#anuiel

[greyborn2]

A SUMMARY OF MAORMER*

*with occasional headcanon

Gosh, so this one took a while. What follows is a complete summary of maormeri lore as it currently stands. Mostly taken from ESO since, well, that's been are biggest source so far really. Everything written in blue is as near to fact as we can get. It is either directly stated or pretty clearly inferred from the pieces of lore we have. HOWEVER... well, I couldn't help myself. I'm a theorist. Everything not written in blue is more theorizing and worldbuilding on my part. As a general rule I've kept to a 'connect and fill in the dots' approach rather than wholesale making stuff up. So while a lot of this isn't canon, I'm doing my best to keep to its spirit. Also; this is a long ass post so feel free to just skip around to titled areas that interest you!!

HISTORY AND RELIGION

Altmeri and Maormeri history (and faith, on the sea elves’ part) understandably differ somewhat on the topic of king Orgnum. The Altmer hold that he was once a nobleman, and priest of Auriel, and a phenomenally powerful sorcerer who turned from his god. He, they go on to claim, would start a cult in reverence of himself, bankrolled by arcane relics he forged. The Aldmer eventually being forced to break a part of their homeland away, cast it into the sea, and weave powerful mist magicks around it to contain their enemies.

The Maormer claim and fervently believe, for their part, that what the other Mer worship as Auriel is simply a small fragment of the whole truth. Their faith sticks surprisingly close to that of the Redguards; that the time god is both beginning and ending. The serpent god Satakal who bites on and eats his own tail. A god not unlike a synthesis of the traditional Auriel and the Nordic Alduin. They say Satakal, coiling serpent of time, upon who's scales all reality rests, would fall in love with the Mother Sea; from their union all the beasts of the shores and seas came. And so in love with the Mother Sea and his children was Satakal that he would shed his godly scales, for this rotation of time, walk as an elf. King Orgnum. From there the Maormeri and Altmeri tellings converge. They speak of Orgnum attempting to speak the truth to the Aldmer, of how most rejected him, and how he and the Maormer were banished.

While Orgnum-as-Satakal is the primary god of the Maormer, much reverence is also paid to the Mother Sea as well.

Some tellings draw more parallels between the story of Satakal and Mother Sea to that of Anu and Padomay, with each related to the other respectively. By this account Orgnum, as the second incarnation of their telling of Anu, can be seen as a synthesis of Anuiel and Auriel into one.

Maormer see Orgnum as not just their king, but king by right of all the seas, of his love. By this reasoning all islands, from the tiniest rock to the summerset isles themselves, are his by right.

Legend claims that Orgnum made the Maormer his children, and the children of Mother Sea, by ''spilling the spirit of the sea'' into their blood, and it was this that transformed the Aldmer into the Maormer.

When Satakal assumed the skin of Orgnum, his visage as serpent god of time still shone through his mortal form. He began looking as an ancient Mer, and as this rotation of time slowly shortens so to does his mortal life, growing younger and younger by the centuries instead of older. In the current era, it is rumoured, that king Orgnum looks as an adolescent.

Though king Orgnum's full face is almost never seen, everything below the eyes being hidden by a long veil, those who have seen it say he possesses an otherworldly beauty. Some priests and priestesses to Satakal adopt this item of fashion.

Another mark of Orgnum’s divinity is his third arm. Legend says that one can reach toward the past, one the present, and one the future. Though little has been seen of his ability to manipulate time beyond minor miracles.

King Orgnum is able to adjust his form, taking on the shape of the largest sea serpent ever seen. This silver scaled beast is the terror of the Altmeri navy and has been seen swallowing entire ships whole. It is Orgnum’s duel nature of man and serpent that the common Maormer echoes by bonding with a sea serpent at birth.

PYANDONEA

Pyandonea is a floating island chain, kept above the sea by a vast 'bed' of roots beneath her, massive deposits of the naturally floating frog metal, and a small amount of lingering Aldmeri magicks.

Pyandonea, and her surrounding sea, is eternally shrouded in unrelenting mist. Without magical aid the mist is quite literally impossible to traverse. An unaided Maormer could no more leave the isles than a mainlander could enter it. Only with the aid of Sea Witches can passage to and from the isles be formed, as well as between island settlement and island settlement.

The landmass of Pyandonea is that of dizzyingly vast mountain archipelagos overflowing with verdant jungle rainforest, from which mist and waterfalls pour down constantly. The seas around her a maze of kelp which grabs, entangles, and drowns unwary sailors and ships alike, or smashes them against the rocks... though it is only with the aid of these grasping kelps holding onto the underlying root bed of Pyandonea that it stays in one place at all. Sea beasts and water spirits prowl water and land, only adding to the danger. She is a land designed to keep people in, and out, with no passage between; and it took the Maormer much skill to escape her and turn her defences to their advantage.

Maormer settlements are often built in or around the remains of huge emperor crabs, whale carcasses, or otherwise slain titans of the deep. Maormeri ships hunt them, drive them against the shores, and harvest what meat they can; but there is often enough leftover food to support a population for the years necessary to build up a new port or town, and so some of the crew stay behind. Further inland are overgrown Aldmeri ruins, some still inhabited as strange cities that look indistinguishable from the abandoned ones from outside, only within the vines cut away and replaced with signs of civilization. Orgnum himself holds court and rules (when he is not at sea, which he is for most the of year) in one such overgrown city of ruins.

Shades of blue and white are the most popular architectural colours, just as they are most popular in fashion. White marble walls with blue shingles, deep blue sunshades spread between the whitened ribs of old krakens, sky blue tents in bustling markets. It is seen as representative and in honour of the sea; of both her waves and her crashing foam.

Despite the jungles and humidity, Pyandonea is still quite unlike the forests of Topal or the Niben. Unlike both of those it is much further from the equator, almost down to the southern ice sheets, and thus even without snowfall it can be devastatingly cold. Unprepared travellers can find themselves soaked in the mist and losing an entire limb to frostbite... if they are lucky.

BIOLOGY

Maormer are split into, very broadly, two categories. The majority of Maormer are milky white in skin and eye colour, with predominantly white, black, or grey hair. Their ears end with fin-like ridges, and they are able of safely consume salt water - their tongues have an adaptation to safely filter out salt from water, an ability that even remains for a while even after death and removal. Contrary to popular belief, they do not have gills or any special ability to breathe underwater. Finally, almost all possess a mouth of sharp teeth, specialized in tearing meat and breaking shells. So called 'leviathan' Maormer are a minority, making up perhaps a tenth of the overall population. Theirs is a bloodline that has been altered by powerful magicks - sorcery combining their ancestors with beasts of the sea. While most leviathan Maormer are descended of sea snake-hybrids, having faintly white scaled skin, fangs, gills, and springy bones that flow through water at terrifying speed this is not the case of all leviathans. Some have chitinous shells, others semi-translucent jellyfish skin, some even bearing tentacles and bioluminescent patterns. There are as many shapes of leviathan as there are fish in the sea. All are larger than their kin, though, all more at home at sea than land, and all both feared and respected by their fellows. Any captain worth their salt has a coterie of leviathans in their crew.

Maormer are naturally resistant to lightning, though fire and heat can be potentially debilitating - drying their skin out far faster and leaving longer lasting damage than it does to mainlanders.

Maormer possess the uncanny ability to 'blend' into the background and go unseen until they move, or make a noise, oftentimes to the shock of those who forgot they were even there to begin with. While the ability seems chameleonic it doesn’t actually alter the colour or texture of their skin, indeed, even a Maormer in full armor has this power. This ability is most obvious in mist and fog, where they can achieve something even surpassing invisibility.

Maormer are naturally attuned to find their balance on moving ground, be that on the deck of a ship or on the shores of their floating island-homeland of Pyandonea. When forced onto stationary land almost all seem to fall into a strange, staggering, swagger, and many suffer from so-called 'land sickness'.

