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You’ve experienced Tamriel in your own way, but want to learn more about its story. Well,
to get to the heart of the story- you have to go back to the beginning…
Sotha Sil…Almalexia…Vivec… powerful, immortal deities born not of celestial providence,
but of flesh and blood and pain. Much has been written of the Tribunal, and
how these three mere mortals dared reach out and grasp the power of gods with an act so
brazen- they transformed the world of Tamriel forevermore.
To understand the Tribunal with perfect fullness, one name must resonate at the very core of
your being. Many know of The Nerevarine, the prophesied reincarnation of Indoril, who rose
to battle the insane man-god Dagoth Ur, crushing House Dagoth and rescuing Morrowind from the
Soul Sickness and the Blight Storms in the name of most blessed Azura. But few know the
man who came before, the very man whose orders Dagoth Ur claimed to be following; and it
is there that the story of the Tribunal truly begins.
The time of Nerevar was one of great conflict; a time when two races of Mer, the Dwemer and
the Chimer waged war based on theological differences. The Chimer had wandered many
years, sustained by the worship of their ancestors and barbaric traditions of supplication and
sacrifice. All accounts indicate they fared poorly, particularly in relation to the cold
and clinical Dwemer, who focused on science and engineering. The Dwemer had known great
prosperity to the Chimer’s displeasure, yet it was not from there that the strife
between the two factions stemmed. The Chimer were outraged at what they saw as sacrilege
from the Dwemer and would engage in raids intended to punish blasphemers.
Only General Nerevar of the Chimer was able to foster a peace between the two. After he
and General Dumac Dwarfking of the Dwemer joined forces to drive the invading Nords
from Morrowind, the two created a truce that would last hundreds of years. It was a treaty
built upon deep friendship, but the harmony wouldn’t last. Nerevar’s Queen, and his
two most trusted advisors all foretold the failure of the treaty and unavoidable war
between the two races. Their prediction would change the destiny
of Nirn. They were respectively, Queen Indoril Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Lord Vivec the Poet.
It was Kagrenac! May his wretched name be
cursed for all time! High Priest and advisor to Dumac Dwarf-Orc, he discovered the fabled
Heart of Lorkhan within the bowels of Red Mountain. Kagrenac recognized the fearsome
potential in the Heart, and had created means to use the sacred artifact to create a mechanical
god, The Numidium. Kagrenac intended the Dwemer to bow down before the obscenity, believing
worshipping it would lead to a deeper enlightenment and further prosperity. It also held the capacity
to be a powerful weapon. In all, it was an act of utter defilement, and intensely profane
to the fundamentalist Chimer. The First Council decided to send Nerevar
as a representative of the Five Houses of the Dunmer, at that time known as the Five
Hourse of the Chimer. Nerevar was to stop the Dwemer and their infernal creation; however,
he was a calculating man who would not move against his longtime friend without first
hearing the words from Dumac’s own mouth. He approached the Dwemer commander intending
to avert bloodshed, but to no avail. High Craftlord Kagrenac was haughty and indignant,
demanding to know how it was that Nerevar dared question the actions of the intellectually
superior Dwemer. Dumac remained stoic, clearly weighing his options even as they rapidly
dwindled to naught. It is believed that Dumac’s silence actually masked great shock, for his
High Priest’s actions had been unknown even to the very chieftain of the Dwemer people.
Still Nerevar, against all advice, strived to make peace. He journeyed to the temple
of the Daedric Prince Azura. His supplication to the Goddess revealed a vison; the Dwemer
were indeed attempting to create a new god and Kagrenac himself had crafted tools for
the purpose of harnessing the power of the Heart of Lorkhan. This marked the final breakdown
of communication between Dumac and Nerevar…the War of The First Council did commence.
It was brutal and gruesome. United under the First Council, all the might of the Chimer,
was no match for the metal Dwemer automatons that had been designed for the sole purpose
of rending flesh. The Dwemer creations were fast, merciless and practically indestructible.
