Hey everybody, thanks for listening to the Elder Lore podcast. This is our third episode and today we're gonna be talking about well, we're gonna be talking about a lot of things, but we're gonna be talking about the construction of the Numidian, the subsequent disappearance of the Dwemer, and also the changing of the kinder into the Dunmer. So we got a lot of stuff going on today, but it is all kind of part of the same story. It's one of my favorite stories in the Elder Scrolls universe.
I think it should be yours also. But before I get into our story in earnest, I need to give you a little background information. First of which being that we need to discuss early elves. So we're talking about the Middle Marathic Era before the first era has even begun, and the elves are just starting to kind of spread themselves out on this new continent that they found called Tamriel.
The Dwemer have settled in underground cities in the nation that would become called Dwemerath, who in modern times is called Marwen. But at the time, most of the other races of elves called the Dwemerath because that's where the Dwemer settled. In the late Marathic Era, the Kimer followed the Prophet Velloth out of the elven homelands and into Dwemerath, preaching the worship of the Daedra. The elves up until this point had mostly worshiped the aedra, and so the Kimer kind of left the elven homelands in order to escape religious persecution.
So they arrive in Dwemerath. The Dwemer are already there, of course, and the two of them live in kind of an uneasy peace with each other for a long time. The Dwemer don't really subscribe to any of the religions that any of the other races in Tamriel prescribe to. They worshiped, if anything, they worship logic and reason.
Fast-forwarding a little bit. This is around the end of the Marathic Era and around the beginning of the first era. And if you'll remember from our first podcast, we talked about these were more in his 500 companions, retaking Skyrim for the Norths and pushing all the snow elves into hiding. Well, these were more descendants would preside over Skyrim.
They would rule over Skyrim. But it wasn't until his descendants King Harald came around that the ruler was called the king. There's a little bit of, uh, depending on which source you look at, some people say that it was Harald's crowning that begins the first era, but there are some other sources that say it might have been already a few years into the first era when Harald is crowned. At any rate, King Harald passes the throne to his son Shielner, who dies relatively quickly, and so the throne passes on to Harald's brother, Vraj.
And it would be King Vraj that would begin the Skyrim conquests. He aggressively expanded Skyrim out relatively quickly. Skyrim would account for almost all of the northern provinces in Tamriel, including High Rock, which is the home of the Brettons, and including Dwemerrath, which is modern day Marowin. And it's important to know these things because we're going to be talking a lot about the relationship between the Kimer and the Dwemer during this episode, and it wasn't until Marowin is taken by the Nords that the relationship between them starts to become interesting.
I just also want to make a side note that while the Dwemer are alternatively called the dwarves, they really don't have anything in common with what we think of when we think of dwarves in the Western fantasy tradition. They're really just another race of elves, albeit elves that have generally kind of had these long black beards, but they really don't have much else in common with, say, the dwarves of Middle Earth. So about 400 years into the first era, the Kimer and the Dwemer decide that it's time that they take back their homeland. Indoorill, Nairvar, who is a lord from housing to rail, meets with Dumek Dwarf King, and a fortune alliance between the Kimer and the Dwemerr so that they can unite against their common enemy.
This alliance would be called the First Council, and this military campaign against the Nords would become called the war of the First Council. So around the year 416, the last of the Nords have either been pushed out or have been killed. Dwemerrath is back in the hands of its native inhabitants. This is when the nation kind of loses the name Dwemerrath and becomes the new nation of Resdane, which is symbolic of this alliance between the Dwemer and the Kimer.
Now, in the beginning, it was a little bit of an uneasy alliance. Again, the Kimer and the Dwemerr had almost nothing in common, and they really didn't see each other's side of the story, but they were, they were fine leaving well enough alone, I guess, for a little while. Then the war of the First Council comes, and there's still a bit of an uneasy peace for a while after the Nords have been pushed out, but eventually both the Kimer and the Dwemer experience prolonged periods of peace and prosperity, unfortunately for both of them. That all kind of comes crashing down when Nairavar finds out about the Numidio.
