題名 † 
原題 †
- Reality & Other Falsehoods
訳題 †
本文 †
原文 †
<font face=1><DIV align="center">De Rerum Dirennis<br>
By Vorian Direnni<br>
<br>
<DIV align="left">I am six-hundred-and-eleven years old. I have never had children of my own, but I have many nieces and nephews and cousins who have been raised with the tales and traditions of our ancient, illustrious, and occasionally notorious clan, the Direnni. Few families in Tamriel can boast so many famous figures, wielding so much power over the fate of so many. Our warriors and kings are stuff of legend, and it is not to dismiss their honor and their achievements to say you have heard quite enough about them.<br>
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I myself have never picked up a sword or written an important law, but I am part of a lesser known but still important Direnni tradition: the way of the wizard. My own autobiography would be of little interest to posterity - though my nephew, nieces, and cousins indulge me to tell wild tales of life in the chaotic Second Era of Tamriel - but I have a few ancestors whose stories should be told. They may have changed history as we know it as dramatically as my better known relatives, but their names are in danger of being forgotten.<br>
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Most recently, Lysandus, the King of Daggerfall, was able to conquer his ancient enemies of Sentinel in part thanks to his court sorceress, Medora Direnni. Her grandfather Jovron Direnni was Imperial Battlemage to the court of the Dunmer Empress of Tamriel, Katariah, assisting her in creating peace in a time of turmoil. His great great grandfather Pelladil Direnni had a similar role with the first Potentate, and encouraged the Guild Act without which we would not have all the professional organizations we have today. His ancestor, many times back, was the witch Raven Direnni, who with her better known cousins Aiden and Ryain, brought an end to the tyranny of the latter Alessian Empire. Before the Psijics of Artaeum, it is said, she created the art of enchantment, learning how to bind a soul into a gem and use that to ensorcel all manners of weaponry.<br>
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But it is the story of an ancestor even more ancient, more distant than Raven I wish to tell.<br>
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Asliel Direnni harkens back to the humble beginnings of our clan, in the tiny farming village of Tyrigel on the banks of the river Caomus which was then called the Diren, hence the family name. Like all on Summurset Isle in those days, he was a simple planter of the fields. But while others only grew enough to sustain their immediate kin, even distant cousins of the Dirennis worked together. They would decide as a group which fields were best for wheat, orchard, vine, livestock, or apiary, and thereby always have the best yields of any farm which worked alone, doing the best as it could with what it had.<br>
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Asliel had a particularly poor farm for most kind of agriculture, but small herbs found its stony, loamless, acidic soil very comfortable. Out of necessity more than anything else he became an expert on all manners of herbs. For the most part, of course, they were used in flavoring cooking, but as you know, hardly any plant grows on the surface of our world without a magickal potential.<br>
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Even so long ago, witches already were in existence. It would be ridiculous for me to suggest that Asliel Direnni invented alchemy. What he did, what we can all be grateful for, is that he formulated it into an art and science.<br>
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There were no witches' covens in Tyrigel, and, of course, there would be no Mages Guild yet for thousands of years, so people would come to him for cures. He learned for himself the exact formula for combining black lichen and roobrush to create a cure for all manners of poison, and the amount of willow anther to crush and mix with chokeweed to cure diseases.<br>
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There were few much greater threats in Tyrigel in those peaceful days than disease or accidental poisonings. Yes, there were some dark forces in the wilderness, trolls, chimera, the occasional malevolent fairy folk and Will-O-The-Wisp, but even the youngest, most foolish Altmer knew how to avoid them. There were, however, a few unusual threats which Asliel had a hand in defeating.<br>
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One of the tales told of him that I believe to be true is how he was brought a young niece who had been suffering from an unknown disease. Despite his ministrations, she grew weaker and weaker every morning. Finally, he gave her a bitter tasting drink, and the next morning, ashes were found all around her bed. A vampire had been feeding on the poor girl, but Asliel's potion had turned her very blood into poison, without harming her in the least.<br>
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If only this formula had not been lost in the mists of history!<br>
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This would have been enough to make him a minor but significant figure in the annals of early Summurset, but at that point in history, a barbarian tribe called the Locvar had found their way down the Diren River, and recognized Tyrigel as a rich target for raids. The Direnni, not being warriors yet but simple farmers, were helpless and could only flee and watch the Locvar take the best of their crops, raid after raid.<br>
