Bosmeri influence on Almsivi - Or why Vivec’s lies are real
Mundus is a weird place. In a way even weirder than the Oblivion realms. Why? Because most of the Oblivion realms, even if incomprehensible for mortals, are subjects to whims of only one Daedric Prince. On the other hand, collective realms, such as Infernace, are desrcibed as:
> [rather mundane and uninteresting, lacking the distinctive qualities of the more personal Oblivion planes. ](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Lord_Fa-Nuit-Hen_and_Tutor_Riparius_Answer_Your_Questions)
And then there’s Mundus. From our point of view, it’s the most familiar realm in Aurbis, after all quite similar (even if only falsely) to our world. But the thing is, Mundus is not something that we could call “a normal plane” in the context of Aurbis. In a way, it’s similar to the collective realms (after all, it was created by multiple et’Ada), but it has distinctive qualities. The reason is that those et’Ada were not mere Atronachs, but greater Spirits, with their own personalities. Hence, Mundus is that weird ball in Aurbis, that is a subject to the whims of various Earthbones that can just *retcon* the events that took place in their respective domains. Yes, domains, because every province of Tamriel is its own small reality. That’s why the Towers exists - to define the Earthbones and ensure that they’ll not reshape themselves every now and then:
> [The spike of Ada-Mantia, and its Zero Stone, dictated the structure of reality in its Aurbic vicinity, defining for the Earth Bones their story or nature within the unfolding of the Dragon's (timebound) Tale. The Aldmeri or Merethic Elves were singular of purpose only so long as it took them to realize that other Towers, with their own Stones, could tell different stories, each following rules inscribed by Variorum Architects. And so the Mer self-refracted, each to their own creation, the Chimer following Red-Heart, the Bosmer burgeoning Green-Sap, the Altmer erecting Crystal-Like-Law, et alia.](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Aurbic_Enigma_4:_The_Elden_Tree)
There’s no Objectivity on Mundus. Almost every account is real in its own way, because Eartbones are literally making it real. Or semi-real at least, because what is real in Valenwood, not necessary must be real on Summerset, etc.
And there’s no other race that personifies it better than the Bosmer:
> ["You say the world ends at what you can see with your eyes. We say, that is where the world begins."](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Visions_of_the_Green_Pact_Bosmer)
So, Bosmeri lore… I can’t help but draw parallels between their traditions and Vivec’s Lessons (and Alsmivi in general). They even have something that I like to call **”The Green Tribunal”**, though it was probably first (funnily enough, IRL it was the other way around and the writers were probably inspired by Sermons while writing Bosmeri lore for ESO).
**The Wilderking**
The Wilderking is both a god and an individual at the same time. Or individuals. Because The Wilderking was mantled several times by mortals gifted with a power to command the Earthbones. He shapes the Valenwood from his Court, kind of like Sotha Sil’s shapes the Mundus from his Clockwork City. But that’s not the only parallel. The Wilderking is a nature god. And that’s what the Warden of Y’ffre says when visiting the Clockwork City:
> [“Everything smells wrong, and he misses the world. He doesn’t see that this is the world—or its copy. I never understood before that Sotha Sil is your nature god. I thought you didn’t have one.”](https://www.imperial-library.info/content/naryu-vvardenfell-before)
Not to mention that both created artificial beings based on their dead relatives. Wilderkings’ Hollows are based on builders that worked with Ostion, the first Wilderking, while Seht’s Factotums are based on his dead sister, [Sohta Nall](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Sotha_Nall)
**The Green Lady**
The Green Lady personifies the strength of the Bosmer people, as well as their wild past, before the Green Pact. She can be both compassionate and cruel at the same time. Kind of like Almalexia, the Healing Mother and the Warrior, the Anticipation of Boethiah, that with her chimeri skin represents the past of the Dunmer people, before the Azura’s Curse.