CULTURE

Maormer society is organized more as a fleet than a traditional nation. Orgnum presides over the entire kingdom as both god and king. Beneath him are the many Sealords, occasionally referred to as ‘Coastal Princes’, each commanding over a fleet and clan, with many holding seaports and territory on Pyandonea itself. These Sealords are the admirals of their people. Beneath them are countless captains of near endless degrees of power. Some are near-rivals to Sealords, commanding small fleets, and ports, all across Maormer territory. Most command a single ship and crew, however. All Maormer, from the lowest sailor to the highest Sealord give a tribute of their take to those above them. All wealth trickles toward their king.

Maormeri society is traditionally a strict meritocracy. When a Sealord dies, their most powerful captain takes the role. When a captain dies, their first mate assumes command and is expected to assign the most capable Maormer under their command to their former position. Nepotism is a grave offence, a betrayal of those that serve under them.

Maormer often take slaves, as well as plunder, in their raids. Those who require too much work to keep are often killed or abandoned, with the fit potentially remaining with their new crew and captors for the rest of their lives. In dire straits, slaves are sacrificed to power Maormeri sorceries. It is not entirely unheard of for a slave to eventually earn their freedom, either remaining with the crew as a true member, or being left on the mainland once more.

A Maormer ship is nearly entirely self-sufficient, and can remain at sea indefinitely barring repair work. The sea provides adequate food and water for a Maormeri crew, and captured supplies can support whatever slaves the ship has.

Every ship keeps one or more Sea Witch, incredibly powerful mages able to command weather to devastating effect. Most Sea Witches are then further accompanied by a throng of apprentices, called Stormcallers.

Maormer trade with both Khajiit and Redguards as often as they prey on them, though some travel further afield. Even far-off Skyrim is at least partially known to them.

Almost every Maormer owns a sea serpent. When a new Maormer is born, the serpent who hatched nearest to the event is assigned to them. The two care and protect each other, forming a deep symbiotic bond. Though few sea serpents are afforded the food needed to grow to ship-crushing sizes, those who do make terrifying mounts for their bonded Maormer. Rider and beast attack as one, the intelligence of their Maormer given to their mount's terrifying strength in pure harmony.

Those Maormer who, by some means, lose their serpent are often paired again with likewise orphaned serpents - if such an opportunity is possible.

After a raid, the take is surprisingly often most distributed fairly and evenly amongst the crew. A captain or Sealord who denies his people their fair share is seen as betraying their service, and rarely long for this world.

Those Maormer unable or unwilling to live a life at sea will most often instead find themselves working as shipwrights or any number of other occupations in Pyandonea's ports. They are a small, but vital, minority.

While all Maormeri ships and crews are combat-able, not all are pirates and raiders. Some work as merchants, trading goods between Pyandonea and the broader fleet. Others make way as diplomats between the Sealords. Many more are simply 'civilian' ships; little different from a mainlander village save for the fact that they are always at sea and farm kelp and fish in place of grain and livestock.

For those Maormer unable to breathe underwater, drowning is a terrible fear. Many legends are of drowning Maormer being saved at the last moment from this fate, and their armor and clothing is designed to adapt as best it can to water and save them from drowning. Fabrics and leathers (mostly from porpoises and ornaugs) are kept resilient to water retention and wet-weight, boots are either designed with mostly uncovered feet or such that they can easily be shed, and the only metal broadly used is frog metal, or orgnium, a metal strong as steel but bearing incredibly buoyancy.

Mainlanders are often seen as clumsy, stumbling, and ill-suited to life at sea. The phrase 'groundwalker' is thus used as both a clear statement of fact but, also, often an insult to the clumsy or foolish. The irony that Maormer are just as clumsy on land is utterly lost on them - or, more likely, they simply believe it more important that one be at home at sea.

Treason and mutiny are one and the same, and both are rare indeed. The offence and mistreatment a captain must provide their crew with is incredible before the bonds of loyalty (and often blood ties too) are broken.

Song and music are major parts of Maormeri culture. From the rhythm keeping slave chants, to the sailors’ shanties, and and even the popular tunes of a pungi in a seaside town, it is hard to go long in Maormeri company without someone striking up a song or tune.

Maormer are far, far, less obsessed with breeding, pedigree, and lineage than the Altmer, or indeed most elven culture. In their eyes, their blood is only a very small part of what makes them better than mainlanders. Theirs is a sense of cultural superiority more so than racial, and those who integrate are often treated little differently than born Maormer - save perhaps for the occasional joke at their expense as they fail to find their sea legs. The endless forms a leviathan Maormer can take have almost enforced this view of accepted diversity amongst them.

[ymrskhn]

Talos = Lorkhan

A draft I created, after about 12 months of studying Lorkhan, The Missing God of The Elder Scrolls

The concept of the Enantiomorph is a crucial and recurring event in the Elder Scrolls universe. It is a metaphysical interplay between three roles:

The King, who establishes order and rules over creation. The Rebel, who defies the King and creates change. The Observer, who witnesses the conflict and determines its outcome. This triad is essential to the turning of the Aurbis, and it defines pivotal moments throughout history. Here are a few examples:

Anuiel (King), Sithis (Rebel), and Lorkhan (Observer): The interplay of Anuiel and Sithis created the Aurbis, while Lorkhan observed the changes this conflict wrought. Aka (King), Lorkhan (Rebel), and Magnus (Observer): During the creation of Mundus, Aka held dominion over the cosmos, Lorkhan rebelled by envisioning a mortal plane and Magnus observed and ultimately fled. Lorkhan (King), Trinimac (Rebel), and Auriel (Observer): Lorkhan became "King" when Mundus was created, Trinimac rebelled by seeking to destroy him, and Auriel observed and cast judgment. These Enantiomorphic events define reality, and one of the most significant examples is the rise of Talos.

Talos and the "Many-headed" Lorkhan Michael Kirkbride has stated that Zurin Arctus, Ysmir Wulfharth, and Tiber Septim are all aspects of Lorkhan. This is where the Enantiomorph takes an interesting twist:

Tiber Septim embodies the Rebel, who conquers and changes the world through his actions. Ysmir Wulfharth represents the King, as the eternal Nordic figure of rulership and strength and whose first name is one given to kings. Zurin Arctus fulfills the role of the Observer, acting as the loyal advisor and witnessing the events that bring Talos to ascension. These three aspects of Lorkhan(Rebel, King, and Observer)unite to form the entity we know as Talos. Talos is not just Tiber Septim; he is Lorkhan reformed, pieced together through mortal struggle and divine destiny.

The Missing God Reborn Lorkhan’s story is one of fragmentation and transformation. Mortals consider him dead, but can a god truly die..? Lorkhan’s "death" at the hands of Trinimac and Auriel did not end his influence - it scattered him across the Aurbis, leaving pieces of himself to resurface in moments of cosmic importance.

The rise of Talos represents Lorkhan’s ultimate triumph. Through the Enantiomorph, he not only returned but emerged stronger than ever a god who lived as a mortal, suffered, ruled, and rose again to reshape the cosmos. This is why Talos is said to be one of the most powerful beings in the Aurbis surpassing even Auri-El and Trinimac.

Why the Aldmeri Dominion hates Talos This is also why the Aldmeri Dominion despises Talos. To the elves, Lorkhan is the ultimate heretic, the god who betrayed their divine origins by creating Mundus and trapping them in mortality. Talos, as the reformed Lorkhan, represents everything they hate:

>>A mortal who achieved divinity. >>A god who defied the "natural" order of the cosmos. >>A symbol of humanity’s triumph over the divine. >>In trying to erase Talos from history, the Dominion seeks to undo Lorkhan’s dream and return to the timelessness of Aetherius. But >>Talos stands as proof that Lorkhan’s vision - the potential of mortals to transcend their limits - cannot be undone.

Talos, is the king of Nirn, king of kings.

