Lore:Padomay

Padomay
Sigil of Padomay
Type		Primordial Force
Realm		Void
Pantheon		All Pantheons
Sphere		Change, Lack (Is-Not), Limitation

The uncultivated land of monsters is the rule. This is clearly attested by ANU and his double, which love knows never really happened. —36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 35

Padomay, originally called PSJJJJ in Ehlnofex (or Aldmeris), also called Padu, Padhome, Sithis, Is-Not, Akel, El, The Dark, Serpent, Evil, Kota, and Fadomai, is the quintessential form of change. One of the two primal forces, the other being Anu, Padomay is the personification of the primordial force of Chaos and Change who dwells in the Void.

In relation to Anu, Padomay is also known as His Other and his double.

Mythology

Depiction of Sithis, described as both Padomay's soul and synonymous with Padomay (Tarot Card)

Recurring Themes

Many of these stories end with the creator sacrificing themselves or being killed, as is the case with Sep, Lorkhan, and the shadow of Atakota. The Reachfolk and Khajiit have their Lorkhan stand-ins undergo similar sacrifices, but with the key difference of them surviving the removal of their Heart long enough for Namira to replace it with darkness.

Anuad

In the Anuad, an Ayleid creation myth from the Mythic Era, Anu and Padomay were brothers that came into the void. Anu and Padomay wandered the void, and their interplay of Light and Darkness brought forth Nir, the personification of the Aurbis and Possibility. Anu and Padomay were both amazed and delighted by Nir's appearance, but Nir only loved Anu, and so Padomay retreated, bitter. Later, when Nir was pregnant, Padomay came to confess his love to her, but she told him she only loved Anu, and so Padomay attacked her, striking her in rage.

Anu arrived, fought Padomay, and banished him outside time. Shortly thereafter, Nir gave birth to creation, and died. Anu in his grief entered the Sun, and slept.

As Anu slept, life began on the Twelve Worlds of Creation. After many ages, Padomay returned to creation and hated what he saw. He swung his sword and shattered the Twelve Worlds in their alignment. Anu awoke and fought Padomay one last time, defeating him and emerging the victor. Anu then salvaged the remnants of the worlds, forming them into one and creating Nirn.

Padomay then arose once more and struck Anu through his chest. In this brief struggle, Anu then dragged both himself and Padomay outside of time forever, saving Nirn from further harm. The blood they spilt in their clash led to the creation of the gods. The Daedra were born from Padomay's blood exclusively, detaching them from Creation; similarly, the stars arose solely from the blood of Anu. By contrast, the Aedra were spawned from the mixing of the blood of both Padomay and Anu, allowing them to be 'capable of both good and evil' and tying them to Creation. On Nirn, only the Ehlnofey and Hist worlds survived out of the original Twelve, and their remains eventually became Aldmeris and Black Marsh.

Khajiiti

In the Khajiiti creation myth, the equivalent of Anu and Padomay are Ahnurr and Fadomai. The pair were mates who had two litters of children, the first being the Aedra and the second Daedra. Though Ahnurr was content with this, Fadomai secretly tricked Ahnurr into helping create one last litter. In contrast to the stories about the Stasis-Change conflict in other cultures, the roles of creator and aggressor are reversed, with Ahnurr attacking Fadomai during the birth of Nirni, Azurah and the twin moons. Following his attack, Fadomai fled to the Void to birth the final member of the litter, Lorkhaj. This would eventually lead to Lorkhaj creating Mundus for Nirni to exist within, and tricking the rest of the gods to become trapped in it.

When Fadomai's children heard what Anhurr had done to her, they all went to Fadomai to protect her from their father's anger. On her deathbed, Fadomai is said to have given her last children gifts, the twins moons were given the Lunar Lattice, she foretold Nirni would have as many children as Fadomai. As for Azurah who was the last to remain by her side, she told her daughter her secrets and told Azurah to create the Khajiit. Amun-dro's telling of this last meeting expands on this, saying that Fadomai told Azurah the names of all the spirits, of all gates and thresholds, and of all the Khajiit that would ever live. Lastly, Fadomai spoke about all her children and what she loved best about them.

