godkiller

Really now, sera, I think very little at all of Cyrodiilic philosophy, largely because many of its leading schools are boring and devoid of joy and that is incompatible with my world view (it’s the Breton in me), but chiefly because I am a Telvanni and am entirely too busy turning foliage into houses to really care overmuch about such mundane matters such as that, of all things.  It’s not that, of course, a Telvanni can’t be philosophical, but...well, you have met other members of my House, haven’t you?  I say this with affection towards my House, being one of its outlander lords, but we’re all very learned people who are also incredibly, enormously silly when it comes to matters that don’t directly involve magic.

Anyway, on its own, on a strictly personal level, I do think it can operate as a viable worldview and comforting way of life for some people.  Focusing on that which we can control rather than not can be a helpful way to cope with the vulgarities of life.  And I have been a priest for multiple gods, and so can I really say that I don’t find it admirable to seek a good life through cultivating moral virtue?  I do.

And fundamentally, we can certainly draw similarities between the Cyrodiilic school of stoic thought and the traditional Redoran worldview, though of course there’s still the fundamental difference in what they center their moral and spiritual guidelines around. That is, there shall always, I think, be a gulf, however large or small, between the philosophical theories of societies that center their worship on aedric entities, societies that center their worship around daedric entities, and societies that incorporate both to varying degrees.

But when applied on a societal level, when it’s applied to world politics and the ongoing missionary work of the cult of the Divines by people who aren’t always necessarily philosophers themselves but also when it’s done by people who are, I find it tiresome at best, really.  I find that the lawmakers of the Empire use a pervaded form of it when trying to convert us heathen masses into being reliable, nice Imperial citizens who pay our taxes on time and never engage in bloody protests that mostly end in a lot of young people dying and nothing changing, which you can argue has become a fundamental way of life in Daggerfall, unfortunately. 

Live a life in tune with nature and the gods who comprise our reality; that is, to go against the Emperor and his ilk is to go against Akatosh himself.  Don’t concern yourself overmuch about things you can’t control, so shut up about food shortages because your lord is shipping all the grain you’re going to Cyrodiil.  That’s not any way to live a life. 

Of course, the Empire is dying now.  Maybe it always was.

Because then a thousand screaming Nords would've complained about it, and really, is that any better?

...

[Neht pauses, takes a sip of the very lovely comberry tea that’s just finished brewing, and immediately decides that he’s certainly not going to spill the deepest secrets of his heart that he’d prefer to be left dead and forgotten.]

Now, we have two routes to go down: the natural route and the supernatural route.  Actually, never mind, that’s not entirely true.  If you do augment your hair with magic, you still need to take proper care of it.  Spells and potions work wonders but no one, wizard or not, should rely on them alone.

First of all, the key aspect of properly maintain your hair is to maintain the rest of you, which is to say, you need to eat properly.  Your hair isn’t as happy as it could be unless you’re feeding yourself properly; if you don’t, it comes in weak and brittle.  Beans and eggs are good for the hair, and of course vegetables are never a bad idea.  You need to eat fish and olives often and succulent fruits.

If your hair goes dry, then it’ll break, so take time to wash and condition it properly.  Listen to me, olive oil is definitely worth the import price and it works wonders.  Trim the ends so as to avoid splitting.  When growing out the hair, some people balk at trimming it, but it is absolutely vital to make sure it’s strong.  If you don’t trim it, it becomes weak.  Wear your hair loose but if you do not, then make sure your style isn’t overtight, as that might break.  Try not to style with heat overmuch, if at all.

Now, as for magic, you have the route of spells and the route of potions and being very daring and combining both.  Potions, if bought from a proper and accomplished alchemist, are always safer than spells.  I don’t, however, recommend brewing your own haircare potions unless you really do know what you’re doing because you can accidentally poison yourself, and dying for your hair, while such a quintessentially Bretic thing, is an embarrassing way to go.  You don’t need strong potions.  In fact, I recommend very mild potions, the mildest potions of health you can find, because very strong ones tend to build up in your system and cause complications.  You don’t want that.  You want gentle, weak potions to strengthen and heal the body, preferably made of sweet-smelling flowers and herbs.

Now, as for spells, that’s another thing you’re not going to want to do to yourself unless you know what you’re doing, and you probably don’t have the finesse for modifying your own hair if you’re a fledgling mage.  It seems like it would be easy, but trust me, there’s a reason why you need a license for beauty magic in High Rock.  You can, if you pardon my language, royally fuck yourself up if you cast a spell wrong.

But if you’re going to do it, what I recommend and what I think is simplest, is to go down the route of illusionary spells, and let people think that your hair is properly long, though it isn’t actually that length.  You see, if you mess up an alteration spell on your hair, you can go bald or damage your scalp or damage its texture or a thousand horrid things.  About the worst thing that happens with illusion is that it doesn’t work. 

Now, it’s a fact of life that many people can see right through common illusion spells.  For instance, as a way of recognizing assassins and scams, the nobility and wealthy commoners tend to have enough magical training to recognize when someone has cast an illusionary spell on their person, even though they might not have much ability on magic otherwise.  And it’s true that people often possess amulets and whatnot with enchantments that cut through illusions and let them see through.  The fact of the matter is that illusion is actually very easy; almost anyone can do it if they have a spark of magic, honestly. 

What makes illusion obvious and easy to see through is that while most people who utilize those methods might know how to cast an illusion, they don’t have enough finesse not to cast it heavy-handedly, to make it subtle, or else their illusion is weak and betrays its nature in the wrong light.  Illusion, sera, is like foundation.  The difference between a good application of it and a bad one is that bad foundation is either spread on too thick or else it’s patchy, and good foundation application is spread on in such a way that you can’t tell it’s there at all.  Well, at least, that’s if you prefer a naturalistic look (I, sera, embrace being a little artificial), but the point is I’m making here is that if you want to cast a strong illusion, it’s not the strength of the spell that matters but how subtly and gently you apply it.

But at any rate, I’ve lost the point I was making, and the point I’m making is that you actually shouldn’t worry about whether or not someone can see through the illusion on your hair, because honestly, everyone who can do it does it, so who cares?  I don’t.

If you have sufficient prowess or know someone who does, alteration can make your hair grow quicker, but I don’t recommend it.  Alteration is potentially dangerous by nature.  But if you’re going to do it, keep in mind that the hair grows from the roots, not the tips.  A mistake people make when using alteration spells on the hair is that they forget this and it ruins their hair because it becomes confused on how it should grow and becomes a terrible mess and grows backwards, which is really not a good thing at all, actually!  So perhaps don’t do that.