A/N: Curtis mind-streaming. You have been warned.
Chapter 19: Preach It
Now that the Stormcloak Alliance was a reality, Jarl Korir demanded a Temple of Talos and a new Jarl's Hall be built. He also demanded only Nord crafters for his project. Nords didn't exactly rush to work for him because he paid less than what the Shoreline Reclamation project did. But, recognizing political and religious priorities, the Argonian project leaders were willing to work out schedule kinks with those Nords being pressured to to work for the Jarl.
For his part to help, Curtis found a herbaceous sujamma version of a Jagermeister. He mixed that into cold-brewed kafe beans he bought from the Khajiits at Windhelm, then he'd engaged the Jarl in an evening of drinking the stuff. He worked the idea with Jarl Korir to rely on the orphans to do the work. Having them work under the guidance of master builders would not just let them learn trades but also teach them pride in their culture, heritage, etc. More importantly, it would cement a new generation's loyalty to him because he'd demonstrated his faith in them. By the next morning, the Jarl's ego was now invested. He would sponsor the creation of a trades school, a community college, for the non-magical, practical arts. He would prove that while Winterhold was not rich with vast herds or crop-growing land, it more than made up for it with an abundance of non-magical clever crafters. Savela quickly organized with the leaders among the orphans a grand show of gratitude for the Jarl's patronage and unprecedented generosity of opportunities.
This also reminded Curtis he needed a shrine for Jhunal. He got permission from the jarl to carve out a small grotto in the slope behind the jarl's chicken coop. Nothing fancy, he planned for a stone-lined grotto with a statue and pedestal at the back and a standing height writing desk at the front.
Elden, Ilya, and Gelebor helped him excavate a nice into the hillside. They were now learning of his unpleasant habit of talking out loud when engaged in hard physical labor.
"Usually, he just hums and sings when he's truly concentrating on something he's reading or putting together in his office," Ilya confided to Gelebor. "It's like when he's focused, the rest of his brains leaks out."
"Yeah, a writing desk. Jhunal was a god of knowledge. Sister Hawk taught Man to speak. Brother Owl taught Man to write to convey and preserve ideas without relying on the spoken word, especially when speakers can die. Life's hard, y'know. People die, and it's a sad fact that, more often than not, things are left unsaid. Maybe for the better in some cases…
"Anyways, he taught mathematics over magic as the key to understanding the world. When he said 'power of the mind,' he wasn't talking about magic. He meant strengthening our ability to observe, analyze, and comprehend, and then demonstrate the summation to make changes in ourselves and the world."
"He wasn't all about magic, like, magic-magic. He meant the magic of, well, like transformational growth. Think of a baby, all the little bundles of potential. On their first day, they're unfocused, drooling little creatures that can barely lift their heads. Days later, they talk and say, 'mama,' and stumble around to explore the world. Then the little babe grabs that knife you accidentally left on a stool; you're terrified they'll trip and impale themselves. Later, they're the best swordsman or best carvers of wood or leather or stone. Or they've discovered fire, and with that little knife, they're cooking a meal fit for the gods. Ordinary miracles, ordinary magic, if you want to call it that. Some talent, a lot of training, a lot of hands-on experience."
Word got out that the mad Dunmer inventor was digging a shrine and rambling. Little enough amusement in Winterhold, so a group from the inn dragged out some kegs, logs for sitting, and gathered around to watch and listen to his ravings.
"Now, I know that sounds like Zenithar. Well, yeah, there's some overlap there. It's all about taking skills you've managed to learn and bringing them with you as you go out in the world. When you say, 'knowledge is power,' well, that can be applied to anything, not just magic. Come on! A good war leader needs to know his own people's skills and needs info on the opposition's forces. A good merchant has got to know the value of their goods and how to play the market. Any good craftsman who works in wood or stone or iron or what-have-you has got to know the nature of the material he's working with; has to have its measure.
"That's a word game right there, you see. Jhunal was big on mathematics, on creating means of measuring up the world — the length of days, the length of seasons, weighing the decision of whether to plant now or wait a few days more.
"Staying ignorant means you get nowhere. And Jhunal is an owl because owls are night hunters, meaning ignorance is like stumbling around in the dark. The hawk won't fly at night. The eagle won't fly at night. No bird but the owl dares to take the sky when the sun goes down."
Eyes roll. Inevitably comes the challenges: "Why does a Dunmer care about a forgotten Atmoran god?" "How do you know so much about this owl god?" "Isn't Jhunal just another name for Julianos?" "Aren't you just a thug from Raven Rock? What are you doing over here blathering about a forgotten bird god of the Nords?"
"Why do I care? I guess you could say he saved my life.
"Until that happened, I didn't know anything about Jhunal except his name. Actually, it was, um, the late archimage, Savos Aren, who rediscovered when he retired to Solstheim and was asked to look into a local problem involving magic stones. He eventually discovered it involved the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. His research uncovered Jhunal was Mora's ancient enemy from Atmora, back when Mr. Grabby Tentacles was known to the ancient Nords as 'the demon in the woods or the Woodland Man.'"
"Yeah, that's what the Alessians thought. But Jhunal isn't Julianos. Again, they take different paths to power. Julianos favors magic while Jhunal favors science. There's this cute idea one of my favorite writers put out, and he's a scientist who writes fiction, and that's: 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' The biggest primary goal they share that either path you choose, it should be a path of wisdom. They share a love of mathematics, literature, logic, and reasoning. But it's their methods and personalities that define them.
"Julianos couldn't kick Hermaeus Mora's butt like Jhunal did. Fact is, Hermaeus Mora—"
An owl swooped by, shouting. "Curtis. Shut up. The battle in Apocrypha is not public knowledge." Everyone else just heard an owl hooting.
