Netruk44/uesp-wiki-content huggingface dataset:
Boethiah's Proving

On a certain day, at a certain time, the faithful gathered to perform certain rituals, hoping to gain a glimpse of their master. The day was correct, the summoning true.

Slashing a smoking tear through the Veil, She, her-very-self, appeared before them, terrible and resplendent. She came arrayed in ebony darker than a moonless night, wielding a blade burning hotter than the surface of the sun. And though she wore the guise of a Dunmer warrior-queen, she towered above them like a statue carved from the Red Mountain itself.

"Why have you disturbed me?"

Surprised, the first among them prayed:

"O Boethiah, Prince of Plots, Deceiver of Nations, Queen of Shadows, Goddess of Destruction, we come to worship thee!"

She looked down upon her followers, gathered to bear witness. Frowning she asked the first:

"Tell me, you who profess to know me, how shall I know you?"

Afeared he exclaimed:

"Each night I pray to thee, each night I call out thy wondrous names. Surely thou must recognize the sound of my voice? Thy most devoted of believers?"

She frowned and let out a long sigh, and then of a sudden he was gone, the air from her lungs dispersing him.

Turning to the second she asked:

"And you? How shall I measure the worth of your existence?"

Stunned by the power of her voice, he bowed before her darkening visage.

She clapped her hands, and he too was gone.

To the third:

"And you, tell me, how shall I know you apart from such as were they, of whom there is no trace?"

Shaken and speechless from the nullifications of his brethren, he whispered:

"Have mercy upon us!"

She blinked twice. Once, he was in agony. Twice, he was destroyed.

She cast a withering glance across those remaining and said:

"I do not grant mercy."

And so it was with the others. She putting them to proof, they offering none.

Finally she came to me, eyes aglow with anger, tongue wet with hate, and said:

"Of all my believers, but two remain. Tell me, second-to-last, with what shall you prove your existence?"

Without hesitation I drew forth my blade and buried it in the chest of the other who stood beside me, and without fear replied:

"Ask him whose blood now sprouts from my blade if I exist."

She smiled. And the gates of Oblivion opened between her teeth. Then she said:

"Tell me, now-last of my followers, wherefore do you remain where the others do not?"

I retrieved my blade, and offered it up saying:

"I am alive because that one is dead. I exist because I have the will to do so. And I shall remain as long as there are signs of my handwork, such as the blood dripping from this blade."

Accepting my gift, she nodded and said:

"Indeed."
Lore:Thormar

(alternatively called Thormar Keep)  is an   ruin located in the border region of  , in the province of  . Thormar is a rather insignificant ruin, but it is the gathering place for  , a celebration between the   and the  , where both factions prank and pull practical jokes with each other for the chance to partake in  's  . 

 

History
Thormar was constructed by the Ayleids, but like the rest of their settlements, it was abandoned as time went on. The land around it was claimed by both Wood Elves and Khajiit. A conflict ensued in the fields around Thormar between these two races. The Khajiit were led by  , a powerful mage. Eventually, the Bosmer overwhelmed the Khajiit, leaving only Yenamu standing. She and the remaining warriors held of the Wood Elves for an hour straight until only Yenamu remained, and she was struck down by a stray arrow that pierced her eye. 

Ever since  , the Wood Elves, and the Khajiit gather at Thormar to partake in Baan Dar's Boast, a celebration of the ideals of Baan Dar, the Bandit God of the provinces of Valenwood and  .  Baan Dar's Boast is an honest celebration with the sole purpose of proving oneself to Baan Dar and to join his Five Fingers Dance.

During the   in the late  , the town of Thormar Keep was an active settlement, being under the rule of Count Karocher. It had a rivalry with  .  It was neighbored by several settlements, including   in the northeast,   in the west, and   in the southwest. 


References
Lore:Baan Dar and His Boast

Do you love to laugh? Have a talent for trickery? A passion for pranks?

Then come to  's Boast! Returning to the ruins at   for the twenty-fifth consecutive year!   got you down? Come and enjoy the flowing brews of the  , the cunning quips of the  , and celebrate the will to survive here on the edge of  !

This year, you can join with the funny faithful of the  , the Khajiiti group in this year's Boast. By the  , do they know how to have a good time! Or, sign up with the other side and the woolly Wood Elves of the  ! Definitely not a group of assassins during the off season!

