Contemplations on the Taskmaster

Contemplations on the Taskmaster

Written by: Kynreeve Trakon

The realm(s) of my lord Peryite, known as the Pits, has always been inaccessible to mortals. Any individual that you encounter in the mortal realms who have claimed to have entered them before are clearly lying, for one has to be dead or in an incorporeal state in order to enter them. Lord Peryite does not do this because he does not like visitors; it is simply because the Pits are quite inhospitable – even for us Daedra – and in order to survive one must be durable and intelligent enough to endure the very environment. Entry to the Pits is strictly monitored by the will of our Lord and his most faithful servants, and those who enter the Pits usually do not leave, for they have become the vassals of the Taskmaster due to some reason or deal.

The Pits are called the Pits because that is what they are – imagine a landscape compromised of canyons, caverns, cliff-faces, and millions of pits that seems to go on forever. A sky of swirling green and purple hues, dotted with floating monoliths etched with orders, histories, and doctrines. Each of these pits house a specific disease, plague, potion, cure, and concept that exists in Nirn, Oblivion, and Aetherius, and are watched over by Overseers and maintained by vassals. Lord Peryite’s domain, as you mortals would say so poetically, is ‘falling rock’ after all – he is the balancing factor of the Aurbis; the natural order executed through diseases and tasks of so many stripes, colors, and variations that your mortal minds might not even be able to comprehend them all.

The very air is toxic in the Pits, due to all of the fumes generated by the various laboratories, research centers, and containment areas located in the realm. Mortals with corporeal forms would die within a matter of seconds if allowed entry. Mortal souls and we Daedra are much more durable, but even we can fall victim to the chemicals throughout the realm and because of that we wear specialized gear and are prone to undergo the standard vestige mutations all vassals of Lord Peryite are ordered to inflict upon themselves. We few Dremora that serve him are changed in form to the point we do not resemble the rest of the Kyn – our skin becomes pale and translucent, are eyes milky yellow, and our green armor fuses with our skin and looks like scales. The mortal vassals that reside in the Pits, the Pus-Ridden as we call them, eventually suffer this same fate after they become attuned to the chaotic creatia that flows throughout this realm in the form of a vast ocean.

It is very obvious that Lord Peryite does not care for ‘power’ like his brethren – he only cares for those who uphold the natural order and walk the line between life and death, good and evil, innocence and guilt, sickness and health, and so on and so forth. Those who do not lean towards any side and instead keeps a firm position in-between. To mortals he is an ‘evil’ god for being one of the main causes behind famines and the like, but wouldn’t you agree that the world must be cleansed in order to remain functioning and stable? Lord Peryite is best described as the ‘pus in the wound’ – to you mortals, and even to some of us Daedra, pus is disgusting to behold, terrible to smell, sometimes painful to feel, and marks one as an individual that must be avoided. But it is pus that rids the body of all inflictions, heals the blood, and repairs the skin. Through disease and tasks Lord Peryite maintains the balance of the universe by weakening those who are too strong and strengthening those who are too weak. By killing those who believe that they can cheat death and by prolonging the lives of those who feel that they do not deserve to live.

There is a lesser known title that not many in Oblivion refer to the Taskmaster as, for we do not believe in such things. You mortals do, however, and that is why we have discovered that amongst his monks and cults on Nirn Lord Peryite is known as the Drake of Bad Luck. Perhaps it is an adequate term, no matter how elementary in logic, even if I deride it.

You mortals are strange to believe that our Blighted Lord is weak. Is it weak to remain behind the scenes? To be felt but not seen? The other Princes are foolish to revel in senseless displays of bravado and power; that is why their schemes are always noticed and countered, either by my master or by those with motive. Lord Peryite does not scheme – he strategizes and maintains. He only shows himself to those who uphold the balance and who are not overconfident in their abilities but do not also underestimate themselves. Our Prince only cares about balance and those who support it, nothing else. Those who attempt to destabilize it are permanently cleansed and taken to the Pits for rehabilitation.

All that reside in the Pits know and follow this doctrine – we Dremora, the silent Plague Atronachs, the small and cunning daedrats, the Pus-Ridden, and countless more. We follow Lord Peryite not for power but for stability, and he provides us with the mindsets and means for doing so. And if and when we fail in our duties, we are taken to the Purifying Pools to be cleansed and ordered like all in the Aurbis must be. Because maintaining the balance, no matter the cost, is the command of our master.