#vivec in his declining years

[jollmaster]

meaning: wisdom, authority, established order, search for spiritual truth/meaning in life, religious rituals, theological doctrine, place of worship

reversed: orthodoxy/denial of traditions, putting on a mask, misleading information, original methods to solve the problems, inquisition, propaganda

[delemis]

A Rant About The Red Year

My shitty hot take of the day is that the Red Year, from a thematic and writing perspective, is just a little bit shit.

Let me clarify why: If you did play the original game, it ends on a pretty hopeful note. You have, in Azura’s name, saved Morrowind, redeemed both the false gods and the tribe unmourned, and in a way, stabilized the country by ending the persistent existential crisis that had been causing its slow decline over the years. The story sortof “ends” with Dagoth Ur’s demise and the fulfillment of the nerevarine prophecy, but its understood that - as Nerevarine - both Azura and Vivec are now entrusting you with the restoration of Resdayn’s glory by questing, battling monsters, saving people and defeating evil. 

Now, uh- cut to the fourth era, where Vivec was either forgetful or spiteful enough to leave Baar Dau hanging above Vivec City. In Tes3 he was more or less willing to sacrifice his godhood in order to save his people, but that doesn’t make any sense at all if he’s also spiteful and arrogant enough to willfully allow a HURTLING METEOR that he stopped mid-impact to collide with its intended target. Azura, who raised up the nerevarine for the express purpose of guiding the dunmer, didn’t even warn any of the dunmer about this except - apparently - a handful of her own followers. This despite purportedly being the dunmeri people’s seer and protector.

This is all a bit asinine from a writing perspective. It eschews consistency in favor of brutality, and all that we got out of it was a massive hole in the map where Vivec city used to be as well as a book that literally reads like a 9/11 testimonial, as if what Morrowind really needed was its own 9/11. 

And here’s the most important thing, I think: If Vivec was just going to let Baar Dau land on his city anyways, killing hundreds of thousands of people and causing Red Mountain to erupt, then why didn’t he just do that before when he was desperate for a way to kill Dagoth Ur? He literally could’ve just detonated the literal volcano sitting at the center of the island, drowning Akulakhan and the Sixth House in a sea of lava and stone. Definitely not a perfect plan but if he was as willing to waste lives as he apparently is in Bethesda’s eyes (or in the eyes of whichever dude wrote the Umbriel Crisis book) then I don’t see why he wouldn’t have tried it sooner.

But yeah, I don’t really get what the point is in even killing Dagoth Ur if we - the player - didn’t even save anybody by doing it. Everybody that we did save, as well as the people we killed (LIKE DAGOTH UR), apparently would have just died regardless of what we did, and that’s just a bit sad really.

[tonal-modulator]

My OCs

Some info about my OCs in case you’re curious or want to do an OC ask or something. You can also totally always just ask me random stuff about any of them if you want!

I mostly tried to organize them by game but some of them float a bit.

See also the Tags I Use page, which is generated programmatically, so it should always be up to date. I also sometimes tag OC-general posts as #razak's ocs.

Morrowind

Ildari Llothri

aka Iya

she/her in this life but it's complicated because of past lives being various genders

tag: #ildari

Dunmer

Born 3E 400 (27 at the beginning of Morrowind, 35 in ESO)

Ildari grew up in the Imperial City with her adopted mother until she got sent to Morrowind. She’s the 18th life of Nerevar et al. and regained the memories of all of her past incarnations pretty much all at once when she met with Vivec. She has a lot of complicated feelings but mostly she’s really Done with Azura and hates that she had to kill/ruin the lives of her closest friends to satisfy some Daedra’s 3,500-year grudge that got projected onto her. She becomes friends with Vehk again during Morrowind, and Seht and Ayem when she’s in ESO. Also she’s Talvini and Milia’s granddaughter.

Elyna Ralvas

she/her

tag: #elyna

Dunmer

Dissident Priest, eventually Archcanon of Vivec

born around 3E 150 (~275 by Morrowind)

Elyna Ralvas is a Dissident Priest of the Tribunal Temple. She left Morrowind for around 200 years when it became dangerous to question to Tribunal's decline and their suppression of Apographa. She basically just wants what's best for everyone, and when she's put in the position of fulfilling the Nerevarine prophecies, she realizes the role kind of suits her. She's the second life of Nerevar (counting Nerevar) and she does have his memories as of getting the ring Moon-and-Star, but she also lived for almost 300 years without consciously being Nerevar.

