The Manifest Machine

Regulus Tarquin, Scholar for the Arcane University, Late Third Era (approximate date unknown).

The idea of an ancient machine that can resurrect the dead will surely sound like a red flag subject for a Mage’s Guild member to entertain, but I can assure those who read these notes that I am merely studying the philosophy and practicality of such an endeavour; I do not intend to seek out such an artefact for any other reason than the purely academic, and the idea of keeping such an artefact out of the hands of those who wish to use it for nefarious purposes. That being said, here is my disclaimer: I do not wish to use the machine.

The first mention of this subject was a in a book that was delivered to me on a brisk Frostfall morning last year. The book in question was a research journal by an ex-colleague, (Voryth Ulven of the Balmora Mage’s guild on Vvardenfell, who had died of Ataxia some months before I received it) on lesser known and theoretical Dwemer technology. It contained a wealth of information and schematics for the everyday, mundane machines the Dwemer might possibly have used for, say, personal hygiene, or pruning subterranean flora, but the more interesting information was classified by Voryth under Undiscovered — Evidence Exists.

There was only one entry under this heading, dubbed by Voryth as The Manifest Machine. Voryth, in his meticulous obsessive-compulsive need to be thorough, had drawn a very rough, annotated sketch of a Dwemer device: A plate fastened to a stand with wires protruding from the edges at regular intervals. In the centre of the plate was a miniature circular step-pyramid, ending in an aperture. To the left of the plate, he had drawn another similar object, this time a cylindrical ring instead of a plate. On the top of the ring were what looked like shackles.

In his words:

The device I have christened The Manifest Machine appears to be a device that can return an aethereal soul to its body. I theorize the receptacle (body) would be held to the receiver ring via shackles while aperture returns the soul to the body, possibly employing the Dwemer trademarked Tonal Manipulation. I haven’t heard much about Dwemer Necromancy, or even if they truly practised it at all. This could be groundbreaking.

I hope to be able to continue my investigation, as the implications of a successful resurrection of a conscious being, rather than a mindless thrall, are too important to overlook.