Lore:Tarnian Lovidicus

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Chief Councilor Tarnian Lovidicus
ON-npc-Councilor Lovidicus.jpg
Chief Councilor Tarnian Lovidicus
Race Imperial Gender Male
Born Second Era
Died Second Era
Resided in Leyawiin
Imperial City
Appears in ESO

Tarnian Lovidicus was the chief councilor of the Elder Council during the sixth century of the Second Era. During his nearly fifty-year tenure as chief councilor, Lovidicus served under Emperors Durcorach, Moricar, Leovic, Varen Aquilarios, and Empress Regent Clivia Tharn.[1][2][3] After the collapse of the Empire and the dissolution of the Elder Council, Lovidicus fled to the city of Leyawiin, and he was selected by Countess Nevenia Caro to serve on the city's governing body, the Chamber of Legates, eventually becoming its de facto leader.[2][4] In 2E 582, the Dagonist cult known as the Order of the Waking Flame targeted Lovidicus and other former members of the Elder Council to discover the locations of the Daedric weapons known as the Four Ambitions, although Lovidicus knew little about them.[5][6][7] Lovidicus played a part in investigating the assassinations of his old colleagues and revealing former councilor Ertus Vandacia as the high priest of the Waking Flame.[5][8]

Biography[edit]

Chief Councilor of the Elder Council[edit]

Lovidicus (second from the left) with other members of the Elder Council

Little is known of Tarnian Lovidicus' life prior to his appointment to the Elder Council. By 2E 534, he possessed the title of legate and was presumably a member of Leyawiin's Chamber of Legates.[1] On 1 Sun's Dawn, 2E 534, Emperor Durcorach appointed Lovidicus to the Elder Council as the representative of the Trans-Niben and named him chief councilor because of the respect and honor that he was held in throughout Cyrodiil.[1] As chief councilor, his power was second only to High Chancellor Abnur Tharn.[2]

After Durcorach was killed campaigning in High Rock in 2E 541, his son and successor, Moricar, debated with Lovidicus and Tharn about how to bring the province under control in the aftermath, and he listened to them present the risks and benefits of different options.[9][10] After considering the options, Moricar commanded Tharn to negotiate peace with High Rock and ordered an aide to the Elder Council to prepare a decree recognizing the Daggerfall Covenant, an alliance of High Rock's kingdoms formed in response to Durcorach's invasion.[9][11] In 2E 556 or 557, a Breton woman named Celdina arrived at the White-Gold Tower, and Moricar rewarded her with a minor court appointment, although Lovidicus was unsure what her purpose was in the Imperial Court.[12] Eventually, Lovidicus hired investigators to see what they could learn about Celdina and how she might be advising Moricar.[12] The investigators uncovered some information about Celdina's background but little else.[12] After Celdina departed from the Imperial Court around 2E 560, Lovidicus never saw her again.[12]

In 2E 564, Moricar died, and his son Leovic succeeded him as emperor, who retained Lovidicus as chief councilor.[10][13] After Varen Aquilarios overthrew Leovic and declared himself emperor in 2E 577, Lovidicus continued to serve as chief councilor during his reign and Clivia Tharn's regency.[2][10] In 2E 580, the Three Banners War began when the Aldmeri Dominion, the Daggerfall Covenant, and the Ebonheart Pact invaded Cyrodiil, and they quickly confined the imperial government to the Imperial City and Lake Rumare's environs.[14][15] Lovidicus attended the Elder Council meeting that was held near the beginning of the Planemeld on the 16th of Second Seed.[3] At the council meeting, Lovidicus noted that discretionary spending under Clivia Tharn had increased seven-fold over the annual expenditures of Varen's reign, and he made a motion to have General Nipia send an armed escort to force High Chancellor Tharn to attend the next council meeting; however, the motion was voted down.[3] After the Empire collapsed due to the Three Banners War, and Molag Bal's Daedric forces invaded the Imperial City circa 2E 582, the Elder Council dissolved, and Lovidicus fled to Leyawiin.[2][15][16]

Chamber of Legates and the Four Ambitions[edit]

After his return to Leyawiin, Countess Nevenia Caro selected Lovidicus to serve on the city's governing body, the Chamber of the Legates.[2][4] In the Chamber of Legates, Lovidicus served with Tebeza-ko, a Khajiit, and Am-Halu, an Argonian, each representing one of Leyawiin's three primary races.[4][16] Although all three members of the Chamber of Legates had equal standing, Lovidicus eventually became its de facto leader.[2][16][17] During his tenure as a member of the Chamber of Legates, Lovidicus was determined to address the piracy problem of Topal Bay and the Lower Niben, but Leyawiin had neither the funds nor warships to deal with them.[18] The collapse of the Empire left Leyawiin as an independent city-state, so Lovidicus proposed the creation of an army to defend Leyawiin and the Blackwood region against the Three Banners War by recruiting unpaid imperial legionaries and native Blackwooders.[2][19][20] This proposal eventually became the Ivory Brigade, led by Captain Rian Liore, formerly of the Imperial Legion.[19][20]

