The Onus of the Oghma Content . Being a primer for the young student on a mortal ' s obligation to record his or her life story , presented in the form of quotations from the classics . All Tamriel ics recognize the duty to memorialize the events of our lives , a duty placed upon us by the Divines at the beginning of time . The most ancient reference we have to this " journaling onus " comes from the Aldmeriad , the great origin saga of the Elves , which quotes the god Xarxes , scribe to Auri - El : " As ye are true Children of the et ' Ada , thou shalt honor us by honoring thy own lives . For in each of you is housed the Divine Spark , and thus the record of thy actions is a sacred duty . Keep , therefore , each and every one of you , an Oghma , an everscriven scroll which shall memorialize thy brief lives . Thus in at least this way shalt thy Spark be Immortal . " In the late Merethic the Nord culture hero Ysgramor developed a runic alphabet based on Elvish principles , which enabled the written transcription of Atmoran speech . Ysgramor ' s first work in this new form of writing was a chronicle of his own life and its events , making Ysgramor the first human historian . Here is a quotation from the great hero himself , as recorded in " Songs of the Return , Volume One . " " Then , though I did feel a great ire against the perfidious Elves , and desired nothing more than to hie me hence to Jylkurfyk and take ship back to Tamriel , where I could try the edge of Wuuthrad against their all - too - many necks , yet I had beheld during my captivity that the wily Elves possessed much learning and knowledge , though they put it to ends both vile and dishonorable . And I bethought me that to defeat the Elves and scour them from the land , it would be well if Men also did wield such wisdoms . Therefore I strung Long - Launcher with the Woeful Bowstring and sought the marshes to the east , where dwelt Faldrosta the great Snow - Goose . And I slew her with a hawk - fletched dart , and plucked of her a great quill , which I used to write down my speech as I had seen the Elves do . And I vowed that henceforth all Men would record their ideas and thoughts , just as Shor carved a record of his victory over Sneggh into the side of Shivering Glacier . And in this way would the best ways of killing Elves be preserved . " This obligation was ratified again in the time of Saint Alessia and the founding of the Empire of Cyrodiil . The demigod Morihaus , " The First Breath of Man , " himself kept a chronicle that has come down to us as " The Adabal - a . " One of its first precepts is " On the Recordings of All that Haps " : " Then Morihaus snorted , and spake fiercely against the Nonscriptionists , saying , ' Are then the deeds of the Paravant to be forgotten by the men of hence - yore ? Are the crimes of the Saliache to be erased , so that the Seven Pretexts for Mayhem shall seem all unjustified ? Nay , by Akatosh ! Nay , by the Dragon of Duration , who gave us Time so that events could unfold in their sequence , and thus be recalled as they happed ! Never shall your ilk prevent our people from recording their tales , as did the overweening Saliache in the late torment - epoch ! ' And he did smite their heads from their shoulders , and their gore fell as words on the stones , recording then their several demises . " So , students , do not groan and complain of the burden , carping and caviling when your parents and teachers ask if you have written today in your journal . Because to do so is a right for which your ancestors paid in blood .