The nature of corprus

[Qirin]

After about twelve years, suddenly, I got jumped by the following question today:

Is the Nerevarine immortal or not?

By which I mean immune to age and disease (not godlike, just undying).

The second trial did imply he is:
"Neither blight nor age can harm him.
The Curse-of-Flesh before him flies."

Now, he (I'm male, so I'll assume the Nerevarine is male, nonsensical whatsoever) would have fulfilled that trial by getting infected by and afterwards being somewhat cured of corpus disease, so the nature of his supposed immortality would be corprus.

That rose another question (the previous part of the post all entered my head within a second):
If corprus disease is linked to the heart of Lorkhan and the heart gets banished/destroyed by the Nerevarine, does corprus still exist and has he still been infected by it, or did it disappear along with Dagoth Ur and the heart?

All insights are welcome, naturally.

[Dark Spark]

I think the going idea is the sufferers of corpus are ageless because the idea is to suffer from the disease forever. Such malice may not end with the destruction of the heart.

[Winterborn]

Returning to the corpusarium after the death of Dagoth and the destruction of the heart reveals that the victims are not healed. So I don't think it vanishes with the heart. I was always under the assumption that the Nerevarine had an indefinite lifespan since Fyr cures you of corpus's negative effects but not the divine ones. The Nerevarine is in my opinion, "undying" as you put it. Though that could just be wishful thinking on my part.

[BetaB17]

Corpus has always been hard to address, given what separates disease from certain divine blessings/curses. We know of other Daedra that have employed such means, and one that embodies it. Dagoth used the Blight to spread his influence, I have no reason to suspect these ailments would not end at his removal nor the heart's<_< maybe the influence, dreams, and corruption would come to a halt, but that of the flesh would persist. Though I'm not certain if the creation of Ascended Sleepers and the likes would end or if all victims are damned to be mindless husks void of purpose

Corpus unlike most other of the Blight is incurable, it's victims ageless and distorted in flesh, and only one account exists of anybody having some success even if incomplete >_> The 'cure' given to Nev removed the negative effects, namely that to flesh(bc no hero wants to be an abomination), but whenever other inflicted received said 'cure' they died.. Now if killing Dagoth and destroying the heart would of ended this blight, wouldn't someone suggest this at some point in the Main Quest? Though if curing folks brought about their deaths, that would of been a pretty big gamble so to speak

So to answer the question, Nev is immortal merely in he will not die by time or disease, much like others amongst the divine. A sword to the throat however would still very much end Nev. I still question though if Nev can still contract the disease by some means or if being exempt from all negative effects include that too.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I once read a mathematical formula on how someone who reaches an age of 1,000 years plus is 99% likely to die of an unnatural cause on any given year from that year on. The point is that true immortality cannot be achieved by any person who had parents. Only something born immortal or made truly immortal is immortal. Being completely immune to age and disease still leaves you vulnerable to the millions of other things that might kill you, especially if you disappear somewhere truly dangerous like Akavir.

[Dark Spark]

There's a difference between immortal and invincible.

[Seht]

Though I'm not certain if the creation of Ascended Sleepers and the likes would end or if all victims are damned to be mindless husks void of purpose

I was under the impression that the ash creatures leading up to Ascended Sleepers are Corprus-infected Dunmer granted protection by Dagoth Ur, sort of like Almalexia protecting her faithful follower in the Vivec arena or Peryite protecting the plague victims that worship him. Presumably Dagoth Ur simply controls the warping nature of the divine disease to twist his followers into functional and powerful shapes while unfaithful victims are left to be twisted and crippled by the growths and simply become means of spreading the plague further, or possibly warnings to those who see them of the dangers of rejecting Lord Dagoth's blessings. If you're willing to accept Dagoth's solipsistic view of the Aurbis then the metamorphosis brought on by Corprus does seem like a pretty sweet deal really. Practical immortality, a reshaped body far more competent than your original mortal form and the shared knowledge of a god. Sure, the weird face tentacles are pretty nasty but if Michael Kirkbride's drawings are anything to go by that's just Big Bro Dagoth looking out for you by filling up the hole you had blown in your head from your initial enlightenment.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

It's notable that some form of Ash spawn persist into the Fourth Era, but without the Sharmat or the Heart of Lorkhan to guide them, the magic from Red Mountain renders them unstable, mostly unthinking automatons. General Falx Carius and Ildari Sarothril managed to empower themselves and stave off physical death for a long time, similar to the Ash Spawn under the Sharmat, but they were much weaker. The magic that sustained them was more like the Briarheart magic of the Reach, which Neloth comments on. I believe the reason they were able to use Heartstones in this way is that while Red Mountain is technically deactivated or "damaged", there is still a lot of latent spiritual energy in that place and the pieces of it that fell on Solstheim.

