| Morrowind (province) |
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Information AboutMorrowind (province) |
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HISTORY The history of Morrowind dates back to the Merethic Era when both the Dwemer and the Chimer settled the region. Information about the Dwemer's arrival is almost entirely unknown, but the Chimer are a very different story. They were led there by Veloth , who followed Boethiah , Azura , and Mephala , unlike the Orsimer who followed Malacath . Here the Chimer and Dwemer feuded for decades, until the early Nordic settlers came out of Skyrim and took control of Morrowind, then ''Dunmereth''. In 1E 412, the Chimer and Dwemer united to drive off the human invaders, and named the nation ''Resdayn''. This peace lasted until the War Of The First Council . The Tribunal do not appear in human records until after the first eruption of Red Mountain in Vvardenfell , which resulted in a permanent shift of population south toward the ''Deshaan Plains''. The Tribunal, composed of Vivec , Almalexia , and Sotha Sil , were the advisors of Nerevar Indoril , the first '' Hortator of the Chimer''. They are notable as the immortal God s of the ''Tribunal Temple'', a position to which they ascended using ''Kagrenac's Tools'' on the ''Heart of Lorkhan''. Soon, the ancestor worship that had dominated Morrowind since ancient times was overtaken by the monolithic Tribunal Temple, and the worship of the ''ALMSIVI (ALMalexia, Sotha SIl and VIvec)''. Morrowind stayed out of the eye of the rest of the continent for quite some time, except for a few notable episodes, such as the Morag Tong assassination of the last ''Reman Emperor'', which led to the rise of the ''Akaviri Potentate'' and the period known as the ''Interegnum''. Morrowind stayed this way until the end of the Second Era, when the new Emperor ''Tiber Septim'' set his mind on uniting all of Tamriel . To avoid a costly war, the ''Tribune Vivec'' met in secret negotiations with the Emperor, which resulted in Vivec trading the Numidium to the Empire in order for a great deal of independence. Since then, Morrowind has been mostly stable under the stewardship of the humourless and tradition-obsessed Dark Elves, except for an episode involving Dagoth Ur and the fulfillment of the ''Nerevarine Prophecy''. After this episode, Dagoth Ur, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil were killed. Vivec may or may not still be alive, but this still remains to be confirmed. During this time, Queen Barenzaih returned to Morrowind. Her son, Helseth, was made the new King of Morrowind after the sudden death of King Llethan. Helseth outlawed slavery, and reformed the Grand Council, which includes the heads of all great houses. The Great Houses themselves are adjusting to the new powers in the land. Some, like Dres and Hlaalu, appear to be on the rise, reembracing the new traditions while welcoming the return of the old. Others, such as Indoril and Redoran, seem to be waning, unable to change with the times. GEOGRAPHY Morrowind is dominated by the massive Volcano of Red Mountain on Vvardenfell Island. On a clear day, (a rare event, given the Ash that billows from the cone) it can be seen from the city of Almalexia, two-hundred fifty miles to the south. In the south there are the fertile Deshaan Plains , and to the west the ''Velothi Mountains'', but it is Red Mountain, the tallest peak in Tamriel , for which Morrowind is chiefly remembered. Ecologically, Morrowind is generally considered to be the most unusual place in the known world, featuring an Ecosystem of plants and animals which appear nowhere else and which only seem capable of surviving in Morrowind's hellish conditions. From the ground up, Morrowind is a place far unlike any other. Before the eruption of Red Mountain, Morrowind was fabled to have been a verdant Grassland and glade, with a thriving ecology of plants and animals similar to those existent in other parts of the world. At that time, Red Mountain was well over three times its current mass, and the slopes of the mountain began as far away as the outer edge of the ''Inner Sea'' which now dominates much of central Morrowind. When the eruption occurred, Red Mountain literally exploded from out of the ground, ejecting perhaps as much as a million tons of material into the Atmosphere ; throwing off most of the mountain and leaving a blast crater the size of the Summerset Isles . The Caldera left by the eruption fell exceptionally below Sea Level , and the ice waters from the ''Sea of Ghosts'' poured in from the north to fill much of the crater, leaving only a large cone, the only remainder of Red Mountain, protruding from the newly formed Inner Sea. This cone is now known as ''Vvardenfell Island''. The ice water rushing into the crater quickly cooled