The Levitation Act...

Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:43 pm

I have heard a rumor many times about how Dovyn Aryn (sp?) has been feeling down ever since the Levitation Act was passed. What was the levitation act? Did it ban levitation in all provinces or just Cyrodiil?
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Auguste Bartholdi
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:00 am

Its never really said, there are only http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Levitation_Act in the game... it was designed just because cities are their own cells and the devs couldn't have players flying over the walls since nothing would be there - since the 'Levitation Act' was just developed as a little coverup they didn't bother giving it much of a background...
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Sheila Esmailka
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:48 am

Lamelamelamelame.

Didn't happen.

Shut up.

Forget.

Go away.
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natalie mccormick
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:58 pm

Actually, It does make sense (to me). The (I assume) violent ban of necromancy (an art employed by imperial servants) shows that not even the mages guild is under the empire's control. With Uriel's apparent distrust of the Psijiic's (he, and a few emporers going back, have refused their council); the growing restlessness between Cyrodiil and Skyrim (Thu'ums, when the say move, mountains obey); the Sword-Turned nuke destruction of Yokuda; the 'We don't give a [censored] about you' nature of house Telvanni; the deadly spell-slinging house cats of Elswyr, a country that recently had land re-assigned by the empire (imagine if your household pet turned on you by paralyzing you then shooting you full of lightning); and many other potential hardships with magical groups, I imagine the empire had good reason to be scared of mages who can fly over your walls, exploit levitation just like we did in Morrowind, jump hundreds of feet in the air, recall to anywhere they've ever been, instantly travel to one of your shrines (I mean hell, that's where most of the young & elderly townspeople are going to retreat), and more. Levitation and fast traveling spells are things that are dangerous, but not such a big deal that your potential enemies will revolt. Good strategic measure, when you consider that he did get assassinated by mages (if only he had remembered to ban the 'summon huge gates that spew out servants of Dagon' spell)
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Stephanie I
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:40 am

Actually, It does make sense (to me). The (I assume) violent ban of necromancy (an art employed by imperial servants) shows that not even the mages guild is under the empire's control. With Uriel's apparent distrust of the Psijiic's (he, and a few emporers going back, have refused their council); the growing restlessness between Cyrodiil and Skyrim (Thu'ums, when the say move, mountains obey); the Sword-Turned nuke destruction of Yokuda; the 'We don't give a [censored] about you' nature of house Telvanni; the deadly spell-slinging house cats of Elswyr, a country that recently had land re-assigned by the empire (imagine if your household pet turned on you by paralyzing you then shooting you full of lightning); and many other potential hardships with magical groups, I imagine the empire had good reason to be scared of mages who can fly over your walls, exploit levitation just like we did in Morrowind, jump hundreds of feet in the air, recall to anywhere they've ever been, instantly travel to one of your shrines (I mean hell, that's where most of the young & elderly townspeople are going to retreat), and more. Levitation and fast traveling spells are things that are dangerous, but not such a big deal that your potential enemies will revolt. Good strategic measure, when you consider that he did get assassinated by mages (if only he had remembered to ban the 'summon huge gates that spew out servants of Dagon' spell)


I see what you're saying on this. The goverment made a descision to protect their interests, both for themselves and for the people, cause, yeah, we did exploit levitation so much in Morrowind (Can't hit me now, Umbra!).

From the non-game point-of-view, it was taking out for cities and probably for exploitation. Since in Morrowind, strong, well-timed hits (and luck at the start) were key to prevailing over your enemy. In Oblivion, however, it was almost a click-fest, since you would block when you had to (In MW the blocking was random unless you had Morrowind Enhanced (GREAT MOD!))

I just think that the devs should have elaborated more on the lore aspect of taking levitation out.
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Sarah Evason
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:19 am

There was no lore aspect. What we got in-game was tongue-in-cheek apologetics. http://www.imperial-library.info/dogate/es_weaseling.shtml. We can just shrug and move on.
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Alyna
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:06 am

As to Dovyn Aren feeling "down" ever since the levitation act being passed, I like to think of that being a somewhat clever pun (as far as puns can be clever). Dovyn Aren, as learned from rumors, can still teach a thing or two about alteration and as we all know, levitation being the missing alteration skill of note. Like Albides has mentioned before me, it's one those little tongue-in-cheek write offs to one of the missing gameplay elements.
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Shiarra Curtis
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:11 am

Given that they say that whoever's been teaching since before the Levitation Act, it seems to suggest it was passed quite a while ago. And since Oblivion takes place at most a few years after Morrowind, seeing as how Uriel Septim at the age of 87, and in Morrowind it is mentioned that Uriel was in his eighties, I think that it was in effect before TES III, but didn't apply to the Morrowind Province.
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Nathan Barker
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:02 pm

Given that they say that whoever's been teaching since before the Levitation Act, it seems to suggest it was passed quite a while ago. And since Oblivion takes place at most a few years after Morrowind, seeing as how Uriel Septim at the age of 87, and in Morrowind it is mentioned that Uriel was in his eighties, I think that it was in effect before TES III, but didn't apply to the Morrowind Province.

