This is part one of a series on the subject of Reman Cyrodiil and is a collaborative effort by Axius Revan, Dragonborn1721 and Phil. Aka, team Cyrod!
I AM CYRODIIL COME, he said, Old Reman, born from the earth that IS Al-Esh, and yet he would scorn this country now! Repent! I say again, REPENT!
So stated the Prophet of Anvil at the time of the Oblivion Crisis, repeating myth back to us as fact. But was he telling the truth? Was Reman born from the earth itself and why would he scorn the land if he had a voice to speak? In this section I hope to examine the importance of the myth of Reman I to the people of Cyrodiil and to look at whether there is any truth to the myth in the first place. Be warned, sexual content lies ahead...
The Setting
It is the twenty-fourth century of the First Era. The War of Righteousness has devastated the empire as the Colovian west breaks away from the Eastern Alessian Empire and establish the Colovian Estates. They will remain estranged from each other for centuries and the Empire is at it's lowest point, foreshadowing The Interregnum and Tiber Septim's rise to power eras later. This is poetically illustrated in the book, The Remanada:
And in those days the empire of the Cyrodiils was dead, save in memory only, for through war and slug famine and iniquitous rulers, the west split from the east and Colovia's estrangment lasted some four hundreds of years. And the earth was sick with this sundering. Once-worthy western kings, of Anvil and Sarchal, of Falkreath and Delodiil, became through pride and habit as like thief-barons and forgot covenant. In the heartland things were no better, as arcanists and false moth-princes lay in drugged stupor or the studies of vileness and no one sat on the Throne in dusted generations. Snakes and the warnings of snakes went unheeded and the land bled with ghosts and deepset holes unto cold harbors. It is said that even the Chim-el Adabal, the amulet of the kings of glory, had been lost and its people saw no reason to find it.
We can see from that paragraph that the Thrassian Plague, the Sload created pandemic which decimated Tamriel's population took it's toll on the land and that the Amulet of Kings was lost. What I find interesting here is the thematic link between the AoK, the Empire and the land itself. It is a recurring note in the Empire's song, very reminiscent of the Fisher King of Arthurian Legend and Celtic myth - When no Dragonborn Emperor sits on the Ruby Throne wearing the Amulet of Kings, the very land bleeds and the barrier protecting Tamriel from Oblivion is weakened. This is going to be a key point as we continue.
The Myth
And it was in this darkness that King Hrol set out from the lands beyond lost Twil with a sortie of questing knights numbered eighteen less one, all of them western sons and daughters. For Hrol had seen in his visions the snakes to come and sought to heal all the borders of his forebears.
It's as if The Remanada comes straight out of Arthurian romance, isn't it? Plus, of course, the ubiquitous TES symbolism as "eighteen less one" is a significant number in the setting. In The Fireside Chats, an out of game interview between Michael Kirkbride and Lady Nerevar, the author of The Remamada explains the concept of "lost Twil":
D: It stands for twilight, right?
M: I just like the name Twil, it’s a nice short name, it sounds magical and it’s always in the west. As far back as Redguard it was said that the throne of Cyrodiil was always captured by someone from the west. I’m talking the PGE1 here.
M: The Hurling Disk is 18 less one, as far back as the Sermons. Then Oblivion came around and we had to start answering some of these questions about Reman.
So, King Hrol and his knightly retinue ride east from Twil, a magical place representing The Grey Maybe - Aurbis - as described in slightly more depth from yet another oog source:
King Hrol (seeker/Healer of Kingdom), "from the lands beyond lost Twil". Twil as Twilight. Grey Maybe. Aurbis. His knights numbered "eighteen less one," the number of the Hurling Disk. Source.
Already the primary source is heavy with metaphysics and symbolism. Don't worry, it gets heavier! Hrol arrives because he has seen in his visions "the snakes to come". This is a reference to the eventual Akaviri invasion which Reman is famous for halting.