Whether you come to prank or just drink your days away—Baan Dar's Boast! Survival of the smartest on the savannahs of  .
Codified Law, Vol. I

[The Alessian Doctrines, written by the prophet Marukh, were the founding edicts of the so-called Alessian Order. Though considered heretic and blasphemous today, marukhati principles such as "All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent" remain the foundation of Imperial Law today. Excerpt-books such as this one are one of the few ways in which the Doctrines are allowed to be promulgated, and even then only among authorized students and practitioners of law. They are encrypted by legal ciphers whose keys are the closely guarded secrets of the Guild of Barristers.] 

 NHP BUMG GBQ - ICM - LCIWM GW MUY EMEDBGID KNUHELUIA IGQ BQ ANQW - YYF GBCK FYDDNVMF NIQFB MUYUZ - GWGTOQA - VV VVLOTRA PVNTWHB FRUZQAO ERN FPRU - PUCEXRZ - MUY IWBLL SID Q NU IEIFMPBXQ VK BUM - XKUXBRL - HAY EPR EAB CE VVVX GBACFIGQ MBQEQMF IR OEMTG - QTQFXXE - UZL GPX FIDKRZHHM AVRA WRPUARL T PUSM SWK GBQ - ICM - TAX TQF BAEYQ JHUUYCZO NALVMFIABL GBQQE VTZYE ERZX - CMGSUIT - ZODVNI - DULGCXIT - NHP BUZHHAT BJQLGCZO GPXVL - FWAONRM - FPRG FNXQ BUM UEUZKUML TLAE VV T - CLUABV - TAX EW RVLAUDMQ BAR - UBM - FXHXY MONQG FUKQAO - T TLQIGMK PUSM GPTA NTQF Q ANPQ TVDXQ CZ - IYT FL FUNR - EBYF XQIM BA GMVL GXNLE AGQEY


TAX U EVTE TI - QIFB - MBQMZQA MUY UAYML BZ XIZMGGUFQBV PUYDM ZG - OBCOM - JQEY LQIPP MUY QIE WY XCZOF OKRUFME BANH KWH - NHE WQVGCKL C TIIM WBHQ - XRVTAWQ - BB ANSZQZ VA MUY ZIGCKR MFIGM HS YJQFBXAWQ BUM PUCFM PQML QUTY EXYWAUR UX - NHP AUQYG UZL FPTCY UBFMES UOKBZWVHSTL - IL VN TIF LHAY EW VV MUY BIFB YBL FPR -EAVNQ KVBR - VM M OEMTG MZIXM - T YUWM FMKCYZB - NVW VN OWABHENE IAL KRZAZZA UL WAUZIGQ IR PR EAB BMA GPX XYK BB BAR - NAERZ - LB CF QF
Codified Law, Vol. II

[The Alessian Doctrines, written by the prophet Marukh, were the founding edicts of the so-called Alessian Order. Though considered heretic and blasphemous today, marukhati principles such as "All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent" remain the foundation of Imperial Law today. Excerpt-books such as this one are one of the few ways in which the Doctrines are allowed to be promulgated, and even then only among authorized students and practitioners of law. They are encrypted by legal ciphers whose keys are the closely guarded secrets of the Guild of Barristers.]

 ZAZ NTE GBQ EBZEQ CE I - CZBFIZ - KBVVRCHMQ WY OS FPR - BKVWWAGMK - JBA WS IEY NTQAOL UUP BUM YVLEB VLXN XQAVOGRX NG GPX FOZUNLX - JUFKUMK - JBA VRDXE FQIIML UCE ICXHVHFMQ AMNNUWA IGQ VGQYB UL NTM - SIVRN RZNOFRHF IFXXPNE - EUW TEY OWEZNCNQL NVW - HHPWAM - UL YXDRV EVYE WS - EAVMBME - PXNL YM SWK V MBMNS PVNT BUM OBCOM BN MUY - QFNTMRX - AVR EAB CE OYWKL UZL YIFRHF IYT FBLFIY AIVLUBF IKR NTCF KHAZUVRL MB NTM - CZBFIZ - EUQVU NTM VOGBLMVG KTYF FPR IKRHM - UBZLRF UV GPX RUDBUA FBOFP - NVW NFX IEM - ZHCXBL - CGGCX BUMR UUHM CZHIYZ BUMFFYXDRA - BAHAKRVM - FI UB VA
Codified Law, Vol. III

[The Alessian Doctrines, written by the prophet Marukh, were the founding edicts of the so-called Alessian Order. Though considered heretic and blasphemous today, marukhati principles such as "All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent" remain the foundation of Imperial Law today. Excerpt-books such as this one are one of the few ways in which the Doctrines are allowed to be promulgated, and even then only among authorized students and practitioners of law. They are encrypted by legal ciphers whose keys are the closely guarded secrets of the Guild of Barristers.]

