Vivec, Morrowind

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This article is about the fictional city, for the deity it is named after, see Vivec

Vivec is a town in the video game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002).

The largest city on the island of Vvardenfell, Vivec is home to a great many artisans, businesspersons, and craftsmen. Apart from being an architectural marvel, the city represents the seat of Dunmer religion on the island. The original concept designs for Morrowind presented Vivec as a mixed open/enclosed city, with open air plazas sitting atop larger multilevel buildings reaching below a water line, conjoined by oddly shaped bridges.^[1] Slight modification was made for its integration into Morrowind, with the open-air regions completely incorporated within the larger cantons, and a general regularity imposed on the entire city north of the Temple. The Temple and its adjoining Ministry of Truth kept their unique forms as seen in pre-release sketchings: the MiniTruth its floating ball of dirt; the Temple its high angled multileveled rooves.^[1]

Named for one of the Tribunal gods, Vivec lies on the southern coast of the island and projects well into the sea.

1 The Cantons
2 The Arena
3 The Temple
4 The Ministry of Truth
5 Politics
6 Notes

[edit] The Cantons

View of a Vivec canton at Upper Waistworks level

The city itself is an artificial archipelago constructed of eight large, multilevel buildings called cantons, "each the size of a small town".^[2] These cantons are called the Foreign Quarter, St. Delyn, St. Olms, the Arena, the Temple, and a further three cantons dedicated to each of the Dunmer Great Houses of Morrowind (Hlaalu, Telvanni, and Redoran). Each canton is divided into four sections. From the bottom up, these sections are: the Underworks, the Canalworks, the Waistworks, and Plaza. On some cantons, the Waistworks is divided into Upper and Lower sections.

The Underworks are the lowest level of each canton, and provide drainage and wastewater removal services for the canton. The next level, the Canalworks, is often used for storage, although public-access multipurpose religious areas, shrines, temples, and even crypts are located in some canton Canalworks. Some small shops are located in the Canalworks. The waterline of the canton is about midway up the Underworks.

Populated layers of the cantons begin at the waistworks. Residential flats, pubs and clubs, shops, and assorted other denizens populate the waistworks. Many cantons divide the waistworks in two, creatively called the Upper and Lower Waistworks. In most cases, the interior of the Lower Waistworks is given over to individual shops and other establishments, while the Upper Waistworks is often an open-plan floor for shop stalls to be set up and a corridor going through the area, often ending and branching in shops or pubs. Residential flats are built on the outside of the canton at Waistworks level. St. Olms and St. Delyn have apartments not located in Waistworks, but rather built into the canton walls.

Above the waistworks, the top level of the canton is called the plaza. The plaza is the high-rent district of each canton. Estates can be found in the plazas of most cantons, as well as prized shops or exclusive cornerclubs.

The House cantons are also home to the records and treasury vaults of the house. Cocooned deep within the heavy masonry of the canton and guarded by House soldiers called Ordinators, some of the fiercest guards there are, these vaults are among the most secure areas in all of Vvardenfell.

St. Olms and St. Delyn cantons are home to the guilds of craftsmen in Vvardenfell. The potters and glassworkers reside in St. Delyn, and produce the best examples of useful and decorative pottery and glass on the island. In St. Olms one can find both the brewers and fishmongers guilds.

[edit] The Arena

Combat games are a source of much entertainment for the citizenry, and one of the central cantons of Vivec is given over entirely to an arena for these games. The Arena canton houses the most spacious and splendorous venue for these games. The entire waistworks houses a two-story arena with ample seating for games. Also in the waistworks are fighter housing and training areas, betting booths, and room for shop stalls. Some of the finest fighters in the history of Vvardenfell have fought in the Arena of Vivec, and many more aspire to be seen there. Players are able to join the Vivec arena, and the game includes quests that require the player to challenge someone and then fight them in the arena in a nonlethal match or a death match.

[edit] The Temple

The Temple of Vivec serves as the seat of most Dunmer religion on the island of Vvardenfell. Farthest from the Foreign Quarter, the temple spans two unique cantons. The main temple complex is broken into two halls: the Hall of Wisdom, and the Hall of Justice.

The Hall of Wisdom is home to the Temple Library, one of the largest libraries in Vvardenfell. Many rare books are available here, and the library is the largest known storehouse of knowledge on such topics as the Dagoth Ur crisis, the Dwemer, and the story of the Tribunal.

Vivec Palace

Next to the Hall of Wisdom lies the Hall of Justice. This serves as headquarters and barracks of the Ordinators that serve as Vivec's police force as well as the Tribunal Temple's guard.

Behind the Temple canton lies the last canton in Vivec, and certainly the one most shrouded in mystery and reverence. Connected to the Temple canton by bridge, but otherwise isolated in deep water, the Palace of Vivec is one of the most stunning architectural artworks in the district of Morrowind. A stepped pyramid featuring cascading waterfalls and majestic spires, the awe-inspiring Palace canton is home to Lord Vivec, one of the pillars of the Tribunal, along with Sotha Sil of the Clockwork City and Almalexia of Mournhold.

[edit] The Ministry of Truth

The final landmark of Vivec is possibly its most visible of all. Above the Temple canton floats what appears to be a massive boulder. Actually a small moonlet, this celestial object is said to have been stopped in its fall towards the city of Vivec by Lord Vivec himself, who brought it to rest several tens of meters above the Temple canton, where it has hovered since. The Temple has dug many tunnels and chambers into the moonlet and converted it into a maximum security prison for dissidents. The security of the Ministry is obvious to any who see it; the only way to and from the moonlet is by flight. Although the moonlet looks quite majestic hovering sedately above the city, local legend maintains that, should the populace cease to worship Vivec, the moonlet will complete its fall and raze the city. The name "Ministry of Truth" is a reference to the propaganda ministry in the book 1984 by George Orwell, which went by the same name.

[edit] Politics

The city of Vivec lies firmly in the jurisdiction of the Tribunal Temple. Ordinators serve as both the temple guard and city police, and operate in dual capacity. In one sense, the Ordinators are tasked with keeping the peace and maintaining law. In the other sense, they are theocratic police, and are charged with identifying, arresting, detaining, and processing dissidents of the Temple.

Although the guilds hold sway in the St. Olms and St. Delyn cantons, independent craftsmen are welcome throughout Vivec. This relatively open economic system allows for healthy and, occasionally, extremely lively competition.

Outsiders from Vvardenfell are most welcome in the Foreign Quarter, but there are no travel restrictions in Vivec, save access to the Palace of Vivec and Ministry of Truth. Gondoliers provide transport between all the cantons except the Palace canton.