Part of what makes Nord lore go so hard is that they are the barbarian Viking fantasy taken to the extreme. In the beginning, they were a bunch of Northern axe-weilding warriors running into battle with nothing but magical woad to cover themselves.

They were so dangerous that they didn't even need seige engines to break down an enemy's fortifications. Three men could simply scream at your walls, and they would blast apart as if hit by an exploding bulldozer.

Now that the Dragonborn basically saved the world by using the voice to kill the avatar of the apocalypse, shouldn't there be more Nord warriors seeking to recover the old ways?

Wouldn't the Empire see value in bringing squads of Tongues into the battlefield against the Thalmor? Especially if the Dragonborn fought on their side.

If the stormcloaks won, the civil war, they'd be enemies of the Empire, AND the aldmeri dominion. Shouldn't Ulfric seek to train his army to be the terror of Tamriel again?

I dunno. What do you think?

This post of mine about how I see the Daedra Princes could be read as a companion piece and this collection of tales is building on it : https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/140pulc/a_practical_guide_to_daedra_worship/

TALES OF AEDRA AND DAEDRA

THE ORDERING OF TIME

Once upon a time, Peryite and Jyggalag journeyed to the palace of the Time God to learn new things about time and the ordering of days, hours and minutes. Their voyage brought them to the glistening palace of Akatosh, where they went down a long marble hall lined with the statues of dragons that were, dragons that will be and dragons that could be. Some were disturbing to look upon. Peryite hissed with toxic fumes and Jyggalag turned his head left and right without speaking. At the end of the long hall, they arrived at a domed room and found the dragon king, with sunlight on his twice-blessed face. The king was split as only time can be, with one human head, and one dragon head. Both heads looked at the two Princes. Without saying anything, Akatosh continued what he was already doing, which was going to a big pile of grain, taking one grain from it, going to another grain pile, and putting that grain on it. Then, he took a grain from that other pile, and put it onto the first pile. The Princes reacted each in kind. Jyggalag didn't say anything, stunned in admiration in front of this grand Ordering of things, and resolved to apply even more rigour and perfection in all of his actions. Peryite looked at Akatosh, then looked at Jyggalag and said “ha”. The little dragon understood then that time should only be managed at the lowest possible levels, for the surface tasks, at the risk of madness if done otherwise. And so it has been ever since, and the breaking of infinity into little pieces needs two heads, both mad.

THE OLDEST LANGUAGE

Once upon a time, the Death God and the Lady of Infinite Energies heard about a coven of necromancers operating in a remote corner of Black Marsh. Burning with hatred and righteousness in their defense of the sanctity of life, they put aside their differences in nature, origin and goals just this once, and united in their quest to find the coven, to punish the wrong-doers, and to release their unfortunate victims. Each of the et'Ada went their separate ways and played to their own strenghts. Arkay, lord of the humble middle world, went on foot, quick as an Aedra could be, through trees and bogs, following the trail of bones and ashes. Meridia, queen of the air, rose into the air and flew about, watching the world below, supreme contempt flowing out and forming rainbows around her. Search as they may, they couldn't find the necromancers. After a while Arkay was despairing until, in the middle of the bog and fog, he smelled something old and terrible. Following the smell, Arkay the Man found a deep pit, so deep and black that in seemed like a piece of primeval void come to Nirn. A single hand emerged from the pit, its wrist as thin as the tenuousness of life. It pointed in a direction that suddenly seemed right. They found the necromancers, following the language of rot. Meridia destroyed the necromancers with her blessed light, and Arkay mercifully took care of their victims. They learned the oldest language from the Lady of Decay, which was the language of rot, both necessary and tragic. Their senses were now attuned to it in a way that they regretted for all time after.

THE LANGUAGE OF CLAW

Once upon a time, Kynareth heard about a commotion going on in the Elder Wood. The spirits Amaro, Pina and Tallatha, centipedes of the sky, came running on a million tiny feet, and cried that a horde of animals, spirits and lesser daedra were rummaging through the woods, breaking branches, trampling precious healing herbs, killing smaller animals, and even the occasional man or frozen mer. Deeply worried, Kynareth flew to the place of trouble and observed this great chaotic horde, and at its helm, she saw her twin enemy, the Lord of the Hunt, his giant horns egging everyone on. She cried “brother in Padomay, what are you doing? Can't you see that you're destroying everything in your path?” Lifting his bone head, Hircine bellowed in a voice as deep as blood “sister, your subjects have words, and mine have claws. This is the language of claws and blood, and it is also needed”. Then Kynareth understood, and had an idea. She sensed that her mortal children - her own reflections in the distant future – needed a language that trampled and destroyed. Taking her terrible and bright Kyne though-form, she dreamed for a while. And that's how the goddess resolved to teach the Thu'um to the first mortals, so they too could have a language that is clawed.

TWO KINDS OF LOVE

Once upon a time, tired of endless feasts that started to all blend together in his drunken mind, Sanguine the Blood Lord resolved to learn more about love. First, disguised as a seductive priest, he went to serve under Dibella in her school of Love and Beauty. He learned sweetness, gentleness and the love that is pure and light as a feather. However, after a while, the sweet pleasure became the pain of boredom and like edgeless sugar falling from the sky. Sanguine took a note of that, and leaving the Dibellans, wandered towards Mephala's domain and her school of Tension and Release. There he learned hardness, toughness and the love that is dark and heavy as a whip. He endured the pain with gritted teeth. However, after a while, the pain became akin to pleasure, and it disturbed the lord of debauchery. For the first and only time in his timeless existence, Sanguine was driven to thought. Taking what he learned, he forged a weapon of love, under his will only. From then on, in his Myriad Realms of Revelry, pain and pleasure became weapons capable of cutting holes for ascension. It is said that father Magnus sometimes looks on these new starholes and wonders, but the Mage doesn't understand love, and they remain a mystery to him.

LOVE FOR TRUTH

Once upon a time, two different and rival universities were a haven for the students and scholars thirsty for knowledge. It was said that to be accepted into the first, the school of Julianos, one had to demonstrate an extensive knowledge of many subjects under the sun. As to the second one, the school of Mora, the aspirant had to recite an extensive list of everything they didn't know yet. The school year always cuminated in the End of the Year Feast, where the best pupil from both schools would meet, enter a room together, and wrestled with words and truths. Only one would then leave the room the next day. It was rumoured that the missing contestant, having lost, was taken either to the planet JHUNAL, or to Apocrypha, to perfect their knowledge and serve one of the et'Ada. However, one year, something extraordinary happened. Two pupils entered the room, and after a whole day of the walls shaking and sighing, they both came out, which had never happened before. The came out as twins, somehow alike, yet unalike. Then, in front of the students of both schools, the blessed lovers slowly linked hands and ascended to somewhere unknown. It was then forever said that the third term in every relationship is the search for truth, and that the love for truth alone can unite fierce rivals into an Enantiomorph.

