A sunray in the darkness.
Utter darkness. I’ve spent decades, perhaps a century, in this damp cell in some ruined castle. There are others here, cattle like me. But they’re all men and their bodies only last years, a decade at most, before they expire. Of course, their minds and will are broken much faster than their flesh. I don’t remember who I was before this. I’ve even forgotten my name. They just call me cattle. “Come here, cattle!” “Kneel, cattle!” And I must obey, unable to resist their vampiric mind-bending spells. But slowly, with every decade, my mind becomes more resilient, the grip of their witchcraft loosens and I can feel my willpower growing, and with it, insatiable hate. Love, sorrow, joy, every single emotion has been drained from my body along with the blood. Only hate remains, and it grows stronger, all-consuming.
The walls of this cellar are damp and crumbling. One day a tiny hole appeared in a wall, letting a single ray of sunshine through. I must be finally losing my mind, but I’ve started talking to it, praying for strength, vowing my hate for all the undead. One day, the ray of sun answered back; she spoke with a pure, angelic voice and told me her name was Meridia. She is so impressed by my hatred of the undead that she offers to make me a Purified, an instrument of her cleansing light. I accept willingly, taking a new name in her honor: Meridian.
Essential Mods.
Vokrii or Ordinator (essential)
Mysticism (essential)
Wintersun (strongly recommended)
Evenstar (recommended)
Morningstar (recommended)
Other non-essential mod recommendations are at the bottom of the build
Race: Altmer. Technically, other elven races can also live long enough to survive a century in captivity, but Altmers are the longest living. Altmer is also best for racial passives and they receive more favor with Meridia in Wintersun mod.
Appearance and Age: Over a century old. Horrifically scarred after a century of captivity and abuse by his vampire masters. Becoming a purified made Meridian's eye sockets white with a glowing halo around them (bright yellow eye war-paint).
Morality: Lawful neutral, with a possibility to change to either lawful good or evil.
Class: Spellsword (Entropist, Healer)
Blessings: Meridia/Mara. Follower of Meridia (Wintersun) and shrine blessing and amulet of Mara.
Standing Stones: Lover-->Serpant(Evenstar)/Atronach (Vanilla)
(With Evenstar mod The Serpant Stone curses your enemies, reducing armor by 100 points and causing 50% weakness to poison.)
Attributes: M:1 H:2 S:1 until 180 stamina, and 200 magicka, then all into health. Attributes at max lvl 42: 380 Health, 200 Magicka, 180 Stamina. With end-game equipment and perks: 505 Health, 250 Magicka, 250 Stamina. Our intention is to achieve 0 magicka cost on Restoration ideally by lvl 17. Altmers have a +50 magicka from racial passive and another 50 from adept hood or other hoods and +50 from attribute selection. That brings us to 250 magicka, which is plenty enough for an occasional alteration spell. All restoration spells are free, thus we have a strong mageknight with only 50 points investment in magicka. I invested 80 points of stamina and got another 70 from Ebony Spell Knight Boots, bringing us to a comfortable 250 stamina that I felt happy with. Health is at 380+25 from the "Alter self" alteration perk at lvl 60 and I always cast spell like Augur of Aetherius before combat. That adds another 100 health, bringing it to 505hp, which is very solid for a lvl 42 character and useful for someone who's not blocking.
Abilities: Agent of Mara, Ancient Knowledge, Sailor's Repose
Black book powers: None, Meridian would not risk falling under another daedric prince's influence.
Difficulty: Master--> Legendary
Shouts: Meridian's powers do not come from being dragonborn. Instead, slaying dragons, creatures that defy the natural order of life and death, grant Meridian his mistress' favor and her blessings.
Slow time: "Meridia can, in some sense, alter the rate at which time flows forward. For Meridia, time is said to be relative, and her priestesses have been known to grant time-altering blessings." Slowing time is useful for dual-wielding power attacks, against dragons and other tough or numerous enemies.
Become Ethereal: Meridia is a former Magna Ge, a "child of Magnus" who fled to Aetherius. Become Ethereal shout works by reaching into the Void to shift your form, making you a being of pure spirit or energy—mirroring Meridia’s own nature as a being of light. Using Become Ethereal is a temporary "Purification"—briefly shedding your mortal flesh to become a vessel of pure, untouchable energy. Becoming Ethereal is useful for jumping off cliffs or when encountering numerous enemies, to let them surround ethereal you and blast them to high-heaven with Scroll of Firestorm, followed by "Charged Nova" master restoration spell.
