Tome of the Fierce Deity

Tome of the Fierce Deity
by Noka Te
Do you want to play with me?
These words have plagued more minds than you may believe. I write this book as a record of history, but also as a warning. 
Therefore, before I go further, let me say this:
Do not venture into Morwitijaal in southern Skyrim.
The ruins of the Ancient Nords have a reputation of being decidedly unsettling, as though the corpses within are not fully dead, but are sleeping instead. The Draugr worshipped the dragons as gods, and that most Draugr ruins are more crypts than cities. Some believe the Draugr are mummified to make them ageless like their gods. Some believe the Draugr are mummified to transport them through passing years.
The Dragon Priests were given priority and the finest burials, making many Draugr crypts elaborate coffins for these, the highest ranking masters of ancient magic.
Masks were made and given to these priests, who still wear them.
One priest, however, found his mask, and started a sect of Draugr that stopped worshipping dragons, and began worshipping the Mask.
The Mask in question is called Majora's Mask. 
Ayleid myths mention a lost hero who fell, entering a kingdom between worlds where his fate was manipulated by a lonely imp who stole the Mask. Even then, the mask was a legend, a relic of an ancient tribe who used it in rituals of deep magic, curses, and torture. These rituals had an unintended consequence. The tribe devoted themselves and sacrificed themselves to the Mask, singing its praises as though it was a god. But the Mask was not a god, it was a parasite, feeding on jealousy, envy, longing for the lives of others. For years and decades and centuries the Mask devoured memories of love and loss, birth and death, joy and sorrow, and its appetite was never sated. 
The tribe began to live in fear of the Mask and its judgment. The rituals once performed with the Mask were performed for the Mask. The troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great that the tribe sealed the Mask in shadow forever, preventing its misuse.''
Even so, the tribe disappeared, and their legends died with them. 
A wandering salesman, unaware of the true nature of the Mask, went to great lengths to find the Mask, hearing only whispers of its power and history. The Mask carried misfortune with it, and sought only to spread suffering and consume everything. It let itself be stolen by a lonely imp, a puppet through whom it sowed destruction, mischief and fear. Its power had grown so great that the moon itself was wrought from its orbit, set to plummet into the earth.
Myths say that the lost hero restored balance to the world by fighting the Mask, cleansing it of its evil power. Myths also say that the Mask used its power to give the hero a mighty sword to make the fight more balanced, as though all it ever wanted to do was play. Following his triumph, he returned to wandering Termina, never to return to his home. Some myths go further, claiming that Termina was not a physical place, but was instead the gate to the afterlife, and that the tribe had sealed Majora's Mask in the space between worlds. 
How the Mask and the sword that led to its demise came to reside in Morwitijaal is unknown. I hypothesize that somehow a foolish and powerful conjurer opened a portal into Termina, much in the same way that we can open paths to Oblivion, and found the Mask, perhaps in the home of the descendants of the salesman who owned it. Or perhaps the conjurer summoned someone or something from Termina wearing the Mask? I do not know.
I have found records of many people mentioning a "strange spiky mask" that they originally find hideous, but grow to adore. It seems that the Mask, however it got here, continues to sow pain and feed on the misfortune of others, slowly ruining the life of a person, before moving on to another host. 
This implies that the Mask was stolen from Morwitijaal, but slowly made its way back by moving from host to host. It is fascinating, but do not search for the Mask. It is still evil, regardless of what myths say, and regardless of what anyone tells you.''
Especially someone wearing a Mask with glowing yellow eyes that seem to pierce into your very being.
== Notes ==
The book, despite being called Tome of the Fierce Deity makes little to no mention of the Fierce Deity's Mask, instead focusing on Majora's Mask. Given the author's focus on Morwitijaal and the Draugr who built it, this could simply be the result of confusing Majora for the Fierce Deity, or a deliberate choice on their part to consider Majora the Fierce Deity.
The words "worshipped" and "worshipping" are spelled using the standard received British English, so are technically not misspelled.
== Background and Inspiration ==
The Tome of the Fierce Deity was included in version 4.4 of Relics of Hyrule with Morwitijaal to provide context for the dungeon, Majora's Mask, and the Fierce Deity's Sword. Despite its title, it was not intended to provide context for the Fierce Deity's Mask or other equipment.
The book summarizes the events of Majora's Mask, occasionally quoting directly from it, and citing the events as an Ayleid myth. The book establishes that Majora's Mask is very, very old. The book also traces the various locations that Majora's Mask was found in previous versions of the mod, and serves to connect them to the Mask's lore within the mod.
The author's name, "Noka Te" is an anagram of "Keaton."
The passage beginning with, "The tribe devoted themselves..." and ending with, "The tribe began to live in fear of the Mask and its judgment," is a paraphrased quote from the Doctor Who episode "The Rings of Akhaten."
The book was updated in version 6.5.16 to correct a grammatical error. The line "unaware of true nature of the Mask" was corrected to "unaware of the true nature of the Mask."
JKalenad is not fond of the book because of the author's simplistic name and the style in which it is written, but he also accepts that authors of the lore books should have unique voices. The speculative, inaccurate nature of the legend is also reflective of how legends change and the truth becomes muddled.
== See Also ==
Majora's Mask
Morwitijaal
Fierce Deity's Sword
Fierce Deity's Mask
Fierce Deity's Equipment
Category:Lore
Category:Books