A Vehk Egg Scramble Part VI: Psjjjj, The Endeavor And A Side (Psijic) Order

Greetings everyone. After taking a bit of a break from the Scramble for a bit, it’s back for more. This time we’re going to take a look at Psjjjj, what it is, the Order that takes its name, and how the Vehk Egg seeks it. I’m going to be taking what is likely a new interpretation of Psjjjj for what follows, so keep an open mind.

 

What is Psjjjj, and how does it affect an Egg?

Psjjjj is the unpronounceable label for the first act, and equates with the being known as Sithis. Sithis is called the start of all houses, the force that serves to separate and divide everything from the original whole. These names are often considered (like Lorkhan) to be the first child of Padhome, but I’d like to purpose a different view. From Concerning the Psijic Order and the Psijic Endeavor

>”It is interesting to note that their original views were very unorthodox for Altmer, and thus their exile from Alinor. These views included the suggestion that Anu’s son, the Time Dragon, was formed in reaction to Padhome’s influence. In effect, Anu had finally done something. This inconceivable effect gave rise to an equally inconceivable cause, and so PSJJJJ was named and the Order eventually took his name.”

From this we see that Psjjjj is named not from simply Padhomeic subgradiancy , but is the name for Anu’s reactive action to his twin’s influence. What was the action? The birth of the Time Dragon, which was divided and made separate and distinct from the original cell of Anu. To clarify, Anu was a static Egg, and Padomay the force that fertilized the egg cell (into zygote) of Anu into first dividing itself and birthing as new cell. Sithis is then best described as the Mythic Mitosis, the action of subdivision of all mythic cells to produce new ones. This is how He is considered the start of all houses, as Sithis is the means from which all house cells were split (were born/became independent of the parent cell), which is the means of creating something that previously hadn’t existed (and are also made from equal parts of Anu and Padomay).

 

The Psijic Order

Keeping the quote above in mind, we have an accounting for the naming of Psjjjj, as well as for how the Psijic Order got its name. But what does it have to do with them? From The Old Ways

>”What, after all, is the origin of these spiritual forces that move the invisible strings of Mundus? Any neophyte of Artaeum knows that these spirits are our ancestors -- and that, while living, they too were bewildered by the spirits of their ancestors, and so on back to the original Acharyai. The Daedra and gods to whom the common people turn are no more than the spirits of superior men and women whose power and passion granted them great influence in the afterworld.”

When we put both of these together, we get a good look into the Psijic Order’s schism from the Aldmer, and the core of their Old Ways. They chose not to narrow their view of the Ancestors (like the rest of the Aldmeri did by only focusing on the elitist Auriel and his Aedra), as they recognized that their Mythic DNA were equally contributed and combined from Anu and Padomay equally, and that all of the beings in Mundus are the mutated or recombinated copies of the original zygote. Their observance of Psjjjj then can be seen in their counseling of kings, and them removing unstable powerful objects like the Eye of Magnus. By their actions here, we can see they represent Balanced Change. In their advisory role, they seek to maintain a healthy environment to better nurture healthy and preferential further change/subdivision. Unbalance creates cancerous growth that they wish to avoid. More from The Old Ways

>”Knowing this, we have developed patience in our dealings with such despots. They should be crippled, humiliated, impoverished, imprisoned. Other counsellors may advocate assassination or warfare -- which, aside from its spiritual insignificance, is expensive and likely to inflict at least as much pain on the innocents as the brutish dictator”

>"In Mundus, conflict and disparity are what bring change, and change is the most sacred of the Eleven Forces. Change is the force without focus or origin. It is the duty of the disciplined Psijic ["Enlightened One"] to dilute change where it brings greed, gluttony, sloth, ignorance, prejudice, cruelty... [here Taheritae lists the rest of the 111 Prodigalities], and to encourage change where it brings excellence, beauty, happiness, and enlightenment. As such, the faithful counsel has but one master: His mind. If the man the Psijic counsels acts wickedly and brings oegnithr ["bad change"] and will otherwise not be counselled, it is the Psijic's duty to counterbalance the oegnithr by any means necessary [emphasis mine]."

 

The Psijic Endeavor

The ambition of the Vehk Egg whose philosophies originated with the Pilgrim Veloth. From More on the Psijic Endeavor

>”The basis for the teachings of the Prophet Veloth, founder of present day Morrowind and father of Dunmeri culture. Veloth describes the Psijic Endeavor as a process of glorious apotheosis, where time itself is bent inward and outward into 'a shape that is always new'. Those who can attain this state, called chim, experience an ineffable sense of the godhead, and escape the strictures of the world-egg.”

>”Representations of the chim, and by extension the Psijic Endeavor, are always protean values, such as the anumidi models renowned by the Dwemer, the Scarab of contemporary astrolothurges, and the Striking ("exact egg-cracking") of old Argonia. All of these representations possess an innate and constant aspect of transformation”

>”To transcend mortal boundaries set in place by immortal rulers. At its simplest, the state of chim provides an escape from all known laws of the divine worlds and the corruptions of the black sea of Oblivion. It is a return to the first brush of Anu-Padomay, where stasis and change created possibility. Moreso, it the essence needed to hold that 'dawning' together without disaster. One that knows CHIM observes the Tower without fear. Moreso: he resides within.”

From these, we can see that the purpose of chim in the Endeavor is not just for the acquisition of godhood, but to bring yourself to an ascended transformative state, ie making yourself an Egg ready to be fertilized so you can divide into a new creation. The Psijic Endeavor's final goal is then the search for the appropriate force to have act upon you, like Padhome did to Anu, and make you a zygote that will split into a new independent organism (Amaranth).

 

GHARTOK PADHOME and Neravar

In Sermon Seven, we see that the Vehk Egg had marked Neravar’s hands with these power words. Often translated as “The hands of change” or “weapon of change”. But I think this also held a deeper meaning for the Vehk Egg. Vivec was marking Neravar to be the one who would finally be able to act like Padhome on his egg, and create a new world. He had hoped their union would fertilize him into dividing (Psjjjjing) into producing the Nu-Man. But alas, Vivec was not yet ready to receive him properly, and it was only by the Hortator’s death that could produce Almsivi. But their relationship is a topic for another day, until next time…

Link to Part 1, which has links to all other Chapters of the Scramble here.

Edited, format, added/removed words