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The Crystal Tower, site of the final battle in the Daedric War

Warning: This is a very extremely messy page that will need to be wholly rewritten once i finish getting everything on here. The Daedric War was a series of battles between the forces of multiple Daedric Princes, as well as mortal factions, that took place all across the Aurbis. The **Triad**, an alliance of Daedric Princes consisting of Mephala, Clavicus Vile, and Nocturnal, were the primary instigators of many of the skirmishes, seeking a means to take control of and reshape all of reality. The war was ended thanks to the intervention of The Vestige, a Champion of Meridia, and the Psijic Order around 2E 582, culminating in the defeat of Nocturnal's Champion atop the Crystal Tower.

Background

Transparent Law

The Triad's earliest known activities can be traced back to at least the early Second Era. At some point prior to 2E 230, Clavicus Vile approached the Sea Sload of Ul'vor Kus with a deal on behalf of the Triad. Clavicus sought a piece of the Crystal Tower's stone, Transparent Law, and in exchange, the Sload would be gifted the island of Summerset.

The Sea Sload K'Tora would attempt to steal the stone through the Psijics- he attempted to corrupt the mind of the Ritemaster of the Psijic Order himself, Iachesis, and force him to steal a piece of Transparent Law. Iachesis proved resilient, however, and managed to withstand the brainwashing long enough to hide the Heart of Transparent Law somewhere even he could not retrieve it on his own. Unable to secure the Heart of Transparent Law, the Triad continued to operate from the shadows for the next few centuries.

Preparations for War

As the Planemeld drew to a close, the Triad would once again take an active role in the events of the world, and the forces of Oblivion began to stir once more as they prepared for war. In Rivenspire, an early blow against the Triad was unknowingly achieved by a group of Undaunted when they successfully managed to banish the Ebony Blade and defeat Nerien'eth, the then-champion of Mephala. Meanwhile on the Gold Coast, a sect of prophetic Azuran priests known as the Fate-Bearers were given a vision of the future in which a daughter of Naryu Virian would destroy the world. Elsewhere, a cult of assassins serving Mephala known as the Silken Ring established a stronghold in Black Marsh. They were led by the former Shadowscale Tsatva-Lan, who warned that Sithis would come for them all and that Mephala would make them understand "very soon".

Soon after this, Oracles of Azura would be kidnapped from all across Tamriel by the Triad and hidden away in pocket planes of Oblivion, as they sought to limit Azura's agency on Nirn and blind her from the events to follow. Once freed from their captivity, the Oracles revealed a vision of Vvardenfell and the destruction of Nirn, and Azura warned of "a Daedric storm the likes of which the mortal world has never seen."

Azura and the Tribunal

The Reveal of Clockwork City

At some point around the year 2E 582. The Triad began their search for the location of the Dunmeri Living God Sotha Sil's fabled Clockwork City. Clavicus Vile's lapdog Barbas took matters into his own hands and infiltrated the sanctuary island of Lord Vivec, Vvardenfell, in his own search for the city. He made a deal with the false Nerevarine, Chodala, granting him the ability to siphon Lord Vivec's divine energy for his own conquests using the stolen tool of Sotha Sil, Sunna'rah.

The Daedric Prince Azura, knowing Vivec's death would mean the destruction of her Vvardenfell, intervened once more. She chose Chodala's sister Seryn as her new Champion, who allied with the Vestige to reveal Chodala as a false Nerevarine and reclaim Sunna'rah. When they attempted to use it to return Vivec's power to him, however, Vivec's Archcanon revealed himself to be Barbas. The Daedra use Sil's tool to drain Vivec of his remaining energy and used it to reveal the location of the Clockwork City.

With Vivec almost dead, the meteor Baar Dau began to descend upon Vivec City and Red Mountain threatened to destroy Vvardenfell. With the help of Azura and the clockwork mage Balizar, Vestige journeyed to the Clockwork City and reclaimed Vivec's power from Barbas. Their actions may have saved Vvardenfell, but they were too late to stop him from informing the Triad of the lost city's location.

At the same time, the adopted ward of Naryu, Veya Releth, discovered a conspiracy surrounding House Redoran and her fathers death which drove her mad, nearly leading to the total massacre of the Redoran. Naryu stopped her ward and, unable to protect her from the Morag Tong, sent her away to Summerset to be watched by a friend.

