THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS BASED ON CLASSIFIED INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE KIRINIBBI INCIDENT AND SHOULD BE DISPERSED ONLY TO THE CONVENING CURATE COUNCIL OF 3E 426 OR TO PERSONS APPROVED BY SCRIBE DIVINER DOLYN ARAM.

Part II: A Treatise on the Divine Disease and Sixth House Ecology

By Nevena Dals, Scribe Adept

I have elected to write my Curate Thesis on the Sixth House and have done extensive research both within the Grand Library of Vivec and in the field in order to gain enough relevant data in order to be able to prepare this for the convening Curate Council of 3E 426. I would like to preface this with a statement of my gratitude for taking the time to read my thesis and allowing me the opportunity to have an oral defense. Thank you.

The Divine Disease

My initial foray into the causal nature of the Divine Disease was less than successful in no small part due to lack of proper background knowledge in the field of etiology and to a lesser extent, its parent field of pathology.

My research into pathology helped me learn the basic differences between the three primary classes of disease that exist in the Vvardenfell District:

Common Disease Blight Disease The Divine Disease

I will begin by looking at the root causes of Common Diseases (e.g. Wither and Yellow Tick). Diseases are a result of Lorkhan’s power, albeit not by his direct action. Lorkhan’s death resulted in a great amount of cosmic energy and some of it dissipated into the void and some was channeled by the different et’Ada.

Peryite was one such and in his aims to seize power over the mortal world, he took what he could of Lorkhan’s energies and created from it the first illness and cast it upon the world. He did this not out of malice in particular, but out of a desire to enforce order upon the world, which it was quite effective at for a long time until we learned to counteract these diseases.

Blight Diseases are a bit different though. They take the basic mold of disease as created by Peryite from the Lorkhanic energies, but they are pushed through a lens of the Sharmat’s energies which serves to not only modify them, but charges them with a divine power. This, I believe, is due in no small part to the fact that the Sharmat’s energies are largely corrupted Lorkhanic energies and the Blight diseases are actually equal in strength to the first diseases created by Peryite before the Lorkhanic energies waned from them.

Now we come upon the Divine Disease which isn’t actually a disease at all in the sense we think about diseases. That has been our misunderstanding in regards to it, because it’s not actually a disease like the kind engineered by Peryite following Lorkhan’s death.

The Divine Disease is different entirely; it is a metaphysical beacon of sorts that serves as a receiver for the Sharmat’s energies. The Divine Disease doesn’t affect the host at all; it’s the Sharmatic energies that affect the host. The Host is forced to surrender to the Sharmatic energies or their body will begin to undergo the violent metamorphosis into one of the Lost.

What this means is that if we are to save those afflicted by the Divine Disease, then we need to figure out how to create a psychic shell to encapsulate them in, but even this is only a temporary measure. I hope that further research into the Divine Disease provides an opportunity to break the connection.

Sixth House Ecology

My experience in Kirinibbi led me to understand that the Sixth House has a very carefully designed hierarchy based primarily around levels of “ascendance”.

The Lost: At the bottom of the hierarchy of the Sixth House lie the Lost. They stand even below the Cultists because they are those who have allowed to experience the Sharmatic energies and ultimately proven unworthy of truly internalizing them. This inability to embrace the Sharmatic energies proves to be their downfall and results in them being used largely as attack dogs and a food source for the Sixth House.

One of my duties during my infiltration of Kirinibbi was carving the tumors off of them to feed those in our base. There is a careful art to carving them, because if you cut too deep then you can damage the host and possibly kill them, so the trick is carefully filet off strips of flesh. They will still feel the pain, but it won’t kill them and they will heal in time.

It should be noted that the Lost are looked upon with great pity by those in the Sixth House; they are the ones who will never find their way home and will languish in agony until their mortal coil is finally severed. Even Dagoth Milos took great care to ensure we knew how to properly carve them, not only to not damage them, but to ensure we cut largely tumorous flesh to ensure it would hurt them less.

Cultists: Cultists is a broad term, but it was given to those of us who had not yet been given the Divine Disease. We were largely dismissed by Dagoth Milos, but some of the other Ash Poets took great care to see to it that we were adequately cared for and instructed. Some of them, such as Dagoth Quorin, took an almost fraternal tone towards us and saw us as their little siblings who were yet to be fully inducted into the family. Ash Slaves: The Ash Slaves served largely as the rank-and-file of the House, although I did not see many of them during my time at Kirinibbi. They were those who had past the test that the Lost had failed; they had internalized the Sharmatic energies and were on the first steps towards the ascendance that everyone in the House sought.

Physiologically, the only major differences I noted between them and healthy Dunmer is the fact that their eyes shrivel and fall out. It doesn’t seem to impact their ability to see.

