Tsaesci Creation Myth Analysis Redux

First off, let’s discuss a couple preliminary terms and themes that are used in this myth.

There is a lot of Egg imagery used in the myth, so we will start with that. The Egg is the Amaranth/Godhead, the egg from which the universe is birthed from. We see references to the the Egg in the Sermons, both with the Egg-layered universe, which is the shell being Aetherius, the egg-white being Oblivion and the yolk being Mundus. Beyond that, Eighteen is the number of the Egg and Amaranth.

Another term I’d like to go over is the Striking. From Vivec’s Book of Hours, Vivec explains the representations of CHIM, one being the Striking. This is expanded on as exact egg-cracking of old Argonia. The Book of Hours continues to explain that to achieve CHIM is to escape the strictures of the world-egg, which thematically would be cracking the egg. What happens when you crack an egg? You release the potential inside. The universe falls out and as we know CHIM is a stepping stone to Amaranth and thus a stepping stone to laying ones own Egg and cracking it.

Another note about the Striking is from the Sermons:

The Spokes are the eight components of chaos, as yet solidified by the law of time: static change, if you will, something the lizard gods refer to as the Striking.

Static Change is the brush of Anu and Padomay, the start of the universe.

So, those are out of the way, lets dig into the Myth itself.

The Striking

In this paragraph, we see the birth of the Universe. The Egg is cracked and the Twelve Worlds of Creation are formed. This paragraph and the next couple relate strongly with the Anuad. We also see the first mention of the Random Sequence, which I will get into more as we move along. But the Sequence learned that fragmentation reserved itself to the left eye. What is fragmentation? The act of splitting up or dividing. Mundus as we know is the House of Sithis, for Sithis is the start of all true houses, and what do houses do? They divide. From here we can postulate the left eye is Padomay/Sithis (I prefer Sithis so that’s what I will roll with). The Sequence also learned that variation realms were the evidence needed. Variation is the penultimate act of change and thus I posit that Mundus was the variation realm referred to.

The Biting

Here we see the Twelve World’s destruction, similar to the Anuad. We see the first mention of the Biters here as well and I have multiple takes on who they are. At first glance, one would think these are the Aedra, especially when you see the next reference of them in the Slithering. Personally, I view the Biters as any force(s) that change the Sequence or order of the universe, allowing for a much broader definition. In this case, the Biters are Anu and Padomay, with the destruction of the Twelve Worlds and the formation of the Mundus, but I’m starting to jump ahead.

So the Biters changed the order of things so that the concept of Death was known for the Twelve Worlds. Their alphabets disappeared, their immortality, and they perished. The state of rest was blamed and attributed to the right eye, which is Stasis, which is Anu or Anui-El.

The Slithering

The Slithering is the introduction of the et’Ada, scales that were now name-bites that moved freely, speaking the dead language, Ehlnofex and bleeding through the Void or Hunger Quadrant. The Twelve-to-one, the concept of Nirn talked unsense while the Biters poisoned the Random Sequence. Of special note, the scales could also refer to the constellations, but I have no real backing on this.

Also we have the second references to the Biters and the Sequence. Here I believe the Biters are now the Aedra plus Lorkhan. Lorkhan convinces the Aedra to create the Mundus, taking the Primal Wail (a cacophony of random noise) and turning into Music through the convergence of the Mundus. This helped lineate Time, saving the shapes of confusion, unable to take a solid form due to the non-linearity of Time pre-Mundus. During this time, the first divisions formed between the et’Ada. Some discovered honor and some discovered moderation. I postulate this division would last through the Ehlnofey Wars, with those that found honor becoming the Wandering Ehlnofey and those that found moderation to be the Old Ehlnofey. The Identical Selection Process is the form of Stasis the Old Elhnofey practiced, never wanting the change or chaos that the Padomaic spheres enjoy.

The Shedding

This paragraph I believe describes the creation, cooling and finalization of Mundus. The Aedra shed of themselves to create the actual physical plane of Mundus/Nirn, edible communications being the different races, which at this time are the two sub-classes of Ehlnofey who would propagate the creation of lesser races, mortals. The name-eggs that had survived without turning into calculation powder were the Ehlnofey who became the physical mass of Nirn, while those that became calculation powder became the physical laws of nature, or physics of Nirn. Those that didn’t become the laws of nature because the Dreugh Waters, the first physical landscape of Nirn in that Kalpa. At this time, the variation map or dai was conceptualized which I like to think refers to sub-gradience. We know that the order of the universe is sub-gradience, going lower, beyond the Mundus to Amaranth, thus this map is the Tsaesci road map to Amaranth through sub-gradience, though whether they were aware of Amaranth is a matter of debate and only included for completion’s sake.

The Reaching

During the Reaching, movements of dai or sub-gradience spread among the Ehlnofey and food-forms stockpiled. The Tsaesci are an eating-based culture and we know they’ve eaten men. If the Ehlnofey are edible communication, they sub-graded down to the different mortal races becoming food-forms for the Tsaesci to eat.

One Reaching unravelled and the Coiling at it’s belly made a virtual star line, making eating lucid. I posit that this is the Dragon Break of the Marukhati. We know the Marukhati use the Right Reaching and furthermore what is the Middle Dawn but a Coiling of potential waiting for someone to unleash it, or inseminate it in PSJJJJ philosophy, as the Marukhati did. If this is true, the waters that obeyed and the dead names that took up their place in the Sequence could refer to the long-spun theory that the Marukhati mantled the Divines. Furthermore, the first serpents returned in transmissions that answered the alphabet-virus (mortality) which the Tsaesci consumed. I believe these first serpents are the Eight stars that fell during the Middle Dawn. During the Middle Dawn the Tsaesci found their immortality again from the source-information they ate from the first serpents.

Of special note is that the immortality they found is similar to the Aedra they stole it from, long-lived but still killable. They also preserved the alphabet-virus. One of the definitions of “preserve” is “a sphere of activity regarded as being reserved for a particular person or group”. I believe this was preserved for the low-forms or other mortals but I am open to interpretation as always.

The Laying1

The Tsaesci are now aware of the Universe as it was, is and will be from the source-information they ate during the Middle Dawn. They moved into forms granted from said information which was pattern or sub-gradience, the last to become the first. The Tsaesci essentially become Masters and create a paradox of sorts. It’s mentioned that the low forms created a seeking egg. Let’s take a look at that before we go any further.

If the Egg is the Amaranth, mortals created a concept or set of concepts that seek the Amaranth, knowingly or otherwise. What do we know accomplishes this? The Six Walking Ways2. They are all steps to divinity which is Amaranth and thus “seeking the Egg” The Loveletter goes into detail about the Walking Ways and how they are all attempts at the Amaranth.

You in the Fourth Era have already witnessed many of the attempts at reaching the final subgradient of all AE, that state that exists beyond mortal death. The Numidium. The Endeavor. The Prolix Tower. CHIM. The Enantiomorph. The Scarab that Transforms into the New Man.

The Tsaesci see this and during the Middle Dawn upload this knowledge directly into the software of the universe, the Random Sequence which is now Music. This creates a paradox where they were the ones to figure it out in the first place. “Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey” stuff essentially.

So after the paradox they observe the Biter-Shedding, the Wheel created from the shedding of all the different sub-sets of Biters, grow sideways. They thus observe the Tower (or if going with a reptilian outlook, the Serpent) and knew a Coiling and Mastery. They named this Tsaescence and ate it, reaching the final sub-gradient, no more variations, and laid an Egg of their own.