They fell upon the Dunmer with hellish clanking and demonic hissing, and where they passed…no
life remained. Nerevar was rewarded for his masterful strategies
and ferocity in battle with full command over the massed forces of the Great Houses and
the savage Ashlanders. He had successfully driven the Dwemer back on more than one occasion
using the desert barbarians in two pronged assaults that left Dumac’s forces cut off,
broken and in disarray. He led them all the way to Red Mountain, on the island of Vvardenfell,
and lay siege upon Dumac’s Citadel, attacking the Dwemer stronghold with the bulk of his
forces and led by his generals. Simultaneously, Nerevar himself led his most elite warriors
through a narrow and virtually unknown passage that went almost directly to the chamber where
the Heart of Lorkhan lay, and where Nerevar knew Dumac would be.
With Lord Voryn Dagoth at his side, Nerevar confronted Dumac Dwarfking and Kagrenac.
Whatever final words were spoken between those two men has been lost to Time. No record at
all remains. What is believed is that on that dark and terrible day two old friends slew
each other and that upon the death of his master Dumac, the fool Kagrenac in his grief
and fear and rage did attempt to use the profane Tools he had created. Wielding the tools,
Kagrenac struck the Heart of Lorkhan and at that very instant, every Dwemer on Nirn…vanished.
No Dwemer was ever seen or heard from again. Nerevar lay mortally wounded, yet conscious.
Furious, Lord Dagoth seized the Tools of Kagrenac and demanded they be destroyed immediately
by hurling them into the molten core of the Red Mountain. But Nerevar would hear counsel
from his Queen, Sotha Sil and Vivec before deciding what to do with the diabolical instruments.
After being carried back to the surface and meeting with his counselors, he decided the
Tools would be preserved, in secret, should the Dwemer return to wage war against the
Five Houses again. Further, they all swore before Azura to never use the Tools for any
purpose akin to what the Dwemer had intended. Nerevar was quickly dying, and would have
all involved take the oath, including Dagoth. But when Nerevar and the Tribunal returned
to the chamber that housed the Heart of Lorkhan, where Dagoth was standing guard, Dagoth was
frenzied, wild eyed and rambling about how only he could wield the Tools and that only
House Dagoth could house them. It was clear that whatever madness had gripped
Kagrenac now infected Dagoth. With the last of his strength Nerevar dealt Dagoth a grievous
injury and then expired at the site of his greatest victory. Nerevar’s attack weakened
the traitorous noble enough so that Nerevar’s forces could take control of the Tools from
Dagoth, who hastily made his escape. With Nerevar dead, his advisors ascended to
the highest ranks of the First Council, renaming it the Grand Council. For many years Vivec
and Almalexia mourned Nerevar, and leaned on one another for support. Sotha Sil however,
unbeknownst to the other members of the Council continued to explore the secrets of Kagrenac’s
Tools. Ultimately, Sotha Sil approached Almalexia who bitterly grieved her Lord. Sotha Sil knew
of Almalexia’s anguish, and swayed her with visions of a Chimer Empire, with themselves
as benevolent deities who would usher in the greatest era of prosperity ever known. Almalexia,
in her emotional vulnerability, followed Sotha Sil, who had, it is assumed, succumbed to
the very evil that had led the entire Dwemer race to extinction, and Dagoth to madness.
Sotha Sil seduced Almalexia that day, and she in turn persuaded Vivec that they should
renounce their oaths to Nerevar and to Azura. That day they committed sacrilege far greater
than that of the Dwemer. Making pilgrimage to Red Mountain, the three did take up the
Tools of Kagrenac and each in turn struck Lorkhan’s Heart.
And thus, the great and powerful Tribunal came to be. The new man-gods had broken their
vows to divine Azura, and her rage was boundless. She was furious at their betrayal, and it
was the Dunmer who would bear the mark of her wrath.
But that…is a story for another day.