My last lore report potentially raised a few questions. I made a mention of Tower Zero and the Ur-Tower when talking about different ways the Ayleids referred to what became known as the White-Gold Tower. I figured, perhaps, those questions might need be answered.

As always, we’ll start with what is the Ur-Tower?

The Ur-Tower is also called the Direnni Tower, which itself is also called the Adamantine Tower. It exists on the Isle of Balfiera in the Iliac Bay and is believed to be the oldest structure in the entirety of Nirn. All reports indicate it was created by the Aedra and they used it for a variety of purposes before leaving Mundus behind.

the Tower Constellation, thought to be a rough estimation of the incorporeal form of the Ur-Tower, that links Mundus to Aetherius

A magical divination places its construction around ME 2500, which is the oldest recorded date in the history of Nirn – ME 2500 is believed to both be the beginning of the Merethic Era and the end of the Dawn Era, but I’ll get more into that in a moment. For now, let’s backtrack back to what was the Ur-Tower.

The Aedra initially used the Ur-Tower as a meeting place, using it to discuss the various conditions and rules for the creation of Mundus. Then, later, it was used as the location of the Trial of Lorkhan. It was here he was condemned to exile in the mortal realms. His heart, impervious to destruction, was cast from the top of the tower and formed a volcano where it landed. Lorkhan himself was left to wander the creation, becoming known to the Redguards as “[he] who slinks around in dead skin”.

This event, marking the same moment Magnus disappeared back into Aetherius, the moment Lorkhan was cast out, the construction of the Ur-Tower by the et’Ada, is known as the Convention. Shortly after, the progeny of the Ehlnofey begin to diversify and find their way back to Tamriel, which, for some time, was believed to have been solely inhabited by the Hist. These peoples of Tamriel become the Mer, the elves. The other Elhnofey become the beasts and humans of Nirn, eventually splitting into racial groups, including the Nedes, the Nords, the Aboriginals, and the Yokudan. The tower itself remained, even as the et’Ada began to flee into Aetherius, while other spirits sacrificed their essence to stabilize Mundus. Some of them, such as Auri-El, ascended in full view of their followers, so they might learn to ascend themselves and escape Mundus. After the eight spirits, the eight givers, the eight Aedra, had given themselves fully to Mundus, magic began to ebb, and the Aurbis stabilized.

Some time later, the Direnni found the Tower and settled near it, building a grand keep at its base, though there are deep catacombs running beneath the tower the Direnni did not build. Direnni nobility were allowed to enter the tower once in their lifetime, to touch the Zero Stone, which was said to be the source of all creation. The Zero Stone was also called the Convention, and it is believed it represents the power of the Aedra – this is heavily disputed; since the Convention happened outside of Aurbic time, how could a material object, no matter how magnificent, contain it and exist on Mundus? Whatever the case, it is clear the Zero Stone is the anchor through which the Ur-Tower was capable of molding reality.

This brings me to the next point. If the Direnni Tower is the Ur-Tower, why is the White-Gold Tower also occasionally referred to as the Ur-Tower?

It is objectively fact that the Direnni Tower is the original manifestation of the Ur-Tower, the very anchor by which Mundus remains whole, but that does not mean it is the only Tower. There are actually at least eight towers, and they all link in some way or another. I will go over each known Tower, and, if known, its physical avatar within Mundus. However, first, I need to explain the construction of Mundus, so we can understand how the Towers actually relate to Mundus.

When Lorkhan was “young”, he watched the Aurbis turn and reshape itself countless times, his delight and boredom growing equally with each shaping. Finally, he decided to leave it all behind, that he wanted none of it, and yet he wanted all of it at the same time. He travelled beyond the Wheel, into the Void. He looked back and saw what the Wheel had created. He saw the Tower.

 a rough approximation of the Elder Scrolls Cosmology depicting the eight Aedra, the sixteen Daedra, the thirteen Constellations, and the eight spokes, which are the Towers; the Wheel Lorkhan saw was from its side, appearing like an "eye", with the center line through the Wheel being what would eventually manifest as the Ur-Tower; this rough approximation was created by Fimvul, Loremaster and Chief Scholar of the Sky Forge