Adyn Rothreni

they/them

tag: #adyn

Dunmer

(lapsed) Buoyant Armiger

Born 3E 393; 34 at the start of Morrowind

Adyn was left at the Temple of Vivec as a baby and raised there, eventually being trained as a Buoyant Armiger in a Redoran-funded program to raise orphans to be Buoyant Armigers. (They took one look at the nonbinary kid born under the Thief and went, "Vivec is going to love you.") They took a "leave" from the Armigers after seven or eight years to move to Cyrodiil for another two decades or so. They didn't know why, just that it was really important. They started getting Nerevarine memories when they arrived in Cyrodiil, and they got stronger once they returned to Morrowind. They're not too happy about the role they apparently have to play in history, because the Temple and the Armigers are their family and they don't want to destroy them.

Oblivion

Meryse Rielle

she/her until she mantles Sheogorath, then pretty much anything

tag: #meryse

Breton

Hero of Kvatch, Sheogorath

Born 3E 406 (27 at the start of Oblivion)

Meryse is a mage from Daggerfall who "saw through" the Warp in the West dragonbreak when she was a kid and has been trying to figure out what the Empire has been hiding ever since. She was getting old enough that her parents wished she would just find a normal job, but she went to Cyrodiil in a last-ditch effort to turn her research into something concrete instead of just "settling down," and ended up getting pulled into prophecy. After the Oblivion Crisis was over and she was presented with the opportunity to be Sheogorath's champion (and ultimately mantle him), she figured she might as well—it would be better than giving everything up and going home to accept the kind of life she never wanted.

Skyrim

Dreveni

aka Sotha Dreveni Llothri

she/her

tag: #dreveni

Dunmer

born around the start of the 4th era but it's complicated (204 in Skyrim)

So when Ildari goes to ESO time, she ends up having a kid with Sotha Sil. That kid is Dreveni. They left ESO time and returned to 4E 2 when Drev was a toddler. Seht wrote her a letter before they left because he knew they wouldn't be able to see each other again, and in the letter, he told her that she would have some sort of "Prisoner"/Hero role like her mother. She assumed that would involve something like cleaning up her parents' mess. She did not expect to be (the Last) Dragonborn.

Being the child of a god and a godslayer and growing up mostly in the aftermath of the Red Year, Dreveni has a weird connection to the Dunmer people. She basically takes on their suffering as her own and devotes her life to helping people in any way she can.

Elanirie

she/they equally; flip a coin

tag: #elanirie

Altmer

failed Psijic

Born 4E 158 (43 at the start of Skyrim)

Elanirie was born on Artaeum to Psijic parents and was educated by the Psijic Order with the assumption that she would eventually become a full member. After a few decades, she decided that she was more interested in knowledge for the sake of knowledge than any single topic, and so she ended up following Hermaeus Mora and eventually leaving the Order and Artaeum altogether. They moved to Summerset, and then to the mainland, and northward until she reached Skyrim, just as their patron intended.

ESO

Talvini Llothri

she/her

Tag: #talvini

Dunmer

Wizard (magicka sorcerer)

Born 2E 499 (83 at the beginning of ESO)

Talvini is a mage who likes to figure out how and why everything works (usually also involving figuring out how to make it not work). She developed adventuring skills in order to raid Dwemer ruins for materials for her experiments. Despite being from House Telvanni, she's something of a Rule Follower and she worships the Tribunal, primarily Sotha Sil—though that becomes much more complicated as time goes on. Also she’s dating/eventually marries Milia, and I'm pretty sure she never dies.

Milia Nyrandil

she/her

tag: #milia

Dunmer

Magicka dragonknight

Buoyant Armiger

Born 2E 510 (72 at the beginning of ESO)

Milia is a Buoyant Armiger, who’s warm and outgoing and genuinely loves to help people and make people happy, but she will also absolutely fight you if necessary. The whole getting-killed-by-Mannimarco thing messes with her a lot but she doesn’t tell people because she’s afraid of being seen as weak. Also she’s dating/eventually marries Talvini.

Llevura Ranith

she/her

tag: #llevura

Dunmer

Stamina templar

Hand of Almalexia

Born 2E 509 (73 at the beginning of ESO)

Llevura is a Hand of Almalexia. She was present at Vivec's Antlers during the Second Akaviri Invasion, where she witnessed Vivec's wave wash away friend and foe alike. She was, obviously, troubled by it, but understood the Tribunal's need to craft the "truth" around the event, and while she kept her own account of the events to herself for the most part, she spoke of her understanding honestly when Almalexia asked. Ten or so years later, Almalexia assigned her a daunting task: to let herself get killed by Mannimarco and take on the role of hero to stop the planemeld, even in Coldharbour, where her gods could not reach her.

She always puts her serious face forward, but she is really a little soft, and she does try to embody her lady's mercy when reasonable.

