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Crafting Motif 30: Morag Tong Style

Author: 
Naryu Virian

Guild Memo to the Recondite Forge

I've been asked to convey to you the Exalted Master's dissatisfaction with your recent work for the Tong. The Sun's Dusk shipment was unacceptable, not up to standard either in quality or style. We're going to give you one opportunity to redeem yourselves. Don't fail. In the interest of your … rehabilitation … I'll summarize our requirements for you below.

- Naryu Virian, Knower

AXES

Note the broad, heavy crescent blade with the signature "double bite" inset edges at the center. These wide serrations result in particularly savage wounds that look like they were inflicted by some forest predator. (And what does "Morag Tong" mean in ancient parlance but "Forest Guild"?) Axe blades: double bite. Got it?

BELTS

The Morag Tong are like woods hunters, except people are our prey. Our belts are of simple stout leather, like a forester's, occasionally ornamented with dreugh or mudcrab chitin—but don't get too fancy. Save that for the cuirass and pauldrons.

BOOTS

The toes and uppers of Morag Tong shoes are protected by plates of chitin, but the sides and soles are of flexible leather, tough but quiet. The goal is to make sure our writ-targets never even hear us coming. Can you manage that? For your sake, I hope you can.

BOWS

Morag Tong archers wield composite bows of hardwood and horn, constructed on fundamental principles that haven't changed for millennia. For flourish, add metallic parry-crescents just above and below the central grip, with spider-web supports to honor the Webspinner. (Don't pretend you don't know of whom I speak.)

CHEST PIECES

A Morag Tong cuirass is designed to intimidate as well as to protect. The base arming coat shall be of dark, heavy leather, ideally Bull Netch, accented or (in heavier sets) layered with irregular plates of chitin. The effect should be monstrous, as if the wearer were more crustacean than person. Be imaginative! We have a reputation to maintain.

DAGGERS

The blade on a Morag Tong dagger should be an offset demi-crescent, with a hook or barb on the point so the dagger can double as a corpse meat-hook. The hook must be able to drag a body without bending or slipping out—which is what happened with that last batch you sent us. Don't you even test your work before you call it done?

GLOVES

In the last batch of gauntlets you sent us, you got the leather quality and the chitin plate on the back of the hand right, but you blundered by giving the gloves full fingers instead of half-coverage. We do delicate work, all right? We need the ends of our fingers free for things like picking locks and twisting garottes around victims' necks. Gauntlets with half-fingers. Got it?

HELMETS

You did a relatively good job with our flanged chitin helmets, but the visor goggles were a complete failure. The heavy glass lenses were rippled, distorting the wearer's vision and making everything viewed appear slightly off-center. We can't be going in to cut a writ-target's throat and hit them instead on the shoulder. Whatever source you've been using for lenses, change it.

LEG GREAVES

These should be heavy leather—once again, Bull Netch if possible—with a top layer of chitin plates. That's chitin, like from dreugh or mudcrabs, NOT bone. We don't wear bone. Also, the sharp poleyns on the heavier armor should jut out to the side rather than the front, because that's weirder and looks more dangerous.

MACES

For the Tong maces, we use a pretty traditional Chimer warhammer design, with two heavy cylindrical heads. Sheath the haft below the head with metal for parrying purposes. And make sure it's not too shiny: we don't want our weapons to compromise stealth.

SHIELDS

I know the shield design looks like chitin, but it's actually ashwood faced with metal. It only looks like layered chitin so as to be thematically compatible with the Morag Tong armor, which is made of actual chitin. Is this too confusing? Read it through several times slowly until you've got it. Then do it right.

SHOULDER ARMOR

Getting the shoulders right is very important to maintaining the Morag Tong armor's distinctive silhouette, so pay attention. The pauldrons are layers of articulated chitin plates, like the cuirass, but the upper plates need to have short curved spikes mounted on them. Use dreugh or shalk shell spurs for this.

STAVES

There are only a few real spellcasters in the Tong, and I'm not one of them, so I can't comment on where the design for our spell staves comes from, or why it's so important we stick to it. I think the finial looks like a heavy brass Dwarven fish, but that's just me. What matters to you is that you follow the design as closely as you can.