[Dark Spark]

... I believe the reason they were able to use Heartstones in this way is that while Red Mountain is technically deactivated or "damaged", there is still a lot of latent spiritual energy in that place and the pieces of it that fell on Solstheim.

I see Heartstones in the sense that the material is there, but the information is not. Sort of like a computer chip with its memory wiped. The mechanical ability is there, but the original sense of will is gone and only chaotic gibberish is manifiest when new power is applied.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

That's a pretty decent analogy. In theory, it would be possible for an individual to draw quite a bit more power from Heart Stones than either of these individuals did. The sorceress in particular was only just beginning her deeper study of the Stones*. In ESO, some ancient Dunmer mages knew how to use them in other ways, such as peering back in time. It's probably one of those lost arts that waxes and wanes as time goes by. It's important to note that these Stones came from Ash Mountain, not the Red Mountain, but Tower lore is complicated, and the powers of Red Mountain may extend out and seep into all of Morrowind to a lesser degree, in the way that Green Sap isn't just Falinesti but all of the Graht Oaks of Valenwood to some degree, so it's not fully deactivated when Falinesti disappears in ESO, only powered down somewhat.

*Matter of fact, it's probably a good thing Neloth got paranoid and had her killed when he did. If she continued to gain knowledge of the Stones and deeper control of the Ash Spawn, she may have become a demigod of some sort and would have been much more difficult to stop. These Stones are dangerous, and definitely have sinister applications, and as you said, they've lost their Memory. Without a will like Voryn Dagoth guiding that magic, it goes wild and kind of does its own thing, and is very corrupting.

[legoless]

I wouldn't be so quick to draw comparisons between the Ash Spawn and Dagoth Ur's ash monsters. Although both are given life from Lorkhanic magic, they're conceptually very different creatures. Corprus is different again, closer to the life-extending power given to Dagon's minions than the Heartstone zombies we see on Solstheim.

It's important to note that these Stones came from Ash Mountain, not the Red Mountain, but Tower lore is complicated, and the powers of Red Mountain may extend out and seep into all of Morrowind to a lesser degree, in the way that Green Sap isn't just Falinesti but all of the Graht Oaks of Valenwood to some degree, so it's not fully deactivated when Falinesti disappears in ESO, only powered down somewhat.

Green-Sap is actually the Great Tree at Elden Root. The Falinesti thing was always just MK.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

Phrastus, in the new audio lore interview, suggests Green Sap exists in multiple locations at once, and is more than likely all of the largest trees in Valenwood at the same time, although most of its powers is held in Elden Root. It would be harder to deactivate than other Towers, due to Y'ffre's magic. You'd have to burn and raze the entire province. I wonder if even the Thalmor would go that far.

And I never said the Ash Spawn were related to Corpus. Just that they also draw power from Ash and Red Mountain. They're a different offshoot, but I do believe Dagoth Ur used a lot of this same magic to engineer his Ash Spawn. Corpus is what happens when a powerful will manipulates the Red Mountain to reshape the world around it. Honestly, I think Red Mountain's ash has been doing that on its own since before Dagoth Ur ever existed, which would explain the strange flaura and fauna of Morrowind.

[legoless]

Yes, I think the link to all graht-oaks is established in-game somewhere. Don't know about the Thalmor, but the Veiled Heritance attempted to transform the entire Valenwood into some kind of alternate reality called the Shadow Wood by corrupting a suspiciously oaky "Heart of Valenwood" unrelated to the Orrery at Elden Root. We get to see the effects this would have had at Verrant Morass, where the death of the local tree spirits unmade the entire area and turned the Bosmer feral. Those trees are definitely important.