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Asliel, however, had been experimenting with the vampire dust, and brought his cousins to him with a plan. The next time the Locvar were sighted on the Diren, the word went out and all the most able-bodied came to Asliel's laboratory. When the barbarians arrived in Tyrigel, they found the farms deserted, and assumed that all had fled as usual. As they set about stealing the bounty, they suddenly found themselves under attack by invisible forces. Believing the Direnni farms to be haunted, they ran away very quickly.<br>
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They attempted a few more raids, for their greed would always eventually overpower their fear, and each time, they were set upon by attackers who they could not see. As barbaric as they were, they were not stupid, and they changed their mind about the source of their defeat. It could not be that the farms were haunted, because the crops were still being tended and harvested, and the animals seemed to show no fear. The Locvar decided to send a scout to the farm to see if he could spy their secrets.<br>
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The scout sent word back to the Locvar that the Direnni farms were populated with flesh and blood, entirely visible Altmer. He continued to watch as his barbarian cohorts moved down the river, and he saw the elderly and children flee for the hills, while the able-bodied farmers and their wives went to Asliel's laboratory. He saw them go in; he saw no one come out.<br>
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As usual, the Locvar were repelled by invisible forces, but their scout soon told them what he saw happening in the laboratory.<br>
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The next night, two of the Locvar approached Asliel's farm very stealthily, and managed to kidnap him without alerting the rest of the Direnni. The Locvar chieftain, knowing that the farmers could no longer count on the alchemist to make them invisible, considered an immediate attack on the farms. But he was a vengeful sort, and felt he had been humiliated by these simple farmers. A crafty plan emerged in his mind. What if the Direnni, who always saw his barbarian tribe coming, for once did not? Imagine the slaughter if no one even had a chance to flee.<br>
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The scout had told the chieftain that Asliel had used the dust of a vampire to make the farmers invisible, but he was not sure what the other ingredient had been. He described an incandescent powder that Asliel had mixed into the dust. Asliel, of course, refused to help the Locvar, but they were experts in torture as well as pillage, and he knew he would have to talk or die.<br>
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Finally after hours of torture, he agreed to tell them what the incandescent powder was. He did not know the name, but he called it "Glow Dust," the only remains of a slain Will O The Wisp. He told them they would need a lot of it if they wanted to turn the whole tribe invisible for the raid.<br>
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The Locvar grumbled that not only did they have to find and kill a vampire to attain his dust, but find and kill several Will O The Wisps to get theirs. In a few days time, they came back with the ingredients the alchemist asked for. The chieftain, not being a complete idiot, made Asliel taste the potion first. He did as he was told and turned invisible, demonstrating that it did truly work. The chieftain put him to work creating more. No one apparently noticed that while he did, he was nibbling on black lichen and roobrush.<br>
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The Locvar took the potion as he doled it out, and soon, but not too soon that they didn't suffer, they were all dead.<br>
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The scout who had seen Asliel mixing the invisibility potion had apparently mistook the glow of the candlelight in the laboratory for an incandescence which the second ingredient of the invisibility potion did not possess. The second ingredient was actually dull, simple redwort, one of the most common herbs in Tamriel. When they had insisted during torture that Asliel tell them what the incandescent powder was, Asliel remembered that he had once experimentally mixed glow dust and vampire dust together once and created a powerful poison. It was simple enough to steal a little redwort from the barbarian's camp, mix that with the vampire and glow dust mixture, and create a potion that was in fact an invisibility poison. After curing himself, he gave the poison to the barbarians.<br>
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The Locvar, being dead, never again raided the Direnni farms, and having no other enemies, they were able to grow more and more prosperous and powerful. Generations later, they left Summurset and began their historic adventures on the Tamriel mainland. Asliel Direnni, because of his excellence as an alchemist, was invited to Artaeum and became a Psijic. It is not known how many more of the common formulas we know today were invented by him there, but I have no doubt, the science and art of alchemy as we know it today would not exist without him.<br>
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But that is all in the distant past. Asliel's innovations, like my modest ones, like the achievements of the Dirennis throughout history, are but a stepping stone to the wonders which will come in the future. I wish I could be there to witness them, but if I can only share some of the past with the children of Direnni and the children of Tamriel, then I will consider my life well spent.
