On the Daedric Worship of the Ashlanders

[As translated from the lectures of an Urshilaku wise woman. Dictation and translation credited to Cantur Caelmoryn, dated during this honorable Altmer's travels through the foreign lands of Morrowind.]

The first thing you must see, is that there are no Good Daedra or Bad Daedra. That is a House Dunmer folly. The Daedra only ARE, and only your wisdom draws such lines.

The Daedra are not of this world, and are jealous of our walks here, even as they laugh at our inanities.

The Daedra are teachers and testers, but never masters. Only a foolish Dunmer does what a Daedra desires without consideration.

The bones of the earth are dead and can only whisper their secrets. The Daedra scream theirs, and can change the course of the world with their hands, while the Aedra must plead for mortal interference. That is their power, but beware your own arrogance if you choose to claim it as your own for a time.

The Daedra of our worship are Seven, but the Princes' territories are as endless as the ancestors. Listen well now, and I will tell you these seven stories.

Mephala is the artist, the weaver of dance and death. Her sex is the act of creation^1, but the destruction of will; Her murder the bringer of fear, but the possibility of night. There is birth in every death, death in every birth, and breathtaking beauty in both. Would you see only ashes and death here, in our home? Or the splendor of the morning's kiss on the mushroom's cap, the twisting colors of an active foyada? Lava ravages the land; lava washes the land clean. The new growth is a brighter green, but will attract more locusts and House Dunmer to prey on the land. Which would you see? Mephala reminds us that there is duality in all, and to take happiness where we can. Dance lightly on the ground else it will shift, but breathe in deep and fast, else you will never know the joy that comes with our petty existence.

Boethiah is the warrior: fierce, proud, and cunning. He reminds us to never stop fighting, even in seeming defeat. If you cannot cross the foyada, go around it, go over it, wait a day and build one's own bridge, but never to let it remain your obstacle. To surrender fully is the coward's way out, but only the false warrior mistakes laying down one's arms as surrender. In the face of a wicked enemy, there are no codes of honor beyond what a mer can do, and what a mer can't. Always honor the enemy for the strength they gift you however, like the seared heart of a bull guar. We are greater than we know when pushed to the brink by violence. The deaths of many raise up the one to lead. Boethiah knows this, and chases the soles of our feet with his cinders.

Azura is the mystery, the space between waking and sleeping. She governs transitions: from day to night, from the wet season to the dry, from babe to full-grown man. All change needs guidance, and Her smile is the proud tusks of the kagouti, as She jostles and guides Her enemy to their own undoing, or Her mates to their painful awakening.^{2 A flute never stays on one quaver, but sways back and forth like a woman in dance. When you are blind, you can hear this best, and that is why She would take your eyes.}3 Azura's realm is the grace and the balance that goes with it.

Malacath is the warning^4, the fallen. What is an Ashlander with no tribe, no ancestors? Exile is not in the deed but in the heart. Cleave to your ancestors, but don't forget our heritage, the path of the wayward and the doubter. Ideals are only pillars waiting to be cast down. The rigid who do not look beneath the surface of their thoughts are eaten by the darkness that lies below, and He is our proof of this lesson. To see this malcontent hunter, you must keep your eyes open, but your heart stern.

Mehrunes Dagon is the sculptor of the earth. When the winds blow and waves crash, when the Mountain erupts, He is behind these things. We are of the earth and weak, and flee before Him. But remember this: as bones are re-broken to be set anew, as leeches clean a wound of blood and infectant with their greed, so we are able to make an art of it, and swallow our past mistakes.^5 The lava burns away the chaff to make way for new grazing. He is a sister to Mephala in this way, the brushstroke to Her genius.

Molag Bal is the wanton fertility, the twister of authority, love, and childbearing.^6 As a maggot devours offal of our kills, in His proper place He will eat of our discards, but as a maggot loose in the meat, He will foul our careful labors. His is the true power behind the Living God's decrees, and though a wise Ashlander will feel sorrow for the sufferers of His deceit, they will also recognize the untruths this pain gives voice to. Molag Bal's lesson is instead in the cautioning whisper of the Ashkhan's wife before he would charge into his exploits; though she may be of weaker arm than her warrior husband, her wisdom guides her tribe as much as the strength of her husband, and those who refuse either are given to Molag.

Sheogorath is the slower blight, eater of order. He is our ally against the House Dunmer, punching holes of chaos^{7 into their prideful veneers, but like a rabid nix-hound, will blunder and bite at Ashlanders on the way. Eat of His flesh and you share of this madness, so set Him loose well away from the tribes. Should He come sniffing around the yurts, coolly show Him your manners as befitting an honored guest, but do not let Him in.}8

Out-of-Character Reasoning and References

^1 One of Mephala's spheres is sex. Sex is just as much the creation of new life as it is a pleasurable or artful act. As Mephala's sphere is also murder, this is where her duality and artistry comes in, as reflected in Vivec.

^2 Morrowind the game gave Azura a rather rosy interpretation, but in other games she is portrayed as matronly, lady-like, and/or manipulative.

^3 Looking on the beauty of Azura's realm, Moonshadows, is said to make mortals blind.

^4 In Malacath and Boethiah is the story of a proud, overly rigid warrior (Trinimac) serving a corrupt order (the Altmer), and how careful scheming and the reveal of his corruption led to his downfall (Veloth and Boethiah's actions). Malacath serves as a warning to the Ashlanders to not become like the corrupt Trinimac, while Boethiah is the rebel that keeps on fighting, even if they have to do it in underhanded ways.

^5 Mehrunes Dagon's role is to make free will on Nirn possible, as well as clean up the remnants of past kalpas.

^6 I attempted to make all these interpretations very gray (as the Dunmer are themselves!). However, ESO made Molag Bal into a very villainous figure (as well befits a god of rape), so I had trouble with this one until I researched where his name came from--the child sacrifice god of Moloch and the fertility god of Ba'al-Hammon (Amon). I came upon the idea that the Ashlanders may sacrifice mutants or rapists to Molag Bal, and the rest wrote itself.

^7 Sheogorath is described as the Sithis-shaped hole of the world.

^8 Sheogorath was the one who threw the moon at Vivec city. His inherent disorder threatens the stability the Tribunal try and keep together, so the Ashlanders naturally are fond of him, even as they're wary. Also a light suggestion of mine that the Ashlanders may not view those with mental health disorders as negatively as the House Dunmer, and may instead see them as "god-touched" (literally as well as the blessed meaning of the term--seeing things is what wise woman do after all, and are not hallucinations necessarily!)