-------------------------------------------------------------

It took an eternity to sort out all information and I have always found him the most fascinating among all the TES gods. It was a lot of fun. I wish you a great day, if you are somehow reading this :)

[baphometsss]

if you wanna understand more about the evanuris, ancient elves and spirits in thedas, i really think it's worth reading up on the tes lore because a lot of the inspiration for that particular part of thedosian mythos is, i think, heavily influenced by it

essentially in tes, there were two main forces in the universe before anything else existed. there was anu (order) and padomay (chaos or limitation depending on the story). anu first created padomay so it could understand the limits of itself, because in order to know what something is then you need to know what it is not. then anu created a soul for itself so it could reflect and understand its nature better. that was anuiel. anuiel made sithis (the soul of padomay). anu and padomay fought endlessly and from their blood sprang forth et'ada or original spirits. the ones that came from the blood of anu were aedra, from the blood of padomay were the daedra, and from their mixed blood came the magna ge. the et'ada were like embodiments of various emotions or concepts in much the same way as spirits in dragon age -- wisdom, love, etc. one of those et'ada was called auriel and he represented the concept of time, which meant that instead of just floating around in space there was actually some direction to what the et'ada were doing.

the et'ada were fooled by one of padomay's spirits called lorkhan (a trickster god) into creating the mortal plane. they weren't aware that the mortal plane would be a place of limitations only, and so very quickly a lot of the spirits ended up being destroyed as soon as they entered it. one of the et'ada (magnus the architect) realised what was happening just before it was too late and left the timeline completely, along with some of the aedra. however some of the aedra decided to stay and complete the project anyway. in the process, they became trapped within it and were depleted of their power. however, to continue to live on, they ended up creating the elnofey, who were their mortal children. some of them sacrificed themselves to create earth bones (like y'ffre), and then their descendants eventually became the various races of mer or elves. there's a ton of other bullshit that goes on in the background of this but this is the bit that's most relevant to this post

so (and i might have some of this wrong bc tes lore is so insanely convoluted and there are variations of it in canon) it goes anu > anuiel > auriel (god of time) > et'ada > elnofey > aldmer > modern mer (altmer, dunmer, bosmer, etc).

this is really useful in understanding why the elvhen relationships referenced in datv are described as being beyond mortal comprehension. it's because spirits are essentially facets of the divine that are just kind of distilled into much purer concepts. in effect, the spirits are all a part of a larger whole, in a way not too dissimilar to 'isanutoll' or the hivemind of the titans. they are parts of the maker, collectively, reflecting the physical world of the titans on the spiritual plane (the fade).

ofc it's not exactly the same as they aren't a total hivemind, and i'm maybe reaching a little bit with the comparison between tes and dragon age. however, there are a lot of similarities between these games, especially the evanuris/tribunal. and, in a sense, being a total hivemind would defeat the object of a god or divine being like the maker deciding to create spirits of itself to understand better. but it does put it into perspective--the relationships are complex because they are a part of the same divine body. one hand loves the other.

it's very similar to a lot of real world spiritual thought... i'm reminded of that eckhart tolle quote 'you are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while'. the idea that we're here so that some divine being can experience the world as a part of it, so it can continue to expand and grow. it seems to be drawing on this concept and i love it tbh

[sleepymarmot]

I started thinking about the book "Sithis" from Morrowind again after encountering it in another game. I said that I'd always assumed that the last part of the book, which suddenly addresses the Nerevarine/player in a highly effective jumpscare, only existed in the Nerevarine's mind. But was that last paragraph actually a hallucination, originally (and it went over the heads of the other games' devs who thoughtlessly copied the entire text?) And if not, if it was physically printed in the book, then who wrote it and why?

UESP offers an interpretation that surprised me: "Another Dunmeri mythical text claims Lorkhan was the spawn of Sithis who was sent to destroy the Mundus, Lorkhan approached Anuiel and the Eight Givers as a friend to deceive them, the text urged the figure of prophecy to approach the Sharmat Dagoth Ur and do the same". Some other people on r/teslore speculated that the book could have been written by Vivec or an anonymous Temple scholar.

That reasoning makes sense. It's straightforward: Lorkhan went to the Eight Divines as a friend with ulterior motives, and the Nerevarine should go to Dagoth Ur in the same way.

But that clashes a lot with my instinctive, emotional impression of the text. It's Dagoth Ur who is powered by Lorkhan's heart. It's Dagoth Ur who sends hospitable and seductive dreams to the Nerevarine and writes a letter in which he calls the Nerevarine "old friend" and invites them to his citadel. It's Dagoth Ur who presents his world of undead as a flourishing house: "Thus did he present himself as such to the demon Anui-El and the Eight Givers: as a friend." - "Steadfast liegeman, faithful friend, bids you come and climb Red Mountain!" - "He hears laughter and love, but he makes monsters and ghouls. He woos as a lover, but he reeks with fear and disgust." It's Dagoth Ur who confesses that he considered offering the Nerevarine a place at his side "many times".

On the other hand, the plan that was drafted by Vivec directly advises against the tactic of offering false friendship to Dagoth Ur: "Dagoth Ur should try to recruit the Nerevarine into House Dagoth. It may be possible to pretend to join him, then betray him. However, any attempt to deceive him will be very risky. House Dagoth has a tradition of subterfuge and treachery, and because he is a deceiver, he will expect deception."

It all makes much more sense if the book is an aberration of reality that directly reflects Dagoth Ur's conflicting emotions. Perhaps the original text was written by an orthodox Dunmer believer; that's not important. What is important is that "this book is always found laying open, never closed on shelves". That it addresses the Nerevarine as directly and forcefully as the dreams sent to them. It is simultaneously a plea, an invitation, a warning, and a threat. One that latches onto a preexisting text, using it to emerge from the unconscious world into the real. "Friend". You have an old friend too, don't you remember? Go to him. He's been waiting a long time. Do you trust him? You shouldn't. Go anyway.

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

I really need to share this... THING I left as a YouTube comment

"[Warning - huge The Elder Scrolls cosmology rant that I SWEAR was just supposed to be a funny little joke at one point]

I kinda love the Dwemer as the Precursors trope bc, in lore, the fact that they tried to use the Heart of Lorkhan (aka Shezzar aka Shor aka maybe possibly Pelinal in his past life, the creator deity of the entire world more-or-less, depending on how you look at it) and subsequently just VANISHED is kind of insane. Like they didn't DIE, they didn't actually get TRANSPORTED anywhere, just straight up VANISHED. For real world terms it's like if the very energy that made up their bodies was just… gone. The one and only instance of energy being, for lack of a better word, destroyed. Can you imagine that? That's basically what happened to the Dwemer, and nobody really knows why - the gods didn't actually punish them, nobody really DID anything about them trying to use the Heart of Lorkhan, they just did and subsequently vanished. It's probably the greatest mystery in the whole of Mundus and how do most people react?

"Welp, the Dwemer did a silly and vanished. Who gives a shit, I'm out of Skooma / my son drinks milk / filthy n'wah keep showing up / any other random personal issue." Literally nobody, even the brainiest of brainiacs, gives half a shit. The only thing some people care about is what they can learn from Dwemer tech, and even THEN nobody's thinking about how they could use the automatons as free labor or how steam could revolutionize transportation or any of that shit, instead the only thing anyone ever cares about is typically some magic McGuffin which typically doesn't make any sense whatsoever as to why the Dwemer would even make it.

I mean, again, to reinforce this, every single living being is, to an extent, a divine spirit given form as offspring of the Ehlnofey, who in turn were the offspring of the Aedra (aka the gods), who in turn are sort of the result of Existance Itself (Anu) pondering itself, thus creating it's own Soul (Anuiel) which wished to define itself by defining its own limitations, creating Sithis, then they all fucking ponder themselves so hard they make the et'Ada, one of which was Lorkhan, and then depending on who you ask, Lorkhan either tricked the et'Ada to create the world by pondering their own deaths or by convincing them of the beauty of parenthood or similar. If we follow the "ponder own death" storyline, some of the et'Ada straight up die, others nope the fuck out when they see what's up (among them, most famously, Magnus) and the remaining ones either sacrifice themselves to stabilize the world, essentially BECOMING the physical world or concepts in the world, being now referred to as "World Bones", or refuse to give themselves fully to create the world, choosing instead to populate it with their offspring and becoming the Aedra (also before you ask the Daedra are either the et'Ada who COMPLETELY refused to give anything at all when the world was created but wanted to stick around anyway, reaping all the benefits to no cost to themselves or else are illusions dreamt up by the et'Ada who pondered their own death).

