Echmer Theologica, Volume I

ECHMERI THEOLOGICA: A METICULOUS DISCOURCE ON BAT ELVEN FAITH, CIRCA 3E 426

FOREWORD & TREATISE I: A SURVEY ON ECHMER MYTHIC HISTORY

BROTHER WARDEIN OF THE IMPERIAL COLLEGE

(FOREWORD AND ANNOTATIONS IN BRACKETS BY AZARIAS, ECHMER SAGE)

####Mundus Mysterium: A Foreword The ‘faith’ of the Echmer people, my people, greatly differs from the faiths that can be found in Tamriel. One might not even call it a faith at all, but instead a philosophy or way of life. My race spent the first centuries of our existence as students of a now extinct race, whose ideals and customs we have both adopted and adapted to form the core ideas of our ideology. Our Begetters, the Dwemer, were not very interested in theological pursuits (or at least, not in the conventional sense that most scholars from the Starry Heart are accustomed to), which resulted in my people’s ancestors keeping such unimportant matters in the back of the Echmeri psyche. We simply respected the Genius Loci, the ‘gods’, but did not worship them. We revere our ancestors, but did not worship them either.

But perceptions change as time passes by. When Hrahndeyl ascended to the ranks of the ATEDA, what the Tamrielics call the et’Ada, he changed the entire Echmeri view on matters both mortal and divine. His teachings introduced new practices, new mindsets, and we accepted them. For the first time our race had a true connection with the immortals. The monstrosity LYEDNHARH also came to be known, but we do not speak of him. The Elementalists of Mustikos’arcere have their own beliefs, as do our distant kin on the island of Morubixaba. Yes, perceptions always seem to change.

When Brother Wardein, a devout Imperial believer in the ‘Nine Divines’, approached me with the concept of this book I’ll admit…I was skeptical on its nature. What use could this tome be for Tamrielic theologians? Would they ponder the mindset of my people, using it to judge and scorn us? We do not fear certain things like you Tamrielics do; it is not our way. But then I realized that perhaps this tome was necessary. Not to mock, sway, or disapprove…but to accept.

It is hard for my people to accept new things. But things are not like the way they used to be. Once we would have struck out against any and all foreigners; now Tamrielics walk on our soil, eat in our houses, and play with our children. This is something my kind has grown to accept, even if all of us have not grown to enjoy it. So I agreed to help Brother Wardein write this tome, for I think it is time we learned to accept that we are truly not alone in this world. And whereas we seek to understand all things, some just seek to better understand us. Enjoy your reading.

Azarias, Echmer Sage 8th of Sun’s Dusk 3E 426

####Treatise I: A Survey on Echmer Mythic History

Echmer religious ideology has changed overtime to accommodate the evolution of their culture, of which faith (both overtly and in its unspoken assumptions) is an index of these changes. In some cases, derived from surviving ancient texts, these changes also serve political measures^1, but that is attested by certain individuals both native and foreign.

>[1. By political I assume that Brother Wardein refers to the Echmeri government, the Council of Dull Chimes, modifying certain aspects of Echmer life. If I am correct in this assumption than that is certainly a falsehood. If by political he refers to cultural changes, insurgencies, and foreign invasions than I can argue that his statement has much more air to glide on.]

The Protoechi, the name the Echmer use to refer to their foremost ancestors, originally followed the esoteric belief system of the Noraken Clan of Dwemer, which settled Yneslea during the early First Era. Much of these beliefs have been kept sacred to the heart of the Echmeri people to this day, but at some point in history the Protoechi began to develop separate views from their Dwarven masters^2. These views would later solidify into the modern religion of the Bat Elves. A chief dissimilarity was that while the Protoechi still believed in the (almost blasphemous) Dwemer view that the gods were merely powerful beings – neither above nor below mortals but on the same level of existence – they also believed that they should be respected3, contrasting against the Dwarves’ complete admonition and scorn for both the Aedra and Daedra.

>[2. This marked the emergence of ‘true’ Echmer sentience; from obedient slave race to disobedient house vassals.]

>[3. In my people’s philosophy it is taught that if one cannot respect others than they hold no true respect for themselves. We even respect our enemies – the people we hate – when they best us or lose to us; because of this there is no reason for us to openly disrespect the Genius Loci like the Dwemer once did.]