The Clockwork God

With the location of the Clockwork City revealed, Nocturnal led the Triad's forces in a covert takeover of the city. She used her Skeleton Key to imprison Sotha Sil in the Cognitum Centralis and separated him from his power, creating a shadow Sotha Sil to take his place. The Psijic Order became aware of her encroachment when one of their agents fell prey to similar magic. They sent the Vestige to the Telvanni mage Divayth Fyr to investigate in her stead (Distinctly remember this prologue directly leading you to Fyr after, but i may be misremembering), and the two of them ventured into the Clockwork City. Together with Proctor Luciana, one of Sotha Sil's acolytes, the three beat back Nocturnal and freed Sotha Sil from his imprisonment.

The Clockwork God had Divayth Fyr hide the Skeleton Key from Nocturnal so that it could not be used in the coming battles, and informed the Vestige that the Triad would strike again. A faulty factotem with prophetic abilities, known as the Prognosticator, forsaw the end of "all reality" with a "ninety-nine point nine-nine percent" certainty. Their exact prophecy was as follows.

"I see an island. A tower. Three princes. Darkness spreading across the land. I see a golden knight and an unexpected sacrifice. I see... an end..."
... "And Summerset is the sequence of words."
—The Grand Prognosticator

Summerset, Meridia, and The Crystal Tower [NEEDS REWRITING THIS IS JUST ME TRYING TO THINK THROUGH WHATS IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE!!]

After centuries of the Crystal Tower being weakened and disconnected from its stone, the protections it afforded the isle were weakened. Cultists of Mephala, Clavicus Vile, and Nocturnal all descended on the isle of Summerset, alongside a host of indebted Sea Sload and opportunistic Maormer. Each Prince was represented on Nirn, in turn, by an Earl.

The Court of Bedlam, a combined organization of all three Prince's loyalists, sought both sewing chaos as well as means to access the Crystal Tower. The Court was represented by the Earls of each Prince. Clavicus Vile's Earl was Tilcalar, Aldarch of Shimmerene and Altmeri nationalist seeking the means to undo Ayrenn's rule. Mephala's Earl was Leythen, a former Psijic who sought to rewrite reality and mend the pain left by his daughters death. Nocturnal's earl was Veya Releth, now going by Tundilwin, seeking to tear apart the world that pained her and build a better one from its ashes.

Sea Sload invaded the pocket realm of Artaeum to find the Heart of Transparent Law, while the Earl of Mephala led the Court of Bedlam on an invasion of the College of Sapiarchs in pursuit of the Resolute Diamonds, the only keys to accessing the Crystal Tower safely. The Triad themselves, meanwhile, began the Daedric War in earnest. Noticing Meridia's champion involving himself in the siege and capturing him, the three Princes launched an invasion of Meridia's realm itself in retaliation. Together, they managed the unthinkable - the effective death of a Daedric Prince.

The Vestige would free Meridia's Champion, Darien Gautier, shortly after, though Meridia herself was still effectively nonexistent. The two allies quickly reunited and, alongside the Psijic Order, attempted to find the Heart of Transparent Law before the Princes did. The Heart was revealed to have been hidden inside the Ritemaster of the Order himself, Iachesis, which was unfortunately ripped out of him by Nocturnal. Revealing she was the one who helped hide it, Nocturnal then betrayed her two allies and sent her Earl to breach the Tower. Nocturnal's true plan was then revealed - by using the knowledge she had stolen from Sotha Sil prior along the metaphysical properties of the Tower, she would steal the life energy of everything in Nirn and use it to reshape a new world.

Mephala and Clavicus Vile defected, but Nocturnal had already used the extradimensional capabilities of Crystal-Like-Law to launch an invasion on every single realm at once, Daedric or otherwise. While the Vestige, Leythen, and Darien were able to fight their way through Nocturnal's forces in Clavicus's realm and breach the Crystal Tower, they only had limited protection from Mephala's newly forged Resolute Diamond within. Leythen was torn across realities, while Darien had to sacrifice his remaining energies to restore Dawnbreaker (and presumably Meridia). In the end, the Vestige alone managed to use Dawnbreaker to kill Veya, banish Nocturnal, and restore the Heart of Transparent Law to the Crystal Tower. With Mephala and Vile joining the Coldharbour Compact, Meridia restored, and Nocturnal's ultimate plot foiled, the Daedric War came to an end.

Key Figures

prolly make this a table later

The Triad

* Defected

Nocturnal, Prince of Shadows

Mephala, Prince of Plots*

Clavicus Vile, Price of Bargains*

Barbas*

Veya Releth, Earl of Nocturnal

Leythen, Earl of Mephala*

Chodala, False Nerevarine, Champion of Barbas

Opposition

Azura

Meridia

Vivec

Sotha Sil

Darien Gautier, Meridia's Champion

Seryn, Azura's Champion

The Vestige, Hero of Tamriel