Everyone knows what happened to Gil-Var-Delle. And at the same time, no one does.
Legend has it that Molag Bal, the dreaded Daedric Prince, set foot into that Wood Elf township—consumed it, according to the myth—whatever that actually means. Ancient tales employ metaphors like armies employ soldiers.

If Bal himself visited this plane with evil intent, why do any of us remain? The stories about him would lead one to believe he would not have stopped with the razing of a single Wood Elf town—he wouldn’t have stopped until all of Tamriel was in flames. Just one common question of many regarding the Daedric Prince’s so-called visit.

Some retort that perhaps someone stopped him—possibly an opposing Daedric Prince, a Divine, or an agent of the Aedra. But again, where is the evidence for this? No mage or historian—that I’ve spoken to, at least—has been able to reference a specific text for this information.

Many a historical fiction piece has attempted to dramatize what occurred there, but none of those stories can be confirmed, except to say that a catastrophic event struck the town. Perhaps the residents were killed, perhaps they fled. None were ever heard from again, but for all anyone knows, a large fire could have been the culprit. I can’t imagine anything more catastrophic than that to a Wood Elf dwelling.

Today, Gil-Var-Delle is a maligned place, and there are not many who dare to venture near. But not because of any tangible foes—save cowardice and superstition.

Necromancy’s known to many as a binding of souls to a form prepared—or in some cases, manufactured—by the conjurer.

While technically accurate, the implication is that souls bound in this manner are imprisoned against their will with no hope of release.

Further implied is the idea that souls occupying the construct are always sentient—the souls of men or mer—a fallacy perpetuated by the practice of animating corpses for martial or manual labors.

It is this misunderstanding and a potential for abuse that led to the vilification of necromancy and the expulsion of Mannimarco and his peers from the Isle of Artaeum.

Enter Vastarie, a student of the Psijic Order and contemporary of such notables as Vanus Galerion and Mannimarco.

While Mannimarco sought power through the direct application of necromantic energies, Vastarie’s purposes were far more esoteric. She sought a way to delay the release of a sentient soul upon death that it might be consulted, its knowledge recorded for the ages.

It is to this end that she worked with Mannimarco after leaving Artaeum, searching for a way to trap souls as one might capture lesser Daedra.

Believing the secret lay with Molag Bal, the two conspired to enter Coldharbour and wrest it from the father of vampires himself. Together, they hatched a plan.

With a brash courage known only to the young, Mannimarco and his followers held open a portal to the Prince’s realm. Ever thirsting for adventure, it was Vastarie who entered its depths and returned with a cache of black crystals the likes of which they had never seen.

To Mannimarco, they were perfect. Small, capable of containing even the most willful of souls, and apparently indestructible. To Vastarie, they were deeply flawed, for enchantment was the only safe way to free a soul from their depths.

Even so, she set about the task of reproducing the stones, breaking them down, testing them with a variety of substances until, by happy accident, she created something new: the first Sigil Geode.

Clear as crystal, this new device was capable of holding sentient souls within its depths, but unlike the gems wrested from the Lord of Domination, it was exceptionally fragile and would only hold its charge for a matter of days.

Once imprisoned, souls could be transferred between geodes, but applying them as one would a soul gem effected a soul’s release, instead.

Vastarie had found what she was looking for, but Mannimarco was furious. What use was a soul gem that could not be used to fuel an enchantment? He demanded Vastarie find a way to modify her creation to his purposes.

Realizing her friend would never stop searching, and that further discoveries made with him would only advance his goals, she gathered up her research and left with Telacar, her husband and a powerful necromancer in his own right.

Together, they fled Mannimarco’s grasp, eventually hiding in an Ayleid ruin deep within Valenwood. There, they lived for many years, as quietly as they could while perfecting their art. For decades, they had each other and seemed happy—until the day Vastarie left.

In the years that followed, she wandered the surface of Nirn, exploring places of power. She visited Wayrest, Alik’r, the Crystal Tower, and the libraries of Dune, searching for some answer to a question that gnawed at her very soul.

