Lore:Crystal Tower

The   (also called the Crystal-Like-Law  or Lawful Crystal ) was an ancient, mystical structure located near the northern tip of  , northwest of  . It was built by the early   as a monument to their ancestors, and was considered sacred to the  .

Before the construction of the  , it was the pinnacle of magical learning in  . The top of the Crystal Tower was reserved for interring the dead. The southernmost tips of the Dragon's Teeth Mountains of mainland Tamriel could be seen from the top parapet of the tower.  The interior of the tower was white and radiated light. It contained a Great Library and a treasury with many ancient tapestries and other relics.   The Crystal Tower was famed for its animal pens, which held many different creatures from all across Tamriel. 

The Crystal Tower was one of the mythical   that stabilize the  . It was present in all realms of the   simultaneously, acting as a gateway to all realities. The Tower's Stone was called  , which was placed at the Tower's summit on  . It has been theorized that control of the Crystal Tower—through Transparent Law—could grant one omnipresence in the entire Aurbis.   In order to prevent its misuse, the Sapiarchs created a key in the form of the two Resolute Diamonds, artifacts that required one to be attuned to both before being able to enter the Crystal Tower. 

In the early  , the three    ,   and   conceived a plot to steal the Heart of Transparent Law, making a deal with the   K'Tora to make  —the leader of the  —steal it using mind magic. Iachesis, however, managed to hide the Heart within himself. Circa   the three Princes discovered this and killed Iachesis. However, Nocturnal betrayed the other Princes by taking the Heart for herself. She attempted to take control of the Crystal Tower by herself and rewrite the multiverse with its power. Her plan was foiled by the Psijic Order and the  , assisted by the two betrayed Princes and a champion of  . Clavicus granted the Psijics access to the Crystal Tower's counterpart in the Fields of Regret, while Mephala permanently merged the two Resolute Diamonds together into the Resolute Anchor so that they could enter the Tower without Nocturnal destroying them. Once inside, the divine power of Meridia's   was used to restore Transparent Law and end Nocturnal's plot. As a side effect of this battle, however, the merging of the Resolute Diamonds meant anyone would be able to enter the Tower at will. 
 

The Sapiarchs would find themselves needing to work alongside the Mages Guild to devise new ways to protect the Crystal Tower from the public in the wake of these changes. During the  , the Tower itself was hidden and its location was forgotten by all, making it the perfect spot for the usurper   to hide a piece of the fractured  . The Eternal Champion would eventually locate the tower by recovering the Resolute Anchor from the Temple of the Mad God after it was stolen from the   of  . Utilizing the diamond and a map specially prepared by the Guild, the Champion re-discovered the tower and recovered the piece of the Staff of Chaos after surviving yet another attack from Jagar.  

With the tower's location once again known, it became an early target for a radical sect of a group called   in the years leading up to the   (known to the Altmer as the Great Anguish). Under the belief that the only way for the Altmer to move forward was to let go of the past, they attempted to destroy the Crystal Tower itself. Though these attempts would end in failure, the organization would go on to commit many other acts of terror, the most notable of which was the murder of the princess of Shimmerene.  

Unfortunately, the Crystal Tower's luck would end during the Crisis itself. Refugees from all across the Summerset Isles poured into the Tower, believing it to be impenetrable to the invading hordes of Daedra. When the armies of Dagon inevitably arrived, they turned their full attention onto the destruction of the monument. The Altmer attempted to hold the line against the invaders, but even they couldn't stop the Crystal Tower from collapsing from the tremors the daedra had caused.  

Notes
During the construction of the Crystal Tower, the system of "inter-evocative hermetic harmonic resonance" was developed and persisted into the  . 
The magical Sword of the Magus-Lord was forged in the Tower and was a gift from Auriel to one of his most powerful battlemages. 
 was once the Archmagister of the tower. 
Tame  s were employed as guards in the tower.  

Gallery
 

See Also
For game-specific information, see the Arena and ESO articles.
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References