| “ | Along with Lord Nerevar, and at his insistence, Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and I swore before our god of oaths at the time, the Daedra Lord Azura, never to employ the tools of Kagrenac for any purpose. We broke our oaths. We turned our backs on the old gods. I still see no compelling reason to worship any of the Aedra or Daedra. But, for the respect I held for Nerevar, and the respect I held for myself, I should never have betrayed my oath. Of all my life's actions, I most regret that failure. | „ |
| ~ Vivec, explaining to the Nerevarine why he and the Tribunal betrayed and murdered Indoril Nerevar. |
Vivec, formerly Vehk, also known as the Warrior Poet and many other titles, is one of the main antagonists of The Elder Scrolls franchise.
Once a mortal and a chief advisor to the legendary Chimer hero Indoril Nerevar, Vivec, along with Almalexia and Sotha Sil, betrayed their oaths to Nerevar to never use the Tools of Kagrenac to become gods and murdered the Hortator. From here, the trio became known as the Tribunal, living gods that ruled Morrowind for eras, simultaneously uniting and dividing the province under their rule.
History[]
Originally a mortal Chimer, a sub-species of golden skinned Elves from the province of Morrowind (formerly Resdayn). even earliest records of Vivec's life are full of contradictions and falsehoods. According to the book The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Vivec was the son of Berahzic, a "netchiman's wife" and Irdri, who taught Vivec the family trade. From his father, Vivec apparently had a happy childhood and learned from his father the netchiman trade, at one point singing to an ashkhan.
Once he reached the age of 11, Vivec left to the city of Mournhold, the capital of Resdayn. Living on the streets, Vivec had a chance encounter with the Hortator of the Chimer, Indoril Nerevar, Vivec was inspired by the hero and took up a position in his army, shaving his head and wielding a netch longhook to guard Nerevar.
Some years later, the Daedric Prince of Destruction, Mehrunes Dagon attacked and destroyed Ald Sotha, the ancestral home of House Sotha, which resulted in the deaths of all but one, a young Chimer named Sotha Sil. Vivec personally rescued Sil and helped train him. As time went on, both Vivec and Sotha Sil would rise high enough in Nerevar's ranks that they'd both be promoted as his generals and councillors alongside his unofficial wife and queen, Almalexia.
At some point after joining Nerevar, Vivec encountered a Lurker, a species of Daedra that served the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, Hermaeus Mora. The Lurker, named Vro-Kuul-Sha attacked the young Chimer but after a brutal fight, Vivec was able to kill it, further adding to his legend later in life.
After a long and brutal war with the Dwemer, another species of Mer that also lived in Resdayn, Nerevar was able to broker a piece with Dwemer King Dumac and High Priest Kagrenac. The purpose of this alliance was to beat back the Nords of Skyrim who had already conquered Resdayn. As the three races clashed, Vivec and Nerevar personally faced the most powerful of the Nord Chieftains in combat, and despite the Nords wielding the power of the Thu'um, they were beaten. A key figure in this conflict waa the chieftain Chemua the Running Hunger, who destroyed several Chimeri villages and (supposedly) ate the Chimeri hero Khizumet-e before sending a reanimated shade of him to Nerevar as an assassin. Though this plot failed and both Chemua and his shade were slain by Vivec and Nerevar.
In the conflict with the Nords, Vivec personally ensured many victories for his people. One was his defeat of Bhag the Two-Tongued who had the powers of 'Surety' and 'Form Change. Vivec was the only one among the Chimer and Dwemer to understand the language of the Th'um and used that to say Bhag in a powerful debate while using invisibility. At the end of the conflict, Ysmir Wulfharth, the leader of the Nords and a resurrected Dragonborn entered the battle and personally challenged Nerevar to a duel, who managed to defeat Wulfharth by literally taking his Shouts out of his throat until it bled before they were given to Vivec who used his own magic to bind them into an ebony listening frame he personally shoved into Wulfharth's head, driving him bad and causing him to flee. This humiliating defeat and curse of madness would cause Wulfharth to forever hate Nerevar and Vivec (and subsequently the ALMSILVI years later) even as he was killed and brought back again.
