Tamriel Data:The Gospel of Saint Veloth
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Contents
Volume 1
In the Darkness shines the Light. The Light is everlasting in its brilliance: unchanging, unmoving, unassailable. Yet the further it casts its Rays, the less shine and warmth and structure it carries to them. We were cast from the Light long ago, and it is of little use to us now.
As the Rays are cast into the Darkness, so the Shadows form them. Many are the names given to the Rays, and many those given to the Shadows, but few are of concern to us, as we are bound to them only through the Light, and they are as distant again to us as it is.
The Ray that most concerns us moved forward, its shape ever becoming colder and dimmer, until it was cast into a gray-lit chamber in the form of an Aldmer. This Aldmer was Veloth, and he cast his gaze around the room in which he found himself, regarding in turn each Corner and each Door that gave the room its square form. Behind him lay the Door of Origin through which he had come, and -- its contents being already revealed -- his gaze did not dwell on it.
Veloth was born of the waning radiance of his Ancestors, of good birth, clarity and cultivation. As he moved from the cradle that had brought him to the world, he encountered his first obstacle: a dark shade was cast over his homeland and people which sought to halt his advance.
The elders who raised Veloth had trained their steps to be ever shorter, they looked always behind themselves at the Light that preceded them, and they tried to ensure that their students would gain no knowledge they did not already have. Veloth's lessons repeated endlessly, each time with less substance than the last, as his elders attempted to strip his essence to its barest foundation.
The Aldmer did not wish to lose the Light, and so they attempted to halt their movement away from it. But that would not return them to the Light, nor would it show them a way forward. Unchanging, unmoving, unassailable, their teachings were of little use to Veloth.
Veloth, even in his early days, stood apart from the rest. He did not look back. But in those days before his Revelation he could not see forward either. He looked inward instead and perceived his own Light, and in his Light he recognized the shape of his Ancestors. Just as his Ancestors had been shaped, so too was his Light shaped. To look at the Light itself would be to look back, so he chose to look at the Darkness that surrounded it instead, and the Darkness looked at him.
So nurtured by the Shadows, Veloth's spark could shine on its own, and to Veloth the Shadows revealed a way forward. Veloth rejected the teachings of his elders. When bereft of wise guidance without, look within, for a faithful heart carries answers.
While Veloth stood apart from his kin in perceiving the Door that opened to him, he loved his people, and was quick to show them his discovery. His elders, however, disapproved: blinded from staring endlessly at the Light, their eyes could not pierce the Darkness, and they were doubtful and afraid.
One of them, less cowardly than the rest, ventured to block the doorway. This was the champion Trinimac. He swung his cudgel at all those who attempted to go through the Door, trying to knock them back to immobility. Yet Veloth's vision was strong and decisive, and Trinimac's ignorance could not match it. Without perceiving it, Trinimac slowly gave way before the advancing students, until he fell unheedingly back into the doorway and his Light was swallowed.
The students looked into the doorway, trying to discern Trinimac in its obscurity, but could only hear his voice. Trinimac spoke as a new man, seeing that to which he had been blind. He instructed the students of the knowledge he did not already have and bid them join him in the Darkness. Some of the students hastened to him and were likewise swallowed, but Veloth stood still before the doorway and observed it, and then shifted his gaze from it.
So he taught his people not to advance heedlessly, but to remain ever circumspect.
Veloth's gaze fell instead on a dark Corner beside the doorway where dust had gathered. The dust revealed itself as Malacath and his followers. The remaining elders followed his gaze but were cowed by what they saw, their fears and hesitations realized. They looked away from their fallen kin, and looked away from their unruly students, and returned to their single-minded contemplation of the Light, a barrier to Veloth no more.
Malacath and his people despaired at what they had become, and despaired at being abandoned by the other elders, and despaired at having fallen before Veloth. They let the wind carry them away from their home and were forever dispersed. Veloth and his followers had been spared the same fate, yet Veloth seized the wind, for it could carry them forth as well.
As they had kept their form and purpose the wind carried the Velothi as a body over the waters that had enclosed them and they stepped forth on their journey. A heedful mind does not turn away from Mistakes once made, but allows those Mistakes to guide it, and so becomes stronger.
Volume 2
Veloth looked down the path that had opened to him, and in it saw many Mistakes, but also many lessons. Some of his followers fell on the wayside, others lost their way, but steadfastly he led the rest on their journey, advancing along his path while never stepping past the Four Corners of the world. Of the Mistakes Veloth encountered, some were redeemed, some remained heedless, and others still sought to destroy the pilgrims who walked a clearer path than they did.