In time, she found what she was looking for and returned to Valenwood. There, she built a tower and took on apprentices, teaching them her particular brand of necromancy and furthering her research.

Using her Sigil Geodes, we bound the souls of lesser Daedra, postponing their return to Oblivion as one might with a soul gem. We then worked on a way to manifest the trapped spirit into the world.

Early attempts had unexpected, even dangerous results. Geodes shattered, sending shards of broken crystal into the flesh of our fellow students—misapplied energies bound the souls of the living into the tiny stones—but as we studied we corrected our mistakes and refined the process.

Eventually, Vastarie had it down to a science. By applying a Sigil Geode at the moment of death, a soul could be suspended within its depths. Through applied conjuration, it could be drawn into an ectoplasmic shell where it could be consulted at leisure.

She wrote the foundling Mages Guild of her discovery. Vanus Galerion himself came to witness her demonstration, which involved consulting an old groundskeeper who had volunteered to demonstrate the process.

He was horrified when she bound the soul into her apparatus, and when the process was completed, with the old groundskeeper was released and allowed to return to Aetherius, he was white as a sheet.

Slowly, he stood to address the assembled students. He spoke with vindictiveness and an anger none would expect from his unassuming mien. When he was finished, he turned and left.

Some followed him. None could blame them, he wasn’t wrong—the Sigil Geode was a dangerous creation. Misused, it could spark wars and bring about destruction unheard of in our history.

Vastarie was undeterred, convinced that Galerion’s willful ignorance would lead to his undoing, but something else would gain her attention in the years to come. A vast ruin was discovered beneath her tower’s foundation, concealed from sight and scrying by the power of a Daedric Prince.

In time, she walked into those ruins and never came out. Some of us still await her return.

As fits their heterodoxy of form, the Khajiit worship many gods, and few confine themselves to the Imperial Eight.

The Eight:

Alkosh (Dragon King of Cats):

Pre-ri’Datta Dynasty Anequinine deity. A variation on the Altmeri Auri-El, and thus an Akatosh-as-culture-hero for the earliest Khajiit. His worship was co-opted during the establishment of the Riddle’Thar, and he still enjoys immense popularity in Elsweyr’s wasteland regions. He is depicted as a fearsome dragon, a creature the Khajiit say "is just a real big cat." He repelled an early Aldmeri pogrom of Pelinal Whitestrake during mythic times.

Riddle’Thar (Two-Moons Dance):

The cosmic order deity of the Khajiit, the Riddle’Thar was revealed to Elsweyr by the prophet Rid-Thar-ri’Datta, the Mane. The Riddle’Thar is more a set of guidelines by which to live than a single entity, but some of his avatars like to appear as humble messengers of the gods. Also known as the Sugar God.

Jone and Jode (Little Moon God and Big Moon God):

Together, the moons represent duality, fate, and luck. In Khajiiti religion, Jone and Jode are aspects of the Lunar Lattice, or ja-Kha’jay.

Mara (Mother Cat):

Nearly universal goddess. Originally a fertility goddess, the Khajiit associate her with Nir of the "Anuad," the female principle of the cosmos. She is the lover of Alkosh.

S’rendarr (The Runt; God of Mercy):

S’rendarr’s sphere includes compassion, charity, and justice. In early Aldmeri legends, S’rendarr is the apologist of Men.

Khenarthi (God of Winds):

Khenarthi is the strongest of the Sky spirits. In some legends, he is the first to agree to Lorkhaj’s plan to invent the mortal plane, and provides the space for its creation in the void. He is also associated with rain, a phenomenon said not to occur before the removal of Lorkhaj’s divine spark.

Baan Dar (The Bandit God):

In most regions, Baan Dar is a marginal deity, a trickster spirit of thieves and beggars. In Elsweyr he is more important, and is regarded as the Pariah. In this aspect, Baan Dar becomes the cleverness or desperate genius of the long-suffering Khajiit, whose last-minute plans always upset the machinations of their (Elven or Human) enemies. He has also lent his name to the Baandari Pedlars, the traveling Khajiiti merchant tribe.

