Composition: Dunmer (Dark Elves), Nords, and Argonians.
Purpose: A fragile military alliance formed to resist external threats (notably the Daggerfall Covenant and Aldmeri Dominion) during the Three Banners War.
Tensions:
Dunmer vs. Argonians: Argonians remember centuries of enslavement; though slavery is outlawed under the Pact, Dunmer prejudice lingers.
Dunmer vs. Nords: Differing values — the Dunmer’s rigid orthodoxy clashes with the Nords’ brashness and love of open revelry.
Nords vs. Argonians: Though less antagonistic, mistrust exists, especially when both are treated as outsiders in Dunmer-dominated cities.
Belief System: Worship of the Tribunal (Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil) as Living Gods, with the “Three Good Daedra” (Azura, Boethiah, Mephala) honored as their anticipations. All other Daedric Princes (the “Four Corners of the House of Troubles”) are cast as enemies of the faith.
Power: The Temple dominates Vivec City both spiritually and politically, enforcing its doctrine as law.
Orthodoxy: The Tribunal’s divinity is presented as fact, with history curated to support this claim.
Composition: Nomadic Dunmer tribes who reject the Tribunal, clinging instead to older Daedric traditions and ancestral worship.
Conflict in Vivec City:
Ashlanders appear as agitators and protestors, accusing the Tribunal of being false gods.
They often clash publicly with priests in places like The Triune Plaza.
Ashlander unrest is a constant thorn in the Temple’s side, threatening both its legitimacy and its control.
Composition: Radical Temple clergy who secretly reject the Tribunal’s divinity and preserve alternate histories.
Presence in the High Fane: Active particularly in the Scholar’s Annex, where they hide or alter texts.
Methods: Subtle — coded notes in manuscripts, whispered debates, clandestine instruction.
Conflict: They risk interrogation, imprisonment, or execution if discovered.
Role: Enforcers of Tribunal law, guardians of shrines, inquisitors of heresy.
Armor: Ordinators wear Golden armor, and have intimidating silver masks that obscure their faces.
Ritual: Their golden masks and armor are donned through sacred rites, erasing individuality and binding them to duty.
Ranks:
Novitate – Initiates in training.
Ordinator – Standard rank, patrolling streets, shrines, and plazas.
Justiciar – Senior rank, interpreters and executors of Temple law.
Inquisitor – Elite agents tasked with rooting out heresy and overseeing interrogations.
Grand Inquisitor – The supreme authority over doctrinal enforcement (e.g., Tanelle Vytrossi).
Role: Champions of Vivec, warrior-poets who blend martial skill with flamboyance, humor, and art. They serve as common law enforcement in Vivec City, protecting the common folk, and striving to maintain order with a smile on their face.
Armor: Buoyant Armigers wear silver armor with bright teal malachite inlaid to evoke an air of flamboyancy.
Contrast with Ordinators: More approachable, light-hearted, and outward-facing — but no less loyal or deadly.
Ranks:
Page – Young trainees, often fresh recruits.
Armiger – Core members, serving as soldiers and attendants to Vivec.
Knight – Distinguished warriors with notable exploits, often granted command.
Paragon – Leaders of local Armiger chapters, embodying Vivec’s ideals.
Exemplar – Rare champions who act as living embodiments of the Buoyant ideal, second only to Vivec himself.
Pact Tensions
Nords drink, fight, and boast loudly in taverns like the Moonlit Net, clashing with Dunmer priests and Ordinators.
Argonians gather at the Scaled Rest, accused of covert Hist worship despite the Pact’s protections.
These tensions threaten to split the Pact from within, weakening its strength abroad.
Ashlander Unrest
Tribes like the Zainab send agitators into the city, disrupting plazas and shrines.
They accuse the Tribunal of stealing godhood and mock pilgrims for blind faith.
Their protests often end in public arrests, feeding further resentment.
The Dissident Priest Movement
Hidden within the High Fane’s Scholar’s Annex and whispered in the Relic Vaults, Dissident Priests question the Tribunal’s divinity.