The Wheel is the structure of Aurbis. The Wheel’s spokes are “eight component of chaos”, believed to be referring to the Divines and the primordial force of Padomay. These are the “lent bones” – the Earth-Bones upon which the physical Towers were built – of the Aedra, those who formed the earth upon which mortals tread and gave them the blending of the forces of Anu and Padomay: static change. Outside the spokes is the Aurbis itself, probably better understood in context as Aetherius, the spirit realm, the rim of the Wheel. The spaces between the spokes are Oblivion, the realms of the Daedric Princes. Nirn itself is the direct center of the Wheel.

The Towers are both natural and artificial “polydox constructs” which dominate various regions of Tamriel. The first tower, Zero Tower, the Direnni Tower, is also called Ada-Mantia. The other towers are mere reflections of it.

Legend holds that, when the Aedra began the creation of Mundus, the physical flesh of Nirn was hung on skeletal joints: the Earth-Bones. The Direnni Tower was constructed atop the largest of those joint-points. After life formed and the Aedra all but disappeared from Mundus, the Aldmer devised a method for “Variorum Architects” to construct new Towers. These were mirror images of the Ur-Tower, each with their own joint-point and their own Zero Stone. They self-refracted, with different bands following different Towers and Stones, and this resulted in the proliferation of the Towers known today.

It is heavily implied that during the early times of the Merethic Era, though time was linear, it was not singular, that by building their own Towers, each group created their own narrative, distinct but similar and equal to those around it. This culmination of different timelines in the same is called the “Dance of the Towers”, or just simply, the “Dance”, where each Tower harnessed its own reality and conformed it to its own desires. It is believed the Towers’ desires were reminiscent of those who created – or claimed – each Tower. This is believed to be an explanation for the sudden climate change in Cyrodiil, where it is believed the Ur-Elves enjoyed a tropical climate in Cyrodiil, but by the time the Colovian Estates formed, it was far more temperate.

Now, though I said each tower was constructed as a reflection of the Adamantine Tower, this actually is not entirely true. Though most were made as meticulously crafted reflections of such, some of the Towers took a more unique path. These Towers were considered refutations of the Ada-Mantia, and It is believed one Tower – the Walk-Brass – refuted this so completely, it essentially caused itself to un-exist.

Each Tower has its own Stone, magical and physical echoes of the Zero Stone. Though Aetherius is where creation takes place, this process is difficult, requiring great expenditure. Thus, the general rule is that the Stones cultivate creatia indirectly, borrowing surplus from Oblvion that washed over from Aetherius. The Stones then grant this creatia to the terrestrial domains of their Towers. This is one possible theory linking the idea that Lorkhan is a Daedra, and Mundus is his plane of Oblivion – this is entirely refuted by the fact the Aedra created Mundus, not just Lorkhan himself.

Many times over the course of history, a Tower and its Stone would become compromised, losing their connection, resulting in the deactivation of whatever protection that Tower had afforded Mundus. A Tower’s deactivation is considered the greatest threat to the very existence of the mortal realm. As such, mystics can become alarmed at the mere interest in the subject among common folk.

As for the other Towers themselves? We’ll start with the most obvious: Ada-Mantia.

Ada-Mantia, Tower Zero, the Adamantine Tower, the Direnni Tower. It goes by many names. As seen in The Elder Scrolls Online 

Ada-Mantia is the first unassailable spike of reality within Mundus. It is the oldest construction in all of Nirn. Legend holds time itself began at the construction of the Tower, and from the Tower, linear time flowed. Many Architects have said that rebuilding a Tower with the exact dimensions of the Ada-Mantia would be “impossible”.

Ada-Mantia’s Stone is the Zero Stone, still within the Foundation Vault of the Tower. It is undoubtedly filled with nigh-infinite power, but has remained inert and immutable throughout all of history, despite attempts by the most powerful mages to unravel its secrets. It was through this Stone that the powers of Ada-Mantia at the Convention determined the spread of creation – which, we already discussed, was the culmination of the flight of the Magna Ge, the punishment of Lorkhan, and the ascent or descent of the Aedra to become the Givers or the Earth-Bones, respectively. Even after the Aedra left, the Tower continued to shape and mold reality, bringing “unrelenting order across the chaos of Dawn”.

