Ok guys, I've never even played an Elder Scrolls game until Skyrim, so excuse my probably obvious question. Basically, I want to know, what in tarnation an Elder Scroll is and what it does.

The http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Elder_Scrolls are Aedric Prophecies of unknown origin and number, being simultaneously archives of both historic and future events. The number of the Scrolls is unknown not because of their immense quantity, but because the number itself is unknowable, as the Scrolls "do not exist in countable form".^{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/General:Elder_Scrolls#cite_note-AAOTS-0} After rumors circulated following the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Oblivion_Crisis that a Scroll was stolen from the Imperial Library by the Thieves Guild, efforts to take inventory of the Scrolls proved fruitless as their numbers and placement in the Library seem to fluctuate for no discernible reason.^{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/General:Elder_Scrolls#cite_note-AAOTS-0}

Any person gifted with prescient powers is able to interpret the contents of the Elder Scrolls with practice. The information revealed about the future is never absolute. Once an event foretold within the scrolls is carried out in the world it becomes fixed within them. Such insight into the inner fabric of reality comes at a price, however, as each new foretelling and interpretation strikes the reader with blindness for a greater period of time, while simultaneously granting them a broader view of the scroll's contents. Ultimately, the reader, having engaged in frequent acts of prophecy, is left bereft of their vision, forever after removed of their right to read the scrolls. By time-honored tradition only those of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Ancestor_Moth_Cult may read from the scrolls, the younger members caring for the elder as they gradually lose their sight for eternity.