The Inquisitor’s Cells hold captured priests as examples to others.
This is the most dangerous internal threat, as it undermines the Temple from within.
Enforcement of Orthodoxy
The Pyres of Purification burn heretical texts and songs, a public reminder of the Temple’s grip.
The Sanctum of the Mask reinforces the cult of duty, each mask and cuirass donned in ritual silence.
Faith is not only celebrated — it is enforced through fear.
DM plenty of hooks:
Baar Dau, also called the “Hanging Moon” or “The Ministry of Truth,” is a massive meteor suspended above Vivec City, held aloft by Vivec’s divine power. Its jagged surface dominates the sky, blotting out the sun at certain hours and casting whole districts into shadow. The Temple teaches that Baar Dau is both a symbol and a miracle — proof of the Warrior-Poet’s strength and the Tribunal’s dominion over fate itself.
Doctrinal Narrative (Temple Orthodoxy):
According to the Tribunal Temple, Baar Dau once hurled itself at Vivec City in mockery of the heavens. With a single gesture, Vivec halted its fall and bound it in place, transforming imminent destruction into eternal protection. Priests claim that so long as faith in the Tribunal remains unbroken, Baar Dau will never fall. Thus, the Hanging Moon is portrayed as a covenant between god and people: submission and loyalty in exchange for survival.
Alternative Whispers (Ashlanders and Dissidents):
Ashlander Belief: They claim Baar Dau is not a gift but a curse, hurled by Sheogorath out of boredom, or by the heavens themselves in condemnation of the Tribunal’s lies. To them, its stillness is hubris, a god flaunting stolen power.
Dissident Priest View: Dissidents see Baar Dau as a metaphor for the Tribunal’s fragile grasp on divinity. If Vivec’s will falters, even for a moment, the city will be crushed. In this reading, Baar Dau is not protection but a sword forever dangling over the faithful.
Social Effect in Vivec City:
For citizens, Baar Dau is impossible to ignore. It looms in every glance skyward, a constant reminder of both salvation and annihilation. Priests invoke its presence in sermons, pointing to it as proof of the Tribunal’s power. Ordinary Dunmer cross themselves when they walk beneath its shadow, muttering prayers that Vivec’s will does not waver. Foreigners find it unsettling — Nords laugh nervously at the thought of living beneath it, while Argonians quietly wonder if this “miracle” is only another chain binding the Dunmer.
Storyteller’s Note:
Baar Dau should never be resolved. It is not a problem to solve but a status quo: a looming, unresolvable tension that fuels faith, doubt, and conflict. It is both the Temple’s greatest symbol and its greatest vulnerability — a visible, immovable reminder that all of Vivec City hangs, quite literally, on a god’s will.
Pilgrimages: Endless waves of pilgrims visit shrines and the Grand Nave in the High Fane, reinforcing the city’s role as the spiritual heart of Morrowind.
Trials & Punishments: Heretics are routinely jailed, exiled, or executed. Public burnings and penances keep citizens in line.
Military Flow: Soldiers from the Pact pass through the city, resting and resupplying at places like the Sturdy Oar, before marching to Cyrodiil.
Whispers of Dissent: In plazas, taverns, and even temples, rumors of Ashlander truths or Dissident secrets mingle with smoke and incense, fueling unrest beneath the surface.
Vivec City is a city of contradictions — radiant with faith, art, and divine presence, yet simmering with unrest. The Tribunal Temple rules with ritual and iron certainty, but the Ashlanders and Dissident Priests gnaw at its foundations. The Ebonheart Pact struggles to present unity, even as old grudges between Nords, Dunmer, and Argonians flare daily in streets and taverns. The Ordinators enforce silence with their golden masks, while the Buoyant Armigers laugh and sing before returning to their sacred duty. And above it all hangs Baar Dau — the unmoving meteor, a symbol of divine protection or of inevitable doom.