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Heroic Spirit Guide - Alandro Sul

Tags: #Dragonborn1721  #Heroic Spirit Guides 
  • December 22, 2018

    Alandro Sul, Shield of Nerever

    Alandro Sul is probably one of the more fascinating Heroic Spirits I've covered so far. He's arguably one of the most important Dunmer to exist in TES history, and yet he's barely covered at all in any texts or even in-game. To be fair, it's fairly easy to argue that part of the reason he's so underdeveloped is that the Tribunal wouldn't exactly want to make it known he exists (for reasons I'll jump into soon) but it's still fascinating to compare him to Morihaus, who arguably should have a roughly equal role in TES History as Alandro Sul.

    To quickly cover this character in a bit more depth, Alandro Sul was the shield-bearer of Lord Nerever Indoril, and is thus crucial to the formation of modern Morrowind. He was directly opposed to the Tribunal after the death of Nerever, being the primary person to spread the message that the Tribunal were in fact responsible for killing Nerever and usurping his power. Consider him roughly the equivelent to Morihaus, being the second-hand man of a major force in freeing a province (Pelinal and Morihaus --- Nerever and Alandro Sul) though because of his opposition to the Tribunal, he faded away to history.

    Qualified Servant Classes

    Note 1: All Heroic Spirits are summoned into a specific ‘class container’ which dictates many of their skills, parameters and even personality. While they’re often most suited for a particular class, there are many heroes that qualify for multiple classes and thus could theoretically be summoned under any of those classes. An easy example is Almalexia. She is well known for both her swordsmanship and magical abilities and would commonly be summonable under the classes of Saber or Caster.

    Potential Classes: Lancer, Saber and Rider

    Alandro Sul despite being an incredibly important figure in Dunmeri history, is completely overshadowed by Indoril Nerever and thus so little is known about him. Most accounts place him as a warrior who fought alongside Lord Indoril, so he can theoretically be summoned under most of the Knight Classes (Lancer or Saber…Archer is a possibility but the odds of a One-Handed Archer are extremely low) or even the Rider Class.

    Class for this Guide: Lancer

    The Lancer Class is traditionally associated with fast moving, agile warriors who use a Spear, Lancer or other form of polearm. On paper a blank Lancer Class Heroic Spirit is statistically only weaker than those from the Saber Class, with fairly good stats all around, particularly in Strength, Endurance and Agility making them some of the strongest warriors around. Alandro Sul is a slightly different 

    Parameters

    Note 2: Parameters are defined both by the individual and the class they’re summoned under. For example, all Caster’s have a base Mana of A, but there are individuals who have specific restrictions that may reduce their Mana to B or are incredibly powerful and thus could have a rating of A+. The system is hardly a way to judge a servant fully, just because an individual has higher stats doesn’t mean they’ll automatically defeat someone with lower stats, but it would mean that (for example) a Servant with a Strength of A will be naturally stronger than one with a Strength of B.

    Note 3: The ranking is E, D, C, B, A, EX. Ranks E through A can also have a modifier (either + or -) that designates that their skill has certain restrictions or increases in certain situations. Essentially a + or – means that their highest level isn’t stable or permanent, with a B+ being normally weaker than an A but being stronger than an A in certain circumstances. Examples – fighting a specific foe, being blessed or cursed, having a spell cast on you, etc

    Note 4: A servant is more powerful than a normal mortal by default (or the average human). E is 10x more powerful than an average human. D is 20x more powerful and so on and so forth. EX is theoretically 100x more powerful, but the scale is ambiguous.

    Strength: C

    Endurance: A

    Agility: B+

    Mana: D

    Luck: D

    Noble Phantasm: B

    Class Skills:

    Note 5: Class Skills are the skills that all Servants summoned under that class have access to, but to a varying degree based on the individuals. These are very general skills, but everyone will have different ranks in each skill based on certain aspects of their legend which are popular. If a Saber Class Servant was well known for fighting Mages, then they may receive a higher Magic Resistance than another Saber Servant who was known for being killed by a Mage.

    Magic Resistance (Fire): A+

    While technically Alandro should have resistance to all types of magics, he’s most commonly known for his insane levels of resistance to fire. Being able to seemingly negate all sources of fire damage, he retains a level of Fire Resistance that surpasses most others.