Well, it is the "Levitation Act of 421"; Morrowind began in 427, Oblivion in 433 - so yea, it was in effect before Morrowind...
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Kirsty Wood
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:07 am

I suspect that due to the terms of the Armistice, Morrowind would not be subject to the law. Either way, levitation is very important in Morrowind.
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Rich O'Brien
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:35 am

I doubt they would be able to enforce the levitation law anyway, walking up to the power mad telvanni and saying that they no longer can levitate, it would be like throwing a naked and paralysed nord into a den of vampires...
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KU Fint
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 5:15 pm

It is unlikely that the Levitation Act would be enforced in Morrowind due to the details of the Armistice between Tiber Septim and Vivec.

I do not believe that the death/disappearance of Vivec and the rest of the Tribunal would affect the Armistice at all due to the Armistice being a covenant rather than a contract.

A covenant is binding upon heirs and sucessors, which means that the covenant survives those that entered into it as shown by its enforceability upon the Empire long after the mortal death of Tiber Septim.

The Dunmer still take flight in Morrowind.

Yours in the Scrolls,


___The Word Merchant of Julianos
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Noraima Vega
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:14 pm

It is unlikely that the Levitation Act would be enforced in Morrowind due to the details of the Armistice between Tiber Septim and Vivec.

I do not believe that the death/disappearance of Vivec and the rest of the Tribunal would affect the Armistice at all due to the Armistice being a covenant rather than a contract.

A covenant is binding upon heirs and sucessors, which means that the covenant survives those that entered into it as shown by its enforceability upon the Empire long after the mortal death of Tiber Septim.

The Dunmer still take flight in Morrowind.

Yours in the Scrolls,
___The Word Merchant of Julianos


True enough. Though while we're on the subject of levitation, a thought has crossed my mind:

With Almalexia's death in Tribunal, do you think the ban on Levitation in Mournhold was lifted? It was said that levitation was banned there so that "Nobody may be higher than the Goddess" or something along those lines. So I'd imagine that with her death, levitation would be allowed again, but i've found no mention of it at TIL or the PGE 3rd Edition.

What do you guys think?
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Tom Flanagan
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 3:44 pm

With Almalexia's death in Tribunal, do you think the ban on Levitation in Mournhold was lifted?


A very good question, Khajiit_Thief01.

My first guess would be yes, the force prohibiting levitation would vanish upon the death of the goddess. However, and although this may just be a gameplay issue, the spell "ALMSIVI Intervention" still worked just fine even after all three of the Tribunal members met their deaths. (With Vivec being slain in my game just to test whether the spell would still work.)

It could very well be that the faith of the people (something that Ayem struggled to maintain and bolster) would maintain the ban even in the goddess' absence much as Lie Rock was maintained by the "love of the people" for Vivec. :shrug:

I guess the final answer is that we really don't know, but we have enough to go on to come up with some pretty good theories.


___TWM
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cheryl wright
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:52 am

It also could be that dying enhanced the gods divinity, I mean, isn't that the way it usually works? The people were told that the Tribunal was a sham (likely decreasing the number of worshipers), but at very least the Redoran were still praying to Vivec when he died. Faith+Power+Death would seem to be the formula for significant afterlife powers. Also, I always felt that, based on the presence of skill and Magicka requirements of the intervention spells, they where more like a complex mark & recall, where you lay your spiritual marker in faith to a set of gods, then when you cast the 'recall' portion you are returned to nexuses of your faith.
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Elina
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:28 pm

(something that Ayem struggled to maintain and bolster)

As I remember it, isn't Ayem supposed to be the most popular and loved of all the Tribunal?

It's been a while since I played the Tribunal quests, but I certainly don't remember any major grumblings from anyone.

People always seem to assume that bonkers, bereft 'Lexie post Heart destructon is representative of the rest of her entire life. She was the Mother of Mercy, wandering the streets, helping the sick and poor, smiting the evil. In no way did she struggle to maintain the love of the people - it was as strong, if not stronger, for her than any of the other Tribunes.

