Tes Lore - Tumblr Posts

Life and Trials of Dunmeri Saints

2015 Digital over-paints/photo-collages of Zurbaran's religions paintings.

funny how sotha sil dislikes lorkhan (boo hoo nirn is flawed) yet he managed to repeat his fate almost 1 to 1 a) used his own power/life essence to build a new world b) made lorkhan's heart 2.0 to power it c) was killed by a fellow god who wasn't happy about losing their divinity

a watchmen reference? in my sermons? it's more likely than you think!

love how different TES mythologies completely agree on one thing - lorkhan had bitches

The stars have eyes. They are watching. The stars have eyes. They are watching. The stars have eyes. They are watching. The stars have eyes. They are watching. The stars have eyes. They are watching. The stars have eyes. They are watching.

I just realized something. The Nine Coruscations. 9. 7 spectral colors (violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, orange, red), black and white.

Ithelia is the Prime Archon. The White Star. White is what we see when all wavelengths of light are reflected off an object. Like a prism, or a crystal.

… that contained starlight and endless possibility beyond cosmic interplay. He named her … the Colors of Light … - The Nine Coruscations

eso really went "hey! remember that Demiprince who was mentioned literally once in the 36 lessons of Vivec? he's canon now!"

look at this dude. I love him

apparently, reddit nuked the "meridia is a black hole" post. here's how I understand/remember this theory

meridia was once merid-nunda, a star orphan. black holes form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle

massive objects (like black holes) create strong gravitational fields that curve and stretch the "fabric" of space-time. "… thus does Merid-Nunda [ride? slide?] across the rainbow road from end to end, at one end stretching the Dragon [Akatosh, the Time God], at the other end compressing him …. - Exegesis of Merid-Nunda

black holes can "bend" the light rays that pass close enough to them. this is how meridia created her colored rooms. "But Merid-Nunda formed of her substance a great drag-lens, and the light of Magnus was bent thereby. The rays [carved? focused?] a new sphere from the chaos, which Merid-Nunda, [laughing? sparkling?], did claim for her own." - Exegesis of Merid-Nunda

"For Meridia, time is said to be relative, and her priestesses have been known to grant time-altering blessing" - UESP just google "black holes time travel"

"the Daedra Lady of Greed" - UESP yeah, it's about her strong gravitational field

"To MERIDIA who contains the Plenum" - PGE. Plenum (physics), a space completely filled with matter. black holes are incredibly dense

meridia's light is not her own! if material such as gas, dust or stars gets too close to a black hole, it gets sucked in by the enormous gravitational force. as it falls towards the black hole, it heats up and becomes incredibly bright

meridia, you're not fooling anyone with your beams of light. we know it's your relativistic jets. stop LARPing as a sun/light goddess

Did You Know: Proctor Neimos wished to give each Factotum a name, but was restricted from doing so by the Congress of Calibration due to it being "unnecessary and unreliable"? Neimos considered this a "sad misunderstanding of the unique personality each unit so clearly expresses"

we were this close to greatness

Pictured: An early map of Morrowind created for the development of TES3 in 1996. By the time the game came out in 2002, the plans for the mainland had been dropped.

i use the American Gods mental gymnastics "gods are thought-forms created by the collective belief & different versions of religions literally create different gods" which may actually be the case. or maybe not Don’t forget that gods can be shaped by the mythopoeic forces of the mantlers– so Tosh Raka could be an Akaviri avatar of Akatosh with a grudge against his mirror-brother in Cyrodiil. Just like Akatosh-as-we-usually-know-him could time-scheme against his mirror-brother of the Nords, Alduin, to keep the present kalpa– perhaps his favorite– from being eaten. Notice all the coulds.

the nords from early on in established lore are mortals who have wrapped up their identity in opposing elves and the elven gods. they value shor, the god who made this world, and curse auri-el who took his ripped out heart and fired it across the globe. it is ironic, then, they would see the creatures made by the god of time, dragons, and worship them. i understand they are a culture who is animistic and worships what the animals represent, (the games calls them “totems” but this doesn’t correlate to actual totemism as we know it irl but this is probably just some good old fashioned racism at work) but also wouldn’t the dragons know? how do they handle the nords cursing their father and creator? how do they handle his scorned name? do the nords even know alduin is the crown of all of the elven god’s blood stained creation?

or do they believe the nords are right, in some way? that their father is too weak, so it is their right to rule? or do they know something about the creation mortals don’t, like the good daedra who lead the chimer and exposed the ‘lies’ of trinimac?

this is never really explored. which is very unfortunate. we have actual dragons in the flesh we can talk to and speak to about this, but we are never given the chance. paarthurnax seems to honor the god of time and treats him with respect, but also was lead by kyne, widow of shor. i don’t understand it and i wish i did.

