Exegesis of the Thirty Six Lessons of UR

We must begin by emphasizing that the study of the so called "Thirty Six Lessons of UR" only comes after significant petition to the Grand Inquisitor of the Ministry of Truth, our own most high Armiger Grand Marshal Omayn, and a period of intimate endeavoring with the Bifold Vehk and Vehk. All three assented to our request after deep consensus on our loyalty and faith to the Three. We extend our thanks, beyond words, to our betters for permitting our request and believing in the efficacy of our conviction.

The original text was found during the Second Preserveration of the Incarnate's March in the ruins of Vemynal. A pilgrimage that I myself led and claimed two armigers. It has since been attributed to Dagoth Soler, one of the few remaining of the Sixth House who are lost to us. Thus began our interest with the document. It was left for us to consider, yet left by an enemy. The need to tread lightly was of the utmost importance and it is only through extensive trust and access to much of the Temple's documents that I am able to offer even a cursory examination.

Thus, we begin our exegesis of the six hundred and sixty six words left to us by the Sempiternal Dancer of the Tilted Science.

-Senior Armiger Felaren Hlerano

>Lesson One: Pain. You know nothing of it and so we grant you this lesson. Feel the pain of sundering and know some measure of truth. May your bones be ash and your blood flames. May your teeth be daggers and your tongue a snake. May your eyes be muddied water. Do so and you might one day known heaven.

Each lesson begins with an abstraction, the first being the most direct. It is also the longest of the verses. This can only stress its overall importance; indeed, it is prime among other messages and prime among the philosophy of the Sixth House. Pain, from the lesson, we come to understand as a changing force. A necessary resultant of a transformation which leads to some for of ascension. After much thought, it is the opinion of this scholar that the verse refers to embracing the Sharmatic disease once known as Corprus. If this hypothesis is true, it would appear the Sixth House stressed it as a required step towards divinity.

>Lesson Two: Sound. Ever beating, the Doom Drum. Listen keenly. Understand that music ends where it begins. Learn your cadence and then learn the refusal of music. For aurals made keen can do little else.

The use of the term "Doom Drum" is a clear reference to Lorkhan, the trickster who created mortality. Extrapolating the notion of a drumbeat, we come to the tale of Trinimac's removal of Lorkhan's Heart. We are then drawn to the tale of Red Mountain and the folly of the Dwemer but for purposes that remain unclear to us. Perhaps they serve as a warning. There is also the suggestion of a cyclical nature to sound and "aurals made keen" that implies a fatalistic belief in the affairs of the world. However, the message to "learn your cadence" and refuse music appears to be a command, perhaps by the Sharmat himself, to stand firmly against the idea of fate.

>Lesson Three: Steel. Temper yourself as you would a blade. Become a walking forge.

It is hard for us to believe that this lesson is not from the Ash Mender himself, known as he is for his ability to forge near perfect blades. In this case, the blade is the self, which must be maintained through continual trial. To become a walking forge seems to apply to matters of will power and self determinance. Look for flaws and mend them. This lesson comes passing strange for the Sixth House which appeared, at least outwardly, to embrace decay.

>Lesson Four: Ash. Break yourself down into powder and then learn to walk. Then, forever walk like a god.

Here the previous lesson is elucidated through the application of the next. If the third lesson is a command to be mindful of the self and build it up, the fourth is meant to extol the virtue of first enduring hardship of a most severe quality. This likely ties into the lesson of Pain. We begin to paint a picture of the Sixth House's path to divinity. One must break themselves, embrace the suffering therein, and then prove strong enough to recover if they wish to move closer to godliness.

>Lesson Five: Joy. Embrace your fragile nature. All things valuable are able to be broken. Examine the effect of wind on stone.

Without a doubt, the lessons build on each other in this first section and we get a clear confirmation of my previous extrapolation. The Sixth House scorns perfection in favor of a sort of cleansing decay.

>Lesson Six: Leather. Tear your skin and invite the biting air. Then, skin your brother.

This is actually the first "Lesson Six". There are two. Which makes the so called Thirty Six Lessons a lie. They are thirty seven if the each of the double six is counted as one. In the case of this lesson, we have a clear message to spread the teaching of the Sixth House to others. We offer the suggestion that this lesson also speaks of the necessity to spread the Corprus.

>Lesson Six: Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Survive. Six times will make it so.

The purpose of the double six comes to light in this passage. Mathematics is of grave importance to the Sixth House and there is an associated magical efficacy given to the number. A fellow scholar has suggested that the double six is little more than a mistake on the part of the author but we contest that suggestion. It seems clear to us that any usage of the hexad signifies a matter of grave importance.

