Discover Top Posts Tagged with #numidium

Zurin, Arctus and Imperial Battlemage are having a tea party (no nosy dragons allowed)

Since Tiber Septim's Grand Vizier was never seen alive in games @cerviero, @rzpotato and I have created our own designs for him. Here you can see them from left to right, respectively.

(This is a collab. Cerviero also drew the entire environment 💪)

#the elder scrolls #elder scrolls fanart #zurin arctus #tes #tesblr #underground_gallery #tiber wars #nahfahlaar #numidium #that's enough to tag them #believe me

Hi! Fanfic person again. I'm here because I have something EXTREMELY important. This is a very vague/obscure topic so if you don't know then either feel free to let me know you got nothing, take your time answering this, or put my Ask on your page to set me free to the Lore Wolves who might know better.

I need to know. EVERYTHING. there is to know about the Numidium and how it was made.

Took me a while to string together but here's what I got for you:

Part I: Construction and the Dwemer

Numidium was a thousand foot tall Automaton. Like a golem or an atronach or a robot. It had no life of its own and had to be activated thru a "heart" of great power.

Numidium itself was first made by the Dwemer under the reign of King Kagrenac.

Kagrenac was a "tonal" architect. Basically he was able to construct magical devices thru the manipulation of sound. He was *the* guy most responsible for Numidium's creation but as we all know, Kagrenac and the Dwemer never saw their vision achieved (probably) as they all dissappeared.

Its important to point out that Numidium itself is a summation of Dwemer attitudes towards gods and worship. Dwemer resented gods and worship. But what do you do if you hate/dislike the gods in a world where they absolutely exist? You become one yourself. Thats why ALL dwemer were meant to become a single being thru Numidium.

Numidium was the ultimate goal for the Dwemer. It's what they always wanted but never achieved. Total and complete freedom from the gods would have been theirs. Numidium had obvious power over tangible reality and would have been used on the Dwemers enemies, but in the dwemers vision it would have been ultimately used to break the barrier of mortality and dimensions and set the dwemer (now as Numidium) onto any path they desired. No gods or restrictions.

This godhood would be achieved thru the collection of all dwemer souls within the vessel of Numidium and their collective empowerment thru the heart of Lorkhan. Basically the Dwemer wanted to forgo the individual and become a unified consciousness which achieved godhood.

Quite literally, the gold skin of Numidium was comprised of dwemer souls. Unfortunately for them, Kagrenac, the architect of Numidium, along with all the Dwemer disappeared during the battle of Red Mountain, and Numidium the fell into the hands of the Tribunal. The Tribunal had no interest in Numidium and instead used the heart of Lorkhan to empower *just themselves* directly into godhood. Numidium was henceforth safeguarded, but left unused by the Tribunal.

Before we continue to part two I wanted to point out that despite being a "mortal construct" Numidium is a Tower of Nirn. Nirn "towers" are metaphysical constructs which basically hold nirn and mortal reality together. They resound all thru the history and reality of Nirn. Despite not even existing until after the beginning of linear time in TES, Numidium was one such tower. How? beats me, but something worth noting since Numidium is critical to multiple major events in history.

Part 2: Tiber Septim and Numidium's first destruction

In the late years of the second era, Morrowind was one of the last regions not under imperial rule. Tiber Septim knew taking morrowind would be difficult if not impossible given its rule by the god-like Tribunal. Vivec and co likewise knew a total war with the empire risked devastating morrowind and possibly losing their own power since they were (by then) cut-off from the Heart of Lorkhan by Dagoth Ur.

Thus after some conflict, both sides negotiated and Morrowind was essentially allowed to continue business as usual with limited imperial control. Tiber Septim was given Numidium but NOT given the heart of Lorkhan which was needed to power it. Basically he was given an empty shell.

Instead or the heart of Lorkhan, the heart/soul of Zurin Arctus the imperial battlemage (or king Wulfharth if you read and believe the Acturian Heresy ) was placed into Numidium to power it. Despite this technical work around and a less powerful heart than Lorkhan's, Numidium was more than powerful enough for Tiber Septim's goals.

At this point in time, Numidium is no longer able to perform its designed function (ascend the dwemer to godhood or beyond) and instead is basically a puppeteered "god" robot which follows the direction of whoever has its remote control (the totem of tiber septim).

The totem was a magical device which allowed the user to control the "Mantella" aka the new heart within Numidium. Think of the Mantella as a big ass soul gem which was the battery that powered the robot that was Numidium. Again, it's important to note that the mantellan heart isn't as powerful as the heart of lorkhan, yet Numidium is able to break and bend the rules of time and space. imagine what Tiber Septim could have done with the heart of Lorkhan.

