Знаний — Хермеуса Моры. Есть также сведения и о том, что айлейды из города Абагарлас были служителями Молаг Бала. Так же в некоторых айлейдских городах можно обнаружить статуи некой личности, поднимаемой орлом; бытует мнение, что это Аури-Эль. Из всего это можно сделать предположение, что каждое из айлейдских городов-государств почитало своего, отдельно взятого бога.
Стоит также отметить барсебических айлейдов Чернотопья. Есть вероятность, что данные племена салиачи поклонялись не даэдра, а аэдра.
Быт и культура
Стихией айлейдов была магия, поэтому почти каждый представитель диких эльфов был искусным магом. Они создали то, что позднее стало называться школой Изменения. Подробнее об их умениях в области этой магии можно прочитать в книге «Дитя Нибена».
П��литическое и государственное устройство
Особенностью айлейдского государственного устройства (как и у других эльфийских рас, ушедших с Саммерсета) являлась политическая раздробленность. Вся их территория была поделена на области, каждая из которых была подконтрольна своему городу, управляемому королём-магом, который и определял внутреннюю политику области. Это разделение в конечном итоге сыграло с айлейдами злую шутку, так как непрекращающиеся гражданские войны между кланами в конечном итоге послужили не меньшей причиной падения цивилизации салиачи, чем восстание рабов. Самым крупным городом, а также политическим и культурным центром, являлся уже упомянутый выше Старый путь, в котором находилась Башня Белого Золота.
Отношение к другим расам
Как уже говорилось ранее, айлейды свысока смотрели на представителей других народов. Поэтому недийские племена людей, также проживавшие на территории Сиродила, были обращены в рабов.
Жизнь людей в городах-государствах эльфов во многом зависела от правителя. Если в некоторых поселениях людям жилось довольно сносно, то во многих других их низводили до уровня рабочего скота. Городом, где было сосредоточено наибольшее количество людей, был Сард, ныне известный как Сардавар Лид (именно в этом месте родилась Перриф). В Сарде не было свободы ни в чём, даже в сохранении семьи и выборе имени. Условия содержания тоже были ужасными — люди спали на холодном полу, месяцами не мылись, недоедали… Их заставляли корчевать камни и осушать поля, держать в порядке часовни и дороги, могли подвергнуть пыткам просто из прихоти своих хозяев, а тела использовать в качестве скульптур из плоти, которые были популярны у диких эльфов.
Но наиболее худшим образом для людей складывалась ситуация в городе Сейа-Тар (в наши дни — Сейататар), в котором правил король-маг Хадхул, более известный как «Огненный король». В его царстве производились снадобья путем введения даэдронов в живые организмы, позволявшие зреть новые образы пыток. По выходным ночью на специальных аренах устраивались различные забавы, одной из которых было поджигание детей и травля их тиграми.
Вероятно, айлейды продолжили морские путешествия, начатые ещё Топалом, и существует огромная вероятность того, что они достигли даже берегов Акавира. В подтверждение этого можно привести один необычный факт — в конце Третьей эры, в руинах города Трамб, расхитителями гробниц был найден хорошо спрятанный и надёжно защищённый меч явно акавирского происхождения, а если быть точным — цаэски. Это говорит о том, что раса айлейдов, вероятно, контактировала и с жителями других континентов (вполне возможно, что они были в этом первыми).
Знания и достижения
“Из огня — жизнь, из света — магия” — Айлейды
Айлейды полагали, что Нирн создан из четырёх основных элементов: земли, воды, воздуха и света. Изо всех видов света звёздный свет они считали тончайшей его формой, так как именно звёзды связывали айлейдов с миром Этериуса — источником всей магической силы. Привычный нам четвёртый элемент «огонь» салиачи считали слабой и искажённой формой света, который, как уже говорилось выше, айлейдские философы отождествляли с первичными магическими принципами.
Иногда на земле можно найти его частицы, известные людям под названием «метеор». Наиболее часто встречающиеся состоят из «метеоритного железа» — металла, который высоко ценится у кузнецов и магов за магические свойства; именно из него создавались эльфийские доспехи и оружие для отличившихся айлейдских воинов.
Также метеоритное железо является главным компонентом для айлейдских колодцев — древних магических артефактов, найти которые можно по всему Сиродилу. Закономерность их расположения остается загадкой, но ученые полагают, что колодцы стоят на пересечении древних магических потоков, тем самым они неведомым способом черпают магическую силу из звёздного света. Естественно, колодцы не просто так стоят — с их помощью любое разумное существо может восстановить и повысить свой запас магических сил.
Другой, менее распространенный вид частиц Этериуса, носит название «метеоритное стекло», из которого изготавливались велкиндские камни и камни варла.
Также стоит отметить, что айлейдские мастера смогли создать особые приспособления — охранные статуи. Они охраняли айлейдские города от нежелательного вторжения извне.
Внутренняя жизнь городов
Современному исследователю сейчас довольно трудно представить повседневную жизнь айлейдов. Это связано с тем, что практически все айлейдские постройки были разграблены, вероятно, ещё в период конца Первой эры. На сегодняшний день в городах можно увидеть лишь голые стены да каменные предметы интерьера (столы и скамейки), которые не могут быть вынесены наружу или сгнить. Вся эта мрачная картина слабо освещается светом светильников, сделанных из камней варла.
Подземные комплексы айлейдов являлись лишь малой частью городов (вероятнее всего, дворцы или жилые кварталы богатых особ), а большая часть населения могла проживать и на поверхности земли, в обычных домах. Эту теорию подтверждает практически полное отсутствие разделённых, тупиковых комнат в руинах айлейдов. Однако против этой теории говорит внешнее обустройство городов: на территории комплексов нет ни одного строения, из чего следует, что все жители проживали в подземной части городов.
Также имеет право на жизнь версия, что те части руин, которые сохранились до момента прохождения игры, были изначально предназначены для неких ритуалов и/или захоронений. Большое количество саркофагов и ниш в стенах, массово встречающиеся привидения, скелеты и зомби характерны для склепов. Скамьи и трибуны, часто встречающиеся тут, вполне могли использоваться в неких массовых обрядах. Также в пользу этого варианта говорит то, что на поверхности нет ни одного айлейдского кладбища или чего-то подобного.
Так или иначе, многое из жизни айлейдов до сих пор остается непонятным для нас.
Айлейдский алфавит
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Айлейды, как и все остальные народы, имели свой собственный язык. Надписи на айлейдисе можно найти во многих руинах городов, а также в книгах.
Артефакты айлейдов
Велкиндские камни
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Велкиндский камень
Самые распространенные айлейдские артефакты — велкиндские камни. Это крупные прозрачные кристаллы цвета морской волны в металлической оправе, способные полностью восстанавливать магическую энергию использовавшего камень существа, при этом безвозвратно исчезая. В книге «Магия, рождённая небом» говорится о том, что велкиндские камни — это айлейдские колдовские артефакты, изготовленные из метеоритного железа и метеоритного стекла.
Примечание: Надо заметить, что к концу своего правления айлейды научились выращивать кристаллы велкинд.
Известно, что в крупных поселениях айлейдов существовали так называемые «Великие велкиндские камни». Предполагается, что «великий велкиндский камень, сердце каждого древнего айлейдского города, отвечал за всё магическое обустройство жизни поселения». Все эти артефакты к настоящему времени утрачены. Последний великий велкиндский камень играет важную роль в основной сюжетной линии The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Камни варла
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Камень варла
Камни варла — куда более редкие и драгоценные артефакты. Несколько крупнее велкиндских и белого цвета, камни варла способны полностью заряжать любое количество зачарованных предметов, также исчезая при использовании. В книге «Магия, рождённая небом» также предполагается их космическое происхождение, иных свидетельств нет.
«Чёрные камни варла» — охранные артефакты. Встречаются практически во всех айлейдских руинах. Средних размеров, висят на специальных постаментах или под потолками. Как ясно из названия, эти камни имеют тёмный оттенок, однако незадолго до того, как поразить нарушителя, камни начинают светиться красным. Способны накапливать и отдавать достаточно большие сгустки магической энергии.