訳文 †
<font face=1><DIV align="center">De Rerum Dirennis<br>
By Vorian Direnni<br>
<br>
<DIV align="left">私は６１１歳になった。子を持つことは決してなかったが、我等の先祖、有名で、時には悪名高い一族Direnniの逸話と伝統に浴して育った多くの姪と甥、従兄弟がいる。Tamrielのほとんどの血族は、多くの有名人を排出したその数や、多くの者の道行きに対してそれなりの力を行使したことを自慢することは出来まい。我等の戦士と王は伝説を形作るものであり、彼らの名誉と業績は風化することなく、貴方も十分すぎるほどよく耳にしたことだろう。<br>
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私は剣を手に取ったり重要な法律を綴った事は無い。しかし、有名ではなかったとしても、重要なDirenniの伝統、魔術師の道の一部ではある。私自身の自叙伝は後の世代にはほとんど興味を持たぬものであろう――私の甥や姪、従兄弟は私を持ち上げて混沌としたTamrielの第二紀における人生の突飛な話をさせるが――私には語るべき何人かの先祖がいる。彼らは我々が知っているように、私のより有名な親族と同じくらい劇的に歴史を変えたかもしれないが、彼らの名前は忘却の危機に瀕している。<br>
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一番最近のことでは、Daggerfallの王Lysandusは、彼の宮廷魔術師のMedora Dirennniの助力で宿敵Sentinelを破ることに成功している。彼女の祖父Jovron DirenniはTamrielのDunmerの皇后Katariahの宮廷のImperial Battlemageであり、混乱の時代において平和を築くのに尽力した。彼のとてつもなく偉大な祖父Pelladil Dirennniは、最初のPotentateと似たような役回りを演じ、Guild Act（ギルド法）を推し進めた。それなくしては今日存在する全ての専門家の組織は無かったであろう。彼の先祖は、古くまで遡れば魔女Raven Dirennniまで辿り着く。彼女のより有名な従兄弟であるAidenとRyainは、後のAlessian Empireの専横に終止符を打った。ArtaeumのPsijics以前に、エンチャントの技術、宝石の中に魂を封じ込め、それを用いて武器に封じ込める方法を修得したと言われている。<br>
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しかし、私が伝えたいのは、Ravenよりも遥か昔の、先祖のそのまた先祖の話である。<br>
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我等の一族がつつましく創始された頃のAsliel Direnniの頃まで遡る。Caomus川の岸辺の小さな農村はDirenと呼ばれ、それが由来となって家名となったのだ。当時の全ての Summerset Islesの住民のように、彼は野を耕す者に過ぎなかった。しかし、他の者が近親を支えるのが精一杯というのに対し、Direnniの遠い従兄弟でさえ一緒になって働いたのである。彼らは一丸となってどの野が小麦、果樹園、葡萄、家畜、あるいは養蜂に適しているかを見極め、それによって一人で働いていた農場よりも己が持ちうるもので最善を尽くし、優れた作物を収穫したのである。<br>
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Aslielは大部分の農作物にとっては特に貧しいとされる農場を持っていたが、小さなハーブはその石の多い、痩せた、酸性の土壌が非常に適していることに気付いたのだ。必然的に、彼はハーブの取り扱いに長けた専門家になっていった。ほとんどの場合、料理の風味付けに使われるのは当然であるが、ご存知のように、魔術的な可能性を秘めていない植物など大地にはほとんど茂らないものである。<br>
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当時よりも遥か古くから魔女は既に存在している。よって、Asliel Direnniが錬金術を発明したと提唱するのは馬鹿げた話である。彼が為したこと、我々全員が感謝すべきこととは、それを芸術と科学の域にまで練り上げたことである。<br>