>Lesson Seven: Royalty. Melt down crowns. Feed the mixture to the king.

It is tempting to suggest that this is a mere comment on iconoclasm or strict social strata but that notion cannot hold up long considering the Sixth House's strict emphasis on roles and duties. It is our supposition that this lesson is meant to be applied to those outside of the House. Entities such as the Temple and dynasties like that of the Septims. A call to tear down society much like the other lessons call for a sundering of the self. Yet, it is important to note that notion of a king appears later on, apparently in reference to the Sharmat himself.

>Lesson Eight: Death. If you wish to die, try to wake up. Fail. If the sum of the equation does not add up, you will truly know nothingness.

This remains one of the most elusive lessons within the text and we struggle greatly to provide a succinct explanation to its meaning. Conversation with the Bifold has led us to belief this is a reference to the Endeavor but our lord, in his wisdom, would not elaborate further.

>Lesson Nine: Patience. Mountains will always surpass your efforts. Yet, even mountains can erupt in anger.

We are granted, fortunately, with a rather direct lesson in this case. While it is possible to be patient, the individual is limited when compared to creation. Yet, the Blighted Remantler takes time to note that even nature is imperfect. Not knowing the Sixth House's beliefs regarding Nirn and the Aurbis makes this comment problematic to say the least.

>Lesson Ten: Multiplication. Understand the importance of three. Then double that knowledge. Welcome seven hundred and twenty.

This is another reference to the number six. We presume three is meant to invoke ALMSIVI but that the doubling implies the belief in the Sharmat's supremacy. Seven hundred and twenty is the hexad degree, again stressing the Sixth House'a dominance.

>Lesson Eleven: Gold. Make it into armor. Give it to your foe. This is the purest application of guile that might ever occur.

A direct lesson on the value of subterfuge. What the Sixth House values is immaterial.

>Lesson Twelve: Souls. Keep your own in a cage but do not lock it. The ambitious will reach for your soul. The useless will let it be. Befriend the untrustworthy.

One of the more problematic lessons. There is a value placed on individuals with ambition but the notion of a soul cage provides difficulty. Peers suggest this is a reference to soul gems yet I remain unconvinced. Taking into account the next lesson, I believe this is literal and that those touched by the Sharmat could interact directly with each other's souls.

>Lesson Thirteen: Magic. What we know as magic is little more than ego given application. The soul’s calculus.

Thus follows my justification for my analysis of the previous lesson. Magic is said to be the soul's calculus, sprung from the ego of the individual. It is an extension of the soul itself and does not come from an external source. Therefore, I hypothesize that members of the Sixth House shared souls to power their magical endeavors. This could explain the abundance of Dreamers; living soul factories.

>Lesson Fourteen: Plots. Eschew them. Reject the catalyst. Reverse the formula.

This appears, at first, to be a contradiction of lesson eleven but examination suggest it is advice on how to avoid the folly of trust. It remains unclear what it means to "reverse the formula" but we posit that it refers to how Sharmatic magic functions. Without a detailed treatise, however, we cannot begin to grasp the nature of anathemathematics.

>Lesson Fifteen: Princes. Speak their name they are undone. Even Princes bow to a king.

This appears to be a lesson on how to deal with daedric princes. We presume the Sharmat is the king in this lesson but not the king in lesson seven. To gain insight, we deferred to the wisdom of Divayth Fyr who seems eminently confident this is a lesson on protonymics.

>Lesson Sixteen: Humility. Anathema to progress. You may either languish in your timorousness or thrive in self love. You are. Everything else is not.

This lesson is another of the document's most direct. A glorification of the ego, it calls on members of the Sixth House to reject all but themselves. We admit to some confusion as to what this means for their relationship to the Sharmat.

>Lesson Seventeen: Heart. Ignore the noise.

An apparent connection to lesson two and the reference to the Doom Drum but it may also be interpreted as a damning of conscience.

>Lesson Eighteen: Dreams. Six times will make them so. But they are slippery as worms and die as easily. It is easier to dive through a star than it is to dream six times straight.

There is a possible connection to the affliction suffered by the so called Dreamers within this lesson but the value of the number six also brings to mind tales of prominent members of the Sixth House. Dagoth Nilor could lie so perfectly that his falsehoods were given physical presence on Nirn. Is this a subset of the power of dreams? We cannot say but it is clear that dreaming "six times straight" is a feat of note.

>Lesson Nineteen: Terror. It is also known as silence and will always follow you.

This seems to be a natural result of applying lesson seventeen. Ignoring the music of the heart leads to perpetual terror. This is offered as a positive.

