Penitus Oculatus Report on Recusancy in Morrowind

This text is a follow-up to my thread found at the following link: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/5m9tnp/the_almsivi_tribunals_ultimate_fate/.

FOR THE INWARD SEEING EYE ONLY MORROWIND REPORT - INSPECTOR ‘MARCUTIO’, 1st LAST SEED, 4E201

Hail.

I hope that you are in good health. This report recounts sensitive matters concerning the former Imperial province of Morrowind and some of the consequences of "Operation Prophet" conducted by our predecessors. It is no secret that Penitus Oculatus considers "Operation Prophet" one of the greatest failures of our predecessors, and a not exactly shining example how not to conduct clandestine interventions into matters of culture and religion. While the goals of the operation, namely the destruction of the dangerous "Sixth House" cult, were met with success, the negative side effects from "Prophet" are still being evaluated, and each evaluation uncovers new unintended consequences. Among these consequences is the religious schism between Dark Elves, known as the Recusancy.

ON THE TERM

The Recusancy is aptly named. As any educated man knows, a recusancy is a form of rebellion, but it is not a rebellion against old order: it's a rebellion against something newly imposed on society, in favor of the old order. The Dark Elven Recusancy is exactly that: defiance of the doctrines of the New Temple of Reclamations, and adherence to the doctrines of the Tribunal Temple.

ON THE INFORMANTS

I have interviewed several informants in the know about the Recusancy, including activists and witnesses: Aphia Velothi, a miner's wife from Raven Rock, Solstheim and a former Tribunal priestess; Llandras Dral, an Ordinator from the openly rebellious Order of the First and Only Triune; Sadal Redas, a House Redoran deserter who is outwardly loyal to the Temple of Reclamations. Such a broad selection of informants allowed me to plot the full picture of the Recusancy as a movement.

ON THE FORMS OF RECUSANCY

The Recusancy, as I've learned from my informants, comes in three forms differing in the level of activity: active Recusancy, which amounts to open defiance of the Reclamations and actions against the New Temple; passive Recusancy, which amounts to defying the New Temple but doing nothing to counteract it; and hidden Recusancy, which amounts to avoiding direct confrontation with the Temple and secular authorities while maintaining one's beliefs.

Active Recusancy is the easiest one to monitor, because all Recusants of this level of activity are visible. The only large coherent organization that is in active and militant Recusancy is the Order of the First and Only Triune, headquartered in old Molag Mar and led by Berel Sala, the former Grandmaster of the Ordinators. There are lesser groups all across Morrowind, but they are far from the number of the Order (numbering three to five individuals each), lack fortified strongholds and military strength, and operate on hit-and-run tactics foremostly. The total number of active Recusants across Morrowind can be estimated as 1200 individuals, with 1036 of them members of Berel Sala's order, and the rest disorganized groups of fanatics.

Passive Recusancy is harder to observe, because such Recusants are less likely to produce observable evidence of their activities. Passive Recusants aren't militant, neither are they involved in any attempts to "monkey-wrench" the Reclamations Temple. They worship ALMSIVI in secret, alone or in groups, and sometimes provide food or shelter for smaller groups of active Recusants; in all other respects, passive Recusants are normal members of the post-Red Year Dark Elven society. There are reports of the existence of an "underground priesthood" utilizing the titles and ranks of the old Temple, such as disciples or curates, but I failed to collect any definite evidence of the existence of such a priesthood. In any case, even if such an institution exists, it isn't a single overarching organization but a network, and no reports hinting on the existence of any "underground archcanons" or "patriarchs" can be found. No estimations of numbers of these Recusants can be made, but at least every Dark Elven city or town houses a single passive Recusant or a group.

Finally, hidden Recusancy is the hardest to monitor, because it does not exist as an institution. Hidden Recusancy amounts to positive feelings about the ALMSIVI period in Dark Elven history among Dark Elves who aren't in opposition to the Reclamations Temple and may even be regular temple-goers. From here stems the doctrinal difference between hidden Recusants and the other kinds: hidden Recusants do not see veneration of the ALMSIVI as saints as blasphemous, while the other types of Recusants do. This led to the hidden Recusancy receiving a less radical alternate name: the Cult of Saints, in which the ALMSIVI is meant under Saints. The Cult of Saints is extremely common in all strata of the Dark Elven society.

