Tamriel Data:Teleportation Praxis, Vol. II

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Teleportation Praxis, Vol. II
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Teleportation Praxis, Vol. II
by Voganna Plotinus
Teleportation: Premise & Praxis

In the previous volume, we considered our ancestors' earliest forays into teleportation magic using the byways of Oblivion and various arcane machines. Before we can describe the contemporary practice, we must first investigate two other methods, which saw their heyday during the late First Era and the Common Era.

THE DAWN MAGICS

Apart from passage through the Void and the use of strange engines, the third most commonly cited method of pre-Celaudine teleportation is the use of the Dawn Magics, those obscure arts that hearken back to the most primordial state of the world.

One practitioner of such magics, the eastern mage Barilzar, was supposedly capable of easily rending the divisions between planes of existence, bypassing the various limits of other methods entirely.

Barilzar did not need to visit his destination beforehand, required no calculations other than his will and desires, and used no instruments other than arcane artifacts whose functionality could be used even by a novice. In this way, he could summon creatures and objects from even the most secure planes and travel wherever he wished.

Barilzar disappeared during the Second Interregnum, taking the secret of his technique with him. Other explorations into the teleportation potential of the Dawn Magics have ended in disaster, prompting Imperial authorities to prohibit further study of the subject.

As is typical where the study of the Dawn Magics is concerned, some scholars have claimed a connection to the elven cultures of the Merethic Era, speculating that these early peoples had access to the Dawn Arts, using them in the colonization and exploration of primordial Tamriel. The supposed wars of Altmora, and the seemingly erratic movements of the Falmer and Dwemer populations are often brought up, as are the strange mentions of Kyne-winds in early Nordic myth. It goes without saying that there is not a shred of archeological evidence to support such claims.

INTERVENTION

More familiar to the reader, no doubt, are intervention spells, which are first mentioned in the First Interregnum. Cyrodiilic hagiographies of this period attribute the rescue of various imperiled saints to acts of the gods, who, by way of their awesome power, take these hapless pilgrims away from danger or imprisonment and deposit them safely in some holy place, which inevitably became a temple or place of pilgrimage.

Strangely, intervention spells appear to have been completely unknown to the Alessians, but became relatively commonplace by the reign of Reman. They were overwhelmingly (though not exclusively) associated with temples of the Eight Divines, which saw a large resurgence during the Interregnum.

The Divine nature of these spells is uncertain. They function much like other spells, drawing on a person's natural wellsprings of magicka. It may be that Intervention is merely a hierophant's clever obfuscation of a spell in meaningless ritual brocade, much like modern mages such as Ondusi, who add vestigial flourishes in order to trademark and protect their licenses.

Indeed, scrolls and spells of Divine Intervention work just as well in the hands of a secular-minded caster as in those of a priest. Variants of Intervention also exist, such as the Baandari Self-Theft scrolls, spells addressing the heathen Tribunes of Morrowind, and even scroll variants for the Altmer and Direnni market invoking elven deities.

That being said, the precise effects of Intervention still have not been replicated in an entirely secular context. It is possible these spells draw on an essential part of the mortal psyche, the faith in their Gods, or their desire for the safety of a holy place.