 TAX U EVTE TI - QIFB - MBQMZQA MUY UAYML BZ XIZMGGUFQBV PUYDM ZG - OBCOM - JQEY LQIPP MUY QIE WY XCZOF OKRUFME BANH KWH - NHE WQVGCKL C TIIM WBHQ - XRVTAWQ - BB ANSZQZ VA MUY ZIGCKR MFIGM HS YJQFBXAWQ BUM PUCFM PQML QUTY EXYWAUR UX - NHP AUQYG UZL FPTCY UBFMES UOKBZWVHSTL - IL VN TIF LHAY EW VV MUY BIFB YBL FPR -EAVNQ KVBR - VM M OEMTG MZIXM - T YUWM FMKCYZB - NVW VN OWABHENE IAL KRZAZZA UL WAUZIGQ IR PR EAB BMA GPX XYK BB BAR - NAERZ - LB CF QF
A Commentary on the Covenants

A Covenant, also known as an Illustrious Pact or a Diathaka in the old tongue, is a spiritual commitment between a Divine and a mortal saint, generally considered to be the one true path to sainthood, and the only way to directly interface with the unknowable Divines (as we categorize the Manifestations and Oracular Visions as indirect contacts). The Divines, it is sung, created this world from the blood their blood, giving their life freely to the benefit of the lesser spirits (that is to say, all living things). However, we mortals are blind and unfeeling to the world's gentle directions, spinning feebly in malfeasance and ignorance. We long to touch Aetherius and live in blessed repose beyond the crucible, but ever again we return to earth, dragged down by our imperfections, or fall victim to the predations of foreign or outsider spirits (such as the Daedra or the Dmath).

Our world, deigned a cruel arena by the ignorant, is a Divine engine designed to reforge our unworthy spirits, breathe divinity in our souls and open the path to the heavens. In order to understand the Law and the Will of the world, we must receive guidance in the way of signs, which reveal the world's resplendent workings. These signs come to us in many ways: the Laws of Empire, the Commandments, the Visions and Errands of the Oracles, the cryptic words of the Manifestations. But the one true path, by which the Divines most clearly reveal to us the hidden workings of their creation, is the Covenant of Saints.

A Covenant is never initiated by the Divines themselves, as they are far and removed form the world. It finds root in the hearts of those exceptional mortals who, in earnest desire or great distress, find within themselves a secret aspiration that elevates them beyond lesser men. Called heroes or saints, these nominates find common cause with the Divines, making a pact through which the Divines may directly influence the world. They bring signs and wonders into the world, for us lesser mortals to see and study, so that we in turn may be brought to find Covenant, in this life or the next. A maker of Covenant who fulfills his duties and follows the Law and Will true and with honest intent shall, in death, transcend and sit at the foot of the nine sublime thrones in high Aetherius, forever free of the world's crucible.

But guard yourself against idle Covenant, for it is said that many, who felt called, and made pact with the Divines, were in truth unworthy. These spirits found the blessing and the curse too much to bear, and, breaking under the strain of the Divine, they renounced their Covenant to fade away as spirits of nill, or haunt the world as Un-Saints, dreadful and violent apparitions that mean harm to all living things.

Akatosh commands us to study the Covenants of the past, so that we may take heed and learn the path to sainthood ourselves. Let us pray, and meditate, on the myriad Saint of Cyrod, to take knowledge of the substance of their lives, and find a mirror there.
Lore:Karndar Watch

(or Kardnar Watch)  is an ancient village located in the   region of  , within the province of the  . Karndar Watch is a small but historic settlement, as it is the origin of the Laws of Karndar Watch, created in  . The laws are ancient and very comparable to the ones established by the   in the  . 

By the year  , Karndar Watch had become a derelict ruined settlement. Though one of the main roads on the island led up to it, it received little contact from the populace outside of worshipers who'd set up shrines at the ruins and the occasional traveling merchant.   The grounds were overrun by imps and an indrik inhabited the area.  The settlement was still marked on maps during the Tiber Wars, but it is unknown if it was re-inhabited by that time. 

By the   in the late  , Karndar Watch was once again an active settlement, being ruled by Lady Zenosara. It had a rivalry with  .  It was neighbored by several settlements, one of them being   in the west, and was located across the sea from  .  
 
Gallery
 

Notes
Cut map files from ESO: Summerset indicate that Karndar Watch extended far deeper underground than the small exterior would suggest, including an underground cavern with numerous elven structures. 

See Also
For game-specific information, see the Arena and ESO articles.