SWORDS

Morag Tong swords have one sharp edge, with a curve toward the point, which ends in a back-barb like the dagger, and for the same reason: so it can double as a corpse meat-hook. Put some irregular curved points on the sword's spine, just so it looks nastier.

Songs of Vvardenfell

Author: 
Jerin Dres

Collected by Jerin Dre

* * *

Armiger Marching Song

Step light, stride far,
O ye Buoyant Armigers,
To glory days and triumphant nights,
March on through your bloody fight!

Sing proud, sound roars,
O ye Buoyant Armigers,
Raise voices in courageous cheers,
Give those heathens cause for fear!

Stand tall, spoil wars,
O ye Buoyant Armigers,
Best their warriors by the score,
Take a bow and best a dozen more!

Set bones, sum scars,
O ye Buoyant Armigers,
Wear the badge of those who lead,
A few new nicks as proof of deeds!

Stand tall, spoil wars,
O ye Buoyant Armigers,
Best their warriors by the score,
Take a bow and best a dozen more!

* * *
Six are the Walking Ways

Six are the walking ways, enigma, enemy, teachers
Begat by precursor gods, come we now their creatures
Embody splendor in your name, and wisdom in your features

By the sword I mean the night
By the word I mean the dead
By the sword I mean a sigh
By the word I mean the end

Six are the guardians, three fore and three incarnate
Here to test your hero's ways, and show that you can learn it
The truest works we shall behold are those made by the silent

By the sword I mean the night
By the word I mean the dead
By the sword I mean a sigh
By the word I mean the end

* * *

The Song of the Word

The words you hear are based on meat—don't let the sophists fool you
Fear not upon the walking way—just let hysteria rule you
In their own world, the mad have laws—but only if they're written
The wise can write them different rules—for by the word they're smitten

Use no words for apologies—if you seek absolution
Action is the walking way— and words are no solution
The wise avoid apology—when ravers must be beaten
So sing not with the dusty tongue—no word is true till eaten

Ancestral Tombs of Vvardenfell

Author: 
Bradyn

by Bradyn, Master Librarian of Vivec City

Ancestral tombs occupy a prominent place in the culture and society of the Great Houses of the Dark Elves. The old, established families, specifically those with the most wealth and influence, constructed tombs in which to inter and honor their dead. These tombs, scattered throughout Vvardenfell, provide a place of sanctuary for the physical remains of the departed, as well as a place of contemplation, reverence, and meditation for the descendants of their interred ancestors.

Inside the tombs, burial urns hold the cremated remains of the dead, while ritual altars and items of significance to the departed decorate the interior spaces, including beloved tomes, sacred scrolls, and mementos of well-lived lives, such as jewelry, armor, weapons, household goods, and even gold. Tombs range from large, spacious vaults with multiple chambers to small vaults with a single burial chamber.

Some ancestral tombs are sealed for any number of reasons, but the usual justification boils down to one of two situations: Either the tomb in question has reached its capacity, or the family has decided to seal the tomb to protect the contents. In the case of the latter, the seal will be broken and the tomb opened the next time a member of the family dies. Then it gets resealed after the interment is complete.

The ancestral tombs that remain open often see activity on a regular basis. Many families regularly visit to pay respects to their ancestors, to meditate, or to perform important rites connected to the aspects of ancestor worship that remain integral to Dark Elf culture. If the families responsible for these tombs must occasionally petition the Tribunal or hire mercenaries to clear out a vampire nest or stray Daedric creature, such is the cost of maintaining an ancestral tomb.

Dark Elves, Dark Hearts

Author: 
Bakozog gro-Shakh

From the Journal of Wandering Laborer, Bakozog gro-Shakh:

Orcs catch it in the tusks, no question. Doesn't matter where I go. I could be hauling rope in Wayrest or laying bricks in Bergama. Wherever I travel, I hear it. "Savage." "Brute." "Beast." It used to really tear me up. I'd look at my reflection in a bowl of water or a shop window and think "you know, maybe they're right." But not anymore. Not since I moved to Vvardenfell.

