Oghma Infinium (Skyrim)

The Oghma Infinium (Plural: Oghmas Infinium ) is a very powerful Daedric artifact of the Daedric Prince, Hermaeus Mora. It is an ancient tome of knowledge written by Xarxes, the wizard sage and scribe also known as "The Ageless One." The Oghma Infinium is given to Hermaeus Mora's champion upon completion of a specific task or quest. Once read, it disappears from the reader, returning to Hermaeus Mora's realm of Oblivion.

Appearance
The cover of the book is made out of the skin of the different Elf races: green for Orsimer, tan for Bosmer, dark/cloudy for Falmer, yellow for Altmer and darkest gray for Dunmer. Upon closer inspection, there are in fact six pieces (the tiny dark scrap on the upper left, above the yellow Altmer hide, presumably the skin of a Dwemer).

Acquisition
The Oghma Infinium is obtained through the quest, Discerning the Transmundane given by Septimus Signus, who is found north of the College of Winterhold, at Septimus Signus's Outpost. The quest will only be offered to a Dragonborn of at least level 15 or higher. However, the quest can't be started up until the Runed Lexicon is returned to Septimus; if the Dragonborn is under level 15, Septimus will then say that he needs time to decipher the meaning of the Lexicon. The Dragonborn will then have to wait until he/she is level 15 before receiving a letter from a courier, telling them that Septimus has deciphered the Lexicon and wants them to return to him.

A locked Dwemer box must be opened by collecting the blood from each of the races of Mer. This includes: Orsimer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Altmer, and Falmer. This blood mixture will approximate the blood of the Dwemer, and provides access to the Dwemer puzzle box.

Effects
When the book is read, only one of three paths may be chosen. After reading the book, it will be removed from the inventory.

Exploit
It is possible to level up all skills to 100 with the Oghma Infinium by using the Oghma Infinium more than once. An exploit must be performed for this to work:

If you take the book from the bookshelf inventory itself then you may become unable to read it NOTE: Confirmed working (PS3) on 2/26/13 in Breezehome and Severin Manor, both with and without Dragonborn DLC installed and update 1.8.183.0.7 applied. Confirmed working (XBOX 360) on 3/10/13 in Breezehome (Whiterun town home) with Dragonborn DLC installed and update 1.8.151.0.7 applied. NOT working for (XBOX 360) on 2/22/13 in Proudspire Manor without Dragonborn DLC. Confirmed working on (PS3) on 3/17/13 in Breezehome with Dragonborn DLC installed and latest update applied. NOT working for PC 3/21/13 in Hjerim, with all DLCs.
 * 1) Activate a bookshelf ('open face' shelves only - the 'green door' bookshelves in Castle Volkihar won't work).
 * 2) Read the book while still in the bookshelf inventory and choose the desired skillset.
 * 3) Close the book after having chosen the path, then place the book on the bookshelf WITHOUT exiting the bookshelf inventory between reading the chosen path and placing the book on the shelf.
 * 4) Now exit the bookshelf inventory; the book should appear on the bookshelf.
 * 5) Activate the book directly, not through the bookshelf inventory. Choose the "do not read" option then take the book from the shelf.
 * 1) This can be repeated as many times as desired to get all skills to 100.
 * It is a good idea to save often while doing this exploit in case a mistake is made and the book is lost.
 * There is a chance the book will be duplicated while taking from the bookshelf, the clone can also raise skills.
 * Each cycle of taking the Oghma Infinium from the bookshelf seems to increase the number of books that can be stored in the shelf by one more book per cycle. For example, if the exploit is started on a full book shelf, after five cycles of reading the book, the bookshelf will indicate that the player can store "5 more" books on the shelf.

Trivia

 * Oghma.jpg levels attained from using this book contribute towards level gain as if the skills had been attained by any of the other regular means.
 * Using the book before acquiring all Daedric Artifacts will not break the Oblivion Walker achievement. It will still count toward the 15 required.
 * This book does not count as a "skill book," therefore, it does not contribute to the Reader achievement/trophy.
 * In Gaelic mythology, Oghma (along with his sister Brighid) is one of the twin gods of wisdom and enlightenment. He specifically rules over literature and poetry.
 * May be a reference to the literary "Book of Sands" by Jorges Luis Borges, a fictional tome with seemingly infinite pages, without a beginning or ending. In the short story the book had characters that were completely incomprehensible and page numbers that constantly changed.

Bugs

 * As of March 21st 2013 Patch 1.9): Glitch does NOT work with the Hjerim bookshelf, on an account with all DLCs. It is no longer possible to read a book without removing it from the bookshelf.
 * As of March 21st 2013: This glitch still works with bookshelves on accounts with the Dawnguard plug-in.
 * Glitch works with the bookshelves in the Dragonborn DLC house Severin Manor.
 * As of 22/03/13: Glitch is confirmed to work in Breezehome, Whiterun, without any DLC. (Xbox360)
 * (Patch 1.8) The Glitch hasn't been fixed
 * (Dragonborn DLC) This glitch still works with bookshelves.
 * (Patch 1.7) The glitch still works with bookshelves
 * (Patch 1.6) The glitch still works with bookshelves.
 * (Patch 1.5) The glitch still works with bookshelves.
 * The Oghma Infinium can be exploited to gain levels as desired. With patch 1.4, this exploit only works with bookshelves.
 * (Patch 1.4) The glitch still works for the console versions of Skyrim.
 * (Patch 1.3) The glitch that allowed a player to use the book indefinitely now only works on bookshelves.
 * It may be possible to duplicate the book: place it in the book shelf, then read it from the world view, close the book without taking it, then quickly activate it immediately after closing. The book should be able to be taken without reading it. When the shelf is activated it will still show the Oghma Infinium in its inventory, and when the shelf is closed, it will reappear. This does not always work, but if it didn't all that is needed to do is replace the book and try again. Since the book is worth 2500, this is a pretty good exploit for increasing one's wealth very quickly.
 * If at least one skill tree in a desired path is not able to get five skill points, the book may not have any effect in its intended use. Attempting again with a different choice in path seems to work without this issue, but it is still unclear if the first path choice can still be used.
 * If the Oghma Infinium is added to the player's inventory via console commands before Discerning the Transmundane is completed, and is read, it will have no effect. It will not provide the option to choose a skill path to level up, and it will not be destroyed once it has been read. This bug also applies to books acquired through save editing.
 * Glitch may make Farkas constantly talk to you upon entering Jorrvaskr (with completion of Companions quests, Noticed on Xbox360 with Hearthfire installed on March 14, 2013)
 * Items in owned chests may appear red as if you were to steal them and it varies between items when you deposit new items.