With Wulfharth having fled, the lesser Nord Chieftains retreated with their armies and with it their Empire's presence in Resdayn. With them as the victor, the alliance formed the First Council while Almalexia and Nerevar were officially wed, with King Dumac personally granting the two the Dwarven/Ebony blades of Hopesfire and Trueflame as a wedding gift. As a reward for his efforts, Vivec was honoured as both the most gallant knight and subtle rogue of the First Council, laying the groundworks for the duel god he would become.
After the war's end, Vivec wandered into the Ashlands for unknown reasons, specifically Molag Amur in the badlands, where he personally encountered the Daedric Prince of Domination, Molag Bal. Supposedly, the Daedric Prince wished to wed the Warrior-Poet, so Vivec only asked for a ceremony for the event, to which Molag Bal caused Pomegranates to spring form the badlands. Despite this gift, Vivec warned him that he could not stay with him forever, as he was still Nerevar's advisor, so instead Vivec offered his head for an hour to Molag Bal, who accepted. Before he could leave, Vivec spoke two poems to Molag Bal who in turn gave a new Word of Power to Vivec, CHIM, the Daedric syllable of royalty.
Returning to Nerevar, Vivec's head still offered council to the Horator, who was worried of Wulfharth's return. Instead, Vivec only spoke cryptically of the 'Sharmat', the heart he guarded and the 'center that cannot hold'. Vivec warned Nerevar that his removal would fill that heart as he was the enigma of the Almsilvi, and so he would murder Nerevar until he understood the warning's meaning.
After his body had laid with Molag Bal for 88 days, Vivec's head returned to their union's birthplace of Bal Ur. When noticing how undamaged his body was, Vivec questioned Molag Bal, only for the Prince to respond that Vivec's love was accidentally shaped like a spear. As a response, Vivec bit new words into the spear, only to accidentally cause various Chimer and other races to do the same to their own spears to imitate the two, from the blood of their injuries a new race was born that cared only for biting and causing destruction
Unfortunately for Molag Bal, Vivec had learned enough of the Daedra's magic to use it to empower his spear with the ability to turn anyone it touched barren and withered. Naming the spear Muatra (Milk Taker), Vivec attacked Molag Bal, sending him tumbling into the new creatures, somehow banishing him back to Oblivion. With this, Vivec turned his sight on the new creatures and hunted down every single one of them. According to legend, Hermaeus Mora witnessed the whole event which angered Vivec and Molag Bal, the former of which sent an army of Dreugh to destroy Mora's shrine on Vvardenfell.
Years later and after many of Vivec's tales would become part of his legend, Voryn Dagoth, a close friend and fellow advisor of Nerevar, approached him and the other advisors with news that Kagrenac and managed to uncover the Heart of Lorkhan, and Aedric artifact and the actual heart of the primordial entity of the same name. Voryn warned them that Kagrenac had developed special Tools (Keening, Sunder & Wraithguard) that he intended to use to tap into the Heart's power and use it to create a whole new god for the Dwemer, a titanic Dwemer brass-golen called the Numidium. Because of the heresy of the Dwemer's plans, the alliance between the two races broke down and war was officially declared. While Vivec, Sotha Sil and Almalexia led the Chimer armies against the Dwemer's, Nerevar and Dagoth infiltrated the Heart Chamber inside Red Mountain and slew King Dumac and Kagrenac, though not before Kagrenac tried using his Tools on the Heart of Lorkhan, only for the entire Dwemer race to disappear as a result.
