Helseth's guards/House Mora -discussion

[Vrenir]

I already re-read it, and there really hasn't been much established there. Basically, to reiterate it all here:

Helseth is trying to expand his influence as the Empire scales back its forces in Morrowind. That would be where the proposed pre-mod comes in with the PC sent by the Empire to investigate rumors that Helseth has secretly begun working with the Hlallu to build a larger military. The rumors turn out to be false; the even worse truth is that Helseth is acting autonomously, building his own forces from simply being a Royal Guard to being a polished strike force. What he plans to do with it is left unknown at the close of the pre-mod.

In the MQ of Vvardenfell, the Redorans have been granted control of Caldera by the Imperials, and with it access to the valuable Ebony mines beneath it. Helseth, however, decides to assert his position as king of Morrowind, and claims right to the mines himself. He sends Royal Guards to take control of Caldera's security. A tenuous relationship develops between the Royal Guards and the Redoran troops in Caldera, and soon after the PC arrives (either on a Redoran quest or on a spy quest for the Hlallu or Telvani), the tension erupts over a small incident. The Royal Guards are arrested or killed and the Redorans send a warning message to Helseth, the Hlallu, and whoever else might want to try and interfere with Redoran matters. Helseth threatens retaliation. Somehow, cooler heads prevail and a meeting is called among the three main Vvardenfell Houses to sort things out, but the meeting is interrupted by an assassination attempt. The PC is then sent to track down the assassin and find out his employer. This leads to a convoluted investigation, but eventually the PC traces the assassin to Tel Maris and Helseth.

As far as I know, that's pretty well what we've got fairly established story-wise between the two threads, though none has been set in stone. The end result will be that Helseth decides that Caldera and Vvardenfell are not worth his trouble right now, possibly because he has found an easier source of Ebony on the mainland. He therefore drops the matter, but the incident at Caldera has raised House tensions to the breaking point on Vvardenfell, and shortly after this, the House War breaks out.

[KuKulzA]

you know... Caldera is a volcanic valley/depression/crater sort of thing....
often islands form like that if in the sea....

perhaps there is ebony on the isle?

[Vrenir]

Perhaps there is Ebony discovered on this little island while the PC is there during the MQ part. Perhapst there is a cave that has been unearthed during the pre-mod part and has a misc quest connected with it. At the end of the MQ Helseth portion, the PC confronts Helseth himself and is told that Vvardenfell is no longer relevant; Tel Maris itself will soon be more wealthy than Caldera due to its own Ebony deposits. The PC would ordinarily be executed for his treason, but Helseth lets him go free as an act of "pity" and as a message for the people on Vvardenfell who sent him and are now doomed to fade into obscurity. (People like the PC aren't even worth killing, because you're influence is doomed anyway.)

[Ebonyknight]

Also with the increase of Helseth's power the High ordinators should only patrol in the temple courtyard and whos going into the high chapel now some archbishop of the dummer?

[Vrenir]

Well, we're not doing Mournhold as far as I know, so that's irrelevant. But I was sketching on layout ideas on a napkin today, and I wondered what religious places should be in Tel Maris. We said that House Mora is traditionally a hold-out for Daedric worship and that there is a shrine on the island. What about Helseth himself? Does he need a Tribunal Temple in the downtown just for formality, or is this one place where he doesn't care about pretense, especially with the loss of the Tribunal's power? I personally lean toward having the Daedric shrine (a well-maintained and polished shrine mind you) be the only religious place in Tel Maris.

Incidentally, I think that I've got a good layout design now. I'll try to get some bits of it up sometime tomorrow or so.

[Ebonyknight]

yea daedric no tribunal im tired of seeing them around

[KuKulzA]

they (House Mora) worship Sithis

[Ebonyknight]

k so if were not doing mournhold, were only doing vvardenfall is anyone doing like port telvannis and that?

[KuKulzA]

Originally posted by Ebonyknight
k so if were not doing mournhold, were only doing vvardenfall is anyone doing like port telvannis and that?

.....Port Telvannis is in the Telvanni isles.... not Vvardenfell....

[Vrenir]

We're only doing the stuff in the original, unexpanded TESIII (no Mournhold or Solthestian, though I'd really like to see Solthestian eventually either by us or by the Skyrim guys). The only two exceptions to this are Tel Maris and Firewatch because the storyline needs them.

Honestly, Vvardenfell and Solthestian are the two parts of Morrowind that should be the hardest in the whole province, because they're the only ones with specific environments that will need to be replicated (rocky outcrop here and large tree there rather than just general river here and mountain there).