It isn't long before Hrol recieves yet another vision:
And to this host appeared at last a spirit who resembled none other than El-Estia, queen of ancienttimes, who bore in her left hand the dragonfire of the aka-tosh and in her right hand the jewels of the covenant and on her breast a wound that spilt void onto her mangled feet. And seeing El-Estia and Chim-el Adabal, Hrol and his knights wailed and set to their knees and prayed for all things to become as right. Unto them the spirit said, I am the healer of all men and the mother of dragons, but as you have run so many times from me so shall I run until you learn my pain, which renders you and all this land dead.
This is great stuff - more symbolism and Alessia herself. She went by many names, as Morihaus explains in the The Adabal-a
In your tales you have many names for her: Al-Esh, given to her in awe, that when translated sounds like a redundancy, 'the high high', from which come the more familiar corruptions: Aleshut, Esha, Alessia. You knew her as Paravant, given to her when crowned, 'first of its kind', by which the gods meant a mortal worthy of the majesty that is killing-questing-healing, which is also Paraval, Pevesh, Perrethu, Perrif, and, in my case, for it is what I called her when we were lovers: Paravania."
"Though she is gone to me, she remains bathed in stars, first Empress, Lady of Heaven, Queen-ut-Cyrod."
Alessia appears before King Hrol and his knights, holding the symbols of Empire in her hands and bearing the mythological scars of Shezarr. It must have been a spectacular sight and a hopeful one, for the Amulet of Kings has returned and with it a hope for the entire world. Yet as she predicted, the knights ran from her in an echo of the decline of the empire bought by her own blood:
And the spirit fled from them, and they split among hills and forests to find her, all grieving that they had become a villainous people. Hrol and his shieldthane were the only ones to find her, and the king spoke to her, saying, I love you sweet Aless, sweet wife of Shor and of Auri-el and the Sacred Bull, and would render this land alive again, not through pain but through a return to the dragon-fires of covenant, to join east and west and throw off all ruin.
King Hrol and the Shieldthane are about to do something monumental. Together with Alessia they reneact the enantiomorph. Not only that but in the weirdest way possible:
And the shieldthane bore witness to the spirit opening naked to his king, carving on a nearby rock the words AND HROL DID LOVE UNTO A HILLOCK before dying in the sight of their union.
Alessia is the Thief, Hrol is the King/Warrior and the poor Shieldthane is the Witness. The act did not go down well with the other knights, either:
When the fifteen other knights found King Hrol, they saw him dead after his labors against a mound of mud. And they parted each in their way, and some went mad, and the two that returned to their homeland beyond Twil would say nothing of Hrol, and acted ashamed for him.
Let's take stock and reread that. King Hrol tusked a mound of mud. When we apply symbolism to it we can see that this mound of mud is Nirn, the Divine Feminine. This is something we see in our own mythologies and links in nicely with the Fisher King and the importance of the AoK as we talked about earlier.
This also touches upon the importance of Alessia as the Mother of Dragons and "sweet wife of Shor" for she achieved the impossible and united The Missing God and Akatosh in the Covenant:
"... and left you to gather sinew with my other half, who will bring light thereby to that mortal idea that brings [the Gods] great joy, that is, freedom, which even the Heavens do not truly know, [which is] why our Father, the... [Text lost]... in those first [days/spirits/swirls] before Convention.. that which we echoed in our earthly madness. [Let us] now take you Up. We will [show] our true faces... [which eat] one another in amnesia each Age." The Song of Pelinal Vol 8. On His Revelation at the Death of the Al...
Akatosh made a covenant with Alessia in those days so long ago. He gathered the tangled skeins of Oblivion, and knit them fast with the bloody sinews of his Heart, and gave them to Alessia...The Trials of Saint Alessia
We can interpret this in numerous ways but symbolically there is both Pelinal the Shezarrine and Akatosh, Alessia's son, present at her deathbed. Her soul is placed into the Amulet of Kings and becomes the first gem, The Red Diamond. That was the Covenant: Nir's, Padomay's and Anu's subragdients working together to protect the Empire as long as man remained true. Without doubt, when Aka and Lorkhan work together the results are amazing. That Divine Feminine theme is echoed by King Hrol the (possible) Shezarrine having sex to the divine feminine, Nirn represented by Alessia.
