So when you hand over the Mysterium Xarxes to Martin, he exclaims to you: "By the Nine! Such a thing is dangerous even to handle!"

Now, I understand that this would just be speculation on completely unfounded principals, but why would a former worshipper of Sanguine/Daedra trafficker consider this book supposedly written by Mehrunes Dagon to be dangerous to handle? Remember, it'd have to be specialized knowledge, but not too specialized so that someone who did not worship Dagon directly could know its danger.

I suppose as a corollary to this, what do you suppose the Mysterium Xarxes is to someone who is not a part of the Mythic Dawn?

I want your wild theories and speculations, don't worry, it's for a good cause.

We know that Mankar Camoran was able to open a gate to his paradise by using the Mysterium Xarxes. In the wrong hands, maybe some very bad Daedra could appear or probably an oblivion gate would open. Notice, that Dagons sphere is destruction. Maybe the Mysterium Xarxes could destroy itself or something else. We only know, that daedric things are always extreme...

Maybe Martin's just a drama queen.

I think this is a good answer. A half-trained civilian who tried to use the Mysterium Xarxes could probably find himself or herself in over their heads very quickly. Remember that Martin lost a lot of his friends to experimentation with Sanguine's sphere, and this is no different.

I reckon it probably contains the secret to being able to either create or access realms in Mehrunes Dagon's part of Oblivion.

Either that or a really good recipe for chocolate biscuits

All that bloodshed over a bunch of chocolate biscuits....

I still wanna know what the connection to Xarxes is. Wasn't he the author of the Oghma Infintium?

The Mysterium itself is not very interesting, I think. The commentariers by Camoran are much more interesting. It seems he've got the same or bigger wisdom about the mysterial things of AE, Mundus and CHIM then Vivec himself. Its very pitty, that we cannot talk to him. The stupid CoC just wanted to kill him and Camoran wasn't very happy with that. This is the one and only thing at TES that svcks. The great world freedom is nothing, if the PC is not able to have a good conversation like in KotOR or other RPGs.

As we are already talking about the book, does it contain more pages than the two we saw in Oblivion? (If I didn't miss the other pages)

Yes, only 2 pages.

http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/kikaiarticle1.shtml

Wisdom? It's the same in(s)ane gibberish, perhaps even worse, than what Vivec penned down.

Ok, I should've also included what he said afterwards which is: "Forgive me. You were right to bring it. But you'd better give it to me. I know some ways to protect myself from its evil power."

This implies that simply having it in your possession or maybe reading it without any preparation would do something dangerous. So, while it's a good shot, and I may end up using it if nothing else materializes, for now I'm going shelve the idea.

Just think about Dagoth Ur. His mind was corrupted by the tools of Kagrenac. It seems, that some magical things could have an effect on the user/reader. In this case, daedric stuff would be much stronger in confusing/corrupting minds - like the One Ring from "Lord of the Rings". It is not silly to assume, that the Mysterium Xarxes could have effect on the reader. I go further and suggest that Mankar Camoran wasn't always this mad man as we know him from Oblivion. The first sentences in the Commentaries:



Its possible that Camoran became mad or like he would call it "enlightened" while reading the Mysterium.

Only two pages are viewable in the game, but I wouldn't expect that it's really just two pages, after all, those two pages hardly seem to contain the things that Mankar Cammoran apparently learned from it, most likely, since players were never meant to understand it, Bethesda just included those two, since it would look distinctly arcane, much more so than just having a generic description hinting at what was inside like Boethia's Pillow Book in Morrowind.

Anyway, I always assumed that the thing about the Mysterium Xarxes being dangerous is similar to the dangers involved with contact with forbidden knowledge in the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, it can have... inverse effects on one's psychological health, it wouldn't surprise me if the book also contains things that, if used by those who are not well initiated, could have detrimental concequences that may or may not result in death or other unpleasant fates.

I agree here, that it's a lot of psychological damage to those not properly prepared and porobaly has some adverse magic effect without the right wards. In some of my earlier writings (which I won't be linking to in this post as it's not all that important) I described it as having a withering effect simply because it felt right for the aeshetic of the story, but my only real substantiation was the ambiguous claim to danger Martin makes.

I think now would be a good time to research the Commentaries in detail for the first time since I first played through POblivion for any clues.

That was an interesting read.

This is quite simple indeed, its the same as for several "forbidden books" around world. Such book as Xarxes is a very dangerous one, not just because of what it contains, but also as it is a beacon for all sort of maniacs and fanatics.

If you can only read two pages of Xarxes, than Boethia's Pillow Book must contain powers to rip open a dimensional warp and cause someone's mind to go bla...oh...

Hmmm. I am partial to the Lovecraftian explanation, but I do like the POstem's idea (slightly tweaked) of the book being desired to be read and/or revered by those around it.

I personally think that when he says it's dangerous to handle, I think it's because of the ties to it from the deadlands.

To me, holding the book would be like holding part of Dagons sphere of influence to you, if he wrote it himself, it's been infused with his power and his power created his realm.

How does that manifest?

I'm pretty sure the Xarxes contains instructions, from Dagon's pov, on how one goes about a proper Endeavor. Some of the details were wrong, and that is why his paradise falls apart instead of Mankar simply stepping back into his realm. So the Xarxes turns out to be a false account, Mankar payed for it, and the game leaves us hanging with no clear explaination as to why the book is so fearsome. I think Martin came to believe everyone around him was allergic to dusty, old tomes. If I'm wrong about the above, then I would like to be corrected.

What, pray tell, makes you think that the Xarxes is a false account?

Apologies for being TES IV ignorant: Paradise collapses because Mankar, the Stone of the Paradise realm, is killed/rendered inert, correct? That's why I thought Paradise fell. Towers and Oblivion "pockets" you close when you go into Oblivion gates are destroyed because you "nullify" the Stone/remove the sigil stones.

Why else are wars and battles wages, expect for the taste of that sweet, sweet, choclatey goodness.

Truly, the only reason that the Mythic Dawn killed the Emperor was because he was too close to discovering the secret ingridient in Mehrunes Dagon's famous choclate biscuits.

PS: I even heard from Malacath that Dagon seduced Meridia, with some help from Sanguine and Clavicus Vile, with those chocolate biscuits.

Actually, it was Peryite. Ever wonder why he's called the taskmaster?

I too like POstem's comment. The sheer quantity of fanatics that this book inspires is breath taking. I always hoped the other pages were a little more informative of actual power that could be wielded. Otherwise all these followers have been wasting their time.

But I also like...


"dangerous even to handle"!? He was insinuating there's a power even to the material - the touching of the - pages themselves. Possibly true, but I think he was blowing some smoke.