Though the façade of the Tower has changed greatly over the years, the core of the Tower has remained exactly the same: a single great, seamless, impregnable spire of ageless metal, at least half of which is embedded in the ground. It is entirely smooth, except for one point known as the Argent Aperture, which is thought to be a door, fit with thirteen slowly counter-rotating rings as the lock. The door has never opened. Adjacent to this door is the Zero Stone.

When the Merethic Elves self-refracted, the Chimer followed Red-Heart. When the Heart of Lorkhan fell to the ground in what is modern-day Morrowind, the Red Tower rose around it, the second of the Towers whose creation can be directly attributed to the Aedra themselves. This volcano, and the surrounding areas, is known to most as Red Mountain.

when the Heart of Lorkhan sank into the sea after being cast out by Auri-El, a volcano formed around it, the Red Tower 

Auri-El, unable to destroy the Heart of Lorkhan, cast it from the Ur-Tower across the world. It is the Heart of the World and merely laughed at his attempts to destroy it. As the Aedra left the world for good at the Convention, the power of the Heart was essential in order for the world to survive in their absence. The Heart of Lorkhan became the First Stone to the Second Tower. It imbued Mundus with a special kind of reality: NIRN – the Grey Maybe in the language of the Ehlnofey – the consequence of variable fate. The Dwemer eventually found the Heart of Lorkhan deep beneath the Red Tower and Chief Tonal Architect Kagrenac devised a way to use its power for the building of a mechanical god, but that is the story of the Walk-Brass Tower.

After Kagrenac failed and the Dwemer disappeared, four Chimer eventually tapped into the power of the Heart. The Tribunal of Almalexia, Sotha-Sil, and Vivec wielded this divine power of the Heart for thousands of years for the benefit of their own people. However, when their former compatriot, Dagoth Ur, awoke beneath the mountain circa 2E 882, they became locked in a bitter stalemate, finding themselves unable, unwilling, to do what needed to be done to defeat Dagoth Ur. And eventually, they lost the ability to win, and began to lose.

However, the fulfillment of the Nerevarine Prophecies in 3E 427, Kagrenac’s bindings on the Heart were destroyed: the Heart of the World was set free. All who had stolen power from it lost their divine spark, and the threat of Dagoth Ur was quickly eliminated. However, this meant the Red Tower no longer had a Stone. The Red Tower would fall – indeed; it had already fallen – and many worried this cost would be too great to bear, for the barrier between Mundus and Oblivion was weaker than it ever had been before, and great enemies who coveted the mortal plane decided to act upon their avarice – this would be seen in full during the events of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

the Heart of Lorkhan was the Stone for not only the Red Tower, but also the Walk-Brass, all three seen in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Early in the Merethic Era, the Ayleids built the Tower of the Ancestors – more commonly known today as the White-Gold Tower – to model Ada-Mantia. It was built in the direct center of Tamriel, believed this would best reflect Ada-Mantia and potentially even amplify its mystical properties. The White Tower was built to counter the spiritual “bleeding” of Mundus that was caused by the Convention at Ada-Mantia. They used the Chim-el-Adabal as the stone, believed to be the crystallized blood of the Heart of Lorkhan. The Tel-Var Stones embedded within it may also have acted as White-Gold Stones. The Tower of White and Gold was also simply called the White Tower.

the Temple of the Ancestors, the White-Gold, the White-Gold Tower, the White Tower, Tower One, Zero Tower. It, too, had many names. As seen in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. One can see how the Ayleids build a physical representation of the Wheel around their Tower.

