What causes the game to skip the Nerevarine/Hortator portion?

Question

One time when i was playing Morrowind, i went to get the disease immunity as apart of the main plot line so that way i could go out exploring/doing quests without having to worry about not having potions of spells to cure disease (or being turned into a Vampire), but i held off doing the next part of the main quest line which would see me get Moon-and-Star because i remember the Nibani Maesa saying i be marked an enemy of the Imprials or something like that and i had wanted to do their quests.

After spending a lot of time exploring and questing i thought it'd get the ring, but when i spoke to Nibani Maesa she told me to go right to Vivec, following the instructions i ended up meeting Vivec himself and he seem to imply i was taking too long and named me Nerevarine/Hortator and then went onto what he normally talks about (the plan for me to assault Red Mountain), effectively skipping out what i see as a huge part of the game.

So i am wondering what caused this (provably x days having pasted) and if there is a point in the game where i can quest/explore at my leisure but not have to worry about the Nerevarine/Hortator part being forcefully skipped (because Ashlander camps and that Wizard based Great House are dotted around the east i tend to spend a lot of time exploring the west before walking over to the east, discovering each place/doing quests as i pass though)

Answer 1

I believe you're talking about bypassing the fourth and fifth trials (the second trial is being immune to disease).

There is a way to bypass these hunks of the main quest, but it's not time, it's level and reputation:

If your level is higher than 20 and you have at least 50 reputation, then you will not have to complete the Fourth and Fifth trials. Instead, Nibani Maesa (or the Dissident Priests and Great House Councilors) will tell you that you should see the Archcanon in Vivec High Fane right away. This will save a lot of hiking around the various camps and councilors.

Essentially, there's no need to go prove yourself to the various tribes and houses because you're already widely known and powerful enough that they're already willing to acknowledge you as Horator and Nerevarine.