Annotations on the Epiphany of Riddle'Thar

###Annotations on the Epiphany of Riddle'Thar
by Ktesis Dalonymus, College of Whispers

[Excerpt: He who lives on 'Thar]

[l. 430/12]

"rar'rar'ri'thar'rsarsara" / "He who lives on 'Thar": Popular epithet for the prophet Ri'datta. The concept of Riddle'Thar refers to a complex set of practical values, mystic instructions and shared amusements in elsweyric societies, expressed by the cosmic symphony of the Two-Moons-Dance. Thar is rarely depicted beyond compositions of the Lunar Lattice, even if sugar sieve and moonbow are considered his specific attributes. The greater part of Thar's mundane veneration is centered on the current incarnation of the Mane or enacted in the manyfold ritual fighting games the Khajiiti are so fond of.

In Elsweyr, the establishment of Riddle'Thar as a higher principle is solely attributed to the Ri'dattan Revelation. Recently discovered cryptosugar inscriptions, however, suggest veneration of a more personal 'Thar before the great Unification. A littered cat named Rhaja'Thar, brother of both Magru and Azurah and most certainly a predecessor to the popular trickster hero Rhajiin, is variously described as "riddling varliantic", "way-warder to crystal shores" and, most plastically, "lunisolar khukuri" (transl. Nordssen-Sorcalin, "Mysteries of Lake Vread", p. 93-96, Nibenexus Press, 3E 410). The Conclave of Moon-Bishops, well aware of dissident voices among the clergy, repeatedly condemned any pre-Ri'dattan interpretation of 'Thar along with speculation on Dro'Jizad prophecy, the Sarrban Heresies and the silver-tongued whisperings of Zen'rawl by drawing visions of sixteen-fold schism.

Whereas the concept, from an impartial perspective, arguably has its anticipations, "He who lives on 'Thar" did not become a regular element of the Mane's title until the foundation of the Sacchralite Palace in Torval, and it was the first Ri'Datta dynast who established the modern principle by means of sweet diplomacy and raw claw. Not least influenced by the teachings of vaetellian Tharn-Alesstics forced into exile in the waning days of the Potentates, the bold spiritual renewal weights the Alkosh-Lorkhaj dualism (with its concrete representation in the political dilemma of Anaquine-Pelitine) into a stable balance to allow firm stance for a collective outreach towards better places, most notably in the Khajiit's frequently reported, yet disputed achievement of Paradise Sugar. (Anonymus, "Ri'datta-ssabavezi, The Unified Path", p. 1008, Gwylim Press, 2E 312). In this process, the charismatic rule of the Mane, omnipresent aethical emissary of Elsweyr even beyond protests against his realpoliticks as dictator of the southern states, has swallowed almost all former narratives of 'Thar. In accordance, he is not only described to "live on 'Thar" and "leave by 'Thar", but literarally consumed this divine concept, to quote: "He eats by 'Thar, his bread is 'Thar, his tea is 'Thar, his braids are 'Thar" (Ra'bosha, "Panegyrics of Pelitine", p. 231, Keirgo Ink, 3E 370).