In addition to being a reflection of Tower Zero, it was also called Tower One – it is interesting to note that, although Red Tower and Crystal Tower both were formed before the White Tower, it is the White Tower called Tower One, not the Red Tower or the Crystal Tower. It is also worth noting that the Ayleids, so profound in their architecture, built not one singular, central Tower, but a ring of eight lesser towers around the central pillar. Effectively, the Ayleids constructed their own Tower and Wheel, modeling Aurbis itself – a microcosmic dimension within a microcosmic dimension. It is said that, other than the Ada-Mantia, the White Tower was by far the most powerful of the Towers, controlling and empowering a greater degree of creatia than any of the others. It is also speculated if the White Tower ever falls, Mundus might very well collapse.

In 1E 243, the Alessian Slave Rebellion reached the Imperial City and the armies of man, led by Morihaus, stormed and took the White-Gold Tower. Fortunately, the Tower did not fall. Instead, Slave-Queen Alessia formed a new Convenant with Akatosh. It is worth noting that the Chim-el-Adabal was used to create the Amulet of Kings.

The Crystal-Like-Law is purportedly the first tower constructed to model Ada-Mantia. The Elves of the Summerset Isles sought to focus on “dracochrysalis”, the art of keeping elder magic bound before it could change into something lesser. This art required aetherial surplus. The interior of the tower was said to be so white that it radiated light. The Stone of the Crystal-Like-Law, or the Crystal Tower, is Transparent Law, which was broken apart at some point in the early Second Era by the Psijic Ritemaster Iachesis. An outsider used the divine power of Dawnbreaker to reforge it in 2E 582.

Crystal-Like-Law was the first Tower built to mirror Ada-Mantia, though it was never referred to as Tower One, as seen in The Elder Scrolls Online

The Crystal Tower is said to exist in every single plane of reality simultaneously. For the people of Summerset, the Crystal Tower was the heart of their homeland, a heart which was ripped asunder during the Oblivion Crisis. Before Martin Septim closed the gates of Oblivion, shutting the jaws through which the Daedra spilled, the hordes of Mehrunes Dagon used their nefarious magic to topple the Tower. Crystal-Like-Law had fallen. However, many speculate that because the Altmer had constructed this bastion to exist on all planes and not just Mundus, it was theoretically plausible only the physical Tower fell, and the rest of it still stood in all other planes.

Snow Throat, also called the Snow Tower, also called the Throat of the World, is another mountainous Tower. Its apex is said to be only “half here” – this has yet to be completely dissected. Its Stone is said to be a cave, as revealed by Michael Kirkbride during an interview with the Imperial Library.

the only natural Tower whose creation is entirely mysterious, Snow-Throat stands as a testament that even the most obscure can be great, as seen in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The “Prophecy of the Dragonborn” – usually attributed to the Elder Scrolls, though sometimes called an Akaviri prophecy – mentions the Snow Tower, along with several others

                When misrule takes its place at the eight corners of the world

                When the Brass Tower walks and Time is reshaped

                When the thrice-blessed fail and the Red Tower trembles

                When the Dragonborn Ruler loses his throne, and the White Tower falls

                When the Snow Tower lies sundered, kingless, bleeding

                The World-Eater wakes, and the Wheel turns upon the Last Dragonborn

Though not entirely clear in every aspect, the Brass Tower walking refers to Numidium, the Brass God. The failure of the Thrice-Blessed is, quite obviously, the fall of the Tribunal. When the Septim Dynasty falls and the White Tower was taken. The only unclear aspect is, oddly enough, the sundering of the Snow Tower. It is believed to have been when High King Torygg was shouted to pieces by Ulfric Stormcloak, when Skyrim was plighted by the Stormcloak rebellion.

The Bosmer did not build a Tower – they grew it. A great graht-oak whose roots sprang from a Perchance Acorn, which became their Stone, in the heart of the Elden Root. Because this Perchance Acorn could have been anywhere, thus was Green-Sap manifold and several, and each could walk and sing its own songs. From Green-Sap and its many children, it is said, the Bosmer learned to sing to “make the trees dance”. Each Green-Sap taught its own songs and danced its own rhythm. And the Bosmer took great joy in this, in picking which songs they liked best, as a reflection of their own.

because Green-Sap is many and one, there is no recorded depiction of what one such might look like, but I have found a depiction of the Orrery at Elden Root, as seen in The Elder Scrolls Online