Despite slaying Dumac, the Dwemer King managed to deal grievous wounds to Nerevar, who, knowing that he was on the verge of death, desperately summoned the Daedric Prince of Dusk & Dawn and patron of the Chimer, Azura for her council, to which she showed him & Voryn to properly use the Tools to harness the Heart's power. Despite Dagoth urging him to destroy the Tools, Nerevar summoned his other councillors for their advise, to which they urged him to use them to reclaim Resdayn and even conquer Tamriel, only for a disgusted Nerevar to reject this advice and decide to summon Azura again. From here, the story plays out in several different ways:
In one account, his three advisors had instantly become greedy and drawn by the lure of the Heart's power, with it's potential being near limitless. They pretended to prepare the summoning ritual before attacking Nerevar, Almalexia used poison candles, Sotha Sil used poison robes and Vivec used poisoned invocations and combined, they were able to brutally murder Nerevar. Voryn Dagoth was slain and forced into the ground by Sotha Sil while the advisors tore off Nerevar's face, legs and arms in a Chimeri ritual while Vivec personally speared his former general in the chest with Muatra. This version of the events caused many to denounce the advisors as traitors to both Indoril and Azura. When the three eventually ascended, these dissenting voices would all leave in a self-imposed exile to the Ashlands, becoming known as the Ashlanders, Dunmer who live by the ways and teachings of their people in ancient times.
Vivec however has his own account of what happened. Vivec claimed that when Nerevar approached them on what to do with Kagrenac's Tools, they warned him that the Dwemer may someday return, and that the tools should be kept and studied so the Chimer could learn how to defeat the Dwemer if they somehow escaped their imprisonment. Nerevar didn't agree with this as such meddling would be no different than the Dwemer and swore his advisors to never use the tools again. Later Nerevar and his advisors went to retrieve the Tools from Voryn, who had been entrusted with their protection, only to find that their power had corrupted him, twisting him into believing only he could protect the Tools from everyone, including them. After refusing to relinquish the Tools, Voryn attacked, only to be slain by Nerevar and the advisors, though not before he dealt grievous wounds to Nerevar who eventually died, though not before the Tools were given to Sotha Sil for safekeeping. Vivec bluntly states that the three did not murder Nerevar as the Ashlanders claim.
Is is heavily implied by what occurred next was so powerful it caused a Dragon Break, a phenomenon where linear time is broken, and becomes non-linear, where multiple events simultaneously happen and merge into one singular timeline, explaining the various contradictions in the accounts of the Battle of Red Mountain.
Regardless of what happened, by the time it was all said and done, the Dwemer were gone. Indoril Nerevar and (supposedly) Voryn Dagoth were dead and the Tools of Kagrenac were in the possession of the advisors who had sworn not to use them Despite their oaths however, the advisors quickly began to work on the Tools, and thanks to Nerevar disclosing Azura's teachings and their own genius, they were able use the Tools of Kagrenac and tap into the Heart of Lorkhan's power to become living Gods. Immediately upon doing so, Azura appeared before them, denouncing their betrayal and mockery of the Gods and she would ensure that one day, Nerevar would be reborn to bring them low. Unperturbed by her threats, Sotha Sil only denounced her in return, claiming that the Chimer had no need of Azura now they had them. Enraged by this declaration, Azura cursed the entire Chimer race with blackened skin and blood red eyes in her image, so that Resdayn would forever remember the advisors betrayal and who "Azura" had protected them for millennia before vanishing.
From here on, the advisors took the name of the Tribunal, the three living Gods of Resdayn. They comforted the Chimer, who were scared and confused by their new appearance, claiming that it marked a new age for their people, with the Chimer accepting this change and from then on, they became the Dunmer. As both an insult and to mark their own own ascension, Azura, along with Mephala and Boethia, were relegated to being classed as Good Daedra who swore allegiance to the Tribunal. With Mephala being known as the Anticipation of Vivec. Despite their claims to the Dunmer to accept their change, Almalexia kept her fully Chimer look while Vivec, obsessed with duality, chose instead to adopt a half Chimer/half Dunmer appearance.
As the Tribunal, the three began reconstructing all of Resdayn in their image, with the key change being the province being renamed to Morrowind. Along with this, as punishment for their defiance, the legacies of House Dwemer and House Dagoth were destroyed. The Tribunal each had their own city as their centre of worship, with Almalexia taking Mournhold, Sotha Sil constructing his own Clockwork City and Vivec having his own city built in his image, Vivec City, to which was guarded by Vivec's personal Buoyant Armigers.