You want to get a good look at what "savage" really means? Come spend some time with the Dark Elves. Sure, they clean up well. Everything here is clean and polished and pressed. But if you pull back the curtain even a little, you'll see evil. And I don't mean a clumsy, childish evil. I'm talking about real evil - lusty, red-eyed, and smiling like a Daedra. Enslavement, murder, deception, cruelty - name a sin and you'll find it venerated. Name a Daedra and you'll find it worshiped. This island is corrupt, straight down to the marrow. Don't believe me? All right, let's talk about bugs.

Vvardenfell is crawling with insects - some as small as a babe's toenail, and some as big as mammoths. That alone wouldn't be cause for concern. I mean, the echatere back home give some folks the creeps. Most of these critters are hard to look at. But the real horror doesn't come from the bugs themselves. It comes from what the Dark Elves do to them.

Take the nix-ox. Never seen one? Picture a flea the size of a horse, propped up on six hairy stilts. Got it? That's a nix-ox.

Far as I can tell, they're gentle creatures. They don't bleat or grunt like other pack animals. They just wander about, grazing on hardened mushrooms - cracking them open with their great big mandibles and lapping up the fungus inside the husk. Gentle giants, they are. Too gentle, I think.

Early in the morning, while the beasts are still dozing, six or seven Dark Elves will descend upon the herd like a pack of greedy welwas. It doesn't take long for them to goad a dozen or so nixes into wheeled ox-pens. The leader of the crew will take a quick survey of the catch and mark their chitin with black chalk. Prices, you see? Of course, some don't get marked. Some are too frail or two small to be of use. Rather than letting the creatures go, one of the wranglers will jab them with a spear. Right beneath the chin, see? Then they kick them out of the pens and leave them to rot. The sad thing is that these are the lucky ones.

Nix-oxen that make it to market are divided into two groups: Nix-Tovo, and Nix-Rima. Tovo oxen tend to be older and larger. You can snatch up two or three for the price of a single Rima. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why. I finally asked one of the wranglers to explain why larger, stronger nix-oxen are so much cheaper.

"Hide's too thick," he said. "Can't pry it."

You see, an older nix's chitin is thick as oak bark. It cracks under pressure. Younger nixes' hides, however, are more pliable. With a bit of pressure, you can separate the plates to see the organs underneath. This access is what makes Rima oxen so valuable.

Wealthier farmers hire specialists called drenlyns to "train" their nix-oxen. It's a softer way of saying "break." The drenlyn bores into the poor beast's back with an obsidian drill, and pries open the flesh to expose a bundle of nerves resting in a cavity they call the "drive chamber." They set a few hook-like prods into the viscera, and then reset the plates. It takes the better part of an hour, but by the end, the ox is docile as a lamb. It just stands there. No restless pacing, no nervous twitching of the mandibles. Not alive, not dead ... just a husk.

I won't lie, it's hard to watch. But you know what the scariest part is? The scariest part is how bored everyone looks. I looked into one of those drenlyn's eyes as he pried a nix-ox's back apart, and you know what I saw? The same face my daughter makes when she milks an echatere. A weary, disinterested, nothing-face. Totally oblivious. Immune to shame.

I'll admit, I'm no green-child. I'll polish off a rack of spare ribs and wash it down with pig-gin without batting an eye. But digging around inside a beast's brains? Turning it into a zombie? It takes a black heart to do something like that. And you know what? Dark Elves do it all the time.

Ordinator Edicts

Author: 
Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

Let it be known:

The Order of Inquisition has received reports of outsiders wearing the holy Ordinator's Regalia, to wit, the Golden Mask of Devotion and Robes of Triune Faith. This is a clear breach of the Seventeenth Dictum of Piety. Any member of the Dunmer laity who wears the Regalia shall be subject to swift and merciless sanction. Any non-Dunmer seen wearing the Regalia shall be killed on sight. Such is the price of blasphemy.

You are hereby warned.