In 2E 582, Lovidicus' former Elder Council colleague Ertus Vandacia, who was secretly the High Priest of the Dagonic Order of the Waking Flame, ordered his cultists to discover the locations of the Daedric weapons known as the Four Ambitions.[7] To locate and preserve the secret of the Four Ambitions, Vandacia ordered his Waking Flame cultists to kill anybody with knowledge of them—that being Leovic's former steward, Farrul Lupus, and former Elder Councilors Abor, Faleria, Itinia, Jirich, and Velan Sophus—and then retrieve their documents regarding the Ambitions.[7][21] Lovidicus knew nothing about the Four Ambitions, but Vandacia felt that the Waking Flame might have to kill him as well, since he believed the former chief councilor was too smart for his own good and might hamper their efforts to secure them.[6][7] Vandacia instructed the cultists to frame the Dark Brotherhood for the murders to deflect suspicion from the Order of the Waking Flame for as long as possible.[7][22]

In the same year, Eveli Sharp-Arrow arrived in Leyawiin and informed Lovidicus that Farrul Lupus had been killed by the Dark Brotherhood and that he, Abor, Faleria, Itinia, Jirich, Sophus, and Vandacia were in danger because they possessed knowledge of the Four Ambitions.[16][23] Afterward, Lovidicus and Captain Liore offered Ivory Brigade protection to Abor, Faleria, Jirich, and Sophus; however, only Faleria accepted, and Abor fled to Fort Blueblood.[6][16] Additionally, he sent messages to Itinia and Vandacia and explained the situation to the other members of the Chamber of Legates.[6][17][24] Later, the Vestige, who was working with Eveli, informed Lovidicus that Jirich and Sophus had been killed, and Faleria was retrieving her documents from her tenure on the Elder Council to see if they contained any information on the Four Ambitions.[5] The Vestige also gave him Jirich's and Sophus' encoded documents related to the Four Ambitions.[5] While they waited for the former imperial scribe Beragon to arrive to decode the documents, Lovidicus asked the Vestige and Eveli to convince Abor to return to Leyawiin, where she would be better protected.[5]

Vandacia strangling Lovidicus with magic

By the time they reached Fort Blueblood, Abor had been killed, but the Vestige managed to get Faleria and Vandacia to Castle Leyawiin.[5] At Castle Leyawiin, the Vestige gave Lovidicus a note they had discovered while in Gideon, which stated that the Brotherhood was attempting to reopen a sanctuary in Bloodrun Cave.[5] Although Lovidicus felt he still did not know the entire truth behind the murders of his fellow councilors, he asked the Vestige and Eveli to go to Bloodrun Cave and deal with the Brotherhood while they waited for Beragon to arrive.[6][8] After the Vestige and Eveli departed, Beragon arrived and began decoding the documents, but Waking Flame cultists then opened portals in Castle Leyawiin and initiated an attack on it.[6][16][25] In the chaos, Vandacia took the encoded documents from Beragon.[6][16][25] Vandacia then killed Faleria and attempted to strangle Lovidicus with magic in the castle courtyard, but when the Vestige and Eveli arrived, the high priest summoned the Disciple of Aspiration and teleported away.[8]

After the Vestige defeated the Disciple of Aspiration, they spoke with Beragon, who, prior to the documents being taken, deciphered that the Ambitions were hidden in a vault in the Ojel-Bak, a natural formation that Lovidicus knew was deep in the Blackwood marsh.[8][25] Lovidicus then sent the Vestige to Keshu the Black Fin, the governor of Gideon, to discover its exact location.[8] Ultimately, the Vestige and Eveli managed to find the Ambitions, and they, with the assistance of the Ivory Brigade and the Black Fin Legion, defeated Vandacia and the Waking Flame at Fort Redmane.[26][27][28] After the Waking Flame's defeat, Lovidicus attended the victory celebration.[29]

See Also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Imperial Decree Regarding the Elder Council
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Meet the Character(s) - The Elder Council — Adandora, Chronicler-at-Large
  3. ^ a b c Minutes of the Elder Council
  4. ^ a b c An Interview with Countess Caro — Mercuro Catraso
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Events of A Deadly Secret in ESO: Blackwood
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Tarnian Lovidicus' dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  7. ^ a b c d e Preserve the Secret — High Priest Vandacia
  8. ^ a b c d e Events of An Unexpected Adversary in ESO: Blackwood
  9. ^ a b Audiences with the Longhouse Emperors — Sentanus Marillin, aide to the Elder Council
  10. ^ a b c Secret History of the Longhouse Emperors — Councilor Vandacia
  11. ^ Guide to the Daggerfall Covenant
  12. ^ a b c d Meet the Character - Sister Celdina — Captain Rian Liore
  13. ^ The Journal of Emperor Leovic — Emperor Leovic
  14. ^ The Chorrol Crier
  15. ^ a b Chancellor Abnur Tharn Answers Your Questions 2 — Chancellor Abnur Tharn
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Captain Rian Liore's dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  17. ^ a b Legate Tebeza-ko's dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  18. ^ Pirates of Topal Bay — Tarnian Lovidicus, Chief Councilor
  19. ^ a b On the Ivory Brigade — Tarnian Lovidicus, Chief Councilor and Member of the Chamber of Legates
  20. ^ a b Crafting Motif 101: Ivory Brigade Style — Captain Rian Liore
  21. ^ Disastrix Zansora's Journal — Disastrix Zansora
  22. ^ High Priest's Orders — Councilor Vandacia
  23. ^ Eveli Sharp-Arrow's dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  24. ^ Legate Am-Halu's dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  25. ^ a b c Beragon's dialogue in ESO: Blackwood
  26. ^ Events of A Hidden Vault in ESO: Blackwood
  27. ^ Events of A Mysterious Event in ESO: Blackwood
  28. ^ Events of Pyre of Ambition in ESO: Blackwood
  29. ^ Events of Heroes of Blackwood in ESO: Blackwood
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