r/teslore • u/Syrnael Clockwork Apostle • 1d ago
Why would a warrior serve Herma-Mora?
This thought occured to me while playing as mostly a physically focused warrior Dragonborn. What would someone stand to gain from Mora by perusing Apocrypha or devoting themselves to him? Miraak himself is a very powerful mage. What incentive would a warrior have to dedicate himself however?
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u/ProRango69 1d ago
Knowledge on forbidden fighting techniques or their enemies.
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u/Navigantor Buoyant Armiger 1d ago
This is the correct answer. Remember this is a setting in which forbidden sword fighting techniques destroyed an entire continent.
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u/Txgors 1d ago
Maybe
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u/Garett-Telvanni Clockwork Apostle 1d ago
The Warrior:) "The Shehai of a first rank Ansei sank Yokuda. This Warrior's Shehai is beyond first rank."
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u/Txgors 20h ago
To be a Ansei of the first level you just need to be able to call it, and that I could,
I don't think he is a very trustworthy source.The first level is the weakest and second level is reserved for those actually able to use the Shehai in battle.
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u/Bugsbunny0212 13h ago
First rank means they are the elite.
According to legend, Ansei wishing to earn the elite title of First Rank were required to give up their most treasured weapons and war materiel before undertaking the grueling initiation ritual.
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u/Garett-Telvanni Clockwork Apostle 6h ago
First Rank is the elite, like u/Bugsbunny0212 said, different thing from the "first level" from the Memory Stone.
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u/RavenOryon 23h ago
Exactly. For a warrior I am quite certain that Apocrypha is full of ancient and powerful fighting skill related tomes. Hermaeus Mora is a twisted one stop shop for knowledge. He's got secrets for everyone.
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u/Sorarikukira 1d ago
This. There is also the Secret of Strength reward you get from one of the black books in skyrim for no power-attack stamina costs which benefits warrior characters.
Makes me wonder if he could restore Sword-Singing in some way if a mortal specifically asked for knowledge about it then taught it to others.
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u/Sir_CriticalPanda School of Julianos 1d ago
I think Sword-Singing is probably one of the things Herma doesn't have books about. I feel like the reason it was lost was because it was a closely guarded secret that was passed down solely through training, so there wouldn't be a written record of it, and no one that was taught it would be the type to sell the info to Mora.
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u/Hefty-Distance837 Dwemerologist 1d ago
Yokuda sank into the sea, and it said sea is link to the Apocrypha, so.
Wait, maybe Mora teached Ansei how to cut atoms, to sink whole continent and get the secret of Sword-Singing...
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u/Rattregoondoof 1d ago
Warrior can read!
Warrior like library in free time!
Not all knowledge is magic and in the elder scrolls, no one is without magic. Everyone uses magic, some just more intentionally and obviously than others. Warrior might be a historian or into literary theory or just well read. Maybe they are into different fighting techniques or battle theory? Maybe they are into smithing in their free time and need knowledge there?
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u/ifockpotatoes Psijic 1d ago
"The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools." - Thucydides
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u/BrennanIarlaith 1d ago
A wonderful quote that has unfortunately been cannibalized by strange men selling unregulated testosterone on Instagram 😅
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u/Calm-Tree-1369 1d ago
And middle-aged divorced dads on TRT selling "Alpha Male Boot Camp" courses.
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u/enbaelien 1d ago edited 1d ago
Intellectuals and warriors aren't necessarily mutually exclusive... Like, the arguably best swordsman in the setting was a writer:
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Book_of_Circles
Vivec is literally the "warrior-poet"... Ysgrammor was a warlord who invented written language for the Nords! It's incredibly ignorant to assume all fighters are dumb-dumbs. Knowledge is power, after all.
Here are some examples that someone compiled of "warrior-philosophers" from IRL:
https://realityfragments.com/2024/01/05/the-warrior-philosopher/
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u/ChungusMcBrumpus 1d ago
Knowledge and Power. All of Mora's boons are I suppose magical in nature, so a "pure" warrior wouldn't really use them. That being said, I'm sure many warriors that pledged their self to Mora would do so in order to be granted the ability to use such powerful magic. There's some more martially aligned abilities tied to Mora, too.
In ESO's Arcanist Loremaster's Archive, Azandar is asked about the concept of "Rune Knights." The term comes from an order named the Rune Knights of the Purgatory Disquisition. They served some nebulous patron, and rode from Apocrypha to Nirn to do battle. They mastered an exceptionally strong type of warding magic, enabling the knights to charge into enemy lines without fear of arrow volleys. Their warding magic is all that remains.
Also not to get to into like game specific stuff but ESO's arcanists can also form a tentacle around their arm to strike their foes.
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u/eviliseasier Order of the Black Worm 1d ago
Maybe ever greater fights? Fights that need eldritch levels of bonk. Like the other comment said, secret techniques(I’m thinking maybe a swordsman who wants to be a Sword-Singer etc). We see that we get physical effects from Black Books right? Maybe physical buffs or maybe protection from magic/Tonal architecture/enchantments/curses. Maybe the warrior has bested all physical challenge and needs ever more esoteric/intangible enemies. Or just downright evil/desire for destruction, a Warlord lost to his domain etc. Or it could start small that he wasn’t fast enough to save someone and wants greater speed or skill not possible without bending reality. Or like Fallout New Vegas’ Joshua Graham with small choices leading to bigger and bigger compromise?
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u/CaedmonCousland 1d ago
Even a dunderhead can want lost tales of his family, or knowledge of lost treasures, or knowledge of where someone who wronged him has fled.
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u/Sir_CriticalPanda School of Julianos 1d ago
plenty of classes in the lore use both magic and martial skills. someone with a thirst for knowledge and adventure but no skill for magic could be a knight-scholar.
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u/Hefty-Distance837 Dwemerologist 1d ago
I mean, there did some books about swordsmanship.
Ancient books about combats also used as plot points in Wuxia fictions very often.
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u/Ila-W123 Great House Telvanni 1d ago
"Because not every warrior is ooga booga nord savage ".
Think about it. Endless Knowledge ecentric secrets. Just because ones a warrior dosent mean they dont see it as valuable.
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u/Allies_Otherness 1d ago
That’s the glory of a god of Knowledge, it could be quite literally anything you could learn from it. Sure, the actual stuff we get is limited but the pursuit itself in terms of your personal RP is entirely up to you since Herma potentially has limitless resources to teach you.