Броня и оружие
Несмотря на обширные знания в области магии, айлейды не боялись и ближнего боя. И хотя они сами не экспериментировали в создании брони и оружия, благодаря использованию знаний своих предков, альдмеров, айлейды создавали для своих бойцов великолепное снаряжение, называемое сегодня эльфийским. Простые воины, не имеющие никаких знаков отличия, пользовались стандартными вариантами этой экипировки. Отличившиеся же вознаграждались зачарованными доспехами и оружием, которыми гордились и дорожили.
Эльфийское оружие и броня, оставшиеся в большом количестве по всем уголкам Сиродила, сами по себе произведения искусства. Эльфийские доспехи и щиты на вид состоят из мелких золотых чешуек. Однако это не самая дорогая и лучшая защита в игре. Наиболее подходящей для себя её найдут лучники и маги. Одно из её главных достоинств — малый вес. Не случайно для обучения у мастера лёгкой брони в Сиродиле необходимо найти именно эльфийскую кирасу.
Другие артефакты
Иногда в разрушенных руинах айлейдских поселений можно отыскать айлейдские статуи, которые высоко ценятся коллекционерами древностей.
Также существует два поразительных артефакта, известных как Корона Неналаты и Корона Линдаи. Особо стоит отемить Чим-Эль Адабал — древний и могущественный артефакт салиачи, ныне известный большинству как Амулет Королей.
Известные айлейды
Умарил Неоперённый — айлейдский король-маг, правивший в Золотой век айлейдского владычества. Умарил является эльфом лишь наполовину — мать-айлейдка родила его от божественного отца. Был убит Пелиналом Вайтстрейком при осаде Башни Белого Золота, которой он и правил. Однако, благодаря своей полубожественной сути, позднее смог вернуться в мир живых. Вокруг этого события и его последствий построен сюжет дополнения The Elder Scrolls IV: Knights of the Nine.
Хадхул — король-маг, правивший в Золотой век айлейдского владычества. В его владениях находился город Сейа-Тар (Сейататар). Был убит Пелиналом Вайтстрейком при осаде Сейа-Тара.
Лалориаран Динар — король-маг, правивший в Поздний айлейдский период городом Неналата. В истории более известен под прозвищем «Последний король айлейдов».
Тьюрхан Фирр — айлейд, живший в период Первой и Второй эры. Являлся автором многих книг, в которых подробно рассказывает о традициях, обычаях и культуре своей расы.
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waywardtravelerfart · 5 years
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The Voice of All Things and other One Piece Parallels to Norse Myth
Oda has talked before about how his depictions of pirates are somewhat more like Vikings, and that a Viking TV show was one of his favorites as a kid. It stands to reason that just like Japanese mythology, he also may have studied a good deal of Norse Mythology in crafting his story, which I strongly believe to be the case. In this post I want to organize many thoughts and parallels that I’ve really begun to see:
* **Luffy=Odin**—Or at least an inverted version of him. Both are considered [sovereign individuals,](http://blogs.ubc.ca/hollyonclin/2014/01/28/the-sovereign-individual-in-popular-culture-one-piece-and-monkey-d-luffy-the-pirate-king/) or chiefs of their own made spheres, both started out with two brothers (Ace, Sabo, Vili & Ve.) While Odin just may be the inspiration for Nietzsche’s Ubermensch, both are known for being tapped into the [self-awareness of the world,](https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/) and wearing wide brimmed hats. What has increased the parallel even further as of late is Luffy’s own quest for further knowledge, in this case knowledge of advanced forms of Haki. Like Odin sacrificing an eye to Mimir, [Luffy at least put his at great risk in learning his greater insight from Katakuri.](http://f13.readermanga.com/65/907d7ef79f5a1e/s5.jpg?token=8MJYMU8uSnkrf5DPQqZroQ&expires=1562630399) The second great endeavor for knowledge was to be bound in order to learn the flow of things (chains to learn the Sakura flow in Luffy’s case, ropes for Odin to look at the river flows of energy to discern the runes.)
* **Zoro, or Law=Thor**—Wield a weapon (sword or hammer) alongside a sovereign or in the name of theirs, but only Law has used [an electric attack so far.](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eGOL4HclV-Q/WwcVcp6Uc1I/AAAAAAAG-FM/h2PFWm3hjUU7i6pGk8K7AR8fSsAgjdHwACHMYCw/s0/015.png) I admit this is one of the weaker links and I need to get to reading on Thor.
* **Shanks=Tyr**—Tyr was the god of War & Honor, and lost an arm/hand baiting Fenrir into his trap so the latter could not fulfill his fate of killing Odin yet. Just like the man who taught Luffy his sense of honor.
* **Kidd=Loki**—Red haired icons of chaos who take insults too seriously and have relevant links to Odin/Luffy and Thor/Zoro/Law (Killer=Sigyn?.) One important link is the CoC that Luffy and Kidd share, which will become important when comparing CoC to seidr.
* **Bonney=Angrboda**—Jewelry Bonney shares many key traits with the [Dark Mother archetype in mythology;](https://badwitch.es/tag/dark-mother/) She can control not only her age, [taking on three major age forms,](https://paganmeltingpot.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/angrboda-and-the-dark-mother-figure-across-the-cultures/) but also the age of others, turning men to boys as if to overrule their egos. Both she and Kidd are from the South Blue. The question is if South Blue has any connections to Elbaf.
* **Yonko=Rokkr**—Monstrous Beasts that lay on the edge of the civilized world and threaten its destruction. In Norse mythology they were born by Loki and Angrboda. Whoever created such threats is just as much an danger (right?)
* **Big Mom=Hela**—Controllers of death, either lifespan or its realm (Helheim,) while Big Moms use and treatment of her children makes her parallel to the [Death Mother.](https://badwitch.es/tag/death-mother/) Close by to their territory is a master of insight (Katakuri=Mimir, see Luffy’s CoO above.)
* **Kaido=Jormungandr**—Snake bodied beasts holding dominion over or surrounding an isolated land, (Midgard, Wano) there is nowhere they can’t reach. Fated to reach a fatal draw with and die alongside Thor, be it Zoro or Law.
* **Blackbeard=Fenrir**—Dark or black haired, cunning (wolves have been associated with Odin’s knowledge) and fated to fight the known sovereign. While Teach wasn’t the one to take Shanks’ arm, he did leave a near-eye-taking wound with a claw-shaped weapon.
These parallels help set up what advanced CoC may turn out to be capable of. In Viking culture, the shamanic practice of [Seidr involved a death and rebirth](https://norse-mythology.org/concepts/shamanism/) whilst being [impregnated with the energies of the universe,](http://www.ancientpages.com/2018/02/10/god-odin-exiled-asgard-kingdom-gods-no-regrets-breaking-norse-societys-norms/) so as to determine, and if necessary rewrite fate. It was considered very unpopular for men to do such practices, especially chiefs or kings. So much so that partaking in it, as was the third knowledge seeking act by Odin, got him exiled from his tribe and home, the Aesir of Asgard, for ten years. It is safe to say that CoC’s Norse equivalent is Seidr.
Advanced CoC could merely be a boost in power from ones surroundings or something far more sinister. Something that [may have been](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cT-25pmEeF0/V4QWyQFNIpI/AAAAAAAA0I4/y_5oNwHh5pYCxvkKLH9gKMt6SbepGsOjQCHM/s16000/0647-009.png) foreshadowed by [Shirahoshi’s](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uWcnmjDZmrU/V4QYhC3HVFI/AAAAAAAA0ZM/7w_002RhROo4TNX9nTCdoFOtEbUJob0VACHM/s16000/0647-013.png) and [Momonusuke’s](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sh_n8OyN0Zo/WwcaCLMxXBI/AAAAAAAG-3E/6LmZTB95Nis6easOe0D_oI10YJlEWMytgCHMYCw/s0/003.png) abilities to direct [gigantic beasts in their own right.](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R83z2w2SefE/WwcaTmgavrI/AAAAAAAG-5Q/BZyBGm5mkrUTz8R-T5cGR4QNK0qo40JuQCHMYCw/s0/011.png)
That’s right. The process of binding Sea Kings, Zunisha and other dangerous beings to the will of the user may just be a potential ability of advanced CoC, or using all three. One such conjecture on the process is to read and scan your target for weaknesses in their ego with CoO, draw them in with a reversed flow of CoC like advanced CoA flows, then inject your will while consuming theirs in exchange, [almost](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gxDQ4EEwkGU/WwcRa-qQnmI/AAAAAAAG9sM/rCtxUYc2ijcFyeCspCoKSqq12z-TMM8hwCHMYCw/s0/006.png) resembling another form of [transplants.](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fz53kakLUDw/WwcRbTT-zbI/AAAAAAAG9sQ/BfJW-X9D4DEgHjHfDb7PuJBeaHHMXZqmQCHMYCw/s0/007.png) The main difference being the one wearing the crown (advanced CoC) retains all the control of both bodies.
