Misc: Feuding Redoran Nobles

[Razorwing]

<p>[1st]T[/1st]his is a quest pitch originally written on May 9th, 2004. For reasons now forgotten, nothing became of it. The intent was for a collaboration between me (Razorwing) and NoRemorse, who was creating a noble living on a farm created by Zarkis (that may have been "Redoran Kagouti Farm", I'm not sure). The text has been updated for a possible implementation in Silgrad Tower: Oblivion. Despite the Redoran ties, it's intended to be a misc quest. In short, the quest would see the player you freeing enslaved argonians being used for combat practice and bloodsports.

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4">
<tr>
<td colspan="2">[title]Cast:[/title]</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td width="40%">NPC</td>
<td width="60%">Description</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">Archmaster Varkan Areya</td>
<td>Razorwing's more or less famous "main" character. Redoran noble in Reich
Parkeep, Archmaster of the Redoran Council, Silgrad District (not the
same as the Council of Elders); see the <a href="bk_red_book_429.htm">Red
Book of 3E 429</a> for more info.<br>
<em Used to be called Master Lord Areya.</em></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="top">House Cousin Dretan Vareya</td>
<td>Areya's cousin, who runs a small farm north of Reich Parkeep.<br>
<em>He didn't exist in Silgrad Tower: Morrowind.</em></td>

</tr>
<tr>
<td>Remath Areya</td>
<td>Varkan and Dretan's grandather, who lived in the manor in Reich Parkeep
during the third century 3E. He's long dead.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Dethos Areya</td>

<td>Son of Remath, father of Varkan. Known for having turned the manor into
what it is today. He's dead.</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p>[title]Background[/title]

<p><img src="../../oblivion/images/bk_whos_who/archmaster_varkan_areya.jpg" width="61" height="195" hspace="15" vspace="15" align="right"><img src="../../oblivion/images/letters/a.gif" width="40" height="42" hspace="0" vspace="0" align="left" class="lettermargin">rchmaster
Varkan Areya and Dretan Vareya are cousins. They share the same illustrous grandfather,
Remath Areya, who was Archmaster of House Redoran in Silgrad District in the
thrid century 3E. He is long dead and isn't featured in the quest, but their
common background is addressed in dialogue if the player asks.</p>

<p>Archmaster Varkan Areya and Dretan Vareya grew up together in the manor
in Reich Parkeep, which was owned by their grandfather. During those
days the manor only consisted of the shell above ground. The manor was inherited
by Dethos, Varkan's father, who excavated caves and later transformed
them to the halls seen today.</p>

<p>The animosity between the cousins goes far
back, to the time when their grandfather chose to let Dethos inherit the
manor, leaving Dretan Vareya's father with nothing.</p>

<p>Dethos
and his brother had very different views on the world, particularly on the Empire.
Dethos disliked their influence, while his brother was tolerant of them, and
the fact that Remath favored Dethos because of that is not a secret. Varkan's
father believed in a strong and free Dunmer race, upholding traditional values
(like slavery), while Dretan Vareya's father thought Cyrodiil wasn't all that
bad, and that Dunmer should be receptive to new ideas that might benefit their
society.</p>

<p>The differences between Remath's sons were passed along to the next generation
and became more extreme, as Varkan loathes the Empire while Dretan loves
them. Dretan Vareya believes that in order for the dunmer to excel into the
future, they must work alongside the imperials and welcome their presence
in Morrowind. Varkan on the other hand has is one step away from utter hatred,
and only tolerate the Imperials' presence as long as they don't interfere
with his leadership of the Redoran community in the city.</p>

<p>While
Areya dislikes the Imperial influence in Morrowind, that doesn't mean he dislikes
anyone who isn't a dark elf. In fact, he's hired both a high elf and a breton,
and he's even employed a khajiit. <em>I'm giving a subtle hint
in Silgrad Tower: Morrowind that the khajiit is the son of a now-deceased
khajiit female that Areya loved deeply, but it isn't stated as a fact. He's
not Areya's son though, his khajiit lover was already a mother when he met
her. It'd be silly to have a crossbred NPC as there
aren't any faces that look convincing. </em>Neither the high elf, the breton,
nor the khajiit has a higher Redoran rank than Hireling, as they were adopted
as a technicality to allow Varkan Areya to employ them. They don't have any
aspirations to rise in the ranks ? their
loyalty lies solely with Varkan Areya, as long as the paychecks keep
coming.</p>

<p>As
much as he adores khajiits, Varkan Areya abhorres argonians. He sees them as
we might see pigs ? ugly, smelly animals with little
worth. He's using argonians as combat practice for his personal guards,
but it's more because it lets them practice than because he has
an agenda to kill argonians. He also ?breeds? argonians and would
be upset if the player tried to kill any of them, for no other reason than
that it costs him money to raise them. <em>I've implemented a script which has
one of the guards slay an argonian on a practice mat as the player gets close.
I also have a rather fun script, but don't tell it to anyone... the archer
in Areya's hall will switch helmets three times during the first couple
of minutes after the player has entered the cell :brew: I want to make players
wonder, ?where the hell did that guy come from??, not recognizing
him as the original archer.</em></p>

<p>[title]Quest: Dretan wants to emancipate Archmaster Areya's slaves[/title]

