Kalpas as failed Amaranths Part III: Mankar Camoran, the Anuad, and conclusion
###Mankar Camoran
The Fall of Lyg was an event that took place in the last Kalpa. Lyg was a continent ruled by the dreughs, who were said to have a kingdom long before the start of the First Era. Mankar's Mythic Dawn Commentaries describe much of the Fall of Lyg in detail.
>[M]ay the holder of the fourth key know the heart thereby: the Mundex Terrene was once ruled over solely by the tyrant dreugh-kings, each to their own dominion, and borderwars fought between their slave oceans. They were akin to the time-totems of old, yet evil, and full of mockery and profane powers. No one that lived did so outside of the sufferance of the dreughs. [Commentaries]
In the fourth chapter, Mankar Camoran tells us about a time when Mundus was once ruled by the dreughs. They are “akin to the time-totems of old,” which is likely a reference to the Ehlnofey of the Dawn Era. This is supported in How Beautiful You Are That You Do Not Join Us:
>and these are warnings older than the Inner Sea, heeded by the wise, who have seen the coeval crawl forth from the untrustworthy oceans time and time, as from the sediment-memory, warnings older than even the West itself, which was not West yet but the left lung of Aurbis and Old Ehlnofey, alike as during the first of the Altmeri formwars, when as glorious dreughs we fell on the meatmerchants of Thras like loss to split their immutables and render their rude- walking slow, into faces tracing back into misdesigned corals and sandplay AE ALTADOON GULGA [How Beautiful…]
The First Altmeri Formwars are possibly the war of manifest metaphors, where things did not stay in static shape because of the various conflicting narratives at the time and wars were “ideologies given skin.”
>Once, there was nothing but formlessness. The land held no shape, the trees did not harden into timber and bark, and the Elves themselves shifted from form to form. This formlessness was called the Ooze. [The Ooze: A Fable]
As such, we have good reason to assume that the dreugh empire took place during the Dawn Era. This is in turn supported by the Magne-Ge appearing on Lyg, who appear between Kalpas.
>[I] give my soul to the Magna Ge, sayeth the joyous in Paradise, for they created Mehrunes the Razor in secret, in the very bowels of Lyg, the domain of the Upstart who vanishes. Though they came from diverse waters, each Get shared sole purpose: to artifice a prince of good, spinning his likeness in random swath, and imbuing him with Oblivion's most precious and scarce asset: hope. [Commentaries]
There is a lot of interesting info here. First, it’s that Mehrunes Dagon isn’t whole yet. Mehrunes is the Razor and Dagon is the cursed Leaper Demon King. Together they make Mehrunes Dagon. (I believe this theory was confirmed but I am sorry to say I cannot find the source.) Also of note is the Upstart who vanishes, obviously a reference to Lorkhan having his heart torn out at Convention.
Of particular interest is the statement that the Ge came from “diverse waters.” This is, in my opinion, a clue that the “ocean world” spoken of in this Kalpa is not just literal but also metaphorical to the nature of the Dawn Era.
>The Dreughs and their true nature have been only hinted at in an obtuse fashion.
>They won't be as ineffable as the Dwemer, but, hey, no one can claim that title.
>"And when the whole of the Aurbis was a tidal ocean, with left behind ideas, there was a tribe unwilling..." [MK]
The entire Aurbis was an ocean, so that includes Oblivion (“waters of Oblivion”) and Aetherius (the “sea of light”). The dreughs are also said to be unwilling of something, possibly unwilling to follow Lorkhan’s plan.
Also, compare the flooding of Yokuda and the ocean world of the dreughs to the Anuad:
>Nirn originally was all land, with interspersed seas, but no oceans.
>…
>The Old Ehlnofey retained their ancient power and knowledge, but the Wanderers were more numerous, and toughened by their long struggle to survive on Nirn. This war reshaped the face of Nirn, sinking much of the land beneath new oceans and leaving the lands as we know them (Tamriel, Akavir, Atmora, and Yokuda). [Annotated Anuad]
Yokuda is decribed as being rocky and barren, much like how Nirn is described as being all land and few seas. Although this is a bit of stretch to make a direct comparison, it's possible this is the result of different interpretations of the same thing.
>[D]eny not that these days shall come again, my novitiates! For as Mehrunes threw down Lyg and cracked his face, declaring each of the nineteen and nine and nine oceans Free, so shall he crack the serpent crown of the Cyrodiils and make federation! [Commentaries]
Lyg is conquered and the “19 and 9 and 9 oceans” are set free. It’s unclear what this means, it could mean 19 Voids, 9 Planets, and 9 Provinces or it could mean 37 literal oceans. I don’t know.
Interestingly, there seems to be a parallel drawn between the dreugh empire and the Septim empire, despite the dreughs being referred to as “cepholomer” and “Altmer of the Sea.”
>[A]nswers are liberations, where the slaves of Malbioge that came to know Numantia cast down their jailer king, Maztiak, which the Xarxes Mysterium calls the Arkayn. Maztiak, whose carcass was dragged through the streets by his own bone-walkers and whose flesh was opened on rocks thereon and those angels who loved him no longer did drink from his honeyed ichors screaming "Let all know free will and do as they will!" [Commentaries]
Maztiak is seemingly the king (or one of the kings) of the dreugh empire. He is casted down by the participants of the revolution, much like how the Septim emperor will be casted down in the current Kalpa. Compare this passage with the monomyth:
>"Auriel could not save Altmora, the Elder Wood, and it was lost to Men. They were chased south and east to Old Ehlnofey, and Lorkhan was close behind. He shattered that land into many. Finally Trinimac, Auriel's greatest knight, knocked Lorkhan down in front of his army and reached in with more than hands to take his Heart. He was undone. The Men dragged Lorkhan's body away and swore blood vengeance on the heirs of Auriel for all time. [Monomyth]
Eventually, the revolution pulls down the Towers of Lyg:
>[A]ll will change in these days as it was changed in those, for with by the magic word Nu-Mantia a great rebellion rose up and pulled down the towers of CHIM-EL GHARJYG, and the templars of the Upstart were slaughtered, and blood fell like dew from the upper wards down to the lowest pits, where the slaves with maniacal faces took chains and teeth to their jailers and all hope was brush-fire. [Commentaries]
CHIM is royalty. GHAR is short for GHARTOK which is weapon/hand. JYG is order. So the rebellion pulled down the Towers of the Royal Hands of Order (credit to Mojo for figuring that one out). What happens when Towers are pulled down?