So, mortals are infinitely small fragments of the divine, the One that is Everything, so the Dwemer couldn't have just VANISHED vanished, since they SHOULD still be a part of Anu, but they are nonetheless completely fucking vanished anyway because fuck you. I'm saying they're so thoroughly GONE that NOBODY knows where the fuck they are. At least nobody up to and including the Aedra, the third fucking tier of divinity - we're probably, like, tier 20 AT BEST when we play as the Dragonborn, btw, and that's just bc we have the soul of a Dragon, thereby counting as a descendant of Akatosh, the first ever Aedra. Regular people are probably at like, tier one sjjgillion or something. And the Aedra still (assumedly) have not a clue. Literally the only more divine existences are Anuiel and Sithis in tier 2 and Anu in tier 1, being Literally The Sum Of Everything. Sithis more or less interacts with the physical world via the Dark Brotherhood, at least in the sense that his wife (where is she even from btw), the Night Mother, orders the Brotherhood to murk people for pretty much no reason than she said so and her will is the will of Sithis or whatever. Not relevant - what I mean to say with this is that, essentially, any active actor in the world CAN'T know where the Dwemer went bc then "nobody knows" would be false, so even tier 2 beings don't know. Literally only the Sum Of Everything In Existance, the fucking personification of Before The Big Bang, knows where they went, and THAT tier 1 being is, as far as we all know, purely theoretical in it's existence.

To repeat myself. LITERALLY. NOBODY. KNOWS. Where the Dwemer went. Not even Ultra God knows. Fucking God Squared doesn't know. Only Actually God But For Real This Time MAYBE knows, but we don't know that bc literally nobody can talk to it??? So. AGAIN. NOBODY KNOWS. And your common Nord is more concerned about whether you, a complete stranger, do or don't drink milk."

[old-antecedent]

I Am So Glad Miraak Is Dead

Allow me to preface this with my condolences. I believe many of you have been beguiled by Miraak's charming voice, rugged looks, and general intelligence. I understand why this has attracted you to him. There is a reason I chose him as my champion. But all things come to an end, and there is a very good reason Miraak could not be allowed to live. For my part, it is as I have said before. He would not have been under my control if he were to leave Apocrypha, and I find that unacceptable. A reason for you to require Miraak's death is also available, should my desires not be enough. This reason is convoluted, but I shall simplify it for your understanding and for expedience. It is laid as bare as possible in the verse Miraak forced upon the minds of Solstheim's residents. Here in his shrine That they have forgotten Here do we toil That we might remember ... And when the world shall listen And when the world shall see And when the world remembers That world will cease to be I have highlighted only the relevant passages here. The verse has no end, and the last line shown leads into the first. In recognizing this, you now realize that Miraak has cast himself and his shrine for a key role in some sort of Mundus-destroying plot. A perfect reason to kill him. But many have had similar intent and been dissuaded, or somehow redeemed otherwise. Miraak's schemes are too involved to dissuade him of. They revolve around the All-Maker of the Skaal. The Skaal are a truly ancient branch of nordic culture, isolated from the world and its influences since the time of Ysgramor. Their beliefs have, as such, twisted upon themselves to the point of being unrecognizable to an untrained observer. Of most important note is the All-Maker, a unique figure found in the Skaal religion. Now, you must understand that before their secrets were given to me by old Crag-Strider, the Skaal's beliefs were... fuzzily-defined in Apocrypha. (The Aldudaggavelashadingas were, at the time, still lost to the whole of the Aurbis. No one had them, and so no one could use them to trace the lineage of the Skaal's beliefs. At current they reside only in Apocrypha.) Point being, Miraak did not know much about the beliefs of the Skaal. He assumed and jumped to conclusions. Knowing that the Skaal were animistic rather than worshipping a specific deity, he believed the All-Maker to be a blend of Doom Drum and Aka-Tusk. Doom Drum as the shaper of the Mundus and Aka-Tusk as the material of which the Mundus is comprised, through being the soul of Anuiel. Knowing how the world was created, he intended to have his temple (in the shape of a wheel with the tallest All-Maker stone at the center, how clever) mantle the Mundus, himself mantle its grand architect/materials, and close out the kalpa as the newly ascended world-eater and god of Men. He would then create a new world of his own make. This is where his little poem found its memory theme. When the world remembers the All-Maker as he believed the Skaal knew it, the world will be forced to see him as the All-Maker in his little shrine. And since the shrine is designed to mantle the Wheel, the world can be ended through Miraak eating the stone his shrine is made of, I suppose. "That world will cease to be / Here in his shrine", because his shrine is the world. Unsurprisingly, Miraak was incorrect about the All-Maker. It is more a blend of Sithis and Doom Drum, and so he would not have been able to achieve his goals as he had structured them. But this inevitable defeat does not mean he did not have to die. The sort of man who will spend aeons scheming to become the ruler and destroyer of all reality for his own gratification is not the sort of man you want running around, no matter who he associates with. It was in everyone's best interests to kill him.

[destiny2paladin]

A Summary of Tamrielic Gods

@ascetic-orange its done for real this time. Here is the post. All information below the cut because I don’t want to clog it up.

****For the purposes of brevity if the gods are similar enough between religions they are not listed multiple times.****

Gods of Man (Based on Imperial Worship)

Akatosh: Known as the Dragon God of Time, Akatosh’s domain is the leader of the pantheon, and had a blood relation with an entire line of emperors. The gift of Dragon Blood (being Dovahkiin) is also a gift of Akatosh, with Alduin the World-Eater being the firstborn of Akatosh. 

Arkay: Known as the Lord of the Wheel of Life, Arkay is the god of Life, Death, and proper burial. He is also sometimes associated with the seasons and cycles. His followers despise the undead and necromancy in any form, and Arkay is known to have created the Crusader’s Sword for an ancient hero who fought a demigod.

Dibella: Dibella is the goddess of beauty and art, and teaches that mortals give themselves to love. Dibella will speak to her followers via a Sybil, and is always a woman. Dibella teaches that the quality of love is more important than the quantity, and created the Crusader’s Helm and supposedly the Brush of Truepaint, allowing imagination to be painted with no effort.

Julianos: Julianos is the god of wisdom and logic, and is associated with mages and scholars. He governs literature, law, history, and debate, and influences Sorcery, Alchemy, and Enchantment. As such, he is often revered by wizards and mages of all paths. He created the Shield of the Crusader.

Kynareth: Kynareth, sometimes known as Kyne, is the goddess of the heavens, winds, sea, elements, and spirits of the air. As such she is believed to be responsible in part for teaching men to Shout during the Dragon War. She also created the Lords Mail, and is able to take it away at will. She also created the Boots of the Crusader, which grants the wearer peace with forest beings. 

Shezarr: Also known as Shor, this is the god worshiped as Lorkhan, the father of the world and Sovngarde, the Nord afterlife for those who die in battle. He is often associated with the fox, and was wed to Kyne. 

Mara: Mara is the goddess of love, marriage, fertility, agriculture, and compassion. Mara is associated with the wolf, and is viewed as a near-universal deity.

Morihaus: Morihaus is known as the son of Kynareth, and was instrumental with the Alessian Slave Rebellion of the first era.

Stendarr: Stendarr is the god of mercy, charity, justice, and righteous rule. His followers despise Daedra and will hunt them, but otherwise welcomes all. He encourages charity and giving of resources to those in need. He is responsible for the Gauntlets of the Crusader, and the Hammer of Stendarr.

Talos: Talos is the Hero-God of man, and was the Emperor Tiber Septim (a dragonborn), before dying and ascending to godhood. He is a god of warriors, generals, and questing adventurers.

Zenithar: Zenithar is the god of work, commerce, and wealth. He is viewed as a warrior god, but in times of peace is very tempered and relaxed. His is the Mace of the Crusader, and the Golden Anvil that was blessed by divine power. 