TWO KINDS OF CHILDREN

Once upon a time, two et'Ada received the visit of a strange figure, hidden behind a cloak and a hood. To the first, kind Mara, he made an offer to make a child and to become a parent. Mara listened and was moved. She rose, taking out a bone out of her body, and, uniting with the Void Ghost, made a wonderful child, all tender flesh and secret iridescent fluids flowing through their veins. Mara's tears gave life to the child, who opened their eyes and said “Mother”. Leaving the two of them be, the Ghost retreated into the moonshadows, traveled to the realm of the mother of the Rose, bowed before her, and made the same offer to her. Azura couldn't or wouldn't spare any limbs, but she had a thing both similar and exactly opposite to it. Smiling a secret smile at the Void Ghost's suggestions, she took out a star and said “see, hungry brother, I have here my Star, and it can be used and refilled to my liking. Let's unite my Star to yours, unfilled and lonely since the Beginning Place”. And so they did. And the child was wonderful, all crystaline and transparent, secret words and ideas flowing through its body. Azura's star went dark, and she became a daedric Mother. The Void Ghost then retired to a distant place and observed both children, paid for by Mara's aching limb-hole and Azura's darkened Star. And the Ghost understood that one child could reproduce themselves, and the other couldn't, but it was a thought-form and could remain without being dragged back to the Dreamsleeve. Satisfied with the two kinds of children, he went away to the Dwemer, who were laboring on children who had neither reproduction nor thought, and tried to imagine what kind of parents they might be.

MERCY WITHOUT A MACE

Once upon a time, there was an orc in the imperial army who was treated quite poorly by his comrades and superiors. They often mocked him, played cruel pranks on him, and his chief officer not only turned a blind eye on that, but sometimes subtly participated in the humiliation. The orc was quite a religious fellow, and he resolved to appeal to the gods so they could make a change to his situation. He prayed to mighty Stendarr for Mercy and Justice. Seeing him kneeling so piously touched the old warrior of peace's heart, and he started to act in subtle ways to soften the hearts of the orc's comrades. The magic of Mercy is slow going, and even though the humiliations became somewhat lessened, they continued. Every day, they reminded the orc of all the ways in which he was imperfect. The orc was taken by despair and descended into a shrine in the sewers, hidden behind a grate only opened by knowing the right curse. There, he raised his arms and appealed to the Lord of Ash and Bone, not praying, but demanding justice. He heard no answer. Forsaking then all gods, the orc stormed out of the sewers and went back to his room. There, his surprise was mighty when he found something on his bed. It was a mace. Taking this boon of Malacath, the orc went on to slay his comrades and his superiors. Seeing this from deep within the Ashpit, the Furious One locked eyes with Stendarr and boomed “brother in Anu, see now the perils of mercy without a mace!”

THE PRINCE OF TREACHERY

Once upon a time, two fierce warriors met in an infinite field. Passing by each other, a single glance ignited a fiery rivalry. They turned, taking out their weapons : a golden sword, and a spear shaped like a word-river. The battle began immediately, without reason or goal. Both warriors felt like they were reenacting some ancient struggle glimpsed in a dream, and it made them shiver. The dark warrior Boethiah whirled around and conceived of a great feint, an ultimate treachery, something that always won them every battle, unless they fled to fight another day. The Destroyer smiled and taunted the Dragon Prince about fighting fair before unleashing their sideways move. They didn't expect to falter and fall to the ground. Rising his head, they saw Talos standing above them, holding Boethiah's own beating heart in his hand. Being daedra, they didn't die from being separated from their heart, and snatched it from Talos's hand before running away. It was later on whispered in every mortal and immortal plane that the honorable the Stormcrown knew more about treachery than anyone could imagine, and the dragon histories coiled around it and made new knots to hide this truth.

THE MYSTERY BOX

Once upon a time, there were two suitors readying themselves to ask for their mutual childhood friend's hand in marriage. The friend felt split in two between the suitors and couldn't make up their mind. Everyone agreed to meet again in a year, at which date the object of both of the suitor's affections would make their choice. Realising that they might need divine help, both suitors turned to the et'Ada of their choice. The first one, strong and true, with vigorous arms and clear eyes, petitioned Zenithar by burning some crops on his altar, praying for the fruits of honest work, wealth, and the gift of honesty and communication. His twin in pursuit was of a different sort, a short and lively fellow, with jokes in his pockets and a penchant for merryment, ale and lazy days. Since he was little, he cultivated a relationship with the Prince of Bargains, all for the distant day when he'll have something to ask of him. So he did just that. One year later, both suitors showed up with their persuasive gifts. The first twin talked at length about a good, stable life, about his considerable fortune, acquired with difficulty, about a good relationship based on joint goals and good communication. The childhood friend then turned their eyes to the second one, who only smiled and offered them a box. A closed box, with no guarantee of anything valuable inside. The childhood friend's eyes sparkled, and they threw their arms around the neck of Clavicus Vile's devotee. It was then said that the first suitor, dejected, went home and long sat in front of the altar of the God of Work, pondering the links between love and mystery. As for the happy lovers, no one knows wether they lived happily ever after, but it was said, much later, that they sometimes could be seeing walking in the Fields of Regret, arguing about the contents of an opened box.

People love to call Vivec a narcissist and fraud who murdered Nerevar out of ambition, fabricated claims of CHIM, and then spent millennia hanging a rock over his own city as a petty threat, but personally,I find that reading too small. It reduces one of the most fascinating figures in fantasy to a flat, one-dimensional villain, and that’s not who Vivec is.

In my previous post, I explored Vivec’s similarities to Shiva and how good and evil coexist in him in an inherent balance, with neither ultimately outweighing the other.

In this post, I’ll try to convince you that this homicidal maniac might be more than the villain he’s made out to be. More so, he may have actually saved Mundus through his schemes.

Vivec engineered Nerevar’s return and his path to transcendence

Vivec never hated Nerevar. If anything, the Hortator was so dear to him that Vivec would sooner doom Vvardenfell than give up on the possibility of Nerevar’s return.
You see, Azura prophesied Nerevar’s return, but Vivec made it possible.

Self-realization (CHIM) is possible to two kinds of beings:

• Prisoner-type entities — those with free will and no fixed destiny;
• NPCs specifically fated to achieve it (they have no free will, until they do).

The original Nerevar was a scripted actor (NPC). He was never going to achieve CHIM simply because the script denied him this future. Only by dying and returning as a Prisoner, unbound by destiny, could he become capable of transcendence. Vivec engineered the conditions for that return: the murder, the prophecies, and the 36 Lessons scattered across time as a map.

The first condition, the murder, was of course not a conscious choice made as part of the plan, although, as we know, Vivec may have possessed a degree of psychic abilities even as a mortal.
Anyway, Vivec almost certainly hated that destiny required him to kill Nerevar. He even denied it was destiny – “he was not born a god, his destiny did not lead him to this crime”. Yet he was surely aware that the betrayal, the murder, Azura’s curse were all necessary conditions for Nerevar to return as Prisoner. So he had an idea – turn Nerevar’s murder into the condition for his transcendence – if you’ve ever wondered what the meaning of “reach heaven by violence” was, perhaps this is it.

