Ayleid Reanimation Gems: How the dead yet walk.

[Credit for this idea goes to youtubers Zaric Zhakaron and Fudgemuppet for their TES role play which invented the idea. I hope to give the concept some life and perhaps add some nifty lore to the lore pool.]

Greetings, fellow scholar. My name is Llathalas Temnevanni of the Great House Telvanni, and I present to you my research notes on Ayleid reanimation techniques in the hope that further study will help shed some light on the elusive and mysterious Ayleids' arcane arts. However, do not mistake this text as an instructional guide to your own necromantic rituals, whilst necromantic research is not forbidden by the learned Telvanni masters, it is deemed improper by most western scholars so perhaps try to secure the patronage of a Telvanni wizard if you wish to dabble in such things. Finally, I shall get to addressing my findings.

For the past few months I have been studying the undead in the ruins of Nenalata, and have found that, with the odd exception of zombies, the undead are controlled and animated by certain gems which contain all their instructions regarding guard patrols, behaviour towards other undead, and the actual spells themselves which are responsible for reanimation. Through the use of a complex scanning spell, I have been able to ascertain the precise way in which the gems store this information and enchantment.

First, I must explain the composition of these gems and its relevance to their operation. Inside each gem there lies thousands of fractals, reflecting facets of the gem as it is caught in the light. The Ayleids, through means I have yet to uncover, enchanted each of the gem's facets with layers of spells and codes for controlling the revenants. When torchlight or starlight hits the gems, the innumerable facets activate with their instructions being related to the undead in question. Alas, the gems, when subjected to a shroud of magickal darkness, were weakened to the point of almost deactivating, causing the undead to seemingly collapse into bonemeal and ash piles. However, do not let this sleep-state fool you, the undead are not felled by this, rather they will start to draw power from the ruin's great Welkynd and Varla stones, and if that is not an option, they can subtly drain the necessary magicka from a living subject if they have a line of sight.

Having observed the effects of magickal darkness on the gems, I decided to attempt to cut off the subject from the Welkynds and other magic sources. As I thought, the magicka-drained, darkness-shrouded skeleton collapsed and refused to re-assemble when trapped in a magickal sphere of darkness and barrier spells. Thankfully, when I placed the subject back inside the ruins and removed my spells, it instantly re-connected to the Welkynd and reconstituted itself. Armed with the knowledge of how the gems operated, I was able to subvert the hidden protocols and render the skeleton harmless to outsiders but frenzied against its own kind. Moreover, I was also able to alter the skeleton's guard patrol paths, causing it to patrol a new section of the ruin, Finally, with all my collected power, I managed to alter the final protocol, the reanimation enchantment. With this enchantment removed, the skeleton stayed permanently disassembled.

I hope this treatise has been useful and insightful for you, dear scholar, and I hope that, with the threat of the undead removed, this knowledge will one day help to open up more archaeological investigations into Ayleid ruins and their magickal techniques.