Disclosure on the Hist, part 2 - On Slavery

This issue requires some deviation from the Hist as an introduction. Some insight into the views of the ones most alien to the Marsh. The Keshu-Hist. I read the works from Dunmeri priests, Cyrodiilic investors, Altmeri conquerors and even Akaviri pillagers. Most times they take us for stubborn and foolish worshippers of nothing more than trees. And in the rare occasion that they realize the Histic sentience...

...they take us for slaves.

Before I proceed, I must ask the reader: who in this wide world faces such immense suffering and blight, that they may lecture an Argonian about slavery?

Let me explain. Every Saxhleel born in the Marsh is a vessel of Argonian memory, you see. It is written in part 1 that The Histic nature is the basis of Argonian philosophy. Because of this, the Hist see in us a reflection of themselves, much as we see in the Hist a reflection of our own souls. Indeed, everything we are stems from them. Hist deto kxi Saxhleel deto kxi Hist. Our spirit, our shape, and most notably, our memories. We act as the manifestation and the storage of Histic memory. The sap we injest at birth brings with it the memory of all Argonians passed and rejoined with the trees. So when outsiders invade the Marsh, break through our villages and force us out of home, they do not scar us just for life. They scar us for all of time. No, I am not under chains, but I carry with me the pain of those Saxhleel who are. They scream across your eras, longing for home, like beacons of misery in a well of red flags and red eyes.

We know what slavery is. And we do not see it in the Hist. Then again, I reckon you do not see slavery in the structure of marriage? I read the teachings of Maran priests. Most of my knowledge in this overworded tongue comes from it. Entwining your life with another. Sharing the fruits of your labor with them. Finding comfort and meaning in them when the world shares nothing but pain. Sleeping under the same roof and dreaming of each other. It is not dissimilar to the structure of Hist-Argonian bonds. I dare say, if the Hist are slavery, then so is Love.