#There you go TheEntity

[elenwen-and-ondolemar]

I will be upfront, I've come upon this deeply disturbing text while going through the belongings of a Justiciar drunk in an alley in Markarth, for safe keeping of course, and felt the need to question you both on this.

What appears to be an Altmeri commentary on Talos:

"To kill Man is to reach Heaven, from where we came before the Doom Drum's iniquity. When we accomplish this, we can escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison.

"To achieve this goal, we must:

"1) Erase the Upstart Talos from the mythic. His presence fortifies the Wheel of the Convention, and binds our souls to this plane.

"2) Remove Man not just from the world, but from the Pattern of Possibility, so that the very idea of them can be forgotten and thereby never again repeated.

"3) With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over. The Dragon will uncoil his hold on the stagnancy of linear time and move as Free Serpent again, moving through the Aether without measure or burden, spilling time along the innumerable roads we once travelled. And with that we will regain the mantle of the imperishable spirit." This is a frankly terrifying text to find on anyone, so I would suggest you illuminate the Dominions stance on this. I would also suggest you teach your Justiciars to drink less and protect their pockets better. As a general rule of course.

Elenwen: . . . That is a good general rule. I applaud your concern for the Justiciar's security. You did the right thing in asking for our response instead of indulging in baseless speculation. And this document is indeed baseless. The Altmer have never recognized Talos as a god. Commander Ondolemar, this falls within your jurisdiction. Can you provide our visitor the pertinent details of the Justiciar's work in Markarth?

Ondolemar: (He is visibly fuming.) I am aware of this particular incident, yes. I wish you had been half as solicitous about the deceased Justiciar's health. What sort of barbarian leaves a dead-drunk man outside in a Skyrim winter? If you had assisted the poor mer to an inn or temple, his parents would still have a son.

Elenwen: I am sure our guest feels awful enough about his lapse of foresight. Let's move on to the document in question.

Ondolemar: It's a Justiciar's duty to confiscate pernicious libels about the Thalmor. This one has been circulating since the late Third Era, a ridiculous forgery which attributes a range of bizarre and heretical opinions to our scholars. This document cannot have been written by an Altmer, even an apostate or renegade. Such a renegade would know how to make their heresy sound more authentic.

The greatest heresy displayed in the text is the belief that there is any need to "escape the mockery and long shame of the Material Prison." This might have been a pressing concern in the Dawn Era. But the foundation of Altmer religion is simple. Even that popular Imperial book, Varieties of Faith, gets it right.

"[Auri-El] then ascended to heaven in full observance of his followers so that they might learn the steps needed to escape the mortal plane."

Our Ancestors were trapped in Mundus, but they have ascended to Aetherius, and invite their descendants to follow. We know that our ancestors are in Aetherius since we consult with them in times of need.

This Commentary attempts to solve a problem that does not exist within Altmer religion, while claiming that Auri-El had no idea what he was doing, lied to his descendants about the way to ascension, and needs to be rescued from his own ignorance. You can see how blasphemous this reads to any Altmer. If a true Altmer scholar came to this conclusion, he or she would certainly include arguments for overcoming the resistance of Altmer believers, rather than state it as an accepted truth that underlies the rest of the argument.

Now that we have established how foreign this Commentary is to true Atmer religion, let me point out that it contradicts itself. "With Talos and the Sons of Talos removed, the Dragon will become ours to unbind. The world of mortals will be over."

Wasn't it "the Doom Drum's iniquity" that supposedly doomed us to his material prison? Suddenly, Talos instead is very important, for no reason at all. Removing Talos will apparently change the nature of the world, even though Talos only appeared in the world about seven hundred years ago. What happened to Lorkhan in this Commentary? He has apparently trapped us in mortality but doesn't matter anymore? And who knew that linear time only started when Tiber Septim was born in Atmora or Alcaire or wherever it was? Elenwen: The so-called Altmeri Commentary only makes sense as the product of a member of a Talos cult who wanted their object of worship to be the most important and powerful of the gods. Someone who had a vested interest in duping the credulous into supporting their failing cult. Someone who wanted the humans of Tamriel to see elves as their mortal enemies. In short, there is every reason to believe the Commentary was written and distributed by the premier cult of Talos, the Blades.

Fortunately, the Emperor, the Elder Council and the Hierarchy of the Imperial Cult now recognize the perverse origins of such conspiracy theories. The Empire and the Dominion join together in condemning these calumnies. If you would leave us the copy of the Commentary you retrieved for safekeeping, we can commit it to the fire, as the late Justiciar would have done.

[ziracona]

This is probably a bit of a silly ask, but how is the media dealing with the sudden reemergence of the survivors? I mean I'm sure a lot of people are freaking out due to Jane Romero coming back, but also what about Feng coming back? what is #twitter talking about?

No, it’s an important ask! That’s definitely getting talked about in the last chapter, but the short answer is it’s gone wild. In reality, I think such a thing only could garner media attention — a bunch of missing persons from the last twenty years including Oprah, Lindsay Ell, and a missing member of Twin Flower Girls, a guy involved in a massively famous New Jersey serial killing spree as a detective, and two sons of extremely wealthy business men, all suddenly appear in Wisconsin, Oprah hasn’t aged in 15 years, they all agree in extreme meticulous detail about being kidnapped and stored in a pocket dimension by a demon who kills them for several years? Lots of people won’t believe that but it’s going to be fkn world news no two ways about it. Twitter is full of theories and trying to track down who the less well known missing persons are (unfortunately for them), Tumblr is people who are more likely to believe the wac take being like “BUT in 1863 there was this MacMillan estate” and sharing old creepy photos. There is a conspiracy that Laurie might be the missing Strode daughter despite her best efforts to be a Jane Doe thanks to both. Some well meaning folks send gifts (especially to the popular people. Min’s got a shitton if fan offerings, and Jane has mountains, Kate a lot too). Media has also been very successfully in enacting Joey’s idea, and along with #TheEntity #Jane Romero #FengMin #KateDenson #TrialRealm and #TheWisconsin20, #FindAlice has also been trending.

Mostly, it’s people fielding wild theories. Some trying to see if they might be right, many more offering detailed and very annoying entitled “I Know For Sure” hypothesis they googled about trauma and mass hallucinations as law, and then getting ripped apart by other users bc, you know, it’s Twitter. Lots of conspiracies and more lighthearted group thinks, as well as some more well meaning and kind group offerings to help the families who might have financial difficulties. Also a lot of non-helpful and very irritating and tiring stalking and harassing of the people involved. Very little privacy. Everyone wants a piece of their lives.