A Few Questions About Lore

[Gandalf]

Greetings! I've been reading about several topics in Lore recently, both in and outside of the UESPWiki. I've a few questions, some of which (probably most of which) there may not be clear answers to.

1.) It's widely established that Vivec achieved CHIM. If this is true, why did he need the power of the Heart of Lorkhan? And why did his power wane after the destruction of said Heart? If CHIM is a realisation of the nature of reality and one's place in it all, how can you suddenly... lose it?

2.) Did Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Dagoth Ur also achieve CHIM, or did they sponge off of the Heart of Lorkhan without REALLY knowing what was going on in the same way Vivec did?

3.) It's generally accepted that the Red Tower was deactivated after the events of Morrowind and the freeing of the Heart of Lorkhan. But was it not deactivated far earlier, when its stone was used as the stone for a new Tower, Walk-Brass? Was Walk-Brass not truly a Tower? Or can a stone be used to mold reality in two regions as part of two different towers.

4.) Each province has its own Tower - Adamant in the Iliac Bay, Red in Morrowind, Snow Throat in Skyrim, White-Gold in Cyrodiil, Crystal-Like-Law in Alinor, the Green-Sap(s) in Valenwood. Walk-Brass doesn't appear to have a province. Where are the towers for Black Marsh and Elsweyr?

5.) Is Crystal-Like-Law truly deactivated? It was toppled in the Oblivion Crisis, but according to the Wiki it exists on "many planes". For that matter, which known Towers AREN'T? The Wiki isn't clear on several.

6.) Are there towers on the other continents? Pyandonea, Thras, Akavir? Maybe one in Atmora? There was one in Yokuda, so there is precedent, for Pyandonea at least if not the others.

7.) Finally, as someone who hasn't played Daggerfall, what IS Numidium?

[all_freed]

I would like to try and answer some of these:
1.because he is inherently mortal and this enlightenment of his is only possible because of his link to the heart. He couldn't truly comprehend the powers on his own and once the link to the heart was broken his immortal side vanished and he forgot

2. Yes they were of similar understanding but couldn't fully realise the chim because they are mortal underneath. I think sotha sil traded his access to chim to the daedra princes, almalexia was lost when Dagon nearly killed her, and da goth was probably like vivec when the heart was destroyed he lost the chim and couldn't resurrect

4. I think black marsh is the giant mother hist tree. It's the one in the elders scrolls novels by grey Keyes the tree is so large that it towers over the tallest buildings several times over. I haven't read the novel for a long time tho

6. I think in thras it is the coral pillar.

7. I think numidium is the giant construct of dwarves

[Gandalf]

1.) When did he achieve it? Presumably he wasn't already super-mega-powerful prior to Red Mountain, or it would probably have been a very different battle. So, how long after tapping into the heart did he achieve it? Was it instant, a sudden insight into how Lorkhan's brain worked, or was it something he came to realise independently?

2.) But Vivec was mortal underneath too, was he not? What made him different at all to A and S? Also, the wiki page on Almalexia doesn't seem to mention anything about her almost being killed by Dagon, so where did you get that from?

6.) So that's potentially another Tower that's been destroyed. However, I seem to remember something about the Coral Pillar being related to Daedra (can't recall which Prince) rather than the Aedra as the others are.

7.) Is it any different to Anumidium or the Brass Tower, that the Dwarves originally built? Is it the same thing that Tiber Septim used to conquer Tamriel, or is it a fragment, so to say, a part of a much more powerful weapon?

[legoless]

Each province doesn't have a tower. Aside from Adamantium, all the towers were 'built' by elves. So there's no tower in Elsweyr, Black Marsh, or Hammerfell, but there are two in High Rock (Doomcrag and Adamantium).

Numidium = Anumidium = Walk-Brass. The one used by Tiber Septim was the intact original golem created by the Dwemer before (or during) their disappearance. The Tribunal traded it to the Imperials as a term in the Armistice. It exploded after being used to conquer Summerset, and the Blades spent the next few hundred years rebuilding it. Daggerfall involves finding the final two pieces and giving them to whoever you want.

It's important to note that the Numidium never actually used the Heart of Lorkhan, aside from (arguably) during the disappearance of the Dwarves. Both times it was used (Tiber Wars and the Warp in the West), it used a soul gem called the Mantella which held the soul of a Shezzarine. It was an inferior source of Lorkhanic power and blew the machine up each time, destroying it entirely over the Iliac.

[Gandalf]

Thank you for responding, that clears a few topics up. However, I have ANOTHER question now, regarding Mer and the Towers: Current Aldmeri Dominion policy is to be destroying the Towers, is it not? They aim to erase Talos, Mankind, and anything that holds time in one "stream", as it were. If that is the case, and the Aldmeri Dominion is just the resurrection of old Aldmeri beliefs (if it even is? I don't actually know, I just assumed), why then did they build the towers in the first place? Now they have myriad ones to pull down to restore the Dawn Era, rather than just having to tackle Adamant. Also, the Wiki says that Doomcrag is a failed attempt at making a Tower, rather than one in and of itself, if that's relevant?

As for Numidium: I think you've pretty well summed the topic up for me, thanks. No further questions there.

[all_freed]

i think the aldmeri just have sour grapes because their interpretation is that since the current world is not suited to their liking so they want to undo what was done by their ancestors and start over again.

[legoless]

Not all Altmer have historically held those beliefs, and not all elves are Altmer. The modern Thalmor want to unmake the world in order to restore Aldmeris and the Dawn Era or something, and thus become immortal godlings again. The ancient Aldmer, however, were content to simply imitate the gods and their Adamantine Tower, directly building at least four towers of their own (White-Gold, Crystal Tower, the Doomcrag, and the Eldenroot Orrery - the other towers are less well understood). Both are trying to maintain strong links to their divine ancestors, but they just go about it in different ways.

Doomcrag is a "failed" tower in that it turned Rivenspire into a desolate, twisted region. It was supposed to make the fields bountiful and green, but its stone was corrupted. In ESO it almost turns the region into a vampiric nightmare realm before it gets taken out of Mundus for good. Just because it didn't do what it was supposed to doesn't make it an illegitimate tower, in my opinion. Its Direnni construction means it shares a history with Adamantium and the other three Aldmeri towers - much more so than the metaphysical freakshow that is Numidium.