Victory for the Three,

Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

Let it be known:

Heterodox religious practice is hereby banned within the city limits of Vivec. This includes, but is not limited to, veneration of the Eight Apostasies, Hist sap or moon-sugar rituals, devotional Malacathian bloodsport, and Daedric rites of communion. Any citizen who takes part in such ceremonies shall be jailed and subjected to corporal reeducation. Any non-citizen who takes part in such ceremonies shall be banished or executed, depending on the severity of the infraction and the judgment of the attending Ordinator. In either case, all devotional materials and literature shall be seized and burned in the Pyres of Purification. Such is the price of blasphemy.

Keep to the Tribunal or keep silent.

Victory for the Three,

Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

Let it be known:

Creatures cataloged in the Sacred Register of Unclean Beasts are not permitted within city limits. This list includes many milk-producing beasts, owls, tailless apes, dreugh larvae, and egg-laden crustaceans. A comprehensive list of all banned animals is available in the Tribunal Temple's Library of Doctrine.

All meat intended for sale in the marketplace must be inspected by a Temple-appointed Dreni'urolan, or Deputy Curate of Triune Permissions, in accordance with the thirty-fourth Dictum of Piety. Failure to submit meat for inspection shall result in the forfeiture of any Writs of Divine Sanction, fines, and possible corporal reeducation. Such is the price of blasphemy.

Victory for the Three,

Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

Let it be known:

All bardic song and verse intended for public performance must first be approved by the Ministry of Doctrine and Ordination. Any work that is deemed heretical shall be confiscated and destroyed in the Pyres of Purification. Failure to submit said work for inspection shall result in fines and possible corporal reeducation. Such is the price of blasphemy.

Victory for the Three,

Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

Let it be known:

Destroying, moving, or otherwise vandalizing Temple property is a grievous sin. Temple icons and structures serve as extensions of the Tribunal's divine authority. Any assault on said icons and structures is considered an assault on the Tribunal's divine personages. Such an assault carries a penalty of death, followed by Rites of Forgetting and disposal of remains in the Pyres of Purification. Behold the price of blasphemy.

Victory for the Three,

Inquisitor Nivos Uveran

The Ashlander Emissary, Tanethen Rotheloth

Author: 
Longinus Attius

The Ashlander crafts folk prefer sealed resins, strapped leather wrapping, and rudimentary mace spikes or serrated sword edges.

“May your kills be quick and many!" So say the Ashlanders, a tribe of Dunmer harking back to the old ways of the Nerevarine cult and the prophet Veloth. While there was an uneasy truce between our Ashlander emissary and Bekleri Llenim, the Dunmeri champion, a separate dwelling, a slice of scuttle, and a tipple of golden wine helped temporarily mend the divide. While Azura's curse allows the Dunmer to take on a grim countenance, the Ashlander warrior adds ritual paint and markings to further emphasize his grayish-blue skin tones and piercing red eyes.

Heavier armor is almost never worn (it seems only crafted to be presented to a high-ranking village chief or elder). Instead, guar leather and chitin plates adorn the more primitive Dunmer, shells carefully heated and cooled until malleable, then pressed and twisted to form breastplate, fauld lames, and even elements of the asset, along with the shoulder plates. Ebony is usually shunned; the Ashlander crafts folk prefer sealed resin, strapped leather wrapping, and rudimentary mace spikes or serrated sword edges. Those wishing the twisted blade of a dagger under their ribs might compare this to the arms of a Reachman. But I would never stoop so low.

Arms and Armor of the Dunmeri Champion, Belderi Llenim

Author: 
Longinus Attius

Armory Sergeant Belderi Llenim of the Mournhold Guildhall was always fascinated by armor,
but her knowledge borders on the pedantic, as she offers hours of chatter about Nord tower shields and advice on keeping the edge on a glass sword.

For as long as anyone can remember, the Dunmer have made their lot in Morrowind, with its lush fungal valleys and serene grasslands, as well as the choking climes and ash deserts closer to Red Mountain. A Dunmer's armor matches his mood: brooding, sharp edged, and dark. Sharing the same traits as other mer, their armor designs have a certain fluidity and grace in their sweeping curves but lack the overbearing pride of the Altmer. Dour colors of cloth, volcanic glass, and animal hides combine to provide a Dark Elf's tapestry of protection.