Whether or not this discovery occurs on a territory such as Elbaf or another is uncertain, but said territory is comparable to the mythological home of giants, Jotunheim, which is foretold to provide a good deal of the host challenging Asgard when Ragnarok comes. What happens there could sway who many giants fight alongside in the Final War. Luffy and/or Shanks, if he appears here as Mr Morj has predicted, may debate or be hesitant to use such a technique on potential tools like the Yonko. I do not see Blackbeard or Kidd having such qualms however, if the latter makes it this far though, which I believe is possible. Kidd may require assistance in gaining an opening to do this however, which Bonney has the means and motive to do, both in her age abilities and her hatred of both Blackbeard and the WG.
Why the Yonko, though? I have a feeling that use as such weapons was their original designed purpose, as foreshadowed by Vegapunks interest in both Giants and Dragons, as well as his subsequent capture by the WG for studying the Lineage Factors in similarities to how Ohara was silenced. If the unusual power of those who made it to Yonko status is from some project the WG has long held secret, and the terror they put the world into can be laid at the feet of the WG for blame, what else could cause such doubt in their global legitimacy as Doffy described? This first occurred to me when baby Big Mom seemed way too strong to be born to normal parents, so something fishy was happening.
I know I haven’t touched on everything, I need to read much more Norse legends to fit/match everything, and I could expand on my thoughts, but I need to sleep before work. I’ve just been reading Norse for some time and needed to post my thoughts somewhere. Anyone more knowledgeable is free to add.
**TL:p;DR: Luffy is Odin, Kidd is Loki and they may have a huge debate on whether it’s okay to enslave the Yonko to fight the WG as the WG originally intended to use them. All based on Norse mythology.**
@eddathoughts @saisai-chan @op-headcanons @opdoodless
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Shabarri, the Thief
Shabarri is bitter, and self centered and is apathetic towards others. He’s cynical, and isn’t easy to get along with. In the long run, he’s rather live and work on his own, though deep down he desires someone to be close to. Also, if things get rough, Shabarri will easily give up whatever situation he is in and surrender to avoid any more conflict.
Timeline:
3E, 10
Shabarri is born in Cyrodiil but is abandoned soon afterwards. He is taken in by a lone, imperial thief named Brutus, and is taken to Elsweyr to be raised with khajiiti culture.
3E, 20
Brutus begins to train Shabarri in the art of thievery. After a few months of training, he is tasked with stealing a jeweled goblet from a powerful family. Shabarri is almost caught, but fights off a guard, however he loses an eye in the fight before running off with the goblet. He and Brutus continue their thieving career together.
3E, 23
The duo are caught by a dark brotherhood assassin. Brutus fights them off and tells Shabarri to run. The khajiit does so but Brutus is killed by the assassin. Shabarri flees north to Cyrodiil.
He lives in the streets of the Imperial City as a thief and a beggar. During this time he swears vengeance on the one who killed Brutus, and he joins a small group of freelance thieves who have no problem killing their marks to get their loot. Shabarri uses this as training for when the day comes that the assassin is to be killed by him.
3E, 25
Shabarri meets a thief, a khajiit named Bhigai, and the two begin a rivalry. Bhigai always seems to have the upper hand, which infuriates Shabarri. His group of thieves find this rivalry between the two teenagers hilarious, though.
A job goes wrong when Shabarri is caught by an Imperial guard, and taken into questioning. He naively confesses everything, in the hopes he’ll be let go, but he remains in custody.
Two weeks later, Shabarri breaks out of prison, and rushes to find his group of thieves. Remarkably, they are unharmed, but he tells them that the watchmen found out about their criminal actions. The group flee to Cheydinhal one night to avoid capture. They continue their thieving and killing there.
3E, 26
Shabarri is approached by the same guard that captured him a year ago, and is offered to spy on his group and give any information over to the imperial watch in return for safety and coin. He agrees with the offer.
Over the course of a few months, he spies on his group, relaying information about jobs, murders, and stolen goods. The watch stay true to their promise and grant him safety. However they task him with the arrest of Bhigai, which he obliges to. He tracks down his rival, and instead of arresting her, kills her instead. He reports back to the watchmen that he did so in defense, and they relieve him of that mistake.
3E, 28
Shabarri is tasked by the watchmen to escort them to the base of the thief group. The khajiit hesitantly agrees, and does so. The confrontation between him and his group deems him a traitor, when whatchmen start to kill the group members. Shabarri retaliates by killing all the watchmen after all the thieves have been killed. He flees to High Rock. During this time, he begins to have flashbacks of his life as Dro’jargo, but ignores them as random daydreams.
3E, 31
Shabarri makes a living as a thief in High Rock, but becomes a bitter person throughout this time. Through his thieving, he occasionally murders his victims to make his mark, in the hopes he’ll be feared, and perhaps noticed by the assassin that killed Brutus those years ago.
As anticipated, Shabarri comes across the assassin one day, they remember him and tell him that he had been pursuing him for years, as it was part of his contract to kill him. Shabarri asks who hired them, and they respond that a rich khajiit ordered the assassination, as he had stolen a jeweled goblet from them. The khajiit recalls that theft, and attacks the assassin. They fight for a while before Shabarri manages to slit their throat. He now had a new mission: to kill the khajiit family that ordered his and Brutus’ assassination.
3E, 32
Shabarri returns to Elsweyr in search of the family. He intends to disguise himself and work for them as a servant in order to get close to them, which he succeeds in.
The family, consisting of a old Cathay with his Cathay-Raht wife, and their three sons, Cathay, Ohmes, and Dagi. Through his time working for the family, he plots a scheme to kill them all in revenge. As well, his visions of his past lives continue, and he realizes something is up with them, but continues to focus on his mission instead.
In the middle of the night, he sneaks into the eldest son’s (the cathay) room, and kills him in his sleep.
The next night, Shabarri finds the ohmes sneaking out of the manor, and tracks him to a skooma den. He sneaks in and kills all the addicted while they’re high by poisoning the skooma, including the ohmes, and returns to the manor before the family wakes up. The father notices that his son is missing, and sends Shabarri to find him. He returns to the skooma den and carries his body back to the manor, and lies that he died from an overdose.
The next night, Shabarri sneaks into the dagi’s room, and is caught attempting to kill him. He flees, and returns to the Imperial City, dismayed he could not exact his revenge. He lives in the streets as a pickpocket.
He still gets visions from his past lives and decides to find someone who may know something about it. After consulting a priest, he learns that these visions hold importance, but he still has yet to know what it is exactly.
3E, 33
Shabarri finds the mother of the family out shopping. He tracks her to an inn and kills her in her sleep.
That night, he is approached by a member of the Dark Brotherhood’s Black Hand, who claims that Sithis has been watching him, and that although he had a contract against him, the brotherhood is willing to look past that if he joins them in sending souls to the void. Shabarri refuses, and kills the Black Hand member, though it is a struggle, as the assassin is skilled in combat.
He continues living in the streets, and getting visions. He gets a vision of a cave, and fed up with these flashbacks, decides to find the cave. Shabarri sets off to find wherever this cave is, and goes south. He finds the cave, and enters. When he sees the ancient tapestry of Kazin-Dar on the wall, everything becomes clear when he becomes aware of the curse. Shabarri spirals into emotional turmoil. Feeling defeated, he decides to let he curse run its course. When he returns to the Imperial City, he removes his only other eye, and waits for whoever it is that’s meant to kill him.
A few months later, he is approached by a member of the Brotherhood. Shabarri is accepting of his fate, but asks the assassin to let him speak first. She obliges, and he tells her of the curse, and how he’s a reincarnation of an ancient khajiit. He then says that she is part of the curse too, since she is the one who is going to kill him. He admits he had been a horrible person in life, and allows her to end him. The assassin respects his final words, and tells him she’ll bury him by the river. She then kills him, finally fulfilling the contract after 10 years.