So it's important now to introduce another character in this story. Vornin Daguath is the high chancellor of House Daguath, just like Nairavar's is the lord of House Indoorill. And he's a friend to both the Kimer and the Dwemerr. Daguath approaches Nairavar with proof, while some say with proof, some say just conjecture, that the Dwemerr have been in fact constructing a new god in secret.
So Daguath tells Nairavar about it, that at some point in history, the Dwemerr have discovered underneath the Red Mountain a magnificently powerful artifact that they plan on using to power up this what they call Quinim quote, brass god. Now, just for a little backstory on this topic in particular, that artifact that they were discussing is in fact the heart of Lorkin. Now Lorkin is, he was originally one of the nine divines, he has a Patameic deity, we'll get into that in a later episode. But Lorkin is the one, he's the kind of trickster god and he's the one responsible for tricking the original spirits into creating the plane of existence, the realm of creation.
So being the trickster that he is, he is basically torn asunder and his body parts are spread throughout the universe basically. Now there are explanations as to you know they say that the two moons of Nairn are pieces of Lorkin's body and the stars and so on and so forth. But his heart after being scattered comes crashing into Tamriel and basically forms the Red Mountain on his impact. So all the way at the bottom of the Red Mountain is Lorkin's heart.
At some point in history, the dwarves in their Delving Deeper and Deeper must have discovered the heart. So Lord Kaggrenak, who is the chief tonal architect and shop foreman underneath, do Mac Dwarf King builds three tools with which he can manipulate the heart and perhaps put it to use. These tools of course you come across them in the main quest of Morrowind, these tools are the hammer which is called sundur, the sword and tuning fork known as keening and the gauntlet which is called Wraithguard and which the with these three tools Lord Kaggrenak can manipulate the heart and his plan is to use it as a soul gem to power this brass god. So in essence Lord Kaggrenak is trying to build a new god out of the pieces of a quote unquote dead god.
So all of this is being told to Nairvar by Dega. Nairvar of course is particularly pained by this because during the peace process when the first council is being formed, him and Deumak Dwarf King become kind of friendly with each other. They might not see they might not see everything from each other's points of view but they have a healthy respect for each other. So Nairvar goes to meet with Deumak and confronts him about the Numidium.
Deumak pleads ignorance whether or not he was in fact ignorant of the Numidium's construction is a different story but he pleads ignorance and he's also simultaneously angered that the Kimer are meddling in the affairs of the Dwemer. So Nairvar is very well he feels betrayed and he doesn't really know what to do so he seeks out the advice of Azura the daydric prince of the dawn. Azura tells him and you can read about this in the book titled The Battle of Red Mountain. It's written by Vibek himself.
We'll get into Vibek later. Azura tells him that it's true in fact that the Dwemer are building the Numidium using the heart of Lurgen and that he needs to do something about it because if he doesn't not only the Kimer are going to be in danger but in fact all of Tamriel is going to be in danger. So another influence on Nairvar at this time is the Alm City, the Tribunal Temple. The Tribunal consists of three figureheads all Malaxia who is actually Nairvar's wife Sotha Sil who's a great mage and Vibek who is the quote unquote warrior poet.
So under the advice of Vorindaga and under the advice of the Tribunal Temple Nairvar decides that the Kimer have to take the fight to the Dwemer. So around 300 years after the Nords are finally pushed out, it's around the year 700, Indoorill Nairvar, the Tribunal Temple, Vorindaga and the rest of the Kimer forces descend on the Dwemer at the Red Mountain. This is where things start to get muddy. There are different theories and different facts as to what is going on.
I'm going to do my best to present all of the facts and let you decide on your own what actually happened but that's one of the great things about this story. So the Kimer meet the Dwemer on the battlefield. The only thing that we really know beyond the shadow of a doubt is that with the Kimer and the Dwemer standing face to face on the battlefield, the Dwemer suddenly just disappeared. The only thing they leave behind, they disappear with no trace.
The only thing they leave behind is the architecture they've constructed over the years. They're cities themselves. There's no more people, there's no more evidence that maybe people might have been there at one point, they're just gone. The Kimer point of view at the time was that they were cursed by their own hubris and vanity in trying to create their own god and they were either destroyed or damned forever.