Though the Dark Elves may have a dalliance with ebony metals and strange Daedric symbolism, their motives appear to be contrary to the machinations of Molag Bal. Lighter armor is traditionally made from glass, a concoction of rare metals and volcanic resins. Conversely, some tribes employ a strengthening layer of giant insects, such as the assassin beetle, which is more comfortable across the back or loins. Netch leather is apparent in most straps,though the lowly Ashlander is more apt to covet such hides, compared to the high ordinator, who fashions his protection from dreugh hides, hardened with revolting waxy excretions (from the dreugh, not the Dunmer).

When the forge fires of Mournhold roar at their zenith, arms of the highest quality are crafted, always with a dark reflection of Morrowind, from the bent and chitin (and bludgeons carved from the limbs of harvested creatures), to the magical, glass-like ebony of Vvardenfell. Diagonal engravings bisect the flat surfaces of every axe, mace, and sword of the Dunmer. Such angularity extends to other apparatus too; there is a jagged edge to many surfaces, particularly prevalent in the designs of daggers, swords, and shields. Heraldry usually takes the form of a stylized insect glyph, seen, on almost every Dark Elf's quiver, but house symbols are also a common form of heraldry, signifying alliances within this realm that tend not to concern outsiders.

Fused metal, the carapace pieces of giant insects, guar leather, gems, glass, and obsidian: all are woven into the angular armaments of the Dunmer.

The Time of the Ebonheart Pact

Author: 
Alla Lalleth

The Wheel of Time turns: in the dawn, it was the day of the Aldmeri, and then came the time of Men—but now, as the decay and chaos in the Empire makes clear, the time of Men has past. Of the Men of Tamriel, only the Eastern Nords had the strength of character to join Dunmeri and Argonians in repelling the recent invasion of Snake-Men from Akavir, thereby showing that of all Men, only they may be trusted.

Time and again Men have shown that without proper guidance, their meddling with External Powers leads to disaster. Men's reckless dabbling with beings beyond Nirn must stop forever. Now it is the time of the Ebonheart Pact, which shall and must become the Tamriel Pact. Within the Pact, the Aedra, Daedra, and Hist are all revered … from an appropriate distance. Within the Pact is the Tribunal, three Living Gods who abide among us here on Nirn and whose interest therefore coincides with that of all residents of Nirn. Only they have shown how to treat successfully with powers beyond Nirn.

The rash actions of those who sit the Ruby Throne, or who pull their strings, have brought Tamriel to the verge of irretrievable doom. They must be scoured from the face of Cyrodiil, and the decaying remains of the Empire of Men must be swept away. It shall be replaced by the Pact, which will enforce peace across the continent and strictly regulate all involvement in dangerous magical pursuits.

Onward, warriors of the Pact! We will never know peace and freedom until we occupy White-Gold Tower!

Varieties of Faith: The Dark Elves

Author: 
Brother Mikhael Karkuxor of the Imperial College

The Dunmer are descended from the Chimer, who were apostates of the Aldmeri's Aedra worship. As the Alessian Reforms never took hold in Morrowind, their pantheon bears little resemblance to the rest of Tamriel. The Dark Elves' original religion was worship of several Daedric Princes, the so-called "Good Daedra," but that has been largely superseded by reverence for the "Living Gods" of the Tribunal.

The Tribunal
Almalexia (Mother Morrowind):
Most traces of Auri-El disappeared from ancient Chimer legends during their so-called "exodus," primarily due to that god's association and esteem with the Altmeri. However, most aspects of Auri-El that seem so important to the mortal races—namely immortality, historicity, and genealogy—have conveniently resurfaced in Almalexia, the most popular of Morrowind's divine Tribunal.

Vivec (Master of Morrowind):
Warrior-poet god of the Dunmer. Vivec is the invisible keeper of the holy land, ever vigilant against the dark gods of the Volcano. He/she has saved the Dunmeri people from certain death on numerous occasions.

