The Seed of Matter

For years now, our scientists have pierced into the natural laws of our world and unwound the mysteries of our world, Mundus. We have seen the yolk and the shell, but now that we have pierced into the heart of the one whom the superstitious claim created us all, the entire sphere, and set everything into motion, the one known as Lorkhan, we have learned some of what makes the sphere of creation tick, what gears work to keep things going and how they were crafted and set in motion. Now we have seen the outer shell, and many are offended by what they see.

Many, including even Kagrenac, though wise he may be, have been fooled by the inherent contradiction of the outer shell. They believe that because the world around us is not, therefore we are not. They have seen that we are but a thought, and in this realization, they believe that we aren’t and are but a fantasy. These wise fools then go on to say that we must use the organ of life that once belonged to the one who created the sphere to bring us out of the yolk. This is not only a false belief, but a dangerous one, destined to fail.

Some have taken to the belief of “we are not” with the vigor of those mer of the yellow skin, who zealously cling to their old ways of giving divinity to their elders simply for no longer walking among us in the physical world, or the other mer far to the west, who believe we should venerate the “divine” who supposedly created all things, when we know this not to be entirely true. They have turned reason into religion, and have become a cult themselves. I will now take the time to explain to these religious fanatics of the “we are not” cult why they are destined to fail.

First, we must realize the implications of using the heart of what many consider a god to take us back to the beginning. The way that the high architects plan on doing this is to create a physical form surrounding the heart, and, with the power of tens of thousands of Dwemer, to deny the very thing the heart’s former owner thought, or created. They have foolishly come up with this plan without proper research, and have rushed to conclusions. With growing tensions with the men of the North West they have not done enough scientific studies on the heart, and have done very little on the former owner of it.

This may seem unscientific when you first look at it; the study of a supposed divine, something many would consider the work of a religion, but read my reasoning. Though reality may not be real, the heart is physical, and its very existence implies the existence of the one to whom it belonged to. Even if that being is considered by some to be divine, would it not be logical to dive further into the study of what is said about this being? Would it not stand to reason to study the writings and beliefs of those who venerate this being, and to throw off the outer shell of superstition to expose the yolk of truth that lies underneath? To truly understand the heart, it would be wise to understand the body the heart once belonged to, especially since many are planning to create a new body surrounding it.

I have delved into some of the writings surrounding the one called “Lorkhan”, and have discovered something interesting. We may not want to admit it, but what we have discovered in the brief time of the last 500 years or so, has already been discovered by this one the superstitious call divine, or at the very least has been written about this being by some of the ones we have regarded as fools. This “Lorkhan” has also supposedly pierced into the void, the vast nothingness that is true reality, the “is not”. And it is here that we come to a dilemma. How, I ask you, can a being see that everything is not, and yet still be? This is a perplexing phenomenon, and something many of our own who would see it (if they took the time to study “superstitious” beliefs, which they don’t) would regard as a fallacy typical of the primitive beliefs of the other races, who don’t possess the ability to reason like our own. We must see past our prejudice, and as I wrote before, pierce the shell of superstition to see the yolk of truth beneath.

What realization would “Lorkhan” come to in order to not only continue his belief in his existence afterwards, but to supposedly create a new layer of existence under his own (though with the help of the other “divines” he supposedly tricked)? I propose that this being looked at the void, and at first hastily came to the conclusion we did, “all is not”. But afterwards, there must have been something that triggered a thought that is the foundation of all our logic, and thus all our civilization for thousands of years. This thought is as follows, “I reason, therefore I am.” This thought, that reason and thought is the basis of all reality, that everything in existence can be reasoned with, explained, and eventually through this process, molded and hammered into shape by the one who reasoned, is something we Dwemer have championed for time immemorial. This explains why he was not only able to maintain his form in the face of the void, but also why he supposedly created our sphere of existence, Mundus, in the first place.

“Lorkhan” at that moment saw existence much as a Dwemer sees existence, something that is describable in reasonable terms and therefore able to be manipulated to their whim. He had seen the something, or the maybe that he came from, and then saw the nothing that was outside of it. It is therefore ironic that a supposed god and that god’s followers would be able to reason more than my fellow Dwemer. It is understandable though. As our scientists pierced into the heart of said “god” and saw the void, everything we have stood for since we began keeping record has come undone. Our belief that everything is describable through reason is contradicted by the fact that reality isn’t real. Perhaps we Dwemer have come to the point which other races had reached before us; not knowing what to make of the world around us and thus creating elaborate fictions to describe reality. Our race’s most recent elaborate fiction is that we are not, since everything is not. This, though an anti-thesis to the beliefs of the superstitious, is itself almost as ignorant a belief and just as dangerous as the cults that surround us.

The goal of our recent great endeavor, is to bring our race back to the beginning, and this is a grand idea with a decent amount of reason and research to back it up, but a decent amount of research just doesn’t do the job. You cannot forge a masterpiece of armor or a nearly flawless hammer made of our metal with the metallurgic knowledge of one of the lesser races. This is exactly what Dwemer like Kagrenac are doing, attempting to build a divine suit of armor using nearly divine tools with the “metallurgic” knowledge of a Dwemer. Though we as a race like to boast, we are not yet knowledgeable enough in the ways of the “divine” to actually achieve something akin to divinity. We haven’t even carried our own thought process through almost to the end like “Lorkhan” supposedly did in the tale of before creation. “Lorkhan” succeeded in forging a new creation out of his inherently Dwemer thought process, and I fear our potential creation will fail to be as stable as the one he supposedly created.

Imagine a giant suit of armor, worn by the entire Dwemer race, with the belief of the “we are not” cult. It would be an ignorant religious fanatic with the power of a god, something worse than the Daedra and Aedra. If this “god” mantled by our entire race were to use this dangerous belief with divine powers, it could do to Mundus what the first discovery of the nothing did to our belief in reason, unravel it until it is but a husk of what it once was. I propose that instead of going forward with our plan to mantle this colossus with our current knowledge, we devote time to learning more about the main power source of it, and indeed, the colossus it used to inhabit. I and my colleagues have spent numerous years studying this, regrettably in secret due to it’s controversy, but there is yet much to be discovered. We know what thought process “Lorkhan” had that supposedly enabled him to continue to be in the presence of nothing and then create another state of being, but we still know not what triggered the thought in the first place, nor what the full implications of said thought would be. I request more research to be done on this topic before we continue.

Furthermore, I implore Kagrenac, who is wise, and has a dedication to the Dwemeri unseen in many others, to not go through with his plan to create the Numidium without further study. If you truly want what is best for your people, do not let them mantle a new “god” until this cult-like belief in the “we are not” dies down, for the sake of the Dwemer people. We could potentially undo ourselves and no longer be the bastion of reason Mundus so desperately needs.

-Betham Nchurthumz: Arch Scholar on Studies of the Other Races.