Psychologically, they are frequently concerned with the geometry of architecture. They frequently pace back and forth and trying to find the greatest “acoustic space” from which they can hear the Sharmat’s whispering in their ears. It is obsessive and actually quite similar behavior to that of a Skooma addict.

Ash Zombies: The Ash Zombies were the veteran rank-and-file of the House and they were fewer. Unlike the Ash Slaves, the Ash Zombies have found their “greatest acoustic space” but it’s when they find this space that they are actually deafened to the Sharmat. This is incredibly psychologically damaging to the Ash Zombie and actually results in a psychosis as they’re unable to deal with it.

During this time, large parts of their skull become ultra-brittle and dry out. They eventually fall out entirely leaving a large, empty cavity. This stage goes on until the Ash Zombie learns to live without the Sharmat’s whispering and develop a degree of autonomy.

Physiologically, they are actually quite dangerous. While they lack the magical aptitude of Ash Slaves, they are surprisingly strong and are incredibly vicious. It is highly advised to give Ash Zombies a great deal of distance and if forced to engage them, to do so at range.

Psychologically, they are incredibly afraid because they can no longer hear the Sharmat who has been a constant presence within their mind since they first became infected with the Divine Disease. They frequently see themselves as having earned his wrath and believe they are forsaken despite still being welcomed by the Sixth House with open arms.

Ash Poets: When an Ash Zombie develops autonomy, it begins the first real steps towards ascendance and taps into the Sharmat’s energies without them being actively directed towards them. This results in the formation of a proboscis which I speculate is a result of their mortal bodies being unable to handle the Sharmatic energies.

There is no group with more diversity in the functions they play in the Sixth House and they are indisputably the backbone of the Sixth House who ensure the strategic goals of the Sixth House come into fruition by implementation of numerous tactical-level operations. That said, there is a great deal of variance in the authority between individual Ash Poets.

Dagoth Milos for instance was the High Priest of Kirinibbi and oversaw all of us there (Dagoth Urik chose to use Kirinibbi as his headquarters, but he oversaw the Ascadian Isles region in its entirety), meanwhile Dagoth Quorin’s duties largely consisted of handling security measures of the base. There were other Ash Poets with even less responsibility and authority such as Dagoth Uves who was responsible for ensuring our daily tasks were being completed.

Physiologically, they are even stronger than Ash Zombies and have magical aptitude as well. That said, they are somewhat lighter than Ash Zombies and tend to eat less as well. I speculate this is due to their bodies becoming a mix of flesh and dream.

Psychologically, they are as diverse as the roles they occupy. Dagoth Milos was an authoritarian dictator, while Dagoth Quorin was a very cordial and affable individual. It depends on each one individually.

Ascended Sleepers: I only saw Dagoth Urik once and I did not speak to him at all, but from my understanding, the Ascended Sleepers are the apex of Sixth House evolution and they serve as the generals of the Sixth House. They oversee vast swaths of land across Vvardenfell and set the strategic objectives which are passed down to the High Priests (who command their own bases) and down to the rank-and-file.

I know very little about their physiology or psychology, but I know that Dagoth Urik was a massive creature who moved with a great deal of grace. He spent most of his time secluded in his meditation chamber and never ate. This leads me to believe that the Ascended Sleepers are not actually physiological entities in their own right, but instead corporeal manifestations of the disembodied ascendants.

I speculate they take corporeal form in order to ensure that the Sixth House can move forward with its plans and eventually develop into an era of prosperity in its own right.

Ash Vampires: I know even less about the infamous Ash Vampires, but I believe they form the ruling council of the Sixth House which is headed by the Sharmat himself. The Sharmat: What I know of the Sharmat is that he is in essence of psychic font of corrupted Lorkhanic energies which he radiates across Vvardenfell, but only those affected by the Divine Disease are actually affected by it. This would explain why he is so active in producing blight storms across the region and why during the pre-infiltration stage of my infiltration of Kirinibbi, I was trafficking so many Ash Statues. The Ash Mystic: Dagoth Cerebel. I genuinely am unable to explain what it is that led to him becoming what he became, but I have a theory. I believe that he rather than remain a passive recipient of the Sharmatic energies that the Sharmat radiates, I believe Dagoth Cerebel actually siphoned some off and became a second wellspring of Sharmatic energies as well. I do not know if this was intentional or accidental though.

However, Dagoth Cerebel did not have the tools needed to imbue himself with godhood and consequently, his body could not handle the stresses of being a Second Sharmat. I believe this is what resulted in his strange evolution, even if it didn’t stop him from having deific powers in his own right. I only wish I had more proof of Dagoth Cerebel’s existence than my logs, because if we can figure out what it is he did, perhaps we can find a way to reverse-engineer it to cut the Sharmat off entirely.