Who Said What? (Part 4)

This version’s probably going to be a little big, being the one dedicated to faith. Khajiiti faith is very “similar but different” with the rest of Tamriel so let’s have a look at it already.

What did Clan Mother Ahnissi say?

In previous issues I’ve stated that out of all texts we have on Khajiit, this one is probably the most likely to have the least bullshit. This is for various reasons and I’m not going list them here because this is long enough.

Ahnissi begins by writing to “[her Favored Daughter][0]” by saying

Ahnissi tells you. You are no longer a mewing kitten and you have learned to keep secrets from Ahnissi, and so Ahnissi tells you.

Bringing back the whole secrets thing as discussed previously.

Then we see the very first beings, Ahnurr and Fadomai; with Fadomai suggesting that they have children and they do so.

They give birth to the First Litter, consisting of what is similar to the Aedra; they are

Alkosh, the First Cat

Khenarthi, the Winds

Magrus, the Cat’s Eye

Mara, the Mother Cat

S’rendarr, the Runt

So we’ve got Alkosh for time; and I’ve [gone through him enough already][1]. Then we have Khenarthi, very similar to Kynareth/Kyne, Mara like Mara and S’rendarr like Stendarr.

Magrus is a bit of a special snowflake because here he is with what are like the Aedra and is titled the Cat’s Eye, “for what is brighter than the eye of a cat?". I want to look into him for a moment, specifically his name which reversed is Surgam; a Latin word for “I shall rise". So clearly, he’s got a fair amount of links to the sun (which he was 'gifted’) even before Creation has occurred. Another thing, Magrus otherwise has no particular link to magic as Magnus does, though I think that Magrus being “bright” can also be regarding his intelligence.

After this, Ahnurr now suggests having more children to “share happiness” who are

Hermorah, the Tides

Hircine, the Hungry Cat

Merrunz, the Ja’Khajiit

Mafala, the Clan Mother

Sangiin, the Blood Cat

Sheggorath, the Skooma Cat

Sounding very similar to the Daedra, except missing more than half of them. Two things, however, that are not quite right about this is Hermorah being the Tides because “who can say if the moons predict the tides or [vice versa]”. At this point in time, there weren’t any moons. How could this be Hermorah’s title if it’s related to something that has not existed yet? Same deal with Sheggorath being the Skooma Cat. Once again, no moons to make the Moon Sugar which becomes Skooma. Chances are it’s Ahnissi making it more “relevant” for her daughter, but that’s still pretty suss.

Also I’d like to point out Mafala as the Clan Mother, who is likely involved with Khajiiti Clan Mothers (such as Ahnissi). This just seems like a bit of a heavy link between them and Ashlander Wise Women whom stayed with the old Triune House, which Mephala was a core part of.

Moving on, Ahnurr says that’s enough and no more kids. Khenarthi comes to Fadomai because she “grows lonely so high above the world". How exactly she is “high above the world” is pretty odd, because what is she high above? If we’re drawing parallels with the Aedra and Daedra, they’re in space at the moment and how high could you be? What if you’re actually lower? Unless this implies that Magrus the sun has already been made and she travels to Aetherius, but that’s a bit of a stretch.

Now Fadomai tricks Ahnurr into getting herself pregnant with another 5 new children.

the Moons and their Motions

Nirni, the majestic sands and lush forests

Azurah, the dusk and the dawn

And then when it came to the last one, Ahnurr found her birthing, got angry and smacked her then Fadomai ran away to “The Great Darkness” with her children trying to protect her from Ahnurr’s rage.

In the Great Darkness, Lorkhaj is born and his Heart is filled with “the Great Darkness"; at which point the Darkness seems to have become sentient and it’s name was Namiira. Now, this seems exactly like what a Dro-m’athra is considering that translates to “dark spirits of the desert” and Namiira is literally Great Darkness; however, that being essentially the only information we have, I think we’d best wait for something else before going ahead with that idea.

As Fadomai’s dieing, she gives the moons the Lattice so that “Your eternal motions will protect us from Ahnurr’s anger.” Now the really odd thing here is

Ahnurr growled and shook the Great Darkness, but he could not cross the Lattice.

He somehow managed to shake the Great Darkness and yet he couldnt get through Jone and Jode? It’s my interpretation/understanding that Ahnurr essentially shook the world here in rage, but with that specific language it sounds as though he may have grabbed a hold of Namiira inside Lorkhaj’s Heart and shook it like crazy. That’s pretty metal. But again, this part being a little oddly worded may be best left to interpretation.

Nirni, to you Fadomai leaves her greatest gift. You will give birth to many people as Fadomai gave birth today

That’s 5 children on this day, let’s count the Ehlnofey/Original races. That’s Aldmer (1), Nords (2), Nedes (3), Redguards (4) and Tsaesci (5). Hmm. How about that.

Azurah’s all left out with the blessings now, so Fadomai tells her

To you, my favored daughter, Fadomai leaves her greatest gift. To you Fadomai leaves her secrets.

There are three of these as stated later in the text.

I could quote about how Khajiit are to become the perfect race and all that but you know the story (and if not, I linked it around the start). Khajiit have to be the best climbers to fix the moons, best deceivers to hide their nature from “the Children of Ahnurr” and the best survivors because Nirni is going to wind up disliking them.

Then of course, comes Creation. Nirni cries to Lorkhaj about not having a place for her kids, so Lorkhaj states he will make a place for Nirni and her children. BUT, because the of the big scary “darkness” in Lorkhaj’s heart he tricks his brothers and sisters into always being with Nirni; though

And many of Fadomai’s children escaped and became the stars.

many of Fadomai’s children died to make Nirni’s path stable.

So here’s the Magna-Kitties flying off and the Earthbone’s dieing so that things aren’t super messed up all the time on Nirni.

Then “the survivors stayed and punished Lorkhaj". Except when the children were forced into Lorkhaj’s place, it doesn’t say who was and who wasnt in there; that means the Second Litter (like the Daedra) are in there too. Now the story’s getting pretty unique.

After this,

The children of Fadomai tore out the Heart of Lorkhaj and hid it deep within Nirni. And they said, “We curse you, noisy Lorkhaj, to walk Nirni for many phases."

That last bit being a very likely reference to Shezzarines, in which case begs the question of whether Khajiit see Shezzarines like most do, or whether they think they’re literally Lorkhaj reincarnate and walking Nirni. It’s up to interpretation IMO as we really don’t have enough on the topic.

Going through what’s next would just be retelling the story. Azurah uses the First Secret to get through Jone and Jode; makes Khajiit with many shapes for every purpose; tells them the Second Secret (literally the value of secrets); and then says the Third Secret and down comes the moon sugar.

Now a bit we can really look into is Y’ffre being pissed and yelling out the First Secret to everyone bar Lorkhaj and Ahnurr. This being particularly interesting because it implies that the children couldn’t actually reach Nirni before due to Jone and Jode. Likewise, perhaps with all of the children being stuck in Nirni’s space now they could also get out, supposedly what the Second Litter did and the First decided against. Y’ffre then makes Bosmer and Nirni turns cat-land into horribly hot deserts and poisnous jungles.

Interestingly, the First Secret is one word, likely Ehlnofex. I wonder if we’ll ever get to hear that word.

Because of the length of this, Varieties of Faith will be done in the next issue.

[0]: https://www.imperial-library.info/content/words-clan-mother-ahnissi-her-favored-daughter [1]: https://old.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/1eb00m/the_thread_of_alkosh_or_choose_your_own_timegod/