Tilora Uvanil

she/her

tag: #tilora

Dunmer

Warden healer

Priest of the Tribunal

Born 2E 506 (76 at the beginning of ESO)

Tilora was a priest at the Tribunal Temple in Selfora before she was promoted to Mournhold. She ends up dating Llevura (partly due to Almalexia nudging them onto each other's paths) for a while before her own Hero nature manifests. Then she does the Vestige path herself, trying to stick mostly to good priest skills like healing, but still throwing cliff racers when necessary. In general she just really cares about people a lot.

Ghast Lylton

they/them

tag: #ghast lylton

Breton

Necromancer, vampire

Mid-twenties in ESO

Ghast is a former Worm Cultist who was recruited in their late teens/early twenties, believing their promises of gaining power on their own without needing to rely on nobles. They eventually realized they weren't really evil enough and tried to leave, but they had messed up their social safety net and so the cult caught up with them and killed them. Now they're back and they've decided to make that Mannimarco's problem. They also contract vampirism during their adventures, thus adding Molag Bal to their proverbial list a second time.

Vaynerii Darys

she/her

tag: #vaynerii

Dunmer

Nightblade healer

Morag Tong reconnaissance agent

60s probably

Vaynerii likes gathering information and understanding people, and generally uses the information to help people and win their favor, usually being able to count on them for her network of whispers. She's a Morag Tong reconnaissance agent and a healer. She's not much for killing, but she sees how fragile the Houses are and how little it would take for them to end up in a civil war, and wants to help prevent that.

Favali Nerenim

she/her

tag: #favali

Dunmer

Magicka sorcerer

Clockwork Apostle

Born 2E 553; 29 at the start of ESO

Favali is a third-generation Clockwork Apostle. She grew up in the Clockwork City and doesn't really know anything outside it. When Sotha Sil approaches her and tells her she has an important role to play in history, and that she needs to go to Nirn-Above to trigger it and start down her Prisoner's path, she's both honored to be noticed, and nervous to have to leave the Clockwork City and venture out into the unknown without a guide. And neither of them realizes that step one involves getting killed, so that messes with her quite a bit. But once she's on Nirn, she takes advantage of the opportunity to study some things she couldn't in the Clockwork City, like conjuration, and generally does her best to find and stay on her path.

Lior

she/her

tag: #lior

Demprince of Azura. Appears as a Breton and a winged twilight (simultaneously) when on Nirn in semi-mortal form

Ambiguously-infinitely old

Lior does not have a specific sphere; Azura just made her because she wanted a Demiprince who would adore her as she deserves. She has some access to prophecy, but not as much as Azura does. She starts out a little detached from mortals, not seeting them as very important, etc., but eventually comes to realize that their finite lives mean they cram a ton of emotion and experience into a short time and ends up feeling compassion for them. Between this and some other realizations while she's on Nirn, she ends up questioning Azura. This angers her Prince, and Azura ends up rejecting her, which hits her pretty hard.

Sorndra

aka Sorn

she/her

tag: #sorndra

Demiprince of Azura. Takes a Breton form while on Nirn.

Magicka templar

Younger than Lior, but not by much

Sorndra's sphere is Limits and Liminality, which includes categories that make up the laws of the universe, their boundaries, and the spaces between them. She's much more reserved than her sister Lior, and her relationship to Azura is much more tempered (and therefore less volatile). She sees the Planemeld as a personal affront, because Molag Bal is merging planes that are meant to be distinct, and so she goes to Nirn to stop it herself.

Other/hard to place

Minmari

they/them primarily but they'll accept anything

tag: #minmari

Demiprince of Mephala and Boethiah, takes Dunmer form when on Nirn

They float around various time periods

Ambiguously-infinitely old

Minmari is the Demiprince of Plans. They are fully Daedric, spending most of their time in their plane of Oblivion and only taking on a mortal form when they go to Nirn (usually at their parents' request, to interrupt some existential threat to reality). They are always knitting, usually something that no one else can fully perceive or understand, but that's how they effect change in the world. They appreciate offerings of yarn from mortals who seek their assistance or favor.

Bthunkagr

she/her

tag: #bthunkagr

Dwemer

Dragonborn or Nerevarine in different universes

born 1E 610, 90 at the Battle of Red Mountain

Bthunkagr was a young tonal architect working under Kagrenac during the Heart of Lorkhan project. She was also friends with the Chimer side of the First Council. She was uncomfortable with the nature of the Heart project and eventually went to Voryn for help. She ended up taking asylum with the Chimer, and eventually stepped out of time in order to avoid being part of the ascension/soulsmash. Then, depending on the timeline, she came back into existence either around 3E427 or 4E201.

