Glories and Laments Content . Glories and Laments Among the Ayleid Ruins by Alexandre Hetrard Having arrived at Gottlesfont Priory , halfway on the Gold Road between Skingrad and the Imperial City , I resolved to make a side trip to view the magnificent ruins of Ceyatatar , or " Shadow of the Fatherwoods in the ancient Ayleid tongue . After many hours of difficult travel through tangled hawthorn hells and limberlosts , I was suddenly struck dumb by the aspect of five pure white columns rising from a jade - green mound of vines to perfect V - shaped arches and graceful capitals towering above the verdant forest growth . This spectacle caused me to meditate on the lost glories of the past , and the melancholy fate of high civilizations now poking like splinter shards of bone from the green - grown tumulus of time - swept obscurity . Within the forest tangle I discovered an entrance leading down into the central dome of a great underground edifice once dedicated to Magnus , the God of Sight , Light , and Insight . Dimly lit by the faded power of its magical pools , the shattered white walls of the enclosure shimmered with a cold blue light . The marble benches of the central plaza faced out across the surrounding waters to tall columns and sharp arches supporting the high dome . From the central island , stately bridges spanned the still pools to narrow walkways behind the columns , with broad vaulted avenues and limpid canals leading away through ever - gloom into darkness . Reflected in the pools were the tumbled columns , collapsed walls , and riotous root and vine growth thriving the dark half - light of the magical fountains . The ancient Ayleid s recognized not the four elements of modern natural philosophy - - earth , water , air , and fire - - but the four elements of Altmer religion - - earth , water , air , and light . The Ayleids considered fire to be but a weak and corrupt form of light , which Ayleid philosophers identified with primary magical principles . Thus their ancient subterranean temples and sanctuaries were lit by lamps , globes , pools , and fountains of purest magic . It was by these ancient , faded , but still active magics that I knelt and contemplated the departed glories of the long - dead architects . Gazing through the glass - smooth reflections of the surrounding pools , I could see , deep below , the slow pulse , the waxing and waning of the Welkynd stone s . The chiefest perils of these ruins to the explorer are the cunning and deadly mechanisms devised by the Ayleids to torment and confound those would invade their underground sanctuaries . What irony that after these many years , these devices should still stand vigilant against those who would admire the works of the Ayleids . For it is clear . . . these devices were crafted in vain . They did not secure the Ayleids against their true enemies , which were not the slaves who revolted and overthrew their cruel masters , nor the were they the savage beast peoples who learned the crafts of war and magic from their Ayleid masters . No , it was the arrogant pride of their achievements , their smug self - assurance that their empire would last forever , that doomed them to fail and fade into obscurity .