Sounds good. It'd be an ambitious undertaking, but the concept would make for a great story. I like the idea of delegating quests to unnamed NPCs, adds a bit more life to the world.

 

THAT's what you're citing as an example of him being crazy? Not the batshit stuff about 'towers' that hardcore lore-fags will claim as the only thing that explains nonexistent plotholes within Oblivion?

For some reason, people still take Kirkbride seriously and that's why Chim is a thing. There are like two cryptic references to it in actual canon that give no hints as to what it actually is, and everything else is from shit that Kirkbride wrote after he stopped working for them.

The whole universe makes a great deal more sense when you pretend that Kirkbride never existed.

 

Ambitious and time-consuming indeed. I'm lucky in that Skyrim has been exhaustively played through by enough people that online walkthroughs are to be had, which makes piecing it all together all that much easier.

It does, doesn't it? I mean, you can add tragic, heartwarming or comedic undertones to any quest delegation if you do that. Tyrannus falling to Morag Bal and becoming his champion basically has him fall to the evil he's supposed to fight against is a rather good one, IMO. Then there's the whole underground war between the Silver Hands and the Companion's Circle which seems perfectly fine as being led by Aela as a successor to Kodlak after his death at the hands of Silver Hand assassins, slowly turning it into a brotherhood of werewolf warriors who revel in their own bloodlust in the glory of Hircene.

Having things occur outside the control of the main character is probably going to be a pet joy if I actually put time into this.

 

This is simply false. You can infer most of it from its mentionings in the 26 Lessons of Vivec, the Psiijic Endeavor texts, the... third, I believe? Mythic Dawn Commentary, and a couple of other ingame books. You have to fucking dig, but there's enough in game to "figure out" the basics of CHIM. Furthermore, Kirkbride's writings were done after he stopped working for Bethesda... And right before he returned to do contract writing in the later games. And all they did was elaborate a bit on concepts already explored.

Not particularly, in that suddenly Vivec and Tiber Septim just don't make sense. Beyond that, Kirkbride wasn't even the one who came up with the initial theology of TES that CHIM was built from.

(Yes, I think Oblivion and to a slightly lesser degree Skyrim are dogshit in terms of an interesting representation of TES lore.)

 

Actual uses of the word Chim in Vivec's canonical sermons:

Yes, these are clearly the most enlightening sentences ever. They definitely make the concept of CHIM clear. How about those Mythic Dawn Commentaries?

This is better. We now know that it's the secret syllable of royalty, a magic word that Vivec throws around, and it gives you the power to reshape the world. From this, we can clearly tell that it is the method of obtaining a state above godhood, an attempt at which by Shezzar created the universe. Definitely.

And, really? You're going to try to claim that the bullshit with the Towers is just 'elaborating on concepts already explored?'

 

The entire third Mythic Dawn Commentary, as the title of the volume (in the Daedric alphabet) and subject of the entire thing is "CHIM":

The first paragraph touches on the nature of CHIM as a "tower" by which one gains "the secret of how mortals become makers, and makers back to mortals." It also references a state of change while remaining as one was. The phrase "mankind's heirloom" first off implies that it is something that has been possessed before by man. The word "heirloom" also seems to imply the building of customs and traditions around whatever it is.

The second paragraph contains the quote "By this book, take this key and pierce the divine shell that encloses the mantle-takers! The skin of gold!" Now, while "pierce the divine shell" can quite easily be taken to mean 'defeat a god', it can also be taken to mean 'enter the divine realm', or to attain godhood yourself. The latter explanation fits with the first paragraph. The phrases "mantle-takers" and "skin of gold" seem to refer to Vivec: Probably the most prominent individual to have attained CHIM in game.

The third paragraph speaks of "gaining that small will that led them to walk the path of Godhead at the first." Lorkhan/Shezzar are referred to as "the Godhead" elsewhere.

Recap: We now know that CHIM is a "tower" by which man can seemingly gain godlike power around which customs and traditions have been built. These customs and traditions seem to be centered around Vivec.

This last bit seems to point to the Psiijic Endeavor. Also, I'll contend that "tower" in this context looks suspiciously like "path", but on the same note hold that this is (at the moment, anyway) pure conjecture.

"Falter now and become one with the wayside orphans that feed me. Follow and I shall adore you from inside" is an interesting passage. The first part seems to refer to the consequences of failing once you have started: That is, destruction. The second sentence is a little more tricky. Perhaps it refers to the self-adoration and power of will required to continue?

If you are willing to accept that "tower" seems to indicate "path", then you can take that to mean that once you have started down the path to CHIM, if you fail to reach it, you are destroyed, or zero sum.

Now, as I see it, this is actually the bulk of the useful information about CHIM from this volume, but the quote you pointed out is useful as well. Cyrodiil was once a jungle province until one of the emperors which Vivec refers to as a "Master" in his writings turned it to the form seen in Oblivion, thereby supporting the connection between CHIM and the traditions of the Psiijic Endeavor.

I'll be back later with more, pretty sure there's a couple of other bits in-game that link up. Kind of busy, and this is already a Taure level TLDR that's off topic to begin with. Feel free to correct me or point out things I missed.

 

Had a post all typed up about how it's all so vague that there are multiple valid interpretations of what it means - and about how I was right in that there are literally like 3 actual uses of the word CHIM in canon and that any interpretations you make are, within a canonical framework, about as valid as any other because, once again, it's more incoherent and vague than most religious texts. Now it is gone and I have an essay to write.

I'll get back to this at some point.

 

Right on, but at this point (read: Having gone back and looked everything up) I'm willing to concede that the canon evidence is interpretive bullshit. I'd say that there's enough there to know that CHIM is some kind of powerful hidden knowledge that you can acquire at risk through the teachings of Masters, of which Vivec probably is one, and that it's related to the Godhead, but that everything regarding what it actually fucking is is out of game, and therefore probably not canon.

 

I agree with Moridin and Hashasheen, the missions going on without the Dragonborn really makes the world feel more organic. The Dragonborn's character is an interesting idea, just because you can make him anything you want. He could be an ex-convict, a pious monk, a complete monster, or hell he could be a reincarnation or a previous chosen one. You could maybe even put in a reference to Planescape:Torment and The Nameless One in there somewhere.