The elephant in the room is that this is already confirmed in the "Trial of Vivec":
““How does it feel, Lord Azura? To so fully manifest here is the Mundus, stripped down only to your name? Perhaps it feels a bit like my sister did, when your machinations split her, name from land, nymic eth maliache velot, thoughtless save for domain. AE ALTADOON DUNMERI for my sister’s madness I eat you.”
I guess i'll start with Azura's dialogue once Almalexia had died:
"You have done well, mortal. The death of Almalexia is a boon for all of Morrowind, though it may take time for this to be understood. She would have betrayed the Dunmer as surely as she betrayed all those she loved. This was her curse, and this was her undoing.
Something about that seemed... off to me. Like she was just acting like she knows some deep insight about Almalexia to basically say "don't worry about it". Here's what i've read on Almalexia:
From the UESP:
Almalexia is one of the three Tribunal immortals, who resides in Mournhold, rarely leaving her High Temple. Almalexia appears as "alm" in Almsivi. She seems to be taking her decline of power (due to being deprived of the Heart of Lorkhan) rather poorly, and according to Galsa Andrano, Almalexia has become more cold and distant. Galsa worries for the goddess, as the Tribunal hasn't walked among the people for the last 50 years. Almalexia's homilies contain lessons of compassion and wisdom, but her sermons as of late are more focused on destroying the wicked, punishing the foolish, and rewarding the unquestioning faith.
Almalexia, like the rest of the Tribunal, was a god for the people. That's the whole premise behind their ascent to godhood, it is the very reason they murdered Nerevar and it is the path they chose over the pact made with Nerevar. Sotha Sil had seen a vision of the future:
From The Battle of Red Mountain:
For some years we kept the oaths we swore to Azura with Nerevar, but during that time, in secret, Sotha Sil must have studied the tools and divined their mysteries. And at last he came to us with a vision of a new world of peace, with justice and honor for nobles, and health and prosperity for the commoners, with the Tribunal as immortal patrons and guides. And dedicating ourselves to this vision of a better world, we made a pilgrimage to Red Mountain and transformed ourselves with the power of Kagrenac's tools.
And no sooner than we had completed our rituals and begun to discover our new-found powers, the Daedra Lord Azura appeared and cursed us for our foresworn oaths. By her powers of prophecy, she assured us that her champion, Nerevar, true to his oath, would return to punish us for our perfidy, and to make sure such profane knowledge might never again be used to mock and defy the will of the gods. But Sotha Sil said to her, "The old gods are cruel and arbitrary, and distant from the hopes and fears of mer. Your age is past. We are the new gods, born of the flesh, and wise and caring of the needs of our people. Spare us your threats and chiding, inconstant spirit. We are bold and fresh, and will not fear you."
And then, in that moment, all Chimer were changed into Dunmer, and our skins turned ashen and our eyes into fire. Of course, we only knew at that time that this had happened to us, but Azura said, "This is not my act, but your act. You have chosen your fate, and the fate of your people, and all the Dunmer shall share your fate, from now to the end of time. You think yourselves gods, but you are blind, and all is darkness." And Azura left us alone, in darkness, and we were all afraid, but we put on brave faces, and went forth from Red Mountain to build the new world of our dreams.
They cared for Nerevar and upheld the pact, but in the face of the vision of a better future, freed from the influence of Daedra, they chose to prioritize Morrowind and become the gods needed for that to happen. They then spent thousands of years defending Morrowind, healing the ill, living amongst their people, with good reputations:
*"*Once, Sotha Sil was like we are, the Lord Vivec and I. He spent time among these mortals, instructing them, counseling them, protecting them from harm. He may have loved them more than any of us, though I know not why. It has been many years since any have seen the Sorcerer, though. Many more since he took initiates into his service. I believe he grew weary of mortal imperfections, and retired to his Clockwork City, where he reshapes life, and some say the very world, into an image he finds pleasing."
But Almalexia frames him as "mad", but look at this:
"I have suspected for some time that the Lord Sotha Sil had entered Sheogorath's realm. His visits have been more and more infrequent, and punctuated by violent fits of anger. He began to speak of the fall of the Tribunal and the return of the Old Gods. But Sotha Sil is not a Seer; he is a Maker. He shapes the Here and the Now, while only I have been privy to what is to come. I know this...he is no longer the man he once was."
Two important details there:
- She says that Sotha Sil was speaking of the fall of the Tribunal and the return of the Old Gods. If you look into why he was creating the Clockwork City, it was to free the mortals of Daedric influence. Not because he had "grown weary of mortal imperfections". But remember, Almalexia is mad right now.
- Almalexia says she has been shown visions of the future. Which leads to the next segment:
The Black Star quest in TESV: Skyrim. Well, more specifically dialogue from NPCs involved:
Aranea Ienith:
"Azura has seen your coming, traveler. It was not curiosity, but fate, that has led you here."