    Personal Skills:

    Note 6: Personal Skills are unique to everyone…mostly. Two Servants may have Personal Skills with the same name, but they’ll have unique differences based on their own personal life and legend (for example, two Servants may have the ‘Charisma’ skill at the exact same rank, but one of them may be more charismatic when talking to military leaders while the other is more charismatic when talking to commoners.

    Divinity – B+

    Alandro Sul is the immortal son of the Daedric Prince Azura, and thus he is a divine being that is only surpassed by those born from (or fully blessed) by the Aedra. His Divinity is perhaps more in sync with the world than Aedric Heroic Spirits, due primarily to the untainted link that the Daedric Princes have with Mundus.

    Battle Continuation – B

    Alandro’s Immortality as the Son of Azura has blessed him with the Battle Continuation ability at a high level, can take blows that would normally be fatal and surviving them and continuing to fight. A decapitation or similarly decisive blow would still kill him, but any other wound will have no effect on his fighting.

    Protection from Arrows – EX

    Alandro is well known as the Shield-Arm of Lord Nerever, and thus has an aptitude for many defensive skills. Primarily, his ability to protect his Lord (and himself) from arrows is unmatched by all Heroic Spirits.

    Noble Phantasms:

    Note 7: Noble Phantasms are unique to each Servant completely and is a notable part of their legend. For some heroes, these may be unique weapons or a set of armour that they wielded in their life, for others it may be a concept that is closely related to the Servant’s legend. For example, Morihaus is likely to be summoned with The Lord’s Mail as a set of armour while Tiber Septim may have a Noble Phantasm connected to his role of Emperor or Dragonborn.

    Shield of Nerever: C

    The Shield of Nerever is a simple Noble Phantasm, a Bonemold Shield that is denser and stronger than any mortal shield. It has no other passive abilities beyond being nearly impossible to destroy and perhaps lighter than a normal shield but other than that it’s perfectly average.

    Lance of Morrowind: B+

    The Lance of Morrowind is a conceptual Noble Phantasm that imbues any weapon Alandro Sul wields with the power to pierce any armour with a righteous flame. If the true name of the spear is uttered, Alandro is capable of unleashing a huge burst of Flame surrounding himself that has the potential to kill anyone nearby who lacks a high ranking in Magic Resistance (Fire).

    Translation to Skyrim

    I didn't really struggle with much of the character, because he's barely touched upon in official sources (there are a few oog sources that Paws has linked in the comments) there wasn't much I could do without feeling like I was flooding the build with my own opinions. What I struggled with here was the Class, and my justification for the use of Lancer. Alandro Sul just isn’t detailed enough to really narrow down like some of the previous entries and it was actually kind of difficult to figure out which of the base classes he would fit into. Assassin, Archer, Berserker and Caster really don’t make all that much sense so we’re left with Saber, Lancer and Rider. Honestly, Rider is still a bit of a stretch, because while he could ride…Guar or something, it’s not exactly the sort of thing that works with the rest of the lore. So Saber and Lancer were my ultimate decisions, and I felt like Lancer is completely fine. The Bonemold Shield kind of looks like it’d work fairly well with a spear and Morrowind did have the weapons so they work. That’s pretty much the entire justification, I also really, really enjoyed the idea of a bulkier Lancer rather than the more common form. Of course, he is still fairly fast with Conditioning so he matches your typical Lancer (which is a spear-wielder focusing on hit-and-run tactics, usually the fastest of all Servants) but not fully, still enough tanking in there to make it feel a bit different.

    Skills and Stats:

    Primary Skills: Block, Destruction and One-Handed

    Secondary Skills: Illusion, Smithing and Light Armour

    Optional Skills: Enchanting and Archery

    Stats: 2 Magicka, 4 Health and 4 Stamina per 10 levels.

    Required Perks and Equipment:

    Block: Shield Wall 5/5, Deflect Arrows, Elemental Protection and Quick Reflexes

    Destruction: Novice-Adept Destruction, Augmented Flames 2/2 and Aspect of Terror

    One-Handed: Armsman 5/5

    Heavy Armour: Juggernaut 5/5, Fists of Steel, Cushioning and Conditioning

    Equipment: Full Bonemold Armour, Bonemold Shield (enchanted with Fortify Block) and either a Scimitar, Dwarven Sword, Blades Sword or Elven Sword (enchanted with Fire Damage).