Additional Deities with Significant Khajiiti Cults:

Magrus (Cat’s Eye, Sun God):

Khajiiti version of Magnus, the god of the sun and sorcery, popular with Khajiiti magicians (though less so than Azurah).

Rajhin (The Footpad):

Thief and trickster god, the Purring Liar, much beloved of Khajiiti storytellers. Rajhin grew up in the Black Kiergo section of Senchal. The most famous burglar in Elsweyr’s history, Rajhin is said to have stolen a tattoo from the neck of Empress Kintyra as she slept.

Azurah (Goddess of Dusk and Dawn):

Patron of Khajiiti magicians, respected rather than feared for her sometime trickery. In myth she is tied into the origins of Khajiiti out of Aldmeri stock.

Sheggorath (Skooma Cat, the Mad God):

The King of Insanity appeals to the darker side of the Cat-Men, who chafe at the strictures of sanity and responsibility.

Hircine (Hungry Cat):

God of hunting and skinchanging, revered for his fierceness and cunning.

Sangiin (Blood Cat):

God of Death and Secret Murder, Sangiin’s worship is hidden from Cat’s Eye. "For who can control the urges of blood?"

Namiira (The Great Darkness):

An enemy of the living, to be placated rather than worshiped.

Lorkhaj (Moon Beast):

Pre-ri’Datta Dynasty Anequinine deity, easily identified with the Missing God, Lorkhan. This Creator-Trickster-Tester deity is in every Tamrielic mythic tradition. He convinced or contrived the Original Spirits to bring about the creation of the mortal plane, upsetting the status quo—much like his father Padomay had introduced instability into the universe in the Beginning Place. After the world is materialized, Lorkhaj is separated from his divine center, sometimes involuntarily, and wanders the creation of the et’Ada. He and his metaphysical placement in the "scheme of things" is interpreted a variety of ways. In the legends, he is almost always an enemy of the Aldmer and, therefore, a hero of early Mankind.

While the Wood Elves of the towns are largely content with their drink and the luxuries provided by Imperial trade, remote tribes in the depths of the jungle are far more savage. War is constantly waged under the eaves of Valenwood. When the tribes are not raiding the Khajiit in earnest, they are raiding one another for sport.

Unlike civilized peoples, tribal Bosmer do not fight for any meaningful or constructive purpose. They seem incapable of grasping the concept of fighting for control of land, resources, or defensible borders. Though they may swarm to push out those who harm Valenwood, they evince little interest in conquest for its own sake. Rather, the Wood Elves raid one another for booty, bragging, and boredom—in that order. Tribal raiders typically rustle timber mammoths and thunderbugs. Many steal items (or people) that can be ransomed back to the owners.

This erratic, irregular warfare is not pursued to the death. Deaths do occur, but they are incidental and usually regretted. Many raids conclude with no fighting whatsoever. It is considered the acme of skill to slip into another tribe’s village and steal an item for ransom without being noticed. The larger the item, the greater the prestige. Thanks to centuries of this practice, the tribal Bosmer have become legendary for their stealth. The title of their most famous poem, the Meh Ayleidion, means "The One Thousand Benefits of Hiding."

When death occurs in battle, an archaic provision of the Meat Mandate requires that a fallen enemy must be eaten completely before three days pass. This tradition is now only followed in the most remote and savage villages. The family members of the warrior who slaughtered the enemy may help him with his meal.

The tradition of the "Mourning War" is still followed nearly everywhere outside the cities. When a tribe member is slain, he or she is symbolically replaced via a hostage-taking raid. The tribe will seize a captive from a neighboring band. If the deceased was an especially powerful or prestigious member of the tribe, multiple captives may be taken to replace them.

After a period of physical torture, supposedly to test their worthiness, the captive is joyously welcomed into the clan. This sudden reversal from horrific abuse to loving embrace befuddles the weak wits of a Bosmer captive, who cleaves to his tormentors. Traditionally the victim was given the deceased tribe member’s position, possessions, and family, though this practice may be rarely honored nowadays.