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Numidium, also known as the Brass God or the Brass Tower, among many other titles, is one of the main antagonists of The Elder Scrolls franchise.
'Twas a gigantic brass golem originally designed by Kagrenac and constructed by his people, the Dwemer (also known as Dwarves), to serve as both a mockery of the gods worshipped by other mortal races on Nirn and a god for the Dwemer themselves.
The First Numidium was distinguished as the Anumidium. This was the Numidium that Kagrenac designed and the Dwemer constructed; it was powered by the Heart of Lorkhan, which had Keening, Sunder, and Wraithguard used on it by Kagrenac, causing the Dwemer to disappear. Many historical figures in the Elder Scrolls franchise have used the Anumidium to carry out seemingly impossible tasks, such as the conquest of the Summerset Isles, which Tiber Septim accomplished by utilizing the Anumidium's divine powers.
The Second Numidium, however, was given the name Akulakhan by its constructor, Dagoth Ur, who, like the Dwemer, had used the Heart of Lorkhan as the golem's power source. Dagoth intended to use Akulakhan to achieve his myriad of goals, with some of these goals being the expulsion of all outlanders, or "N'wahs," from Morrowind, the annexation of Tamriel, and the establishment of a theocracy built on Akulakhan worship.
Numidium would theoretically be nigh-omnipotent when given a power source, and based on what we know about it, it most likely was, as its abilities ranged from weather modification to reality-warping. Due to Numidium's nigh-omnipotent nature, it was frequently sought out by a great many characters throughout the franchise, all seeing the robot as a means of reshaping the world in whatever way they saw fit.
Personality[]
Numidium, despite being a literal machine god, doesn't have much personality to it—at least not a perceivable one at first. However, when you carefully analyze its history, you can piece together something resembling a personality. Its lore as well as the way it acts in Daggerfall both show that it complies with whoever has a means of controlling it, with the means (at least in Daggerfall) being the Totem of Tiber Septim.
Of course, due to the golem's subservient nature, a number of less than savory individuals have used it in order to achieve their goals, with one example being Mannimarco, who used it to ascend to godhood. The machine also didn't seem to have a sense of allegiance—either that or it just couldn't bring itself to care about mortal affairs, as it served all of its owners without question, even when its current owners were enemies of its previous ones. It had no qualms about committing morally evil acts, with its only concern being the fulfillment of its owners' wishes.
History (Anumidium)[]
Conception, Construction, and Early Usage[]
After the Heart of Lorkhan was discovered beneath Red Mountain, the Dwarven Tonal Architect, Kagrenac, created the tools Keening, Sunder, and Wraithguard, enabling him to tap into the Heart's power. With these tools, he planned to create a new god, Anumidium, which, using the Heart as a power source, would allow the Dwemer to transcend their mortal forms and leave Mundus. The Anumidium was completed and would see its first use during the War of the First Council, more specifically, the Battle of Red Mountain, where it "burnt" the Chimer armies surrounding it and lay waste to Vvardenfell, earning the title of "walking star." It's worth noting that the Anumidium's original creators, the Dwarves, mysteriously disappeared around the time the battle was taking place, likely due to Kagrenac profaning the Heart.
With the Dwemer gone, and their creations left on Mundus, the remaining Chimer armies captured the machine god as well as Kagrenac's tools. The (then mortal) Tribunal proceeded to use the tools to access the Heart's power and make themselves gods.