At this point in time, the Totem which controlled Numidium was *supposed* to only be controllableby someone of the Septim Bloodline or someone of unbelievable magical power like Zurin Arctus (the imperial battlemage). Anyone not worthy would immediately die if they even tried to operate Numidium

Numidium was assembled from the pieces given by Vivec and activated for the first time in Elsweyr as Tiber Septim began to prepare to take the Summerset isles

To conquer the Summerset isles took basically no time at all. The Altmer gave up within "hours" (if that term is applicable) after Numidium inflicted devastation that may be incomprehensible to the less magically inclined races of Tamriel.

Theres non-canon writings by Michael Kirkbride saying the battle between Numidium and the Summerset isles began before the linear flow of time and continues on into the 5th era (the era beyond even the events of Skyrim).

In practical speak, Numidium just dont make sense to mortal perception. Its actions and their effects are usually incomprehensible, but at least the outcomes can perhaps be understood as Tiber Septim put his boot to the neck of the last independent kingdom of Tamriel.

After this, Tiber Septim became the first emperor of *all* Tamriel. With no great opponents left to conquer, Tiber Septim began using Numidium to kill any neutral royal families in his empire who were not sufficiently loyal to him.

Part 3: Numidium's destruction and the events of Daggerfall

Seeing Tiber Septim turn Numidium on his on subjects enraged the imperial battlemage. Thus the battlemage battled his creation which ultimately destroyed them both (seemingly). The Mantellan heart was blown out of this reality and into atherius and Numidium's body was scattered all thru tamriel. The battlemage, unable to die without his heart, went into a deep sleep in a Crypt as he had lost his lifeforce. He then became known as the Underking and sent his minions to look for the mantella as Tiber Septim sent blades agents to look for pieces of Numidium. The Totem of Tiber Septim was also lost in this period.

Tiber Septim would eventually die and it took hundreds of years for the Blades to find all the pieces. Eventually by the late Third era and the reign of Uriel Septim VII, all the pieces of Numidium had been collected but the heart still was lost.

In TES II: Daggerfall, multiple factions want the totem of Tiber Septim to control their own destiny and that of tamriel. Thru the events of the game, you collect the totem of Tiber Septim, and it reveals to you it has intelligence and will. It even reveals it will allow someone of its choosing to operate it (but not you) if the totem believes they are worthy. This is a surprise as it goes against the "designed function and limits" of the totem.

Later on in the game, you are transported to the mantellan crux, and free the mantella. You then have a choice to grant control of numidium to the faction of choice.

There are 7 possible endings to Daggerfall and yet all seem to be canon. how? essentially Numidium can break reality and thru its use, all seven possible endings become true at the same time, despite multiple contracting each other directly. even more confusing, multiple Numidiums were active on Nirn simultaneously during this event. this became known as the Warp in the West and is even mentioned in later tes games after Daggerfall.

Using Numidium causes "temporal distortions". Again, Numidium has power beyond time and space and things get FUNKY when those are broken.

UESP sums it up well with this quote:

"On the 9th of Frostfall, there were forty-four city-states in the Iliac Bay; on the 11th, after a number of mysterious cataclysms and anomalies, there were only four—Sentinel, Wayrest, Daggerfall, and Orsinium—all swearing loyalty to the Emperor."

Mannimarco the king of worms became a god during this event and the Underking (the imperial battlemage) was finally reunited with his heart and was allowed to die.

With Numidium the impossible becomes possible. Godhood is yours. Time is irrelevant. Space is meaningless. Dimensions are just layers you walk thru.

Part 4: What (thankfully) didnt happen

As we see with the Warp in the West, using Numidium has unpredictable and devastating effects, yet this was just with a Numidium powered by the *mantellan heart*. The heart of Lorkhan is leagues above whatever power Numidium employed during its use by Tiber Septimand in Daggerfall.

This is why what Dagoth Ur was attempting to do during the events of TES III: Morrowind was so dangerous.

He was building Akulakhan (basically a 2nd numidium) and had direct access to the heart of Lorkhan. He would have completed Rewritten reality and conquered Nirn and beyond.

Where is Numidium now?

To tie it all back to the events of Daggerfall, Numidium is gone, likely due to the Mantellan heart being reunited with the Underking and thus destroying Numidium once more.

Can its pieces of recollected again and reactivated in the future thru new magical means? Maybe. but thats for TES IX to show us

#the elder scrolls #tes #asks #tes lore #numidium