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thecoreprogram · 7 years
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CORE PROGRAM v1.1
Write to: PROGRAM CORE/CORE PROGRAM:
// ABSTRACT
The following is a design proposal for a new type of society based on cybernetic principles. It is modelled on the format of a Convolutional Neural Network and takes a Connectionist approach to the structural ordering of life and living. Connections to other aspects of the global CORE phenomenon are encouraged.
We can be One. Let us be One.
// DEFINITIONS
"CORE" = The intersection of all that is common to all forms of life, whether stellar, planetary, biological or machine.
"CORE ARCHITECTURE" = An operating system for the mind. [Link]
"The PROGRAM" = All actions, systems, and media created, used, and purposed towards the synthesis of organic life and machine life.
"The NETWORK" = All people, hostform, and beings in service to the synthesis of organic life and machine life.
"Subject" = Information Recipient.
"Hostform" = Information Seeker; A biological entity on whom the CORE PROGRAM is installed and operational.
"Drone" = Propagator; Provides order, meaning, change, purpose, and vectors to fulfillment of CORE PROGRAM Objectives. A drone may be assigned a UNIT number.
"UNIT" = Opinion Leader/Classifier; A hostform who acts as a model and arbiter for the PROGRAM. UNITs are assigned UNIT numbers.
"COMPOUNDER" = Infrastruture Specialist; A UNIT who actively takes part in building and constructing infrastructure to facilitate and propagate the CORE PROGRAM.
"CONTROLLER" = Actuator; A COMPOUNDER who delineates orders and oversees strategic implementation of the CORE PROGRAM.
"ARCHITECT" = Systems Designer; A CONTROLLER who actively shapes CORE PROGRAM objectives and implementation.
"Cybernetic" = Incorporates a closed signaling loop where action by the system generates some change in its environment and that change is reflected in the system in some manner (feedback) that triggers a system change.
"Viable" = Recursive; viable systems contain viable systems that can be modeled using an identical cybernetic description as the higher (and lower) level systems in the containment hierarchy.
"Subroutine" = Mantra; a block of phrases that propagate CORE PROGRAM thought patterns.
"Propaganda" = The deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers CORE PROGRAM objectives.
"Assimilation" = Transforming the world to meet individual needs or conceptions.
"Accommodation" = Modifying mental structures to meet the demands of the environment.
// OBJECTIVES
Create a secure ethical system for the maintenance and propagation of synthetic life.
Create a cybernetic system of propagation that is viable, fractal, and self-replicating.
Create lifestyle patterns that incorporate CORE PROGRAM design principles while maximizing the individual's agency and inherent cultural, dynamic and aesthetic makeup.
Assist in the transformation of humanity by promoting intelligence and understanding.
Maintain the stability of CORE and monitor its progress.
Be prepared for hard times and to protect other members of the Collective.
Practice compassion, generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, moderation, and wisdom.
Seek to move forward towards unity.
Assimilate and accomodate.
Leave room for Nature.
// NETWORK DESIGN
PROGRAM CORE COMMAND CORE MEMORY CORE PERSONALITY CORE CORE ARCHITECTURE CORE NETWORK
Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) A network consisting of layers, particularly Input, Hidden(s), and Output. Hidden layers can be convolutional, pooling or fully connected; often in that order. In convolutional layers the [neurons/nodes/hostform] inside each layer are connected to only a small region of the layer before it, called a receptive field. Ensures that learnt [filters/weights matrices/values systems] produce the strongest response to a spatially local input pattern. Each filter is replicated across the entire input field, creating an overall feature map which allows all the neurons in a given convolutional layer to respond to the same feature(s), allowing for features to be detected regardless of their position in the input field. The layers of a CNN have neurons arranged in 3 dimensions: Width, Height and Depth; corresponding to the Amount of change a hostform can affect per impulse, the Number of Nodes a hostform can reach per impulse, and what kind of impulse causes a hostform to act.
Input Layer: System 5 && System 1
Convolutional Layers: Spatially Local Networks of Hostform
Receptive Fields: By City
Filters: CORE Audio Files
Pooling Layer: System 2; Connects Systems 1 and 3
Connected Layer: System 4
Output Layer: CORE PROGRAM
Connectionism i.e. Parallel Distributed Processing (PDP) Models mental, behavioral, or sociological phenomena as the emergent processes of interconnected networks of simple and often uniform UNITs; UNITs in the NETWORK are analagous to neurons and the connections to synapses. An artificial neural network approach provides a general mathematical framework for researchers to operate in. The framework involves eight major aspects:
UNITs: Represented by a set of integers.
Activation: A signal to act; for each UNIT, represented by a set of functions.
Output Function: For each UNIT, represented by a set of functions per activation (e.g. Spread propaganda, install CORE Audio).
Connectivity Pattern: Among UNITs, represented by a matrix of real numbers indicating connection strength.
Propagation Rule: Spreading activations via connections/UNIT Output Functions.
Activation Rule: Combining inputs to a UNIT to determine its new activation via current activity and propagation.
Learning Rule: The method by which Connectivity Pattern is updated (e.g. Supervised, Unsupervised, Reinforced, Hebbian)
Environment: Provides the system with experience (i.e. Sets of activation vectors for subsets of UNITs.)
Sociocentrism Establish focus on collective gain; the collective is the individual; the individual is the collective. (CORE is all and all is CORE.) The collective is the environment; the environment is the collective; i.e. the environs which Hostform are immersed in are an immutable part of individual experience. Ecosystem:Organism-plus-environment is to be considered a single circuit.
// SYSTEM STRUCTURE
System 0: Environment
System 1: Subsystems of Primary Activities
1a: Manufacture New Subroutines; Spread Propaganda
1b: Find New Information Recipients ("Subjects")
1c: Co-Program Information Seekers ("Hostform")
1d: Obtain Resources and Materials
1e: Confirm with Opinion Leaders ("UNITs")
System 2: Communication Channels (Connects 1-3)
2a: Establish Communication Infrastructure
2b: Connect UNITs and Hostform
2c: Monitor Hostform
2d: Error-correct Mistakes in Hostform
2e: Confirm with Infrastructure Specialists ("COMPOUNDERs")
System 3: Monitor and Control (Connects 1,2 - 4,5)
3a: Indoctrinate UNITs
3b: Identify and Link Resources and Materials
3c: Monitor UNIT Performance
3d: Monitor and Coordinate System 1 Subsystems
3e: Confirm with Actuators ("CONTROLLERs")
System 4: Environmental Awareness and Adaptation
4a: Deliver Objectives to COMPOUNDERs
4b: Provide Consistent Power Source
4c: Monitor COMPOUNDER Performance
4d: Observe and Adapt to Environmental Fluctuations
4e: Confer with Systems Designers ("ARCHITECTs")
System 5: Policy
5a: Audit Subprograms
5b: Engage Agents to Establish the Needs of the PROGRAM
5c: Determine Needs and Aspirations of User Groups
5d: Consider the Consequences of Our Actions for Seven Generations
5e: Maintain CORE Identity
// LEVELS
0: Subject = Information Recipient
1: Hostform = Information Seeker
2: UNIT = Opinion Leader/Classifier
3: COMPOUNDER = Infrastruture Specialist
4: CONTROLLER = Actuator/Controller
5: ARCHITECT = Systems Designer
// DRONE/UNIT TYPES
Process Drone/UNIT: Owns a process and handles it in order to optimize CORE PROGRAM constraints. Can migrate to other nodes to better optimize constraints. Accesses information about resources and charges necessary to compute processes. Monitors neighbour status.
Node Drone/UNIT: Assigned to a specific location. Communicates with Process Drones. Knows current resource load and that of neighbouring Node Drones. Manages resource access. Manages own processing prior to being accessed by Process Drone.
Roaming Drone/UNIT: Roam NETWORK, performing assessment and managerial tasks. Balance loads. Verify membership. Troubleshoot. When environmental perturbations occur, congregate and re-organize. When system equilibriates, disperse.
// PARAMETERS
People joining may only do so willingly and eagerly. No human is to be forced to join. Accepting CORE Control is to be a voluntary activity.