Tiber Septim's Acquisition and Usage of the Machine in His Conquests[]
There once was a mighty Emperor by the name of Tiber Septim, who conquered many, and he had set his eyes on Morrowind. What made him even mightier was his sense of strategy, both in warfare and diplomacy. It is written that either he or his most masterful tactician, Zurin Arctus, negotiated a treaty with Vivec of the Tribunal. A treaty which saved Morrowind from being caught in total war with the Septim Empire, a treaty which ensured greater freedoms in the way the people of Morrowind would govern themselves, but one which made Morrowind a de-facto province of the Empire and necessitated the transfer of the mighty machine god, Anumidium, from the hands of the Tribunal into the hands of the Septim Empire. With Numidium in his control, Tiber ordered Arctus to create a control device for the machine, the Totem of Tiber Septim. But there was an issue: the Tribunal didn't include the Heart of Lorkhan as the golem's power source; after all, it was the source of their power, too. But Tiber found a way to circumvent this issue; he issued the creation of a new power source called the Mantella, which contained Zurin's and, according to some sources, Ysmir Wulfharth's life force. Now ready for action, Tiber made use of Numidium in his conquests, allowing him to take over the Summerset Isles, concluding his campaign for Tamriel. The Anumidium's exploits during Tiber Septim's conquests were timeless, with one of its more extraordinary ones being its besieging of the Summerset Isles' capital, Alinor, which the mighty machine had seemingly laid siege to for only one hour, when it, in actuality, besieged it from the Merethic Era up until the Fifth. This was due to Septim and Numidium breaking time itself, creating a dragon break that resulted in the siege spanning a longer period of time than it seemingly did. While it was stuck in the time warp, Numidium perpetually fought an order of Altmeri mages called the Mirror Logicians throughout all points in time, technically making the golem an eternal construct that existed before it was even first built. Numidium is also said to have traumatized and scarred the city's populace during this extra-temporal siege. Note that all of this information on the Siege of Alinor is supposedly out of canon, though that stance can be argued against considering that this is Elder Scrolls lore we're talking about.
Emperor Septim's Reign of Terror and the Machine God's Scattering[]
Tiber, in addition to using the Anumidium for his conquests, had far more nefarious purposes for it, too; the magnificent golem eliminated any opposition against the great conqueror. But there were other parties stripped of their power that weren't provoking the Emperor, either, particularly the neutral royal families of Tamriel, whom Numidium crushed under orders from Tiber Septim, allowing the Emperor to replace them with ones loyal to him. Angered by this abuse of divine power, Zurin Arctus went out to fight the Anumidium in a breathtaking battle. One that resulted in the destruction of Arctus' heart, leaving him in a state of undeath, the scattering of the golem's body parts, its loss of the Mantellan heart, and by extension, the end of Emperor Septim's ownership over the Anumidium.
Reconstruction Efforts[]
Anumidium, the Empire's greatest weapon, was now "destroyed." The Empire couldn't let the machine god go to waste, so they tasked their intelligence arm, the Blades, with recovering its body parts scattered all over Tamriel and reconstructing Great Numidium.
Daggerfall[]
By the time of Daggerfall, Tiber Septim was already long gone, the Empire's current ruler was Uriel Septim VII, and the Anumidium's reconstruction was virtually completed. Only two items were needed in order to ultimately activate it, the Totem of Tiber Septim (which the Blades had inexplicably lost possession of) and the golem's lost Mantellan heart. Seeking to recover these items, Uriel sent a close friend of his, the Agent, to the Illiac Bay, on a mission to pacify the dead King Lysandus of Daggerfall's vengeful spirit, as a cover for the Agent's true purpose, which was to retrieve both the Totem and the Mantella for Imperial use.
Meanwhile, the Illiac Bay was experiencing a period of political turmoil, due to a variety of reasons, with one of them being the assassination of previously mentioned King Lysandus by Lord Woodborne of Wayrest. One interesting tidbit of information regarding Woodborne concerns the Totem; apparently, he had (somehow) gained possession of the device, forcing the Blades to launch an investigation on its disappearance which led them to him. Seeing an opportunity to recover the Totem, the Blades raided Woodborne Hall, to no avail, as the machine's control device was nowhere to be found.
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  Villains
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Daedric Princes Daedra Dragons Vampires Frostbite Spiders Aldmeri Dominion Imperial Legion Morag Tong Thieves Guild Dark Brotherhood Blackwood Company Glenmoril Witches Penitus Oculatus Legion Zero Tribunal Sixth House Dragon Priests Dwemer Snow Elves Creatures Others | ||