ON THE REPORTS OF THE INFORMANTS

The data collected on the passive Recusants comes from our source Aphia Velothi, from the Redoran settlement of Raven Rock. She is the archetypical individual passive Recusant, not involved in any actions against the local Reclamations Temple led by a former Ashlander fanatic, Elder Othreloth. Nevertheless, Aphia stands firmly in opposition to Othreloth's aggressive teachings and enjoys respect from many of the townsfolk. Aphia is aware of the existence of passive Recusant groups on the Redoran mainland, including an underground temple in Blacklight.

Our data collected on the active Recusants comes from an informant named Llandras Dral. He is a member of the Order of the First and Only Triune, a militant group that uses the old Temple stronghold Molag Mar as its fortress. This Order is led by Grandmaster Berel Sala, the former leader of the Vvardenfell Ordinators. Their activities include raiding at Ashlander tribes and killing wise-women, occasional attacks at town temples of the Reclamations and murders of Elders, attacks on those Dark Elves who undertake pilgrimages to the Ashlander tribes. Their doctrine is basically extreme ALMSIVI revanchism and anti-Daedrism: one of Sala's key tenets is the "Seven Corners of the House of Troubles", which includes the "Good Daedra" worshipped by the Reclamations Temple together with the old "Four Corners". Sala claims that all three Tribunes still exist in some form, particularly that he met Vivec after the Red Year, and that a girl named Llaesa that lives in Molag Mar under Sala's ward is the reincarnated form of Almalexia.

The attacks on pilgrims have led House Redoran to undertake an attempt to quell the recusancy and take Molag Mar by military force. That military operation, conducted in 4E199, was unsuccessful because of mass desertion of Redoran soldiers, most of which were followers of the Cult of Saints. Our third informant, Sadal Redas, was one of such deserters; he told that he and a number of his co-conspirators decided to desert the Redoran army when it approached the borders of Molag Amur. One of Redas' co-conspirators, according to him, was an ordinary coward unwilling to tread into Molag Amur, and four others were hidden Recusants following the Cult of Saints and sympathizing with Sala's order. The number of deserter groups like Redas' was overwhelming, and the Redoran army lost controllability and retreated before it reached Molag Mar. Some of the deserters joined Sala's forces, but most simply returned home or became outlaws.

CONCLUSION

I'll be sending this report with my messenger from Colonia Tiberia to Cyrodiil. I hope that the Inward-Seeing Eye will find this intelligence useful. Looking forward to a full debriefing.

Long Live the Emperor!

"Marcutio"

The Response to Marcutio's Report

Inspector "Marcutio"!

As you may know, His Highness the Prince-Regent is planning "Operation Lightless Dawn" to raise the spirits of Imperial subjects after the catastrophic event that was the assassination of His Majesty the Emperor in Skyrim and the long-standing national humiliation that is the White-Gold Concordat. The victory over the Stormcloak Rebellion in Skyrim helped save the Empire, but the morale of our nation is still low.

His Highness the Prince-Regent Attius Mede plans to reannex the former Imperial province of Morrowind using the experienced legions that went through the war in Skyrim. The invasion will begin after His Highness is crowned the new Emperor of Tamriel. Before that, you, as our resident observer in the province, must gather all possible information on metaphysical phenomena surrounding the Recusancy which you've already investigated. We do not expect insurmountable resistance from the Blacklight Republic and House Redoran, and your colleague Inspector "Julia" is already making agreements with the Republic's dissident House Hlaalu which is willing to cooperate and sabotage any possible resistance by Redoran. However, the High Command is aware of the fact that previous Imperial invasions of Morrowind ended with disaster because of the interference of ALMSIVI. We have to be sure that no such catastrophe can occur now, and you have to provide a detailed and truthful report on the current state of ALMSIVI themselves. If any alarming data on their activities will be collected, "Operation Lightless Dawn" will be aborted. If you confirm that ALMSIVI either no longer exist or are in a state that prevents them from interfering with "Operation Lightless Dawn", it will proceed as normal, and Morrowind will be reannexed as a standard Province without the special Armistice rights it had during the previous dynasty.

Long Live the Emperor!

The Inward-Seeing Eye

FOR THE INWARD SEEING EYE ONLY MORROWIND REPORT - INSPECTOR ‘MARCUTIO’, 15th FROSTFALL, 4E201

Hail.