Gods of Mer

Gods worshiped by multiple groups are counted under the same listing for the purpose of brevity.

Anu: Anu is the primordial force of stasis, being the mirror of Padomay, the primordial force of change. The two existed before Nirn, the world, and have been in battle since existence itself became reality.

Anui-El: Anuiel is the Meric god of Order, and is in direct opposition of Sithis. It is said that Anuiel’s soul, Auri-el infused reality with time, thus allowing things to change and progress.

Auri-El: Auri-el is the chief of the Elven pantheon, and is the Elven equivalent of Akatosh. Altmer and Bosmer believe themselves direct descendants of Auri-El, and his symbol is that of the sun.

Jephre: Jephre is the most important god of th Bosmer pantheon, but is worshiped by others. Jephre is the god of the natural world, and the spirit of the current place and time. He often is perceived as a singer, using song to guide nature to the will of those who respect it.

Magnus: Magnus is the sorcerer god of Mer, and is said to have created the sun by fleeing to Aetherius as Mundus/Nirn was created by Lorkhan. As such, the sun of Nirn is known as Magnus. His staff will abandon mages who misuse it, so as not to upset balance. There is also a strange orb found in the ancient Nordic settlement of Sarthaal, the purpose of which is unknown.

Phynaster: Phynaster is not a true god, but is worshiped as Talos is to the Nords. It is said that Phynaster taught the Altmer to extend their lives by shortening their stride. Not much else is known of Phynaster, however.

Sithis: Sithis is also known as Padomay, the Unmaker, Serpent of Chaos, and Dread Father. He is a primordial force of chaos, and is associated with the Dark Brotherhood and serpents. The Brotherhood believes that those slain in the name of the Dark Brotherhood are sent to the Void, a realm beyond both Oblivion and Aetherius where slain daedra reform. Sithis is responsible for the creation of the Blade of Woe, an assassin’s dagger of exceptional lethality.

Syrabane: Syrabane is the Warlock God, and is often favored by young mages for his protective blessings against curses and disease.

Trinimac: Trinimac is the warrior god of Meric worship, and fought against Lorkhan after the creation of Mundus. Trinimac supposedly is the one who ripped the Heart of Lorkhan from his chest, and tried to destroy it with Auri-El. Trinimac was supposedly devoured by Boethia, a Daedric lord (spoken of later) and became Malacath, the daedric lord of the Scorned and Outcast.

Xarxes: Xarxes is the divine scribe of Auri-El, and is the god of secrets and hidden knowledge. He is equated to Arkay, but is notably worshiped for different reasons.

Xen: Z’en as they are often known, is the Bosmeri god of Toil, vengeance, agriculture, and payment in kind. Zenithar is the closest similar entity, but Xen is viewed as a more savage variant.

Khajiit Pantheon

Baan Dar: This god is the god of Bandits, a trickster spirit worshiped in Elsweyr, and even Valenwood. Baan Dar is the cleverness of the Khajiit made manifest, according to their beliefs.

Jode and Jone: The spirits of the moons, dictating the forms of Khajiit when they are born. 

Nirni: Nirni is the manifestation of the world in Khajiiti lore, and is viewed as the mother of all mortal life.

Rajhin: Rajhin is the trickster god, and the Cat-King of Thieves. Prior to godly ascent, this god stole from a Daedric Lord after seducing them in Oblivion on a moonless night, stealing even that Lord’s blade during the escape. With a ring of magic and a blade of whispers, Rajhin became a legendary thief, stealing the Oghma Infinium from Hermaeus Mora and giving it back later, just because.

Riddle’Thar: Riddle’Thar is the Khajiiti deity of cosmic order, and those who do not stray from the teachings are nigh-unbeatable in unarmed combat.

Redguard Gods

Diagna: Diagna is the sword-god of Redguard worship, however faded into obscurity by the 4th Era.

HoonDing: This is the Yokudan spirit of Perseverance over Infidels. Historically, they manifest whenever the Redguards must ‘make way’ for their people.

Leki: Leki is the Saint of the Spirit Sword, and is the goddess of aberrant swordsmanship. Leki is credited with the Ephemeral Faint, a sword technique of exceptional skill.

Onsi: Onsi seems to be the Yokudan spirit of the forge, or at least swordscraft. Bonshaver is a legendary blade named after Onsi, said to be sharp enough to cut any foe.

Ruptga: Ruptga is to the Redguard as Akatosh is to the Men, and Auri-El is to Mer. Sometimes known as Tall Papa for his great size and many children.

Sakatal: Sakatal is the fusion of Anu and Padomay, and perhaps a bit of Alduin, as the Norse of Earth describe Jormungand the world serpent, Sakatal is to devour the world so a new one can begin.

Daedra/Cults

Azura: Azura is the Lady of Twilight, and serves as the lord of Dawn and Dusk, the spaces between. Magic, fate, prophecy, vanity and egotism are also associated with this Daedra, and one of her relics is Azura’s Star, an infinite Soul Gem. Azura is in opposition of Ebonarm and Nocturnal. Azura’s realm is known as Moonshadow, and is said to be so beautiful it can render visitors half-blind from the splendor.

Boethiah: Boethiah is the Daedric lord of deceit, conspiracy, planned murder, treason, and overthrow of authority. Boethiah is a destructive Daedra, and often sees battle and death in his/her name as an offering. Goldbrand and the Ebony Mail are relics associated with Boethiah, and her realm is known as Attribution’s Share.

Clavicus Vile: Clavicus Vile is known as the Prince of Trickery and Bargains, and his sphere is that of granting power through pacts. Much like a genie in arabic culture on Earth, his pacts can have unexpected curses or boons. In Skyrim, he granted a group vampirism to extend their lives and considered their untimely deaths at the hand of the Dragonborn to be fulfillment of the Vampires’ wishes to be cured of their undeath. Vile is an enemy of Ebonarm, and is often depicted with his dog, Barbas. He is responsible for The Bitter Cup, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Umbra, and the Rueful Axe artifacts existing. His plane of Oblivion is known as the Fields of Regret.

Mannimarco, God of Worms: Mannimarco is, or rather was, an Altmer mage studying soul gems and Necromancy in the Summerset Isles, and was exiled for his dark practices. He created a following, as well as several artifacts. Three of an unknown number have been attributed to him after becoming a Lich; Bloodworm Helm, Necromancer’s Amulet, and the Staff of Worms. All three are in some way connected to the undead or the school of Conjuration.

Hermaeus Mora: Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric prince of Knowledge, Mystery, and fate. He wants simply to know everything there is, to understand the universe in totality. His plane of Oblivion is known as Apocrypha, an infinite library of forbidden and lost knowledge. Hermaeus Mora has created several artifacts, including the Black Books and Oghma Infinium, tomes of ancient and arcane knowledge. The Firstblade and Mora’s Whispers are a sword and chestplate made by Mora, with the latter of the two growing stronger as the wearer gains knowledge.

Hircine: Hircine is the Lord of the Hunt, and is viewed as the Father of Manbeasts such as Lycanthropes. This is reinforced by the Companions of the Circle being taken to his realm of Oblivion on death, known as the Hunting Grounds, where eternity is spent hunting and chasing prey. Relics of Hircine are numerous, and often enhance one’s ability to hunt or kill, or enhance one’s lycanthropic abilities. Reachmen believe that Hircine has five aspects, Th Hunter, the Manbeast, the Great Stag, The Quick Fox, and the Mighty Bear. Each one embodies a certain part of the Hunt or the Wilds, and are thus each worthy of worship.

Jyggalag: Jyggalag is the Prince of Order, and sought to command all things. The other Daedric lords feared him, and cursed him with madness, creating Sheogorath, the Prince of Madness. He has a singular relic associated with him, the Sword of Jyggalag. It is said that holding the blade and gazing upon it allows one to see past, present, and future flow as one.