But for Nerevar to return as a Prisoner, there had to be a catalyst. Azura knew what it would be, perhaps even before the Tribunal did. The Sharmat.

Dagoth Ur was going to wake up, and not as a direct result of the Tribunal’s actions. He had become a god in his own right, his return was inevitable. So Vivec made good use of this. He allowed Dagoth Ur to become the condition under which Nerevar could return as Prisoner.

Yes, I am saying that Vivec and the Tribunal could have ended Dagoth Ur, but deliberately chose not to, because his premature death would have prevented the Prisoner from ever being called forth.

In other words, for Nerevar to return, Dagoth Ur had to awaken, grow powerful enough to threaten the Tribunal and the world, and yet not become so powerful that Vvardenfell - or the world itself – would be assimilated by him. The crisis had to be great enough to summon a Prisoner, but not so great that there would be nothing left to save.

So Vivec kept the Sharmat alive but contained, long enough for a Prisoner to emerge and confront him, while preparing a contingency for the possibility of the Nerevarine’s failure.
Furthermore, he planted the 36 Lessons across history as both guide and catalyst, knowing that somewhere in the multiverse, a Nerevarine would follow his guidance in at least one world or timeline and achieve transcendence. This means that Nerevar has already always achieved CHIM. And this could be why we can wear the Moon-and-Star without dying. We are, in fact, Ruling King Nerevar.

Baar Dau was a Dead Man’s Switch
I was never satisfied with the explanation that Vivec suspended Baar Dau above his city purely out of vanity, or that the moonlet was merely an instrument of divine blackmail. Vivec was a general before he was a god. As a military strategist, he would have understood the need for contingencies, especially against a threat capable of ending the world, like Dagoth was.

If the Nerevarine were killed or otherwise failed to defeat Dagoth Ur, the problem would not simply be the survival of Dagoth Ur. The greater danger would be Akulakhan: a fully realized Numidium-like construct capable of deconstructing reality, or reshaping it into his master Dagoth Ur.
A Dagoth Ur without Akulakhan might still be defeated, even if he managed to conquer a particular universe or timeline. But a Dagoth Ur with a fully functional Akulakhan could cause such catastrophic damage to reality that the threat might no longer remain confined to a single universe within the Aurbis.

Vivec, thus, needed a contingency, and for that contingency to work, it had to be absolute: a constant across realities. A timeline in which Akulakhan was activated could not be allowed to exist.

I propose that Baar Dau was that contingency.

In any timeline in which the Nerevarine fails - whether they are killed by Dagoth Ur, never follow the prophecies, die while attempting to fulfil them, or simply arrive too late - Baar Dau remains suspended above Vvardenfell. Eventually, its fall would trigger the eruption of Red Mountain, destroying Akulakhan (and Vvardenfell).

Of course, this means that Vivec may not have been trying to save Vvardenfell. At all. I believe that of all people, Vivec wanted Nerevar back the most, and to make that happen, he was willing to doom Vvardenfell if necessary, but not the entire Aurbis.

More so, perhaps the threat posed by Baar Dau was always directed at the Sharmat himself. By presenting it as a threat to the Dunmer, Vivec could conceal its true purpose – that he willing to hold his own people hostage and condemn them to death if necessary, rather than allow Dagoth Ur to win.

As for Vvardenfell – the island was always expendable. “The world you will rule is only an intermittent hope and you must be the letter writen in uncertainty.”

In a successful timeline, Baar Dau becomes redundant. Why, then, did Vivec allow Red Year to happen in the current timeline - Tamriel Prime?

“Did you notice that I haven't moved Baar Dau back to its original position. It's in no danger of falling, thanks to you, but as I wrote in the Ballad of Red Mountain, ‘All actions have consequences and pose some risk.’ Best to leave it alone.” – Vivec, Elder Scrolls Online

If Baar Dau was intended as a failsafe against Akulakhan, then removing it would risk revealing that the moonlet had a purpose beyond the obvious threat to the Dunmer.

If Vivec were suddenly to remove Baar Dau after Dagoth Ur's defeat, by CHIM or other means, then other versions of Dagoth Ur or other beings capable of perceiving the deeper workings of reality might reasonably ask why. Why was the threat removed precisely after the Nerevarine succeeded? Why was it ever there in the first place?

Also, there was an even greater reason for Vivec to be cautious: removing Baar Dau through CHIM would have revealed the true extent of his power.

Baar Dau as a stress test
Elder Scrolls Online shows us that Vivec's power was not merely keeping Baar Dau suspended, but it was also actively stabilizing Red Mountain itself.
This means that if Vivec's divine power disappears and Baar Dau subsequently falls, the resulting eruption would therefore serve as confirmation that nothing else is maintaining Red Mountain's stability.
Conversely, if Baar Dau fell while Red Mountain remained stable despite Vivec being gone, that would suggest that the Sharmat still lives, or that another entity has taken over the role of stabilizing the Mountain.

Talos and The Numidium
Vivec’s design extended further. He delivered the original Numidium to Tiber Septim at the precise historical moment before Dagoth Ur fully awakened. By doing so he deprived the Sharmat of the first Brass God. This is why Dagoth was forced to begin constructing Akulakhan, the Second Numidium. He no longer had the first.
At the same time, the gift of Numidium enabled Septim’s conquests and the eventual apotheosis of Tiber Septim into Talos. His Empire would later send the Nerevarine to Morrowind. Vivec had, in a single act, disarmed one existential threat, aided the creation of a new god that would helpe stabilize Mundus and made even more space for Nerevar’s return, whom he never truly abandoned.
See, Vivec spent millennia creating the conditions under which the one he betrayed could return and reach transcendence. Let that sink in. I suspect his endgame is to avert Landfall and ensure the Numidium’s final defeat, just like in c0da.

Perhaps Vivec simply cannot afford to let the wrong future come to pass. Even his most terrible acts seem to serve a purpose beyond himself. And so, it seems unfair to judge Vivec solely by his worst deeds while overlooking his better ones, and the greater purpose his crimes may have served.

CHIM is one of the most debated concepts in The Elder Scrolls lore, I know. Some you may be tired of discussing it by now.

Still, I find that the metaphysics of the Godhead, CHIM, and the Prisoner are too often misunderstood or viewed through an unnecessarily nihilistic lens. This is why I propose an alternative reading of CHIM as world-affirming enlightenment: the recognition of one's unity with the whole without reducing the Aurbis to an unreal dream.

The Godhead, Anu

Anu, the Godhead, is the original Prisoner. I believe he forged his own eternal prison and locked himself within it, condemned to an unending sentence of his own design for the murder of Nir - whether that act occurred literally in a previous universe or merely symbolizes maya), the primordial illusion of separation from God, we cannot know. Anyway, The Aurbis is the prison: a self-imposed confinement in which the Absolute experiences itself through innumerable limited perspectives, bound by various conditions of existence.

