#cogitum

[joliettebln]

„Die Menschen sind ja eine verrückte oder nicht mehr normale Spezies und entwickeln dauernd irgendwelche bizarren Projekte, für die vielleicht dann der Festungsbau und ein solch scheußliches Gebäude wie die Festung von Brendonk ein sehr gutes Beispiel ist. Der Festungsbau ist ja in seiner ganzen Anlage, also in den Plänen, die für die Festungen gemacht wurden, geradezu das Exempel für den rationalen menschlichen Geist. (…) und so ist das natürlich überhaupt mit der ganzen Geschichte der Aufklärung, die ja auch von vollkommen rationalen Prinzipien ausgeht, aber sich dann im Laufe ihrer Entwicklung zu immer unsinnigeren Mustern entfaltet. Also die Strafanstalt, die Irrenanstalten, die Schulen, die Waisenhäuser, all diese Institutionen wurden ja, aus guten Motiven heraus, und in dem Glauben, dass man mit der Vernunft alles regeln könne, gebaut. Und überall, nicht?“

[nerywen]

Proctor Luciana's journal

Vol 4

... When I reached the Throne Aligned, I found Sotha Sil sitting on the stairs leading to his seat of power. He didn't even look up.

"I know why you're here," he said.

I was so naive then, I smiled and rushed toward him like a child. "Good!" I cried. "We have to move quickly. Marius is near to passing."

But Sotha Sil didn't stand up. He didn't even look me in the eye. "I am sorry," he said. "I cannot give you what you seek."

I stumbled over my words, trying to understand what he was saying. I just repeated myself like an idiot, thinking perhaps that he hadn't heard me. "Marius is dying. We have to get back to him as soon as possible!"

He stood up and pursed his lips before speaking. "I'm sorry," was his only reply.

Seht approached, placed a brass hand on my shoulder and said,

I looked up and there were tears in his eyes.

I felt a great rage rise up within me. I reached for my hammer, and lifted it above my head just before Seht whispered a banishing word and sent me hurtling back toward the surface.

Marius died two days later. Sotha Sil remains in the Cogitum Centralis to this day.

The other apostles offered the same trite consolations I used to give to the grieving parents of men who died under my command in the Imperial Legion. "It was his time." "He lived a good and honorable life." On and on. But in my heart, I will never forgive Sotha Sil. Never. I will remain a proctor of the apostles. I will always safeguard the city I love, and uphold the laws and traditions of the order. But my adoration for the Clockwork God has shriveled and starved.

[uesp]

Did You Know: AIOS (Automata Incarnum Overseer System) was a master factotum of the Clockwork City created to maintain and supervise substrata operations, with multiple partitions located within the Cogitum Centralis?

[waidwn]

Cogitum Centralis

Under the readmore bonus: me going "wtf he's so tall" while looking at my character standing next to Sotha Sil (he's a dunmer who's as tall as the slider goes)

[hypnotic-propaganda]

Sketchy thing of my spirit dunmer.

[sehtsuggestion]

A good time to renember:

Rat....

[sehtsuggestion]

download murder upload killing. human life is worth a shilling. usb is in your spine. and so your soul is now online.

[oaky-dokey]

side note: i really want to see the tribunal all in one place and actually interacting with each other sometime in eso

[captaindumac]

Seht just wants to go home

[irithyllians]

“This is no place for mortals.”

— Sotha Sil, who is omniscient and likely imminently realised the Vestige will sneak their way to him in Cogitum Centralis in order to badger him into taking a break many times in their acquaintance and he may as well just accept it

[publicite-francaise]

Aslan pour Cogitum.

[meep9898]

Fiorella needs a monocle

“It is veridical that I must keep the nature of my true intellect concealed. Otherwise, the world will plummet into chaos as I uncontrollably spill out all of the universe’s darkest secrets, my words far too incomprehensible for knowledge-lacking minds, frying everyone’s brains in seconds. However, such an accessory will not be able to contain my cogitum skills.”

Reality is she wore one during her middle school years, but got mocked for it when she got to high school, so she stopped wearing it and came up with another, more original way to ‘seal’ her intellectual power. An eyepatch! She stopped wearing that too for similar reasons…

[purrpurrpurrcat]

ever wonder what sotha actually does when he fucks off to the cogitum for an exceedingly long unit of temporal measurement?