Sotha Sil (Mystery of Morrowind):
God of the Dunmer, Sotha Sil is the least known of the divine Tribunal. He is said to be reshaping the world from his hidden, clockwork city.

The "Good" Daedra

Boethiah (Prince of Plots):
Heralded by the Prophet Veloth, Boethiah is the original god-ancestor of the Dark Elves. Through his/her illuminations, the eventual "Chimer," or Changed Folk, renounced all ties to the Aldmer and founded a new nation based on Daedric principles. All manner of Dark Elven cultural "advances" are attributed to Boethiah, from philosophy to magic to "responsible" architecture. Ancient Velothi allegories are uniformly heroic successes of Boethiah over enemies of every type, serving as foundation stories of Chimeri struggle. Also known as the Anticipation of Almalexia.

Mephala (Androgyne):
Mephala is the Webspinner or Spider God. In Morrowind, he/she was the ancestor who taught the Chimer the skills they would need to evade their enemies or murder them in secret. Enemies were numerous in those days, since the Chimer were a small faction. He/she, along with Boethiah, organized the clan systems that eventually became the basis for the Great Houses. He/she founded the Morag Tong. Also called the Anticipation of Vivec.

Azura (Goddess of Dusk and Dawn):
Azura was the god-ancestor who taught the Chimer the mysteries needed to be different than the Altmer. Some of her more conventional teachings are sometimes attributed to Boethiah. In the stories, Azura is often more a communal cosmic force for the race as a whole than an ancestor or a god. Also known as the Anticipation of Sotha Sil.

The Missing God

Lorkhan (The Missing God):
This Creator-Trickster-Tester deity is in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. His most popular name is the Aldmeri "Lorkhan" or Doom Drum. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits to bring about the creation of the mortal plane. This upset the status quo, much like his father, Padomay, who introduced instability into the universe in the Beginning Place. After the world is materialized, Lorkhan is separated from his divine center, sometimes involuntarily, and eventually wanders the creation of the et'Ada. He and his metaphysical placement in the "scheme of things" is interpreted a variety of ways. In Morrowind, he is a being related to the Psijic Endeavor, a process by which mortals are charged with transcending the gods that created them.

Four Corners of the House of Troubles, "Testing Gods"

Enemy gods, more to be placated and appeased than worshiped.

Molag Bal (God of Schemes, Lord of Brutality):
Daedric power of much importance in Morrowind. There, he is always the archenemy of Boethiah, the Prince of Plots. He is the main source of the obstacles to the Dunmer (and preceding Chimer) people. In legends, Molag Bal always tries to upset the bloodlines of Great Houses or otherwise ruin Dunmeri "purity." A race of supermonsters, said to live in Molag Amur, are the result of his seduction of Vivec during the previous era.

Malacath (God of Curses):
In Dunmer myth, Boethiah swallowed Aldmer hero-god Trinimac and excreted him as Malacath. A somewhat weak but vengeful Daedra, the Dark Elves say he is also Malak, the god-king of the Orcs. He always tests the Dunmer for physical weakness.

Sheogorath (The Mad God):
The fearful obeisance of Sheogorath is widespread, and it is found in most Tamrielic quarters. Contemporary sources indicate that his roots are in Aldmeri creation stories; therein, he is "born" when Lorkhan's divine spark is removed. One crucial myth calls him the "Sithis-shaped hole" of the world. He tests the Dunmer for mental weakness and tempts the Great Houses into treachery against each other.

Mehrunes Dagon (God of Destruction):
Popular Daedric power. He is associated with natural dangers like fire, earthquakes, and floods. In some cultures, Dagon is merely a god of bloodshed and betrayal. He is an especially important deity in Morrowind, where he represents its near-inhospitable terrain.