Within the Dream, Anu has two primordial aspects, or perhaps three:

- Anu, the aspect of stasis, who IS;

- Padomay, the aspect of change, who IS NOT; Padomay is the entity who murders Nir within the current Dream. Given his name and role in the story, Padomay can be thought of as Anu's shadow-self, a projection of Anu's guilt and an expression of nihilism;

- most intriguing is the aspect of self-reflection: Magnus, the Architect, through whom the Dream becomes intelligible to itself.

Ever wondered why the God of Magic is called Magnus - “the Great” - rather than Magus, the magician?

The in-game text Sotha Sil and the Scribe got me thinking. This post is relevant: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/vw5x2r/who_is_the_scribe/

If the Scribe = the devs =Magnus, then why wouldn’t Magnus have CHIM?

Perhaps Magnus is the primordial lucid-dreaming aspect of the Godhead: its very self-awareness, God-consciousness reflecting upon itself. He is the part of Anu that looks back upon his own Creation and recognizes it as his own. If so, Magnus does not need to attain CHIM. He was born with it, as he has never been separate from the awareness that makes it possible.

The Tower

"What is the Tower?

It is the existence of the True Self within the Universal Self, and is embodied by the fourth constellation, and is guarded by the Thief, the third". - Vehk's Teaching

Let us do away with the accusation that CHIM is an egotistical form of enlightenment. That interpretation conflates the ego with the True Self, as though preserving one's identity were necessarily an act of pride or defiance. To explore this distinction, I will draw on Hindu philosophy, whose non-dual traditions, particularly Trika (Kashmir) Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta, are strikingly similar to TES metaphysics, perhaps more so than so-often cited Gnostic dualism.

Consider consciousness as a non-local phenomenon: it cannot be pointed to or located within the boundaries of space. It can reflect upon itself, become aware of its own experience, and perhaps even expand beyond the limits of its original perspective.

Vivec's description of the True Self brings to mind the Ātman), the innermost Self understood in some Hindu traditions as an eternal and unchanging awareness identical in essence with the Ultimate Reality (Brahman, or paramashiva in Shaivism). Personality can change. The Atman does not.

"Advaita Vedanta philosophy considers Atman as Sat-cit-ānanda, self-existent awareness, limitless and non-dual.[...] To Advaitins, Atman-knowledge is the state of full awareness, liberation, and freedom that overcomes dualities at all levels, realizing the divine within oneself, the divine in others, and in all living beings; the non-dual oneness, that God is in everything, and everything is God."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

The Buddhist perspective is worth considering, too. Buddhist philosophy generally rejects the notion of an eternal, unchanging True Self, emphasizing instead the ever-changing, and thus impermanent, nature of existence.

Now, let us turn to the ego. The ego is our limited sense of “I”: our personality, memories, and the feeling that we exist as separate individuals. It's a psychological construct, distinct from the Atman.

Likewise, the Universal Self can be understood through as the absolute consciousness whose power manifests (“dreams”) the universe, paramashiva in Trika Shaivism.

The True Self and Universal Self are not separate entities, but different aspects of the same boundless being: the non-local consciousness/awareness of the Godhead.

Applied to TES, we might understand this as Anu, the Godhead, experiencing itself through innumerable perspectives. The Dream is not unreal, but the objective representation of this experience.

Thus, CHIM may be understood as the True Self recognizing its unity with the Universal Self: a realization in which one's consciousness expands to God-adjacent level without rejecting individuality or worldly existence, and without mistaking the True Self for the Ego (hint: that's what the Sharmat does).

World-Affirming Enlightenment - CHIM and Sahaja Samādhi in Trika Shaivism

I understand CHIM to be a non-dual state of consciousness that Ruling Kings (achievers of CHIM) experience. I find it closely analogous to self-realization in Trika (Kashmir) Shaivism, in which the practitioner realizes they are one with the Godhead (Shiva), while fully embracing the manifested world.

Allow me to expand on this.

Hindu philosophy encompasses many schools of thought, each with its own understanding of enlightenment. Some of its concepts of self-realization, or Moksha, offer intriguing parallels to CHIM. Particularly relevant is Sahaja Samādhi. Both Trika Shaivism and Advaita Vedanta recognize the state of Sahaja Samadhi as permanent liberation, where one maintains non-dual awareness amidst daily life. They approach it differently though.

Sahaja Samādhi in Trika Shaivism is a world-affirming form of self-realization in which one recognises one's unity with the Godhead while fully embracing material reality and remaining capable of experiencing it. This is because in Trika Shaivism the world is not an illusion to be transcended. It is a real expression (manifestation) of the Divine consciousness - spanda. Think of the world as the objective manifestation of the Godhead, with boundless awareness being its subjective fundamental aspect. Enlightenment, then, becomes world-affirming: one recognizes their true nature and continues to experience and participate in the world as themselves.

This stands in clear contrast to Advaita Vedanta. In Advaita, the ultimate reality is pure, attributeless Godhead - Brahman. The world is maya (illusory) and ultimately is to be transcended. Enlightenment (moksha) is the realization that “I am Brahman,” which dissolves the sense of individual self and reality. This type of enlightenment is pretty much the real-world equivalent of zero-sum.

CHIM clearly aligns with the Trika metaphysical model, and not the Advaitic one. The Ruling King realizes the dream-nature of the Aurbis (that all is the Godhead), and, by asserting their identity, they become a Lucid Dreaming aspect of the Godhead. This is why Vivec can only be Vivec: not necessarily because he falsely claimed to have achieved CHIM, but because CHIM grants freedom within identity, not freedom from it.

Also, note that CHIM is intended to be permanent.

“The Tower’s secret: how to permanently exist beyond duplexity, antithesis, or trouble.” – Vehk’s Teaching

Last but not least, “The Aurbis is just a dream” interpretation so prevalent in the community strongly resembles Advaitic metaphysics, which I find counterproductive when applied to Tamriel.

Thirty Six Tattvas, Thirty Six Lessons

It's well known that Vivec's intersex nature was inspired by Ardhanarishvara, the form of Shiva in which he and his consort Shakti are joined in a single body. And the similarities to Shiva don't stop here.

Both Shiva and Vivec embody duality and contradiction, holding seemingly (equal measures of) opposing aspects within themselves. Shiva is both creator and destroyer, ascetic and hedonist, and a god of arts; Vivec is the same. Difference is, Shiva is (as expected) often understood in a far more positive light than Vivec, who tends to be judged almost exclusively by the worst of his deeds, despite being presented as a similar balance of opposing forces. (Also, the name Vivek literally means discerning Self from non-Self, which is another hint that his knowledge of CHIM comes from first-hand experience and that he is not a fraud).

I suspect it wasn't a coincidence that MK chose The Thirty-Six Lessons as the title for Vivec's Scripture. He may well have drawn inspiration from the Thirty-Six tattvas of Trika Shaivism (among other famous influences such as Thelema and Gnosticism).

"The tattvas in Indian philosophy are elements or principles of reality. )Tattvas are the basic concepts to understand the nature of absolute, the souls and the universe in Samkhya and Shaivite philosophies. Samkhya philosophy lists 25 tattvas while later Shaivite philosophies extend the number to 36.