In the same way each Green-Sap was individual, so, too, were they the same. Each Green-Sap was also every other. Each told the stories and sang the songs of the others while still remaining true to their own songs and stories, none truer than any other. When the Alessian Slave Rebellion forced many Ayleids to flee Cyrodiil, the Bosmer of Valenwood welcomed their cousins, so long as the Ayleids agreed to not dissonate the “Green-Song of Green-Sap”. Most of their cousins agreed, but Arch-Mage Anumaril did not.

a rough depiction of Y'ffre as a Graht-Oak

Before the White Tower was taken, Anumaril “fangled” a Staff of Towers, composed of eight segments, representing the eight known Towers in a different dance. White-Gold Knights took seven of the segments and carried them off to hide in distant Fold-Places, while Anumaril took the eighth and disguised it as a femur.

Anumaril's Staff of Towers seen with each of the eight segments together, as seen in The Elder Scrolls Online

When Anumaril arrived in Valenwood, he still carried with him “segment one” – itself a reflection of Tower One as Tower One was a reflection of Tower Zero. He requested the great Camoran to show him Green-Sap. By some stroke of destiny, this Green-Sap was in Elden Root, and carried a Perchance Acorn. To this golden nut, Anumaril presented “segment one”. For the first time, this Green-Sap knew a singular ending, and this ending became definite. The Perchance Acorn became a Definite Acorn. The Elden Tree would never walk again. This tree, becoming known as the First Tree, or the Great Tree, is in Elden Grove, and it is believed to amplify and strengthen all life around it. Scholars theorize this was the actual first tree, and from this one, all the others had grown. As written in an old Ayleid prophecy, “All things to the Tree. From the Tree, all things.”

fan art of Arch-Mage Anumaril and his golden Perchance Acorn

Using his teeth as tonal instruments, Anumaril dismantled himself and built his bones a Mundus-machine that mirrored Nirn and the planets. And when he had used his substance in the fangling of this orrery, the Orrery of Elden Root, he placed the segment-sceptre within, hiding it between the moons. From this, he hoped to slowly transform Green-Sap into White-Gold, and thereby remake the Ayleid’s realm. Unfortunately for and unbeknownst to Anumaril, his plan went awry. His Ayleid magic was full of “Will, and Shall, and Must” but to Green-Sap, “all is Perchance”. It is said that if any had stepped into the Orrery while it was active, their true, inner self would have been revealed – such as Prince Naemon who entered after betraying his sister, Queen Ayrenn, and found himself staring at a vision of the White-Gold Tower before transforming into a large ogrim, which he then flew into a rampage and was quickly killed.

Despite the failure of Anumaril’s plans, he also has not yet failed. As the Green-Sap’s endings are infinite and never concluding, Anumaril’s machinations still endure. While that ending is determined, others have come and gone, still entwined in infinite mystery.

Orichalc is, perhaps, the most mysterious of the Towers. So much that, beyond the name, very little is known about it. Some redguards venerate Diagna, the “Orichalc God of the Sideways Blade”, an avatar of the HoonDing who managed to “achieve permanence” and thus entered the pantheon of Crowns. The Stone of Orichalc is said to be a sword, further implicating Diagna may be its avatar. It is suspected Orichalc originated in Yokuda and may have had a relation to the Lefthanded Elves, but when Yokuda sank into the sea, Orichalc is surmised to have gone with it.

the Augur of the Obscure as seen in The Elder Scrolls Online

Around 2E 582, while aiding the Psijic Order in restoring the Staff of Towers, the Augur of the Obscure described it as an “ugly, sunken, long-forgotten [thing]” when the Vestige found the fragment associated with the Orichalc. This commentary brings to light the partial truth that Orichalc sank into the sea with Yokuda, though it does remain prudent to note that the Augur of the Obscure was so named because the Psijics regarded him as a notorious liar when not being asked a direct question.