But after nine months that mound of mud became as a small mountain, and there were whispers among the shepherds and bulls. A small community of believers gathered around that growing hill during the days of its first churning, and they were the first to name it the Golden Hill, Sancre Tor. And it was the shepherdess Sed-Yenna who dared climb the hill when she heard his first cry, and at its peak she saw what it had yielded, an infant she named Reman, which is "Light of Man."
And in the child's forehead was the Chim-el Adabal, alive with the dragon-fires of yore and divine promise, and none dared obstruct Sed-Yenna when she climbed the steps of White-Gold Tower to place the babe Reman on his Throne, where he spoke as an adult, saying I AM CYRODIIL COME.
There it is. I AM CYRODIIL COME. The Amulet of Kings stuck on his forehead in an overt piece myth-laden imagery. The saviour of Cyrodiil has arrived and brought with him the sacred symbol of Empire. The son of Alessia and Shezarr, a Dragonborn hero like the Nord legends of old.
That famous phase has a double meaning, too, as MK explains:
it’s an antiquated form of “yo man I’m all royally here what’s up.” Like “Caesar has come” didn’t cut it, it was “Caesar IS come, bitches”- like it’s more than like “hey I've arrived where’s my tea?” - it’s like I'm arriving right now at this very moment “I IS.” So I’m thinking that and Reman and it warped it into, like, the same thing but also “dude, I’m going to fucking come on Cyrodiil.” It’s this subtle take on Cyrodiil or ancient Cyrodiil, how I needed to see it, how I see it. Two of my favorite things: come and that way of talking.
In case there is doubt, Kirkbride is talking about cum. We will talk more on that later as we look at the snippets from the Shonni-Etta. For now, we will pause and take a look at Sancre Tor and how it too is a recurring theme in the Empire's Song.
Alessia received the divine inspiration for her Slave Rebellion at Sancre Tor, and here she founded her holy city. The Legendary Sancre Tor
Sancre Tor is so intrinsically tied up with Imperial myth that it is no surprise to see it's significance recurring again. In terms of pure propaganda, Sancre Tor carries a lot of mythic symbolism to help any aspiring emperor if he can somehow link himself to this legendary site.
In the minds of the Imperial citizens, Sancre Tor looms large. If any place can be said to be the wellspring of their national identity then the Golden Hill is it. In the myths it is the place where Alessia received her divine inspiration which led to the slave rebellions and the birth of the Alessian Empire. This is huge in the national identity of Cyrodiil, on par with the how the Nords view The Throat of the World possibly.
In terms of role-playing and getting into the mindset of an Imperial there is a certain tendency to dismiss them as "too Roman" but in a way that does them a disservice like in the same way dismissing the Nords as "too viking" doesn't do their culture justice.
To get at the heart of what it means to be an Imperial one must look at the myths of Al-Esh, Mor, Pelinal and Reman and see how the these figures strode across the mythic landscape with the blessings of the gods. It is these things which speak to the men and woman of Cyrod, not simply the Romanesque look of their attire, architecture and the sound of their Nibenese names.
Which brings us nicely to the question of the legitimacy of the Reman myth. How much is considered true by the modern historian and how much is mere legend? When it comes to the importance of myth in modern Imperial life, that question is irrelevant as Abnur Tharn points out when discussing the matter of myth:
I am surprised to hear you use the word ‘facts’ about an individual known to us only through the medium of myth. In ‘fact,’ it matters not whether Morihaus was man, bull, or Eidar cheese—what matters is how his saga supports the national narrative of the Empire, and how belief in the might and righteousness of Morihaus informs the self-image of the average Cyrodiil. The creation story of the Empire has no purpose or meaning beyond its support of the Empire’s continuation.