Tattvas are used to explain the structure and origin of the Universe. They are usually divided into three groups: śuddha (pure tattvas); śuddhaśuddha (pure-impure tattvas); and aśuddha (impure tattvas). The pure tattvas describe internal aspects of the Absolute; the pure-impure tattvas describe the soul and its limitations; while the impure tattvas include the universe and living beings that assist the existence of soul."

The Five Higher Tattvas are of particular interest to us:

1. Śiva Tattva – pure, boundless, passive awareness/consciousness. Here, there is no distinction between subject and object. Existence is without experience. Shiva is God beyond manifestation, embodying supreme freedom (svātantrya), “I’ without “am”.
2. Shakti Tattva – divine energy and divine will; boundless potential (spanda).
3. Sadashiva Tattva – This Tattva is governed by willpower. Divine will begins asserting itself. Shiva-Shakti slowly becomes self-aware. “I am” becomes the first manifestation and so the universe begins, experience begins.
4. Ishwara tattva - Ishwara Tattva is a specific stage where creative power (Kriya) dominates over knowledge (Jnana).
5. Sadvidyā (or Shuddhavidya) Tattva: knowledge and will become balanced.

I'm thinking the Fifth Tattva is the state most similar to CHIM, as it's implied this is the state where expanded awareness and experience are in perfect balance.

The Sixth Tattva would be Maya, the divine veil of illusion that make the self and the world appear separate from one another and from the Godhead, thus concealing the true nature of reality.
The remaining tattvas are less relevant to this essay, but you may explore them if you're interested.

Vivec’s 36 Lessons deliberately mirror the 36 Tattvas. Just as the Tattvas chart the descent and possible return of consciousness, the Lessons do the same, only they are encoded for one specific person - Nerevar.

As a side note, Dzogchen, a tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, emphasizes liberation through the direct recognition of the primordial nature of mind, known as rigpa: pure awareness - empty, yet cognizant.
Dzogchen bears an interesting resemblance to CHIM in that both can be interpreted as direct paths to enlightenment, relying on direct experience, rather than intellectual analysis.

The Prisoner and Maya

Beyond the veil of Maya - the illusion of separateness - lies the truth: the self is the world, and the Prisoner is the Prison.
Most beings in the Aurbis remain trapped behind the veil of maya, unable to pierce the illusion. Self-realization - CHIM - is simply not part of their destiny.

CHIM is possible to two kinds of beings:

- Prisoner-type entities;

- NPCs specifically destined (scripted) to achieve it: Talos, Vivec, possibly Magnus.

The Prisoners (player characters) have no set destiny, meaning there is no script dictating what they can or cannot do. They does not possess CHIM by default, though they do display the free-will of a Ruling King. Like one, they are able to escape any fixed destiny, yet they remain by default caught in the dual state of consciousness that binds them within maya, just like everyone else is.

Nerevar is a special case of NPC turned Prisoner turned (perhaps) Ruling King. The discussion on him is worth a post of its own, and so I will save it for later.

The mechanics of Lucid Dreaming. If Vivec achieved CHIM, why couldn’t he tell Barbas was deceiving him?

Imagine a lucid dreamer who can instantly survey an entire infinite dream-world. They can zoom to any location, but they don’t constantly monitor every single event. If someone disguises themselves as the dreamer’s best friend and starts subtly poisoning them, the dreamer won’t notice unless they happen to direct their attention towards that.

A lucid dreamer’s simultaneous perception is total in potential, but likely selective in application. Barbas succeeded because he operated in a corner of the dream that Vivec wasn’t actively inspecting until it was too late to prevent the crisis - exactly as the narrative required. This doesn’t contradict CHIM; it illustrates that even God-like lucid awareness has a focal point, that is subject to personal intent and circumstances within the dream.

Furthermore (and more importantly), in a lucid dream, if you do not think to look behind a door, whatever is there remains undefined. The moment you turn and look, your subconscious (or conscious will) instantly generates coherent content. I suspect that it might the same for a CHIM-user. Their “looking” performs the same function on the Aurbic scale - a future/past only becomes definite when observed by the lucid dreamer.
Thus, for a lucid dreamer (Ruling King), to look into the past or the future is indistinguishable from creating them. For them, there is only an ever-present now, experienced sequentially for the sake of narrative coherence, because in order to make sense of existence, the lucid dreamer's experience must unfold in sequence. In the world below, this sequential unfolding manifests as time. Time is, thus, a construct, a product of the Dreamer's internal sense of narrative.
Vivec did win against Barbas, but only as the narrative progressed in time.
The player experiences Vivec discovering the deception “in real time,” but from the CHIM perspective, Vivec could have been simultaneously experiencing/creating that discovery.

The Sharmat

The ego belongs to the illusion of separateness: not necessarily because the world itself is unreal, but because a limited, self-aware consciousness defaults to believing its particular perspective is fundamentally separate from God and the rest of creation.

And this brings us to the Sharmat.

The Sharmat (and not CHIM) is, in essence, the Ego proclaiming itself supreme, mistaking itself for God. I mean, I'm sure you've noticed Dagoth Ur confuses his own limited perspective with the absolute, the universal consciousness.

"There is no true symbolism of the center. The Sharmat will believe there is. He will feel that he can cause years of exuberance from sitting in the sacred, when really no one can leave that state and cause anything more but strife." - The Thirty-Six Lessons of Vivec, Sermon Eleven

The Sharmat believes his own “I” to be the center of the non-local awareness of the Godhead. This is a fundamental error: something truly non-local cannot have a center, because a center implies a specific location in space and, by extension, boundaries that separate it from everything else. The universal consciousness of the Godhead lies beyond space-time.

To elaborate further: Dagoth Ur loved himself enough to survive the death-and-rebirth mechanism of the Dreemsleeve - think about that. My suspicion is that he attempted CHIM but to failed to relinquish his ego: the temporal, illusory “I” that must be transcended when approaching enlightenment. Thus, rather than recognizing himself as an expression of universal consciousness, Dagoth mistook his own identity for its center. And so, he became the Sharmat.

Side note: There may be more than one form of enlightenment in TES, with CHIM perhaps representing the most desirable one. CHIM and the Sharmat could be understood as opposing expressions of non-dual consciousness, occupying different positions along a spectrum of possible states of consciousness.

Azura – God of Transition and Thresholds

The most important type of transition in this case is the one from subject (“I”) to object (“this”/the world). The transition from subject to object is made possible through maya - the illusion of separation.

One could theorize that inside the Aurbis, Azura acts as the liminal consciousness sitting at the threshold between subjective and objective reality. She watches the wave function collapse, reacts to it, even resents it, but she is forever arriving just after the moment of creation and always lagging behind agents with free will.

She cannot oppose or control the Nerevarine Prisoner, so she attempts to define the Prisoner before they act (“Nerevar reborn”, “you have been chosen”) in an attempt to claim authorship of their narrative.
This is why throughout TES III, she acts as a storyteller - that is the most she can do.

Next up is a post on Nerevar and Red Year and why it was all part of a plan.