Among the people of Morrowind, especially Vvardenfell, Vivec would be the most popular and public of the Tribunal, as he was often their spokesperson, though some debate that Almalexia was the real most popular. Vivec would capitalise on his divinity, preforming hundreds of miracles a day and basking in the love of his subjects, often to the detriment of Sotha Sil and Almalexia, who believed he was too flagrant with his divinity. Despite this, Vivec was viewed as a humble god who loved his people, with a noteworthy example being when he toiled in the Fields of Kummu for a farmer who'd lost his Guar.
However, during one one of his many episodes, Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, decided to fling a meteorite at Vivec City, believing it an insult to him and the rest of the Daedra. Vivec however was able to use his divine powers and suspend the rock over the city to inspire more faith among his followers but also as a means of threatening both the faithful and unfaithful, that if they should ever stop loving him, he would allow the meteor to resume it's descent and destroy them all.
Morrowind under the Tribunal would face it's first test when Wulfharth returned once again, resurrected as the Ash-King after the Battle of Red Mountain who only cared now about destroying the ALMSILVI. Wulfharth gathered an army of Nords and marched on Morrowind, however, the Dunmer, led by the Tribunal, were far more united and powerful, easily defeating the Nords and driving Wulfharth away once more.
Though Vivec (as a God) had forged an alliance between them and the Dunmer, the Reman Dynasty of the Empire began to mistrust the people of Morrowind, especially as Reman Cyrodiil was rumoured to have been murdered by the Morag Tong assassin's guilds under orders of Vivec. After the Empire conquered Black Marsh, they set their sights on Morrowind, beginning the Four-Score War. The Tribunal (especially Vivec) showed great leadership over their people and their divine power kept the Empire at bay. The Dunmer managed to kill Reman II in battle but this did not stop the war.
80 years later, the war still raged on under Reman III and during this time, Vivec and Almalexia had become lovers, causing Vivec to often be found in Mournhold rather than Vivec City. During one of their trysts, Almalexia warned Vivec of a vision she'd had that if Sotha Sil did not return from the Artaeum, Morrowind would lose the war. Because of this, Almalexia went to retrieve Sotha Sil while Vivec readied for battle, though having already assured great victories for his people, he instead opted for a more advisory position like during his time under Indoril Nerevar.
Eventually, despite Almalexia's warnings, Vivec and Reman III managed to eventually came together to form a permanent truce, but before Vivec could come to Cyrodiil and make it permanent, Reman and his heir Prince Juliek had been assassinated while Reman's Tsaesci Potentate, Versidue-Shai took his place, though fortunately Versidue-Shai was just as interested in honouring the peace peaty. Thanks to this, Morrowind remained the only province of Tamriel independent of the Empire before it's collapse in 2E 430
In 2E 572, a large army of Akaviri, named the Snow Demons arrived on Tamriel for invasion, with their first target being Windhelm before moving on to Morrowind. Despite being enemies for centuries, Almalexia, Jorunn the Skald-Prince and the Greybeards of High Hrothgar summoned Wulfharth from the grave once again for aid in battle. The Akaviri bypassed a fortified Riften and made their way into Stonefalls in Western Morrowind, only to be opposed by Tanval of House Indoril and his Dunmeri army, who drove the Akaviri back to Eastern Stonefalls where they were ambushed by another army spearheaded by Almalexia that forced them into a pincer attack with the aid of Nords and Argonians. The battle ended when Vivec, having taught his people how to breathe underwater for a day, flooded the beach the Akaviri were cornered on and drowned them all, ending the invasion.
Thanks to this decisive victory, the Dunmer, Nords and Argonians, who had all been ancient enemies, caused the three races to unite in the formation of the Ebonheart Pact, with Jorunn becoming the Skald-King and Vivec gifting him and his thanes ornate walking sticks as an act of good faith.
