#padomay

[wrong-mother]

One art I'll always be proud of is this one, drawn far back in 2021. I just LOVE it. This is the Night Mother back when she still was mortal. And yes, she is Chimer here, not Dunmer, and OHHH BOY there are more of my headcanons to unpack :'D

So I have a headcanon that long before becoming a deity, Night Mother was a Morag Tong priestess and assassin who served both Mephala and Padomay/Sithis (there are hints in canon that before turning to serve only Mephala, MT also worshiped Sithis). After the War of the First Council, however, when Azura cursed the Chimer, Morag Tong decided to turn away from Sithis, wrongfully thinking he didn't protect them from the wrath of his child, and started to worship only Mephala. A woman, who later became the Night Mother, was angry because of this, so she left Morag Tong; after that she had children from Sithis and became a deity as in canonic events.

Fun fact: Night Mother is actually a character from whom Indoril Irna Mora developed into a different (and mortal :D) character. Irna also left Morag Tong; however, she did it much earlier because there were fluctuations in faith and customs long before the War of the First Council would even happen. Still, both Irna and Night Mother share same personality traits, such as fierce loyalty, motherly love, wisdom and femme fatale-like sexuality. And a lust for blood, too - they are both Velothi :D

[fictional-gods-tournament]

Prelims

Fandom: The Elder Scrolls Part 2/2

Part 1/2

Characters' info under the cut

Padomay (wiki1, wiki2)

Domains: Primordial God of Change, Chaos, and the Void

Propaganda:

He is a product of the Godhead's dream that clashes with his mirror opposite Anu to create the TES cosmos. He is the supreme force of the evil side of things.

Sheogorath (wiki1, wiki2)

Domains: Madness and creativity (among other cultural associations and derivatives)

Propaganda:

[Contains spoilers for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Shivering Isles] The Elder Scrolls handles its deities with varying degrees of success, but I'd argue that Sheogorath (specifically his Oblivion incarnation, the others are meh) is one of the best depictions of a god as a fictional character. He is a member of the Daedric pantheon (ie the ones that did not contribute to the making of the mortal world) but he differs from the other members in that he was 'created' out of the former god of order to prevent a hostile takeover. He is considered a trickster god in general, frequently outsmarting other gods, but plays a variety of roles to the different cultures in Tamriel, ranging from vision-giver, tester of psychological weakness, and bringer of art, music, and feeling. Even his own followers hold a variety of views on him. But what really makes him stand out to me is his role in the Oblivion DLC Shivering Isles. The DLC takes place in his realm, which is under threat from a cyclical reappearance of the god of order, who destroys everything imperfect, that being the entire realm. Sheogorath asks the player to help by completing a variety of tasks to preserve his realm, its inhabitants, and their traditions. In doing so, the player learns to become like Sheogorath, and eventually becomes him to fight his previous incarnation when he turns into the god of order. It's a bit complicated and convoluted--TES players please don't get mad if I got anything wrong, it's been years since I've played--but essentially, the player comes out of the whole ordeal with Sheogorath's power and identity. Fandom has debated on what this means for a long time. I played Shivering Isles while at a tumultuous time in my life, struggling with my own neurodivergence. While the game doesn't portray everything perfectly, it still speaks to an appreciation of 'mad' people, and the variety of interpretations of Sheogorath's role and goals just adds to that. Heck, when you begin Shivering Isles, if you ask how the people of Sheogorath's realm can be 'cured', you are immediately told that they are not diseased, they just 'live in another state of being' and 'perhaps you need a cure'. The themes of this story helped me accept who I was. Also, look up some of this guy's dialogue, you will not regret it.

Sithis (wiki)

Domains: Emptyness, The Void, Misanthropy

Talos (wiki)

Domains: Skyrim, Mankind, War

The Godhead / The Amaranth (wiki)

Domains: Existence, the all-encompassing "I"

Propaganda:

The Elder Scrolls is in-universe a dream dreamed up by the Godhead/Amaranth, the Amaranth is also an all-transcending state of being that if one were to achieve in the dream would escape the dream and become another dreamer as well, like escaping the Godhead's skull

Vivec (wiki)

Domains: Poetry, Lies and Falsehoods, Duality, Truth, War, Mastery

[ansu-gurleht]

okay so here's a question re: 36 lessons. i'm compiling some quotes and notes for the thing i've been thinking about, and i came across something i'm not actually sure of: does vivec recommend veneration of padhome? or just sithis?