**The Silvenar**
A city and an individual. An individual and the entire race at the same time. The Silvenar is called the Voice of the People and is linked to all Bosmer. Their gender is fluid - if majority of the Bosmer are female, the Silvenar also will be female and the other way. And while doesn’t change gender depending on the state of his people, he still is a “magical hermaphrodite”. There’s also what Sotha Sil says about Vivec:
> Vivec craves radical freedom - the death of all limits and restrictions. He wishes to be all things at all times. Every race, every gender, every hero, both divine and finite... but in the end, he can only be Vivec.
In a way, the Silvenar already is what Vivec wants to be. Of course, not entirely, but at least for the Bosmer people.
**The Spinners**
Now, the main dish and the reason why I’m writing this post.
“Reality is a Story” - that’s basically the Spinners philosophy. And well, from what we can see in ESO, they’re right. The Spinners are basically reality-warpers, they can shape the Earthbones through their stories, predict and/or shape the future, change personal memories and sometimes even reshape the past. They also possess vast knowledge about aurbic metaphysics, but often speak of them through metaphors. Dialogues with Spinners [Girnalin](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Girnalin#Dialogue) and [Regring](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Regring) are good examples of that.
**About Vivec and his Lessons**
Vivec is a liar… No. Vivec is a Poet:
> [Trust not the words of a poet, as he is born to seduce. Yet for poetry to sieze the heart, it must ring with the chimes of truth.](https://www.imperial-library.info/content/sotha-sils-last-words)
Vivec, as a Poet, told a lot of lies. But the knowledge he presents to us in his Sermons? That’s real. His words in Sermons are meant to seduce, but the truth is hidden between the metaphors. The same metaphors that Spinners are using. The same truth that allows them to shape reality. It’s especially visible in Spinner Girnalin’s dialogue. Her words about the Six Walking Ways are almost 1:1 to Vivec’s words in [Sermon 6](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:36_Lessons_of_Vivec,_Sermon_6)
The Almsivi, in a way, are similar to the Spinners, while also mimicking (intentionally or unintentionally) bosmeri godlike figures. And their claims, about always being gods and mortals at the same time? Those are false. But that doesn’t mean they’re not real **now**.
>> "Almalexia defies simple analysis. I doubt she could even describe herself accurately.
>>To understand Almalexia, you must first understand the value of fiction. Vivec fancies himself the poet, but in truth, Ayem is the greater storyteller."
>How so?
>>"Vivec knows the boundaries that separate fact from fiction. He knows them so well that's he's learned how to break them. He exists inside his verse, but recognizes the lies. The contradictions.
>>He both does, and does not believe his own tales."
>How is Almalexia different?
>>"She believes her tales implicitly. As does everyone else. Her capacity for deception appears limitless. She sows lies like a master gardener sows seeds, and the harvest of trust and adulation is breathtaking in scope."
What is the value of fiction? It’s that you can convince the Earthbones that fiction is real, so they’ll make it real. That’s what the Almsivi did after becoming the gods. They’ve convinced the Earthbones of Morrowind that they’ve always been gods. And so the fiction became reality. At least in Morrowind.
But of course, they all have their own thoughts about that. Almalexia believes only in the new reality. The old reality doesn’t concern her at all. Vivec, because of his knowledge, knows that his lies became reality, but at the same time knowns that it’s not how it should be. And Sotha Sil? He secluded himself in his Clockwork City, because he doesn’t want to live in a world built on layers upon layers of lies:
> [The will of Sotha Sil is the chrononymic will. The Nameless Will. For what is "Name?" The Divine Metronome tells us that "Name" is the wedge that pries gear from pinion. The residue of Lorkhan's Great Lie that loosens the wheel chain and corrodes the frame. The et'Ada Gears named each and each, in their way. Our lessers see this as a kindness, but the Mainspring Ever-Wound calls it a curse, rooted in selfish pride. To name is to cleave one from another. It is the death of Anuic convergence and the Nirn-Ensuing—the misassembled dragon that breathes dry falsehood and whose name is "Multitude."](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Truth_in_Sequence:_Volume_2)