>Lesson Twenty: Age. The when matter less than the where.

We admit that this passage marks the turn in the lessons where our ability to divine meaning begins to waver. This is either a literal reference to a person's age or a reference to eras. Regardless, it is hard to discern what this has to do with location and geography.

>Lesson Twenty One: Shadow. Note how even the darkest brothers have black hands.

We have been instructed by our Bifold lord to offer no elaboration on this passage on penalty of death.

>Lesson Twenty Two: Clocks. Compare to a heart. Know that one is stronger than the other.

Immediately there is a question of if this passage refers to our Clockwork lord Sotha Sil but it is unclear which of the two entities is considered stronger out of the heart or the clock. Given its prevalence elsewhere, we humbly suggest that, for the Sixth House, it is the heart.

>Lesson Twenty Three: Coal. Bathe in it daily.

Another obscure lesson which we believe is tied to the lesson of pain. Yet, this makes it seem redundant. Without knowing the significance of coal to the Sixth House, it remains nearly impossible to derive true meaning from this lesson.

>Lesson Twenty Four: Jungles. What they are is not what they were.

Among the most difficult of the passages. Vehk and Vehk referred us to his twelfth sermon. This proved moderately sufficient for us to understand there is a connection to royalty. It is possibly a lesson, once again, about the power of a king but what form that power takes, we are not certain.

>Lesson Twenty Five: Towers. Fear not that they might fall. We can build more.

Extensive conversation with Vehk and Vehk alongside Divayth Fyr elucidated us to the nature of the Towers. A most interesting knowledge that many are ignorant of. The Sixth House did not fear their collapse and the ramifications therein but believed they might hold up the world with their own creations. We make the bold assertion that this was one of the purposes of the Akulakhan, besides mere conquest.

>Lesson Twenty Six: Sun. Someone put her in a box. She was once a queen. Do not court her.

This remains the one lesson we have no hypothesis for. The Sun is the abstract of the lesson, referring to a woman. Who this woman is, we cannot say. Our best postulations are Azura, whose sphere is that of Dawn and Dusk or Meridia, the Lady of Infinite Energies.

>Lesson Twenty Seven: Words. Mere conventions. Truth defies words. Quantities are estimations.

A surprisingly succinct message that almost serves to undermine the lessons themselves. Words are insufficient to express the realities that surround us.

>Lesson Twenty Eight: Sets. Are always empty with no exception.

This is another difficult lesson to extrapolate. In anathema thematic, there are null sets of negligibility. How this applies to the mathmagicks of the Sixth House is entirely indiscernible to us. Perhaps a method of anti-creation?

>Lesson Twenty Nine: Voice. Few truly have spoken. If you wish to speak, the mouth is the worst messenger.

A stressing of the value of action over the value of words.

>Lesson Thirty: Choice. The denominator is ten.

Seemingly a lesson meant to applied in conjuncture with lesson ten in order to reach the number six.

>Lesson Thirty One: Mercy. A multheaded beast. Leave only one.

An odd call for restraint against the enemies of the Sixth House. The Nerevarine notes that in their journey, the were often treated with hospitality by the Hexad Lords.

>Lesson Thirty Two: Expansion. Do not wait for the gods. You have the toolset. Use it.

A call for creation and the application of individual skills. The skillsets of the Sixth House were varied and experimentation was encouraged, by all records we could find.

>Lesson Thirty Three: Paradoxes. Everything is a lie until you see it. Once seen, it is still a lie.

A comment on the illusory nature of the world. Seemingly at odds with other lessons but the more we delve into the philosophy of the Sixth House, the more it becomes clear that they believe themselves an extension of something called UR. Seemingly, they believe they are merely aspects of the Sharmat? This line of inquiry requires more investigation.

>Lesson Thirty Four: Emptiness. _.

Presumably connected to lesson twenty eight and the associated magicks.

>Lesson Thirty Five: Foolishness. Do not challenge a smith with a blade.

I remain convinced this is a message from Soler himself about hunting down the rest of the Sharmat's servants.

>Lesson Thirty Six: Mathematics. Learn your numbers. Seek patterns. All things have patterns. They are the only true thing you will ever find.

A stressing of the power of math, which can then be applied to the lessons as see above. There is the impaction that the world contains explicit patterns and values. We are led to assume the prevalence of six within the document is a none too subtle revelation of the most important pattern to observe.

Therein ends my analysis, meager as it is. The minds of the Sharmat's slaves and their House is obscure to the point of nonsense yet there are pockets of understandable sanity to their madness. It is our hope that these observances will lead us to understand our foe, so that we might eliminate them with greater ease.