#curiosity among patterns

[mystery-ticking]

You're in a relationship? Is it with Divayth Fyr?

No. Divayth and I are friends, and I appreciate his friendship, for it is both a rare thing for me to obtain and for him to give.

My partners are Ayem and Vehk, of course. Was that not clear?

[mystery-ticking]

Sil, how do you feel about birthdays? Can this be a good thing? How need to feel about someone congratulating you on this?

The day commemorating one’s birth, chosen on the cyclical repetition of seasons used to have to me a far greater significance in times long past than it does now. Mortal lives are short; the Men and Beastfolk rarely live beyond one century, Goblinken even less than that, and even the two or three hundreds of years that the Mer are given seem insignificant compared to the passage of time.

The annual commemoration of the life of an individual in my eyes has always served as a memorial to one’s mortality and to their daily victories over the struggles of the life. It brings sentiment both soothing and sobering, and in many it inspires and sustains the will of bettering oneself, although oft that is limited to small details many would (unjustly) dismiss as insignificant.

Congratulating someone for their survival is due to those who have truly been fighting for that life for the period of temporal measurement. I do not have to be congratulated.

[mystery-ticking]

Hello, Lord Seht. Do Apostles marry? If yes, any special Apostle rite? - Azazshem.

Marriage. What a question. For the peace of mind and soul of the Apostles and citizens of the Clockwork City, marriage does indeed exist in the Clockwork City. It brings no benefits, no obligations. It is a status. A word written in plaque next to one’s name. Nothing more. Nothing less. All that is required of the spouses is to request the change of their status in the Register.

And yet people marry, even here. Often they set up long celebrations and processes which mirror the marriage rites of Nirn Above. Instead of Mara they invoke Ayem’s name or more often mine. They rejoice in these unnecessary rituals of their own making which do not have purpose in my world.

I suppose that in their vast diversity, there are people who require tangible proofs of devotion. To gods offerings, to parents child’s drawings, to children presents, to lovers marriage forms.

[mystery-ticking]

Hello, Lord Seht. What a pleasant surprise to find you here. I have a question about the Clockwork City. Do you have the equivalent to Ordinators there? Or guards? Non-factotum, I mean. If so, is there any special recruitment procedure? - Azazshem.

Hello Azazshem.

There are many protectors of the Clockwork City who are not mechanical constructs. The ones closest to your mind is the Apostle Guard, a branch within the Clockwork Apostles who oversee that the order within the Brass Fortress is upkept.

By their nature they possess the virtue of vigilance, and they are capable of containing threats. They are personally selected by Proctor Luciana Pollo who has never erred in her judgement in this regard. I suggest you seek her out upon your arrival.

[mystery-ticking]

About questionable engineering solutions, part two. Why do the Halls of Regulation have rotating chains with sharp tips at the ends and pressure plates that turn on the fire?

You would think that the Clockwork City would not be a home to a mind defective and deranged which would decide to poison the water within the Halls of Regulation. Your judgement would err.

While there are those who would call these measures excessive, suffice to say that in the moment when I implemented them, I was beside myself with fury.

[mystery-ticking]

Maiden of Pivots! Question for you! Did Jackie make it to the Clockwork City?

Jackie made it! Made it! Jackie brought bits and morsels, juicy and fleshy. Alas, I do not think this land of gleam and sparks was for him. He’s flown away and left me a bird with broken wings. Figuratively, I mean.

— Maiden of Pivots

[mystery-ticking]

Hello! Question for the Maiden of Pivots. Do you eat the nutrient paste too? Or do you get special treats?

Aaaah! A featherless seeks to improve its knowledge of the noble crows.

Blackfeather and the Brassfeather don’t eat the paste like the large featherless people here do. It has no taste, no texture. To eat it is a torture. Torture! And the King of Clocks, whom you all call Lord Seht and so many other names, says, that it is not balanced for us in the right way. Were we to eat it, we would grow both fat and weak, our feathers would molt away.

When a fabricant or featherless falls out in the Radius, we feast. Feast, I say! But we do not starve when there is no carrion, as delicious as it is, for we eat nutrient marbles. They are like the past, though they taste of blood, and the are much tougher than the baste. It looks like marbles, so we can eat them easily. I have seen a few people to try them for their taste. They all retched and lost their lunch. So I ate my food and then their food, because they tried to steal my nutriment marbles. Ha! Stupid featherless empty-heads. They though to steal from my beak, and in the end I was the one who feasted. The gears spin truly, and it spins justice. Justice!

— Maiden of Pivots

[mystery-ticking]

I'm curious, does diabetes exist in Tamriel? And have the Apostles maybe found a way to replace a dfective organ with something artificial or maybe artificial enzimes in the bloodstream to mitigate the damaging effects of the disease? I have imagined vampirism as a potential cure, but the trade off is...well you. Bodies are marvelous machines, yet mine has trouble using its most basic fuel.

)Diabetes indeed does exist, but as far as my experience with Nirn Above goes, most people aren’t aware it exists, let alone that there are two types of it. There are people who suffer from “sticky urine” and constant exhaustion.

My attempts to raise awareness of it was met with partially fermented fruits and occasional vegetable or egg (and on one notable occurrence a whole kwama) delivered to me remotely at high velocity. My second try was to provide “Very Magical Medicine” done with “pure trustworthy homemade alchemy just like grandma taught me” which helps with “your particular problem.” Apparently anything that is given to the patient intravenously is Reachmen conspiracy/Ashlander savage practice/Hous Elf bootlicker threat/vampirism (depends on who precisely you are trying to help).

In the Clockwork City we haven’t been able to create a true cure. We have been able to isolate and synthesise the enzymes produced in pancreas, so if you have a body that is dependent on them but cannot produce them, you have these supplied. As I mentioned, they are given intravenously, but I have made a request for a per-oral formula. (I have submitted it 50 years ago or so, so far “it is in the queue.” For the Clockwork City this is not exactly a high priority) I know there is a small group of Surgeon-Engineers who are attempting to make artificial organs, similar to the enhancements and adjustments. So far they were capable of creating a functional heart, but any organ secreting enzymes or hormones is... complicated, as it cannot be made out of metal. We are very good with metal, but the fleshy bits are not something we are capable to handle as well as we would like it.

What has been proven possible, however, is transplantation of the pancreas from a willing donor. After all, if you have a matching part just laying about and somebody needs it, it would be such a waste to throw it away.

— 2I Eustaar