[cosmicallium]

The way that Sotha Sil is just slumped over in that machine in the Central Cogitum

mood

[theoldsongsandtales]

Disclaimer: I know we don’t actually meet Sil at any point before ESO so you can consider almost all of the lore on him second hand and even ‘fictional’ but he was set up that way; he was set up to be a loving god.

Disclaimer: This is rambly and not even all my thoughts but I said I would do it. I feel like I’m forgetting something but, ah well.

I think one of my gripe? with CWC is that not only does it make Sil seem a lot less caring for his people, it also seems - not consistent? sometimes?

In, Luciana’s journal we get,

“Why do you think things happen?” he asked. I told him I didn’t understand the question.

“Why are we sitting here talking? Why does young Marius exist? Why do I reign over this place, while you convalesce within it?”

I sat quiet for a moment, then replied: “Because that’s just the way it is.”

His cold face melted into one of his solemn half-smiles. “Exactly.”

This is 1E 2712 (Maybe), and sometime around 1E 2730 (Maybe) when her son dies we get,

When I reached the Throne Aligned, I found Sotha Sil sitting on the stairs leading to his seat of power. He didn’t even look up.

“I know why you’re here,” he said.

“Marius is dying. We have to get back to him as soon as possible!”

He stood up and pursed his lips before speaking. “I’m sorry,” was his only reply.

We stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, I shook my head and whispered, “I don’t understand. My body was ruined and you healed me. It’s only Marius’s heart that needs mending.”

Seht approached, placed a brass hand on my shoulder and said, “You misunderstand. It is within my power to heal Marius, but circumstances make it impossible. I grieve with you, Luciana.”

I looked up and there were tears in his eyes. I felt a great rage rise up within me. I reached for my hammer, and lifted it above my head just before Seht whispered a banishing word and sent me hurtling back toward the surface.

Marius died two days later. Sotha Sil remains in the Cogitum Centralis to this day.

He’s,heartbroken at this, but apparently so set on ‘it was to be like this’ that he’s not going down to save the life of this child (which is fully in his power) nor do anything to comfort this grieving mother’s sorrow.

Because it Has To Be Like This; I only saved you Luciana so you could save my City, your son doesn’t have a part to play, I can’t help him.

And this is all, in 1E 2712 (to the best of our knowledge)

We get ‘Sil remains in the Centralis to this day.’

This can’t be right, we know he at least makes the Pact in Oblivion and still takes at least a few trips to Red Mountain. She seems to at least know when Sil is out, because she states in a quest that when he’s gone the City goes into a slumbering mode. Does she mean Sil hasn’t been seen since her son died in the City proper? Varuni and the other Apostles talk about him never being around, so maybe?

But, speaking of his Coldharbour Compact -

I’ve always thought of it as his attempt to keep Ald Sotha, Gilverdale from being repeated, maybe a response to his dear friend Almalexia seeing the horror unfold in a vision and ‘Sil, look what happened,’ and putting himself through the hell that is standing in Coldharbour with 8 daedric princes mocking, scorning, and making you miserable all so he could keep Nirn, not just his own Dunmer people, but all of Nirn safe - because again, he was set up as that kind of person.

ESO brings into context, Did he know he ‘Had’ to make it? Did he see Dagon’s attack? Molag Bal and Mannimarco’s scheme? That’s - a lot of personal trouble, even for a demi god to go through when he’s making his own perfect world because Nirn is corrupted and then apparently only certain people get to live in said, actual city because they have talent.

We don’t know what Sil offered them; I’ve seen everything from ‘I’ll destroy you and the Mundus too.’ to individual gifts (a ESO added book seems to imply that Herma Mora at least got some sort of knowledge), to his own soul, or pieces of it at least. Again, a lot of trouble and personal effort.

There’s also the condition of the CWC. Only certain people living in the City proper and the rest out in this wilderness with hostile creatures or in a slum where apparently the children go cold sometimes. I know this can be waved as Sil gave the Apostles the starting blocks and wanted them to figure it out but someone who at one point said,

���The old gods are cruel and arbitrary, and distant from the hopes and fears of mer. Your age is past. We are the new gods, born of the flesh, and wise and caring of the needs of our people.’

He’s seen how it is to be cast out; his two most beloved friends - he’s seen what they’ve gone through, he knows what he has been through, he’s seen war at that point he’s advised against it he’s fought it, he - knows. And, I guess I just want to know what changed him from that, to, allowing his apostles to let others suffer if that’s the case - and if he’s doing it intentionally, ???

Also - SPOILERS - in one quest they are literally killing citizens of the city, they are literally killing them to make sunshine, are you telling me that Sotha Sil knew that was happening and, ah well, it has to.