Unless I'm forgetting key speech from Tribunal, of course, where everyone confesses to hating Almalexia. :shrug:


Morrowind the game is just highly focused on Vivec, so we don't really get to know much about the other two kids.
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Sara Johanna Scenariste
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:18 pm

I doubt they would be able to enforce the levitation law anyway, walking up to the power mad telvanni and saying that they no longer can levitate, it would be like throwing a naked and paralysed nord into a den of vampires...

Its not like they were able to stop the ban of slavery. And that wasn't even an Imperial act.
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..xX Vin Xx..
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:32 pm

Slavery and levitation are two diffrent things though, slavery was widly looked down upon by imperials, outlanders and many of the dunmer and would by widly supported if banned. while something as trying to ban levitation would be found as petty and disagreed with or found as another way for imperials to try and oppress the people of morrowind
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Sara Lee
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:20 am

As I remember it, isn't Ayem supposed to be the most popular and loved of all the Tribunal?

It's been a while since I played the Tribunal quests, but I certainly don't remember any major grumblings from anyone.

People always seem to assume that bonkers, bereft 'Lexie post Heart destructon is representative of the rest of her entire life. She was the Mother of Mercy, wandering the streets, helping the sick and poor, smiting the evil. In no way did she struggle to maintain the love of the people - it was as strong, if not stronger, for her than any of the other Tribunes.

Unless I'm forgetting key speech from Tribunal, of course, where everyone confesses to hating Almalexia. :shrug:
Morrowind the game is just highly focused on Vivec, so we don't really get to know much about the other two kids.


Muthsera,

Although it is true that Almalexia was the "most popular" of the Tribunal deities, she needed that faith and adoration of her people to bolster her strength. Faith conveys strength to gods irregardless of whether they are gods ab initio, ascendant or apotheotically larcenous (as were the Tribunal).

"It has been theorized that gods do in fact gain strength from such things as worship through praise, sacrifice and deed. It may even be theorized that the number of worshippers a given Deity has may reflect on His overall position among the other Gods." (http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/overviewgods.shtml)

Her need for her people's faith is shown when she said "Your death will end this prophecy and unite my people again under one god, one faith, one rule by my divine law." to the Nerevarine right before their final and fatal last battle.

Additionally, her divinity originated from the same source as did Vivec's, and Vivec demonstrated his need for his people's faith when he responded to the Nerevarine's query regarding why he made war on the Nerevarines and why he suppressed the Apographa: "Why did I try to kill you? Because you threatened the faith of my followers, and I needed their faith to hold back the darkness. ... Why did I suppress the Apographa? Because it was such an unfortunate mixture of truth, falsehood, and speculation that I couldn't afford to manage the confused reaction of our faithful. Any doubt whatsoever weakened their faith, and we needed their faith to give us the power to maintain the Ghostfence."

I believe that we can clearly state that the Tribunal drew power from their followers' belief, love and faith.


Yours in the Scrolls,


___The Word Merchant of Julianos
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Taylor Bakos
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:11 am

It's bad lore. The end.
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Rebekah Rebekah Nicole
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 8:12 am

Walter:
No, it's called "breaking the fourth wall. Again."
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LuBiE LoU
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:54 pm

Okay, time for a silly question....

I have heard people start a post with a proper name several times, such as "Walter" above.

Is that actually addressed to someone in particular, or is there something that I don't know? :shrug:

___TWM
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Laurenn Doylee
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 6:44 am

Walter:
No, it's called "breaking the fourth wall. Again."

It's lore, but it's bad lore, and thus breaking the Fourth Wall. Just like the Scrambled Eggs Mandate of the Ungol Orcs of Malacath would be.
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le GraiN
 
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Post » Fri Jun 18, 2010 7:29 am

Okay, time for a silly question....

I have heard people start a post with a proper name several times, such as "Walter" above.

Is that actually addressed to someone in particular, or is there something that I don't know? :shrug:

___TWM
It's for roleplaying purposes. Of course, some people in the past have gotten in trouble for being a little... too IC. If you know what I mean.

Walter:
It's lore, but it's bad lore, and thus breaking the Fourth Wall. Just like the Scrambled Eggs Mandate of the Ungol Orcs of Malacath would be.
Well, they had to explain the lack of levitation SOME WAY.

It sure is better than "whoops, no one in Cyrodill knows how." But it's not much better.
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Honey Suckle
 
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Post » Thu Jun 17, 2010 6:38 pm

It's for roleplaying purposes. Of course, some people in the past have gotten in trouble for being a little... too IC. If you know what I mean.


*sigh* I'm showing my age. What does "IC" mean?
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Jarrett Willis
 
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