I’ve a rather extensive report on the Triune covering their histories, their ascension, and their decline. We know enough about them to understand who they were to the people of Morrowind and who they were to each other, but I neglected to tell much of the individual members themselves outside of their deification. For Almalexia? Her life was a lie.

Appearances are everything! They feed opinion and belief, and such matters are important to me!

(one can see how much stock Ayem and her divine persona, Almalexia, placed on appearances by choosing to remain golden skinned)

That quote alone, from the quest The Seal of Three found in The Elder Scrolls Online proves that Almalexia, despite everything, not only was a fraud but she knew she was a fraud. Her entire life was a lie and she was okay with that, because no one else knew the truth. So what is that truth, exactly?

Even more so, Sotha Sil more or less confirms that Almalexia is a deceiver. Also in ESO, the Vestige can speak with Sotha Sil about the Tribunal and, among other things, he has the following lines that are essential to truly unraveling who the Tribunal are, but, more importantly, who Almalexia is.

                But you’re supposed to be a god, right?

                I am what the people need me to be … a vessel for their hopes

                If you believe that, why even call yourself a god?

                I don’t … Vivec and Almalexia see their divinity as essential

                What are your feelings on Almalexia?

                I doubt [Almalexia] 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 [understands] … fact from fiction … [he] recognizes the lies … 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

                Does that bother you?

                Not in the slightest … Almalexia does what she does because she cannot do otherwise. It will not end well. But then, even the best endings rarely bring joy

Now, of course, this speaks far greater volumes of Sotha Sil than it does of Vivec or, quite apparently, Almalexia. He drones about how though Vivec is a wonderful storyteller, he knows that what he utters are stories – derived from truth, but embellished. Almalexia, however, says so many outlandish things and she believes them all as fact – so much that her people believe them too. And, it also speaks about how Sotha Sil foresaw his own death at the hands of Almalexia – but you can read about that in my report on the Tribunal.

(a secret statue to Almalexia constructed in the Fourth Era in Solstheim)

Having established that Almalexia is a most wonderful storyteller and she fully believes every tale she spins, and she speaks so frequently about everything and everyone – except for one topic. There is but one story the great Ayem has never dared to utter. She would do anything to keep up the appearance of being a god – particularly when she begins to lose her power. So why is that there is one story she fears to tell? And what could that tale be about?

It was the tale of Nerevar.

(Lord Indoril Nerevar, first of his name, The Great Hortator, Liberator of Morrowind, Subjucator of the Enslavers)

It is believed that, despite betraying him, despite possibly murdering him, despite choosing power and divinity over him, she could not bear to lie about the one she loved. In fact, this is corroborated in The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal, when she meets with the Nerevarine and laments that the Nerevarine is but a pale imitation of Nerevar who simply mantled his greatness. This is when her soul shattered – it’s theoretically possible she conspired to murder Nerevar and become divine because the Nerevarine Prophecies foretold he would return, that she could see him again and earn his forgiveness and be his wife once more – she even desired as much with the Nerevarine, to marry the Nerevarine and rule Morrowind with them – but when she learned the Nerevarine wasn’t Nerevar reborn, she broke, having lost her divinity and now her hope for Nerevar.

Further diving into the topic, let’s look a bit at Vivec. He defined his immortality by his duality of nature – half man, half woman, half mortal, half immortal, half Chimer, half Dunmer. He knew he was the sum of his parts – Vehk the Warrior-Poet and Vivec the Prophet-God. So, too, might there exist a duality for the other two of the Triune – Sotha Sil was Seht the Tinkerer and Sotha Sil the Clockwork God; Almalexia was Ayem the Wife of Nerevar and Almalexia the Lady of Mercy. She clung to her sanity and immortality, appearing only as Chimer, to convince herself that it was Ayem that murdered Nerevar and that Almalexia was innocent. When she lost her divinity, she was reminded that she killed Nerevar and destroyed herself from within.

(the murder of Nerevar; we see Sotha Sil, the Mask, off to the left; Vehk, the Warrior, sundering Nerevar's heart, in the center; and Almalexia, the Snake Faced, watching her husband die)

It comes full circle when you consider her final tale in the events of The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal, when she gets close to the Nerevarine and nearly murders him, only to inevitably be killed by the Nerevarine instead. Her anticipation was Boethiah, prince of plots. Is it so farfetched to think her sphere could contain the ability to plot her own demise, to atone for what she had done, even if only subconsciously?

Michael Kirkbride himself even touches a bit on this topic, albeit indirectly. In one of his many Q&A sessions, he writes about the opposition of Meridia and Kyne and how it makes them more similar than it seems. They both loved Shor. When Shor died, Kyne opened the skies and poured her soul as liquid through them, creating the first rain. However, Meridia abandoned everything and waited in Oblivion for him to return. In the case of Almalexia, she refused to show weakness as divine but also could not bear to simply wait for Nerevar to return, so she fought with the Nerevarine to have one last glimpse of Nerevar.

                Kyne cries for hers. Meridia waits for hers. Ayem took hers back, if but only a moment.

However, this is not about Almalexia. This is about her tale with Nerevar.

Ayem was born the ruler of a minor kingdom in Dwemereth, the House of Indoril, what would become Morrowind. Nerevar, however, was born a peasant’s son, and though he proved his strength of arm and joined a merchant caravan, he was but a guard, a protector.

In The 36 Lessons of Vivec, he writes about how Nerevar was a merchant warrior and the caravan he was guarding discovered a ruse by the Dwemer. Nerevar suggested they take their discovery to Ayem, but the captain of the caravan didn’t believe it would be worth it, so Nerevar slew the captain and took the caravan to Ayem himself, whereupon they eventually met. Granted, much of Vivec’s writings were peculiar, speaking of origin less so than truth, but the point remains the same – Nerevar was a merchant caravan guard when he met Ayem and convinced Ayem that it would be wise to marry him, with the unborn Vivec supporting that decision prophetically.

In the end, of course, Nerevar became Hortator and united the people of Morrowind under a single banner, something that had never before even been attempted, much less done. As Hortator, he and his new wife, politically powerful in her own right as the ruler of the House of Indoril in Mournhold, forged an alliance with the Dwemer – Dwarfking Dumac, personal friend to Nerevar, even attended their wedding.

(Trueflame [left] and Hopesfire [right], twin blades presented to Lord Nerevar and Lady Ayem as wedding gifts by Dwarfking Dumac)

As husband and wife, Indoril Nerevar and Ayem ruled Morrowind uncontested for at least a handful of decades, before the War of the First Council. How long the war lasted is also unknown, but when the dust settled under Red Mountain, Ayem, Seht, and Vehk were no more – in their place was Almalexia, Sotha Sil, and Vivec. Almalexia, among other titles, was known as the Face-Snaked Queen of the Three in One, references to her anticipation of Boethiah – in his sermons, Vivec himself confirms that Almalexia, despite her claims, was the most vile of the Triune, conspiring to kill her husband to gain power – however, the final sermon of Vivec contradicts this, stating that Ayem said “…I have removed my left hand and my right … for that is how I win against them. Love alone and you shall know only mistakes of salt.”

Truthfully, Indoril Nerevar and Indoril Ayem were the most politically powerful couple in the history of Morrowind, and they had their place in Tamriel, but Almalexia was always desperate for new ways to make herself better, or at least look better, and so she conspired to betray the one she thought she loved.