In earlier stories about the Khajiiti pantheon, there are a few known mentions of Fadomai's relationship with her children. While Azurah is known in the stories as "Favored Daughter of Fadomai", Lorkhaj in his aspect as the Moon Prince, is known as "Fadomai's Favored Son". Meanwhile, Nirni always tried to compete with Azurah for her mother's favor. Mafala is known as the keeper of Fadomai's secrets, "[they] were the secrets her children only needed in the beginning, and it was Mafala that carried them down." In another tradition, it is because Fadomai pitied her daughter Khenarthi's loneliness, that she went ahead to get pregnant with her third litter.

A work from prior to the Riddle-Thar Epiphany, describes Boethra's involvement with the Middle Dawn and the dance of the Marukhati Selective. Fighting against the speakers of the Monkey Truth changing reality, Boethra realized there was an opportunity in what they wanted to do and "found a tunnel that led to the fate they sought". Here the story describes Boethra encountering twelve spinning wheels surrounded by fire, while beyond that two great serpents fought and upon seeing them, Boethra recognizes the grain of truth in the Selectives dance. These two serpents can be considered a representation of the conflict between Anu and Padomay, with the following quote providing a literary description of the two forces.

"One was a flame-feathered serpent, brilliant and pure, with crystal scales and a head like that of a hunting bird, its eyes sharp and clear, its mane an argument against all the Mannish impurity of all the known worlds."

"There to meet it was a serpent of the blackest scales, and all the Void seemed to come with it, so much that one would think the feathered could never stand against it, and yet it did. And this serpent's eyes burned red as blood, and its scales moved and shifted with new ideas that were born and died as soon as they appeared. Despite this chaos, its mane was white and gentle, and in it Boethra saw a fleeting chance for peace along the Wheels."
 —The Bladesongs of Boethra, Volume V

Afterward, Boethra sided with the black serpent against the flame-feathered serpent, drawing upon its black flames and forming a blade and armor. It was is then written that she recognized the hawk-serpent for what it was, recited the Will Against Rule and struck, "cutting concepts at strange angles" and ending the Dragon Break. This event would later come to be known as the Division of Heaven by mortals who remembered the Middle-Dawn.

Yokudan

Yokudans see Padomay as Akel, the Hungry Stomach. When Satak the First Serpent came into being, it carried all the worlds to come within the glimmer of its scales. Those worlds were trapped by the all encompassing size of Satak, his coiling allowing no room to breath, and so called out for help. As nothing existed outside Satak, aid had to come from within, so the empty stomach of Satak, Akel, answered the call. Akel drove Satak into a craze of Hunger, and it began to devour itself, creating more empty space so that things could begin. However there was no time to truly be within this flux, and things were devoured as soon as they were born. Eventually Akel drove Satak to bite its own Heart, and that was the end. Akel however, refused to stop, even in death, and caused Satak to shed its skin to begin anew. From this Satakal, was born. With the reborn First Serpent came the cycle of Worldskins, and spirits began to form.

Later, Ruptga would create Sep the Second Serpent out of the detritus of various worldskins. Sep was created to help spirits on the Walkabout, however he was said to carry much of Akel the Hungry Stomach within him, and because of this he would at times go mad from the hunger and instead attempt to eat spirits he was created to help.

Argonian

Though Argonian society as a whole doesn't have an established singular creation story, the Adzi-Kostleel tribe claims that two beings, Atak and Kota, fought until they joined together as a singular being known as Atakota. When they did this, they shed their skin and created a Shadow. This Shadow, though initially intending to devour everything, soon came to see the creations of Atakota as its own children, and instead gave them the gift of change, which would later come to be known as Death.