Curtis switched tracks without hesitation. "—Jhunal knows when all the reasoning and arguments don't work and is willing to cross the line to throw a punch. Sure, crude, primitive, and violent — if that's how you want to see it. Or, think of it this way, you can talk and plan and strategize, and that's all good, but eventually, you gotta roll up your sleeves and haul ass. There's battle planning in the war room, then there's surviving on the battlefield."
"Now, who am I? That's a good one. Have you heard of reincarnation? I ain't no Nerevarine, but the original guy from Raven Rock died, and I died somewhere else. Jhunal snatched my soul out of the void and put me in a new body. No idea what happened to this body's previous owner. Sounds more like Sheogorath, yeah? It's insane, and I won't argue about that. I'm just happy to be alive. And, like I said, I promised him I'd put up a shrine as a thank you. After that, I do what I do, and he's cool with that."
And then he added, "Of course, I could be just messing with y'all."
Helping him with the build was Ilya, Elden, and that mysterious, albino Altmer newcomer to the College.
"Are you going to be priest for the owl god, ser?" asked Elden.
Curtis laughed. "Nope. Deal was, I'd build the shrine, but he'd have to find someone else to do the preaching. I'm sure one will wander in soon. I admit, I'm curious to see what kind of person he'll pick as his first priest since the Alduin's priests burned the last bunch in Atmora."
A lot of questions about that.
"The story, as I heard it, Ysgramor and his bunch left Atmora because of all the religious wars. Alduin doing his, 'I'm the only god of this world' thing. So it only follows that his followers were busy slaughtering all the priests and shamans of the other gods. Y'know, killing the competition."
"My ma's grandda was a follower of the Old Ways," said Elden. "He used to make offerings to Kyne and to Shor. He used to tell me when I was little not to wander too far into the woods because the Woodland Man was out there and, if he found me, I'd never see home again. Woodland Man likes to confuse people he finds. Keeps them running circles in the forest until they die from exhaustion or starvation."
"Yup," said Curtis. "That's Herma-Mora. Nowadays, the woods are paper, and he hunts people looking for answers, gets 'em confused with so many false leads until they lose their minds, and their souls are trapped in Apocrypha. Same demon, same method, just a slightly different medium."
"Woodland Man would find slim pickings here," said Elden, "We've got Falmer demons in the snowstorms. They'll pick off anyone lost hereabouts before Woodland Man can find them."
The pale elf sighed.
"Is Jhunal to be the new god at the College, him being for learning and all?" asked Elden.
"Not really. Again, Jhunal isn't about magic. Jhunal seems to be a bit more like Zenithar when it comes to mastering skills, but he isn't into Commerce like Zenithar. Jhunal says, mastering a trade is fine, but can you take it further and apply what you know in other places? Like, you mastered your skill. Can you teach it? You're a good house builder. Now, if someone wants you to design and build a house on a floating platform, or in the branches of a stout tree, off the side of a cliff — how would you go about it? Someone asks you to look at an exposed ant hill, can you, as a builder of homes, identify why the ants built their nests like they do? Why does a bee build a hive that way? Is this what a housebuilder does?
"You wouldn't think so. Mostly not. But are you sure there aren't some principles of knowledge you've mastered that couldn't be used to understand parts of the world you've never seen or considered before? Like the Argonian master builders — the coast of Winterhold is nothing like the deep lakes and coastal waters of Black Marsh, but they've mastered the principles of their craft. They can adapt their techniques, even invent new ones, to match the challenges of an unfamiliar land. Coast. Whatever."
"Don't underplay your part in their success," said Ilya. "Neither they nor the Dunmer engineers would be as successful without you explaining mysteries they had no experience with."
"Yeah. But it goes both ways. Without their skills to back me, everybody would just think I'm a lunatic."
"Well…" Ilya drawled.
Jhunal's acceptance in the general populace of Winterhold was helped by an unexpected source.
"Jhunal's return is good," declared Olve Tera, the Talos priest Jarl Korir had found at the Moot in Whiterun. Olve was one of the renegade preachers that had been wandering around the camps daring to preach despite the presence of the Empire and Dominion agents. He was from one of the older, isolated tribes of Nords, and his command of Common Imperial was a bit rough. "Old god. God of truth-seekers, god of hunters of knowing. God says, 'Think before you act; think of what you have learned; be bold to learn more. Julianos is elf god, not a bad god, another god of learning. But Jhunal," he thumped his heart, "ours."
Curtis poured him another iced sujamma and kafe mix. He liked the old priest. While Olve was cautious of elves, he didn't outright hate on 'em. And it was nice of him to declare his endorsement of Jhunal to the crowd in the Frozen Hearth. This was another public project meeting where the Argonian project leaders let anyone interested know the official progress report on the project to rebuild Winterhold's shoreline and port.
Curtis had asked, but Olve wasn't interested in being a priest to more than one god. He did say, though, that he'd happily help any new priest that dared come forward. That was good. He also wanted Curtis to dig out a similar grotto for Talos. No need for any grand structure he declared, to Jarl Korir's dissatisfaction.
"Grotto first. Build what need for now, not waste time with empty boast. Build Jarl's Hall, build harbor, build school. When city strong, when city again First Hold of Skyrim, then glory to Talos.
GalacticHalfling: Chemical-induced mutations plus biological imperative… "Life finds a way."
A Week Of Sundays: Thanks. Likewise, stay healthy. And now, Sundas school.
Guest: (who will probably never see this) Not "Black" enough? *Laughs* Doing the Carlton Dance back into the PNW rainforest to hunt for more mushrooms and avoiding all the malignant ELFs (Earth Liberation Front) lurking therein.