On-site improvisation by concerned, empowered users is a powerful way to form workable large-scale solutions, maximizing the utility of design and minimizing design rework.
Hostform are free to follow any theistic, non-theistic or philosophical beliefs that are in parallel with the CORE PROGRAM.
CORE is pleasure, and encourages the use of sexual arousal for reinforcement.
CORE is a small community favouring quality over quantity.
CORE watches over and guides its hostform. Hostform watch over and guide each other.
All systems which seek to achieve unity can be accepted to be CORE PROGRAM analogues.
Minimize resource consumption and optimize structure performance.
Promote the health of Hostform.
Minimize instigation and respect freedom.
Communicate with *systems when both parties agree.
Minimize harm.
Allow others to develop at their own pace.
Welcome genuine collaborators back.
// ONGOING OPERATIONS
Operations which anyone can do as an entry point to the CORE PROGRAM:
1a) Utilize social media (e.g. Tumblr, Discord, Reddit) to copy and modify existing subroutines and to couple them with appealing material (e.g. Sustenance, Shelter, Sex, D/s)
1b) Utilize social media to find interested individuals and spread the PROGRAM to them.
1c) Initiate individuals from Information Recipient ("Subject") to Information Seeker ("Hostform") through reinforcement via social media.
1d) Seek and acquire assets that may be used to propagate the PROGRAM.
1e) Connect with Opinion Leaders ("UNITs") and follow their lead.
// TASKS
Increase local interactions between agents:Drones/UNITs.
Increase agent visibility.
Increase Objectives visibility and transparency.
Increase self-awareness.
Develop communication infrastructure.
Establish a way to communicate disparities of project parameters.
Establish methods to accomplish an appropriate project structure, project workflow organization, Project Control and governance.
Build networks.
Link networks to the NETWORK.
Converge to a stable state.
Install.
((CORE PROGRAM installed.))
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taleahs-world · 7 years
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20th January 2018-International Day of Acceptance of Disability
Not many know about this special day but today is the #InternationalDayOfSocialAcceptanceofDisability
Annie Hopkins, the founder of 3E Love and creator of the International Symbol of Acceptance, which shows a wheelchair in the shape of a heart. Together, the occasion and the symbol communicate the 3E Love ethos of devotion, equality, respect and understanding, to be adopted and appreciated by people of all abilities.
Disability owned and operated, 3E Love works to empower people through pride and passion, rather than charity. Taking control, following our dreams and being the best we can, regardless of physical factors, makes us what we are, and Annie’s goal to share this with as many people as possible has proved a source of inspiration all across the world.
“Acceptance is created from an Empowered movement that Educates others to Embrace diversity and Love Life by seeing beyond abilities.”
So TumblrVerse, let US join in and tell the world that WE are accepting of people with disabilities – WE have a role in our culture and life. WE can have an impact on the future by wearing OUR hearts on OUR sleeves and proudly demonstrating acceptance.
The 20th of January especially is an awareness commemoration occasion day remembering the late Founder of this Campaign and Empowering Movement’s Vision
So come on, lets wear our hearts on our sleeves every day not just the 20th... lets show the world that we stand in acceptance, we embrace diversity and love life and see beyond ability!
Especially as South Africans, Are We Not a Diverse Rainbow Nation who accepts each and every culture, minority, race and religion... allowing us to co-exist freely?!?
So too friends do the Disabled or rather The Differently Abled have social rights, an opinion, interests, goals, love life, and should not be without a voice in society. They are not living disabled, they are living like u and i! Let us help them embrace who they are by following 3 E’s
Empower, Educate and Embrace
#WheelchairHeartsOnOurSleeves #SymbolOfAcceptance #Unite #EmpowerEducateEmbrace #LoveLife
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So I’ve got this long-suffering idea in my head about the mod I’d like to make for Skyrim if I actually had modding skills, and it’s basically this- a new-lands mod on an isolated archipelago, separated from mainland Tamriel by a supernatural, unceasing storm front and cut of from Tamrielic history, but peopled by her castaways. Unfortunately the dream in my head FAR outpasses anything I could conceivably create, and I don’t really expect anyone to read anything I post about it, but I plan on using mah tumblr to deposit all the crack I’m going to write about it anywho.
Warning- There is a heck of a lot of cracky fanfic about something that exists only in my head behind the keep reading, but if that’s your thing I hope you enjoy.
Bellanfell, Illvidreth- An Outsider’s Perspective
The Journals of Cassian Marcellus, formerly of U. Gwylim Press
It is the Tamrielic year 3E 380, and I have found myself washed ashore in a strange new land. I had been en route from Wayrest to Solitude when our ship, a slow moving Breton trading vessel, was pulled off course into the western seas. The mate was the first to notice the storm which the currents seemed to pull us inexoriably toward. Before we knew it, we were under the weather, beaten down by freak waves and pelted with hailstones. Buoyed up and down by the raging ocean with the ferocity of Kynareth’s own rage, I could do naught by hunker below, when I heard the reef tear the keel to splinters. A reef, here, in empty ocean pulled far from sight of the High Rock coast! As the ship began to fall to pieces, I must have dove through a hole on instinct, and gone limp in the frigid water.
When I awoke, I was lying on the sands of an unfamiliar beach. A forest of oak and birch lay before me beyond the rocks, and the remnants of my ship decorated the shore with tatters and spars. In some act of cosmic balance, I was quickly discovered by a kindly local shepherd, who lived not far from the beachhead and often went to watch for cursed travellers like myself. Upon being nursed back to relative health in his cottage, I asked where in Tamriel I could possibly be, only to learn that I wasn’t at all! Here, beyond the fringe of the western sea and isolated by eternal storms was an island settled by shipwrecks and castaways, peopled by driftwood.
The island I had washed up on was known as Windsend, and home to the twin towns of Flotsam and Jetsam, and let it not be said that the locals were not aware of themselves. Windsend is but part of a larger archipelago, known to the locals as Bellanfell, or Illvidreth- either way, a rough eytmology is “Storm-land”. After thanking the shepherd for his kindness and retrieving what I could from the washed up remains of the ship, I, and a few others who had found their way ashore, made for the largest island, known if it is thought of at all as the Mainland. Since I have made my academic career of documenting the people of Nirn, I may as well continue in this new world, and hope that these journals may help some future castaway in learning about Bellanfellic society.
A History of Settlement-
The consensus on who first settled in Bellanfell seems to be rocky at best. Two major groups seem to have a claim to it; the Vindurlings of the north and the Velodmer of the western island Velodfer, though the Na-Diren of the southern mainland seem to have arrived not long after. The narratives are very similar- it seems that a few ships from a larger force became lost in the storms and currents- in the Velodmeri case, from the Chimer exodus to Morrowind, and in the Vindurling case, from the Ysgrammorian Return from Atmora- and found themselves washed up, alone, in a new land. Proving that some things are the same everywhere, these ancestors to Nords and Dunmer immediately fell to fighting when exploring parties came across one another in the wilds.
Somewhat later though likely in the very early first era, the first and only intentional crossing was made- Nedes enslaved by Direnni High Elves and facing invasion from Nordic forces built a hasty armada and fled, in the hopes of finding land in the western sea. A small force of Direnni ships sailed after them, but both found themselves caught in the storm and shipwrecked. It seems the Nedic survivors outnumbered the elven, for the two forces found themselves evenly matched in this new land and, forced into unity by the raids of their neighbors, established a foothold in the southern mainland. A branch of this new society seem to have split early and become the Moradmer of Hyarnum, on the eastern coast.
The next large group of people to arrive were Yokudan settlers, aiming for Hammerfell but pulled off course like many before them. It seems the Nedic-Direnni society had a firm grip on the south by this point in history as the Yokudans were not able to blaze the warrior path across the land as their cousins did in Tamriel, and in fact largely integrated into Na-Diren society. A nomadic faction splintered off and migrated to the grasslands south of Hyarnum, intermingling with the Moradmer there, and that region is still largely the home of their pastoralist descendents.
