Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-184.169.191.45-20141023130949/@comment-9212235-20141029180716

King Oalf one-eye wrote: Like the staff of Magnus

Actually the staff of Magnus likely is not the staff of Magnus the spirit. He is in Aetherius and we have no evidence of him returning to Mundus after he GTFOed during the Dawn. It more than likely is a powerful mortal's staff. The Eye of Magnus is different. No one knows wtf that thing is. Tons of speculation, the most popular of which are that it is KINIMUNE.

The other artifacts have speculation surrounding them too. My opinion is that they are just items aligned with, made by, or used by specific gods to give them added power. Some theories state that they are Nirnian manifestations of the gods, and while a believe a piece of the god's power is contained with the artifact, I doubt that you can actually say the artifact IS the god.