Lore:Celestial

The Celestials are powerful ethereal beings formed by the power of the stars. The most powerful Celestials represent the  , its unknown if these beings are from Aetherius or if they are mortals who have achieved a state of ascension.  Celestials can only manifest on Nirn through the use of Apex Stones, and the destruction of even a single Apex Stone can have devastating consequences to the entire Mundus.  

History
Merethic Era
It was theorized that the first Celestial beings were created in the   by the ancient    . The kings of   in Upper   constructed a great laboratory at  , where they used   to harness the power of the stars. At first, they created only weak Celestials that mimicked mundane animals and  . These ranged in power from the lowly  s to the fearsome entity known as  . All of these volatile creatures were bound within the Pinnacle by Nedic wards, and the tower was later sealed by the   invaders that conquered the region circa  .   The origin of the more powerful godlike Celestials that make up the constellations is completely unknown. More established myth claims that the stars were formed by the   fleeing Creation and creating holes to  . .

Second Era
The Constellations fell from the sky in  , and took on mortal form. As is his nature, the   used this opportunity to attack the other Celestials by corrupting the Guardian Constellations through their Nedic  . Quickly establishing a cult known as the  , the Serpent gained control of the   beneath the city of   and the   in the  . Under his influence, the Mage took control of an army of  s that had been summoned to the region recently to repel  's  , and created the powerful new  s and  s, before being sundered into many aspects scattered throughout Craglorn.  The Warrior was forced to summon Emperor   from the past so that he could raise an undead army of   warriors from the many Yokudan tombs in the region, but not before he summoned his own champion, a contemporary Nedic warrior named  .  A great celestial obelisk known as   also crashed to   at that time.  

As the only guardian remaining, the   hid her Apex Stone in the ruins of   beneath the city of  . She then assumed the guise of a blind   woman named  , and took control of the  .  Recruiting scholars and warriors from across Tamriel, Hara sent the Star-Gazers to search for the missing Guardians and prevent more Anka-Ra from being summoned. With the help of  , the only surviving summoner of the atronach army, the Star-Gazers managed to locate the uncorrupted aspects of the Mage so that they could overpower the Serpent; the restored Mage subsequently fled to the   in an attempt to escape Time. Meanwhile, Titus Valerius helped the Star-Gazers return Tarish-Zi to his grave.  However, the Serpent soon learned of the Thief's location and attempted to corrupt her, but was prevented by Locke, Valerius and the    

After being forced to reveal her true identity, rumors of the Thief's appearance in Belkarth drew the attention of the  . Groups of Undaunted launched an assault on the Aetherian Archive and   to free the Mage and the Warrior from the Serpent's influence. Regardless of this, the Serpent continued his attempt to raise armies, planning to return   to a primal state. However, the Scaled Court was betrayed from within by  , the Regent of Serpentine Stratagems. Along with her companion  , Cassipia secretly worked alongside the Vestige in stopping the Court's creation of   and dismantling the  ' attempt at raising an army of primal, nirncrux-infused  s. Cassipia's true motives were revealed when she subsequently declared herself   and sought to usurp the Serpent's place in the sky. She briefly succeeded in becoming a Celestial, but was killed in battle against the Thief and the Vestige.  The Undaunted later entered the Scaled Court's stronghold of   and defeated the Serpent. 

The wards at Skyreach Pinnacle were also broken by the Scaled Court that year, but were quickly resealed before the Celestials could escape.  Other minor Celestials were known to have appeared on Tamriel around this time.  s became notorious for wandering the rocky terrain of Craglorn, as they sometimes entered gardens and ate everything that had been planted.   s were Celestial horses that originated in  ,  a magically polluted area created when the Mage's Staff fell to Tamriel.   s also appeared at this time; these creatures resembled senche-cats composed of floating onyx shards similar to stone found at Spellscar. 

The fallen Constellations later reassumed their place in the sky. 
 
Gallery
 

See Also
For game-specific information, see the ESO article.

References