    Roleplaying and Other Information:

    So. Quests. The difficulty with this build is honestly that his main reasons for fighting (Nerever and Morrowind) are both more or less absent. Alandro is a fairly honourable person who will generally aim to complete tasks in order to help people rather than for personal gain. If he says that he'll complete a task, then he'll complete that task. Obviously we’re going to be aiming to complete every single quest on Solstheim (literally all of them really) but other than that it’s a little difficult to find quests to focus on. What I'll do is charge through the larger questlines and give my opinions on them. The College of Winterhold isn't impossible but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, you could do it but Alandro wouldn't be the sort of person who ditches his 'spear' and focus on his magic primarily. The Companions is actually a fine idea but you can't complete it, Alandro has no interest in becoming a Werewolf, he won't hold hatred for the Circle or anything but he won't become a Werewolf. The Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild are both equally unacceptable here, they just, no. The Main Quest is definitely not a quest that Alandro has any reason to do because...well he isn't Dragonborn. So that cuts out the main thrust of Dragonborn as well, but Dawnguard is perfectly fine to complete.

    Right lets talk Skills, Noble Phantasms and whatnot. They're rather easy this time around because Magic Resistance, Battle Continuation and Protection From Arrows all just work with regular skills. The first is a combination of the Dunmer racial and a basic enchantment or two, the second is just how the game operates and Protection from Arrows is just the Perk Deflect Arrows. Divinity is where it gets a bit tricky, because it realy doesn't have much of an effect in Fate. There are weapons that do more damage against Servants with 'Divinity' and similar sorts of things but the skill itself really isn't a groundbreaking skill. Honestly I'd say just use it as a Roleplay element, because there isn't really isn't much to it which kinda sucks. So lets quickly talk Noble Phantasms, because again they're simple. The Shield of Nerever is really simple (get a Bonemold Shield, enchant with Fortify Block) but the Lance of Morrowind's secondary effect is something I want to example. The Sun Stone essentially allows you to use Fire Storm once per day, so yeah that's it. Man I feel lame for explaining them so simply, but honestly yeah.

    Closing Notes:

    Man, I've gotta admit that while I'm happy with the final product, it just feels like there's less to do here. I like the idea of the character, but he's just really not detailed enough to do anything more interesting. My style of providing a fair amount of freedom for anyone that wants to play the game but I don't know if that limits the character even more. Hmm, anyway, the character is interesting and all, and I like the angle I've taken so, yeah. 

    What else do I have to say? Hmm, check out the other Heroic Spirit Guides with the tag that says them (up above the build), it's pretty great anyway.

    Image 1 Source

    Image 2 Source

    Image 3 Source

    Teaser Image 1 Source

    Teaser Image 2 Source

    More Information on Lancer Class

    Alandro Sul Sources and Information (sorta, not much to it, but yeah).

    Fate - Parameter Rules    |    Fate - Servant Definition    |    Fate - Noble Phantasms    |    Fate - Full List of Skills

    As a final note, I just wanted to thank Trekster for inspiring these guides. Obviously we've got really different takes and inspirations for the series and they're honestly really different, but there's so much of his work that inspired mine. Check Out His Guides because they really are awesome, and a bit more suited to just plugging a build into the Guide and playing with it. Hope these are interesting, I tried really hard to balance the combination of Skyrim and Fate, though I'll freely admit to focusing more on the latter.

  • Member
    December 26, 2018

    Nice job Deebs, as always. Especially glad to see an obscure ES figure

  • Member
    December 28, 2018

    Man, Alandro Sul still confuses me. This dude who seemed to act as the maimed witness to an enantiomorphic event and goes on to spread the truth of Red Mountain among the Ashlanders is still surprisingly low-key for all that. He and his mail crops up in the Trial of Vivec, being refered to as Vivec's "lover-liar", and another oog source does a little bit to explain the ideas that never made it in game (which actually mentions madness so that could be a link to Arden-Sul), but ultimately I find him really hard to pin down.

    So that's to say I think you've done a great job with your interpretation here, fleshing him out nicely and giving his heroic spirit a fair amount of purpose and direction. For me, I think I'd want to explore any Ashlander mods I could find, maybe just simple things like collecting the few Ashlander Cloaks added by Cloaks of Skyrim as a form of some sort of reclamation of his mail and identity. Maybe I'd explore the link to madness a bit and do Uncle Sheo's quest, but have no idea as to what use to put the Wabbajack to.

    Other than that, I can't imagine I'd have recreated him much differently. Thought provoking and inspiring stuff, Deebs!

  • January 18, 2019

    Bah, sorry I'm the worst Phil, can't believe I've left anything this long...maybe like ever on the site. 

