Partial Interview with Hrahndeyl

HRAHNDEYL “Salutations, Lady Nedraw. I am HRAHNDEYL, ATEDA of Sound, Speech, and Talk. Guardian of Constellations. Breather of Stars. Forger of Truth. The Arcane Sage."

I, um, well…greetings to you Master HRAHNDEYL! I am beyond honored to be in the presence of one of such divinity, power, and grace. I hope I am not distracting you from more important matters.

HRAHNDEYL “Please dear manmer, speak to me as you would speak to a peer. The stars that marked your birth shine bright in your eyes and I have greeted each of them in turn. Inside my Spire I treat all of my guests as equals, regardless of race, gender, and motives.

My fairs are neither important nor mundane – do not try to define the affairs of immortals with mortal perceptions. I exist in all places at once, but for this one moment I have focused on this particular exchange of words. Speak and I shall listen. Keep your lips closed and I will slip sideways into an adjacent place.”

Y-yes Master HRAHNDEYL. Well, my first question is something that I think all mortals would like to know: what is it like being a god?

HRAHNDEYL “Hmm…such a brilliant yet childish question. Being a god is like being both inside and outside of a room at the same time. When I’m Outside I can interact with the world of mortals; I can feel, hear, smell, taste, and see. Most importantly, I can comprehend things on a more limited mindset to better mingle with the corporeal. When I’m Inside, however, my being is unlimited and unaffected by both space and time. I am one with the Aurbis and have no true form.

In the rare cases that I am struck down I am completely removed from the outside and placed within the inside of the room, my essence safe and secure. It is only then a matter of choosing whether to open the door that leads to the Outside, the realm of mortals.”

'Struck down’? Are you suggesting that you have died before Master HRAHNDEYL? But you are a god! Surely nothing in the world can kill a god!

HRAHNDEYL “But what of ALORKH, which you Tamrielics refer to as Lorkhan, who died during the closing moments of the Dawn Times? He is a god and yet he is dead. Can one truly kill a god? For even Lorkhan’s spirit still stalks the heavens and walks the soils of the earth. What of the Earthbones, who are still capable of both speech and movement? The lives of deities are unknowable – birthed by tangible poesy as they are – , even to ourselves.

I myself have died three times. Or at least, I count them equivalent to mortal death. Each time I feel my body obliterated, my mind released, and my soul returned to the plane of divine nature. There I enter a state of blissful awareness where I can not be troubled. In a sense one could liken the whole process to sleep, I imagine. When I am alive I am awake, semi-functioning and able to be seen. When I am dead I am asleep but dreaming, fully functional and privy to everything. All one must do is wake up to be alive again.”

That is…well, another enlightening if mysterious answer! Please don’t be offended by this question Master HRAHNDEYL, but does that suggest that gods have nightmares then?

HRAHNDEYL “Hmm…now that is a question my dear Eci. Interesting and original. Do gods have nightmares? As surely as the Void is the Void and Aetherius is Aetherius we gods do have nightmares just as mortals have nightmares, but not in the way you're thinking."

Your people, the Echmer, speak very highly of you. Do you remember your life as a mortal before you apotheosized into your divine state?

HRAHNDEYL “Of course dear Lady. Who would I be if I didn’t know my own history? My memories are sacred to me and I cherish all of them, even the painful ones. But of course, you will have to enlighten me on which ‘life’ you are referring to – I have lived many in my existence. I have walked the path of the Bereaved, of the Luminary, of the Exile, of the Prodigal Son, and finally of the Idolized Phenomenon. My history is bloody and written with the quill of destruction held by the hand of resolve. But it is also one nurtured by kindness and embraced by love. Those that don’t take pride in their past admit they consider themselves unreal and will never amount to anything in life. Who are you that you do not know your own history? A fleeting thought, a leaf on the wind. Both of these things are things no one pays attention to except for the ones who learn from them.”