With the release of Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda Softworks released a bible for all players. The Quintessence is an essential guide to everything related to Morrowind and Oblivion’s lore – essentially providing new players with some background knowledge that veterans might have missed.
The “free bibles” is a book that has been released in the form of an ebook. The book is meant to be a guide for those who are new to the Dunmer religion, and it includes information on their history as well as how they should live their lives today.
Loved one, rejoice! Because the words of our Lords now accompany us as we navigate the many realms.
2The Daedra were revered as gods by the Chimer in earlier times. The Daedra, however, did not merit this respect since they often caused more damage than good to those who followed them.
— Expectations 1:2
14And thus the Tribunal sprang from their foundation, summoned to heaven by violence, our people hurling our mantles to them across the stars, across time, through magic, and beyond dreams, and they continue to exist here.
— Apotheosis 1:14
11However, what does it gain a person to see far into the future? 12The goals of humans are limited, much too limited!
—Seht 7:11-12
8Are you unable to perceive that I have treated you with the utmost kindness? ⁹ It is better to put an evil to rest than to allow it to continue out of compassion.
—Ayem 11:8b-9
3Celebrate as my own domains and topics. I create for you a city of swords, which refers to regulations that mold the inhabitants into better forms.
—Vehk 23:3
12My rule will be seen as an act of the ultimate love, which is a return from the astral destiny and the marriages between, much later—and by much later, I mean very, very later.
1:12 in Love Letter
I can now share the fruits of my labor with you after working for many moons in solitude: a copy of the Quintessence of Holy Scriptures.
First Preview
Preview No. 2
Three Preview
Release Page for Quintessence
I’ve organized a number of game articles into a five-part codex that is available for printing at lulu.com and is linked above.
These materials are not being sold in any form. The materials are available for use and modification by everyone online. Lulu is a print-on-demand service that enables users to submit papers of a certain size and have them printed in the appropriate book formats.
If you possess copies of both TES:III: Morrowind and TES:O Morrowind, you may print a personal copy of this project for your own use even if it cannot be distributed commercially.
The cost of printing and materials is determined by the book’s length. Printing and shipping costs for this project sum up to around $15 USD ($11 for me).
In general, a book print tends to take 1 1/2 weeks in the manufacturing stage before sending out; but, recently, and reasonably, it has been closer to 2 weeks in transit. Last summer, it took a week.
What to Print
Printing something on Lulu is really easy but first you will need to download the interior and cover pdfs from the above link, Release Page for Quintessence.
Then, register for a lulu.com account and go to your Projects Page to start a new project.
On the Start page, be sure to set a category (it’s a required field, I guess?). For fun, I chose “Religion & Spirituality” but there are other applicable categories as well, such as “Games” and “Fiction”.
Here are the steps I used to put up my book on the Design page:
Interior File: us trade interior-codex sinramus.pdf Product Type: Print Book Goal Option: Print Your Book Details about the book: US Trade Size Standard color for the inside Paper Type: White #60 Hardcover book binding Us trade hardcover-codex sinramus.pdf, cover finish: glossy or matte
There are two small red flags to be aware of:
A warning that some of the photos in the inside file may have lines that are too thin for the printer to handle may appear when you upload it. You can still go on despite this. The great detail in the fresco pictures is the cause of the line thickness inaccuracy. Digital images can have tiny rings that the printhead cannot handle. Every time, I got this alert, but it’s a complete false positive.
Finally, it seems that the preview window does not take spine and gutter modification into consideration. You most likely have the same issue I did if your preview seems like this. However, the book was still accurately printed.
Please feel free to consult at the Lulu design documentation below, under Making Adjustments, if you are concerned about the dimensions.
A word about the cover finish: I went with matte to get an aesthetic that was somewhat reminiscent of antique bound leather. Of course, with a mass-produced cardboard cover, that’s not so simple to do, so I decided on a flat color for the cover to manage some semblance of my strange vision without attempting to fool myself too much.
I wasn’t sure what to anticipate from the outcome, but it turned out that a little amount of smudginess was caused by the interaction between the paper surface and the ink color. It’s hard to see on my potato cam, and some people may not like it, but I simply decided to pull off the band-aid and smear up the whole cover with my hand for a great aged effect.
Simply printing glossy is the best choice. However, you may also create your own cover using the template files, or you can use the website’s less robust but still simple online tool. A book jacket alternative exists as well, although I haven’t looked into it. In any case, I assumed that people would want to know in advance. The matte cover might conceivably crease as well, if it weren’t protected.
For its durability, I believe the majority of people will choose a glossy covering.
The Canon
The monks of the Monastery of Sinramen’s description of the Five Sections of Heirographa.