Breton

A simplified and secular interpretation of The Monomyth can be found within the Bretonic tale The Light and the Dark. In it, two immortal entities representing Chaos and Order chose Tamriel to be their eternal battleground. This everlasting battle would create energies so powerful it distorted the world and created both the "people of et'Ada", who would in turn give rise to the gods, by believing in their myths for so long and so strongly, it caused the energies unleashed by the conflict of the Light and the Dark to bring them into being. According to the grandfather, all of creation exists to echo the battle between the Dark and the Light.

Dunmeri

The Dunmer god Vivec teaches that Sithis is responsible for the creation of the universe, the Aurbis. As described within his Sermons, and adjacent material extrapolating on them, before Sithis was "Nothing". This nothing is the Dunmeri understanding of Anu, as the embodiment of Stasis, its unchanging nature is viewed as nothing, "Stasis asks merely for nothing, for itself, which is nothing". Sithis is then credited for sundering the Nothing, and mutating the parts, producing the possibilities understood to be Aurbis. It is said that later, when Anui-El, a demon similar to the stasis of ANU, surfaced, it, along with the Aedra, enslaved everything in realms of everlasting imperfection. In reaction to this, Sithis created and sent his son, Lorkhan, to destroy the universe and free the slaves. In some of his writings, it is said that at the Altar of Padhome, there exists a secret door, one created by Lorkhan.. This door is the promise of PSJJJJ, which is a flowering scheme of Aurbis. Vivec explains more on the nature of Sithis/Padomay within his sermons, describing it as the drowned and smiling reflection of something within water.

Later in the Third Era, Vivec shared further teachings with his followers. According to Vivec, Stasis and Change, Anu and Padomay, are infinite forces and realms residing in the infinite Void, the latter itself being infinite and thus paradoxically enclosing the others in a manner akin to an encircling sphere. At the intersection of the twin forces, where they touch, lies a "perfect circle of pattern and possibility". This circle is the Wheel, and that Wheel acts as the foundation of Aurbis. Vivec claims that outside the Wheel exists the Void, and that if the Void contains more aspects than just Stasis and Change, they cannot be named as they are outside of true language. Vivec later explained that Anu and Padomay "awakened" during the process of sub-creation caused by their intersection as "to see your antithesis is to finally awaken". It is said that in reaction to this "each gave birth to their souls", Anuiel and Sithis. Afterwards the firstborns of Anu and Padomay formed, the deities Akatosh and Lorkhan respectively. Each of these souls regarded the Aurbis in their own part, and from that came the et'Ada, the "original patterns".

Vivec cites mythology of Anu and Padomay to support his interpretation of the concept of love. More, he claims that in truth, Padomay does not exist, and Anu in fact has no double. Alluding to the nature of Anu as the Godhead.

Clockwork Apostles

The Clockwork Apostles of Sotha Sil claim that Padomay, his binary with Anu, and the padomaic Daedra are illusions who only have influence due to a flawed design of Nirn, the result of the Void taking root within the cracks of the Aedra's work. Further, they claim that in truth, Anu is the sole origin of everything.

Skaal

The Skaal believe in a single deity, the All-Maker, though they also recognize the Adversary, a malevolent and multifaceted tester who works to corrupt the All-Maker's dominion. The perpetual struggle between the two bears some resemblance to the one between Anu and Padomay. Similar to Dunmeri interpretations of Padomay and Sithis, the Skaal seemingly view their benevolent primordial force as Padomay, as opposed to Anu.

Notes

• ^1	In an ARG started by author Michael Kirkbride known as the "Amaranth Hunt", it was revealed that Anu is the Godhead, and that the exact moment Anu began the Amaranth of Aurbis was when he slept within the sun.

• The phrase Padomaic is often used to refer to Daedra. One notable example includes Boethiah being referred to as the 'one of the strongest Padomaics'.
• The first of the Mythic Dawn Commentaries makes reference to the "eyes of Padhome".

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.