[WIP] The Eidolons: Trickster-Spirits of the Alessian Faith

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Saint_Jiub
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[WIP] The Eidolons: Trickster-Spirits of the Alessian Faith

Post by Saint_Jiub »

(Something I was working oh a while back, a stab at how the Marukhati would have portrayed the Divines. If people are interested, I'll finish the set and play some more with this mythology in the future)

Akatalech (Prodigal Aion): Great Wyrm, firstborn and most glorious of the children of the One, who did count the days and hours for his Mother during the Creation so yond She might know whence each of her tasks wast complete. His refusal to end the count on the Ninth day did lead to the Fall, sundering the peoples of Tamriel from the Paradise of the One. Depict'd as a three head'd dragon with tiger’s hindquarters and serpent’s tail – two heads snap and bite at each other, whilst fitfully doth the third slumber.

Al-Esh (Mother of Dragons): The holy spirit of the One, born into mortal guise to walk unseen amongst us. In the humble form of a Nedic maid, she hath uplift'd the chosen people of the One from slavery, hath built for those folk a homeland and an Empire, and hath provide’d relief from the foul machinations of the daemons of Oblivion. Yond the Lady shall return again in glory to redeem her nine fallen children and uplift the faithful to Her side in Paradise for eternity. Depict'd in her god-guise in the form of a maiden with three faces and four wings, two scale’d and two feather'd. One visage is of the Paravant; the left-hand head hast the visage of a bull, and the right, that of a gilt wyrm.
Arktus (Throne of the Heavens)

Diibetl (Hierophant of Sin): Youngest and favorite daughter of the One, who did wait upon her Mother and at Her side learn'd how pleasure might beest attain'd through chastity, prayer, and virtue. Since the Fall, she hath succumb'd to lust and sin, using her wiles to curry favor with every nation and faith. Depict'd as a nude maiden bedeck'd in silken veils and gold– her visage, when visible, is a leering death's-head.

Jhuinava (Fool of Scripture): Youngest son and scribe of the One, who faithfully did inscribe his Mother’s words and teachings during the Creation. After the Fall, he hasten’d to build a simulacrum of the One from Her Word. Each failed attempt did drive him further into darkness and cause him to seek out forbidden knowledge. He teaches men to shun the Living Word of the One, instead idolizing the writ form. Depict'd as an owl nay headeth - above his wings a pyramid floats, cover’d on all sides with eyes.

Ky-Nar-Y-Tan (Corypheus of the Breath): Eldest daught'r of the One, who once hath led the spirits of air in singing their Mother’s praises across the cosmos. After the Fall, she sid'd with the Great Wyrm to establish dominion ov'r the Mundus. Depict'd as a feminine figure adorned with eight wings- with two of these she hid’s h'r visage, with two she cov'rs h'r corse, with two she flies, and with the last does she does conduct the four winds across Tamriel.

Maer (Matriarch of the House of Mud): Middle daughter of the one, who sculpt'd the peoples of Tamriel out of clay so her Mother couldst breathe life into these folk. Sadly, her love for her children did prove her demise. Since the Fall, she hath led her children hence from the path of righteousness and did teach them to clingeth to material things rather than embrace the Light of the One. Depict'd as a corpulent matron with the head of a toad and two long tongues – with one, she doth shape a golem from the mud, and with the oth'r doth she whisp’r to it sweet temptations.

Styndas (Knight of Cups):

Zaenovart (Infernal Knave):

Shezazel (Watcher in the Dark):

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Infragris
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Post by Infragris »

Some of these concepts might be useful for the charismatic sub-cults or minor convents today, but I don't think they would be appropriate for the Marukhati. The thing with the Marukhati is that they were deists: they believed in an unknowable, amorpheus deity whose consciousness encompassed all living things. The One was not a spirit with a set identity, conscious thoughts, gender, or family in the classical pantheon way: he was more like a force, or a law of nature. As a sidenote, the Marukhati always struck me as more patriarchal, with the main source for female deities coming from the older Nedic faiths and the Nordic trio of Dibella-Mara-Kyne.

During most of the Marukhati period, worship of the Eight was illegal or at least discouraged. While there were permutations of their cults throughout Cyrodiil, I do not think that the Marukhati would have bothered creating an alternate interpretation of the pantheon, even as a means of propaganda - the totem cults already had that function. Either way, the main priesthood would never sully itself with these speculations (though they grudgingly accepted the theoretical existence of the Eight as imperfect subgradients of the One). When conceptualizing the Marukhati, it is also important to keep in mind that they were well into book-burning and destroying records: any knowledge that survives from that era would be incredibly rare and difficult to interpret.

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