One night while conducting research at the library, I feel asleep. When I awoke, I discovered a letter from Jobasha (or AFFA MU, a Dev who helped create Morrowind). Here is part of what it said:
"Jobasha found this sermon in an unusual place. Jobasha cannot say anything about the truth of this sermon. Jobasha is no priest or Psijic. Jobasha only shares what Jobasha finds."
After reading through it once, I couldn’t help but noticing the word aminreaV. It is the name of the Daedric Prince Vaernima spelled backwards. I tucked that information into the back of my head for later use.
Another thing I noticed was the lowercase letters in the thrice-secret word. I decided to see if they spelled anything. I was amazed to discover that they did—but they are written backwards (more on this message later).
I then decided to call it a night. When I return a few days later, I discovered another letter. This one came from Bendu Olo:
"This has been very entertaining! I wish Jobasha luck! Please let us know you are ok!
Look at the first and last letters of each sentence in Sermon Zero. There is another message here, but it doesn't help! I bet there are more, too. Maybe something about the 3 and 72? I don't know what the first one means. About the second one, the crime of Vivec, maybe he stole something? That would be in line with the "three thieves" being the Tribunal..."
I began to look through the Sermon once again using this new information. I was able to discern two other messages.
...and then Sermon Zero Revealed!
Now comes the difficult decision. I wrestled with this for days, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to post the answers, and ruin the discovery for someone else. In the end, I was reminded of one of my earlier quotes from the thread:
"Knowledge is truly precious--like gold, diamonds and jewelry. But some seek to amass it all for themselves! When it is taken and shared with others, they are afraid. Afraid of what might be learned."
With that being said, I feel I must, at the very least, guide you to the secrets. Therefore, I will share what some of us have learned from Sermon Zero.
If you take the first letter of each sentence and read them in that order, you will discover a message relating to gods and men:
The ghost of a god is no man.
If you take the last letter of each sentence and read them in reverse order, you will discover a message about Vivec
Vivec committed no crime.
In the thrice-secret word, if you take the lowercase letters and read them in reverse order, you will discover a message about the Dwemer.
To the Dwemer and Oblivion belong this treasure and they are there dead.
The Fourth Secret Message is found in the thrice-secret word. The capital letters form a Vigenere cipher which requires the name 'Vivec' as its key.
White Gold netch merchants Cherim Muzariah
With this, I hope you can learn the secret and decide yourself the implication...
Sermon Zero of the Thirty-and-Six-and-Nine Sermons of Vivec
This is the truth of Sermon Zero, which is neither one.
He was born a poor Netchiman, but rich in his Wife and in Wisdom. Eternal are their names, mother and father of Vehk, Berahzic and Irdri.
Generous silver chalice, sword in the clouds, dying-radiant lady-star. He entered the Temple, passed the seven veils, beheld his wife, Berahzic. O: the word, the deed, the end inevitable: O!
She asked of him truths beyond words, and he answered without words, but added in completion:
"There is nothing beyond bliss, after death comes the void. Only then are we free to love. Figuring father Peryite would stamp it and catalogue it. And Mephala mother, embracing black hands, would smother it. Gods such as us must be gentle with all our children, both flesh and spirit, a seed-apple potpourri."
On that night Berahzic named her children but did not know their sum.
Dreams of peasants, a Netchiman's dream. IRDRI HLAFEM VEHK HYKRO.
Silence is the command of the Aedra, the howling horror in the cavern of the heart, the laughter of Berahzic. Nocturnal's Black Skies, Peryite's Golden Order, Meridia's greeyellow Generations, Mehrunes' Red Rage, the Sighs of Berahzic. O, her diamonds and crescents a crimson dawn over armies arrayed for battle, her dark and silent eyes the blinding snows of Solitude.
Many thousand millions are the visions of aminreaV. A, awake, the first and last, the King of I.
Netchiman Irdri on the next day took his wife and newfound treasure to meet the Dwarf-King at the end of Bthuangthuv.
There Kagrenac gave him the thrice-secret word:
RPDXGBWGHPZBXLOdZaZeXLdCIBNGJZereZDQOPhtHVVeKVPrCSa
NYyehBtCdInMZGaJRVeRrMGZuGCCIsHTZaLVeRFOrPZPKBPtORsKI
iONhXTtPKFgHTVOnolJRVJEeZVKWQIbHVCMNnoIivFiVMlYVCBbCVV
FoDIdInWaWIrLZVeVCMmewNIdGYIeKhTNtZTVoXVDKZt
Here the true key lies. Vivec is the lesser or false key.
For in the beginning was the Word: Spoken by a Great Ape.
For in the beginning was the Word: Three by Seventy-two.
For in the beginning was the Word: ALMSIVI.
Hold the key on twelve hundred
And the lightning struck Dragon Tower.
I bind these Daedra guardians under the Seed-apple Lattice.
Jobasha has this to say about the secret message: "Cherim is Jobasha's good friend, shared much sugar, many sands. Cherim is famous tapestry maker, puts the ja'Kha'Jay in every one. White Gold is one of his best, one of the least often seen. It shows the White Tower, a dragon spirals around it, a moth priest at the top. Very famous moment, but few men remember."
"Have you not heard of Muzariah and her death at the hands of the Three Angry Men? Muzariah was Indoril by birth and a painter by choice. Her best painting lies in the cellars of the Imperial Palace by Imperial decree. No one wishes to destroy such beauty, but no one wishes it to be seen. A dilemna."
"But Jobasha says too much."
It appears that Jobasha is refering to this: Cherim's Heart of Anequina.
Another reminder from Jobasha: "Jobasha reminds you of the greeyellow generations, the seed apples, the "significant form" of Jobasha's good friend Cherim."
This page explains all of the hidden messages and easter eggs in Sermon Zero of the Thirty-Six-and-Nine Sermons of Vivec, a text released in 2002 by former developer Douglass Goodall.
Thanks to B, Bendu Olo, Striker, Raptormeat, as well as Nigedo and his the Whirling School for the discoveries in this document.
This page was originally written by B, and has been lightly edited by Lady Nerevar for improved readability.