As Veloth led his people across the span of the world he met with a powerful Mistake at its center: the feathered, crowned sorcerers of the marble wheel. They too had seen the Darkness, but they were arrogant and faithless and sought to bend it to their designs, not perceiving that they themselves had been bent by it. They stood in the way of Veloth and carried his followers off in their talons and proudly pruned their golden feathers, telling the Velothi the falsehoods they had heard before.
The Velothi heeded their teachings, however, and were not misled. They conjured a Door like that they had seen before and cast the Light of the crowned sorcerers into its Darkness. The lesson of that Door being known to the Velothi, its contents were illuminated, revealing the Door to be the frame of a hearth.
In the warmth of the hearth the Velothi could sleep safe from predation, and into the fire of the hearth the Velothi could cast their foes. Turn your knowledge into your strength and your safety. If you can make your surroundings as a house to you, its fires shall not burn you.
Veloth could not stay long basking in the warmth of the hearth, and turned instead to the next obstacle. But the next obstacle was obscured by a fog as thick and unfathomable as any wall, yet inviting exploration rather than restriction.
Seeking a barrier to surmount, the Velothi wandered forth into the fog with sure step. Yet once within it, they lost sight of their lessons, and did not recognize Mistakes for what they were, inviting them to the warmth of their hearth and giving birth to folly. Even Light and Darkness could not be held apart in that fog.
Yet Veloth did not despair at how warped his teachings had become, but remembered his earliest lesson: he looked within himself. There, once again, he found his Light and his Darkness, and as he had a faithful heart the two were clear divided. And as they were reflected within himself, so were they reflected without.
Veloth drew the Light away from the Darkness, revealing the fog to be an endless mountain range looming high above his wayward people. He cast the Light back with greater focus and it pierced the mountains, and for the first time the Velothi were able to gaze upon their promised land.
No longer confused, their impurities cut through as the mountains themselves had been, the Velothi came home with sure step. When confronted by a new problem, do not neglect old solutions, for they have demonstrated their worth before.
Having arrived at their destination, the Velothi began settling the land and contemplating the lessons they had learned on their journey, nurturing old knowledge and contemplating new ideas. Yet Veloth's path had not reached its end, and some still followed him as he saw his journey to its conclusion.
Veloth looked to the final Door, and his persistence revealed a vision: Veloth observed the truths he had seen, and truths he had yet to see. Dusk lay behind him, and he had never admired it, for it brought nothing new. Before him was only dawn, the coming of a new Light, and finally Veloth had an idea of what he was seeking.
The path of a follower is to contemplate one's lessons and live a good life, but the path of a visionary is to seek new knowledge and to always be on the move. Respect the station you have been given in life and find out how it can best serve you.
Veloth stood on a promontory looking out over the ocean, an expanse far wider than that he had crossed when leaving his birthplace. Prosperity had come to his people and he was glad at heart, and yet still he stood and faced his final obstacle.
The demon Mehrunes Dagon rose from the water to meet him, his four arms spread out, each holding a weapon more dreadful than the last. Veloth uttered the lesson of the first Door to dispel the first weapon, uttered the lesson of the second Door to dispel the second weapon, and uttered the lesson of the third Door to dispel the third weapon, but the fourth weapon traced a path around the demon's four hands which revealed the shape of a tomb.
Perceiving that death had come upon him, Veloth stood in his gray-lit burial chamber and cast his gaze around the room in which he found himself, regarding in turn each Corner and each Door that gave the room its square form. He recognized his Ancestors, as well as Sheogorath, Boethiah, Malacath, Mephala, Molag Bal, Azura and finally Mehrunes Dagon who slew him.
Yet Veloth was not yet done observing the chamber. He turned his gaze sideways and perceived the Ceiling above him, the Floor below him and the Air in between. These were not dark Corners, nor mysterious Doors, but were familiar, having accompanied him in all his travels. Veloth took a great step forward, his foot rising until it met the Floor above. Completing his step, he raised his head up to the Ceiling below and looked around him. Behind him were the three Doors of Anticipation, in front of him the Waiting Door, around him the Four Corners that had tried to halt him, now inverted and conquered. The Chimer Veloth stepped forth through the Waiting Door, never once having turned back in his journey, and found a new way forward.
So must we find our way forward, not pining for that which we lost before birth, nor blindly advancing into lands unknown, but embraced by our Ancestors and the true path revealed by ALMSIVI.
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