I am pleased to inform you that during the initial stage of my investigation, nothing leads me to the conclusion that ALMSIVI might still be active. As of today, I have collected all data on the current state of Almalexia, and I can conclude with high probability that she either no longer exists or isn't in a state to interfere.

Let me begin with the fact that there are no less than two persons who claim or are claimed to be Almalexia. One is Llaesa, which I've already mentioned in previous reports. The other is an unidentified middle-aged Bosmer woman (codenamed "Fat Almalexia" for lack of better identifier) who resides in the ruins of the ancient Dark Elven stronghold Rotheran with four militant Recusants and claims to be her.

None of my informants reported anything distinctly metaphysical about either of the Almalexias. My source Llandras Dral from Molag Mar describes Llaesa as a perfectly ordinary child of High Elven appearance. Grandmaster Berel Sala, according to Dral, dotes on her very much, which is extremely unusual for this hateful old elf that communicates mainly through barks, screams and curses. My other source, Aphia Velothi from Raven Rock, does not believe Sala's claims despite being a Recusant, and tends to agree with the notion voiced by Elder Othreloth of the Raven Rock Reclamations Temple that Llaesa is in fact Berel's illegitimate daughter (Dral finds this notion not only insulting but absurd, as he can attest Berel Sala's complete lack of interest in High Elven women, Dark Elven women, any women or, in fact, anything except executing Daedra worshippers). According to Dral, Llaesa was found by a patrol of Sala's Ordinators in the region of Mt. Assarnibibi several years ago.

As for the "Fat Almalexia", I must attest that she does display some unusual characteristics, namely the ability to remember (or make up on the spot) episodes from the memories of real Almalexia. My informant from House Telvanni, Sedura Kena Milyn Faram, the Wizard of Tel Faram (formerly known as Odirniran), can offer a theory explaining this behaviour of "Fat Almalexia": if he is to be believed, the source of "Fat Almalexia"'s unusual memories is not her overactive imagination but the artifact that she wears, namely the orichalcum crown worn by the real Almalexia for centuries. Master Milyn thinks that such a long time of close proximity to Almalexia's head imbued the headgear with properties similar to those displayed by the fabled mail coif of Alandro Sul, namely containing the memories of the original wearer. But I, personally, think that Master Milyn's theory is overly fanciful and tend to think that what we have here is the work of Sheogorath.

To conclude the report, neither of the Almalexias poses a threat for "Operation Lightless Dawn". Llaesa is slightly more dangerous, given that over a thousand determined and fanatical Recusants surround her. As for "Fat Almalexia", I imagine that four or five Legionaries will be enough to dispatch her tiny retinue of Recusants which is obviously inadequate in number to defend Rotheran, apprehend her and send to the Imperial City Insane Asylum for evaluation.

Long Live the Emperor!

"Marcutio"

FOR THE INWARD SEEING EYE ONLY MORROWIND REPORT - INSPECTOR ‘MARCUTIO’, 26th FROSTFALL, 4E201

Hail.

At this stage of my investigation I am becoming somewhat worried, because I start to find evidence of phenomena not explainable by mere self-deceit of believers. Being finished with Almalexia, I started my investigation on Vivec, and found the situation with this Tribune very different.

First, unlike Almalexia, there are no living persons claiming or claimed to be him. Instead, the Dark Elves all across Morrowind report Vivec sightings. Vivec himself is seen in various places, or someone whom the witnesses describe as definitely Vivec. He does not intervene in the affairs of the Dark Elves, leaves no evidence of his visitations and rarely speaks to someone (if he speaks, it is always in enigmatic poetic language).

I have collected 21 report of supposed Vivec sightings, 5 of them are first-hand, and the rest recorded from relatives, friends, acquaintances of the witnesses. I did not collect purely anecdotal evidence. And the distribution of Vivec sightings makes me think that it is a metaphysical phenomenon.

If Vivec sightings were only reported by Recusant fanatics, I would easily explain that as self-induced hallucinations, a phenomenon often observed in groups of fanatics. But the distribution is different. There is only one Vivec sighting recorded from an active fanatical Recusant, and it is Berel Sala's, as reported by Dral. No other members of Sala's order have ever seen him, and he did not make any repeated visits to Sala. Moreover, if Dral is to be believed, Vivec did not speak with Sala at all, he spoke to Llaesa instead.