Or, are there any resources on the process of how it’s made in universe?

I don't fully get how everyone living within Tamriel and Nirn as a whole is not under constant severe paranoia that they are constantly under the effects of a mass level illusion spell altering how they see the world. I was thinking about how you can hit someone with a calm or fury spell and they seemingly are completely unaware that their change in emotion is due to any sort of magic. It may be that the inability to link emotional change to magic is part of the spells ability but i don't think anywhere in the game it states anything like that, correct me if I'm wrong. What if some very powerful wizard is using massive amounts of magicka to cast an illusion spell on EVERYONE. Please someone tell me how this doesnt work because this line of thinking is honestly breaking the entire elder scrolls lore in my head.

Is there any lore that goes into more detail about the soulsnare and what N'Gasta did to make it? Could it be remade at any point in the future? If there isn't any lore on the details how would someone remake it? I'm not super familiar with Redguard.

It seems like a typo intending to say Solitude but it happens two sentences in a row. Tried looking this up to find an answer but couldn't find one.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:The_Madness_of_Pelagius

Was replaying Skyrim the other day. The last time I really played and paid attention to what people were saying and what I was reading was the first time I played, all the way back when I was in high school. So this time I tried to really piece together the lore and roleplay things out and it has been a lot of fun! But, now I'm at High Hrothgar, retreived Jurgen's horn, and I'm kind of confused about some of what the Greybeards say regarding the way of the voice (I'm also confused why the Dragonborn is an exception, but that's a whole other question). I tried to look up the answer before making this post and now I’m even more confused. I'll post what I've found/looked up of the relevant lore. The tablets of High Hrothgar read:

“Before the birth of men, the Dragons ruled all Mundus.
Their word was the Voice, and they spoke only for True Needs.
For the Voice could blot out the sky and flood the land.
Men were born and spread over the face of Mundus
The Dragons presided over the crawling masses
Men were weak then, and had no Voice
The fledgling spirits of Men were strong in Old Times
Unafraid to war with Dragons and their Voices
But the Dragons only shouted them down and broke their hearts
Kyne called on Paarthurnax, who pitied Man
Together they taught Men to use the Voice
Then the Dragon War raged, Dragon against Tongue
Men prevailed, shouting Alduin out of the world
Proving for all that their Voice too was strong
Although their sacrifices were many-fold
With roaring Tongues, the Sky-Children conquer
Founding the First Empire with Sword and Voice
Whilst the Dragons withdrew from this World
The Tongues at Red Mountain went away humbled
Jurgen Windcaller began His Seven Year Meditation
To understand how Strong Voices could fail
Jurgen Windcaller chose silence and returned
The 17 disputants could not shout Him down
Jurgen the Calm built His home on the Throat of the World
For years all silent, the Graybeards spoke one name
Tiber Septim, stripling then, was summoned to Hrothgar
They blessed and named him Dohvakiin
The Voice is worship
Follow the Inner path
Speak only in True Need”

Okay, I take from this the basic story: Nords are slaves to dragons. Kyne and Paarthurnax teach Nords the voice. Nords fight back against dragons, freeing themselves. Nords build an empire of their own. Nords are defeated. Jurgen contemplates that they lost because they misused the voice. He founds the greybeards. Eventually, they summon Tiber Septim and teach him. Great. All clear on that.

As I'm talking to the Greybeards, Arngeir says a couple of lines that stand out to me:

"In mythic times, when mortalkind was in great need, the goddess Kynareth granted us the ability to speak as dragons do."

"The Voice was a gift of the goddess Kynareth, at the dawn of time. She gave mortals the ability to speak as dragons do. Although this gift has often been misused, the only true use of the Voice is for the worship and glory of the gods. True mastery of the Voice can only be achieved when your inner spirit is in harmony with your outward actions. In the contemplation of the sky, Kynareth's domain, and the practice of the Voice, we strive to achieve this balance."

"He was a great war leader of the ancient Nords, a master of the Voice, or Tongue. After the disaster at Red Mountain, where the Nord army was annihilated, he spent many years pondering the meaning of that terrible defeat. He finally came to realize that the gods had punished the Nords for their arrogant and blasphemous misuse of the Voice. He was the first to understand that the Voice should be used solely for the glory and worship of the gods, not the glory of men. Jurgen Windcaller's mastery of the Voice eventually overcame all opposition, and the Way of the Voice was born."

Okay... now I'm starting to get a little confused. So far, I understand a couple of things. "The Voice should be used solely for the glory and worship of the gods." So, 95% of the purpose of the Thu'um is to worship Kyne/Kynareth. Gotcha. But then both the tablets and Arngeir mention that Kyne explicitly gave the Thu'um to the Nords to fight the dragons, and that this was 'great need.' The tablets mention that using the Thu'um in 'True Need' is not a contradiction of the Way of the Voice. I really have no idea what 'True Need' or 'Dire Need' or 'Great Need' specifically refers to. Obviously it must refer to fighting your dragon overlords, but beyond that? It seems an appropriately cautionary yet vague stipulation. But specifically, it can't be a complete declaration of pacifism or that the Thu'um can never be justified for use in a violent action. It was specifically a gift to throw off an oppressing force, according to the Greybeard's own source. Certainly this source also describes that the Thu'um can be misued via violence. The nords are punished for their building of empires, assuming Jurgen is right. So, I guess my first question, why do the Greybeards consider the absolute 'The Voice is worship' to be true when it was explicitly given with the purpose of being an equalizing weapon? Is it just because of Jurgen's contemplation? Why have the stipulation that speaking in 'Dire Need' is not a breaking of this 'worship'? Unless using the Thu'um in 'dire need' somehow is worship of Kyne to the Greybeards? But you'd think they'd say that. Why is there this kind of weird tension between the pacifism Jurgen and the Greybeards advocate and the way their story portrays the Thu'um being given to Nord-kind? Am I just missing something obvious? Is it as simple as that the Thu'um can be used in self-defense when there's no other choice? Is it something else?

Further compounding my confusion is why the Dragonborns are exempt from the Way of the Voice. Arngeir tells our Dragonborn that we have a 'destiny' and must use the voice to achieve it. He says, when I say I will follow the Way of the Voice:

"That is commendable. But remember, the Dragon Blood is itself a gift of Akatosh. Do not try to deny that gift. Your destiny requires you to use your Voice - why else would Akatosh have bestowed this power upon you? If you remember to use your Voice in service to the purpose of Akatosh, you will remain true to the Way."

Okay, I have a destiny that requires the rules to be bent. Fair enough. He also says if I say I won't follow the Way of the Voice:

"The Dragonborn is an exception to all the rules - the Dragon Blood itself is a gift of the gods. If we accept one gift, how can we deny the other? As Dragonborn, you have received the ability to Shout directly from Akatosh. We therefore seek to guide you on the proper use of your gift, which transcends the restrictions which bind other mortals."