Gathering of the Forefathers
Sithis (as well as the initial, French epitaph) The Aurbis Myth (sans bracketed Imperial notes) The Alternate Ones Summerset emigration The journey’s end Nerevar the Real The Ashlanders’ Religion (retitled The Daedra) The Expectations The Troubled House the spiritual doors Revenants of Blasphemy Nirn’s Spirit
Collection of the Homilies Homilies of Blessed Almalexia Almalexia and the Mudcrab Blessed Almalexia’s Fables for Morning Blessed Almalexia’s Fables for Afternoon
Blessed Almalexia’s Fables for Evening
Gathering the Sequences
The Order of Events
a compilation of lessons
The 36 Vivec Lessons
Selections from the Trial of Vivec’s Collection of Avowals (retitled Mystery of the Apotheosis) Selections from Vehk’s Teachings: The Judgment of Vivec Hogithum Hall II Details on the Psijic Project The Dragon Break is discussed in The Tower Book of Hours. The Amaranth IRC Reveal’s Memories of Sotha Sil Selection (retitled The Post at the Turning Point) From the Fifth Era, a Love Letter (redacted and retitled Obscurred Loveletter) Sermon 37 from The Prophet of Landfall (retitled The Amaranth)
Brief Justification
For other family members and friends, this was simply a fun endeavor. Everyone has access to the source code and may edit it.
I imagined this writing to be a lost codex someplace in the Elder Scrolls world, written by an Outlander and Temple Expansionist sympathizer. It is intended to assist western academics and Imperial speakers who are trying to comprehend the variety of fundamental ideas held by adherents of the Temple (also known as Daenthi), the strange and exclusive religion of Morrowind.
The inclusion of the fan language Casual Dunmeris, the usage of Daedric symbols, and the frescoes are all intended to give the appearance of age and growth to someone unfamiliar with Dunmer culture. In my own opinion, it truly is a spectrum and mixed bag. To gather this diverse group of players who have seen various yet comparable renditions of the Dunmer worldview, I added passages from TES:III, Tamriel Rebuilt, and TES:O.
In order to satisfy the First Rule of Nerevarine Club and capitalize on the Da Vinci Code-like notion that there were other manuscripts floating about at the top of the Temple that non-specialists would not have direct access to, I edited this into heirographa. I think that by leaving a variety of covert to overt breadcrumbs, it will encourage players to go into more intricate and bizarre mythology and maybe read.
What is C0DA, exactly? to take part in the conversation.
In order to assist individuals get into character and fully immerse themselves in the roleplaying mentality, I also wanted to create a tactile item that they could pick up, touch, and gaze at. Aside from that, I believe the Dunmer belief systems have some amazing religious and moral principles. I’m hoping that by tying these books together more tightly, a larger audience will be able to recognize their ideas and explore them in greater depth outside of the Elder Scrolls series.
In the end, I hope that these choices will motivate readers to continue their online and in-game exploration. I think the texts are in a relatively logical arrangement. The first portion narrates the creation account and defines the traditional gods, along with the consequences of Tribunal Apotheosis that have the furthest-reaching influence among them. Before concluding with various passages that demonstrate the ongoing function and interaction of the spirits with the living, it goes down the subgradient deities.
The middle three sections largely serve as gospels dedicated to the three incarnate gods. The 36 Lessons was the inspiration for this project at all, however the 12 Sermons of The Order of Events seem to be historically misunderstood. Though, when taken at the value of their ideas, the core themes all align perfectly with The Lessons and provides yet another protoevangelium.
Almalexia doesn’t actually have her own ideological text per per, despite taking on the Chimer form and being described to as the patron of Dunmer culture. There is, however, a growing collection of tales that go nicely together; in fact, I have heard some people refer to this collection as the “third book.” If you’re curious about where I got the idea to combine them, have a peek at the canon of the Servants of the Tribunal.
The last part contains passages that are both prophetic and revelatory in nature. I made an effort to confine any works that could be in question to this one area. I also done the most editing there, which some people won’t appreciate, so let me first explain:
Despite not necessarily being a part of the “greater timeline,” the opening of the last section contains passages from one of the more generally contentious sources in the extended lore. Nevertheless, it tells an incredibly eloquent account of the Apotheosis, which seems theologically significant to me at least. All five portions of The Trial are available online, and they make for a very intriguing read.