Even though he specifically talking about Mor there, I see no reason why the words don't also ring true when applied to Reman as both figures eventually became Hero-Gods of the Empire, worshipped by a multitude of cults.
The Book of the Dragonborn challenges the myth of Reman's divine conception and casts doubt on the whole thing:
But we know for certain that the early Cyrodilic rulers were not all related. There is also no evidence that Reman Cyrodiil was descended from Alessia, although there are many legends that would make it so, most of them dating from the time of Reman and likely attempts to legitimize his rule.
This is a very interesting point as we have seen the power myth holds in the minds of the Imperial citizenry. Using those myths as a way yo legitimise his rule would have been very shrewd indeed.
On this subject I present Tom :
The Legendary Sancre Tor merely states he "...traced his ancestry..." which doesn't prove anything, and as has been pointed out it's probably a lie to begin with.
Prophets like the Prophet of Anvil are even less trustworthy. Their entire business is mysticism, double talk, vague language, and embellishment. Find me a prophet, soothsayer, seer, scryer, or fortuneteller that doesn't use colorful language, metaphor, or purple prose to give themselves an air of legitimacy.
It's almost standard for one dynasty to claim descent from the previous to give their claim legitimacy, even if they have to lie or fake documents to do so. I expect Reman to be nothing more than a Cyro-Nord from northern Cyrodiil who rose to power through military achievement, with a really great propaganda team.
A very valid point. What do you think?
The Shonni-Etta
The Shonni-Etta is, or was intended to be, TES porn, For that reason firstly I won't go too deeply into it, the second reason is because it was never completed and all we have are "snippets". However, it is worth examining some of the content because it sheds more light on the myth/history of Reman.
It seems to pick up where Remanada Chapter 1 finishes, although further forward in time to when Reman is taken to the White Gold Tower:
Now El-Estia was the true mother of Reman but, with the Chim-el Adabal renewed into flesh-covenant, She had flown riverward like all nirnada whose deeds are done and then writ in water. It became the duty thereafter that Sed-Yenna and Shonni-Et to become the midwives of the Child Ut Cyrod, and to raise him in the fashion of the Nibenese.
By their train was babe Reman carried into White-Gold Tower, and at Rumare the Goddess of Beauty herself appeared, releasing the sisters of all their other functions to her temple. "But for this," the Goddess said, "When he has reached manhood, teach him all that you know of the flesh, and then save within yourselves his seed, and let it not take purchase within either of you, store it all, which soever body-cup he spills into, and in secret make of it bread for him to eat. And keep this new edict of the Convention quiet from all others, even from him, and know by this mention that it is my lord Aka the King of Heaven who commands it."
Then the Dragon of Heaven appeared, encircling them, King of Time, eating his lower length in symbol, speaking in the manner of the aether, which is mostly dream, "This I do command, for Reman was conceived of the imperial earth, and by his sacred measure he shall be as it should be: of an immortal fire that binds heaven to the mundane, Light made Man, and Order, fed ever by the seed of first stasis, anon Anu. And his wives will share forever in the blessing of Beauty if this should be so, their fair aspect frozen eternal, youth-radiant unto the ending of days. Aad semblio aurbex, aad semblio ae ehlnokhan, ae na-sen-ae-mantella, dracochrysalisanu."
That's probably as deep as I can reasonably go into quoting from this source, but even now we can see the importance of semen in Remanology. I think the key line is this: Reman was conceived of the imperial earth, and by his sacred measure he shall be as it should be: of an immortal fire that binds heaven to the mundane. The price of this contract was that Reman must eat his own ejaculate but never know why, getting it fed to him in bread. Mythically speaking, though, when one walks upon Cyrodiil they are walking upon Reman - he is at it should be, the immortal fire binding heaven to the mundane. That is why The Prophet of Anvil claims Reman would scorn his country now.
-- Part 2 --
This is part one of a series on the subject of Reman Cyrodiil and is a collaborative effort by Axius Revan, Dragonborn1721 and Phil. Aka, team Cyrod!