Dragon Aspect: or as I call it, "Avatar of infinite lights": Meridia temporarily imbues her champion with great power, making him a living prism of her infinite light energies. Dragon Aspect combined with Stendarr's Aura spell really explains why Purified or Lustrants are referred to as "Glow ass".Meridian will only learn 1 word, because the other 2 only unlock by reading black books and Meridian wouldn't touch those things.
“I am an instrument of Her holy light and must hone my skills to purge foul undead, necromancers, and all who stand in the way of reforging Mundus in the fire of new light.”
Skills
Restoration is Meridian’s core skill and most heavily perked. Before reaching 100% spell cost reduction, Meridian mainly uses Restoration for self-healing and relies on a One-handed weapon for damage. Once magicka cost is no longer an issue, he casts health-boosting and regeneration spells before battle, maintains wards indefinitely, and uses sun and poison spells freely. The Sun’s
Judgement perk at level 70 should be prioritized to allow sun spells to harm the living.
Alteration is Meridian’s secondary school and receives no cost reduction from equipment. Ocato’s Preparation at level 40 is essential for free auto flesh spells. From Alter Self Meridian choses +25 health and +25% frost and fire resistance, as these are the most common elements. Wind Walker and Wind Runner help movement speed in and out of combat. Spells like Fire and Frost Shell are excellent against mages and dragons, and paralysis rune can be useful in tough moments. Most debuffs are less useful than simply killingenemies faster, though Weakness to Poison combined with the Serpent Stone works perfectly on dragons. Open Lock spells also prevent gaining unwanted Lockpicking XP.
Heavy Armor is heavily perked and levels quicker when not blocking with shield or weapon. Meridian reaches a solid armor rating very early, further supplemented by flesh spells from Alteration. Face of Death at level 40 is essential for using a hood and Restoration circlet, and Heavy Armor Training removes armor weight.
One-Handed provides the main damage output early on before restoration costs are reduced. Ignoring the Block skill and focusing on dual-wielding reflects Meridian’s aggressive combat style and distinguishes him from paladins of Arkay, Stendarr, and other Divines. Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery, and Bladedancer are the most important perks.
Speech levels naturally through buying and selling items and is left unperked. Reaching level 100 in the five skills brings us to level 41.8, and gaining one or two accidental lvls in Enchanting or Sneak pushes the build to level 42
Combat
Combat preparation usually includes dual-casting the best Fortify Health and Restore Health per second spells for longer duration, along with Windwalker or Windrunner from the Alteration tree. The Ocato’s Preparation perk automatically casts the strongest known flesh spell when entering combat. Casting Poison Cloak or Stendarr’s Aura is often unnecessary.
Undead: When facing melee undead rushing toward him, Meridian blasts them from afar with his strongest sun spell. If they reach melee range, he can use touch spells or dual-wield weapons. If surrounded by multiple enemies, he becomes Ethereal, then casts Charged Nova and optionally a Scroll of Fire Storm to unleash a massive explosion. Against a powerful single opponent, Meridian can call upon Meridia’s favor, Supreme Light, or make a last stand within a healing circle (Circle or Font of Vitality) while wielding Dawnbreaker and the Dawnguard Rune Axe.
Automations: Meridian rarely ventures in Dwemer ruins filled with Falmer and Automations. But when he does, Alteration spells like Destroy Construct and Dwemerbane are usefull. Other than that, pure brute melee strength and paralysis rune is often the answer.
The Living: Before acquiring the Sun’s Judgment Restoration perks (levels 70 and 90), Meridian relies on poison spells against the living. The Serpent Stone power lowers enemies’ armor by 100 points and reduces poison resistance by 50%, making it extremely useful. Poison is merely the manipulation of life energies—causing the living body to turn against itself. Meridian views it as a tool for purging the wicked. Since poison works gradually, Meridian casts a healing circle, poisons his enemies, waits in Ethereal form while the poison takes effect, and then finishes the survivors with sword and axe.
Mages: Necromancers and other hedge mages standing in Meridia’s way are purged with holy light. Meridian can maintain a powerful ward indefinitely and dispatch mages easily with either weapon or magic.
Dragons: Poison spells combined with healing circles and ward spells are very effective against dragons. Meridian stands within a healing circle, casts Weakness to Poison, then repeatedly dual-casts his strongest poison spell at the flying dragon while healing as needed. The dragon suffers from the poison while circling above and is soon forced to land, where it is finished off with a rapid dual-wielding combo. The dragons absolutely melt by poison, losing up to 100 hp per second. Alteration spells such as Frost Shell and Fire Shell are also effective against most dragons.
