Lore:The Vestige

The Vestige
Race	Unknown	Gender	Unknown
Born		2nd Era
Died		2E 582
Resurrection		2E 582 Coldharbour
Resided in		Tamriel
Appears in		ESO

The Vestige's soul

"I died, but that was only the beginning...I awoke in Oblivion. My body is intact, but my soul has been torn from my body."
—The Vestige

The Vestige, known as the Soulless One and by a plethora of other names, was a Soul-Shriven hero of prophecy. As a mortal, they were sacrificed to Molag Bal by Mannimarco as part of a dark ritual in 2E 582. They may have been chosen by the Adamantine Tower to be a savior to the many corners of Tamriel, with many crises such as the Three Banners War, the schemes of Daedric Princes, and the Dragons that ravaged Elsweyr happening in such a short amount of time.

Characteristics

While common Soul Shriven lack the focusing principle of their Anuic souls, scholars theorized that if they still possessed some other intrinsic Anuic aspect, they would form an unflawed body in Coldharbour that was a perfect duplicate of the body worn in Mundus. Should this individual bear a sufficiently high Anuic valence, their body would form almost instantaneously upon contact with Padomaic creatia. Further, scholars extrapolate that such an occurrence would take place if Mundus was subject to an existential threat. In this situation, the Heart of Nirn would spontaneously generate such individuals as a way of defending itself from destruction. It would also be possible for a Soul Shriven to restore their physical form if they became re-attuned to Nirn. One such method is by absorbing the power of a Skyshard, fragments of Aetherius which carry the essence of Nirn within them.

These theories were seemingly proven correct, as in 2E 579 Molag Bal began an attempt to meld his plane of Oblivion with Nirn to create a single nightmarish realm. Only a few years later in 2E 582, the Vestige seemingly exhibited such exceptional Anuic qualities and escaped Coldharbour, going on to combat the Daedric threat as foretold by the Elder Scrolls.

The Vestige can also use wayshrines to travel and resurrect due to their nature. As first theorized by Corvus Direnni, these wayshrines create an interconnected "web of sojourn" which could be manipulated to create a permanent portal network. In order to do this, the "fast traveler" would have to attune himself to each wayshrine in order to create a "node". However, to test this theory the potential traveler would have to unmoor his soul from the Mundus. The wayshrines also allowed these Soul Shriven who had been re-attuned to Anuic magic to reform in death, being reborn at the nearest shrine instead of being banished to Oblivion like a Daedra.

History

With the aid of former emperor Varen Aquilarios, the Vestige escaped imprisonment in Coldharbour and reformed the Five Companions, as foretold by the Elder Scrolls in the omen "The soulless one will become the brightest of five stars, and they shall guide us to the coming dawn."

After participating in the Three Banners War for one of the three alliances throughout its territory and Cyrodiil, the Vestige joined an invasion of Coldharbour by the Fighters and Mages Guilds. The Vestige became instrumental to that effort, restoring Meridia's Hollow City in Coldharbour as a beachhead for the invasion. The Vestige, with Meridia's assistance, thus ended Molag Bal's Planemeld and regained their soul.

Meridia then sent the Vestige to explore events as if they had been part of the other alliances of Tamriel. The Vestige then explored the aftermath of the Planemeld in Craglorn, facing the Celestials corrupted by the Serpent. Thereafter, the Vestige joined the Dark Brotherhood of which they became a Silencer, the nascent Thieves Guild in Hew's Bane, and aided in the rebuilding of Kurog's Orsinium.

The Vestige then became involved in a Daedric war involving the Daedric Triad of the Princes Clavicus Vile, Mephala, and Nocturnal when they foiled the Triad's plot to sap Vivec of his power, before preventing their takeover of the Clockwork City. The Vestige then traveled to Summerset and became a member of the Psijic Order. Nocturnal, however betrayed the Triad, and was promptly defeated by the Psijics, Vestige, and champions of Meridia and the betrayed princes. The Vestige then journeyed to Murkmire with the Cyrodiilic Collection Agency, discovering the lost Root-Whisper tribe.

The Vestige later reunited with Abnur Tharn, inadvertently aiding in his sister's plot to have him release dragons across Tamriel. Abnur and the Vestige prevented Euraxia's dragon allies from siphoning Jode's Core and reclaimed the kingdom of Rimmen from Euraxia for its true heir, Khamira. The Vestige would also ally with Sai Sahan to re-establish the Dragonguard in Southern Elsweyr. The Dragonguard forged an alliance with the dragon Nahfahlaar, who empowered the Vestige with the Mask of Alkosh. The Vestige, Abnur Tharn, Khamira, Sahan, Nahfahlaar, and the Dragonguard thus stopped the leader of the unleashed dragons, Kaalgrontiid, from ascending to godhood, though their mission came at the apparent cost of Abnur Tharn's life.