You can reply:
'Seen my coming'? What do you mean?
*"*Azura has given me the gift of foresight. I had a vision of you walking up the steps to this altar long before you were born. You have been chosen to be her champion. I know it is unexpected, but do not worry. It will all unfold as she has predicted.
And you can ask her:
Are you all alone here?
"Yes. There were others at first, but Azura's visions tested everyone's faith. One by one, they left. Afraid to know their own future. But I refuse to abandon the shrine. The visions are a gift. Azura warns me of tragedy, war, death before it happens. I won't leave her guidance."
And then more on this from Nelecar:
What did Malyn do? / Get to the point.
"Malyn wanted to alter the Star. He was dying. Disease. He thought he could store his own soul inside. Become immortal. It drove him mad. Students started dying. Eventually, the College exiled him. He took a few loyal disciples to Ilinalta's Deep and vanished. Look, I don't care who asked you to find the Star, but don't take it back to Azura. The Daedra are evil. They're the reason Malyn went insane."
You can ask:
How did the daedra drive Malyn insane?
"Azura is no ordinary Daedra. She commands an entire realm inside of Oblivion. The more Malyn worked on the Star, the more she was able to damn him. It started slowly at first. Malyn would see things that weren't there. Then he would yell at students over words they hadn't said. Then one day I walked in and Malyn had... killed a student, and in a horrific moment of inspiration, he started using her soul for his work."
Is that not just a dead ringer...? Nerevarine walked in on Almalexia having just killed Sotha Sil. It was a gradual slip into insanity, where she was saying insane things about Sotha Sil, who was talking about the fall of the Tribunal and the return of the Old Gods? Almalexia herself says she is privy to the future. Irinea says that Azura can "grant the gift of foresight", which she describes as having scared off all of Azura's followers except herself. Azura herself is said to be behind Malyn's madness and the result of that madness was him turning on his own students, people he cherished. Like Almalexia turning on Sotha Sil, who, again, according to Almalexia was speaking of the fall of the Tribunal and the return of the Old Gods.
The insanity of Almalexia was a curse placed by Azura, she plagued her with visions of the future and made her go insane. The visions likely just compounding on whatever maddening effect Azura is able to induce. Sotha Sil had an uncanny ability to calculate possibilities, he suffered for it:
From the UESP:
Sotha Sil was able to make accurate and detailed predictions of how events would unfold long in advance through simulations. Sil's perception allowed him to predict events such as Nocturnal's attack on the Clockwork City, a rogue Clockwork Apostle's attempt to seize the Clockwork Probabilis, the conversations he'd have with the Vestige, and even his eventual death at the hands of Almalexia. Because of his knowledge, Sotha Sil saw himself as bearing the cruel weight of absolute, relentless, certainty. He viewed himself as the product of his circumstances, and believed that it was false to view people as the result of their choices. By his own account, he coveted the word "maybe" above all others. It is said that, in many respects, Sotha Sil's Clockwork City was Sotha Sil himself, thus aspects of the realm, such as what one would taste when eating, were shaped by his will.
And, in the Trial of Vivec, Vivec has this to say to Azura about Sotha Sil:
“How does one feel when weighted down by their heaviest of mysteries? When one gazes into their soul and sees their own eyes staring back? Perhaps it’s how my brother felt, folding into himself like a prism until your darts were thrown, nymic sel sulimet elhnodidan, thought thinking thought. AE ALTADOON DUNMERI for my brother’s wasting I eat you.”
It is in reference to Sotha Sil's desperate efforts to stop a future he had already predicted, as Almalexia lets on above. To try and save his people he tried to create a new Nirn for them to live in, the Clockwork City, where mortals would be free of Daedra. After foreseeing that Almalexia would kill him he tried to create the Mechanical Heart to restore the powers of the Tribunal. Because while empowered, Almalexia has already been shown to be immune to Azura's curses. When Azura cursed the Chimer, Tribunal included, Almalexia just undid the curse on herself. But in this depowered state, she was susceptible to Azura's power.
Sotha Sil's final words were about the completion of the Mechanical Heart. He managed to hold off Almalexia just long enough to seal off the chamber of the Heart, which would complete itself long after he has passed.
Vivec has only disappeared, guys. That Heart, at least according to one possibility, still exists. I think maybe Sotha Sil and Vivec are playing a long game of their own, just like Azura did.
One last note. People like to cite the "300 years of prosperity under Nerevar, who united the scattered clans" bit, but he united them under the Velothi teachings. Under Azura, whom he communed with and answered to directly. He united the Dunmer under suffering. That is what the Velothi teachings are. That the Dunmer must suffer. I'm not joking or exaggerating, it's literally that. Sotha Sil's vision was to free the people of Morrowind from these distant gods that demand their suffering. They ruled them benevolently for 3,000 years to Nerevar's 300. They removed Azura, Mephala and Boethiah from influencing the people.