In 2E 578, the Ruby Throne of Cyrodiil was left empty by the Soulburt, a catastrophic event in which Mannimarco, the King of Worms, sabotaged a ritual in which Varen Aquilarios would be able to relight the Dragonfires separating Nirn and Oblivion despite not being Dragonborn. With the throne empty, the Tribunal convinced the rest of the Ebonheart Pact to stake their own claim on the Ruby Throne and form the Tamriel Pact. Unfortunately for them however, they were opposed by two rival factions: the Aldmeri Dominion (an alliance of High Elves, Wood Elves and Khajiit) and the Daggerfall Covenant (an alliance of Bretons, Redguards and Orcs) who all wished to take the throne and remake Tamriel as they saw fit. Because of this, each alliance began their own invasion of Cyrodiil and three-way way between themselves with the Imperial City at the centre as the prize in what would be known as the Three Banners War.
As the Three Banners War raged on, a hero known as the Vestige emerged and managed to bring about a temporary ceasefire to defeat Molag Bal and end his Planemeld. Hearing of their exploits, Vivec had the Vestige summoned to Vvardenfell to meet with him personally, wishing for a neutral party to help him with a personal conflict. Vivec had them question the shade of an ancient Dunmer called Farena Andrano to provide answers on why Vivec's divine powers were waning. At first, Vivec was secretly worried that Voryn Dagoth had returned from the grave, but was relieved to hear from Andrano that while it was an ancient enemy of his, it was not Voryn, which meant the Heart of Lorkhan hadn't been compromised.
Upon further investigation, the Vestige was able to discover that the true culprit was Conoon Chodala, a false Nerevarine who had used Sotha Sil's staff Sunna'rah to try and steal Vivec's divine power, failing but gravely weakening him. After slaying Chodala with the help of a champion of Azura, the staff and it's stolen power were stolen in turn by Barbas, the hound of the Daedric Prince of Wishes, Clavicus Vile. Barbas, having previously disguised himself as Vivec's high priest, planned to use the staff to allow Vile to enter the mortal plane, specifically Sotha Sil's Clockwork City. With Vivec drained of his divine power, Baar Dau began to fall closer to Vivec City, risking the city being destroyed and Red Mountain erupting. Though thankfully with the aid of the Vestige and Azura, Barbas' plan was foiled and Vivec's divinity was restored, though instead of placing Baar Dau back in it's former position, Vivec instead had it hollowed out to become the Ministry of Truth.
Needing to restore their godhood after the conclusion of the Daedric War, the Tribunal gathered together and went on their annual pilgrimage to the Heart of Lorkhan within Red Mountain, only to find a resurrected Voryn Dagoth waiting for them. Dagoth, having believed himself to have been dreaming, had been restored to life by the Heart as Dagoth Ur, who managed to form a unique connection to the Heart by binding himself to it along with his resurrected House. Upon arriving at the Heart Chamber, Dagoth Ur and his kin immediately attacked the Tribunal who, weakened by their dwindling godhood, were forced to flee Red Mountain, only surviving through tricking Dagoth Ur.
While Sotha Sil began work on a second Heart of Lorkhan, Vivec personally helped lead refugees away from the Ash Blight Dagoth Ur's return had brought. He led them to the city of Gniss where they all entered a sleep from exhaustion. Unfortunately, when Vivec woke he discovered himself as the only survivor, as all of the refugees had been frozen solid in castes of ash, with Vivec's grief being a terrible thing.
As these events unfolded, Tamriel was being conquered one province at a time by Tiber Septim, a Dragonborn who had founded a Third Tamrielic Empire. Wishing for Morrowind to be part of his dream of a united Tamriel but not wishing conflict with the Dunmer, Septim was convinced to choose conflict thanks to Wulfharth, now known as the Underking who still wished vengeance upon the Tribunal, preying on Septim's desperate need for Morrowind's vast reserves of Ebony ore and so he invaded. The Dunmer and Nord armies had several skirmishes along the borders of Black Marsh before Septim breached the island of Vvardenfell, sacking Almalexia's city of Mournhold by sparing a princess named Barenziah.