there are seven instances of "padhome" being used in the lessons, three referring to the "altar of padhome," the other four as part of variations of the "GHARTOK PADHOME" incantation.

i had assumed vivec venerated or at least recommended veneration of padhome, but in sermon 16 he refers to "the altar of Padhome in the house of False Thinking," which seems to indicate a connection to the house of troubles. would vivec recommend venerating padhome if padhome was connected to the house of troubles?

but now that i'm thinking of it, sithis himself is only referred to four times in the lessons himself, always called "SITHISIT," with three of those references in just one sermon, sermon 10. and these references all seem somewhat neutral? i think i had assumed he was venerated by the dunmer bc of the positive spin the book "sithis" puts on him, which i've always headcanoned as being a text written directly by vivec himself, if not at least one of his closest followers.

would love to hear what you guys think!

[spooky-donut-ghost-house]

Now bare with me because this gets kinda fucky

I don't believe in The Godhead theory

I do however believe there is something in The Elder Scrolls universe that is old, ancient, powerful

Older than aedra and daedra and anything in between

Something that exists beyond that of Mundus Aetherius The Void and all other realms of existence

Something that views all other beings as beneath it and insignificant

Whatever this thing is it has existed for quite sometime and may have even been primordial

Hell it might be what created Anu and Padomay in the first place

Whatever it is has no physical form and those who have seen it have ceased to be

Not necessarily dead but just non-existent

This thing has no known information not even Hermaeus Mora or The Elder Scrolls could tell you what it is

Think of it as (as much as I hate the man) Azathoth from H.P Lovecraft but without the possibility of reality being it's dream just something ancient, powerful, immoral, undying incomprehensible and beyond time, space and existence

The idea of such a being existing in The Elder Scrolls universe is something very fascinating and yet also very terrifying

[letters-numbers-and-dashes-only2]

Last night's sketch. I think this was supposed to be anu and padomay

[varlaisvea]

i wanna read/write about khajiit who converted to the dunmeri tribunal. idk about the relative timelines of the tribunal's apotheosis and the riddle'thar epiphany (when worship of daedra became Bad to do), but even post-riddle'thar plenty of khajiit still openly venerate (or at least view favorably) boethra, mafala, and azurah. so it would only make sense that some portion of them would buy that those daedra were the anticipations of almalexia, vivec, and sotha sil (respectively). especially sotha sil, bc plenty of khajiit still speak of azurah as a creator, even if it's in a folksy sort of way a lot of the time.

it would also be interesting if there were some baandari in the ashlands bc they converted to dunmeri worship of the good daedra. or ashlander/baandari oral histories of ways the two traditions have influenced each other. or a group of dunmer who converted to khajiiti religious views centuries ago, so now there is a dunmer enclave in elsweyr, or a population of dunmer w/khajiit heritage and khajiit w/dunmer heritage.

[bowsersforeskin]

Steel raspberry mulberry

thabk uou....... same to you <3

[butterfly-with-a-sword]

honestly it’s pretty funny how most guys on r/teslore will readily accept that Akatosh and Lorkhan are the same dude (on account of MK coming right out and saying it) 

but when you claim that Anu and Padomay are the same guy they’ll freak out

~video game lore heresy~

[anotherclassicpretence]

Increasingly insane TES lore checkpoints to ask yourself "Should I stop here"

[trickstarbrave]

Enantiomorph invented divorce ❤️

love how every divorced couple in TES is an enantiomorph, we got @trickstarbrave with the nerevoryn anu-padomay and then there's Mannimarco and Vanus out of which @knightdoll and @caliblorn have different ideas of who's anuic and padomaic

[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.

[fictional-gods-tournament]

Prelims

Fandom: The Elder Scrolls Part 1/2

Part 2/2

Characters' info under the cut

Anu (wiki1, wiki2)

Domains: Primordial God of Stasis and Light

Propaganda:

He is a product of the Godhead's dream that clashes with his mirror opposite Padomay to create the TES cosmos. He is the supreme force of the good side of things.

Arkay (wiki)

Domains: Life and Death

Propaganda:

…dare I say the god with the most normal followers? Like, they don’t like necromancy. Cool!