A Duraki legend mentions “Shezarr, who stole [the mead of poetry] stoneworking from the [dwarves] Dwemer and taught Zinfara to call nirncrux from the mountain-roots.” A Perena tale claims that the Cult of Stars learned soul magic from a “white-bearded stranger.” Likewise, “Shezarr of the Snowy Beard” is said to give the secrets of Ayleid battle-magic to the Nedes of Cyrod, showing them how to turn their enemies’ arts against them - The Footsteps of Shezarr

literally Odin.

also I choose to believe that lorkhan's "death" was in fact a planned self-sacrifice. I know that the monomyth & c0da have my back

Sayeth Seht: “The future is metal, clockwork eternal. The imperfections of Nirn are abundant and manifold. Fabricants of extant creatures are imitations of what is. A part of the process, building toward perfection. The Verminous Fabricant is an imitation of what was, a beast once common across Velothi lands. Now dead and gone. Except as a basis for the fabricant that bears its name. ” welcome to jurassic park morrowind

"Corpse ratio" and others things I'll say when discussing tes lore

WARNING: This is unpolished and was made before Gold Road

Analysis of the Nine Coruscations: Part 1

Mnemo-Li, the Blue Star

Her existence is heavily tied to Sotha Sil (Who called her Memory) who is said to RETroactively CONstructed her (So that she suddenly existed throughout all time). She appears in the sky during Dragonbreaks and is venerated by the Psjics.

"Even the Elder Scrolls … always there is born a Prisoner Unbound."

The text implies that she works during Dragon Breaks to fit everything back into a linear narrative (Rewritten Narratives) and that she has something to do the Prisoner. In the past we have gotten texts that point to her or them (occasionally called the Mnemoli) being the Keeper of the Elder Scrolls. Perhaps she's a possible author of the Elder Scrolls?

"There is no right lesson learned alone."

Repeated from Sermon 37 and refers to the importance of Love. Love is quite literally why TES exists but we'll get into that later.

Sheza-Rana, the Cyan Star

Her name is very obviously invoking Shezarr (Imperial name for Lorkhan/Shor), one of her titles is the Spritely Liar (remember Lorkhan/Shor is associated with lies and trickery?), and she's associated with Creation.

She's the duality of calm and energy, action and rest. She's even said to "Bring a period of rest after the Break" (Dragonbreak). She's also associated with the element of water

"Teaching the youth the various triumvirate roles to be retaken." "Wisdom of … how the story has unfolded before."

The Triumvirate roles likely refer to the Enantiomorph. The King, The Rebel, and the Observer. The Warrior, The Thief, and The Mage. We see this story echoed again and again with different people taking up the mantle of one of these roles.

I believe that the "youth" are infact the Prisoners and how they must take up one of the roles to restore balance. An antagonist takes upon the Mantle of King so the Hero must take up the Mantle of Rebel to overthrow them which ends with them indirectly taking upon the Mantle of King themselves (for the story has unfolded again). This ties into the "Ruling King" concept as seen in the Sermons of Vivec.

Londa-Vera, the Green Star

One of her titles is "Starry Heart" which refers to Tamriel itself and thus Nirn (because Tamriel is basically the capital of Nirn and where the most shit goes down). She is associated with the element of Earth.

"A perfect being, born of Light within Love."

Contrasting Merid-Nunda who was born of Light without Love. As @saltymaplesyrup suggested in her own analysis, it seems to point to Nirn being a constructed deity made as an echo of every major feminine presenting being in the Aurbis. Londa-Vera was so perfect that she couldn't even fully form yet she is integral to the Mundus.

Valia-Sha, the Orange Star

"Royalty among the Scions of Magnus"

Once again coming back to the Sermons of Vivec and the importance of "The Sign of Royalty". The "War of the.." likely refers to the Ehlnofey or Dawn War between Auri-El and Shor. It seems she was given the important job of spreading Magicka across the Aubris. She did this job until she began to fade away from giving too much. Unfortunately, I don't have much to discuss on her.

Unala-Se, the Yellow Star

Do you recognize the name Una? I sure do. Una was referred to as a Star Orphan all the way back in ESO: Morrowind as a tale of what Baar Dau really is. What's important about the story is that Una gets lost and hears Nirn crying all alone and decides to comfort her with her presence. Air is her element.

"Unala-Se taught all the orphans the ways of the word, the blade, and the sign."

We once again find a connection to the idea of "The Sign of Royalty" but I want to draw another connection. Boethiah.

Boethiah is associated with word, blade, and sign as seen in the newer lore such as the Bladesongs of Boethra and Exile and Exodus. You can see the similarities between the two in how both teach other spirits to be strong and unyielding through example. Strength through Strife. The Boethian Way.

