But.. that is all real.
And it all is not.

This is the mystical reality where a word is the act and a lie is the seed.
This is not a deterministic reality where one and one is two and the speed of light is 1.4 times a lot metres per second.
This is more the sort of reality our deep ancestors lived in, a dream time. The moon is a big floaty thing that circles in predictable patterns. It is also a god. at the same time

You have to let go of a Newtonian, classical scientific, way of looking at the universe if you are ever going to make sense of TES.

There are graphical glitches in Redguard you know, and it just so happens Vivec talks about them.
Now the question is not so much how can this be, it is what does this mean?
(A far more interesting question)
It means in my opinion that Vivec breaks the fourth wall to wink at us, or, from the viewpoint of someone on Tamriel, CHIM.

Nerevar is/was Vivec's lackey. In the reality that never-was, when Vivec was born of a Netchiman's wife and learned the secrets of Heaven and tought the Hortator his First lessons.
Did this all really happen? I dont know, is that even an interesting question?
But if it must be asked, I would say yes, it did. And no, it did not.
It did not happen before his Apotheosis, but afterwards he made room for it.

Surreality should not be thrown in the wind, it should be embraced.
Yes, it is wholly impossible that Vivec lived all those lives and tells the truth about all those pasts.
But the faith, the divinity, the mystery ensures that, yes, it did all happen

I'd make him admit that he got smashed one night, wrote a bunch of non-sensical 'lore' to troll us and has been covering up and adding to it ever since he realised people took it seriously. In short: that Vivec/Vehk/Mr. Mary Sue/His Ego-Trip Mouth Piece is a fraud and that http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:The_Light_and_the_Dark is the only valid piece of TES metaphysics lore.

Sermon thirty-three tells us that the Truth of Vivec is buried in a pile of crap. Cut him some slack.

So what good does it do for one author to insult another? People can have all the opinions they want, but its entirely up to you if you want to keep them to yourself or tell the world. It's called being humble.

There's my opinion. I'd list everything I hated, but I don't have enough room, and some of the things I hate are probably things other people like, and personally, I'd rather have people like me than resent me... within reason of course. I've already burned enough bridges on this forum already. Expressing my hatred of John Steinbeck and Mass Effect would only exacerbate things... oh bloody hell, I've done it again, haven't I?

So what he insulted him до нуминита, big deal. He's just a human, he's not perfect.

I wonder with the current approach of the games seems to be cutting down on the surreal aspects of the ES universe. They're still there, sure, but they seem to be de-emphasizing them. Do you think the writers are trying to abandon them or make them seem all the more mysterious?

Even in Skyrim, they mention that for Dragons there is no difference between debating and fighting. So I like to imagine that the Dragonborn of old used their blades and spells in the ways that a dragon uses his fangs and claws in such 'conversation' - as nonverbal communication. A dodge or parry becomes a refutation. The player's character has never managed to win an argument by concession, only by inflicting death. This was usually the case, I imagine, for Dragons are proud, willful, and stubborn creatures who will not concede anything easily.

Never read any Ayn Rand, but I just now looked up Sword of Truth. Damn, who would've thought bdsn could exist in a fantasy world, and to that degree too. Also that it's named something as seemingly innocuous as "Sword of Truth".

Funny enough, there's that redguard play at the monkeytruth website. It's basically this. Exactly this.

Wait, you actually thought that it couldn't?

I was going to make a joke about Rule 34. But, the association between bdsn and fantasy isn't even obscure, judging by some mishaps I've had with Google searches gone horribly wrong.

Accidental post deleted.

Well, I wouldn't say exactly, but it's a fun exploration of a similar concept. http://monkeytruth.net/texts/meditationtriumph.shtml.

But that's insulting a book, something you've (presumably) read and anolysed and taken in. As opposed to insulting a person (Author) who you've never met.

MK was clearly describing his strong dislike of Mieville's writing style and his book jacket photo, in one post on a different forum. It really shouldn't have been this big a deal, and I'm sorry I even brought this up.

"I just think his stuff is taken too literally as fiction, when it seems more like poetry."

That's exactly the point where I got out of the chair. And Mieville coughed slightly into the microphone before taking the shot.

Happy New Year.

36 Lessons is poetry written by a poet. Vehk would call himself a poet, and so would MK.

Quoth Sotha Sil. The truth is at the center of it all but layered with tons of poetry.

That's my point.

I'm not exactly sure what yours is though.

Mine? That if I had myself tied to a chair with a gun to my head... that would really be very quite awkward. Or delightful. Can't really remember what happened the last time that happened.

Beginning and last initial, Chaplain. Chop chop.

Either you're MK or you're taking the piss out of MK. The fact that I can't tell the difference is amusing in itself.

Thou art quite the trickster methinks.

Now I feel quite odd quoting an author's writing to the author. Or do I feel fantastic?

Don't give me ideas with chop chopping though. Although all I have to chop here is carrots.

If you don't mind me asking, who is this Mieville chap? I saw a picture of him, and he looks like he could be a blowhard, but then again all bald people are guilty until proven innocent. All except for Bryan Cranston.

Lovecraft and Steampunk seem like a cool match, so what's the beef over? He a braggart or something?

*edit* I still don't get the joke. Who's taking the shot? You or Mieville? And what's my quote about poetry have anything to do with it all? Was that the straw that finally got you off your chair to kill your nemesis once and for all? Ugh, Science H. Logic, and here I am asking more questions when I should be hatching a plan to tie you to that chair and get my answers. And don't you dare say 42 either. I've been down that road.

You could always try reading him I rather liked Embassytown, though others didn't. I wouldn't describe it as Lovecraft meets Steampunk, though, more like sci-fi meets semiotics. Haven't read the rest of his stuff.

When I finish Infernal City and Lord of Souls I will. Les Miserables will have to wait.

There's a definite steampunk aspect to his "Bas Lag" trilogy of novels, which was written well before the phenomena of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCuE5rHbPA.

I have MK tied to a chair with a gun to his head.. what do I demand he explain to me?

Elder Scrolls metaphysics: in a single page of paper.

Cool. Easier to do in and on.

So Bas Lag is steampunk? Or just holistically reminiscent of it?
I quite like the new identity. It reminds me of a festive, sagacious woodland elk that no one ever seems happy to see.

On a side note, if you had to put a name to your style of illustration, what would you call it? I rather like it and might devote a bit of my life to trying my hand (no pun intended, but not really) at it. I need some form of illustration, but I don't want to hassle with finding an illustrator.