>When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world
>When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped
>When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles
>When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls
>When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding
>The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn. [Book of the Dragonborn]
So why is Dagon/Mehrunes the Razor trying to start revolutions on Lyg and Tamriel? Remember that Alduin cursed him in the 7 Fights of Aldudaga to destroy the remnants of the old worlds he snuck into the current one. What if the dreugh and Septim empires are such remnants?
###The Anuad
The Annotated Anuad contains one final bit of information that is crucial for gluing this whole mess together.
>Meanwhile, life sprang up on the twelve worlds of creation and flourished. After many ages, Padomay was able to return to Time. He saw Creation and hated it. He swung his sword, shattering the twelve worlds in their alignment. Anu awoke, and fought Padomay again. The long and furious battle ended with Anu the victor. He cast aside the body of his brother, who he believed was dead, and attempted to save Creation by forming the remnants of the 12 worlds into one -- Nirn, the world of Tamriel. [Annotated Anuad]
Anu dreams 12 worlds. Later, they become shattered by the forces of change, division, and misanthropy. Only the Ehlnofey and Hist worlds are not completely shattered, and Anu combines them and the remains of the shattered worlds into one to form Nirn.
This is, in my opinion, an extremely simplified version of the more complicated series of events that really happened. Anu is a Bosmeri amalgamation of what the Redguards would call Ruptga and Satakal, and what the Altmer would call Anuiel and Magnus. The twelve worlds being shattered are the many dreams of Satak(al) being divided into nothing by Akel over and over. The amalgamation of the 12 worlds into one is the act of Ruptga leading the growing number of Magne-Ge to perform the walkabout by following the stars, as well as his creation of Sep from the skins of the old worlds, as well as Sep’s creation of Nirn using said skins.
So how does Mehrunes Dagon fit into this?
>.nuS gnizalB eht si ssertsim esohw NOGAD SENURHEM oT [PGE1]
Read backwards, it says “To MEHRUNES DAGON whose mistress is the Blazing Sun.”
Mehrunes Dagon is the servant of the sun, destroying the bits and pieces of the old worlds he supposedly snuck into the new ones. He is the personification of the act of Padomay “shattering the 12 worlds.” He is of the sun who was tricked into dreaming the world of Tamriel and withdrew from it. This is what Mankar meant when he said Mehrunes Dagon came back to Tamriel to retake and liberate what is rightfully his from the spirit that betrayed him.
The Ehlnofey world would logically be the second dream of Satakal, when the spirits begin to recognize their rolls in the story and learn to jump at strange angles into the next world, over and over. This Hist world is possibly the dreugh/Yokudan Kalpa, when the world becomes flooded with memory, although that one is more iffy.
###Conclusion/Putting It All Together/tl;dr
One “dream” is equivalent to one Kalpa, because Anu and Magnus both have the same roles of sleeping in the Sun and leading the Magne-Ge into the new world.
Anu is a Bosmeri interpretation of the Godhead; Ahnurr is a Khajiiti interpretation; Magnus and Anuiel are Altmeri interpretations; Satakal and Rupgta are Redguard interpretations; and LDK, Magnar and Alduin are Nordic interpretations. Parts of them overlap with each other while some of them are too distinct or broad to really be considered the same thing (for example, Tall Papa =/= Magnus). Mehrunes Dagon is the personified will of the Godhead to carry things over to new worlds, only to break them down again.
The 12 worlds of creation are the twelve dreams of Anu, and the shattering of all but the Ehlnofey and Hist worlds is the act of Mehrunes Dagon/Sep’s Hunger/Padomay and their reforming into Nirn is Lorkhan/Sep/Anu/Magnus’ act of creating/dreaming the mortal plane, as well as LDK/Magnus/Ruptga/Anu’s act of leading the Magne-Ge with the stars.
Every dream so far was a failed attempt at creating an Amaranth that would break the cycle of being destroyed and reborn. So far, the current Amaranth is the only one with any chance of succeeding.
Yokuda, the last Kalpa, was the 12th world. Hira’s empire, misremembered as “the Left-handed Elves,” attempted to purge the Ansei until Hira himself was defeated, leading to the Hiradirge destroying Yokuda and the Ansei making the pilgrimage to Tamriel in the current Kalpa.
According to Mankar, the dreughs, once the “Septim Empire” of the last Kalpa, became unwilling to follow the Upstart and cause him to vanish. According to the Nords, Shor was defeated by the Aldmer in the cyclical war that predates every Kalpa. According to the Altmer, Lorkhan tricked the Aedra into creating the mortal plane and trapped them on Mundus, and they tore out his heart. According to the Redguards, the Empire of Hira drove out the Ansei and forced them to migrate to Hammerfell. These are all different retellings of the events that happened during the Dawn Era.
The human empire of Yokuda inadvertently became the anti-Lorkhanic Aldmer of the current Kalpa, much like the Septim-analogous dreugh empire that turned against the Maztiak on Lyg.
If you rearrange the letters of "DAGON," you get "GONAD."
The ending of the words is I love you, Ted Danson