Azura (wiki)

Domains: Dawn and dusk, twilight, the night sky mystery, magic, fate, prophecy, the in-between, gates, vanity, egotism, beauty, love.

Propaganda:

By Azura, by Azura, by Azura! One of the "good" Daedric Princes, Azura of the Crimson Gate (or Azurah, or the Queen of Dawn and Dusk, or the Mother Soul, or Moonshadow, or Mother of the Rose, or Queen of the Night Sky, or Twilight Queen, or the Rim of all Holes, or the Cosmic Severer) is much beloved by her worshippers on Nirn, and she loves them in turn. Whichever form she takes, of mer ("elves"), khajiit (cat people) or man (...humans), she is most beautiful, as is the sky when she controls over it. For enjoyers of the Elder Scrolls, she is best known for her role in the third game Morrowind. "Fear not, for I am watchful. You have been chosen." The role the player takes- of Nerevarine- is one directly connected to her: the reincarnation of the Champion of Azura, Indoril Nerevar. You play your part in the prophecy set in motion by her and get to enjoy the best high fantasy RPG of the millennium so far. She has minor quests in every game since Daggerfall too; the one in Skyrim, in particular, starts at her temple near Winterhold, arguably one of the most beautiful sights the game has to offer. Her realm of Oblivion, Moonshadow, is said to be so beautiful as to partially blind mortals. Rose trees, waterfalls and flowers surround a city of silver. When she spins the thread of fate, none in her favor shall come to harm, and all her enemies will- sooner or later- suffer their downfall. She wishes for all mortals to be the best version they can be, and hopes to become symbol of that idea for them. Vote for her and step further to perfection!

Fa-Nuit-Hen and the seven Barons Who Move-Like-This (wiki)

Domains: They are the Multiplier of Motions Known, with each baron representing a certain kind of movement. Also haunts those who fell in battle and still wonder why.

Propaganda:

This link.

Hircine (wiki)

Domains: Hunting and Lycanthropy

Propaganda:

God of werewolves!!!

Lorkhan (wiki)

Domains: Trickery, Creation, Man and Mortality

Propaganda:

Lorkhan is the dead god who set all the events in the Elder Scrolls in motion. He tricked all the other Aedra into creating Nirn, and thereby giving mortals a means of ascension above gods through tribulation. Connected with the primal god of Chaos, Sithis, and the newest god of man, Talos.

Meridia (wiki)

Domains: The boundless energy of living things; light overwhelming

Propaganda:

This one's for everyone who hears "I WILL MAKE YOU THE INSTRUMENT OF MY CLEANSING LIGHT!" and gets a little... flustered.

[mothermara]

So in the Elder Scrolls, the term "prince" in reference to the daedra is gender neutral and the highest relevant station a denizen of oblivion may hold (though I think the usage of 'prince' vs. 'king' may imply the daedric princes being originally subject to padomay/sithis in a symbolic sense)

anyway you think this would impact mortal court titles somehow

[tindomizel]

Trinimac, Creator of Death

In light of Douglas Goodall's new lore text, The Soft Doctrines of Magnus the Invisible, I have a new theory to propose: Trinimac, by killing Lorkhan, created death, and by extension Arkay. Hear me out. 

“Only the shape-taker's respiration emptied the arc for the thief's eye” 

This is a quote from Enantiodromia, the second part of the four-part text. The shape-taker is obviously Trinimac, who is known as such because of the Boethiah incident, and the thief's eye is referring to Arkay, who is associated with the Thief constellation. To me, this quote is implying that the former made room for the latter to exist (made it possible for Arkay to exist). Expanding on this, before Mundus death did not exist, the et'Ada were infinite and without limitations, which is why Lorkhan created Mundus; to teach their progeny, through the application of limit, how to become without limit. I believe that, when Trinimac killed Lorkhan at the behest of Auri-El, the concept was created. I find it highly likely that Lorkhan always intended for death to be invented, but I'm undecided on whether he planned for it to be created by Trinimac killing him. It does fit nicely into the theory that Lorkhan always intended for his heart to be ripped out– this heart is the heart of the world. Regardless, the first death was a murder.

That quote also somewhat evokes an elven ballad from ESO, Folly of Man, which laments the rise of mankind: “You'll learn what the Corpse-God wrought. Even Trinimac didn’t know, with his final blow, just how badly he'd been caught”. If Trinimac did indeed create death, based on everything we know about him, it's unlikely that he did so intentionally. 

