To any and all interested,

Seeking a clearer understanding of recent events, I followed a trail of rumors to the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil. The duration spent in that region afforded me numerous opportunities for both exploration and study. While making way through the darkened subterranean tunnels of an ancient ruin I knocked over an earthenware urn. This accident proved to be fortuitous for inside I discovered several fragmentary pieces of parchment, kept safe from the ravages of time and decay. Other obligations at the time prevented committing my full attention to those fragments. I took them with me, taking care to do as little damage as possible.

Later, once sufficient time had been set aside for study I made meticulous examinations of these fragments. With no small effort I discovered that by tediously arranging and rearranging I was able to reproduce the original text. Written in a strange Ehlnofex dialect, translation proved difficult; the results of my efforts are affixed to this letter. Ostensibly the text offers advice in the planting and harvesting of crops, as evidenced by the title and agrarian metaphors within. The close association with the agriculture, magic, and astronomy evident in the text may suggest a mythical significance, however.

I have included ellipses for those terms which I was unable to translate with confidence. The term translated "ancestors" in lines eight, twelve, and seventeen might also be rendered "Aedra."


Keys to a Successful Harvest

For a successful harvest season, one must plant and sow at the proper? .

The proper?to plant and sow are indicated by the heavens.

There is a magic from below and a magic from above:

Aetherial and Mundane.

There is a first magic and its children,

A germ and its sprout, a blossom and its fruit ?

and they?one.

The world below has been left us by our ancestors;

By ? .

The world above is?we come from;

The world below is?we are.

The world above is the abode of our ancestors;

The world below is the dirt in which we sow.

The world above is the primal cornucopia:

The stars?it for us.

The world below is the planting and the harvest? .

The stars will guide our children on the day when they will meet their ancestors ?

And they?one.


OOC: Obviously neither I nor anything I write has any sort of canonical or dogmatic authority, but I thought this to be a more interesting (provocative) way to introduce a theory. Besides, writing a scholarly article and providing my evidence would give too much away. Naysayers are given leave to denounce the text as a forgery.

EDIT: Did you make this up? If so, then you've made up a story to make some speculation about lore. If that is the case, then I don't believe this really belongs in lore.

If not, where are your referances?

See http://www.imperial-library.info/fsg/azurastararticle1.shtml for info on the Aedra.

So why an Ehlnofex dialect, exactly? The Ehlnofex is up a few levels of subgradient and could be any denizen of Nirn, as I read it.

Loreseeker: He's Whirling School. Kneel.

It's a bit of a standing tradition that fan writing of a highly lorical nature can be posted in the Lore Forum without being OT.

As for the text itself it's pretty nice. The ellipsed passages seem to work like the Ehlnofex words we know, where you can get the general idea of what that part means but there are many different translations where some or all may be appropriate. You also seem to be drawing some parallels with the Yokudan idea of the stars guiding spirits to heaven/Far Shores/Aetherious.

I take it this is what you were hinting at in the "Prophet Speech" thread. I like where you are going with this, Redguard always seemed to paint the constellations as more important than we give them credit for.

So yeah I'm lost did he make that up, did you make that up whats going on here or did you like.... I don't know man someone clear this up for me.

One would think the OOC addendum on the original post would obviate questions like these.



Right, the "Prophet Speech" thread. It really goes back to http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=566618&st=0&p=8201795&#entry8201795, though, and stuff happening around that time (and subsequently, of course).

Hmm, speaking of made-up crypto-lore, isn't it MK's birthday today?

[quote name='Dumbkid' date='Sep 1 2008, 10:25 PM' post='12772292']
One would think the OOC addendum on the original post would obviate questions like these.

Yeah dude I thought he said that it was non-canon in the sense that it was just something he found in game not that he him self just wrote it. Plus I don't know what the hell OOC means dude I'm still like new to this forum. And how does one "obviate" something?

It's fine.

OOC means Out of Character.

The purpose of the OOC post was to say "okay, I realize this isn't from the game or any of the expansions, and no, I'm not a dev and I don't have any contract with Bethesda, so what I think isn't necessarily worth any more than any other theory. But, I've decided to present my idea as if it were something discovered in Tamriel (heck, even if the text was "authentic" it could still be just plain wrong)."

To obviate means to anticipate and take care of, more or less.

Nevermind.

ahh I thought you just misspelled something like obliviate but uhh yeah that ain't a word :hehe: so yeah total RvB moment.

Well, thank you for clearning that up.



OK, obviously I'm still totally lost. Traditions?

Please, metaphorically speaking, POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION SO I MAY UNDERSTAND.

*Sigh*

OK. I. Will. Try. To. Speak. Slowly. And. Clearly.

First off, Arynel and Dumbkid are the same person with different user accounts. It is also accepted to post fan stories in the Lore forum if the content is heavily lore bassed and would go over the heads of the people in the Fan Fiction forum. Such things are not considered off topic here. Arynel is not a dev or Bethesda employee as he has stated. This is a theory he is working on but has decided to present it in a progressive, "in game" maner.

The theory itself has to do with the constellations and how they may be more than just tunnels to Aetherious.

Some explication on the untranslated Ehlnofex might be of use. The untranslated term in line nine simultaneously denotes choice and cohersion. The term left untranslated in lines one, two, ten, and eleven have a dual-meaning of physical and temporal location, a where-when for which Cyrodiilic lacks a proper equivelant. Multiple terms, closesly related, are left untranslated in lines seven, fifteen, sixteen, and eighteen. These terms have an apparent meaning somewhat related to those terms of lines one, two, ten, and eleven, but when translated into Cyrodiilic yield contradictions.