The Gospel of Saint Llothis

It was after the great battle at Red Mountain and the ascendancy of ALMSIVI that Llothis came to know his true calling. He had been a shield-and-spear to the First Council, and was looked upon with favor by those who had taken the mantle of the divine.

"Blessed lieutenant," they said, "the war is done, but the lands of the reforged nation are all in disarray. Look to your home and see that it is fit for the new age. Do this in our name."

So Llothis gladly set out for his place of birth, a small village on the eastern coast. He dreamed of a life of peace and tranquility, far away from the bustle of the world; it was not to be.

He returned to his ancestral hearth to find it wracked with strife and misery. A certain powerful mystic named Naheb, a veteran of the war, had come and usurped lordship by trickery. He announced to the villagers that he was favored by ALMSIVI and had been given a mandate to govern this area by Seht himself. Fearful of his sorcery and not knowing the truth of things, the people submitted to his rule.

When Llothis learned of this, he was filled with sorrow.

"Why do you follow this mer, when he is but a charlatan and a liar?" he asked.

"He has powerful magic," the villagers responded, "and he says we will be punished by the Three if we do not obey him."

"I am Llothis, born of this place," he said. "Many of you know me; I left to go to war, and fought alongside ALMSIVI. I knew them before they tasted the divine!"

An old mer eyed him thoughtfully. "There was a Llothis born here," he recalled. "He left us many years ago. Perhaps you are him, but he left a golden youth, and you are a gray elder." And this was true, for all the people of Morrowind had been changed following the transformation of the Tribunal.

"It does not matter who I am or who I was," declared Llothis. "All that matters is that I bring the truth of ALMSIVI, and truth must always triumph over falsehood. I will see Naheb and end his lies." And with that he went to the doors of Naheb's domed house, and a crowd of people followed.

"Come out!" he shouted. "Come out and hear what is true, if you dare!"

The doors parted, and Naheb emerged clad in fine silks and wearing a great scarab amulet.

"Who is this who dares rouse me? Vehk shall strike you down when he learns of this!"

Hearing this, the people cowered, as they still believed the old mystic had the ear of the Warrior-Poet. Llothis was undaunted.

"I have fought alongside Vehk many times. It is not his will that you tyrannize these people, who have suffered much already. I challenge you to a contest."

Naheb smiled cruelly, but there was a glimmer of doubt in his eyes. "A contest? It is not the will of the Three that I fight in petty duels. I am a lord of high station in the new order."

"You are no lord, and I do not challenge you to a fight. Rather I challenge you to a contest of prayer. Ayem hates those who are false in their hearts, and punishes false supplications. You and I shall pray, and one of us will be struck down for mocking the divine!" With this, Llothis fell to his knees and began to recite a plea for holy aid. Naheb did the same, but there was fear in his voice.

The prayers continued for a long time, and in the meanwhile the crowd watched in dreadful silence. All except a young girl, the daughter of a dyer, who stood behind Naheb. She saw he was clutching at his scarab amulet, and heard him murmur not prayer but the incantations of some vile enchantment.

"Stop!" she shouted. "The mystic means to cast a spell on you!" Upon hearing this Naheb spun around in anger.

"Foolish child!" he spat. "You will die for your blasphemy!" And he sprang towards her in a rage.

Llothis had remained still in prayer until this point. Suddenly he opened his eyes, and they glowed with the wisdom of Seht, the cunning of Vehk, and with the compassion of Ayem. He uttered no incantations and made no arcane gestures, and yet in that instant Naheb was cut all over, as if by a hundred swords. He fell in a bloody heap on the ground, his power broken.

Llothis then addressed the crowd. "See how the truth cuts like a sword! It is stronger than any sorcery, and is the gift of ALMSIVI to you all!" And the people knew then that they were in the presence of one truly blessed by the Tribunal, and they rejoiced. "Hail ALMSIVI! Hail the new lord they sent us!"

But Llothis shook his head. "I did not come here to rule, but to enlighten. And now I have done so; I cannot stay. For I fear this is not the only place where the truth of ALMSIVI has been misheard or distorted, either out of error or for the greed of mortals. I have much work to do."

The people met this announcement with grief. "How will we keep to the true path without one to guide us?" the old mer asked. "How will we know the will of ALMSIVI?"

"But you will have a guide!" Llothis told them. "One who is not afraid of false holy men, and says the truth as she sees it, not as she wants it to be." And he took the hands of the dyer's daughter. "You must be a priestess to these people, to illuminate the path that they might not stray. Will you do this?"

"I will do what must be done, if you will first teach me," she replied.

And so Llothis made her a robe of blue and gold, and the house of Naheb was cleansed of evil and made into a temple. Llothis spent much of the rest of his life traveling from place to place, and in his wake he left countless temples and priests to forever glorify the eternal guardians of Morrowind.