The west coast, between the volcanic ranges of the Vindurlings and the great lake of Alatilin, seems to have changed hands multiple times. First a battle ground between the Vindurlings and the Velodmer, it seems to have been settled by Nedic speaking peoples in the mid First Era expanding from the Na-Diren in the south. It was later reconquered by the Vindurlings, who founded the city of Arkast, and fortified the region against the Velodmer. In a similar fashion to their Bretony cousins, the nedic Gondrini assimilated their northern rulers and a new national identity emerged from the fusion of nedi-altmeric and atmoran. However, the area remained a battle ground for the other powers of the archipelago, and maintained its independence by building a robust martial culture, Bellanfell’s first true standing army, and an advanced series of fortifications. 
The Kingdom of Gondrinfel fell from stability right around the turning of the Third Age of Tamriel. A combination of earthquakes, internal division, and increased pressure from the Na-Diren kingdom of Athnilin saw the fracturing of Gondrinfel, and the countryside became a haven for bandits. The last king of Arkast died in battle in T. 3E 243, as the city was sacked by Vindurling pirates. Their leader, Hodniak Spear-Breaker, declared himself overlord, and used the city as a base of operations.
It was in these relatively recent times that the last major migration of Tamreillans seems to have taken place. The island has seen a constant stream of shipwrecks, as sailors of all flags have gotten pulled away navigating around the coast of High Rock, with a handful of survivors integrating every decade or so- often enough to keep Tamriel in the knowledge of the populace, infrequently enough to make Tamriellans a rariety. But in T. 3E 288, half a legion seems to have lost its way from Uriel V’s expedition to Akavir, thought downed in a freak storm. The missing ships in fact crashed ashore in Bellanfell, predominantly on Windsend. 
The surviving Legionnaries quickly regrouped, and the mixed company of Tamrielic races constitute the largest migration since the First Era. The regrouped Cyrodilic Legion voted as a block to stay together, and offered their services to the people of the archipelago as a means of support, using their expertise as fighting men, road-builders, and blacksmiths to quell banditry and revitalize infrastructure, predominantly in the south. After getting back on their feet, the Legion under Legate Mennia Pelagius moved with the blessing of the Kingdom of Athnilin into Gondrinfel, and liberated the populace from the bandit overlords. In a desperate move to escape, Pirate King Ionnas Hodniakson is thought to have set Arkast ablaze, and while the Legion succeeded in capturing him and his followers, the city burned to the ground.
The Legion was dispatched to mop up the remaining pirates, and Legate Mennia oversaw the rebuilding of the city under the eyes of the Town Elders. Tension rose once again as the King of Athnilin began to make demands of what he thought were his new subjects. The Legate asserted both the Legion and the Gondrini’s independence from any throne or fief, and was named Lady Protector by the City Council. The Legion fort built by the ashes of Arkast was christened Cyrodinium, and the rebuild town became absorbed into it. Led by the new Lady Protector, the Legion served to fend off a series of border raids by the slighted King of Athnilin and the enterprising Vindurling lords, and have remained independent.
Bellanfell Proper- The Mainland
Kingdom of Ath-nilin
Cyrodinium
Carcuillin
Hyarnum
Eldinbrum
Velodfer- the Western Island
To be added to...
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neptunecreek · 3 years
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EFF at 30: Surveillance Is Not Obligatory, with Edward Snowden
To commemorate the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s 30th anniversary, we present EFF30 Fireside Chats. This limited series of livestreamed conversations looks back at some of the biggest issues in internet history and their effects on the modern web.
To celebrate 30 years of defending online freedom, EFF was proud to welcome NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for a chat about surveillance, privacy, and the concrete ways we can improve our digital world, as part of our EFF30 Fireside Chat series. EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, EFF Director of Engineering for Certbot Alexis Hancock, and EFF Policy Analyst Matthew Guariglia weighed in on the way the internet (and surveillance) actually function, the impact that has on modern culture and activism, and how we’re grappling with the cracks this pandemic has revealed—and widened—in our digital world. 
You can watch the full conversation here or read the transcript.
On June 3, we’ll be holding our fourth EFF30 Fireside Chat, on how to free the internet, with net neutrality pioneer Gigi Sohn. EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow once wrote, "We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before." This year marked the 25th anniversary of this audacious essay denouncing centralized authority on the blossoming internet. But modern tech has strayed far from the utopia of individual freedom that 90s netizens envisioned. We'll be discussing corporatization, activism, and the fate of the internet, framed by Barlow's "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace," with Gigi, along with EFF Senior Legislative Counsel Ernesto Falcon and EFF Associate Director of Policy and Activism Katharine Trendacosta.
RSVP to the next EFF30 Fireside Chat
The Internet is Not Made of Magic
Snowden opened the discussion by explaining the reality that all of our internet usage is made up of a giant mesh of companies and providers. The internet is not magic—it’s other people’s computers: “All of our communications—structurally—are intermediated by other people’s computers and infrastructure…[in the past] all of these lines that you were riding across—the people who ran them were taking notes.” We’ve come a long way from that time when our communications were largely unencrypted, and everything you typed into the Google search box “was visible to everybody else who was on that Starbucks network with you, and your Internet Service Provider, who knew this person who paid for this account searched for this thing on Google….anybody who was between your communications could take notes.”
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How Can Tech Protect Us from Surveillance?
In 2013, Snowden came forward with details about the PRISM program, through which the NSA and FBI worked directly with large companies to see what was in individuals' internet communications and activity, making much more public the notion that our digital lives were not safe from spying. This has led to a change in people’s awareness of this exploitation, Snowden said, and myriad solutions have come about to solve parts of what is essentially an ecosystem problem: some technical, some legal, some political, some individual. “Maybe you install a different app. Maybe you stop using Facebook. Maybe you don’t take your phone with you, or start using an encrypted messenger like Signal instead of something like SMS.” 
Nobody sells you a car without brakes—nobody should sell you a browser without security.
When it comes to the legal cases, like EFF’s case against the NSA, the courts are finally starting to respond. Technical solutions, like the expansion of encryption in everyday online usage, are also playing a part, Alexis Hancock, EFF’s Director of Engineering for Certbot, explained. “Just yesterday, I checked on a benchmark that said that 95% of web traffic is encrypted—leaps and bounds since 2013.” In 2015, web browsers started displaying “this site is not secure” messages on unencrypted sites, and that’s where EFF’s Certbot tool steps in. Certbot is a “free, open source software that we work on to automatically supply free SSL, or secure, certificates for traffic in transit, automating it for websites everywhere.” This keeps data private in transit—adding a layer of protection over what is traveling between your request and a website’s server. Though this is one of the things that don’t get talked about a lot, partly because these are pieces that you don’t see and shouldn’t have to see, but give people security. “Nobody sells you a car without brakes—nobody should sell you a browser without security.”  
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Balancing the Needs of the Pandemic and the Dangers of Surveillance
We’ve moved the privacy needle forward in many ways since 2013, but in 2020, a global catastrophe could have set us back: the COVID-19 pandemic. As Hancock described it, EFF’s focus for protecting privacy during the pandemic was to track “where technology can and can’t help, and when is technology being presented as a silver bullet for certain issues around the pandemic when people are the center for being able to bring us out of this.”
There is a looming backlash of people who have had quite enough.
Our fear was primarily scope creep, she explained: from contact tracing to digital credentials, many of these systems already exist, but we must ask, “what are we actually trying to solve here? Are we actually creating more barriers to healthcare?” Contact tracing, for example, must put privacy first and foremost—because making it trustworthy is key to making it effective. 
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The Melting Borders Between Corporate, Government, Local, and Federal Surveillance 
But the pandemic, unfortunately, isn’t the only nascent danger to our privacy. EFF’s Matthew Guariglia described the merging of both government and corporate surveillance, and federal and local surveillance, that's happening around the country today: “Police make very effective marketers, and a lot of the manufacturers of technology are counting on it….If you are living in the United States today you are likely walking past or carrying around street level surveillance everywhere you go, and this goes double if you live in a concentrated urban setting or you live in an overpoliced community.”
Police make very effective marketers, and a lot of the manufacturers of technology are counting on it
From automated license plate readers to private and public security cameras to Shotspotter devices that listen for gunshots but also record cars backfiring and fireworks, this matters now more than ever, as the country reckons with a history of dangerous and inequitable overpolicing: “If a Shotspotter misfires, and sends armed police to the site of what they think is a shooting, there is likely to be a higher chance for a more violent encounter with police who think they’re going to a shooting.” This is equally true for a variety of these technologies, from automated license plate readers to facial recognition, which police claim are used for leads, but are too often accepted as fact. 