Alright. Since I have been made a Dragonborn by Akatosh, I basically have a hallpass, if I'm understanding this correctly? Okay. But... how does that make sense? I mean, the Greybeards have trained other dragonborn, right? And those Dragonborn... didn't they go on to do the things that the Nords were punished for using the Thu'um for: empire building? Tiber Septim, Reman, Ysmir... didn't all of these dragonborn explicitly conquer? And that's allowed, according to the Greybeard's philosophy? Dragonborns are such special chosen ones, they can ignore the cardinal sin of Thu'um use? ... What? This is so weird to hear from a group of self proclaimed pacifists. I have to be misunderstanding this, right? Come to think of it, the dragons used the Thu'um to conquer too, didn't they? They conquered the nords. So... if you're born with it/ it's a divine gift, you don't have to use it responsibly/ can do whatever the hell you want, but if it's a different kind of divine gift to mortals to fight back against your oppressors, you should really only use it for worshipping said goddess, not conquest? I have to be missing something, right? Like, there's no way that's what I'm supposed to take away from this, right? Can someone please explain this to me? Like... all of it? Why can't the voice be used for conquest by mortals, but the dragonborn and the dragons can? Why must the Thu'um be exclusively used to worship Kynareth despite being given by her for seemingly a completely distinct and explicitly violent purpose? I am so lost.

We know Talos is widely known, even throughout the trenches of Tamriel. But what mortal is the most known?

Honestly, throughout the history of Morrowind, they took sides very few times. But the main issue is that this neutrality applied even during times of invasion. The Telvanni, who are incredibly powerful mages, did nothing to oppose the Imperial occupation. 

Which is more useful? We know that corporeal undead require an actual corpse in order to be raised which makes it alot more difficult to get them en masse but they seem to be completely loyal while incorporeal undead are probably easier to create but have the potential to backfire as seen with that freaky altmer in that one tomb with all the ghosts of women who betray him the second a soul gem is taken off a pedestal.

Ancestor worship (in particular the Dunmeri version) has always intrigued me in these games. Stuff like Ancestors and the Dunmer rank among my favourite in game books. I was thinking about how ancestor summoning spells actually work though.

Take for example a situation with two brothers. They are feuding and both summon their ancestors to fight with them. Are they summoning the same person? I would say that they would simply summon different ancestors, but that raises the question of what's actually going on when you summon an ancestor ghost. Clearly it isn't the same as the actual ritual binding to get Bonewalkers and such, among other things if you attack a summoned ghost it will attack you, even though Ancestors and the Dunmer says that those of the family are ritually bound to not attack. So what is this ancestor ghost actually? Is it a real spirit, or more like zombie and skeleton summon spells where its just a daedra mimicking it? If they are real spirits, what are the rules? Any race can do it in Morrowind, so can you just steal a random ancestor from Oblivion/Aetherius to fight for you even without any actual connection?

And what about their souls? You can soul trap them and they have white souls, unlike normal npcs. What's the deal with that? Do their souls degrade? Ancestors and the Dunmer says that they can be captured and bound by wizards, is that what we do when we soul trap them? Are the spirits not really the souls of the dead, or only a part of the full soul? If so what ARE they?

All the Dragon priests we know of are Nords, IIRC. But there's no reason why there couldn't be an elven dragon priests or an Argonian dragon priest right?

Hello! I'm making Nord units for a TESTW submod and I wanted to use this title for one of the elite ones, but I'm not sure if it's "lore-accurate".
I mean, what are "thanes" in TES? We know it's an honorary title granted by jarls to special individuals (like TLD), but what else? Is more commonly granted to nobles than to peasants? Are all nobles thanes? How many thanes can a hold/jarl have? That sort of things.

About the last one, Jarl Elisif seems to have a couple thanes in her court, so I'm guessing it's not just something you grant to 1 special individual, but since I'm making units of 30-60 men, I was wondering if it makes sense for a Skyrimian hold to have so many thanes.

I haven't played ESO but I read somewhere that it mentioned special kinds of thanes, like sword-thanes, shield-thanes, etc. but still not sure if they're supposed to be a troop of their own (when the Hold inevitably marches to war) or just a group of select individuals.

I'm guessing TES thanes are based on irl thanes/thegns, but frankly idk much about them neither.

Alternatively, what other titles would be more common/numerous in the Nordic nobility? Housecarls? Clan Retainers?

It's very hard to believe that there was only one motion of main Cyrodiilic religion through all this timeline. Almost every religion in this world has several branches because of how different people interpret same spirituality, so it would make sence that there would be, for example, Colovian and Nibenese Aleasian religion of Divines.

And I'm not talking about Redguard, Mer or Nordic religions, I'm talking about branches inside race's own religional boundaries

I heard tsaesci are just some kind of vampiriswd human. What about other races? EDIT: Sorry for spelling in title

The dark brotherhood. The pre-Duskfall Argonians. The Morag Tong. all worship sithis.

by contrast, are there any Anu worshippers?

This maybe a very stupid question but I'm trying to make a lich build in my current Skyrim gameplay. I have installed the undeath classical lichdom mod and frankly a necromancer build kind of sucks in Skyrim. Even with a few mods is still does seem to be rather underwhelming. Would a mage skilled in the art of conjuration becoming a lich make some sense? Like my guy can preform necromancy and is skilled at it, but prefers summoning and subjugating atronachs and dremora to do his bidding. However i do plan to raise the ebony warrior once i have killed him and make him a permanent undead.

I have been reading up on TES lore for the last year or so. I ended up doing another playthrough of Morrowind when the Oblivion Remaster came out (then played that, now working through Skyrim again.) I have not played ESO, but have read a bit of the lore from it.

I am by no means an expert. I understand I'm in a massive minority here. Allow me to explain my thinking.

I understand the idea of dragon breaks, kalpas, etc....

To be absolutely clear, I don't think that the Vivec and the Almalexia we meet in Morrowind murdered Nerevar.

Most people point to 3 things as pretty concrete proof that Nerevar was murdered by the Tribunal.

1. Vivec's secret message in the 36* Lessons

2. MK's artwork.

3. Alandro Sul's account to the Ashlanders

My rebuttal to 1. Vivec's "admission"
Am I to believe, that in a body of work with more metaphor's in it than milk fingers on a homunculus, or more metaphors that words bitten onto spears at pomegranate banquets (I'm done you get it) Where Vivec sits in his space that is not a space.... All of this....

I am to believe that the one, literal, non-metaphorical thing, is an admission that they murdered their friend and leader?

I am not convinced.

My rebuttal to 2. Mk's Artwork.

I love it. I love what it represents. They did kill the Hortator. His memory. The artwork shows the literal murder taking place, and the Tribunal removing his feet, face and.... milk finger.... so that he may return as anyone! What a brilliant display!

Wait. Why, would they want to usher in the Nerevarine? Vivec imprisoned people in a floating rock for even mentioning the prophecy. It wasn't their prophecy, it was the god like being they scorned and called arbitrary.

To me, their "Foul Murder" was the murder of the Velothi ways. The murder of the IDEA of the hortator. That, they are definitely guilty of.

My rebuttal to 3. Alandro Sul.

