Sithis



"Hmm... That's like telling you about the cold of space, or terror of midnight. Sithis is all those things. He is... the Void."

- Cicero

Sithis (also known as Padomay) is a deity, representative of emptiness and the void. He is worshiped by the Dark Brotherhood.

Background
Sithis is neither an Aedra nor a Daedra. In fact, according to ancient texts, Sithis predates the creation of both groups and played a part in their creation with his older "brother" Anu (god of order and light) when their blood was spilled in combat with each other it mixed and gave birth to the Aedra, but Sithis's lone blood ended up giving birth to the Daedra. This leads some to refer to Sithis as "The True God"; the one who existed before everything else and whose chaotic nature caused the reaction that gave life to the current gods.

Sithis is described as the embodiment of everything evil, but at the same time, he is described as being nothing at all: a void. He is appeased through death (although he himself is not a god of death) and other acts of suffering and strife.

Sometime during the Second Era Sithis visited a Dunmer woman. She then gave birth to five children of Sithis. The Dunmer woman then claimed to hear the voice of Sithis in her head, telling her to send their children to him. However this could not be achieved easily, so she sacrificed her five children, thus sending them to the Void to reunite with their father. Following this, many angry citizens killed the Dunmer lady for her actions and burnt down her house. It is said that this action created The Night Mother. At least a 30 years after this, a man heard voices in his head, much like the Night Mother heard Sithis. He followed the voices to her tomb and it was there the first listener of the Dark Brotherhood was created. Following this and the establishment of the Dark Brotherhood that worships Sithis, he became a much more publicly worshiped throughout all of Tamriel than he was before. According to The Brothers of Darkness, he is "married" to The Night Mother, and the Dark Brotherhood are their metaphorical children.

Popular opinion and worship
The worship of Sithis is rejected by most cultures, most likely because of his association with death. During the First and early Second Eras, little is known about the worship of Sithis. However, the Dark Brotherhood, which formed sometime during the Second Era by the Night Mother, became the main known cult dedicated to the worship of Sithis. The Crimson Scars, an all-vampire group of assassins, worships Sithis as well. Some of the Argonian culture revolves around Sithis as well. Though the main religious figure within the Argonians is the Hist, the Hist as well as the Argonians accept Sithis as the original creator. In fact, Argonians born under the sign of The Shadow are given to the Dark Brotherhood at birth, where they are trained as assassins and spies such that one day they may earn the rank of Shadowscale and serve Argonia and Sithis. Along with the Argonians, many Vampires worship Sithis too, and many are part of the Crimson Scars or the Dark Brotherhood. The majority of vampires that are not a part of an organization most likely either worship Molag Bal, one of the Daedric Princes, or Sithis, their Dread Father, instead of the Nine Divines.

Appearance
Sithis is often depicted as a skeleton, due to his association with death. Some say he is, however, as formless as the void he represents.

Organizations

 * Dark Brotherhood
 * Crimson Scars
 * Shadowscale/Argonian culture