The Tribunal, knowing they could not fight a war on both sides between Septim and the returned Dagoth Ur with the loss of their divinity, managed to bring Septim to the negotiating table with Vivec spearheading the negotiations and even travelling to the Imperial City at one point to meet with Septim personally. At the negotiations, the Tribunal disclosed the existence of Dagoth Ur but managed to maintain the illusion that they were still full Living Gods, which, along with a general lack of desire to invade Morrowind, kept Septim at bay.
Thanks to these revelations, the Tribunal and Tiber Septim signed the Armistice, a truce which gave Morrowind more religious and cultural rights that the other provinces didn't have while Morrowind was still annexed into the Empire and would help them defeat the Aldmeri Dominion and conquer the Summerset Isles. To accomplish this, the Tribunal gifted Tiber the Anumidium, the second Numidium that still retained much of it's divine power. After the talks were over, Vivec personally came before the Tribunal temple and Grand Council and announced while Morrowind would be annexed, all the special privilages they were allowed to have. While most of the Houses agreed to this, Houses Indoril and Dres opposed this, leading to the Lord High Councilor (who was an Indoril) to be assassinated by the Morag Tong and replaced with an Hlaalu. This caused so much bloodshed between the Houses that they lost more in the coups among the transition than they ever did fighting against Tiber Septim.
Unfortunately, despite becoming part of the Empire, the Tribunal still had to contend with Dagoth Ur, and their yearly pilgramages became bloody assaults on Red Mountain. Each time, they would manage to slay Dagoth Ur and his minions and restore their divinity, only for the Heart to resurrect them all and drive them out of Red Mountain. Along with this, Dagoth Ur still managed to spread his Blight across Morrowind, which cursed the land with his powerful ash and Corprus monsters, causing the Tribunal to create the Great Ghostfence around Red Mountain to contain the spread.
The Ghostfence however, came with it's own problems, as one of the key ingredients to powering it were the remains of dead Dunmer, the more powerful in life they'd been the better. Powering the Ghostfence wasn't helped by the Tribunal's waning power, forcing them to rely more and more on the people's worship to power the Ghostfence but causing many in the Tribunal Temple to question their divinity. This led to the formation and banishment of the Dissident Priests, who came to believe the Ashlanders prophecy that claimed Indoril Nerevar would be reborn as the Nerevarine, casting down the Tribunal and restore worship of the Daedra.
As Sotha Sil and Almalexia kept to themselves in their own respective cities and became recluses, Vivec was largely responsible for the protection of Vvardenfell, earning him even more popularity among it's citizens for his vigil against Dagoth Ur and his forces. While the Tribunal continued their yearly campaigns against Red Mountain, it did not stop the Blight from ravaging Morrowind more and more, with Dagoth Ur's Sixth House retaking their fort of Kogoruhn or even establishing cells in nearly every town on the island. The matter was made even worse when Sotha Sil and Almalexia lost Keening and Sunder to two of Dagoth Ur's minions, Dagoth Odros & Vemyn. While Vivec saved the two before the Ash Vampires killed them, the tools were still stolen. Because of this loss, Sotha Sil ceased interaction with the outside world of his Clockwork City while Almalexia retreated to her palace on mainland Morrowind, leaving Vivec alone on Vvardenfell to protect it against Dagoth Ur.
By 3E 427, Dagoth Ur gained enough power to invade the minds of Morrowind's citizens as they slept, using his words to manipulate and turn the populace against the Tribunal for spearheading the annexation of Morrowind into the Empire while failing to prevent the ever-growing Blight, causing many to defect to the Sixth House and launch terrorist attacks against Imperial citizens.
Emperor Uriel Septim VII had personally arranged for a mysterious Dunmeri prisoner to be escorted to Vvardenfell while being cleared of all charges. Unknown to either the Tribunal or Dagoth Ur however, but the Emperor had (correctly) suspected that this unnamed prisoner was in fact the prophesised hero who would become the Nerevarine, Indoril Nerevar reborn. True to Septim's predictions, the prisoner began working with Blades agent Caius Cosades and slowly undertook and completed the trials which would make them worthy of mantling the prophesised hero.