“Champion of Meridia. Slayer of undead. Skyrim’s most overqualified tomb janitor.”
Equipment
For early game (lvl 1-17), Silver Armor and a pair of Silver blades seem like a good choice. Silver armor can be easily acquired by starting the "When the Cat's Away" quest by reading "Mashara's Diary" inside The Bannered Mare Inn in Whiterun. Several Silver blades can be acquired in the second quest for The Companions "Proving Honor" and Meridian gets to kill a lot of draugur as a bonus. Some time after lvl 10, Meridian will find Meridia's beacon and hear the lovely “LISTEN! HEAR ME AND OBEY!” After getting Dawnbreaker, it's time to acquire a set of Ebony Knight Armor by reading Crypt of the Heart - Draft at the Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth. Once Meridian is lvl 17 and has some money saved, it's time to head to Blacksmith and reload until he can buy Dwarven Armor of Eminent Restoration. Then do the same in Radiant Raiment in Solitude until he gets a Circlet and Ring of at least Major Restoration. Now Meridian only needs the Amulet and the blessing of Mara to achieve 100% Restoration spell cost reduction. Any hood looks nice on Meridian, but after joining Dawnguard, vampires wearing the "necromancer's cowl of magicka" will on occasion attack Meridian in town. Why not wear a trophy? Or if Meridian purges a nasty necromancer's den, why not put that Necromancer's hood to better use? Dawnguard Rune Axe will obviously take some time to acquire, but the axe's enchantment of getting stronger with every undead killed really embodies Meridian's hate for all things undead. Unicorn is the only right stead for Meridian.
Roleplay
Meridian remembers nothing of the life he once lived. For nearly a century he existed as little more than cattle—enslaved by vampires, his will bent by their domination spells. His identity, memories, and humanity were slowly drained away along with his blood. Since there is no true vampire thrall start in Alternate Start – Live Another Life, the Warlock’s Thrall start in Boulderfall Cave works well to represent Meridian’s past servitude. Meridian is no noble paladin and no savior of the innocent. He does not hunt the undead out of compassion for the people of Tamriel. He hunts them because he hates them. Vampires above all—but that hatred extends to all things that defy the natural cycle of life and death: draugr, necromancers, and the walking dead.
Meridian is a fanatic, a zealot of Meridia. He willingly accepted her offer of purification, surrendering himself to become an instrument of her cleansing light. In doing so he abandoned whatever remained of the man he once was. Yet the will that survived a century of enslavement is difficult to extinguish completely. Deep within the Purified vessel, a fragment of Meridian’s humanity still survives—slowly awakening, quietly resisting the absolute devotion demanded by his radiant mistress. In secret, Meridian begins to show reverence to Mara, goddess of love and compassion. Not openly. Never openly. Meridia is a jealous mistress, and her champion is meant to embody pure, uncompromising light—not mercy. Meridian will only visit Temple of Mara or pray to her at night, when Meridia's gaze is less focused. Meridian cannot yet form meaningful bonds with the people of Tamriel. Friendship feels alien. Love is incomprehensible. Marriage is impossible. But occasionally he performs small acts of kindness—helping a stranger, sparing a defeated enemy (not undead), offering aid to the helpless. He does not understand why yet, but Dinya Balu assures Meridian he's on the right path.
Meridian would never practice necromancy or even conjuration.That being said, Meridian could conjure Golden Saints from Meridia's realm. Most experts agree that soultrapping too is a form of necromancy and thus when using silver sword of Fiery souls, Meridian makes sure to only soultrap the undead and would never use a black soul gem. Regarding factions; Meridian will obviously join Dawnguard. College of Winterhold also seems a natural choice to progress in magical skills. Other than that, Meridian can join the Companions, but definitely not the Circle. Thieves guild is not exactly against Meridian's moral compass, but there's simply no reason to. Dark brotherhood—absolutely no.
Quests
Main Quest: Slay the dragon Mirmulnir and report the attack to Balgruuf the Greater. That’s it. Climbing the Seven Thousand Steps to listen to old hermits talk about some ancient Nordic legend of the Dragonborn? I think not. Besides, I only went to Bleak Falls Barrow to purge the draugr infestation inside.
Dragonborn: Read a forbidden book and risk falling under the influence of another Daedric Prince? Mistress Meridia would certainly not approve. The temptations of Hermaeus Mora are best avoided entirely.