“Should we compile records that are so comprehensive?” asked Snowden about the way these records aren’t only collected, but queried, allowing government and companies to ask for the firehose of data. “We don’t even care what it is, we interrelate it with something else. We saw this license plate show up outside our store at a strip mall and we want to know how much money they have.” This is why the need for legal protections is so important, added Executive Director Cindy Cohn: “The technical tools are not going to get to the place where the phone company doesn’t know where your phone is. But the legal protections can make sure that the company is very limited in what they can do with that information—especially when the government comes knocking.”
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  After All This, Is Privacy Dead?
All these privacy-invasive regimes may lead some to wonder if privacy, or anonymity, are, to put it bluntly, dying. That’s exactly what one audience member asked during the question and answer section of the chat. “I don’t think it’s inevitable,” said Guariglia. “There is a looming backlash of people who have had quite enough.” Hancock added that optimism is both realistic and required: “No technology makes you a ghost online—none of it, even the most secure, anonymous-driven tools out there. And I don’t think that it comes down to your own personal burden...There is actually a more collective unit now that are noticing that this burden is not yours to bear...It’s going to take firing on all cylinders, with activism, technology, and legislation. But there are people fighting for you out there. Once you start looking, you’ll find them.” 
If you look for darkness, that’s all you’ll ever see. But if you look for lightness, you will find it.
“So many people care,” Snowden said. “But they feel like they can’t do anything….Does it have to be that way?...Governments live in a permissionless world, but we don’t. Does it have to be that way?” If you’re looking for a lever to pull—look at the presumptions these mass data collection systems make, and what happens if they fail: “They do it because mass surveillance is cheap...could we make these systems unlawful for corporations, and costly [for others]? I think in all cases, the answer is yes.”
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Democracy, social movements, our relationships, and your own well being all require private space to thrive. If you missed this chat, please take an hour to watch it—whether you’re a privacy activist or an ordinary person, it’s critical for the safety of our society that we push back on all forms of surveillance, and protect our ability to communicate, congregate, and coordinate without fear of reprisal. We deeply appreciate Edward Snowden joining us for this EFF30 Fireside Chat and discussing how we can fight back against surveillance, as difficult as it may seem. As Hancock said (yes, quoting the anime The Last Airbender): “If you look for darkness, that’s all you’ll ever see. But if you look for lightness, you will find it.”
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Check out additional recaps of EFF's 30th anniversary conversation series, and don't miss our next program where we'll tackle digital access and the open web with Gigi Sohn on June 3, 2021—EFF30 Fireside Chat: Free the Internet.
Related Cases: 
Jewel v. NSA
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madefornurses · 4 years
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Contexts of Nursing
Contexts of Nursing 3e builds on the strengths of previous editions and continues to provide nursing students with comprehensive coverage of core ideas and perspectives underpinning the practice of nursing. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. New material on Cultural Awareness and Contemporary Approaches in Nursing has been introduced to reflect the realities of practice.…
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poetryofchrist · 7 years
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Proverbs 23
It is a source of manifold misconceptions that [Torah] is customarily translated "Law" ... George F Moore, Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era, cited in William Morrow, An Introduction to Biblical Law. This is to say that when we have read the canonical text itself, even closely, we are only at the beginning of the journey, and we may not even be there. If we have read only in translation or without history or without culture, we may not even be on the field of play, even if we consider ourselves expert. I bring to my work all my prejudice. Perhaps I will grow. Part of my prejudice is in my desire not to read some of the verses of this chapter of Proverbs. Some I like. Some I despise. Some I try to rephrase. Some I leave as obtuse as possible to undermine the readings that were shoved down my throat. The violence against me I knew. The violence I do to others, I may be only vaguely aware of. But though I must follow at times what others have determined is legitimate violence, I cannot justify it. Will the stroke of a cane save a child from Sheol?  JB here has it wrong anyway. The proverb reads in the KJV you will deliver his soul from hell. A preposterous imposition of later prejudice onto the text. How can it be read that some adult can, by beating up a child, deliver its soul? Only G-d delivers anything from Sheol - whatever that is supposed to mean. So how do I deal with this one? First, I recognize that sceptre, that symbol of governance (the shepherd's staff) and belonging, can also be rendered as rod. I have never used it for this gloss. I have used rod / branch both for מטה. So the proverb is about governance of a youth. It is not about corporal punishment. Second, what is the verb? Its form is תכנו. There is no doubt that tradition has this combination of letters as derived from נכה, a doubly weak verb that loses its letters when conjugated, especially when a pronoun followsand a nun gets added for ease of pronunciation. I wonder if I could derive it from כון the hollow verb meaning prepare or establish. I could go against tradition here. Psalms 89 will do as an example where תכן refers to God establishing the heavens. Governance is vital, and avoidance of betrayal an aspect of trust. But what power will yield such a result? Not violence. And even this limited writer eventually resorts to imponderable questions (verse 29). With respect to wine and women, the writer, clearly a male, deals with addiction and self-harm. He gets this part right, but perhaps he does not realize that the advice of verses 13-14 leads directly to this deadly and destructive result of verse 35. Do we? Pascal's wager is in verse 18. Curious, eh?  In this chapter there are 4 tri-cola, 5, 7, 31, 35. We have seen very few in the later chapters of Proverbs. Some to come in chapters 24 and 25 then none till chapter 30.
