According to the third edition of the Pocket Guide to the Empire, the volume called Arena Supermundus, the tapestry of heaven. Quote, Empyrial Theosophy teaches us that our world was born from magica, the creative force that informs and sustains all life. The sources of magic are the many and the diverse heavens beyond the void, collectively known as the Aetherius. Aetherius, ancestral seed of the nine divines and the other original spirits, is the plain of pure magica, whereas oblivion may surround us every night, it is ethereal energy that infuses our daily existence from highest to lowest and gives all the races of man, mare, and beast common purpose.
Its magic brings the rain to the fields, love to our hearts, and scientific principles to our technological industries. It gives us the very sun itself. Finally, Aetherius is the home to the Aedra, those cornerstones of the Mundus whose aspects we see in temple, in lordship, and the high walk of heroes. Visits to Aetherius occur even less frequently than to oblivion, for the void is a long expanse and only the stars offer portal for Aetherius travel, worth a judicious use of magic.
The expeditions of the Raymond Dynasty and the Sunbirds of Alinor are the most famous attempts in our histories, and it is a cosmic irony that both of them were eventually dissolved for the same reason. The untenable expenditure is required to reach magic by magica. Their only legacy is the royal imperial manonauts of the Elder Council and the Great Orrery of First Hold, whose fears are made up of genuine celestial mineral gathered by travelers during the Marathic Era. End quote.
It's the Elder Lore podcast, and today we are talking about magic and the realm of Aetherius. In one of our previous episodes, we talked about some of the things mentioned in this reading. Namely, we talked about how the night sky is actually oblivion itself, how the realm beyond oblivion is known as Aetherius, and how the stars and even the sun itself are holes in oblivion that let the light and energy of Aetherius bleed through. I would also venture to assume that some of the aurora that we see at night in the game's skyroom has to do with fluctuating magical energies in colder climates.
This passage we just read also goes even further, saying that it is actually the realm of pure magic Aetherius that brings us weather. So that begs the question, what is Aetherius? Also sometimes called the immortal plane, in contrast to the immortal plane which we know of as Mundus. Aetherius is the origin of magic on NER.
There are some who believe that the souls of the deceased pass into Aetherius and persist as a spirit, if they are not held to be recycled in the dream sleeve. The Nordic Halls of Valor known as Sauvengard are supposedly sovereign but within Aetherius. Aetherius is the realm of Magnus, the god of magic, who early on in the life of Mundus fled. It is in his flight that he tears a hole in oblivion which later becomes the sun.
In the darkness of oblivion Aetherius is a realm of pure light. And upon his hasty retreat, Magnus is followed by many other lesser spirits who tear smaller holes in oblivion which become the stars. These spirits are known as the quote, children of Magnus. The star orphans, or sometimes simply the magna gae.
Through these small tears, magical energies are constantly leaking. Some of the earliest recorded uses of magic as an art come from the first era by the aliens. They were able to become powerful in the arts by not only venturing to harness the flea flow and energies around them but also by salvaging fallen fragments of Aetherius. What we might call media rights.
The use of magic varies greatly across NER. Magic can be based not only on culture and religion but also on technology. For example, the yokudin practice of shahai shinsharu is different from the Nordic Thum, which is different from the Maormer's ability to tame sea servants, which are all different from the Dwemer's use of magic in their technological advances. And while institutions exist across Tamriel dedicated to the pursuit of magical knowledge, there are still cultures who are openly aggressive towards mages.
The Red Guards, who prefer to believe that the sword singers are more warrior than mage, and the Nords, who would rather believe the Thum is a gift from God, are just two of these examples. There are a number of ways that the magical energies that flow from Aetherius can be manipulated by those of skill, and these techniques fall into neat categories. Many of them we are well acquainted with at this point, so I will not go into too much detail. Destruction magic involves harnessing the energies of Aetherius to deal elemental-based damage, to drain energies out of a foe, to disintegrate weapons or armor, or otherwise, to make an enemy more vulnerable.
Berovar Berov once suggested in his Liturgy of Affliction at the Arcane University that destruction magic should be considered a subset of alteration magic. His opinions were less popular amongst his colleagues. Restoration magic can fortify and heal, or cure, as well as act against a defense against the undead. Conjuration magic was, in antiquity at least, practiced mainly by witch covens across Tamriel.
It didn't become mainstream until after the warth in the west. Others reach into oblivion to summon powerful daydric allies, weapons, or armor to fight with for a time. Alteration magic deals with changing physical laws as we know them. This school seems to have originated with the Ayleids who used their alteration in their war with their Atlassian uprisers.
Another notable example of the power and usefulness of Alteration magic comes at the end of the first era, when Imperial forces march an entire army under Lake Coronade and take Aldmarak from right under Vivek's nose. Levitation used to be a popular form of Alteration magic, but was outlawed by the Levitation Act of the year 421 of the third era. Illusion magic is similar to Alteration, and so the two are sometimes confused, but while Alteration magic changes the laws of nature, illusion magic simply changes what is perceived as reality. Illusion magic is what is used by Jegar Tharn to imprison Uriel Sept in the seventh and to take his place.
Mysticism comes from the Sijics of Arteum. The Sijics have been rumored to have used powerful mysticism to constantly change the landscape of their island home of Arteum, or even to remove it from the world entirely. There is one form of magic that is rarely talked about, as it is dark and very powerful, as a result is the subject of much fear. Sometime in the third century of the third era, Améj is making a study of the stuff of light and shadow.
After a time he discovers that shadows can be manipulated and he creates a new form known as shadow magic. As for a night wielder as he is called, believe that shadows were not the mere absence of light, but rather they were a reflection of all possible worlds in constant conflict. Ezra uses this theory to try to mold all of his possible existences into one being, to achieve ultimate power. He was in Hammerfell at the time and the Red Guards, already distressing a magic as we learned before, become wary of Azra and his studies, and one day he finds himself surrounded.
He attempts to escape, but instead ends up blasting a huge crater in the ground, and seemingly disintegrating. The place later becomes known as Azra's Crossing. He is later found, imprisoned within a large crystal at the bottom of fear frost caverns. By this time however, there are other shadow mages in the world, and much history is lost in the Imperial Sinolac.
There are creatures that can be born out of shadow known as Umbra Keth, or Shadow of Conflict. It is believed that Jegartharn once sought one out with the help of Pergana Suu, another one of these shadow mages, to use for his own purposes. In addition to creating the art of shadow magic, Ezra Night wielder was also a genius of enchanting at this time. These techniques are by the fourth era, old and antiquated, but they were at once state of the art.
If you've played the Dragonborn expansion to the game Skyrim, you can speak with master Nelloth of House Telani about Azra. Thanks for listening to the Elder Lord podcast, and keep an eye out for our next episode, which is the next in a series known as The Wanderers' Tales. Stay tuned.