Seducer: Phrastus? You're there? Is this Phrastus?
Phrastus: What is this place, young lady? And how did I get here? What is this...is it some sort of Oblivion realm? And what are you? Some kind of seducer?
Seducer: We just wanted to ask you some questions, you Scholarness, if you don’t mind?
Phrastus: Well, whatever went rough, I assure you I had nothing to do with it!
Seducer: Not those kind of question Phrastus, don’t worry about it, it’s just the usual type of questions for a sage like yourself.
Phrastus: And send me back to Nirn? ...all right… let’s start, the sooner the better.
Seeker 1: Certainly, certainly.
Phrastus: All right... hum well... and who are you?
Seeker 1: Oh, who am I? Well, I go by many names, and, you see, our sphere of influences is obscured from mortals… but, think of someone like a quester, a question asker.
Phrastus: Is it why you have two mouths in your chin? And where did you get that extra eye? This is creepy…
Seeker 1: It’s all part of the theme. Like, you know, the mountains, the sky, the things that come on the ground, don’t look bottom by the way.
Phrastus: Let’s get started! The sooner we get started, the sooner we can finish and I can go back to my nap time.
Seeker 1: All right, who’d like to begin?
Seeker 2: That will be you, double-mouth.
Seeker 1: Fine, just fine. You think that because I have two mouths I have to do all the talking. Companions, I mean honestly!
Seeker 1: There was an elf, a Bosmer I talked to recently, and he had a ??? question, I had no idea why he didn't know this. For you see, I like to ask about Bosmer and antlers. You see, last time this has been asked, as far as I understand, I had heard that Bosmer have a lot of cosmetic or prosthetic I expose antlers on their brows, as if you had them magically grown from their skulls. My question is : I’ve about three stages of antlers growths, when observing things. It makes far more sense - to me at least that they relate to the chaos times, to some god like Hircine or Y’ffre. Where do these things come from?
Phrastus: Well, I’ve never been to Valenwood, but I would caution you against assuming any single or simple answer about any matter involved with those retrogrades Wood Elves. Though I dare say most antlers worn by bosmers are cosmetic and removable. But I myself have met a tree thane who had a magnificent six foot rack right out of his cranium, and it was no prosthetic! Now he told me that he had it magically grown upon assuming his title as a symbol of his authority. The spells was sung, yes SUNG, by a particular kind of Y'ffre priest called a name-spinner. She was able to perceive the tree thane’s protonimic, ??? chanting new things into it, thus actually changing the tree thane’s physical form. So it told me. Well... if you trust the word of a Bosmer.
Seeker 2: I am playing an Ashlander who eventually wants to break away from his group and form his own tribe. How are the Ashkhan and Wise Woman selected in an Ashlander tribe? Is there a particular ritual or challenge they have to go through to earn these titles, and when a previous Ashkhan is replaced, must he be killed in the process, or can he just lose his title and continue living with the tribe?
Phrastus: Well, as most things, it’s not a simple thing. It’s an easy mistake to look at the gatherings of Ashlanders, and assume that because they look all very much alike to our eyes, in their dusky skinned robes, that they all have the same habits and practices. However, I assure you that variation among the Ashlander tribes can be quite significant, especially when comparing tribes geographically distant from each other. Now one of the ways in which the tribes vary from is in the way they select their Elders. In some tribes the Ashkhan must prove his strength and courage by undertaking a dangerous hunting quest, when female Ashlander can only become wisewoman in those tribes only by fasting long dreamquests alone in the wilderness. However, in other tribes, typically those which are less nomadic and live closer to the Greathouse Dunmer, they do chose elders by vote or acclamation upon the death of the old ones, and you must decide which type of tribe is good for you.
Seeker 2: Majorn the Ancient from Eastmarch is from what we’ve been told a very old vampire. In this questline, Majorn can under specific circumstances be seen transforming into a big gargoyle model, but with strange red stripes covering his body. Is Majorn the Ancient here using that infamous vampire lord form, or is this a new type of ability, a stone gargoyle transformation? If Majorn the Ancient is in fact using the vampire lord form here, we vampire lore fans would love to know which of the following theories are right when it comes to the vampire lord transformation.
Phrastus: Well, it’s a long question and deserves a thorough answer. Every serious student on vampirism knows that there are many different vampire bloodlines in Tamriel, scores of them in fact. Their forms are many and varied. They’re found in every corner of the continent. Most people think of vampirism as a curse and disease, but what few know is that there is not one disease, but at least six and possibly more, that the different kinds of vampires all tend to resemble each other in the early stages, but they become more differentiated as they grow more powerful. I suspect the late stage form that you call the “vampire lord” may vary quite a bit from one curse form to another, perhaps one bloodline as well. Now, in our time, the dominant form of the disease is what we sages call “noxiphylic sanguivoria”. The late stage form of noxiphylic sanguivoria may very well vary significantly from those of the other forms which go by other names. Furthermore, they may vary by bloodline. Considering all the things that a vampires boosts through to become a so-called “vampire lord”, they may even vary from individual to individual… So I don’t think that in the case of vampires, which are inherently shape-changers, that one could rely on them looking, that on any one late stage vampire looking like any other late stage vampire. It’s just not in their nature to be orthodox there. Ah! Phratus of Elinhir does not fall so easily to the questions of (nom de l’interviewer).
Seeker 1: There is a large displacement I’ve seen of Cyrodiilic residents in legions of the imperial empire of the fallen Reman dynasty. I remember that I’ve been trying to find a little bit of information on them and I’d like to know : where are the majority of them? Have they been scattered to the winds or where are they?
