The Dragon Cult Apostates

This text was submitted anonymously to the College of Winterhold. How the benefactor came by it is a mystery. It is written in the ancient Nordic tongue, and is either a genuine account from the Merethic Era or a counterfeit produced by a scholar of antiquities of the highest possible calibre. As I cannot conceive of any of my esteemed fellow academians perpetrating such a deception, I am forced to conclude it genuine, though how it has been so miraculously preserved is beyond me. I have attached a translation below.

Troubled is my heart. The actions of our leaders since first we came to these southern lands weighs heavy on me. All men should know the proper fear of the World-Speakers, it is true, but this tyranny is not the proper way! We have come many miles from fair Atmora, but in the journey it seems we have lost much. Lord Alduin World-Eater has changed, and the other World-Speakers and their priests follow in His new cruelty. Tribute is only right and proper, but not so much that men starve!

I am thankful at the least that High Priest Zeinaak shares my views. Men cannot give the World-Speakers and the High Priests the tribute they are entitled to if they are worked to death beneath whips. But if not for High Priest Zeinaak's agreement I would fear my thoughts heretical. It is not my place to question the World-Speakers, but I fear disaster if this continues long.

The madness has spread across Skyrim. Men rise against the High Priests, who strike them down with fire and lightning. This does not serve the World-Speakers! High Priest Zeinaak begged High Priest Morokei to stop, to return to the old ways, but High Priest Morokei cast him out. He has been called apostate, and those of us who believe he is right will follow him, to build a new monastery, and keep the old ways. Lord Mulzinthur has, in His great kindness, offered to shield us as we journey. For even the World-Speakers have been caught up in this needless conflict! Men have been so pressed that they dare to believe that they could defeat the World-Speakers, that they could cast our gods down! In Atmora I would have said that such heresy could properly be met only by death, but - World-Speakers strike me down - here I cannot say that their blasphemy is without cause. They are doomed to fail - for how can mere men challenge gods? - but it is madness that I wish no part of.

So I will follow High Priest Zeinaak, and we will wait in the mountains for the madness to end. And just as men will surely realise that challenging the World-Speakers is doomed to failure, when the rebellion is crushed and the heretics killed I pray that the World-Speakers will see the wisdom preached by Lord Mulzinthur and the others who think likewise, and return to the old ways.