enta’shoreshik
Sermon Nine
hen came the war with the northern men, where Vivec did guide the Hortator into swift and tricky union with the Dwemer.
²The greatest demon chieftains of the frigid west were those listed below, five in unholy number.
³HOAGA, the Mouth of Mud, who appeared as a great bearded king, had the powers of Marshalling and breathing the earth. ⁴On the battlefields, this demon would often be seen on the sidelines, eating the soil voraciously. ⁵When his men fell, Hoaga would fill their bodies back with it, whereupon they would rise again and fight, albeit slower. ⁶He had a Secret Name, Fenja, and destroyed seventeen Chimeri villages and two Dwemeri strongholds before being turned away.
⁷CHEMUA, the Running Hunger, who appeared as a mounted soldier with full helm, had the powers of Heart Roaring and of sky sickening. ⁸He ate the Chimeri hero, Dres Khizumet-e, sending the spirit back to the Hortator as an assassin. ⁹Sometimes called First Blighter, Chemua could give clouds stomach aches and turn the rain of Veloth into bile. ¹⁰He destroyed six Chimeri villages before he was slain by Vivec and the Hortator.
¹¹BHAG, the Two-Tongued, who appeared as a great bearded king, had the powers of Surety and Form Change. ¹²His raiders were small in number, but ran amok in the west hinterlands, killing many Velothi trappers and scouts. ¹³He fell in a great debate with Vivec, for the warrior-poet alone could understand the northern man’s two-layered speech, though ASV had to remain invisible during the argument.
¹⁴BARFOK, Maid of Planes, who appeared as a winged human with lick-encrusted spear, had the powers of Event Denouement. ¹⁵Battles fought against her would always end in victory for Barfok, because she could shape outcomes by singing. ¹⁶Four Chimeri villages and two more Dwemeri strongholds were destroyed by her decision enforcement. ¹⁷Vivec had to stuff her mouth with his milk finger to keep her from singing Veloth into ruin.
¹⁸YSMIR, the Dragon of the North, who always appears as a great bearded king, had powers innumerable and echoing. ¹⁹He was grim and dark and the most silent of the invading chieftains, though when he spoke villages were uplifted and thrown into the sea. ²⁰The Hortator fought him unarmed, grabbing the Dragon’s roars by hand until Ysmir’s power throat bled. ²¹These roars were given to Vivec to bind into an ebony listening frame, which the warrior-poet placed on Ysmir’s face and ears to drive him mad and drive him away.
²²‘The coming forth and the driving away brings all things around. What I shall say next is unpleasant to record: HERMA-MORA-ALTADOON! AE ALTADOON!’
²³The ending of the words is ASV.