I AM CYRODIIL COME, he said, Old Reman, born from the earth that IS Al-Esh, and yet he would scorn this country now! Repent! I say again, REPENT!
So stated the Prophet of Anvil at the time of the Oblivion Crisis, repeating myth back to us as fact. But was he telling the truth? Was Reman born from the earth itself and why would he scorn the land if he had a voice to speak? In this section I hope to examine the importance of the myth of Reman I to the people of Cyrodiil and to look at whether there is any truth to the myth in the first place. Be warned, sexual content lies ahead...
The Setting
It is the twenty-fourth century of the First Era. The War of Righteousness has devastated the empire as the Colovian west breaks away from the Eastern Alessian Empire and establish the Colovian Estates. They will remain estranged from each other for centuries and the Empire is at it's lowest point, foreshadowing The Interregnum and Tiber Septim's rise to power eras later. This is poetically illustrated in the book, The Remanada:
And in those days the empire of the Cyrodiils was dead, save in memory only, for through war and slug famine and iniquitous rulers, the west split from the east and Colovia's estrangment lasted some four hundreds of years. And the earth was sick with this sundering. Once-worthy western kings, of Anvil and Sarchal, of Falkreath and Delodiil, became through pride and habit as like thief-barons and forgot covenant. In the heartland things were no better, as arcanists and false moth-princes lay in drugged stupor or the studies of vileness and no one sat on the Throne in dusted generations. Snakes and the warnings of snakes went unheeded and the land bled with ghosts and deepset holes unto cold harbors. It is said that even the Chim-el Adabal, the amulet of the kings of glory, had been lost and its people saw no reason to find it.
We can see from that paragraph that the Thrassian Plague, the Sload created pandemic which decimated Tamriel's population took it's toll on the land and that the Amulet of Kings was lost. What I find interesting here is the thematic link between the AoK, the Empire and the land itself. It is a recurring note in the Empire's song, very reminiscent of the Fisher King of Arthurian Legend and Celtic myth - When no Dragonborn Emperor sits on the Ruby Throne wearing the Amulet of Kings, the very land bleeds and the barrier protecting Tamriel from Oblivion is weakened. This is going to be a key point as we continue.
The Myth
And it was in this darkness that King Hrol set out from the lands beyond lost Twil with a sortie of questing knights numbered eighteen less one, all of them western sons and daughters. For Hrol had seen in his visions the snakes to come and sought to heal all the borders of his forebears.
It's as if The Remanada comes straight out of Arthurian romance, isn't it? Plus, of course, the ubiquitous TES symbolism as "eighteen less one" is a significant number in the setting. In The Fireside Chats, an out of game interview between Michael Kirkbride and Lady Nerevar, the author of The Remamada explains the concept of "lost Twil":
D: It stands for twilight, right?
M: I just like the name Twil, it’s a nice short name, it sounds magical and it’s always in the west. As far back as Redguard it was said that the throne of Cyrodiil was always captured by someone from the west. I’m talking the PGE1 here.
M: The Hurling Disk is 18 less one, as far back as the Sermons. Then Oblivion came around and we had to start answering some of these questions about Reman.
So, King Hrol and his knightly retinue ride east from Twil, a magical place representing The Grey Maybe - Aurbis - as described in slightly more depth from yet another oog source:
King Hrol (seeker/Healer of Kingdom), "from the lands beyond lost Twil". Twil as Twilight. Grey Maybe. Aurbis. His knights numbered "eighteen less one," the number of the Hurling Disk. Source.
Already the primary source is heavy with metaphysics and symbolism. Don't worry, it gets heavier! Hrol arrives because he has seen in his visions "the snakes to come". This is a reference to the eventual Akaviri invasion which Reman is famous for halting.
