The Battle of Red Mountain Content . ( The following is a transcript of the words of Lord Vivec , addressed to a Dissident Priest , Malur Omayn , who confronted Vivec with the Ashlanders traditions surrounding the Battle of Red Mountain and with prophecies of the Nerevarine , and to unnamed magistrates of the Inquisition who joined Vivec in interrogating the Dissident Priest ) . Who can clearly recall the events of the distant past But you have asked me to tell you , in my own words , the events surrounding the Battle of Red Mountain , the birth of the Tribunal , and the prophecies of a Nerevar reborn . Here is what I can tell you . When the Chimer first abandoned the herds and tents of their nomadic ancestors , and built the first Great Houses , we loved the Daedra , and worshipped them as gods . But our brethren , the Dwemer , scorned the Daedra , and mocked our foolish rituals , and preferred instead their gods of Reason and Logic . So the Chimer and Dwemer were always at bitter war , until the Nord s came and invaded Resdayn . Only then did the Chimer and Dwemer put away their strife and join together to cast out the invaders . Once the Nords were driven out , General Nerevar of the Chimer and General Dumac of the Dwemer , who had come to love and respect on another , resolved to make peace between their peoples . In that time I was but a junior counselor to Nerevar , and Nerevar ' s queen , Almalexia , and his other favorite counselor , Sotha Sil , always doubted that such a peace might long survive , given the bitter disputes between Chimer and Dwemer , but by negotiation and compromise , Nerevar and Dumac somehow managed to preserve a fragile peace . But when Dagoth Ur , Lord of House Dagoth , and trusted as a friend by both Nerevar and the Dwemer , brought us proof that High Engineer Kagrenac of the Dwemer had discovered the Heart of Lorkhan , and that he had learned how to tap its powers , and was building a new god , a mockery of Chimer faith and a fearsome weapon , we all urged Nerevar to make war on the Dwarves and to destroy this threat to Chimer beliefs and security . Nerevar was troubled . He went to Dumac and asked if what Dagoth Ur said was true . But Kagrenac took great offense , and asked whom Nerevar thought he was , that he might presume to judge the affairs of the Dwemer . Nerevar was further troubled , and made pilgrimage to Holamayan , the sacred temple of Azura , and Azura confirmed that all that Dagoth Ur said was indeed true and that the creation of a New God of the Dwemer should be prevented at all costs . When Nerevar came back and told us what the goddess had said , we felt our judgements confirmed , and again counseled him to war , chiding Nerevar for his naive trust in friendship , and reminding Nerevar of his duty to protect the faith and security of the Chimer against the impiety and dangerous ambitious of the Dwemer . Then Nerevar went back to Vvardenfell one last time , hoping that negotiations and compromise might once again preserve the peace . But this time the friends Nerevar and Dumac quarreled bitterly , and as a result , the Chimer and Dwemer went to war . The Dwemer were well - defended by their fortress at Red Mountain , but Nerevar ' s cunning drew most of Dumac ' s armies out into the field and pinned them there , while Nerevar , Dagoth Ur , and a small group of companions could make their way into the Heart Chamber by secret means . There , Nerevar the Chimer King met Dumac the Dwarf King and they both collapsed from grievous wounds and draining magics . With Dumac fallen , and threatened by Dagoth Ur and others , Kagrenac turned his tools upon the Heart , and Nerevar said he saw Kagrenac and all his Dwemer companions at once disappear from the world . In that instant , Dwemer everywhere disappeared without a trace . But Kagrenac ' s Tools remained , and Dagoth Ur seized them , and he carried them to Nerevar saying , " That fool Kagrenac has destroyed his own people with these things . We should destroy them , right away , lest they fall into the wrong hands . " But Nerevar was resolved to confer with his queen and his generals , who had foreseen that this war would come and whose counsel he would not ignore again . " I will ask the Tribunal what we shall do with them , for they have had wisdom in the past that I had not . Stay here , loyal Dagoth Ur , until I return . " So Nerevar told Dagoth Ur to protect the tools and the Heart Chamber until he returned . Then Nerevar was carried to us where we waited on the slopes of Red Mountain , and he told us all that had transpired under Red Mountain . What Nerevar had said was that the Dwemer had used special tools to turn their people into immortals and that the Heart of Lorkhan held wondrous powers . ( Only later did we hear from others present that Dagoth Ur had thought the Dwemer destroyed , not made immortal . And no one knows for sure what really happened there ) . After hearing Nerevar , we gave our counsel as he requested , proposing , " We should preserve these tools in trust for the welfare of the Chimer people . And who knows , perhaps the Dwemer are not gone forever , but merely transported to some distant realm , from which they may some day return to threaten our securtiy once again . Therefore , we need to