<p>The player recieves this miscellaneous quest from Dretan Vareya if he visits "Dretan's
Farm" north of Reich Parkeep. Dretan tells the player that he's taken in a slave
that escaped from his cousin Varkan Areya a few weeks ago. He finds his cousin's
actions ghastly, and asks that the player interview the slave, to get the information
straight from the horse's mouth. The slave tell horrific tales of Areya keeping
dozens of Argonians in captivity below his manor, allowing his guards to murder
them as some form of practice... or sport. The escaped slave urges the player
to free the slaves from Areya's manor as soon as he can, before more innocent
Argonians fall victim to the cruel practice.</p>

<p>If, for any reason throughout the game, Archmaster Varkan Areya, his wife, and his
daughter are killed, ownership of Areya's Manor is transferred to Dretan Vareya,
who moves in after a certain time and may or may not keep surviving employees
on the payroll. If his wife, his daughter, or both are alive, then they'll inherit
the manor.</p>

<p>Solving the quest is pretty straightforward; make your way to the slaves, free them,
then escort them back to Dretan's Farm. Normally the player would have to protect
them as they walk through the manor, as everyone in the manor would attack the
player's party on sight. But there may be a few other options open for the inventive
player, and that has to be taken into consideration -- what if he casts invisibility
on himself and the slaves? Areya and everyone in the manor would still be alive,
and wouldn't know it was the player who set them free, as it to them appears
the Argonians just vanished into thin air. What if the player hands each Argonian
a teleportation (something like Almsivi) scroll? Then they would all zap to the
nearest destination, and again Areya and the manor people would continue living
on oblivious to what had happened.</p>

<p>The normal quest assumes that the player hasn't freed the slaves already, nor that
he has killed Archmaster Areya.</p>

<p>If the player has freed or killed the slaves outside the quest,
but Archmaster Areya is still alive, then we'd just plant a new group of
slaves in the manor. There'd be a set of them in the editor for a special
case like that.</p>

<p>If Areya (with ot without his family) has been killed and
the slaves already set free (or for that matter, been killed along with Areya
at the hands of a bloodthirsty player) before the player is given the quest
-- then there is no quest to give, and it won't activate. Setting them free
outside the quest would probably just mean they are zapped away after some
time, with the understanding they returned to Black Marsh on their own accord.
But I'd like to reserve special destinies for them, time permitting.</p>

<p>If the player has killed Archmaster Areya and his family but
not freed or killed the slaves, then the quest would also forfeit itself
as the death of the Archmaster in any circumstance transfers ownership of
the manor to Dretan.</p>

<p>If the player has killed Areya, but his daughter, his wife,
or both are still alive - and he hasn't freed or killed the slaves; then
the quest would not activate as the women would not have kept the slaves
around. They would not have been freed by them, rather they would have been eaten
>:-)</p>

<p>If the player completes the quest, by freeing the slaves and escorting them back
to Dretan's Farm, without killing Areya, he's rewarded by being allowed to pick
as many supplies he wants from the fields on the farm for the rest of his life.
As he's a farmer, that pretty much just means free food. If he completes it by
killing Areya, he'll recieve very generous compensation (the more of Areya's
men he killed in the process, the higher the reward).</p>

<p>If the player didn't kill Archmaster Varkan Areya during the quest, he'll be asked
by Dretan to back and do that, and preferrably every other person in the manor
as well. Dretan wants to start on a clean slate with the new manor he'll be inheriting.</p>

<p>As I mentioned earlier, if the player wipes out the Areya family before recieving
the quest, there'll be no Dretan Vareya on the farm (it'll be run by his
brother or something, that's not important); Dretan will have moved into
the manor in Reich Parkeep. Dretan's disposition will rise due to the player's
previous actions, as will the "backup" farmer on Dretan's Farm.</p>

<p><em>Did I cover all the scenarios? </em></p></span>

[Ben Vagara]

Razorwing:

Very good quest. The only change I would make would be to lower the status/rank of Areya. Archmaster implies the head of the council. Killing the head of the council would obviously have other repercussions (for example, if the PC is a member of House Redoran...)

I would recommend changing him from Archmaster to Councilor (or such), so that he is still powerful and influential, but can be less of a direct political problem for the PC.

We could even have a few rumors about House Redoran's internal political squabbles over a certain councilmember's ruthlessness...

Ben

[Razorwing]

Originally posted by Ben Vagara
Razorwing:

Very good quest. The only change I would make would be to lower the status/rank of Areya. Archmaster implies the head of the council. Killing the head of the council would obviously have other repercussions (for example, if the PC is a member of House Redoran...)

I would recommend changing him from Archmaster to Councilor (or such), so that he is still powerful and influential, but can be less of a direct political problem for the PC.

We could even have a few rumors about House Redoran's internal political squabbles over a certain councilmember's ruthlessness...

Ben

Thankyou for taking the time to read it =)

Changing Areya's rank isn't possible unfortunately, as there's a lot of story behind that particular character. For instance he has a central role in "Red Book of 3E 432" and making him head of House Redoran in our district was a conscious decision.

As there isn't a joinable Redoran faction in Oblivion I don't know if it will be a problem. But still, perhaps I could change the quest so the player gets it in the Hlaalu path of the main story? As several paths of the main story are supposed to culminate in a lot of blood in one way or the other.

[bob196045]

I recall something similar to this in TES3 involving Areya

It wasn't as detailed as this story, I think we should use this in TES4

RW: Is this also dependent on the location of Areya?


Enjoy
Bob