It isn't long before Hrol recieves yet another vision:
And to this host appeared at last a spirit who resembled none other than El-Estia, queen of ancienttimes, who bore in her left hand the dragonfire of the aka-tosh and in her right hand the jewels of the covenant and on her breast a wound that spilt void onto her mangled feet. And seeing El-Estia and Chim-el Adabal, Hrol and his knights wailed and set to their knees and prayed for all things to become as right. Unto them the spirit said, I am the healer of all men and the mother of dragons, but as you have run so many times from me so shall I run until you learn my pain, which renders you and all this land dead.
This is great stuff - more symbolism and Alessia herself. She went by many names, as Morihaus explains in the The Adabal-a
In your tales you have many names for her: Al-Esh, given to her in awe, that when translated sounds like a redundancy, 'the high high', from which come the more familiar corruptions: Aleshut, Esha, Alessia. You knew her as Paravant, given to her when crowned, 'first of its kind', by which the gods meant a mortal worthy of the majesty that is killing-questing-healing, which is also Paraval, Pevesh, Perrethu, Perrif, and, in my case, for it is what I called her when we were lovers: Paravania."
"Though she is gone to me, she remains bathed in stars, first Empress, Lady of Heaven, Queen-ut-Cyrod."
Alessia appears before King Hrol and his knights, holding the symbols of Empire in her hands and bearing the mythological scars of Shezarr. It must have been a spectacular sight and a hopeful one, for the Amulet of Kings has returned and with it a hope for the entire world. Yet as she predicted, the knights ran from her in an echo of the decline of the empire bought by her own blood:
And the spirit fled from them, and they split among hills and forests to find her, all grieving that they had become a villainous people. Hrol and his shieldthane were the only ones to find her, and the king spoke to her, saying, I love you sweet Aless, sweet wife of Shor and of Auri-el and the Sacred Bull, and would render this land alive again, not through pain but through a return to the dragon-fires of covenant, to join east and west and throw off all ruin.
King Hrol and the Shieldthane are about to do something monumental. Together with Alessia they reneact the enantiomorph. Not only that but in the weirdest way possible:
And the shieldthane bore witness to the spirit opening naked to his king, carving on a nearby rock the words AND HROL DID LOVE UNTO A HILLOCK before dying in the sight of their union.
Alessia is the Thief, Hrol is the King/Warrior and the poor Shieldthane is the Witness. The act did not go down well with the other knights, either:
When the fifteen other knights found King Hrol, they saw him dead after his labors against a mound of mud. And they parted each in their way, and some went mad, and the two that returned to their homeland beyond Twil would say nothing of Hrol, and acted ashamed for him.
Let's take stock and reread that. King Hrol tusked a mound of mud. When we apply symbolism to it we can see that this mound of mud is Nirn, the Divine Feminine. This is something we see in our own mythologies and links in nicely with the Fisher King and the importance of the AoK as we talked about earlier.
This also touches upon the importance of Alessia as the Mother of Dragons and "sweet wife of Shor" for she achieved the impossible and united The Missing God and Akatosh in the Covenant:
"... and left you to gather sinew with my other half, who will bring light thereby to that mortal idea that brings [the Gods] great joy, that is, freedom, which even the Heavens do not truly know, [which is] why our Father, the... [Text lost]... in those first [days/spirits/swirls] before Convention.. that which we echoed in our earthly madness. [Let us] now take you Up. We will [show] our true faces... [which eat] one another in amnesia each Age." The Song of Pelinal Vol 8. On His Revelation at the Death of the Al...
Akatosh made a covenant with Alessia in those days so long ago. He gathered the tangled skeins of Oblivion, and knit them fast with the bloody sinews of his Heart, and gave them to Alessia...The Trials of Saint Alessia
We can interpret this in numerous ways but symbolically there is both Pelinal the Shezarrine and Akatosh, Alessia's son, present at her deathbed. Her soul is placed into the Amulet of Kings and becomes the first gem, The Red Diamond. That was the Covenant: Nir's, Padomay's and Anu's subragdients working together to protect the Empire as long as man remained true. Without doubt, when Aka and Lorkhan work together the results are amazing. That Divine Feminine theme is echoed by King Hrol the (possible) Shezarrine having sex to the divine feminine, Nirn represented by Alessia.
