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GEOGRAPHY: Morrowind is
the northeastmost province of the Tamrielic Empire, bounded on the
north and east by the ocean, on the west by Skyrim, on the southwest
by Cyrodiil (also known as the Imperial Province), and on the south
by Black Marsh (also known as Argonia). Vvardenfell District consists
of the island of Vvardenfell, surrounded by the Inland Sea, and dominated
by the titanic volcano Red Mountain and its associated ash wastelands.
Only recently open to settlement and trade, most of the island's population
is confined to the relatively hospitable west and southwest coast,
centered around the ancient city of Vivec and the old Great House
district centers at Balmora, Ald'ruhn, and Sadrith Mora. The rest
of the island is covered by hostile desert wastes, arid grasslands,
and volcanic badlands, and thinly populated by the nomadic Ashlander
tribes.
CULTURES: Three major cultural groupings have settled Vvardenfell:
the Ashlander nomads, the Imperial Provincial culture, and the Dunmer
Great House culture. The smallest settlements are the Ashlander nomadic
camps, comprised of small portable huts. Recent Imperial colonies
like Pelagiad display the same sturdy half-timbered homes and stone
castles as might be found in Daggerfall or any other Western province.
The three Dunmer Great Houses that have settled Vvardenfell have distinctive
architectures and lifestyles. Aristocratic, warlike Great House Redoran
favors a spacious, irregular, organic building style. Great House
Hlaalu, an aggressive mercantile culture, strongly admiring and influenced
by Imperial culture, prefers simpler, more modern, more densely populated
settlements, while bizarre wizard towers dominate mushroom-hut villages
of the Great House Telvanni sorcerer-lords. A fourth Great House style,
the Velothi or Temple style, is evident in the monumental architecture,
bridges, buttresses, and grand canals of the ancient religious center
of Vivec City.
POLITICS AND RELIGION: Vvardenfell District's Grand Council,
presided over by the sovereign Lord Vedam Dren, Duke of Ebonheart
and Vvardenfell, is dominated by five interest groups: the three Great
Houses, the Temple, and the Imperial colonists. The Temple and House
Redoran are champions of ancient Dunmer customs and privileges, and
uncompromising and intolerant worshippers of the native religion call
the Tribunal Temple, which venerates three immortal god-kings -- Lord
Vivec, Lord Sotha Sil, and Lady Almalexia. The Imperial colonists
and House Hlaalu find common cause in their shared tastes for progress,
tolerant polytheism, free trade, and vigorous exploitation of Vvardenfell's
untapped resources. The policies of House Telvanni's sorcerer-lords
are completely unpredictable, whimsically allying with or opposing
one faction or another for their own obscure reasons.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES: Vardenfell's greatest challenges
are its mutually hostile cultures, its cruel and untamed wildernesses,
and the troubling phenomenon of the Blight. The Temple and traditional
Dunmer cultures are in direct opposition to the values of the Imperial
conqueror's colonists, and the interests of each Great House conflict
with the interests of the other Great Houses. Only the unquestioned
military dominance of the Imperial Legions and the shrewd policies
of the Duke prevent political disputes from expanding into civil unrest
or warfare. Even the Legions, however, cannot extend their protection
into the sparsely inhabited wastelands of Vvardenfell, where bandits,
necromancers, witches, fiends, and grotesque monstrosities find refuge,
emerging to threaten the lives of explorers, colonists, and traders.
The greatest, and most obscure, threat is the Blight, a mysterious
weather-like phenomenon that emanates from the crater of Dagoth Ur,
warping and poisoning creatures in its path, and creating diseased
horrors that attack travelers and outlying settlements.
The greatest opportunities of Vardenfell lie in its untapped wealth,
its rich mines and ancient treasures, its unexplored and unclaimed
lands. And even its threats represent limitless opportunity to any
bold adventurer determined enough to fight and scheme his way to distinction,
earning the attention of the great lords and wizards of Morrowind. |
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| The Oblivion and Morrowind soundtracks are now available
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