Among the peaceful, passive Recusants, Vivec sightings are significantly more common. My Raven Rock informant Aphia Velothi, already mentioned many times in previous reports, had seen him twice, and reported three sightings of him by the Blacklight underground Temple members.

What makes the situation even more strange, non-Recusants also receive visitations from Vivec. Elder Othreloth from the Raven Rock Reclamations temple, according to Aphia, had seen Vivec once, together with Aphia (this was at the time before she was expelled). Aphia recalls that the Elder screamed bloody murder at the mystical visitor and tried to throw his boot at him. The boot stopped in mid-air and fell on the ground. Othreloth started to chant an invocation to Azura, but it did not help. Only when the Elder escaped in panic, Vivec left him alone and spoke to Aphia, saying: "There is no love in this mer, he is just like the Grandmaster. Do not be like him." Aphia swears that it is a true story. I also have collected similar stories from followers of the Cult of Saints and normal, Temple-going Dark Elves.

I never observed Vivec myself, but the reports of witnesses make me think I wasn't just chasing echoes. There is something at work here, something that may or may not be actually Vivec. He, or the entity looking like him, was never seen attacking someone or destroying something. He did frighten a number of fanatical Daedra worshippers such as Othreloth, but that's the most harm that was caused by this entity. I cannot draw conclusions whether this being can harm our soldiers or not, but I am starting to advise against continuing "Operation Lightless Dawn".

Long Live the Emperor!

"Marcutio"

ADDENDUM TO THE LAST REPORT - INSPECTOR ‘MARCUTIO’, 26th FROSTFALL, 4E201

Hail.

My observations of the behaviour of the Recusants show an unexpected problem: someone provided disclosure on "Operation Lightless Dawn" to the Dark Elven society at large. I suspect Agent "Julia"'s Hlaalu partners. A drastic increase of rumors about an impending Imperial invasion is observed, especially among the Recusants.

These rumors provided them with an extra political advantage. As we know, after the events of the Oblivion Crisis the Daedric Princes are no longer able to directly intervene in the affairs of elves and men. The Recusant preachers, of which I see a lot lately, use this fact in their sermons: they emphasize that the Daedric Tribunal will not be able to intervene in case of "Operation Lightless Dawn" and help repel the invasion, while the ALMSIVI Tribunal certainly could. They insist that a restoration of mass faith in ALMSIVI will result in them returning and stopping the Empire, since there is no Tiber Septim-equivalent force on our side.

P.S. Yes, I am aware of the existence of Observation Subject "Helgen". The Recusants aren't. And let me remind you that we cannot be sure of Observation Subject's intentions and loyalty to His Highness, since there are facts proving that both the assassination of His Imperial Majesty and the recent loss of our entire network in Skyrim are related to Observation Subject "Helgen". The Observation Subject was also recently observed visiting Morrowind (specifically, Solstheim) and interacting with House Redoran and House Telvanni (reports of the Subject receiving the Dark Elven title of Telvanni Lawman are unconfirmed).

Long Live the Emperor!

"Marcutio"

FOR THE INWARD SEEING EYE ONLY MORROWIND REPORT - INSPECTOR ‘MARCUTIO’, 10th SUN'S DUSK, 4E201

Hail.

My third report, on Sotha Sil, makes me feel more alarmed than before. Collecting data on the current status of the most enigmatic Tribune required me to travel to the dangerous borderland between Morrowind and Black Marsh, an unstable frontier resulted from the uneasy peace after the Second Arnesian War, to make contacts on the occupied territory of the Deshaan.

These lands, as I found out, hold a secret which the Argonian occupying administration tries hard to hide: the Clockwork City, a reality, not a myth, attempts to reconnect with the surface. In the area cordonned by Argonians, an opening in the ground appeared, from which strange constructs emerge, which appear mechanical but definitely not of Dwemer origin. The old reports say that Sotha Sil created such beings to serve him, rather than using Dark Elven worshippers like the other Tribunes. Some of the creatures speak in Dunmeris, asking questions which neither Argonians nor Dark Elves understand.

It is not known whether Sotha Sil's creations acquired independence from their creator and act on their own accord, or their master directs them once again. Neither is the number of them known. But this phenomenon I might call the most potentially dangerous for "Operation Lightless Dawn", despite the fact that it is situated on the territories occupied by Argonians rather than the current Blacklight Republic.

