What exactly is Morkuldin? Necromancy? Some other type of Conjuration?

Reinfarcements · November 2020

Hey guys, wondering if anyone can give me some lore information on Morkuldin. I've wondered for a while now what it actually is, considering the tooltip just says "animated weapon".

I've been using it on two of my Stamcro characters so that I can have an extra minion, but I'm pretty big into keeping my characters on a "theme" that makes sense so I want to make sure its not in reality something a Necromancer would never use. If that ends up being the case, I may or may not switch to Aegis Caller, because I'm pretty sure the Lesser Aegis is considered to be some form of Yokudan Necromancy.

My first thoughts are that Morkuldin is indeed some form of Necromancy, because I get the vibe the animated weapon is some ancient orc spirit due to the motif being ancestral orc.

Anyone know, or at least have a more educated guess than me?

RaddlemanNumber7 · November 2020

Wrothgar spoiler

The quest to rediscover the Morkuldin forge reveals it was abandoned because it used blood magic. It was fuelled with living sacrificial victims.

But this is a fantasy game. The choice is yours to make. It could easily be imagined that the Morkuldin sword is wielded by the vengeful spirit of one of the forge's sacrificial victims (who's spent a good few centuries in the Ashpit getting really, really angry).

In my own Necro characters' backstories I try to include a bit about the people who, in death, become the minions of the Necro. The healer, the mage/archer and the blastbones are imagined to always be the same spirits when conjured, not just random entities pulled out of the ground.

Integral1900 · November 2020

My necromancer is a so called White Necromancer. Souls serve her because they choose to, she has an affinity with them, laying the lost ones to rest, but some don’t want to move on and abandon the living to the dangers of the world

This set is one I use sometimes to represent the ghost of a warrior, she kept him company as he died and he pledged to serve her in death.

I would say it could be looked at as necromancy but you could also use it if your warrior was a student of conjuration

Reinfarcements · November 2020

I appreciate the feedback and ideas so far. I agree with some of the ideas and the fact that Morkuldin forge used some blood magic it does seem to reinforce my theory of necromancy. If the "animated weapon" is indeed powered by the life-force of sacrificed victims, this would indeed be Necromancy correct?

So far it would seem no-one knows of any super concrete source of lore explaining what the "animated weapon" truly is, so anymore information or theories would be welcome.

RaddlemanNumber7 · November 2020

Reinfarcements wrote: »

I appreciate the feedback and ideas so far. I agree with some of the ideas and the fact that Morkuldin forge used some blood magic it does seem to reinforce my theory of necromancy. If the "animated weapon" is indeed powered by the life-force of sacrificed victims, this would indeed be Necromancy correct?

So far it would seem no-one knows of any super concrete source of lore explaining what the "animated weapon" truly is, so anymore information or theories would be welcome.

TES has defined Necromancy as being powered by "Necrotic Energy" - which I guess is dead energy. Blood Magic is the polar opposite, using the vital energy of the living.

Reinfarcements · November 2020

RaddlemanNumber7 wrote: »

TES has defined Necromancy as being powered by "Necrotic Energy" - which I guess is dead energy. Blood Magic is the polar opposite, using the vital energy of the living.

Maybe Blood magic is the wrong word then. I see what you are saying but it seemed more like they sacrificed victims to the forge, killing them (dead energy), and that is what powered it. Rather than something like vampires draining the life energy from someone with the possibility the victim still lives afterwards.

Regardless of how the forge is actually powered, I'm more curious about how the "animated weapon" is "animated". It seems to have some intelligence considering it follows the player, picks targets, and can even be seen "sheathing" itself after combat. I can't see any other sort of magic giving something those qualities except necromancy. If it was some sort of destruction spell I assume the caster would have to control it manually, like the floating daggers the Stamina Sorc can get. Those have to be manually targeted.

I know I may seem to be looking into this waaaay too much, its just something I've wanted to know for a long time considering its one of my favorite sets in the game.