And, also, his memory stars, … not exact wording,

‘Factotums will need a voice. … Perhaps something, comforting.’

‘My Friend, what have I become?’

‘You can’t care too much, how else will they learn to fend for themselves?

‘Our Soldiers are useless against the Dwemer machines, we’re sending these Mer out for slaughter.’

‘We’ve cursed them all. They will be cast out, disgraced!’

All sound like at some point he cared, he cared a lot. The planisphere memories also make it sounds like the memory stars were early on, that he started casting out his memories/emotions early.

I guess it boils down to - did something happen at some point, to make him like this? So focused on a set thing, less compassion, more numbers and work and distance? I know it’s confirmed? He had a wife at some point, was that it? Did the Compact do it? Are we ever going to see that? Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life sending letters to Zenimax and Todd and ‘please for the love of nirn tell me about sotha sil, give me your notes, please i’ll sign a contract.

I could talk about how much, how much he seems to love, and a million other things about Sotha Sil but this is already too long so maybe another day but,

TLDR: I love Sotha Sil, he’s my favorite; I love the idea of this man who suffered and seen his friends suffer and wanted to be a god, wanted to fix everything, wanted people to have good lives - not just those of his own kin but everyone - someone full of love, and while I respect ESO, I wish we had gotten that.

[lacramorga]

Weird ES headcannony stuff ahead, be warned if you aren't into that!

The noises in the Basilica were few.

The rare Factotum patrolled the halls but all life, fabricated or otherwise, was nonexistent.

Until the soft pitter-patter of bare feet echoed down one hallway as loudly as The Imperfect would. They were methodical, precise, calculated, and slow. Knowing where the destination was but the walker was in no hurry to get there.

Of to the side of an unbeaten trail was a furnished study the size of a broom closet. Supplied with a Somnolostation, a raised drafting table, chair and a cabinet. The bare necessities.

At the drafting desk an Altmer sat, glistening to rival the freshly polished Fabricants out of the Incarnatorium.

The small room fizzled with sparks, the shadows that crept from the corners eviscerated with brilliant light.

The God stood in the doorway and watched the Mer work, admiring what had changed in his absence. How his chropped hair was now too long and was hanging in front of his golden eyes, the experience the Altmer now had, building an intricate and complex automaton and fabrication tanks. Seht noticed that the Altmer was fastening parts to a transparent board, the secret centerpiece to all things built in the Clockwork City.

Ondolerinde was scared out of his wits when a hand laid on his shoulder. He nearly ruined the start of his project before it barely got off the ground.

"My Heart."

"My Architect, you've returned to me."

The mask protecting the Altmer's face from sparks and rogue fragments was lifted, his pearly whites showing in a smile.

"That I have."

He quickly put the soldering pen in a container and sat up to throw his arms around the ex-Chimer's shoulders.

"As always, I've missed you dearly. Your time in the Cogitum Centralis is always so dull."

"As I you. Temporal measurement is delayed without your presence within arms measurement, as if you have an ascendancy over objective reality."

His white, linen robe was warm and blue sash soft. It was in direct contrast to the freezing metal as his left arm and right hand rested on Ondolerinde's thin hips.

Sotha Sil heard the saying 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks.' After years of mulling over the meaning he found that was the case, to a point.

For most of his life he believed he was the one who was unalterable. The one that people would change for and not the one to change.

That woman said he never cared enough, that he was too distant, closed off, and too cold.

He was cautious almost to a point where nothing could be done. He'd be scared of the consequences.

He overthought.

And he did care, so much that it hurt.

Ondolerinde was different than the others or he wasn't but now he was old or too changed to care.

Neither were particularly relevant as lips landed on his own to break him out of his inner thoughts.

Seht could tell, there was a nagging look in Ondolerinde's eye. An inquiry.

"In your seclusion, did you think on what I asked?"

What the Altmer asked was a paradigm shift. A triviality to the Mer in many respects, something chosen between two people for another.

By the look of the room his husband was going to go through with the project with or without him...

Without him.

That was a possibility that troubled his time in the Throne Aligned, he wanted to be apart of it, he wanted it. He only wanted to experience it with Ondolerinde. In his relentless certainty of the world and all thing's within a peculiarity in life was relished.

"All other thoughts were an evanescent pool in the lake of conceptualization you gave to me before I left, My Heart."

"Did you come to a verdict?"

"Othalos Sothal, that will be the name...

Of our child."