This was originally created by Douglas Goodall and posted to the official Bethesda forums sometime around March 2002 as the Khajiit trader Jobasha. It purports to be one of the 36 Lessons of Vivec. The post was archived by The Imperial Library.
There are numerous secret messages in Sermon Zero. If you take the first letter of each sentence before the key, you get the following message: "THE GHOST OF A GOD IS NO MAN"
If you take the last letter of each sentence before the key, and reverse the order, the following message is revealed: "VIVEC COMMITTED NO CRIME"
If you take the lowercase letters from the key and reverse their order, the following message is revealed: "TO THE DWEMER AND OBLIVION BELONG THIS TREASURE AND THEY ARE THERE DEAD."
The capital letters in the key without the lowercase are:
RPDXGBWGHPZBXLOZZXLCIBNGJZZDQOPHVVKVPCS
NYBCIMZGJRVRMGZGCCIHTZLVRFOPZPKBPORKI
ONXTPKFHTVOJRVJEZVKWQIHVCMNIFVMYVCBCVV
FDIIWWILZVVCMNIGYIKTNZTVXVDKZ
Put through a Vigenère cipher with the keyword "VIVEC" results in the following message: "WHITE GOLD NETCH MERCHANTS CHERIM MUZARIAH HOLD THE KEY ON TWELVE HUNDRED AND THE LIGHTNING STRUCK DRAGON TOWER I BIND THESE DAEDRA GUARDIANS UNDER THE SEED APPLE LATTICE"
This is the truth of Sermon Zero, which is neither one.
He was born a poor Netchiman, but rich in his Wife and in Wisdom. Eternal are their names, mother and father of Vehk, Berahzic and Irdri.
Generous silver chalice, sword in the clouds, dying-radiant lady-star. He entered the Temple, passed the seven veils, beheld his wife, Berahzic. O: the word, the deed, the end inevitable: O!
She asked of him truths beyond words, and he answered without words, but added in completion:
"There is nothing beyond bliss, after death comes the void. Only then are we free to love. Figuring father Peryite would stamp it and catalogue it. And Mephala mother, embracing black hands, would smother it. Gods such as us must be gentle with all our children, both flesh and spirit, a seed-apple potpourri."
On that night Berahzic named her children but did not know their sum.
Dreams of peasants, a Netchiman's dream. IRDRI HLAFEM VEHK HYKRO.
Silence is the command of the Aedra, the howling horror in the cavern of the heart, the laughter of Berahzic. Nocturnal's Black Skies, Peryite's Golden Order, Meridia's Green Generations, Mehrunes' Red Rage, the Sighs of Berahzic. O, her diamonds and crescents a crimson dawn over armies arrayed for battle, her dark and silent eyes the blinding snows of Solitude.
Many thousand millions are the visions of aminreaV. A, awake, the first and last, the King of I.
Netchiman Irdri on the next day took his wife and newfound treasure to meet the Dwarf-King at the end of Bthuangthuv.
There Kagrenac gave him the thrice-secret word:
RPDXGBWGHPZBXLOdZaZeXLdCIBNGJZereZDQOPhtHVVeKVPrCSa
NYyehBtCdInMZGaJRVeRrMGZuGCCIsHTZaLVeRFOrPZPKBPtORsKI
iONhXTtPKFgHTVOnolJRVJEeZVKWQIbHVCMNnoIivFiVMlYVCBbCVV
FoDIdInWaWIrLZVeVCMmewNIdGYIeKhTNtZTVoXVDKZt
Here the true key lies. Vivec is the lesser or false key.
For in the beginning was the Word: Spoken by a Great Ape.
For in the beginning was the Word: Three by Seventy-two.
For in the beginning was the Word: ALMSIVI.