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Tyrigelには魔女団はなく、当然、Mages Guildが建つのは数千年後の話なので、人々は治療を求めて彼の元に向かった。彼はあらゆる毒を治癒するBlack LichenとRoobrushを調合し、Willow Antherを潰してChokeweedと混ぜ合わせて病を平癒するための正確な製法を知っていた。<br>
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平和な頃のTyrigelには病や過失による毒殺以上の脅威はほとんど存在しなかった。そう、荒野にはTroll、Chimera、悪意のある妖精や Will-O-The-Wispのようなある種の暗黒の軍勢が存在したが、最も若い、最も愚かなAltmerさえ、それらを避ける方法を知っていたものである。しかし、Aslielが手を焼いた常に無い脅威もいくつか存在した。<br>
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真実と思われるその逸話の一つは、未知の病を患った若い姪を連れてこられた際のことである。世話を焼いても、朝が来るたびに彼女は弱っていった。最後に苦い飲み物を与えると、翌朝には彼女のベッドの周りに灰が落ちているのが見つかったのである。吸血鬼は哀れな少女を餌食にしていたが、Aslielの薬は彼女を全く害することなく、血のみを毒に変えたのだ。<br>
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この製法が歴史の霧の中で失われてさえいなければ！<br>
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この話は初期Summersetの年代記のマイナーな部分ではあるが、注目に値するものである。当時、Locvarと呼ばれた野蛮人の部族がDiren Riverを下り、Tyrigelを豊かな土地だとして襲うことにしたのである。まだ戦士でもなく、単なる農民に過ぎなかったDirenniは無力で逃げることしかできず、Locvarが一番出来の良い作物を奪いつくすのを見ていることしか出来なかった。<br>
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しかし、AslielはVampire Dustで試してみることにして、計画を立て従兄弟を連れてきた。Locvarが次にDirenの地に発見された時、報告が矢継ぎ早にAslielの工房に届いた。野蛮人がTyrigelに辿り着いた時、農場に人は無く、全員がいつものように逃げ出したのだろうと結論付けた。彼らが作物を盗み始めると、突然、不可視の集団から攻撃を受けていることに気付いた。Direnniの農場に幽霊が出たと思い、彼らは一目散に逃げ出していった。<br>
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彼らは数度強奪を試みた、というのも、貪欲が遂には恐怖を打ち負かしたからであり、そして、来るたびに見えない攻撃者に襲われたのである。彼らは野蛮ではあったが、愚かではなかった。そこで、敗北の原因についての考えを改めることにした。農場には幽霊はいない。何故ならば、作物はまだ世話の途中あるいは収穫されており、動物は恐怖の兆候を示さなかったからである。Locvarは、秘密を暴くため、斥候を農場の偵察に送ることにした。<br>
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斥候はLocvarに、農場は血肉を持った、きちんと見えるAltmerが営んでいたと報告した。他の蛮族の仲間が川下に移動したので、彼は観察を続け、そして、老人と子供が丘に逃げる一方で、壮健な農民と妻たちがAslielの工房に向かうのを見た。彼らは、入っていくところを見た。誰かが出て行くところは見なかった。<br>
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いつものように、Locvarは見えない軍隊によって撃退されたが、彼らの斥候は直ちに、工房で見たものを彼らに話した。<br>