Malacath: Malacath is the patron god of the Spurned and Ostracized, and is said to have been created when Trinimac was consumed by Boethiah. This upset of power led to the creation of Orcs, and transformation into the Daedric Lord he is now. His realm is the Ashpit, and even Goblins worship him in some form. His relics are the Brutal Bands, the Helm of Oreyn Bearclaw, Scourge, the Vengeful Eye, and Volendrung. The Ashpit is akin to Sovngarde, where orcs are brought to enjoy an afterlife of revelry and eternal battle.

Mehrunes Dagon: Dagon is the most aggressive and destructive of the Daedric lords, and was behind the Oblivion Crisis that marked the end of the Third Era. Dagon is the lord of destruction, change, ambition, and revolution. His relics are the Daedric Crescent Blades, the Deadland Hammer, Groundsplitters, Mehrunes’ Razor, The Mysterium Xarxes, the Spear of Bitter Mercy, and the Sword of the Moon Reiver. Dagon rules over the Deadlands, but he has dominion over a handful of smaller pocket realms.

Mephala: Mephala is the Lady of Whispers, the Spider, and the Plot Weaver. She deals in secrets and hidden lore, seeking to meddle in mortal affairs for her own amusement. The Ebony Blade is the most well-known and documented relic of Mephala, however the Ring of Khajiit, Mephala’s Teacher, the Obsidian Husk, and the Threads of the Webspinner are also associated with her. Her realm is known as the Spiral Skein.

Meridia: Meridia is the Daedric Prince of Life and Light, and is known as the Sunfire, The Radiant One, and the sworn adversary of the undead. Molag Bal and Meridia despise each other, however Meridia is known to be more benevolent towards mortals than other Daedra. It is said that Meridia can even grant immortality, at the cost of total obedience to her. Dawnbreaker, the Opal Charm, Meridia’s Beacon, and the Prismatic Core are known relics associated with her. Her realm is known as the Colored Rooms, but those who visit claim they are rather boring, as are the lectures given by Meridia herself.

Molag Bal: Molag Bal is the lord of domination, and seeks to harvest all souls and cause great strife for Mortals. He is said to be the father of Vampires, and his realm is known as Coldharbour, a frigid wasteland of suffering and barren places. Relics associated with Bal are the Crown of Bones, the Mace of Molag Bal, Mortuum Vivicus, Harvest Hearts, Stones of Cold Fire, and Vampiric Shards.

Namira: Namira is the Lady of Decay, and is associated with all things repulsive. Her realm is known as the Scuttling Void, and very little is known of this place. Relics associated with Namira are the Dark Heart, the Ring of Namira, and the Staff of the Everscamp.

Nocturnal: Nocturnal is the Mistress of Shadows, and is viewed by some as the patron of thieves. Nocturnal is seen as a boon for those who work in the shadows, and is associated with ravens and crows. Her relics are the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal, the Skeleton Key, The Bow of Shadows, the Eye of Nocturnal, and the Shade Sickle. Her realm is known as the Evergloam, and is in perpetual shadow.

Peryite: Peryite is the lord of pestilence, and is unfortunately viewed as the weakest of Daedra. His realm is the Pits, which bears similarity to Dagon’s realm. He is associated with the relic Spellbreaker, however there are a handful of other relics that may be related to him.

Sanguine: The daedric prince Sanguine is the lord of revelry, and is known as the god of perversion, orgies, and general excess of all things. Some view him as neither benevolent nor malevolent, and simply one who enjoys parties. Death Dealer’s Fete and the Sanguine Rose are relics associated with Sanguine, and his realms are thousandfold, known as the Myriad Realms of Revelry.

Sheogorath: Sheogorath is the mad god, the lord of madness, and was created from Jyggalag when he was cursed by other Daedra. His realm is known as the Shivering Isles, a place of chaos and disorder. Despite this, Sheogorath is cunning and often makes his foes defeat themselves, which brings him great joy. His relics are similarly odd, including the Folium Discognitum, the Fork of Horripilation, the Gambolpuddy, the Memory Wand, the Neb-Crescen, Sheogorath’s Staff and Regalia, and the Wabbajack. His realm is split into two pieces, Dementia and Mania, representing the two shades of Madness.

Thartaag: Thartaag is equivalent to Alduin to the Skaal people, as he is known as the world-devourer, and is said to return at the End of Seasons.

Vaermina: Vaermina is the lady of nightmares, and takes joy in torturing mortals for the sake of torture. Vaermina’s realm is Quagmire, and from there she hungers and seeks the dreams of mortalkind. Vaermina’s main relic is the Skull of Corruption, a staff capable of consuming the dreams of mortals to gain power.

[kagedbird]

See, the whole thing is perfectly in ties with literally everything being everyone when you consider the Aldmeri / Altmer texts on a lot of lore things. (I was saving this for my fanfiction but FUCK IT I love sharing lore ideas.)

Back before Creation began, there was Anu and Padomay. Anu, the Stasis of Everything, and Padomay, the Change in Everything. They were born of the Void- a term used occasionally to refer directly to Oblivion. Between them they created Creation, Nir, who they both fell in love with; but she chose Anu over Padomay.

Padomay, enraged at being scorned, attacked Nir while she was pregnant, fatally wounding her. She gave birth to 12 worlds- the ones that contain the names of the Gods- before dying. Padomay then destroyed these worlds, shattering them into pieces.

Anu fought him off and woefully put pieces of his children together. But why? He is Stasis- all that is will remain in equilibrium, to cease for a period of time. Change should be the thing that brings them back, as it is time in motion, shouldn't it? But it's because of his love for Nir, his original want to create a new plane, that he takes their children in hand and forms Mundus. Pieces of the various 12 worlds from before, now joined into One.

When Padomay returned to destroy Creation once again, Anu pulled them both outside of Time itself, ending their conflict's threat to Creation, though Creation remained abundant with many Anuic and Padomaic spirits. Anu's blood, spilt during the battle with his brother, became the stars- the Magna Ge- and the mingled blood of the brothers became the Aedra.

Altmer tradition dictates that Anu personified his own soul- to represent a quality or concept by a figure in human form- into Anuiel, "so that he might know himself", and Anuiel's son was in turn personified into Auri-El.

"Gods with an Anuic basis, those "bound to Anu's light", include almost all the Aedra and most deities associated with the creation of Mundas and Nirn."

Even the Skaal, who only believe in a single Deity, the All-Maker, give recognition to someone called the Adversary; a malevolent and multifaceted tester who works to corrupt the All-Maker's dominion. They are similar to the two- Anu and Padomay- constantly fighting one another even outside of Time.

AND THEN BACK TO DAGON BY THE WAY, he was literally cursed by Alduin to BECOME as he is now; horrible, destructive, causing and sowing chaos (Aurbis??) onto the planes he was supposedly to inherit. He was created by the Magna Ge with one of Oblivion's most precious assets:

Hope.

Now tell me- why would a god of destruction be born of Hope if he was meant to domineer and take over the land? To steal it away from all of Creation's spirits?

I think he was meant to be the rebirth of his mother, Nir. But the ties of Padomay were stronger inside Alduin, and thus he cursed Dagon to be as he was- to feel the anger and hurt that Padomay still feels.

They're ALL LINKED. Every bit of them- Sheogorath, Lorkhan, Akatosh, Auri-El; ALL OF THE GODS ARE LINKED. THEY ARE THEM, BUT THEY ARE NOT.

Because what are you if not pieces of the people who made you, and those who have touched your very being over Time, even as you live as yourself?

Sheogorath IS Lorkhan!!!

My take on the creation of Mundus goes like this. Lorkhan god of space wishes to create the physical realm Mundus.

Why? Because his fellow Et'Ada may all be powerful gods but with nothing to do they would remain big balls of untapped potential for eternity. In other words, what use is space to grow with no limitations from which to break through? Or bounce off of? You can't build muscle without resistance. You'll never fulfill your potential if there's no motivation to do so. Take Arkay, a god like any other but with no mortals to live and die, no souls to psychopomp, what is he for?

So Lorkhan decides to create Mundus by playing a trick on some of his fellow Et'Ada, while recruiting others to help him play the trick. Those he tricked would one day become the Aedra, Magna Ge and the Earth Bones. Those he recruited, as well as those who refused to take part one way or the other, would become the Deadra.