A strange concept that the Dwarves were said to idolize was ‘world-refusal’, which stated that the entirety of the Aurbis was unreal and merely imaginative. This is of course foolish and wrong, but the attitude seems to have left a massive – but interestingly different – mark on Echmer religion. The Bat Elven ideology firmly states that the Aurbis is saturated with suffering and that only the spirit and soul of an individual actually exists, with everything else being described as a ‘highly realistic illusion’^4 and that life is meaningless. This seems to relate to the merish ideal concept of ‘Aurbical Prison’, where the universe was a trap created by the deity known as Lorkhan.

>[4. This notion, while beginning life as a fledging idea of our ancestors, did not become universally accepted by the whole Echmer race until Hrahndeyl apotheosized as HRAHNDEYL in 1E 775. As a mortal he was recorded as having been very interested in the concept, and his teachings heavily involve it.]

It is unknown if the Dwemer practiced some derivative of traditional Aldmeri Ancestor Worship, but it is known that the Protoechi began to practice such beliefs themselves before the Deep Folk disappeared; small stone statues and shrines of unknown Protoechi individuals have been recovered from their ruins deep in the Dweech, usually inscribed with morals for young ones in the ancient Echmer language. Several Protoechi texts involve invocations for these figures when performing a specific task relating to them, hinting that these ancestors achieved permanence (at least, for the Protoechi) in the early Echmeri Pantheon^5.

>[5. Actually, the Protoechi had no true pantheon – or at least their writings do not indicate a congregation of entities they acknowledged. These individuals were most likely well known figures that the Protoechi admired and therefore venerated in secret to avoid Dwarven persecution.]

Although most would not care to admit this^6 the Echmer faith was unintentionally altered by the Hyu-Ket. The simple chitin goblins are strong believers in nature spirits and magicks, and to appease their new workforce the bat elves allowed them to continue certain aspects of those cultural beliefs. Although most Echmer live lives underground they are in fact great admirers of nature and several slavedrivers became familiar with the Hyu-Ketic nature principles while overseeing slave work. Eventually the entire race adopted a slight fervor for nature spirits, developing a non-hostile, respectful, and inquisitive view of the mysterious beings.

>[6. Although Echmer history with the Hyu-Ket has been both peaceful, bloody, shameful, and exciting up into modern times, the Echmer are not so haughty as to not acknowledge our goblin neighbors.]

When HRAHNDEYL, Echmeri god-hero and chief^7 of their pantheon, ascended into godhood a religious reform occurred amongst the Bat Elven race. His teachings of kuklos (world-rhythms/cycles), ceremonial purification, spiritual enlightenment/illumination, respect for memory, and the belief that all things hold untapped power were almost immediately adopted into traditional Echmer customs.

>[7. HRAHNDEYL is actually not the chief of our ‘pantheon’ as Brother Wardein states. The Echmer do not recognize a need for a primary or head figure amongst the ATEDA.]

A lot of Bat Elven religious information, whether ancient or modern, mainly comes from literature and oral traditions, which the Echmer have a great fondness for. The race is known for their captivating parables, poesies, legends, fables, allegories, anecdotes, folk stories, and especially their sagas and epics; with them they create ‘story-cycles’ or ‘theological chronology’. Thus Echmer faith unfolds in phases detailing the development of the Aurbis, Nirn, the et’Ada, and mortals. Due to historical accuracy being held in high-esteem amongst the Echmer a somewhat approximate chronology can be discerned, only hampered by the Ynesleaic archipelago’s isolation from the other landmasses of Nirn for the majority of its existence. The resulting history of Yneslea may be divided into four main categories^8:

1. Genesis (Cosmogonies; theogonies; geneagonies): Stories about the origin of the outer realms, the gods, the world, mortals (specifically the Echmer and Hyu-Ket), magic, and the early interactions between the Echmer and their deities.
2. Thesis (Morals; teachings): Stories where philosophical lessons are taught to avoid unneeded conflict, strife, shame, and humility. Usually directed towards children.
3. Antithesis (Wars; invasions): Stories about Echmer interactions with their enemies, both foreign and domestic, usually in verse to describe great triumphs or devastating failures.
4. Synthesis (Ancestors; heroes): Stories where divine activity is much more limited, resulting in a focus on ancestors, heroes, demigods, and even villains instead. Extends to and includes the infamous Hero Cults of Yneslea.

While the first three categories have often been the most interesting to contemporary students of myth, Echmer have a clear preference for the stories detailing the lives of their ancestors more than the others, with these tales often dwarfing the more god-focused and war-focused stories in both size and popularity.

>[8. These four categories are not openly acknowledged by the Echmer and is a Tamrielic construction. Admittedly however it does serve a nice purpose of neatly grouping our narratives together.]