Fearing the implications of what this meant, Vivec personally had the Temple label the hero an enemy of Vvardenfell, sending Ordinators to hunt them down and kill them to halt the prophecy. This was also done by Vivec to prevent the shattering of the Tribunal's public image, as if the Dunmer lost faith in the Tribunal, the Ghostfence would be undone and Dagoth Ur's Blight would spread faster. Unfortunately, this attempt failed and the Great Houses acknowledged the hero as the Horator while the Ashlanders acknowledged them as the Nerevarine, confirming that Indoril Nerevar walked again.
Left with no choice that wouldn't further damage the Tribunal's image, Vivec arranged for a face to face meeting with the Nerevarine, announcing that the Dissident Priests would be persecuted no more and the curse on the Nerevarine lifted before announcing them to all of Morrowind as the hero of prophecy. In turn, the Nerevarine swore an oath to finally destroy Dagoth Ur and end his Blight over Morrowind. In return for this oath, Vivec entrusted the Nerevarine with the final Tool of Kagrenac the Tribunal had, Wraithguard, teaching them how to wield it.
Before leaving to confront Dagoth Ur, the Nerevarine was able to confront Vivec on the true circumstances surrounding Indoril Nerevar's murder, admitting the Tribunal had done the deed, with Vivec claiming he had done so as he truly saw no reason why the Dunmer should worship Daedra or Aedra, but confesses he considers it his worst crime and regrets having done so ever since. With that, the Nerevarine leaves to confront Dagoth Ur.
After recovering Keening & Sunder and using them to destroy the Heart of Lorkhan, Dagoth Ur vanishes into nothing, freeing Morrowind from his Blight forever while destroying Akulahkhan, his attempt at creating a second Numidium. This victory came at a great cost to the Tribunal however, as with the Heart gone, so too was their divinity, regressing them completely back to mortals but allowing them to keep some amount of power thanks to the Dunmer peoples worship. Meeting with the Nerevarine one last time, Vivec confirms he intends to use his remaining divinity for good and predicts that soon enough all of Morrowind would go back to worshipping Azura and the other Daedra while they were relegated to saints. Despite the loss of godhood, Vivec holds no animosity and tasks the Nerevarine with taking his place as Morrowind's protector.
Afterwards, the Nerevarine travelled to Mournhold on the mainland to resolve a conflict between Almalexia and a supposedly insane Sotha Sil, they discovered that Sotha Sil had actually been murdered by Almalexia, who had gone mad with the loss of her divinity. Almalexia planned to kill both the Nerevarine and Vivec and take her place as Morrowind's true god, but was slain before her insanity could spread. The Nerevarine later went back to Vivec City and informed the former god of his fellow Tribunes fates, which he mourned but accepted as inevitable. He later travelled to the Clockwork City and personally interred the bodies of Sotha Sil and Almalexia in the proper Velothi fashion.
Sometime after the defeat of Dagoth Ur and his fellow Tribunes deaths. the barely alive Jiub was brought before Vivec. Jiub was an ex-criminal who had served his sentence and was now on a self-imposed mission to rid Vvardenfell of the Cliff Racers as redemption, winged beasts that attacked travellers on the road. After being tricked into a whole nest of them, Jiub had slain hundreds before falling unconscious of his wounds. Vivec would heal Jiub completely despite his waning powers and the grateful Jiub would believe the Warrior-Poet had seen something in him worth saving, and his resolve to destroy the Cliff Racers was further strengthened.
