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Elder Scrolls

Marukh, sometimes spelt Maruhk,[1] and also referred to as the Monkey Prophet or Prophet-Most-Simian,[2][3] was an Imga[UL 1] prophet of the early First Era who was credited with founding the Alessian Order, a once popular monotheistic religion.[4] He is commemorated every 9th of Second Seed on Marukh's Day, in which people remember his solemnity.[5] Perhaps his most influential credo is seen in a famous quote of his "All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent," a concept still based heavily in the legal system of modern Tamriel.[6] Despite being an Imga, Marukh did not look up to elves the way his fellow Imga did; in fact Marukh and his Alessian Order despised elves to an extremity.[7] While Marukh did play an important part in organizing the modern Cyrodiilic Pantheon, he is often criticized for the severity of some of his principles.[8] Marukh's teachings were sometimes referred to as the "Monkey Truth."[UL 2] After Marukh's death a fanatical sect of the Alessian Order, known as the Marukhati Selective, revived Marukh's teachings sometime in the Middle-First Era in response to perceived heresies of Aldmeri origin.[UL 3]

Background[]

"All are guilty until they have proven themselves innocent."
―Marukh[src]

Marukh was an Imga native to the then-jungled western Colovian coast,[4][9] an area that is now known as the Gold Coast.[10] After looking at the stars that made the Tower constellation in a state of near-death, Marukh was supposedly visited by the ghost of the Empress Alessia who spoke to him and questioned the validity of Elven rule in Tamriel. Marukh recorded Alessia's words and out of them, formulated the Seventy-Seven Inflexible Doctrines on a scarp with his own blood. These doctrines would later be evolved into the Alessian Doctrines,[1] a code of laws many saw to be cruel.[11] After his conversation with Alessia, it became apparent to Marukh that death was an illusion, and that through "Proper-Life and Ehlnofic Annulment," one can conquer death itself.[1]

Marukh's Seventy-Seven doctrines eventually gathered a following, thus the Alessian Order was born, which may have originally been known as the Brothers of Marukh.[12] In order to gain more supporters the Alessian Order incorporated many polytheistic elements into their monotheistic religion, adding aspects of various cultures' gods into the Alessian canon as saints and spirits. The Alessian Order quickly spread across Tamriel,[4] and would eventually orchestrate a successful coup in 1E 361 in which they seized control of the Alessian Empire and established a theocracy as the ruling government in which they saw no difference between spiritual and political matters.[13][7][14] Whether or not Marukh lived to see his religion flourish is not known; it is implied in The Illusion of Death that he may have died while writing his doctrines.

References[]

Notice: The following are unlicensed references. They are not copyrighted by a ZeniMax Media company, but can still be considered part of The Elder Scrolls lore and are included for completeness.
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