The Library of Dusk: "Grimoire" by Corvus Direnni

As described but not detailed in ESO. >__

Grimoire

By Corvus Direnni

Spell Secrets of the Mighty Conjurer >__

“Piercing the Veil of Oblivion is like lighting a vast fire in a forest at night. At first, the warmth and light generated by the flames are a great comfort to the nervous heart. But the flame serves a darker purpose, as it alerts one’s place of rest to a great manner of curious, hostile beasts; simply extinguishing the embers will not save you, for now the beasts have your scent and only blind luck and the gods can protect you as you wander through the darkness alone and vulnerable. And because of your careless actions, these beasts can now follow you home and devour not only yourself but also your friends, your family – everything you hold dear piece by piece until nothing of them remains.”

Ten years has passed since I spoke those words to our mother and father (and our mother’s mother and our father’s father along with the rest of the Clan), yet Calani remembers them as if the day was only yesterday. On that day I proclaimed Conjuration the most dangerous of the Arcane Arts, and began laying down the foundations and borders of its proper use and teachings. Trafficking with the entities we refer to as the Daedra must be made not only more efficient, but also safer in order to keep the rifts in the Liminal Barrier from widening any further.

While Aetherius is far from the outstretched hands of mortals and nearly impossible to access, it is almost disturbing how easy it is to tickle the fantasy of any one of the innumerable Daedric Planes with one’s fingers. Worse yet, those fingers can be grasped tightly by the inhabitants of those planes and the unlucky will soon find themselves wandering the backpaths of Oblivion lost and tortured for all eternity. For as long as there has been Reverence for the Aedra, there has always been whispers of the Daedra permeating the mortal minds of weak mer, men, and betmer.

The greatest mistake of the First Conjurers, our Aldmeri Ancestors whose names go unwritten in history’s annuals, were that they often pursued the Daedra through their eldritch portals – their minds corrupted with lies and half-truths of power and wealth beyond their dreams – without thinking of the consequences of leaving such portals opened. Before the Rebellion of that upstart Nede girl (who would go on to make Covenant with Auri-El and create the grand Dragonfires that reinforce the Liminal Barrier), Mundus and Oblivion were free to interact with one another frequently. Lesser Daedra were summoned with dangerous rites, rites that decayed the land and sickened the wind. So much of their energy drained into Nirn that permanent gateways between our world and Oblivion (Calani has decided to call them “Doors of Oblivion”) opened permanently. Although these gateways can and probably will become even more dangerous than they already are sometime in the future, it is through the vestigial energies that they release that Conjuration spell-weaving is able to work.

Before attempting any manipulation of vestigial chaotic creatia, it is wise to remember the Three Enactments of Daedric Summoning, for without them one will cause the Seventeen Laws of the Daedra Holds to become unbound in their incantations. Here are they written again, as unchanged as they were the first time I inscribed them in front of the Psijic Order and the Gwylim University.

The First Rite: Before attempting to summon any form of Lesser Daedra, Daedric Construct, or Artificial Oblivion Apparatus it is wise to undergo some form of mental meditation before stabilizing them in this plane. When a Conjurer summons an entity from the Second Void, a mental connection is established between the them that results in the summoned entity being unable to harm its summoner (but only if the ritual was performed in the right fashion, of course) as well as the summoner being able to instantly give the entity orders without having to verbally converse. It is similar to telepathy, except that once the spell wears off the link is broken. However, if the summoner has a weak mind it is highly possible for the Daedric being to overpower them so that their roles are reversed during its brief time in Mundus…or cause the instant death of the conjurer instead. I have also theorized that the entity could firmly take the mortal’s place in the Mundus if the summoner is sent to Oblivion at the end of the conjuration ritual, but Calani advises me to leave out any conjecture in my writings.

The Second Rite: There is practically no such thing as a ‘stupid’ Daedra, regardless of what most individuals think. Yes, while some of Oblivion’s residents can be in fact classified as mindless entities, the majority are actually quite intelligent even if they are not able to purvey their thoughts in a more intelligible manner. Their knowledge is more shown through their personality than anything else. Even the lowliest scamp can have the wisdom of a Dremora, and a Dremora can even have the cunning and power of a Daedric Prince – the Hierarchy of Oblivion is less established on who is able to think better than who, but more centered around who is able to take control and organize their peers. The only exceptions to this rule may be the Princes, who were the first to realize the disorderliness of the Second Void and create the incalculable and indecipherable caste system of the Daedra after Creation. As my sister writes in her book, “The Waters of Oblivion”:

> An hundred and twenty numbered ages in the void that fated folk had grown deep-schooled in evil. Then the Bright Gods resolved to punish those faithless spirits, and shatter the unruly caitiffs, those huge, unholy scathers, loathsome to the Light. They repented exceedingly that they had gazed upon Oblivion, and seen there the first of dark kin, and welcomed them as brothers and sisters. > > The Principalities of Victory beheld how great was the wickedness of the wayward spirits, and saw that they were bold in sin and full of wiles. They resolved then to chasten the tribes of daedra, and smite darkkind with hammer and hand. > > But ever shall Darkness contest the Light, and great were the Powers that breathed the void and laid waste upon one another, and no oath might bind them, so deep were they in envy and perfidy. For once the portals are opened, who shall shut them upon the rising tide?

The Third Rite: As the Daedra can only corrupt, and not create, it is best not to leave them to their own devices when giving them orders and make sure to make your instructions as precise as you possibly can. I have argued with several scholars about the Denizens of Oblivion and their ability to actually create something new; at first glance it does seem that the politically-powerful Princes are able to create worlds in the palm of their hand, but when further looked at these worlds are simply bizarre and twisted manifestations of our own. Everything in Oblivion is merely a deranged copy of what has stood, is standing, and will stand on Nirn – from its esoteric architecture to its exotic flora and fauna to the very forms the Daedra choose to appear to us as.

Now, move on to the chapter where I discuss how Necromancy relates to the Art of Conjuration (or ‘The Seven Edicts of Proper Soul Rituals’), and how through intense study I discerned that it actually uses more aetherial energy from the stars instead of vestigial energy from the Doors of Oblivion. If this relates to the nature of mortal souls and the Pact of Creation, I have yet to discover[…]