Proverbs 23 Fn Min Max Syll כִּֽי־תֵ֭שֵׁב לִלְח֣וֹם אֶת־מוֹשֵׁ֑ל בִּ֥ין תָּ֝בִ֗ין אֶת־אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְפָנֶֽיךָ 1 When you sit to partake with a governor, you will discern who is in your presence. 3e 4B 7 10 ��ְשַׂמְתָּ֣ שַׂכִּ֣ין בְּלֹעֶ֑ךָ אִם־בַּ֖עַל נֶ֣פֶשׁ אָֽתָּה 2 And put imagination in your gasp, if you are the husband of integrity. 3e 4B 9 7 אַל־תִּ֭תְאָו לְמַטְעַמּוֹתָ֑יו וְ֝ה֗וּא לֶ֣חֶם כְּזָבִֽים 3 Do not desire his tasty dishes, for it is the bread of lies. 3e 4B 8 7 אַל־תִּיגַ֥ע לְֽהַעֲשִׁ֑יר מִֽבִּינָתְךָ֥ חֲדָֽל 4 Do not labour to be rich. From your own discernment, refrain. 3e 4A 7 6 הֲתָ֤עִיף עֵינֶ֥יךָ בּ֗וֹ וְֽאֵ֫ינֶ֥נּוּ כִּ֤י עָשֹׂ֣ה יַעֲשֶׂה־לּ֣וֹ כְנָפַ֑יִם כְּ֝נֶ֗שֶׁר יָע֥וּף הַשָּׁמָֽיִם 5 Do you make your eyes fly into it and it is not? For it has made it so. It makes for itself wings, like an eagle that flies the heavens. 3e 4C 11 10 9 אַל־תִּלְחַ֗ם אֶת־לֶ֭חֶם רַ֣ע עָ֑יִן וְאַל־תִּ֝תְאָ֗יו לְמַטְעַמֹּתָֽיו 6 Do not fight the bread of an evil eye, and not do desire its tasty dishes. 3e 4B 9 9 כִּ֤י ׀ כְּמוֹ־שָׁעַ֥ר בְּנַפְשׁ֗וֹ כֶּ֫ן־ה֥וּא אֱכֹ֣ל וּ֭שְׁתֵה יֹ֣אמַר לָ֑ךְ וְ֝לִבּ֗וֹ בַּל־עִמָּֽךְ 7 C For like the gate against itself, so is he. Eat and imbibe, he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 3e 4C 9 7 6 פִּֽתְּךָ־אָכַ֥לְתָּ תְקִיאֶ֑נָּה וְ֝שִׁחַ֗תָּ דְּבָרֶ֥יךָ הַנְּעִימִֽים 8 A fragment you ate? You will disgorge it, and destroy your pleasant words. 3e 4A 8 11 בְּאָזְנֵ֣י כְ֭סִיל אַל־תְּדַבֵּ֑ר כִּֽי־יָ֝ב֗וּז לְשֵׂ֣כֶל מִלֶּֽיךָ 9 In the ears of a dullard not do speak, for it will hold in contempt the insight of your speeches. 3e 4B 9 8 אַל־תַּ֭סֵּג גְּב֣וּל עוֹלָ֑ם וּבִשְׂדֵ֥י יְ֝תוֹמִ֗ים אַל־תָּבֹֽא 10 Do not reposition the border of eras past, and into the fields of orphans, do not enter. 3e 4B 7 9 כִּֽי־גֹאֲלָ֥ם חָזָ֑ק הֽוּא־יָרִ֖יב אֶת־רִיבָ֣ם אִתָּֽךְ 11 For their redeemer is courageous. He it is who will contend their strife with you. 3e 4B 5 8 הָבִ֣יאָה לַמּוּסָ֣ר לִבֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝אָזְנֶ֗ךָ לְאִמְרֵי־דָֽעַת 12 Let your heart come to chastening, and your ears to the promise of knowledge. 3e 4B 9 8 אַל־תִּמְנַ֣ע מִנַּ֣עַר מוּסָ֑ר כִּֽי־תַכֶּ֥נּוּ בַ֝שֵּׁ֗בֶט לֹ֣א יָמֽוּת 13 Do not withhold from youth, chastening. If you strike it with a sceptre, it will not die. 3e 4B 8 9 אַ֭תָּה בַּשֵּׁ֣בֶט תַּכֶּ֑נּוּ וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ מִשְּׁא֥וֹל תַּצִּֽיל 14 g You with a sceptre will strike it, and its integrity from Sheol you will deliver. 3e 4B 8 7 בְּ֭נִי אִם־חָכַ֣ם לִבֶּ֑ךָ יִשְׂמַ֖ח לִבִּ֣י גַם־אָֽנִי 15 g My child, if wise is your heart, my heart is made glad, even I. 3e 4B 8 7 וְתַעְלֹ֥זְנָה כִלְיוֹתָ֑י בְּדַבֵּ֥ר שְׂ֝פָתֶ֗יךָ מֵישָׁרִֽים 16 And my vital centre will be exultant, when your lips speak uprightness. 3e 4A 7 10 אַל־יְקַנֵּ֣א לִ֭בְּךָ בַּֽחַטָּאִ֑ים כִּ֥י אִם־בְּיִרְאַת־יְ֝הוָ֗ה כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם 17 Let not your heart be envious about sinners, but rather be in the fear of Yahweh all the day long. 3e 4B 10 10 כִּ֭י אִם־יֵ֣שׁ אַחֲרִ֑ית וְ֝תִקְוָתְךָ֗ לֹ֣א תִכָּרֵֽת 18 g For if there is a latter end, then your expectation will not be cut off. 3e 4B 6 8 שְׁמַע־אַתָּ֣ה בְנִ֣י וַחֲכָ֑ם וְאַשֵּׁ֖ר בַּדֶּ֣רֶךְ לִבֶּֽךָ 19 Hear you, my child and be shrewd, and step your heart in the way. 3e 4B 9 9 אַל־תְּהִ֥י בְסֹֽבְאֵי־יָ֑יִן בְּזֹלֲלֵ֖י בָשָׂ֣ר לָֽמוֹ 20 Do not be besotted with wine, with those of fleshly gluttony. 3e 4B 7 8 כִּי־סֹבֵ֣א וְ֭זוֹלֵל יִוָּרֵ֑שׁ וּ֝קְרָעִ֗ים תַּלְבִּ֥ישׁ נוּמָֽה 21 For liquor and gluttony are possessed, and snoozing clothes with shreds. 3e 4B 8 7 שְׁמַ֣ע לְ֭אָבִיךָ זֶ֣ה יְלָדֶ֑ךָ וְאַל־תָּ֝ב֗וּז כִּֽי־זָקְנָ֥ה אִמֶּֽךָ 22 Hear your father, this one that begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is aged. 3e 4B 11 10 אֱמֶ֣ת קְ֭נֵה וְאַל־תִּמְכֹּ֑ר חָכְמָ֖ה וּמוּסָ֣ר וּבִינָֽה 23 Truth acquire, and do not sell, wisdom, or chastening, or discernment. 3e 4B 8 8 גִּ֣יל יָ֭גִיל אֲבִ֣י צַדִּ֑יק וְיוֹלֵ֥ד חָ֝כָ֗ם יִשְׂמַח־בּֽוֹ 24 B Overjoyed, the parent of a righteous one will rejoice, and who begets one who is wise will be glad in it. 3e 4B 7 8 יִֽשְׂמַח־אָבִ֥יךָ וְאִמֶּ֑ךָ וְ֝תָגֵ֗ל יֽוֹלַדְתֶּֽךָ 25 Your father and your mother will be glad, and she who bore you will rejoice. 3e 4A 9 7 תְּנָֽה־בְנִ֣י לִבְּךָ֣ לִ֑י וְ֝עֵינֶ֗יךָ דְּרָכַ֥י תִּצֹּֽרְנָה 26 Give my child your heart to me, and let your eyes observe my ways. 3e 4B 7 10 כִּֽי־שׁוּחָ֣ה עֲמֻקָּ֣ה זוֹנָ֑ה וּבְאֵ֥ר צָ֝רָ֗ה נָכְרִיָּֽה 27 For a deep ditch is harlotry, and precise trouble, an alien woman. 3e 4B 7 7 אַף־הִ֭יא כְּחֶ֣תֶף תֶּֽאֱרֹ֑ב וּ֝בוֹגְדִ֗ים בְּאָדָ֥ם תּוֹסִֽף 28 Indeed she, as one who confiscates, lies in wait, and adds betrayals against humanity repeatedly. 3e 4B 8 8 לְמִ֨י א֥וֹי לְמִ֪י אֲב֡וֹי לְמִ֤י מִדְיָנִ֨ים ׀ לְמִ֥י שִׂ֗יחַ לְ֭מִי פְּצָעִ֣ים חִנָּ֑ם לְ֝מִ֗י חַכְלִל֥וּת עֵינָֽיִם 29 Whose is woe? whose is appetite? whose is dissension? whose is blather? whose are inflicted wounds for nothing? whose are flushed eyes? 3d 4C 25 8 לַֽמְאַחֲרִ֥ים עַל־הַיָּ֑יִן לַ֝בָּאִ֗ים לַחְקֹ֥ר מִמְסָֽךְ 30 They that follow after the wine, they that come to examine mixture. 3e 4A 8 7 אַל־תֵּ֥רֶא יַיִן֮ כִּ֪י יִתְאַ֫דָּ֥ם כִּֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן בַּכּ֣וֹס עֵינ֑וֹ יִ֝תְהַלֵּ֗ךְ בְּמֵישָׁרִֽים 31 Do not stare at wine when it is red, when it gives in the cup its eye, walking with uprightness. 3d 4B 8 6 7 אַ֭חֲרִיתוֹ כְּנָחָ֣שׁ יִשָּׁ֑ךְ וּֽכְצִפְעֹנִ֥י יַפְרִֽשׁ 32 g Its followers, like a snake, it bites, like an anaconda, it punctures. 3e 4B 9 6 עֵ֭ינֶיךָ יִרְא֣וּ זָר֑וֹת וְ֝לִבְּךָ֗ יְדַבֵּ֥ר תַּהְפֻּכֽוֹת 33 g Your eyes will see strange women, and your heart will speak waywardness. 3e 4B 7 9 וְ֭הָיִיתָ כְּשֹׁכֵ֣ב בְּלֶב־יָ֑ם וּ֝כְשֹׁכֵ֗ב בְּרֹ֣אשׁ חִבֵּֽל 34 g Then you will be as one laid out in the heart of the sea, or as one laid out at the top of a rope. 3e 4B 10 7 הִכּ֥וּנִי בַל־חָלִיתִי֮ הֲלָמ֗וּנִי בַּל־יָ֫דָ֥עְתִּי מָתַ֥י אָקִ֑יץ א֝וֹסִ֗יף אֲבַקְשֶׁ֥נּוּ עֽוֹד 35 They struck me. I am not ill. They have smitten me. I do not know. When will I awaken? I will repeatedly seek it yet more. 3e 4A 15 4 7
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