Books


References
Daedra Worship: the Ayleids

The reasons why the Daedra are reviled and their worship forbidden among all the civilized races of Tamriel are well understood, and as this series of papers will show, are grounded in historical events. The opinions of the so-called academic who styles herself "Lady Cinnabar" notwithstanding, the evidence supporting my assertions is incontrovertible and generally accepted by all accredited scholars of antiquity.

The Aldmeri, who'd been first to begin organized worship of the Aedra, were also the first to venerate the Daedra Lords. This probably began on a small scale among the Ayleids, those Elves who left the Summerset Isles to create splinter cultures in central and southwest Tamriel - in some cases specifically to evade the strictures of Aldmeri regulation, which forbade (among many other things) the worship of Daedra.

As Ayleid culture flourished, drawing ever further from Alinor, in the last millennium of the Merethic Era Daedric worship took hold and spread among the Heartland High Elves. The Aedra were still widely revered, with probably a majority of the Ayleids continuing to pay them homage, but cults devoted to the various Daedric Princes sprang up across Cyrodiil, tolerated and then celebrated. Unlike the Chimer, the Ayleids made no distinction between "good and bad" Daedra - indeed, even some of the more heinous Princes received mass veneration, especially when their worship was adopted and endorsed by Ayleid kings and aristocrats.

Widespread Daedra worship among the Heartland Elves was particularly ill news for the tribes of Nedic humans who were then arriving in Tamriel. The Ayleids enslaved the immigrant tribes of Men, at first occasionally but then systematically, and the Nedic people found themselves subject to masters who, in many cases, worshiped the Princes - including those who encouraged slavery, domination, and cruelty. Under the Ayleids, the human thralls found themselves the subjects of such Daedra-inspired "arts" as flesh-sculpture and gut-gardening. In fact, the revulsion for Daedra-worship that pervades most human cultures in Tamriel probably originated in this period.

The Alessian slave-revolt of the early First Era was largely fueled by desperate rage against the Ayleids' Daedra-inspired cruelty. The Ayleid kings who aligned themselves with the rebellion were largely Aedra-worshipers, which in part explains why, once the Ayleids were overthrown, Queen Alessia incorporated the leading Elven Aedra into the First Empire's worship of the Eight Divines. Her new Empire of Cyrodiil outlawed the worship of the Daedric Princes, and Daedra-worshiping Ayleids were exterminated wherever they were found.

Thus, by the middle of the First Era, large-scale Daedra-worship was extinct in central Tamriel, surviving only among the Chimer in the northeast of the continent, and among the Orcs (ever a pariah people) who worshiped Malacath (or Mauloch) as their god-ancestor. Elsewhere, among Men, Mer, and Beast-Peoples, Daedra-worship survived only at the level of cults which were more-or-less forbidden. Lady Cinnabar's assertions to the contrary are so much horsewash.
Destruction or Distraction

It is popular, especially among young upstarts who wish to establish themselves as intellectual contenders, to dismiss the study of harnessing the destructive potential of magicka as crude or simplistic. Those who embrace this argument prefer to spend time researching obscure theoretical topics instead of the more practical applications of magic.

In truth, these pedants accomplish little beyond writing tomes of their own to refute the postulations of their contemporaries, wasting their time arguing hypotheticals with no basis in practical magical study. They are so distracted trying to outwit one another in their imaginary field that they never produce substantial advancements. It is my conviction that this self-indulgent behavior obstructs progress (concrete gains such as spell discovery) in arcane studies.

I do not deny that magic is deep and complex, and our understanding is far from complete. However, I question the value of arguments over theories with very little basis in observable phenomena before we fully grasp less complicated subjects. In my years of practice, I have found that studying manifestations of magicka that seem the simplest often provides the clearest look at the nature of magic. Without a complete understanding of what seems to be basic, how could anyone advance magic and bring benefit to practitioners and Tamriel at large? I implore you, reader, to take care that you do not fall into the category of the fruitless intellectual.
Detachment of the Sheath

Though all given Concavities, or sheathes within the integument of the Aurbis, are necessarily contained by the Aurbis, Right Reaching dictates that a defined sheath may be detached from the integument by invocation of Mnemoli. Upon intercourse with the star-orphan, the Beseeching Alesstic performs eversion of the organ of thought, an employment of the Hurling Disk that recapitulates the truth that a circle turned sidewise is a Tower. BY the same-truth, twisting the enveloping sheath into the middle dawn (to the number of seventeen) brings it to untime and unplace.