Next, I edited two sections of Vehk’s Teachings out of their original Q&A format. Admittedly, this was to more closely resemble the other books around them. The Loveletter was shortened and edited to remove some more specific references to the future. I put The Dragon Break and Memories of Sotha Sil in there to further establish the mysterious role of the Magne-Ge in the universe —and to just further complicate things for everyone. Though, The Prophet of Landfall, that one I added just for me; it was simply too funny not to include so I had to put my foot down. 😛
I believe C0DA actually fills in the blanks for Kirkbride’s description of the Dunmer Eschaton, which is in part why I chose Sermon 37 in its place. I didn’t want to be too specific about anything, but one Temple Stricture that I felt any apocolyptica needed to be balanced against was the idea that lay worship must directly advance the interests of the gods. The other side of this is that it is contrary to the salvific objective of Nerevarine Club, which once again cannot be talked of explicitly, to divert attention away from the gods. This is a crucial component in the fight against Dagoth Ur.
Here’s how I see Morrowind’s hero saga’s conundrum:
According to what I understood from the 36 Lessons (especially 11, 13, and 15), Vivec explains indirectly that the Tribunal already know of their likely mortal fates through prescience, and that the best way to prevent Dagoth Ur from swatting down the Nerevarine with that same prescience is to cast as much doubt as possible over the threads of fate so that mythically, no one can be sure of the outcome, allowing the Nerevarine to eventually slip back into mortality, unaffected (or more succinctly, it just takes time and pressure to stimulate the world-organ into eventually reproducing Nerevar).
Just outright swearing. My beloved children, don’t look.
This, in my opinion, is a play on the idea of quantum states. To put it crudely, once an object’s location can be determined, its trajectory can no longer be predicted according to quantum theory. In the other situation, if an object’s trajectory can be anticipated, its location cannot be confirmed. According to The Lessons (and Sithis), Vivec’s wager is that if the Hortator approaches the Sharmat with openness, their motions will mostly go unnoticed by him and his fantastical plans. (Consider the Mystery Men character Invisible Boy: “Only when no one is looking can I disappear. I can see myself again if I look in the mirror “) Between their interactions, this theme operates in a variety of ways.
However, I was unable to say anything even somewhat comparable in a forthright manner, which required destroying The Trial. I didn’t add any passages from the corresponding manuscripts in Vivec’s palace since I wanted to avoid talking about Nerevar. Finally, the Nerevarine also has a significant impact on amaranth. However, gazing too far into the future diverts attention from the gods in the present. As a result, I made an effort to only present texts—or portions of texts—that significantly emphasize the importance of the Tribunal, leaving the players to discover the remainder on their own.
Now, I totally admit that the selection of the Telvanni symbol for the World-Egg is a bit far-fetched but it does seem like more than just a mushroom tower to me. Just like the Judge’s Scale of House Hlaalu or the Scarab of House Redoran, I decided that there is likely a motif in writing somewhere that matches the symbol for Telvanni and felt that the World Egg most closely described the depiction. Later, I came across an artist’s rendition of the symbol in the form of a mandala, which bolstered my belief that I’m not the only one to read more into the depiction. The text I placed next to the Telvanni symbol comes from the 1999 post Cosmology, which I also edited out of it’s Q&A format.
Three introductions are included at the book’s start. The Living Gods and Worshiping the Illogical are the other two; one was penned by me.
Making Adjustments
You should first go get a copy of the book design reference manual.
Guide for Creating Lulu Books
If you would like to make your own modifications to the Quintessence, my OpenDocument project file, as well as all of the image and font assets can be found in the project folder on GitHub, or at the link for the Release Page for Quintessence section above. Here’s a direct link to the resource bundle in a .zip:
Bundle of source documents and resources
I make sure there is no transparency in raster pictures when exporting to PDF by using the archive format PDF/A-1b.
The cover has a 17mm spine measurement. The title was crammed into a 16mm print that I really made. Yes, according to the design manual, the spine should be 16mm for books with up to 168 pages, however with Lulu, the first page is not in the first signature but rather on a sheet that is attached to the end paper. A book with 14 autographs has 168 pages (6 sheets each signature), but the two end sheets make the total 170. I’m not sure; I made an effort to take into consideration everyone’s dimensions, but let’s face it, print-on-demand may get a bit disorganized when amateurs make their own covers. I’ve just done a few prints, but so far there have been no problems.
Thanks and Credits
initially created the ALMSIVI fresco shown in the Temple Oath by
A Tyddyner (1, 2, 3). TheMyzel initially created the Anticipation frescoes for each deity (1, 2, 3). Lukkar did the Sotha Sil meditation. Nathan Wilkes created the initial maps. The Anu/Padomay and Temple of Vivec frescoes are models taken from the artbook. If you recognize the writers of the Great House frescoes, please let me know since I was unable to locate them. The Ghartok Trigons are entirely unique as well.
We appreciate the efforts of Michael Kirkbride, Douglass Goodall, and all of the Bethesda teams. For the texts The Worship of the Ashlanders and Ruhn Ania ALMSIVI, we also thank the writers and collaborators of Tamriel Rebuilt.
Happy printing, sera, and thanks for viewing!
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