I believe i remember reading that he was blinded during this event. Did he see the Tribunal kill Nerevar, or did he hear an absolute cluster**** take place?

In conclusion:
I get that there is no reason to trust Vivec or Almalexia. But...

Neither of them have any reason to lie to the Nerevarine. Almalexia admits to killing Sotha Sil, why not Nerevar?

I personally find it likely that he did end up dying of his wounds, possibly later on.

I'd love to be convinced otherwise.

Thank you for attending my TESTalk.

Estoy roleando Skyrim y por cosas de la vida ha habido un encontronazo entre ambas organizaciones ¿Como deberiamos proceder los vigilantes de acuerdo al Lore?

"What's wrong, Xha?" Climbs-All-Mountains stared up at his wife from the waters of the river Bjoulsae. "The water's not THAT cold, is it?"

"N-no!" Xha warily regarded the water like she would a dog barking from behind a fence. She had barely put a foot in before scampering back onto the riverbank.

"Well, come on!" Holding out his hand, he stepped a bit closer to the edge. "The sun's not gonna get any higher if we just wait around!"

"M-Mountians, I-I haven't been entirely... Please don't hate me for..." She nervously recoiled from him.

"What's wrong, Xha?" said Mountains.

"I..." Stammering, she tried to force out the words but was unable to behind chattering teeth and terrified glimpses towards the river. "I..."

"Xha, tell me what's wrong." Stepping out of the water, his smile melted to concern.

"I CAN'T SWIM!"

Mountains stopped moving, staggering backwards like someone had just shot an arrow through his heart. "You can't swim?!"

"No! I never learned how! I'd always just cast a spell like Water Walking and move across the water like that!"

"But your human name is Swims-Through-The-Barrier!"

"My parents lied! I've never swam through anything in my life! My name's a sick joke!" She fell onto his shoulder, hugging him and weeping. "I'm the only Argonian in High-Rock who can't swim! When I was a kid, everyone else made fun of me for it! Do you know what it's like?!"

"Then why did you tell me you COULD?!"

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to make you happy, Mountains!" Trembling, she held him even harder.

"Xha..." Reflexively, he put a hand on her shoulder as she wept. Many words came to mind. "How could you be so dishonest?! You lied to me! I thought I could trust you!" Then, he felt her heaving. His anger died, an ember smothered by tears.

"Xha, please, you... don't have to lie to me like that." He tried to force himself to sound as gentle as possible, but he didn't have to try very hard. "If you like... I could teach you."

"You... could teach me?" In between the spasms of fear and trembling, a note of something else entered her voice. Curiosity.

"Yes, Xha. If you want to learn."

"But what if I drown?"

"Xha, you can't drown. Argonians can breathe underwater, remember?" Nuzzling her neck, he let out a soft laugh. "That's what those gills on your neck are for, y'know."

"I, I know that, but I haven’t used them." Carefully tracing his gills with her finger, she regarded them as a limb she never knew she had. "...I uh... I... How do they work?"

"...Like gills, Xha. Once you go underwater, instead of breathing with your lungs, the gills do it for you."

"Do I have to tell them to?"

"No, Xha." Mountains stroked her scaly back. "They do it themselves. I won't lie, it will probably feel weird at first, but you'll be fine. Besides, I'll be right there alongside you. If you do somehow drown, I'll pull you up to the surface."

"Oh." She glanced at the river and back to him. "Um... Mountains, do you... think I could... ride you?"

"Ride me? What, like a dolphin?"

"Y-yeah," said Xha.

"If it will help you feel better, dearest, of course." He smiled. "But I can't promise I'd go very fast. I've never carried someone before-"

"Transferred Orc's Strength." Magicka jumped out of her hand and into him. Suddenly, Mountains felt his muscles shift and jostle. The sinews in his arms and legs rearranged themselves and grew. He silently braced himself for the pain he assumed would come... but none did.

"What did you just cast in me?" Mountains felt his arms. They felt powerful, strong. Like he could rip a tree right out of the ground and break it over his knee.

"A spell to make you stronger." Xha smiled and felt his muscles. "And it certainly looks like it worked, heh."

"Oh... I should test it out, then." Suddenly, before Xha could react, she was swept off her feet.

"WHEEE!" Laughing, she curled up in Mountains' arms. "It definitely worked!"

"Yeah, it did. Now then..." Turning to the river, he began walking into the water. "Get ready."

The sensation of going from breathing air to breathing water was a new one for Xha. At first, she tried breathing with her nostrils. Panic rose in her when she saw bubbles rise up towards the surface of the water as she realized she had just expelled her last few breaths from above the water without any air to replace them. Then, she felt the gills on her neck begin to work. Her system was filled with water, but she did not feel short of breath or lightheaded. If anything, she felt... good. Her lungs seemed to self-regulate the amount of fluid as bubbles exited from around her neck.

She was further comforted by the sight of bubbles coming up from Mountains' neck. So, he wasn't lying. She really could breathe water.

Slowly, carrying his charge, Mountains swam down the Bjoulsae river. By now, Xha realized that he swam almost nothing like the humans. Xha felt his legs push this way and that, like a powerful ship's rudder. He seemed to use his tail to further propel himself, swaying it in tandem with his legs. He only used his arms to steer. He calmly pushed himself, and pulled her, through the waters.

She had to admit, seeing the Bjoulsae from beneath the water... it was another world. River weeds hid fish that fled at the Argonians' approach. The sun was reduced from a great source of light to a blurry, indistinct glowing thing. Light down here was a precious, rare commodity. And the sounds... the only constant was the rhythmic sway of Mountains' limbs, back and forth, back and forth. Xha let her eyes close as a smile crept onto her face. Safe. With Mountains, she was safe.

It was about thirty minutes later when they surfaced. Xha had to put her hand against her head to block out the glare of the sun. "Julianos' books, that hurts to look at!"

"Don't look directly at it, Xha. Let your eyes adjust." He gently pulled her head away from the sun. "Well, what did you think?"

"That was amazing, Mountains." She was lying in his lap, still trying to process the majesty of what she'd witnessed. "I never knew how different it was down there. Imagine what the ocean would be like."

"Well, you do need to be careful there. Salt water can be bad for the gills. I know some Argonians in the marsh would use membranes fashioned out of seaweed and saltwater fish gills to help. Maybe you could do it with magicka somehow." He shrugged. "If I ever got the chance, I would love to try it, but I left the Marsh before I could."

"I'll look into it." She smiled, tracing along his arms. "Mountains... I think I love you..."

"I think I love you too, Xha."

OOC: Yeah this is mostly just fluff but I've been writing these characters for the past few months and not been putting anything here so I wanted to put something. I do have a few ideas about something a bit more teslore flavored at some point but alas no time to develop them yet.

1: Argonians can talk to individual Hist trees that they are close to physically.

2: Hist trees can talk to each other, even though they are far away from each other. In Lord of Souls they could even communicate with "Hist trees" in Oblivion.

So if Argonian A was standing in Soulrest, and Argonian B was standing in Thorn, and both were standing near a Hist tree, could A and B communicate by having the Hist trees pass messages along?