Eventualism, of course, predicts reabsorption upon depletion of the Wheeling Force, but the absence of duration may render even eventuality moot.
The Distributed Soul

An initiate disturbed my meditations last night, wide-eyed and distraught. "Abbot," cried he, "I have endured the most horrible dream. I was tending to the elders in their cells, bringing them food and water, listening to their soothing songs. The moths’ gentle wings fluttered, tranquil as always, when suddenly I was confronted by hideous apparitions! Incorporeal dead roamed the halls, and it appeared to me as if the moths were feeding on them - sucking wisps of ghostly material, perhaps their very souls, into hungry maws! Please, Abbot, tell me this is madness, that this is not so!"

It is not unusual for initiates of our Order to suffer unsettling dreams, especially as they learn more of the nature of our sacred charges, the Elder Scrolls, and the ancestors that grant us the wisdom to approach their infinite mysteries. Though much of the knowledge gained through readings of the Scrolls must be experienced personally to truly comprehend it, and despite being quite exhausted from my daily rigors, I was able to help him set aside his fears about our Order’s relationship with mortal souls and the moths that preserve fragments of their erudition from beyond mortality.

Not for us are the brutal methods of the conjurer or necromancer, tearing the soul from its vessel, constraining it and forcibly redirecting its energies with no regard for its journey or contents. No, the interplay of moth and ancestor soul is delicate and as natural as the canticle trees themselves, and we are patient and conscientious observers hoping to make sense of the cosmic tapestry by glimpsing its threads. It is through service to the moths and the ancestors that we gain guidance, not through the clumsy coercion of will without understanding the consequences.

The soul, I told him, has much in common with the moth - they are a symbolic pair. Though it is typical to think of it as the Aedric essence at the core of every mortal, I advised him to consider the soul in another light, scaled like the wings of the moth, and to imagine it comprised of vessels filled through the events of mortal existence. On release from life on Nirn, it is our belief that a kind of dissipation begins, and it is then that the moths learn the song of a soul’s fjyrons, which are shepherded under our care and protected generation after generation.

The fjyrons themselves must retain a connection to the grand fabric of creation, to the scattered soul-remnants in all their destinations. Through this link and with patient care, we receive guidance from beyond the present or past and the known world, where time is irrelevant. The moths do not capture or devour the souls of the ancestors, but only repeat to us what they’ve filtered, like a chorus repeating the verses of a grand song.

I could tell that, though the full dawn of understanding had not broken for him yet, his wild fears about the ancestor moths were somewhat allayed. I was pleased to assist him in his journey, and told him he would have ample time to ponder the nature of souls as he scrubbed the silkroom floors for the next week - penance for intruding on my nightly reverie.
A Dunmer's Guide to The Reach

May Mercy, Mastery, and Mystery guide your life and ancestors. My name is Giras Daroso and I have set out to compose a series of guidebooks about the frigid and alien land west of our enlightened people, Skyrim.

Introduction: 
The Reach is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Tamriel, having been fought over by essentially every major western power. Unlike what many of our people may believe, not all of Skyrim is like the most northern lands of House Redoran. The Reach is in fact covered with thick deciduous forests and is quite temperate in temperature. Some travellers may even find the many mesas and steep valleys reminiscent of the foyadas of Vvardenfell.

Travelling to and from Markarth: 
Of all possible modes of transportation, I would greatly advise to take a boat. From Baan Malur to the city of Haafingar and from there I would advise taking a river barge down the Karth river until you reach the city of Markarth, the largest settlement in the Hold. Passage can be booked here to virtually all corners of the region and even to other Holds.

Temple Resources: 
Any pious Dunmer will find the religious faculties lacking in Markarth Hold, and with good reason, being far from our hallowed lands. I would highly suggest bringing the necessary materials and prayer books on your journey. With that said, there is in fact a hostel and house temple run by a kind soul named Vadas Marvani open to any of the Temple faithful. His residence is a two story house near the King's hall in Markarth.

The Locals: 
While the western nords are by no way amiable to our kind as a whole, they are too preoccupied with harassing the Breton and Redguard communities to bother a traveller from Morrowind. Remember that you are a representative of the Triune Way, and as long as the authorities be just, recall the writings of St. Delyn the Wise: keep no secret from your Judge's scale! 
However, I must stress that this does not make travel in the Reach like an evening at the spas of Dreynim. The native inhabitants of the area, aptly called Reachmen, are to be avoided unless absolutely necessary, as their villages are commonly hideouts for murderous marauders. 
In addition, I have been told that Yokudo-Nordic unrest within the city of Dragonstar continues still at the time of this guide's completion.