On the Birdmen of the Niben: Concerning The Lost Dialogue of Topal the Pilot with King Aka-El.

Foreword: I, Timophanidas of Cheydinhal present to you my translation of the Dialogues of Topal, Father of the Niben.

I cannot say whether this tome be real or forgery, for its content is either that of a great and vanished race or the genius scribblings of some mischievous scholar.

Alas, we may never know if the events detailed within actually transpired, but as a mytho-historian, it is important that one should always be open to an interpretation which does not see the text as simply an elaborate fabrication.

Introduction: This is the Lost Dialogue of Topal the Pilot with Aka-El the King of the Niben Birdmen. It is a document which has found its way into the personal collection of the lesser-known Imperial Mythographer, Stomatheus Scholasticius, who takes residence at the Arcane University.

Stomatheus claims to have received the Lost Dialogue from a certain Urag gro-Shub of the College of Winterhold who claimed that he had acquired the book from someone claiming to be a Dragonborn and that this Dragonborn had apparently boasted that the work was seized from Hermaeus Mora’s abode of Apocrypha.

Obviously, it is more likely that no such thing transpired and it is possible that Librarian Urag simply spun a yarn to increase the price of the volume. I dare say, the price needed no increase; it is already apparent to the citizenry that we mages and scholars seem to pay more for dusty old tomes than for good food. Seldom does one encounter a portly apprentice, obviously, we mages are fixed on the more esoteric pursuits.

The Work Itself: Udhendra Nibenu

Italics shall indicate original Speech in Birdmen tongue.

AKA-EL: "MNEM AE ALTADOON ACHARYAI, AKA AE EL AI ATA, Auran Baune Pellan Meri."

TRANSLATION “Memory Is the Weapon of the Original Ancestors, Time is King and Father, Welcome Mighty Outsider from the Elves.”

“Shantavoy, Torvali ye Arctavoy aurane Arane, abagaiavoy Autaracu Ehlnofeyi, Mallari Pellan, Abagaiavoy Kyndingua.”

“Come, Topal and acknowledge the welcoming of our King, do not fear the remnant of the Ehlnofey, O’ Gold Outsider, do not fear my children.”

“A epe malatu AURBEX, Ni nemalauta nagaia Adais nou AE Adais, Adonai va nou Bala.”

“I speak the truth of the Aurbis, you believe in the death of our Spirits, as spirits were our form (the word for form is implied here by the context), we who are lordly in our Power.”

“Arctavoy Adabala nou Arane, Belle ye Haelia va Aran man AE Varlor av welwend. Admavoy Agea Arpene Arane, alasil anda nou Atae.”

“Acknowledge the divine power of our King, Thunderous and terrible is the King who exists as a symbol of the sky-journey (a word encapsulating the desire for apotheosis and the path to achieving it). Hear (now) the wisdom of this Noble King, the long vision of our Father”

(unclear if he is referring to himself or the AKA concept)

(it is slightly odd that Aka-El describes himself in the 3rd person, but this could be a sign that the King is merely fulfilling a role, the true Aka-El is somewhere else)

Topal: “Asma Bala ni gethena hameya sino? Ni Adais AE asva anyamissi av Sercenkyndi, mathmeldi av Aldmeris ye ni gethena tye gume haeliais gravuloi, ye sou Agea tarecellane?”

“By what power did you set your home (-ya as a possessive suffix meaning: your) here? Do you exist as spirits within the bones of Earth-Children (a strange metaphor for fleshy bodies), homeward driven from Aldmeris and you set yourselves against terrible enemies (proto-Khajiit and other predators?), and your culture has survived?”

(the word gethena seems to be used here to speak of founding something)

Aka-El: “Ge AE. Adonais Sercenkyndi gethena nou hame sino, pado CAN autane ye loria shantane nou alata AE latta Adonais, oia av baune emeratu. Nou jorane as LRKHN, gethena man asva anyammissi gravia va TAM haelia mormalatu. Vabria vea dellene ge gorihame gume gravuloi, darre calne as bala Ada nou Aran, Aka-El, va bala nou arane AE karan gume moragane laloria”

“It is (the statement is true). We lordly Earth-Children made our home here before magic waned and darkness set in, our radiance existed as the light of spirits, eternal and from mighty music. (But) We were betrayed by Lorkhan, who set (us) within ugly bones in the Terrible Dawn of Dark-Truth. The foaming sea granted (us) an obscure home against enemies, a mercy granted by the power of our God, the king, Aka-El, the power of our king exists as an armour against unbound dark-times.”

Topal: “Nemalautanye tye. Ni Adais asva anyammissi av Sercenkyndi. A epe av sou agea vey meldingua ye a gethenanye meldi nemalautane av sou agea. Malagea ye silaseli a dellenye vey meldingua ry Aka dellene ge agea asva TAM vey ni.”

(-nye signifying the 1st person, I)

“I believe you. You are spirits inside bones of Earth-Children (you are in fleshy bodies). I will speak of your culture to my people (-ngua: possessive suffix= my) and I will set the people to believing in (of) your wisdom. A high Culture and shining halls I shall grant to my people as AKA granted wisdom to you in the Dawn.”

Aka-El:“Nou aurane ge abana delle Adabala ye Adacan vey meldiya, Abana ge emero hilyat tarnabye Adais nou, Abanemalautani tye nou bala, Pellan Mallari. Heca, Mer, gethenavoy nou wend vey hame, nou bala ye agea na aba. As bala Aka-El, Maknar ye yando Merinun, Heca Ehlno ry Torvali. Heca Udhendra Nibenu!

MNEM AE ALTADOON ACHARYAI AE ADA AURBEX!”

“Our welcoming was not a grant of divine power and divine magic to your people, it was not a guide for you to follow the passage of our spirits, and you are forbidden to know about our power, Gold Outsider. Be gone, elf, set course homeward, our power and culture is forbidden. By the power of Aka-El, Magnus and also Merid-Nunda, be gone mortal as (who calls himself) Topal. Be gone ‘father of the Niben’!”

(Father of the Niben seems an anachronistic epithet for Topal, could this be the origin of the name?)

MEMORY EXISTS AS THE WEAPON OF THE ORIGINAL ANCESTORS WHO ARE GODS OF THE AURBIS!

Here the Text ends, and it can be assumed that the Ehlnofex was some kind of spell that wiped Topal’s memory since no mention beyond “Birdmen” is really made of this unique culture.

Make of it what you will, dear reader; perhaps gods do still live on Nirn after all?