I conclude this report with a verdict that while ALMSIVI do not exist in their original form now, residual phenomena caused by their existence, both metaphysical and cultural in origin, remain in Morrowind. In a sense, they keep guarding Morrowind even from beyond the grave, if the grave is indeed their final fate. My investigation led me to seriously reconsider the odds for "Operation Lightless Dawn" to be successful, and I am advising against it.

As an appendix, I want to send you an essay written by my Telvanni friend Master Milyn. I think it offers an additional perspective on the question of ALMSIVI, one that is especially important for the Empire given its uneasy relations with the Aldmeri Dominion.

Long Live the Emperor!

"Marcutio"

Appendix: MASTER MILYN FARAM'S LETTER TO "MARCUTIO" (known as Gaius to him).

Greetings, my friend from Cyrodiil!

You are indeed fortunate to have an apprentice of the great Archmagister Aryon as a friend, because I am going to write you on a theory no old-school Telvanni would ever tell to an outsider. It's a given that after the Red Year, the diminished numbers of our House allowed us, the apprentices of Aryon, to push the policies of racial equality even further, and I, as Rector of the Telvanni Academy of Tel Faram, have many non-Dunmer pupils. However, the theory I write about is not taught to young Telvanni in my academy; it is a matter of deep lore, Gaius.

You may be aware of the Merish myth of Nirn as prison that limits the Mer and bars them from god-like power and true immortality, the same myth that lies as the foundational idea of the dreaded Thalmor. You may also be aware that we, the Dunmer, do not share it, and our perception of Nirn is closer to that of Men: we like this world, however inhospitable and foreboding it might be. This is the reason why the Dunmer, especially our most wise and educated House, were never allies of the Thalmor. Many Telvanni, me included, hate the Thalmor just as you do. And this is the reason why I, Master Milyn Faram, want you, Gaius, to understand the Thalmor and their motivations, and understand our people as its perhaps most formidable enemies.

There are a number of Towers in this world, as many learned mages and scholars know. One of them is the Direnni Tower, the other the Throat of the World, the third the White-Gold Tower. Our Red Mountain was one as well before the Tribunal fell. The alarming tendency of the current age is that the Towers fall, one after another. When they all fall, the Thalmor will be as close to its ultimate goal as it never was. This is, I think, why they had a hand in instigating the civil war in Skyrim: to compromise the Snow Tower. Their attack on Cyrodiil and the White-Gold Concordat was an attack on a Tower as well. I share the opinion of many learned mages and mystics that the Thalmor has destroying the Towers as an intermediate goal.

And here is where the Dunmer enter the picture. More particularly, the Dunmer Recusants. I, as a good Telvanni, have no religious beliefs and haven't anything good to say about their fervor. I never worshipped ALMSIVI as gods, teachers or anything. But I understand that they, along with their enemy Dagoth Ur, were guarding the Red Tower from harm, adding to the stability of Nirn.

Now, thanks to the actions of the Nerevarine, the Red Tower fell, and catastrophic events followed: not only the Red Year which was a direct result of that, but also the Oblivion Crisis and the disintegration of your Empire. Such as the price for the loss of the Heart of Lorkhan, which made the Red Tower active and potent. The Recusants desire a return to the days of ALMSIVI, which would necessarily mean rebuilding the Red Tower and returning it to activity and potence. Few of them have the knowledge of the importance of the Towers, but the ALMSIVI, or their remnants, have this knowledge. The Recusants are empowering ALMSIVI again through the power of mythopoeia, and eventually this empowerment will cause their return in some form. To be restored in full, they will have to rebuild the Red Tower and guard it again, and while the Red Tower is guarded, the Thalmor will never succeed in its goals.

Gaius! Your Empire must not antagonize the followers of ALMSIVI, and especially the remnant forms of ALMSIVI themselves! This bitter infighting weakens natural allies that must defend this world from a disintegrative danger. What I desire the most is the renewal of the ancient alliance between ALMSIVI and the Dragon of the North, like the alliance between Almalexia and Wulfharth, or Vivec and Talos. By the way, I've heard that another one appeared recently, and looks like an ally of the Empire. If contact between this person and the ALMSIVI-remnants is made, an endeavor to rebuild a Tower may begin. And what could be more beneficial than rebuilding a Tower?

Yours truly,

Sedura Kena Telvanni Milyn Faram, Master of Tel Faram and Rector of the Telvanni Academy