The Undiscovered Aurbis: The Founding of Oblivion, The Gates of Night, and the Daedric Interest in Mundus

The Greatest of Daedra, The Gates of Night, and The Daedric Interest in Mundus

Oblivion, in some ways, is not so different from Mundex Arena. The innumerable Daedric Princes squabble for power just as much, if not more, than your mortal politicians do. They wage wars that last for an eternity and trade favors to further their concept’s influence over the Aurbis, gaining power in the process. However, not all Daedra are created equal. The Brush of the Gray Maybe produces many spirits, but the greatest in all of Oblivion are The Fifteen Add One.

NOCTURNAL AZURA BOETHIAH MEPHALA SHEOGORATH HERMAEUS MORA MEHRUNES DAGON MOLAG BAL VAERNIMA SANGUINE NAMIRA HIRCINE CLAVICUS VILE MERIDIA PEYRITE

They are the True Royalty of Oblivion. Though there are many other Daedra who can easily be called a Prince in terms of power, and perhaps can even stand up to one of these on their own, the Fifteen together are nearly unstoppable. My list is as I last knew of them. They were not always Fifteen.Their numbers have changed several times, as members have been kicked out, added back and new members have been added in. Regardless of this, they have always been the most powerful alliance in Oblivion.

The Founding of Oblivion

I wasn't present to witness the beginning, but I have heard accounts from the Ge. Their story began when Ald-Lorkhan started spreading the idea of a subcreation of their own so they could better understand themselves. The Spirits that would later be called the Aedra agreed with Lorkhan and decided to follow his plan. The Spirits later called Daedra Princes by your scholars, on the other hand, did not agree with Lorkhan. They believed creating something separate from yourself was a dangerous idea. Most Spirits agreed with them and moved on.

The Spirit that came to be known as Nocturnal didn’t stop there. She was a very cunning Spirit, embodying mystery and suspicion. It was due to her nature that she was able to detect that there might be something more to Lorkhan’s plan, but she saw merit in the idea of creating something for yourself and yourself alone.

She arranged a secret meeting with Hermaeus Mora while Magnus and Lorkhan were still working on Mundus. He was the first spirit that could truly be called a Daedric Prince, as he was born of Magnus’ thrown away ideas, and Nocturnal wanted to know how he created his realm of Apocrypha. He told her his secret in exchange for a favor. After that, she disappeared from the notice of most other Spirits.

What follows next is difficult to explain in mortal terms. The closest analogy I can give is that Nocturnal gathered a vast amount of Creatia from Anu and “cut” Sithis. She then mixed the blood of Sithis with the blood of Anu, creating the Gray Maybe on a smaller scale. As if this was not momentous enough, she then did what seemed impossible: She bound this miniature Aurbis to her own Will. It became a part of her, and she became a part of it. She created the first true Realm of Oblivion.

This event sent shockwaves throughout most of this Branch of the World River. It is in the nature of all Spirits to self-reflect, and Nocturnal had succeeded where all others failed. Countless spirits who didn’t agree with Lorkhan’s plan went to her and asked how she had done it, and she shared freely. Legions of Spirits began to create their own physical forms and realms with none of the cost associated with Lorkhan’s plan.

What Nocturnal didn’t tell them was the effect creating her Realm had on her. All spirits desire self-reflection so they can better understand themselves, but few have ever achieved this. The Princes create their Realms as mirrors. By looking into their Realm, they can better understand who they are. Likewise, the Lesser Daedra gravitate to Princes that can help themselves better understand who they are. The process of this changes you, however. You are no longer as you imagined yourself to be. The Reflection reveals who you are. Creating a Realm of Oblivion sacrifices potential for a better grasp on your concept.

Nocturnal saw her face in the Evergloam. She saw that she wasn’t merely Mystery or Suspicion, she was so much more. She was closer to the Void than any other Spirit. She was the very essence of Oblivion. The more Realms of Oblivion were created, the more powerful she became. By the time the Mundus was complete, she was nearly the most powerful being in the Aurbis.

The Creation of the Void Mirror Pact

But power alone wasn’t enough for her. Oblivion was overflowing with Spirits eager to take their place among the Daedra, and she realized that sooner or later they might become a threat. She gathered the most powerful Daedric Princes she could find and offered an arrangement. If any other Spirit should become a threat too big for all of them, they would work together and destroy it. The Greatest of the Daedra agreed to this plan, and thus the Void Mirror Pact was born.

The Pact hasn’t stopped all of the enmity between them. Mehrunes The Razor has had many an epic clash against Molag Bal on the shores of Coldharbour, and Sheogorath routinely interferes in the machinations of Hermaeus Mora. For all that it fails to keep peace between them, it has served them well though. Not many Daedra have slipped past their reach, and those that have rarely are able to exert much influence on the Mundus.

