[Warden's Archive] Al-Hatoor, Spirit of Meaning

>#Al-Hatoor, The Spirit of Meaning >##Aarōn, Magus-Premier of Mustikos’arcere

This is the beginning of one of several re-writes and releases of works or comments I wrote as IFW, but I had removed after my leave. But after realizing that by removing my works I caused irritation to the people who liked to read them, a thought that didn’t occur before to my mind, I have decided to personally rewrite the works I believe that most people would like back (most of my apocrypha had been accidentally deleted off of my computer, but I remember the majority of the contents of all of them). This piece is sort of a new one, but was created from past comments and unreleased back-brain material revolving around the Hortator and the Sharmat that I never discussed. The next text (or should I say texts?) that I will be posting soon will be ”Excerpts from the Lögdjöflaogdreki,” a rewritten update of the Eight Anecdotes of Peralkeluin (which will be also included in its original, unaltered format as a downloadable book in that post as I happened to stumble across it on my phone). If you have any posts you want back in some form or fashion, please alert me and I’ll see what I can do.

Librarian’s Note: This book, written by the supreme magical authority situated in the Yneslea archipelago, was gifted to our humble library in the Imperial City in 3E 429. Like most religious texts written by the chief inhabitants of that land, the mysterious and isolationist Bat Elves, it deals greatly with the head of their pantheon, the god-hero Hrahndeyl. However, this book also goes very in-depth about another religion practiced by the strange Elemental Sodality, a monotheistic order that heads the academy of magic known as Mustikos’arcere (which translates roughly into ‘Nature’s Arcanum’ from Echi), and Hrahndeyl’s little known relationship to their god, the elusive Al-Hatoor (also known as the ‘All’). In Yneslea this book is considered to be very controversial and borders on a concept we Tamrielics would refer to as heresy.

As most members of my race, the Echmer (which translates into ‘Echo Elves’, although most outsiders tend to refer to us as the ‘Bat Elves’ due to our chiropteran features and origins) know, the god-hero Hrahndeyl has many names and titles due to his accomplishments and travels both here in Yneslea and in foreign lands. When he walked amongst the Yokudans on their native continent before it’s great sinking, they referred to him as Hoodoc and named him the spirit of talks-and-makes-others-listen due to his wise counsel on martial and political affairs. The Khajiit remember him as Harrun-zhirr, the ‘king of deep caves, black dunes, and no moons’, who through his songs and speeches was able to best gods and win back corrupted souls from the Darkness Behind the World, the Khajiiti Hell; to this day, the -zhirr suffix means ‘great and wise singing sage’, and only Hrahndeyl has earned it. But it was in Morrowind that Hrahndeyl learned the mysteries of the universe from the Dunmer, specifically the Warrior-Poet Vivec, and was able to let go of the anger that plagued his heart and truly become wise and great in the eyes of righteousness; in honor of this new change in behavior, Vivec gave him the title of ‘Hatoor’, which means ‘wearer of the wills of his people’. After returning from that land of fire and ash he ascended into godhood in front of his people to show the union between his mind, body, soul, and spirit, which were now all indistinguishable from one another, and became a grand stroke on the Aurbical canvas that always was and always will be. He became the god that embodies words and speech, songs and expression - HRAHNDEYL.

Subsequently after this act of divine decree, some Dark Elves of the Tribunal Temple began to speak of a great spirit known simply as Al-Hatoor, who once visited the divine Vivec when he was a mere fetus and imparted words of wisdom to him. An entity that is neither an Aedra or a Daedra, he is regarded as one of the great ancestor spirits and lesser saints that protects and embodies the spirit of Morrowind; in fact, a little known fact is that the Dunmeri term ‘Hortator’ - which means ‘weapon of the people’ and denotes the political, spiritual, and martial leader of the Dunmeri - is derived from the ancient word Hatoor, which was carried down from Aldmeri-Chimeri dialects to Dunmeris after their transformation into the race they are now after the Battle of Red Mountain. Indoril Nerevar was the Hortator of the Chimer, and his supposed reincarnation the Nerevarine was the Hortator of the Dunmer. But why would Vivec name Hrahndeyl Hatoor, if he was neither Dunmer or Chimer, and that word was symbolically and spiritually tied to those races and their nation? And if Hrahndeyl, by apotheosis, was made always a god since the beginning of linear time, would that mean the title of ‘Hatoor’ was derived from he himself in ancient times when the Chimer were still Aldmer?

The answer, after many years of wondering, was finally made clear to me after a twelve year-long meditation within the walls of my inner sanctum. Al-Hatoor is simply another name for my god and the god of the Elemental Sodality, the All, and Hrahndeyl is one of many avatars of him that was gifted to us by this great being. Hrahndeyl, in truth, may be the greatest avatar of him the Mundus has been blessed with since the All came into being.