Dawnguard: Killing vampires? Where do I sign up? Meridian is not fond of guilds or alliances, but if the Dawnguard are dedicated to hunting vampires, he is willing to tolerate their company. It is an uneasy partnership. Many of them are former Vigilants of Stendarr who distrust Daedra worshippers, while Meridian has little patience for their sermons and moralizing. Still, beggars can’t be choosers. When the most efficient vampire killer in Skyrim arrives at Fort Dawnguard, religious small talk is kept to a minimum.Personal Crusade Outside of major questlines, Meridian dedicates himself to a relentless purge of the undead wherever they are found.
Radiant: Frostflow Abyss, Unfathomable Depths and The Book of Love (later in the game, when Meridia's grip is not as strong and do it only at night).
"Wherever the undead gather, Meridia’s light will follow."
- Hunt down every Dragon Priest
- Slaughter all named draugr overlords
- Purge necromancer lairs whenever they are discovered
- Destroy vampire dens across Skyrim
If the light never came
Even the strongest will can break, and daedric princes have all the time in the world. The Altmer cattle had clawed back his mind from the vampire masters, but he could not claw free from fate. Years stretched on with no salvation. While other cattle slipped into blissful oblivion, the Altmer suffered; hate burned down into despair until his will finally shattered. When the strongest wills break, the Daedric Prince of Domination takes notice. A single drip of blood fell from the ceiling onto the Altmer’s face. He swallowed, and a voice echoed inside his skull: “I am Molag Bal. Submit your soul to me, and I shall call you Volk Bal and make you an instrument of my Domination.”
Ebony Spell-Knight Gauntlets come in two variants: +25% Restoration or +25% Destruction spell cost reduction, depending on your choice in the quest. After level 90 in Conjuration you can summon Daedric armor of peerless destruction at the Atronach Forge; a ring and circlet of peerless destruction become available from level 40. Thus you can create a strong, no-crafting Deathknight build with 100% Destruction spell cost reduction. Recommended skills: Destruction, Conjuration, Heavy Armor, One‑Handed, and Speech (unperked). Basically the opposite of Meridian — an evil twin, if you like.
Optional Mods
The only two essential mods for this build are Mysticism and either Vokrii or Ordinator. Personally, I prefer Vokrii for this build as Ordinator felt overwhelming. If you insist on using Ordinator, consider mods that add more perkp oints, as I felt, there's never enough. Unfortunately, Vanilla Restoration perks and spells simply lack the offensive potential that is essential for this build. In addition to the essential mods, I'd like to suggest a few mods mainly for RP and the aesthetics of this build. Wintersun – faiths of Skyrim was a great addition for roleplaying a follower of Meridia. Xavbio's profile on Nexus has great retextures for armor and weapons that I used in my screenshots, Cloaks of Skyrim Retextured SE and Bandolier - Bags and Pouches Classic mods are permanent on my modlist. I also found Dwemer Armor, and the necessary patches for it, aesthetically essential for Dwarven armor in this build. For Dawnbreaker I used Daedric Dawnbreaker, it changes enchantment to sun damage instead of fire, making it scale off Restoration rather than Destruction. For aesthetics I used Weapon Animation (Dawnbreaker) and for Dawnguard Rune Axe I used ENB Lights - Dawnguard Rune Weapons. For combat: Ultimate Combat and Wildcat. And my new favorite mod is Dynamic Lowered Hoods.
Check out my other builds:
Gormlaith – Champion of Three Mothers
Dark Legionary
Shadowheart
Replies
Really good work , i like the theme of a Meridia zealot in the land he doesn't understand anymore,bravo
Thank you. With this build I hoped to underline the difference between the nature of Meridia opposed to Arkay/Stendarr/Mara as it wasn't clear to me when I was new to Elder Scrolls Lore. And yes, Meridian is mostly ignorant of current political situation in Tamriel. His quest is somewhat eternal.
Amazing work dude. Keep up the great work. Loved the presentation
Thank you, I took a page from JazzyJazz (best presentations on the forum) book and made a cliffhanger at the end. I do hope he's coming back with more builds. Havn't been active for a while.
He's active here anf there on the Discord. Id also recommend checking out Lisette's builds
Will do, thanks.
Actually, I can't seem to find a profile when searching for "Lisette" "Liset" or any other variations. Perhaps profile name changed or has been deleted?
Ah they changed it after they got their Doctorate
https://theskyforge.ning.com/members/TheLongChapper
Oh! Some of his work were on Tamriel Vault Hall of Fame, I played "The Outsider" for sure. Yes, brilliant, thank you.
Her* works, but yeah, her builds are great
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