The most famous use of the Pact was to stop one of its very own members. The Crystal Knight had proven to be a menace to all by conquering vast swaths of Oblivion and building a great Fortress. Realizing that the time she feared had finally come, Nocturnal invoked the Pact and summoned the power of all her allies. They channeled this power into a curse, which halted the Knights of Order in their tracks. Jyggalag was turned into Sheogorath and the crisis was solved.

The Gates of Night

Magnus and the Magna-Ge’s escape from the mortal plane proved to be a problem for the Daedra. Prior to their desperate crash through Oblivion, the regulation of Creatia flowing from Aetherius was relatively easy. The Stars changed that by creating gaping wounds in Oblivion. Magicka poured through the gaps at a staggering rate, which had a very negative effect on the various Realms. Maintaining a Realm of Oblivion is a balancing act. Too many Daedrons or too much Creatia and it will destroy itself; the holes torn by Magnus and the Magna-Ge upset this balance.

Nocturnal acted quickly. In truth, she realized that only the Sun was a real threat. The magicka being leaked from the smaller stars wasn’t enough to cause any serious problems. The Sun, however, was hemorrhaging magick at such a high rate that it could destroy several Realms of Oblivion if not dealt with.

Using her powers over darkness, she constructed vast Gates around the Sun. These Gates are made of pure, concentrated shadow, so it can withstand the power of the Sun and blot it out for a time. It can’t hold back the Sun’s power forever, so Nocturnal periodically opens it back up and repairs it for the next time. This is seen on Mundus as the Day/Night Cycle, where Day is the Sun providing a view of Aetherius and Night is Nocturnal shrouding the sun so only Oblivion is viewable.

I have also seen Nocturnal use the Gates as a sort of border between the Aether and Oblivion. The Sun is the easiest gate between the two places, so Nocturnal further increased her power over Oblivion by building the Gates there. She can stop most Spirits from coming and going if she likes, but there are exceptions. I simply go through another constellation. It’s too much of a bother to constantly deal with Nocturnal and her cronies every time you want to leave Oblivion.

The Daedric Interest in Mundus

I don’t know for sure why so many Daedric Princes are interested in Mundus and mortals. They might just enjoy having a personal playground kept away from the rest of the Daedra, but I don’t think that is all there is to it.

The Mundus, like Oblivion, is a reflection. The biggest difference is that the Mundus is a reflection of the Aurbis as a whole rather than the reflection of a single Spirit. This creates a huge number of opportunities. As I said earlier, all Spirits are given to self-reflection, and the Mundus is another way of doing that. I think the Greatest of Daedra saw the potential of the Mundus to spread their concepts and in turn make them more powerful, and by making them more powerful, more capable of understanding themselves.

A Realm of Oblivion can reflect one’s self, true. But it cannot explain how your concept interacts with other concepts easily. The Evergloam reveals to Nocturnal who she is, but not who she is in relation to Sex and Death. Moonshadow tells Azura who she is, but not who she is in relation to Plots. There is no easy way for these concepts to interact in Oblivion, because they are all separated from one another.

The Mundus is a different story altogether. Mundex Arena can house all of their concepts at once, and show them who they are in relation to one another. The Three Good Daedra didn’t take the Chimer from Summerset without reason. Azura, Boethiah, and Mephala wanted to see how their spheres interacted. Their exclusive ownership of the Mundus also gives them the ability to interact with the spheres of the Aedra, which are concepts long lost to every spirit not a part of the mortal plane.

Perhaps mortals ask themselves, “Why does Mehrunes Dagon destroy?”, or “Why does Mephala murder?”. They do it for the same reason I explore every corner of the World River- They want to find themselves.

It is a difficult thing for a mortal to understand. You are born unmantled, with nothing to define yourself with other than your own existence. As you grow, you change. You choose new concepts to make a part of yourself-shopkeeper, husband, thief, warrior, father, mage, etc. By the end of your life you have defined yourself.

We Spirits can never change. From the moment our concept is born, we will embody that concept forever. We cannot change who we are. We cannot betray our nature. The only path for us is inward, to discover more of who we are and what we represent.

Perhaps that was what Lorkhan saw in his project. His limits were in truth freedom. Maybe the idea of beings who can choose who they really are is as intoxicating a prospect for the Greatest of Daedric Princes as it was for Lorkhan when he began the Mundus Whirlpool. I don’t know for sure.

What I do know is that the Greatest of Daedra are still circling the Mundus. Their Pact has lasted for untimes innumerable, and I do not see it faltering any untime soon. The Gates of Night are still as strong as ever, and the Daedra are always growing in power. The games have only just begun.

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