Phrastus: Well, there has been a gradual depopulation of Cyrodiil ever since 431 when the Reman empire dissolve and the recent events have caused them to scatter even further. Look at me! I was teaching at the university of ?? and now I plan my scholarly trade in Mage haunted ??? here in Craglorn. Some fled to the northern and eastern mountains for refuge, where there are traditional places to hide during warfare. Others went south into misty and insect-ridden Blackwood… I hate that place… gives me the hives… However, those who can afford it, Nibenese nobles mostly, went to state to the back country near Kvatch and Anvil away from the warfare in central Cyrodiil off to the east. However I gather the gold coast hasn’t turned out about as cushy as they had hoped, since the anvilers declared themselves a free city, as locals can see all sort of sea-robbers at their docks… privateers, smugglers, even open pirates! What Tamriel is coming to, I don’t know..
Seeker 1: What about the legion ? Did the nobles take the legion with them?
Phrastus: Oh no, by large, they’ve simply bled dry in the endless warfare of the last 150 years. What’s left are the ones who are mostly too tough to be killed!
Seeker 1: We know there are multiple argonian variants or tribes in Black Marsh, who range in visual appearance. Are any of these other argonians types part of the Pact? Or was it just one tribe or group of Argonians that joined the Pact?
Phrastus: That’s a difficult question to answer because nobody knows how many argonian tribes there are at Black Marsh, not even the Argonians! The ones that joined the Ebonheart Pact are those who had the most gain from cessation of the reign of the dunmeri slavers to the north. In other words, the tribes around Stormhold and Thorn in the northern regions of Black Marsh. Now deeper in the center of Black Marsh, as you say, the Argonians are rumored to assume many different forms, but in so far as the imperial expeditions did not manage to penetrate far beyond the outskirts of Black Marsh, few of these are known to imperial scholarships. Some of the more southerly tribes may yet joined the Ebonheart Pact, but who knows? Personally, I’ve never expected the Pact to hold together for as long as it has!
Seeker 2: The last reported emigrate from Atmora is known in history as Talos Tiber Septim in the 9th century of the 2nd era. Does this mean at the time of ESO, Atmora had yet began to freeze over completely, and there is still a rare chance of ships or communication between Atmora and Skyrim? Or do they just disregard each other entirely?
Phrastus: Ooooooh, trick question! Trick question are no fair! I'm sure I'm associated with Clavicus Vile in some way. Look, I don’t know who this Talon Septic person you refer to is, but so far as I know there’s been no traffic or trade between Tamriel and Atmora since the early 1st era. Maybe there’s more going on in this more or less mythical land than anyone’s guess.
Seeker 2: All right Sage. Vanus Galerion is a lucky fellow. In spite of Tamriel's historian's attempts to departure from the Mages Guild and subsequent death (charting Tamriel's history -- there's a treacherous job for you!), not only is he alive and kicking, but he's even still the arch-mage of the Guild. He's still got some exciting times to come, so I wanted to know: Is there any chance we'll get to witness his huffy departure from the organization he founded and final climactic battle against you-know-who?
Phrastus: Ooooh, Galerion's huffy departure from the guild he founded already took place century ago. He merely recently resume his old title for the duration of the present crisis. As soon it is over, you can once again except him to find his responsibilities as a Guild Master, entirely to burdensome for his... hum... genius. As for his death, I have never heard he is came even close. He's a careful fellow, and I imagine that he is be among us for some time yet.
Seeker 1: What year did we summoned this one from?
Phrastus: 583, or 2, or... I forget, I was napping.
Seeker 1 (to Seeker 2): You've summoned him from the wrong time!
Seeker 1: Never mind! So there are two High Rock Kingdom that I haven't heard much lately: Farrun and Jelhanna. What are they are doing right now? Are they part of the Covenant?
Phrastus: Farrun and Jelhanna, Farrun and Jelhanna, hum... There are locations north of Wrothgar named similar to those you mentioned, but they are not now or ever been High Rock Kingdom. There's many Orcs out there, not Breton. Oh, I suppose that could change in the future, but that's sheer speculation.
Seeker 1: Interesting, yes, I've heard that the Orcs are more active in that area. I suppose : all of that are their lands then?
Phrastus: Well, they certainly says so if you ask them.
Seeker 1: Of course they will.
Seeker 2: Right, it's the last question, I'm going to ask about Templars, here it comes. Is there an actual 'Templar order' out there, that is the source of Templar teachings, or does the Templar simply represent an amalgamation of different teachings? There is four books in the game that would paint the origin of the Templar as a devout knight of Stendarr, and while I can see where that might fit in when the primary antagonist of the game's story is Molly-B -he must not be named- it still doesn't say whether the temple of Stendarr is responsible for the "creation" of these practices. So does this 'light magic' originate with the Stendarr priesthood, or is it simply something that they have repurposed?
Phrastus: This is a subject which is undergoing scholarly discussed quite actively at present. The so-called 'Templar discipline' is rather recent and may draw from magic originally developed by the Resolute of Stendarr, in fact that does seem quite likely. But it also seem certain that the ability to use this magic has little if nothing to do with the faith of the wielder. The Resolutes -blessed their souls- seem to simply ??? an approach that can be learned by anyone with the appropriate aptitude. Yeah. That was so hard?
Seeker 1: No, thank you very much.
Phrastus: I hope my answers has proven satisfactory enough that you'd be willing to send me back to Nirn?
Seeker 2: Well...oooooh?
Phrastus: I'm missing my tea cup and my afternoon nap.
Seeker 2: What do you say when you feels that you skin may be torn apart?
Seeker 1: No, see: he's missing his cup of tea. You can't do that to a man that doesn't have his cup-
Phrastus: I don't think it is funny at all.
Seeker 1: But, have a nice trip. Thank you for answering our questions. Enjoy that tea and... forgive us for the pain. Bye bye!
Phrastus: Aaaaaaarrrrrrgh!