There are others who believe that in that last minute Lord Kegrenak used his tools on the heart and A destroyed the Dwemer, just something goes wrong and the Dwemer just wiped off the face of existence. B transported the Dwemer into another plane of existence. It might seem far-fetched that they transported themselves into another realm but we do in fact know that the Dwemer kind of trafficked in these kinds of experiments. It is said in some sources that the Dwemer had this ability to speak to each other without talking over long distances.
It's kind of telepathy which they called the calling and it is also known. You do meet a Dwemer in the game, Morrowind and I don't want to give too many spoilers but the reason he explains to you, he explains to you that the reason that he has not disappeared like the rest of his brethren is because he was in fact traveling on another plane of existence when they disappeared. So when he returned the rest of his entire race was just not there anymore. So we know that the Dwemer have experimented with these kinds of things before and it becomes not really that far-fetched that maybe they're just lying in weight in some other plane of existence or sea in that last instant are taken by Azura and imprisoned in a blivy.
Those are the three major theories as to what happened whichever one you believe more that's up to you and you might have other theories also but the fact of the matter is of course we just don't know we just don't know what happened to the Dwemer they just disappeared and let no trace behind. So here again is when some of the stories kind of diverge from each other. If we are to believe what the tribunal wants us to believe then we would know that just before the Dwemer actually physically disappeared Dumac and Nerevar were locked in this battle with each other and somehow managed to kill each other at the same moment. Even going further than that some people believe that Nerevar rejoiced in killing Dumac.
Some people even go as far as to say they ate his heart afterwards but other people think that there was there was a friendship between the two of them and although both of them knew that this animosity must exist between them they were both very grieved that it would have to come to violence in the way that it did. If we believe what the dissident priests believe which comes out of the which comes out of the tradition of the Ashlander tribes in Morrowind then we would believe that in fact there was a totally different version of events after the Battle of the Red Mountain a much more sinister version of events which the tribunal has worked very hard to silence over the years. So in the dissident priests version of the story we have the Battle of the Red Mountain we have the Dwemer disappearing then we actually have the tribunal and Nerevar leaving to I believe go to Mournhold to discuss what exactly needs to happen with the heart of lurking and with all Kegrenax tools. In their stead they leave foreign Degoth behind to guard the tools and the heart and to make sure that nothing happens to them.
So I'm sure you can guess what comes next eventually Nerevar and the tribunal return to the Red Mountain and they find that Degoth has used the tools on the heart in an attempt to achieve some kind of divinity himself. This just furthers Nerevar's point of view that nobody should use the heart or Kegrenax tools for any reason ever. There isn't ensuing scuffle is believed or the tribunal believed that they had killed before Nerevar. If you've played Morrowind you know that's not exactly true.
The tribunal after more and more time passes and they become more and more jealous and greedy for this power and divinity that they actually conspire to murder Nerevar so that they can use the tools on themselves. So the tribunal temple sabotage Nerevar in one of his many excursions to seek out the advice of the Daedric Prince Azura. It is said that Nerevar's wife, Al-Malaxia, poisoned his robes and that Sotha-Sill poisoned his incense and that the warrior poet Vyvek used poisoned incantations to summon Azura and that Nerevar is murdered by the tribunal. Subsequently, the tribunal returns to Red Mountain.
They use the tools on the heart and achieve divinity themselves. It is at this point that Azura appears to them and curses the Kimer forever. She changes their skin color which used to be this kind of golden hue into that ashen gray we see on the dark elves now. Turns their eyes red and it is in this way that the Kimer evolved into the Dunmer.
So I hope you enjoyed our episode. Again all the music you heard during this episode are from the soundtrack composed by Jeremy Sol. Visit the blog if you notice anything during this episode that you think is incorrect. Send me corrections, send me suggestions.
The blog is at elderlord.wordpress.com. Also I have now set up an RSS feed so that you can add the podcast to your iTunes and you can automatically download every time a new episode comes out. You can find out how to do that on the blog itself. So again thanks for listening.
I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I do and I hope you tune in for the next episode. Alright thanks.