so, in Akavir, they seem to have an equivalent to the Thu'um as mentioned in "http://uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Children_of_the_Sky"

my question is, just how much info do we have on this "Kiai"? How similar is it to the Thu'um? is it easier to learn? would it be more powerful then the Thu'um?




I like to think the reason the Nerevarine traveled to Akavir is to master this mysterious art...

We have no real information about it. There have been plenty of theories using it to tie Nords and Tsaesci together, really as a means to tie their dragons together.

The same book has this passage:

They refer to the Nord's Thu'um as a kiai, which implies they are the same thing.

We also know the Akaviri have a symbol for "shout" via Esbern's Skyrim dialogue. This implies it's common enough in Akavir to have its own unique word.

interesting... the fact we know so little about it just makes me want to know more haha..

Given the overwhelming prominence of dragons in Akaviri culture, I think it's fair to say this is just the Akaviri word for the Thu'um. It could definitely be more complex than that--for all we know, Akaviri dragons may be mythically different and thus have a different language.

I'm pretty sure ever lore forum regular does that.

My assumption has been that they are the same; both cultures had enough contact with dragons that they learned some of their language (likely with divine help) and turned that weapon against the dragons.

Or is it simply just a battlecry? Given how the Akaviri borrow heavily on Japanese culture, and the Kiai is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiai?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Report:_Disaster_at_Ionith discusses the possibility of Tsaesci being able to magically manipulate the weather. Shouting can certainly change the weather.

I wouldn't call a few similarities between arms & armor "heavily borrowed." Drawing parallels between real-world and Tamrielic cultures for the purpose of speculation doesn't usually offer anything rewarding.

Yeah.

One thing is how seemingly strongly (some) members of Tsaesci nation do associate with language that their Kiai might be something more than Thu'um. They seem to be The Language. I fail to see that in Greybeards (or even in Dragons), their Thu'um is powerful but yet they are mere men in their cloacks. Tsaesci supposedly are the Kiai.

But then:

I remember that TESIII-era writing, Children of Sky, drew much more mystified picture of Nords. Naked men walking in chilling blizzard as it would be their home. While Greybeards were something even more elemental, like they would be that blizzard. Oh boy was i let down during Skyrim?!?! No need for question marks really. Same which i have now on Tsaesci, while in the end i think they aren't much more different from what Grey beards proved to be, just men of Akavir. I fear that day.

So in the end i don't think they are different, but same.

EDIT: I'm not saying that TESV failed to deliver what was written in TESIII, but that my expectations proved to be wrong. I just imagined it to be... more... unique... exotic... original.

Well, you have to remeber that these people are normal looking when in Morrowind, so why would they change into some mystic being when they are in their homeland?

Also, leather armors are pretty much walking naked in a blizzard. And if you saw a Greybeard from afar coming down from Highhrothgar in all that wind, you could easily see them as an elemental.