Eventually the Vestige met Lyris Titanborn once again in Icereach and aided her in defeating the Icereach Coven. They also helped the last Pyre Watch Sentinel and Fennorian, an investigator from House Ravenwatch, defend Unhallowed Grave against grave-robbing necromancers. The hero later met with Lyris and investigated a lead on the Icereach Coven in behalf of the Skald-King. The Vestige traveled to Western Skyrim where they saved Solitude from a harrowstorm, and ousted and slew the High King of Western Skyrim for being a pawn of the Gray Host. The Vestige subsequently aided Gwendis in defeating a Vampire Lord and a mad alchemist, both of which were allies of the Gray Host. They continued aiding the Ravenwatch in investigating the Gray Host.The hero's journey led them to Markarth where they ousted and defeated a traitor in the Despot of Markarth's court, temporarily saving Markarth in the process. Finally, the Vestige traveled to Grayhaven and put an end to Rada al-Saran once and for all, stopping the Gray Host and saving the Reach.

In the Blackwood region of Cyrodiil and Black Marsh, the Vestige uncovered a dark pact between the fallen Longhouse Emperors of Cyrodiil and the Daedric Prince, Mehrunes Dagon. Four children were imbued with the egonymic of Dagon himself so that they would attune him to Nirn when rejoined with him. Though the power of three Ambitions were claimed by Dagon, the Vestige allied with the final Ambition to banish him from Nirn once more.

In the Systres archipelago, while working under Lady Arabelle and Lord Bacaro Volorus, the Vestige uncovered a plot to assassinate the Alliance leaders—Emeric, Ayrenn and, in Jorunn's case, his son Irnskar—by the Ascendant Order during crucial peace talks to end the war. Corralling the leaders to All Flags Islet, the Vestige arranged a defense of the isle, succeeding in protecting the leaders and defeated the Ascendant Magus, second-in-command of the Ascendant Order. The Vestige then unmasked Bacaro as the Ascendant Lord and revealed his plot to become the new Druid King and bring an era of destruction to Tamriel, replacing the fallen Empire with his own "Ivy Throne". The Vestige confronted them at Mount Firesong, defeating the Lord and saving the archipelago from destruction.

Titulature

"It is as the Scrolls foretold. The soulless one will become the brightest of five stars, and they shall guide us to the coming dawn."
—Varen Aquilarios

The Vestige took on a number of titles throughout their Aurbic adventures. They were given their first title, the Vestige, by the former Emperor Varen Aquilarios, who learned of a Soulless One who would save Tamriel from the clutches of Molag Bal through his studies of the Elder Scrolls. Almalexia also foresaw the arrival of the soulless, deathless one who could save Gil-Var-Delle. After defeating the Lord of Domination, they were also bestowed by him the titles of the Savior of Tamriel, the Hero of Coldharbour, and Meridia's Champion. For their efforts against Prince Fildgor and solidifying the Ebonheart Pact in Eastmarch, the Vestige was named the High King's Arrow (or King's Arrow or The Arrow of the King) by Prince Irnskar. In Auridon, while working as an agent for Queen Ayrenn, they were named an Eye of the Queen. Similarly the Vestige was named an Eye of Raz by Razum-dar. In Reaper's March, the Vestige was chosen to be the Moon Hallowed, the person who would help the Lunar Champion walk the path to become the Mane of the Khajiit. Upon uniting the Orcish tribes and stopping King Kurog's plot, they were deemed the Hero of Wrothgar. When they fought the Daedric Triad throughout Tamriel, the Vestige was recognized as both a Champion of Vivec and the Savior of Summerset, To the people of Murkmire they became known as Rootmender and Egg-Savior. The people of Northern Elsweyr named them the Champion of Anequina for their part in stopping the dragon Kaalgrontiid, while their ally Nahfahlaar gave the Vestige the dragon name of Ahkahtuz. They were named Champion of the Alliances by the three Alliance leaders and Lady Arabelle Davaux, and the Defender of the Three Thrones and the Savior of the Systres by Lord Bacaro Volorus. The Vestige was known as The Scourge by the inhabitants of Bal Sunnar. They were granted the title of pathwalker by an alternate Ithelia.

Beyond these, they received many, many more titles -- some small, like becoming a Deputy of the Mistral Guard, and some great, like becoming an honorary member of House Ravenwatch -- for their accolades, feats and adventures:

Notes

• The Vestige was known to be able to read the ancient Nord language.
• In early drafts, the working title for the Vestige was originally going to be the "Numinous".
• Dunmer during the Third Era were known to exclaim "By the Soulless One".

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.