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その翌晩、Locvarのうちの二人が用心深くAslielの農場に忍び込み、何とか他のDirenniに気付かれずに彼を誘拐することに成功した。 Locvarの族長は、農民が錬金術師が彼らを不可視にしてくれることを当てにはできないと知り、農場にすぐ襲撃することを考えた。しかし、彼は復讐心に燃えるタイプであり、ただの農民に恥をかかされたことに思いをめぐらせた。狡猾な計画が心の中に出来上がった。Direnniはいつも、蛮族の到来を見ているわけだが、今度だけはそうではないならば？ 誰にも逃げる機会が与えられないならば、虐殺が想像できよう。<br>
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斥候はAslielが農民を不可視にするため、吸血鬼の塵を使ったことを族長に報告した。しかし、他の素材が何だったのかはよく分かっていなかった。彼は、Aslielが塵に混ぜた輝く粉のことを書き留めた。Aslielは、勿論、Locvarを助けることを拒絶したものの、彼らは略奪と同様に拷問の専門家でもあり、口を割らなければ死ぬことになると悟った。<br>
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何時間にも及ぶ拷問の後、遂に、彼は輝く粉が何であったか、話すことに同意した。彼は名前を知らなかったが、「Glow Dust」と呼んでいた。Will-O-The-Wispが殺された時に唯一後に残すものである。彼は、一族全てを急襲のために不可視にしたいならば、それが多く必要になるだろうことを話した。<br>
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吸血鬼を見つけて殺して塵を取るだけではなく、何匹かのWill-O-The-Wispまで殺して塵を取ってこなければならず、Locvarは不満を呟いた。数日後には、錬金術師が求めた成分と共に戻ってきた。族長は底抜けの馬鹿ではなかったので、まずAslielにポーションを味見させた。彼が言及したように、見えなくなったので、それが本当に働いたことを証明した。族長は、もっと沢山製造させた。明らかに、誰も、彼が製造している際に、Black LichenとRoobrushを少しずつ齧っていたことには気付いていなかった。<br>
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彼がそれを与えると、Locvarはポーションを飲み干したが、速やかに、しかし、苦しみ悶える間も無く、というほど速やかなものではなかったが、皆死んだ。<br>
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Aslielが不可視のポーションを混ぜているのを見た斥候は、明らかに工房の蝋燭の灯の輝きを、不可視のポーションに用いる輝きを持たない二番目の素材と見間違えたのだ。第二の素材は、実際は鈍色をした、Tamrielで最も一般的なハーブの一つである、ただのRedwortだったのだ。拷問の際、 Aslielに輝く粉が何であったか口を割れと言った際、Aslielは一度、実験的にGlow DustとVampire Dustを混ぜて強力な毒を作ったことを思い出した。少しのRedwortを蛮族の野営地から盗んで、それをVampire DustとGlow Dustと混ぜ合わせたものに投入し、不可視のポーションを作ることは簡単なことであった。彼自身を治療した後、蛮族に毒を与えたのだ。<br>
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Locvarは死に絶え、二度とDirenniの農場を襲うことも無くなった。そして、敵もいない彼らは、ますます繁栄して力を伸張させることができたのだ。後の世代になり、彼らはSummursetを去り、Tamriel本土にて歴史に残る冒険を始めることになった。Asliel Direnniは、錬金術師としての才能を認められ、Artaeumに招かれてPsijicとなった。今日、世間に広まっている製法のうちどれくらいが彼によって発明されたのかは我々も分かっていないが、疑う余地無く、今日の錬金術の科学と技法は、彼無しでは存在し得ないのだ。<br>
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しかし、全ては遠い過去のことである。Aslielの為した革新、私のようなまあまあな者、歴史に名を残すDirenniたちの業績は、将来のための踏み石に過ぎないのだ。その者たちをこの目で見るため、そこにいたいものだが、Direnniの子供たちとTamrielの子供たちといくらかの過去を分け合えるだけならば、よく費やされる私の人生について考えなくてはならないだろう。