But part of Lorkhan's plan was its failure. He intended to get caught last minute, and at the moment of Convention Magnus and his followers fled Mundus creating the sun and stars, while the Trinimac and the Aedra ripped Lorkhan apart, his broken body created the moons, his heart was launched into the sea where it would create Red Mountain and eventually the Numidium, and his soul was shattered throughout time and space to wander Nirn as the Shezzarine. This is when the Deadra who didn't follow Lorkhan saw their opportunity, and attacked. Jyggalag, the mind of Lorkhan that sought to bring order to this crazy universe, was driven mad and cursed to live as Sheogorath.

In short, Mankar Camoran was right. So where's my proof?

Let's start with linguistics. The Bretons are man-mer, one foot in both sides of the Ehlnofey schism. They have the merish view of Lorkhan as this devilish trickster god, but they call him Sheor, like his manish name Shor.

Shor - Sheor - Sheogorath

Lorkhan is also known as Shezarr, the missing god of the Cyrodiilic pantheon. That Lorkhan shaped hole keeps getting filled with gods of war/ spirits of the endeavours of man. One such god was Ebonarm, sworn enemy of all Deadra, with the notable exception of Sheogorath. Why is that? Perhaps Ebonarm sought vengeance for Lorkhan's betrayal, which Sheogorath is not only innocent but one of the victims?

How about that guy you meet in The Shivering Isles, Dyus of Mytheria? He is the one thing of Jyggalag's world that Sheogorath refuses to destroy after returning from the Greymarch; his librarian. The keeper of the knowledge of CREATION ITSELF! Not only is Sheogorath unable to bring himself to destroy Dyus, he keeps him immortal and imprisoned in the library.

"As the Great Library, it once contained all the knowledge in creation. However, spare me your grief. My imprisonment is as meaningless as my immortality. Time and place are nothing. Constructs of a feeble mortal mind attempting to categorize and understand the world around it. If you were one of the fortunate few, you would one day understand and accept this. However, you are not and you will not."

"Contained within its walls were the logical prediction of every action ever taken by any creature, mortal or Daedric. Every birth. Every death. The rise of Tiber Septim. The Numidium. Everything. All predicted with the formulae found within Jyggalag's library."

It's interesting he uses both Tiber Septim (Talos) and Numidium as examples as both are examples of those Lorkhan shaped gods filling the Shezarr hole, and both use the heart of Lorkhan/Mantella to achieve divine power. So Jyggalag/Sheogorath hold the knowledge of creation, which they would know because they are manifestations of the mind of the creator Lorkhan.

Mankar Camoran believed that Mundus was a realm of Oblivion as Lorkhan was a Deadric Prince (Jyggalag??), so Dagon has every right to inherit it. This can easily be written off as an excuse to dominate the mortal plain, but if my theory is right then this belief is a legitimate way of interpreting it. If Mehrunes Dagon was one of Lorkhan's loyal recruits he might want to conquer what he sees as his inheritance.

"How little you understand! You cannot stop Lord Dagon. The Principalities have sparkled as gems in the black reaches of Oblivion since the First Morning. Many are their names and the names of their masters: the Coldharbour of Meridia, Peryite's Quagmire, the ten Moonshadows of Mephala, and... and Dawn's Beauty, the Princedom of Lorkhan... misnamed 'Tamriel' by deluded mortals."

"Yes, you understand now. Tamriel is just one more Daedric realm of Oblivion, long since lost to its Prince when he was betrayed by those that served him. Lord Dagon cannot invade Tamriel, his birthright! He comes to liberate the Occupied Lands!"

Consider Boethiah. If Lorkhan was plotting against the other Et'Ada who would make a better ally than the Prince of plots? Consider what she did to Trinimac, the Aedra that "killed" Lorkhan. She not only humiliated him in battle, she ate and excreted him as Malacath. In doing so she transformed his followers into the Orcs. She exposed the grandest Aedroth knight to be just the same as the Deadra, using Mundus as a playground and mortals as toys, and she turned his merish followers into ugly brutes, exactly what the mer accuse men of being. And she did so in the service of the Chimer, leading more elves away from their "ancestors". I mean, she could have just killed him... But she chose to destroy what he was. Strip away his pretensions. It just feels personal. Vengeful.

Consider also that Boethiah is almost certainly the Night Mother of the Dark Brotherhood. Think about it. Why would Sithis care about contract murder in Tamriel? He is the void. Boethiah on the other hand is all about sneaking around plotting to murder people, and tricking a bunch of goths into worshipping the wrong god. Using the corpse of some poor Bravil girl she has made a cult to Lorkhan, who is a being of Sithis. Ever wonder why the statue of Sithis in Oblivion is of a man with his heart ripped out? Remind you of anyone?

But it's just a theory. It gets crazier when you accept that Lorkhan and Akatosh are the same person. But that's a rambling theory for another blog.

[theelderscrolling]

Could've sworn I saw a post on here that was something about Molag Bal being some kind of offshoot of Anuiel's power aspect (I forgot what the original post was but it explained it much better than this) and Jyggalag deriving from the aspect of control. Or Jyggalag straight-up being what’s left of Auriel (order) when Akatosh goes off with the power.

The Molag Bal bit is kind of interesting in a “god the Dawnguard DLC could have had some better thematic relevance” way though because a) the design of Vampire Lords, with bat-like wings, claws and horns, bears vague resemblance to dragons, and b) Molag Bal has a bit of a history with dragons and craving what they have, to the point of making his own mimicked Daedric dragons (the Daedric Titans) from a captured dragon. That could have added some layers to the Dawnguard DLC, shame Daedric Titan lore wasn’t a thing until ESO.

(On an only slightly relevant note, this post was inspired by me learning that Dracula’s name is actually derived from Dracul, “dragon”.)

Also I guess in a super roundabout way the Jyggalag adds something interesting to Oblivion if the HOK, who has had a close bond with a Dragonborn throughout the entire story, becomes Sheogorath, who is the fucked-up chaotic form of Jyggalag. So its like Martin Septim got the power half of Anuiel and the HOK got the order half, but I guess they both didn’t quite manage to achieve either in the end because Martin Septim is not an emperor or a power-hungry person and the HOK as Sheogorath is chaos personified.

(If someone can link me to the original post/s of these theories that would be amazing because they were much better worded and very interesting!)

[uesp]

Did You Know: The Elven equivalent of Akatosh is Auri-El? Auri-El is the soul of Anui-El, who is the soul of Anu the Everything. 

Source

[ansu-gurleht]

ok so allow me to elaborate on “anuiel = jyggalag.” note: this is basically pure speculation built entirely on circumstantial evidence. i just like it bc it makes sense and fits nicely. a lot of these ideas came from discussions w/ @boethiah, so shout out to her. and i will be referencing my callout post on auri-el, so you may want to keep that handy.

here’s the thing with jyggalag: his whole Thing is Pure Order. like, really Pure Order, to the point its basically just Pure Stasis. make everything Stop Happening. that’s pretty.....Elemental, very Primordial, if you catch my drift. 

i’ve attempted to reckon several times a sort of “genealogy” of the et’ada, from a conceptual standpoint. by that i mean, et’ada exist first and foremost to represent specific ideas and concepts, right? Jyggalag Is Order. Malacath Is Outcasts. Hircine Is Hunting. etc. 

when it comes to the “Canon” order of events, we know there’s Anu and Padomay, then Anuiel and Sithis, then Auri-el and Lorkhan, and then.....everything breaks down, and we lose track. so i’ve attempted to put together “bloodlines” of et’ada, with a gradient of “most primordial and general” to “most recent and specific”.

in all of these reckonings i have always placed jyggalag VERY near the top. like, in auri-el’s, or even anuiel’s generation. 

as i said in my auri-el post, i see the “anu concept,” or sort of the primordial essence of anu, to consist of two parts: order and control. both of those parts go hand-in-hand in a lot of things. order requires authority, and control requires hierarchy. 