But after nine months that mound of mud became as a small mountain, and there were whispers among the shepherds and bulls. A small community of believers gathered around that growing hill during the days of its first churning, and they were the first to name it the Golden Hill, Sancre Tor. And it was the shepherdess Sed-Yenna who dared climb the hill when she heard his first cry, and at its peak she saw what it had yielded, an infant she named Reman, which is "Light of Man."
And in the child's forehead was the Chim-el Adabal, alive with the dragon-fires of yore and divine promise, and none dared obstruct Sed-Yenna when she climbed the steps of White-Gold Tower to place the babe Reman on his Throne, where he spoke as an adult, saying I AM CYRODIIL COME.
There it is. I AM CYRODIIL COME. The Amulet of Kings stuck on his forehead in an overt piece myth-laden imagery. The saviour of Cyrodiil has arrived and brought with him the sacred symbol of Empire. The son of Alessia and Shezarr, a Dragonborn hero like the Nord legends of old.
That famous phase has a double meaning, too, as MK explains:
it’s an antiquated form of “yo man I’m all royally here what’s up.” Like “Caesar has come” didn’t cut it, it was “Caesar IS come, bitches”- like it’s more than like “hey I've arrived where’s my tea?” - it’s like I'm arriving right now at this very moment “I IS.” So I’m thinking that and Reman and it warped it into, like, the same thing but also “dude, I’m going to fucking come on Cyrodiil.” It’s this subtle take on Cyrodiil or ancient Cyrodiil, how I needed to see it, how I see it. Two of my favorite things: come and that way of talking.
In case there is doubt, Kirkbride is talking about cum. We will talk more on that later as we look at the snippets from the Shonni-Etta. For now, we will pause and take a look at Sancre Tor and how it too is a recurring theme in the Empire's Song.
Alessia received the divine inspiration for her Slave Rebellion at Sancre Tor, and here she founded her holy city. The Legendary Sancre Tor
Sancre Tor is so intrinsically tied up with Imperial myth that it is no surprise to see it's significance recurring again. In terms of pure propaganda, Sancre Tor carries a lot of mythic symbolism to help any aspiring emperor if he can somehow link himself to this legendary site.
In the minds of the Imperial citizens, Sancre Tor looms large. If any place can be said to be the wellspring of their national identity then the Golden Hill is it. In the myths it is the place where Alessia received her divine inspiration which led to the slave rebellions and the birth of the Alessian Empire. This is huge in the national identity of Cyrodiil, on par with the how the Nords view The Throat of the World possibly.
In terms of role-playing and getting into the mindset of an Imperial there is a certain tendency to dismiss them as "too Roman" but in a way that does them a disservice like in the same way dismissing the Nords as "too viking" doesn't do their culture justice.
To get at the heart of what it means to be an Imperial one must look at the myths of Al-Esh, Mor, Pelinal and Reman and see how the these figures strode across the mythic landscape with the blessings of the gods. It is these things which speak to the men and woman of Cyrod, not simply the Romanesque look of their attire, architecture and the sound of their Nibenese names.
Which brings us nicely to the question of the legitimacy of the Reman myth. How much is considered true by the modern historian and how much is mere legend? When it comes to the importance of myth in modern Imperial life, that question is irrelevant as Abnur Tharn points out when discussing the matter of myth:
I am surprised to hear you use the word ‘facts’ about an individual known to us only through the medium of myth. In ‘fact,’ it matters not whether Morihaus was man, bull, or Eidar cheese—what matters is how his saga supports the national narrative of the Empire, and how belief in the might and righteousness of Morihaus informs the self-image of the average Cyrodiil. The creation story of the Empire has no purpose or meaning beyond its support of the Empire’s continuation.
Even though he specifically talking about Mor there, I see no reason why the words don't also ring true when applied to Reman as both figures eventually became Hero-Gods of the Empire, worshipped by a multitude of cults.