‘Enantiodromia’ itself is defined as the tendency for things to change into their opposites. Is that not what eventually happened to Trinimac?

On Orkey and Trinimalarkay

Orkey is the Nordic god of death, considered a fusion of Arkay+Malacath by many, and is most known for “stealing the Atmorans’ years”, or shortening their lifespans, which is exactly what Trinimac would have done to every mortal by creating death. On top of this, in Nordic legend, Orkey summoned Alduin who “ate almost every Nord down to six years old”. This is interesting because Alduin is, of course, connected to Akatosh/Auri-El, who ordered Trinimac to kill Lorkhan. Trinimac and Auri-El are both responsible for the death of Lorkhan, and both Orkey and Alduin have stolen years away from the Nords/Atmorans. 

So who is Orkey? Is he Trinimac? Isn't Tsun Trinimac? Yes and no. For a long time people have tried to equate Trinimac/Malacath with Arkay through Orkey, and while I don't believe they're the same being, it does seem likely that they're connected. Arkay was created unintentionally by Trinimac through the murder of Lorkhan, and their relationship is somewhat similar to Peryite and Akatosh or Lorkhan and Namira. They are connected but Arkay is still ultimately a separate being. The Nords combined Arkay (‘death’) with his creator in an attempt to explain how he came into existence. This would explain how Tsun (who is theorised to be the Nordic equivalent of Trinimac) is present in the Nordic pantheon alongside Orkey, and how Trinimac is present in the Altmeri pantheon alongside Xarxes (who is theorised to be the Altmeri equivalent of Arkay). 

And finally, tri-nymic and Arkay, Zenithar and Stendarr.

“Trinimac is probably one of the least understood underpinnings of the whole pantheon. I like him that way, but I would study Mithras if you really want to find out more” -Michael Kirkbride

To summarise, Mithras was a Greco-Roman god, inspired by Mithra, the Iranian god of the sun, justice, contract, and war. Mithra was part of the Ahuric Triad, along with Ahura Mazda (the creator deity, god of the sky), and Apam Napat (god of water). Although this may be boring, I believe tri-nymic is simply a reference to the Ahuric Triad. The Ahuric Triad reminds me of Padomay, Anu and Nir as well. Padomay is, of course, Lorkhan and Anu is Auri-El. What if Trinimac is Nir (the catalyst, the first possipoint)? 

Finally, I am a big fan of @ayem's theory that Trinimac was always padomaic. Trinimac pretended to be anuic– and tried to be anuic– so that he could serve Auri-El, but ultimately he could only be Mauloch. The Roads seems to be about how one can only be what they are, which is a recurring theme in The Elder Scrolls.

“Hue is governed by momentum. As much as manifold Meridia loves the Blind, even orphans cannot change their color.”

This quote is obviously about Meridia, but I think it also applies to Trinimac. There are also countless parallels between Meridia and Trinimac: they were both champions of more powerful gods, they both tried (and failed) to be something else, and, in my opinion, Meridia assumed Trinimac's role as ‘warden’ of Nirn after his ‘death’.

Narratively, I think Trinimac accidentally creating death is a very important moment in his story. It's the moment that proves to him, without a doubt, that he will never be able to escape or erase what he is. He tried to be something static, unchanging, and yet he created death– the final destination, the unavoidable end. What is death if not the ultimate transition? No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape your nature.

Some more random thoughts:

In Nordic legend, Alduin/Orkey's curse is thrown onto the orcs by Ysmir Wulfharth, who is believed to be a Shezarrine. I feel like this could be a reference to how the orcs were also transformed/suffered when Trinimac was defeated by Boethiah (who hoped to avenge Lorkhan).

Additionally, Malacath's realm is the ashpit and ashes are associated with death.

[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

[kitonmitons]

i saw @mooreaux do this and wasn’t tagged, but thought it looked rly cute and fun and wanted to see my friends do it :3

See how well pinterest knows you! Search 'fashion', 'pantone', 'mood', and 'food'; and save the first photo that comes up!

i tag @padomays , @hajskaeg , @electoons , @galoosreblogger (idk whether to tag this or ur main sorry 😭), @ferpykins , @bowsersforeskin , @hippotooth , @avalon821 and whoever else wants to do this 💖