keep these tools , to study them and their principles , so that we may be safe in future generations . " And though Nerevar voiced his grave misgivings , he was willing to be ruled by our counsel , under one condition : that we all together should swear a solemn oath upon Azura that the tools would never be used in the profane manner that the Dwemer had intended . We all readily agreed , and swore solemn oaths at Nerevar ' s dictation . So then we went with Nerevar back into Red Mountain and met with Dagoth Ur . Dagoth Ur refused to deliver the tools to us , saying they were dangerous , and we could not touch them . Dagoth Ur seemed to be irrational , insisting that only he could be trusted with the tools , and then we guessed that he had some how been affected by his handling of the tools , but now I feel sure that he had privately learned the powers of the tools , and had in some confused way decided he must have them for himself . Then Nerevar and our guard resorted to force to secure the tools . Somehow Dagoth Ur and his retainers escaped , but we gained the tools , and delivered them to Sotha Sil for study and safe - keeping . For some years we kept the oaths we swore to Azura with Nerevar , but during that time , in secret , Sotha Sil must have studied the tools and divined their mysteries . And at last he came to us with a vision of a new world of peace , with justice and honor for nobles , and health and prosperity for the commoners , with the Tribunal as immortal patrons and guides . And dedicating ourselves to this vision of a better world , we made a pilgrimage to Red Mountain and transformed ouselves with the power of Kagrenac ' s tools . And no sooner than we had completed our rituals and begun to discover our new - found powers , the Daedra Lord Azura appeared and cursed us for our foresworn oaths . By her powers of prophecy , she assured us that her champion , Nerevar , true to his oath , would return to punish us for our perfidy , and to make sure such profane knowledge might never again be used to mock and defy the will of the gods . But Sotha Sil said to her , " The old gods are cruel and arbitrary , and distant from the hopes and fears of mer . Your age is past . We are the new gods , born of the flesh , and wise and caring of the needs of our people . Spare us your threats and chiding , inconstant spirit . We are bold and fresh , and will not fear you . " And then , in that moment , all Chimer were changed into Dunmer , and our skins turned ashen and our eyes into fire . Of course , we only knew at that time that this had happened to us , but Azura said " This is not my act , but your act . You have chosen your fate , and the fate of your people , and all the Dunmer shall share your fate , from now to the end of time . You think yourselves gods , but you are blind , and all is darkness . " And Azura left us alone , in darkness , and we were all afraid , but we put on brave faces , and went forth from Red Mountain to build the new world of our dreams . And the new world we shaped was glorious and generous , and the worship of the Dunmer fervent and grateful . The Dunmer were at first afraid of their new faces , but Sotha Sil spoke to them , saying that it was not a curse but a blessing , a sign of their changed natures , and sign of the special favor they might enjoy as New Mer , no longer barbarians trembling before ghosts and sperits , but civilized mer , speaking directly to their immortal friends and patrons , the three faces of the Tribunal . And we were all inspired by Sotha Sil ' s speech and vision , and took heart . And over time , we crafted the customs and institutions of a just and honorable society , and the land of Resdayn knew millennia of peace , equity , and prosperity unknown to other savage races . But beneath Red Mountain , Dagoth Ur had survived . And even as the light of our bold new world shined ever more brightly , beneath Red Mountain , the darkness gathered , a darkness that was close kin to the bright light that Sotha Sil coaxed from the Heart of Lorkhan with the Tools of Kagrenac . As the darkness grew , we fought it , and crafted walls to confine it , but we never could destroy it , for the source of the darkness was the same source as the source of our own divine inspiration . And in these latter days of Morrowind , reduced to a subjugated province of the Western Empire , as the glory of the Temple fades , and the dark tide rises from Red Mountain , we are reminded of Azura and her promised champion ' s return . We have waited , blind and in darkness , mere shadows , drained of our ardent vision , in shame of our folly , in fear of our judgement , and in hope of our deliverance . We do not know if the outlander claiming to fulfill the prophecies of the Nerevarine is our old companion Nevevar reborn , or a pawn of the Emperor , or a catspaw of Azura , or some simple twist of fate . But we insist you adhere to Temple doctrine , and conform to the strictures dividing the Hierographa from the Apographa , and that you not speak that which must not be spoken openly . Act as a dutiful priest should , in accordance with your vows of obedience to the canons and archcanons , and all will be forgiven . Defy me , and you will know what it is to stand against a god . - - Vivec