[sleepymarmot]

Elsweyr patch notes

New Housing Options & Additions

With the Elsweyr Chapter, you can earn a special in-game home, the Hall of the Lunar Champion, acquired by completing the main story quest "Two Queens" (no additional purchase needed!) This quest also provides the first of four collectible furnishing tablets to be placed in the Hall of the Lunar Champion. This first tablet, when placed on the matching altar in the Hall, marks the altars for the remaining three tablets. Completing the main story quest of Elsweyr in full grants a second tablet which, when placed on the corresponding altar in the home, unlocks the first of three additional wings for this home. This temple home will continue to grow with you as you acquire additional tablets recording the life of the Lunar Champion, Khunzar-ri, by completing dungeons and quests in the remaining two major updates this year during the Season of the Dragon. This home has furnishing limits equivalent to a manor, with a limit of 350 standard furnishings doubled to 700 for ESO Plus members.

Nice.

Cyrodiil Campaign Adjustments

All currently-existing campaigns will be shut down once Elsweyr launches. We hope you enjoyed your time in Vivec, Shor, Sotha Sil and Kyne!

In keeping with the Season of the Dragon, we will be introducing 6 new campaigns with some new rules added: Bahlokdaan: 30 Day No CP & Alliance Locked Kaalgrontiid: 30 Day CP Enabled & Alliance Locked Yolnahkriin: 7 Day CP Enabled Mulaamnir: Levels 10-49 Imperial City: No CP Imperial City: CP Enabled

Well, these names are going to be much harder to remember! Also, it’s a shame I still haven’t made my PvP Dunmer - unless I hurry, he won’t get to fight in campaigns named after his gods at all!

Pets no longer attempt to aid their owners in sieging destructible Keeps and bridge pieces, for they are powerless against the might of superior craftsmanship.

Weapon swapping while an arrow is in mid-air will no longer cause the arrow disappear. This ability is reserved for magicians at magic trick shows, which we do not support in combat.

Puncturing Strikes: Reduced the channel time for this ability and its morphs from to 1 seconds from 1.1 seconds. Praise the sun for whole numbers!

You can now devour your friends to extend your Werewolf Transformation timer, since you are a selfish doggo.

Fixed an issue where Assistants placed in homes would not turn to face you when you speak with them. We've given them a stern lecture about their rudeness, as well.

Witty patch notes strike again...

MagDK changes: so, it’s a good time to make one, huh?

Whirlwind: Increased the base damage of this ability and morphs by 50%, but removed the execute bonus. 

Uhh... Okay, whatever.

Dubious Cameron Throne & Witch Mother’s Brew: Reduced the Max Health and Max Resource (Stamina or Magicka) granted by these drinks by approximately 12%. The Recoveries remain unchanged.

Artaeum Takeaway Broth & Clockwork Citrus Filet: Reduced the Max Health and Max Resource granted by these foods by approximately 15%.

Developer Comment: Previously, these food buffs were a bit too stat dense in the areas that certain builds needed to focus on, which greatly reduced consumable options when comparing effectiveness.

Wow. Goodbye the entire food meta?

Earthgore: This item set now instantly dispels all negative effects, rather than one. The heal granted from this set now only heals the target with the lowest health in the area, rather than the 6 lowest targets in the area.

Okay, so now I don’t need worry about this meta set that’s hard to get and clashes with my character’s aesthetic, right?

Sharing a quest with groupmates will now provide feedback in small groups (accepted, declined, or failed).

Yay! I’ve been feeling a real need for this during the current event week...

[esofantasy]

Tribunal defeat headcannon

In 3E 417 Almalexia and Sotha Sil lose Keening and Sunder. It's 10 years until Almalexia kills Sotha Sil in 3E 427. During those 10 years their power declines obviously. By this time they are all at the very least 3800 years old so the Heart of Lorkhan not only gave them power but youth. Without the divinity did they begin to rapidly age?

We know Almalexia went mad due in part to loss of their power, could it be she couldn't handle her rapid aging? She seemed vain and needy, to me, and the loss of her beauty to wrinkles and sagging could have fueled her insanity.

Sotha Sil didn't care much about his looks, he focused more on getting the Mechanical Heart built and his memory uploaded to it. He probably looked haggard and unkempt.

Vivec didn't fare as bad since he still could probably derive some divinity from Wraithguard. After Wraithguard is given to the Neravarine his power starts to diminish, but he is well enough to go thru the Trial at Hogithum Hall. "Vivec Vanishes." Nothing is known of him after that but its left open for possibilities, maybe he went into seclusion to die, or maybe he went to Molag Bal considering the events of C0DA.