"They watched as black bile swept across the land like a sickened sea, not yet knowing that their … the tragic prince of Lyg … and the darkness within him poured forth from the wound, taking a life of its own in the realm. … the dark encircled even the Elden King of Graht who seemed so steadfast … drank of the dark and became something more."

Hoooo boy where do we start? Tragic Prince of Lyg is Lorkhan while Elden King of Graht is Y'ffre/Jephre. In the Ancient Khajiiti myth, Lorkhan is tormented by his inner darkness which eventually takes on a life of it's own. This inner darkness is none other than the Daedric Prince Namira. Y'ffer (Jephre/Y'ffre) in Khajiiti myths is the lover of Nirni (Nirn) until he's corrupted by Namiira (Namira) and slays her. Hircine, Khenarthi (Kyne/Kynareth), and Azurah (Azura) hunt him down and make a cairn out of his bones (Earthbones) for Nirni.

"After her fall a black tree of poison and death … she showed us that which we were meant to see. … watches still, hoping we will remember Love."

This seems to imply that like Valia-Sha, Unala-Se isn't really around anymore unlike the other Coruscations. Now we finally can discuss the importance of Love in TES. Love is why the Aedra sacrificed themselves to become Earthbones, it's why Unala-Se decided to stay near Nirn to comfort her, it's why Kyne still weeps for Shor, why the Three Good Daedra taught the Psijic Endeavor to the Chimer, and it's why Alessia was able to heal the metaphysical rift between the Time God and the Missing God (but that last one's a story for another time).

Did You Know: As Nirn has two regularly visible moons, eclipses are more common in Tamriel than in our world? Although not stated in a direct manner, it appears that a "dark eclipse" refers to when both moons eclipse the sun at the same time, revealing the third moon. This is also when the Mane, the Pride of Alkosh, and Forgotten Manes are born.

I know that nobody asked, but here's some Telvanni lore for all the foodies.

Before you begin this culinary journey, check out this post about ash yams it's essential.

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Telvanni Cuisine

It’s obvious that Telvanni have an extensive knowledge of fungi.  After all, they live in huge mushrooms and collect and plant numerous species from all across the Tamriel to use them in their potions. It goes without saying that their cuisine is also quite fungal. The commonfolk at Telvanni settlements as most of the Dunmer source their protein both from fungi* and insect meat. But Telvanni nobles love nurturing peculiar worldviews and traditions that differentiate them from other races - or even other Dunmer. One of them is their distaste for anything that doesn’t grow in soil. They frown upon hunter traditions of Ashlanders and stock-raising of house Redoran and regard them as “primitive” in contrast to the delicate art of growing fungi. The alchemy ingredients are an obvious exception from this rule, but in general as their occupations don’t usually include menial work, their light and low-calorie cuisine perfectly matches their lifestyle. This resulted in traditional cuisine of the nobility being solely plant-, or more specifically, mushroom-based**, that contrasts sharply with the cuisine of Skyrim that is rich in venison and other animal-based foods***. Noble Telvanni shun debilitating ingredients such as alcohol and moon sugar in their everyday cuisine, as keeping their minds sharp is their main priority. In order to get an indulgent sweet taste marshmerrow is used instead. Telvanni rarely import vast quantities of vegetables from other provinces as house Hlaalu does. They use commonly grown foods like saltrice, ash yams or mushrooms as the base ingredients of the dishes. In some aspects they prefer to stick to the Dunmer traditions. The nobles, though, indulge themselves in expensive imported berries - not only because of their magic-enhancing abilities but also because of their extravagant taste. As the Telvanni ranks feature numerous alchemists the import of alchemical ingredients is obviously very common. Telvanni chefs gradually incorporated some of the exotic spices into traditional cuisine. Especially valued are the most characterful of them that fancy up the bland taste of mushrooms, such as juniper, ginseng or garlic****. * In real life mushrooms are a rather poor source of protein compared to legumes like beans and lentil. But since there are no legumes in TES universe (at least as far as I know) let's suppose there are some protein-rich mushrooms Telvanni can plant. ** It’s also worth mentioning that I’m a Telvanni-fixated vegan ass myself so that’s a more probable reason why I made my beloved house also vegan xD *** A lovely example of that contrast you can encounter in @thana-topsy ‘s fanfic “Breathing Water”. This would nicely explain Neloth’s preference for apple cabbage stew. **** This recipe for example resembles Telvanni cuisine, it was one of the inspirations from my imaginary dishes above.

Above I’ve come up with some examples of what noble Telvanni would eat on a daily basis.

Thanks for reading that and take care :3

*Sheogorath staring at Morrowind from Shivering Isles* "What a nice little country that you have, would be a shame if someone throw a rock at it"