Legacy[]
By the time of the Oblivion Crisis began in 3E 433, in which Mehrunes Dagon launched an invasion of Tamriel after assassinating Emperor Uriel Septim VII and his heirs, Vivec had completely vanished from Morrowind with various accounts on what had happened. Some believed he had been brought to the Imperial City to stand judgement for the Tribunal's usurpation of the Good Daedra and their murder of Nerevar. Others believed that he had been kidnapped by Daedra during the Oblivion Crisis and was being held prisoner in the Deadlands. Regardless of which is true, Vivec was gone and Morrowind suffered heavy losses to the invading Dremora.
Worse yet, Baar Dau, the floating meteor flung at Vvardenfell by Sheogorath that Vivec had suspended both to protect the island as well as warn it's denizens of what would happen if they ceased worship of the Tribunal, resumed it's descent. Without Vivec's divine powers to maintain it, the meteor soon resumed it's crash into the island. While there were initial attempts to prevent this via creating a machine that harvested souls for Clavicus Vile, this soon failed and Baar Dau finally crashed onto Vvardenfell. The impact immediately destroyed Vivec City and causing the eruption of Red Mountain in a cataclysmic event known as the "Red Year", which completely devastated Vvardenfell, the coast of mainland Morrowind and the southern part of the island of Solstheim. Even 200 years later, Vvardenfell and southern Solstheim remain hardly inhabitable, though mainland Morrowind has begun to rebuild. Thousands of Dunmer survivors were forced to flee all of Morrowind and still unable to return as Red Mountain continues to sporadically erupt with ash.
Ultimately, while some remember him as a hero of Morrowind, a Living God that protected them for millennia, Vivec remains a controversial figure in modern Dunmer culture, with many condemning him for the lies, betrayal and murder that was spread across his time as a God from start to finish, along with the devastation caused by his arrogance once his time as a God and need for worship passed. This ultimately cemented Vivec's reputation just as he always wished to be seen as: a being embodied by contradictions.
Gallery[]
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Trivia[]
- Vivec made a pact with Sheogorath that protected the Dunmer people to some degree from madness.
- Vivec had a confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon on the site of modern day Maar Gan where Dagon threatened to heave a large rock at the Dunmer but Vivec taunted the Prince making himself the target. The rock became enshrined at Maar Gan and was known as the Magic Rock of Maar Gan.
- Vivec was robbed by the infamous Bandit God Baan Dar, who somehow stole the Poet's 37th Sermon before it was even written.
- In Tribunal mythology, it is claimed Vivec was responsible for the creation of Nix-Hounds, that he created the beasts to help hunt down Dreughs during a time lost war campaign against them. Vivec once conjured a humongous creature that ressembled a Nix-hound to serve as his beast of burden in his giant form.
- Vivec once paid a visit to Davon's Watch to purchase one of their fine horse steeds.
- A drink, Vivec's Gingergreen Chai was named for the God. Whether he was involved in the recipe's creation, or if it was simply named after him is unknown.
- Michael Kirkbride, the designer and writer of the character, confirmed that Vivec was partly inspired by the Hindu God Shiva's androgynous form, Ardhanarishvara.
- When the Tribunal's appearance, personalities, placement in the story were first concieved, the character was originally named Vivane, which was unintentionally taken from Earthdawn. Kirkbride asked Kurt Kuhlmann to rename the character, who chose to change it to Vivek, and sent a couple emails spelling it as "Vivec", which Kirkbride preferred due to its phonetic similarity to the word "insect". Kuhlmann still preferred the spelling of "Vivek" and used it in his section to the PGE1, giving instructions not to change it in the final book, hence why it is the only instance of the spelling in the series. It has been spelled "Vivec" in every subsequent installment of the series.
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  Villains
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Primordial Gods and Forces Daedric Princes Daedra Dragons Vampires Frostbite Spiders Ayleids Aldmeri Dominion Imperial Legion The Longhouse Emperors Thieves Guild Order of the Waking Flame Dark Brotherhood Blackwood Company Order of the Black Worm Glenmoril Witches Stormcloaks Penitus Oculatus Legion Zero Tribunal Sixth House Dragon Cult/Dragon Priests Dwemer Dunmer Draugr Soul Cairn Gray Host The Ascendant Order Creatures Others | ||