In order to further elaborate, I must first explain the nature of the All. He is a god, yes, but only through technicality and the very definition of the word, which is ‘an immortal spirit of vast power’. He is a torpid entity, a being so ancient and crucial to the Aurbis’ stability he cannot physically indulge in it, and must instead spend the majority of his time in a comatose state; only in brief moments of lucidity does he gain some semblance of a conscious, which manifests as avatars that interact with other beings that are almost always exclusively mortals or lesser spirits. He does not perceive time as we other beings do, so these moments can often range from just a few seconds to several centuries at a time. In simplest terms, the All is the Spirit of Meaning. He is the early accumulation of the consciouses and personalities of the original spirits that were unsuccessful in forming and maintaining their individuality in the Beginning Place and therefore died, but because of the un-linearity of time during Creation, still and must live. His sphere, to define it despite its’ grandness, is personal belief, self-journey, consciousness, timelessness, and ‘the source of inspiration’. He is the being, in short, that allows all other beings to function and be an individual, sacrificing his own individuality (for the most part) so this may be so.

This doesn’t mean that all other beings are merely fragments or representations of the All - it means that without the All, they would not have the knowledge or strength to be who they are. The All does not reside within Mundus, Aetherius, or Oblivion; it is so massive, even while sleeping, that it forms its own less structured space in the Aurbis - the realm known as the Dreamsleeve. The souls of all beings, in one form or another and at one time or another, must enter the Dreamsleeve - the vast thoughts and slumbering personality of the All, which are in fact symbolic representations of the thoughts and personalities of all living things - in order to be recycled so that new entities may be born. The Dreamsleeve can also be used as a form of communication and observation of past thoughts, times, and spaces, but only those who submit themselves to permanent and constant meditation of the mind may request this use from the All. My people is the only race that generally doesn't have this accessibility; after ascending into godhood, Hrahndeyl, in an act of true love, answered the pleas of his people by binding our essences to the Void, the only source of true removal from the Aurbis, so that we may escape this Universal Prison. New Echmeri souls are then created from the memories and personalities of our ancestors, which is water. Although I admire his kindness, I must disagree with this choice our immortal guardian made for us, as I yearn for the Sleeve and have tried for many years to realign my soul with it's greatness.

In further dialogue about the Dreamsleeve, it is also theorized by the younger members of the Sodality that it may be possible to embrace the grandness of the All in such a way that one may be able to travel into different times and spaces in the far past and the distant future. This process is quite similar to the ancient Yokudan belief of the ‘Walkabout’, where some gods (like Ruptga, Hoodoc, and Vehk) are able to survive the eternal reincarnation cycle of the universe by hopping between worldskins (a word that reminds me of the Nordic kalpa, and the Echmeri belief of the kuklos, as taught to us by Hrahndeyl); I have yet to fully commit myself to this concept, and will one of these years meditate on it to discern its possible meanings and implications.

But let me continue. If the All, who dreams while awake and asleep, is in fact Al-Hatoor who is in fact Hrahndeyl, than that would mean that our greatest god-ancestor (and many related spirits in Tamriel, like Anuiel) is a manifestation of his wisdom and greatness. I do not mean to say that Hrahndeyl is just a mouthpiece of the All, not at all, but that he was born into this world as a result of one of the lucid moments within the great sleep the All needs for his own survival. Unlike other immortal entities, the All does not seek to guide or mislead the mortal races and the younger spirits during the brief moments he walks our planes - he simply wishes to learn from us, learn about our personalities and our experiences, so he may return fully to his sleep and better dream a world from which we and our descendants may grow stronger and wiser. Hrahndeyl, in his mortal life, was a living embodiment of those traits, and I believe that after he learned his mystery from the Warrior-Poet of Morrowind he figured out that he was merely one of many pieces of the All sent out to better the Aurbis. So in order to permanently become a paragon of individuality he made himself a god, so he could continue his work on the great Aurbical canvas as a being that was neither the All or Hrahndeyl, but both: Al-Hatoor.

Unfortunately, such an action comes at a terrible price; for becoming permanently embroiled within the interplay of the primal IS and IS NOT that drives our universe (Anu and Padomay, Anuiel and Sithis, Aka and Lorkhan, Al-Hatoor and Sharmat, were-web aad semblio) Hrahndeyl has sealed a fate of war and sorrow for himself and the arch-enemy he created, Lyednharh, the god of silence. The All may sleep, but even gods have nightmares, and his nightmare is a foe that has been given form. A complete, inversion of the All and the Dreamsleeve it encompasses - a being that is always awake but unconscious, who hungers for the thoughts and personalities of others because it cannot generate its own. He is the Primal Enemy, the instinct to greedily assimilate all others into you that lies in the back-brains of all men and mer.

He is the One, and to tell his tale is to tell the end.