it is important to note how i think “descendancy” works within the et’ada, on this very early, conceptual level. it is not like “this guy creates/gives birth to so-and-so, who also does the same for so-and-so.” it is actually a subtractive process. the older and more primordial a being, the more general and vague it is. over time, certain specificities within these generalities grow larger and more distinct, and eventually split off from the original.

it is said that anuiel is the “soul” of anu, which i think means it is the most central and core part of anu, untouched by padomay. anuiel, then, being the “core concept” of anu, would represent order and control. but because nothing has diverged from anuiel, those two facets aren’t considered facets at all. within anuiel, “order” and “control” are one and the same.

but padomay learned this trick of ejecting its “core” from anu, and so sithis was born. and so anuiel becomes tinged with sithis, and so the equilibrium within anuiel goes off balance. eventually, order and control separate, and “control” becomes the “soul of anuiel,” and splits off.

anuiel minus control is what? order. 

even then, he may have still been known as anuiel. still a primordial force for stasis, but carved up into something slightly more like the next generation of et’ada, more “personal” beings. he likely was an ally of auri-el and the other anuics for quite some time.

during lorkhan’s project, despite being allied with auri-el, he rejects the offer to help, focusing on his ever-expanding empire of order throughout oblivion. this is why he is branded “daedra.” 

later, fearing his power and primordial, impersonal personality, the other daedra curse him, twisting his power in on himself, making madness out of stasis. the aedra may have helped as well, particularly auri-el, who saw him as a threat to his authority. it is after his transformation that he is likely branded “jyggalag,” a name those first divine historians saw as fitting for an accursed daedra.

ever wonder why, despite how important he must undoubtedly be, anuiel is barely mentioned at all in the lore? he never seems to be involved in anything after the creation of auri-el. however, the hand of sithis, his contemporary, can be felt to this day. don’t you find that strange?

they tried to bury jyggalag the same way, burying him in sheogorath. who’s to say they didn’t bury the same person?

[lady-paarthurnax]

Paarthurnax listened with rapt attention to the tale, nodding as she was given information of the formation of the world of Hyrule by its goddesses. Once Linkle had finished her tale of creation, the elderly dragon began with her own. It began with the two beings Anu and Padome and how together they created a third being, Niir. Niir and Anu fell in love and made Creation. Padome was jealous of their love and killed Niir when she spurned his advances. Anu banished Padome outside of time and space and fell into a deep sleep. As the Dreamer, his dreams gave way to Anuiel and Sithis, who made the ettada, or greater spirits. Lorkhan tricked the other ettada into creating Mundus, where they lost most of their immortality, the lesser spirits becoming the ancestors of man and mer. Furious, Auriel ordered Trinimac to kill Lorkhan and destroy his heart. But even with Lorkhan dead, he had the last laugh. His heart was now intrinsically linked with Creation. To destroy it would destroy them all. So Auriel fired the heart, tied to his one of his arrows into the seas, where a volcano would eventually form around it. The ettada fled to Aetherius, the realm of magic, punching holes in the night sky that were called stars by the mortals, the biggest being the one made by Magnus, the chief architect of Mundus, which became known as the sun.

But there were ettada who did not fall for Lorkhan's trickery. These ettada became known as the Daedra, the strongest of which being known as the Daedric Princes, each having their own realm in Oblivion to rule. While the ettada who remained on Nirn became known as the Aedra and decided to guide the peoples that now lived upon the world that they were deceived into making.

The dragon has awakened from her slumber.

[zolust]

hell raising 🔪 aejeong & anuiel.

for: @anuuiel​

  to be fair, it was in public but it wasn’t in public. aejeong didn’t care for whether she was seen or not by regular mortals. mostly because she knew that what they saw would be enough to terrify them into silence. as long as she was out of range of video surveillance, she didn’t have any regard for what would happen if she was seen or not. that was the thrill of it. some people got off on having sex in public, while others got off on killing in public. she of course, was the latter. neugdaedeul didn’t mind as long as she did her job as their hitman. they learned long ago to bend their rules a little to accommodate the demon. she was the best that they had.

it was surprising that in a well lit alleyway around the corner from a convenience store there were no cameras. mortals were so stupid. it was exactly the kind of place something would go down in. just out of the way from authorities. perhaps she actually got off on their stupidity. mortals were peculiar when aejeong wasn’t too busy being disgusted by them. that’s what made it easier and fun to kill them. her disgust for the species. there were worse things than murder to do to a human, but sometimes the thrill of a fight is enough to satisfy a craving.

small girl, six men. to an outsider it looked like they were the ones there to kill her. that was the best thing about’s current vessel. looks were ever so deceiving. underneath her little school girl skirt were blades strapped to her thighs. those were all she needed, even when it seemed like her opponent had an upper hand. they may be bigger, but she was faster. smarter. smaller. creative. most all, she enjoyed the kill.

aejeong had just slit the throat of the first and plunged a dagger deep into the chest cavity of the second when she noticed him. at first there was no disguising the annoyed expression that swept her features for the moment before she ducked out of the way of a fist. it’s not that she didn’t love to kill, but if you were going to show up to your own assassination, at least be there on time. her second glance was when she noticed his black wings, small hands twisting and breaking the bones of an arm. her expression was that of intrigue. suddenly she felt a rush of excitement, swinging a knife into the jugular with much more gusto than before - definitely showing off.

a fallen angel.

there were still three opponents left, this tall, dark and handsome stranger not included. he seemed to be glued down to where he stood, convenience store bag in his hand. aejeong had one of the men on his knees in front of her, desperately trying to fight her off as a hand fisted his hair and another clenched around his neck. it must have looked wild. her standing there, covered in someone else’s blood. depending on the person, it either looked like a picture out of hell or like fun. “what’s it going to be, angel? fight or -” she cut herself off as the body of the man she was choking crumpled to the ground. aejeong felt that was enough of a statement, mostly because in that moment of weakness one of the men lurched at her from behind and wrapped an arm around her neck.

[hyecin-blog]

▬ clandestine. ft anuiel

anuuiel

    it’s guise is that of an underground fortification. it’s been looking more archaic over the past few months, outmoded, antiquated and to what the naked eye might distinguish as obsolete. the outward appearance is often unkempt — more so now than ever when recruits are far and few in between — though to really keep up on the landscaping would be suspicious, and so no one really bats an eye to the disarranged entrance leading to its port and the bedraggled hallway towards the main control room.

    filled to the brim with advanced technology, both recently developed, modern and avant-garde electronics are strewn about the bunker in an organized mess. computer monitors are positioned on almost every space, save for a small bureau in the furthest left corner of the room. it’s neat and tidy, recently dusted and immaculate — it’s easy to tell that it’s the space where hyejin spends most of her time, binders of information tucked away beside a glass jar filled with universal serial buses. 

    nothing is labeled, perhaps for security purposes, but the adviser knows exactly where all of the important data is stored. 

    too engrossed with recording some physical statistics, she doesn’t notice that someone has entered their headquarters. she neatly jots down notes into her records, always making sure to keep a tangible copy in the event something ever arose with the cyber systems, effectively wiping out their intelligence. it isn’t until she sees something shift in her peripheral does she let out a soft gasp, ink pen slipping from her fingers and tumbling to the concrete. 

    ❛ h — hello, ❜ she greets once she’s composed herself enough, attempting to force her rapidly beating heart to calm. her hues nervously flicker from the entrance to anuiel and she flushes out of embarrassment. ❛ i — i’m sorry, ❜ she apologizes, gently closing the notebook she’d been writing into as her eyes shift to the floor to try and find the writing instrument, ❛ you startled me. ❜ 

[boethiah]

🔥daedric princes

ppl get way too stuck in this mindset that 'daedra = padhomaic' and 'aedra = anuic' when there are in fact several strongly anuic daedra (including jyggalag who is anuiel btw). the distinction between daedra and aedra is much more narrow than you might assume and its just inaccurate to think of them as two polar opposite forces

[morihaus]

running into new sheoth palace and going "i didnt come to see you put anuiel on the phone"