The Book of the Dragonborn challenges the myth of Reman's divine conception and casts doubt on the whole thing:
But we know for certain that the early Cyrodilic rulers were not all related. There is also no evidence that Reman Cyrodiil was descended from Alessia, although there are many legends that would make it so, most of them dating from the time of Reman and likely attempts to legitimize his rule.
This is a very interesting point as we have seen the power myth holds in the minds of the Imperial citizenry. Using those myths as a way yo legitimise his rule would have been very shrewd indeed.
On this subject I present Tom :
The Legendary Sancre Tor merely states he "...traced his ancestry..." which doesn't prove anything, and as has been pointed out it's probably a lie to begin with.
Prophets like the Prophet of Anvil are even less trustworthy. Their entire business is mysticism, double talk, vague language, and embellishment. Find me a prophet, soothsayer, seer, scryer, or fortuneteller that doesn't use colorful language, metaphor, or purple prose to give themselves an air of legitimacy.
It's almost standard for one dynasty to claim descent from the previous to give their claim legitimacy, even if they have to lie or fake documents to do so. I expect Reman to be nothing more than a Cyro-Nord from northern Cyrodiil who rose to power through military achievement, with a really great propaganda team.
A very valid point. What do you think?
The Shonni-Etta
The Shonni-Etta is, or was intended to be, TES porn, For that reason firstly I won't go too deeply into it, the second reason is because it was never completed and all we have are "snippets". However, it is worth examining some of the content because it sheds more light on the myth/history of Reman.
It seems to pick up where Remanada Chapter 1 finishes, although further forward in time to when Reman is taken to the White Gold Tower:
Now El-Estia was the true mother of Reman but, with the Chim-el Adabal renewed into flesh-covenant, She had flown riverward like all nirnada whose deeds are done and then writ in water. It became the duty thereafter that Sed-Yenna and Shonni-Et to become the midwives of the Child Ut Cyrod, and to raise him in the fashion of the Nibenese.
By their train was babe Reman carried into White-Gold Tower, and at Rumare the Goddess of Beauty herself appeared, releasing the sisters of all their other functions to her temple. "But for this," the Goddess said, "When he has reached manhood, teach him all that you know of the flesh, and then save within yourselves his seed, and let it not take purchase within either of you, store it all, which soever body-cup he spills into, and in secret make of it bread for him to eat. And keep this new edict of the Convention quiet from all others, even from him, and know by this mention that it is my lord Aka the King of Heaven who commands it."
Then the Dragon of Heaven appeared, encircling them, King of Time, eating his lower length in symbol, speaking in the manner of the aether, which is mostly dream, "This I do command, for Reman was conceived of the imperial earth, and by his sacred measure he shall be as it should be: of an immortal fire that binds heaven to the mundane, Light made Man, and Order, fed ever by the seed of first stasis, anon Anu. And his wives will share forever in the blessing of Beauty if this should be so, their fair aspect frozen eternal, youth-radiant unto the ending of days. Aad semblio aurbex, aad semblio ae ehlnokhan, ae na-sen-ae-mantella, dracochrysalisanu."
That's probably as deep as I can reasonably go into quoting from this source, but even now we can see the importance of semen in Remanology. I think the key line is this: Reman was conceived of the imperial earth, and by his sacred measure he shall be as it should be: of an immortal fire that binds heaven to the mundane. The price of this contract was that Reman must eat his own ejaculate but never know why, getting it fed to him in bread. Mythically speaking, though, when one walks upon Cyrodiil they are walking upon Reman - he is at it should be, the immortal fire binding heaven to the mundane. That is why The Prophet of Anvil claims Reman would scorn his country now.
-- Part 2 --
I have a long way to go before I can understand this article!
I mean, I lived in belief that Reman was Dragonborn, he stopped Akaviri forces because they were looking for him. But is that a truth? I can see Tom´s point here. Did he just won few battles and started spreading tales about himself? This is really great food for thought and I think we might never know the precise answer. Of course, I would like to believe there is something more in there.