Ancestors and the Dunmer (Abridged)

Author: 
Anonymous

Ghosts Walk Among Them

The departed spirits of the Dunmeri, and perhaps those of all races, persist after death. The knowledge and power of departed ancestors benefit the bloodlines of Dunmeri Houses. The bond that forms between living family members and their immortal ancestors is partly blood, partly ritual, partly volitional. Anyone brought into a house through marriage is bound through ritual and oath into the clan, gaining communication and benefits from the clan's ancestors; however, his access to the ancestors is less than that of his offspring, and he still retains some access to the ancestors of his own bloodline.

 


The Family Shrine

Each residence has a family shrine. In poorer homes, it may be no more than a hearth or alcove where family relics are displayed and venerated. In wealthy homes, a room is set aside for the use of the ancestors. This shrine is called the Waiting Door, and represents the door to Oblivion.

Here the family members pay their respects to their ancestors through sacrifice and prayer, through oaths sworn upon duties, and through reports on the affairs of the family. In return, the family may receive information, training, and blessings from the family's ancestors. The ancestors are thus the protectors of the home, and especially the precincts of the Waiting Door.


The Mortal Chill

Spirits do not like to visit the mortal world, and they do so only out of duty and obligation. Spirits tell us that the otherworld is more pleasant, or at least more comfortable for spirits than our real world, which is cold, bitter, and full of pain and loss.


Mad Spirits

Spirits that are forced to remain in our world against their will may become mad spirits, or ghosts. Some spirits are bound to this world because of some terrible circumstances of their death, or because of some powerful emotional bond to a person, place, or thing. These are called hauntings.

Some spirits are captured and bound to enchanted items by wizards. If the binding is involuntary, the spirit usually goes mad. A willing spirit may or may not retain its sanity, depending on the strength of the spirit and the wisdom of the enchanter.

Some spirits are bound against their wills to protect family shrines. This unpleasant fate is reserved for those who have not served the family faithfully in life. Dutiful and honorable ancestral spirits often aid in the capture and binding of wayward spirits.

These spirits usually go mad, and make terrifying guardians. They are ritually prevented from harming mortals of their clans, but that does not necessary discourage them from mischievous or peevish behavior. They are exceedingly dangerous for intruders. At the same time, if an intruder can penetrate the spirit's madness and play upon the spirit's resentment of his own clan, the angry spirits may be manipulated.


Oblivion

The existence of Oblivion is acknowledged by all Tamriel cultures, but there is little agreement on the nature of that otherworld, other than it is the place where the Daedra live, and that communication and travel are possible between this world and Oblivion through magic and ritual.

The Dunmer do not emphasize the distinction between this world and Oblivion as do the human cultures of Tamriel. They regard our world and the otherworld as a whole with many paths from one end to the other rather than two separate worlds of different natures with distinct borders. This philosophical viewpoint may account for the greater affinity of Elves for magic and its practices.


Foreign Views of Dunmeri Ancestor Worship and Spirit Magic

The Altmeri and Bosmeri cultures also venerate their ancestors, but only by respecting the orderly and blissful passage of these spirits from this world to the next. That is, Wood Elves and High Elves believe it is cruel and unnatural to encourage the spirits of the dead to linger in our world. Even more grotesque and repugnant is the display of the bodily remains of ancestors in ghost fences and ash pits. The presentation of fingerbones in a family shrine, for example, is sacrilegious to the Bosmer (who eat their dead) and barbaric to the Altmer (who inter the ashes of their dead).

The human cultures of Tamriel are ignorant and fearful of Dark Elves and their culture, considering them to be inhuman and evil, like Orcs and Argonians, but more sophisticated. The human populations of Tamriel associate Dunmeri ancestor worship and spirit magic with necromancy; in fact, this association of the Dark Elves with necromancy is at least partly responsible for the dark reputation of Dunmer throughout Tamriel. This is generally an ignorant misconception, for necromancy outside the acceptable clan rituals is a most abhorrent abomination in the eyes of the Dunmer.

The Dark Elves would never think of practicing sorcerous necromancy upon any Dark Elf or upon the remains of any Elf. However, Dark Elves consider the human and Orcish races to be little more than animals. There is no injunction against necromancy upon such remains, or on the remains of any animal, bird, or insect.