With Walk-Brass, known also as the Brass Tower and the Brass God, the Dwemer sought to make their own god. Their ambulatory, often anthropomorphic Tower is far more famously known as Anumidium, the Prime Gestalt, the Divine Skin. The book Divine Metaphysics is an explanation of how the Dwemer planned to make this god using Kagrenac’s Tools and the Heart of Lorkhan.

fan art of the Brass God, Anumidium, unmolested in its pure and whole intended form

It is thought Anumidium was intended to be used dozens of times to allow the Dwemer to transcend Nirn. Chief Tonal Architect Kagrenac conceived its construction, which required Dwemer to sacrifice their very souls in order to create its body – giving it the illusion of being a massive, synthetic soul gem, alluding to Arniel’s theory the Dwemer were trapped in a soul gem as seen in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – with the intention of leading them to transcendence and salvation.

Of course, whatever Kagrenac may have had in mind, his plans were interrupted and foiled by Dagoth Ur’s discovery, leading to the Battle of Red Mountain around 1E 700. The aftermath of this battle, as we all know, resulted in the disappearance of the Dwemer from Nirn. Misuse of the golem they left behind – which, ironically enough, has been every known use – is believed to have terrible long-term metaphysical consequences.

Pieces of Anumidium, called Numidium, fell to the hands of the Tribunal, who eventually traded them to Tiber Septim as part of their Armistice with the Empire in 2E 896. Septim had the golem reassembled in the town of Rimmen in Elsweyr. Despite being initially created to use the Heart of Lorkhan as its power source, the Imperial Battlemage Zurin Arctus divined a method to power the golem using the Mantella. While this did power Numidium, it was a shell of its former self, and not nearly as effective. However, it was still devastating enough that Tiber Septim was able to use it to conquer almost the entire continent, becoming the first Emperor of Tamriel and thus ending the Second Era. This copy was used again in 3E 417 to bring the Miracle of Peace to the Iliac Bay, but it was purportedly destroyed in the process.

Alduin vs Numidium concept art 

These successes led Dagoth Ur to begin the creation of a new Brass God, known as Akulakhan or the Second Numidium, beneath Red Mountain as part of his plan to drive the foreigners out of Morrowind and, eventually, conquer Tamriel himself. Like Anumidium and Numidium before it, Akulakhan was powered by the Heart of Lorkhan. Before Dagoth Ur’s plans came to fruition, the Nerevarine discovered his plot and freed the Heart of Lorkhan in 3E 427, subsequently destroying the Second Numidium.

Dagoth Ur's attempt to rebuild Numidium, Akulakharn

There are other instances of Towers – or imitations, or broken or unfinished structures believed to be replicas of Towers – all across Tamriel, such as the Doomcrag in Ravenspire, thought to be a failed Tower, or the Coral Tower in Coldharbour, which itself was an imitation of the Coral Tower of Thras that itself was unknown to be a true Tower, but only these eight are definitively known to be Towers.

The Ada-Mantia, Tower Zero. The White Tower, Tower One. The Crystal Tower, Tower Two. The Orichalc, Tower Three. The Brass Tower, Tower Four. The Red Tower. The Green Tower. The Snow Tower. Of these eight towers, four have fallen and their Stones destroyed – the Crystal Tower, the Orichalc, the Brass Tower, and the Red Tower – though, as I mentioned earlier, because the Crystal exists on all planes at once, it is theoretically possible the Crystal Tower has not truly fallen, only its physical representation in Mundus. It is interesting to note that, although half of the mirror Towers have fallen – or 3 of the 8, if you believe the Crystal Tower stands in all other planes still – only a few reality-ending situations have occurred: the first when Red Mountain erupted and nearly destroyed Morrowind; the Oblivion Crisis when Mehrunes Dagon took advantage of the White Tower becoming weakened and flooded Mundus with his hordes of Dremora; Anumaril’s failed attempt to destroy Green-Sap and remake the White Tower; the fall of Yokudan into the sea; and the disappearance of the Dwemer. So far, none of these events have led to such catastrophic events as many believed would happen if, and when, a Tower did fall, but perhaps it is only because the most powerful Towers – Ada-Mantia itself and the White Tower – remain standing.

the Doomcrag, a broken and failed Tower, as seen in The Elder Scrolls Online

Gods help us if any more Towers fall.