    Man, Alandro Sul still confuses me. This dude who seemed to act as the maimed witness to an enantiomorphic event and goes on to spread the truth of Red Mountain among the Ashlanders is still surprisingly low-key for all that. 

    Yeah he's incredibly strange, I consider his place in history to be roughly the same as Azhidal, Morihaus or other similar 'side-kicks' but he gets overlooked in a weirdly massive way. There's also just the fact that he'd be a perfect character to appear in Morrowind (the game) either as part of the Main Story or you know...the Tribunal questline as a key character. Man just the ideas that brings to mind...

    Anyway, it's strange that he's overlooked so much, especially with Morrowind (the ESO Chapter :P) being another good chance to bring him in. 

    He and his mail crops up in the Trial of Vivec, being refered to as Vivec's "lover-liar", and another oog source does a little bit to explain the ideas that never made it in game (which actually mentions madness so that could be a link to Arden-Sul), but ultimately I find him really hard to pin down.

    So I'm guessing that the Trial of Vivec is oog? Feels like it (and with that opening about it being done in the forums it'd make sense but...well I could see that being in-game as well) but there are definitely some really interesting ideas that come forth from it. Alandro Sul having an incredibly potent connection with the Wraithmail is very fascinating, as is his possible near-immortality (if he's pushing 4 millenia that's rather impressive). Hmm, bugger it's making me want to go back and edit this Guide with some of it focused on a bit more...

    So that's to say I think you've done a great job with your interpretation here, fleshing him out nicely and giving his heroic spirit a fair amount of purpose and direction. For me, I think I'd want to explore any Ashlander mods I could find, maybe just simple things like collecting the few Ashlander Cloaks added by Cloaks of Skyrim as a form of some sort of reclamation of his mail and identity. Maybe I'd explore the link to madness a bit and do Uncle Sheo's quest, but have no idea as to what use to put the Wabbajack to.

    Other than that, I can't imagine I'd have recreated him much differently. Thought provoking and inspiring stuff, Deebs!

    Yeah if I weren't making these with the aim of Vanilla there'd be some crazy fun things I could do. Ocato's Recital with this build (and lets be honest, most of the others :P) would be awesome, Lion's Arrow for Azhidal would be incredibly perfect, etc. etc. Hell if I ever do the Grey Fox I'd be so tempted to rope in the Grey Cowl of Nocturnal as a major aspect of the Guide. But eh, it's quite fun trying to work things in with just the Vanilla mechanics and all that. But yeah, it'd definitely be fascinating to see your recreation, some ideas there that would be really fun to delve into.

    Hmm, you know I think I might throw this through another chunk of editing, there are a few things I want to add, and more explaining that I want to delve into (because you know, what's a DB post without me explaining far too much :P). More of the explanations are on the Fate side but, I think a bit more of a grounding in who Alandro Sul is would help the Guide a bit.

     

    Thanks for the lengthy comment Phil, really got the mind flowing :D

     

    EDIT: Actually I guess I've just answered my own queries. Of course he'd be essentially erased from history other than a few vague mentions and mutterings. The man is directly opposed to the most powerful force in Morrowind, with followers that are arguably more devout than just about any other religion (possibly fanatic to some degree). I could easily see Vivec, Sotha Sil or Almalexia having no issue with the idea of erasing him from history and making a concentrated effort to make him an unknown figure. Afterall, if the common people knew more about the issues between Nerever and the Tribunal...well they'd have a much harder time keeping control of Morrowind (or maintaining peace for that matter). 

  • January 18, 2019

    There we go, I've made a few general edits and expanded the 'Translation to Skyrim' section a bit. I've also figured out the final two characters for the first set. Assassin and Rider (with the names under A) were kind of tough and honestly Rider ended up being a hilarious joke that I'm sure Phil will get :P But Assassin is going to be Alisanne Dupre who, as far as I can tell, is one of the last Listeners of the Dark Brotherhood before TLDB? Not entirely sure on the timeline right now but it fits from memory. Anyway, she's quite possibly one of only two possible choices left and one of them fits better as Caster. 

    So keep an eye out for that either today or tommorow. I'd mostly narrowed it down to her before I had my unannounced weeks of shitty internet and well... Without sounding lazy, she's going to be fairly easy, I'm not going to go with a complicated, weird Assassin because it doesn't fit so she's going to be pretty basic. Not a terribly impressive Heroic Spirit either, so yeah.