and hardened the subterranean lava which had been uncovered by the blast, meaning that, while the mountain itself was ejected upwards by the pressure, the actual cause of the pressure, the underground magma chamber, remained largely intact and pressurized. In the south, the Deshaan Plains slope gently into the stinking pits of Black Marsh , where underground gas vents cause the water of some rivers to flow uphill, bringing one of the main supplies of fresh, richly organic water into Morrowind, while allowing the poisonous liquid that flows in Morrowind lakes and rivers to drain into Black Marsh, where innumerable species of Bacteria break down the poisons and purify the water. Consequently, Deshaan is a very fertile region and could, to the untrained eye, almost pass for any number of other temperate areas of Tamriel. In the west, the Velothi mountain range (so-called due to the prophet Veloth who led the Chimer to the promised land) highlights the stark distinction between Morrowind and the rest of Tamriel. It is said that one can enter into a snowy mountain pass in Skyrim and emerge into a desolate wasteland of smoke, sulphur and ash. It might be forgiven, within the Empire, for those unaware travellers who cross into Morrowind to believe that they had left Tamriel and entered into a place entirely alien. The native Dunmer, however, will not be so understanding; and many unwary Pilgrim s have learnt first-hand that in the ''Land of Ash'', fate is often as harsh and unforgiving as the environment. ECOLOGY What today remains of Red Mountain continually vomits lava, along with a lethal supply of rock and ash, into the surrounding province, with the new crater, called ''Dagoth Ur'' (after the god said to have lived there before he was supposedly killed by the Nerevar ine), acting as a pressure vent to prevent another super-eruption. In the early years after the eruption, the Inner Sea was said to regularly boil, and the Sulfur ous nature of the water quickly poisoned all the surrounding wildlife within Morrowind province. This situation gave rise to what it is we currently know as Morrowind. The only forms of life to survive the poison atmosphere were the progenitors of those alive today, namely, various harsh species of plants, numerous fungi, insects and of course the Dunmer . Today, Morrowind is populated exclusively by Hunter s and scavengers; creatures which live in scarcity and feed on death. Insect s which survived the new environment have grown to exceptional size, and are largely very docile, having slow metabolisms which make them ideal as herd animals in whatever capacity the native Dark Elves have use of them for. Many types of Lizard survive, as well as Crustacean s, all of which have grown to enormous size. It is this general tranquillity that allows the shelled and Chitin ous creatures to support their weights without an exceeding percentage of their mass being devoted to Exoskeleton ; moving and acting excessively slowly allows brittleness to be overcome in these cases. The rule of law in Morrowind is that the larger a creature is, the less active it is. In fact, the largest creatures verifiably known to have existed in Tamriel , the ''Emperor Crabs'', lived in Morrowind, where they lived most of their long lives in almost total motionlessness, digesting whatever animals mistook their mouths for caves. Numerous mini-volcanoes have sprouted about Morrowind, as secondary means towards ejecting the ever present Magma looming just beneath the surface of the province. POLITICS The Five Great Houses of Morrowind (Indoril, Telvanni, Redoran, Hlaalu, and Dres), and the Tribunal Temple, are the major political organizations of Morrowind:
It should be noted, that originally Six Great Houses existed, but ''''' starts. NOTABLE PLACES Mournhold Located in the center of Almalexia, the largest city in Morrowind. While the entire city of Almalexia is sometimes called ruin of Bamz-Amschend , it has been rebuilt once, after its destruction during the battle with Mehrunes Dagon . The Palace of the King of Morrowind is here, as is the ''Plaza Brindisi Dorom'', a marvelous open space with a grand statue of the climactic battle between Almalexia and Mehrunes Dagon. Vivec The home of Vivec , and the greatest city on Vvardenfell island, Vivec is composed primarily of eight huge buildings known as Cantons, one for Hlaalu, Redoran, and Telvanni houses, as well as two Cantons for traders and more shady folk, a Canton for foreigners, the great ''High Fane of the Tribunal Temple'', and the ''Palace of Vivec''. Floating above is the ''Ministry of Truth'', a great moonlet kept from destroying the city by the power of Vivec; heretics are taken here by the Tribunal priests of Indoril and tortured excessively into belief in the Tribunal. Clockwork City The enigmatic Clockwork city of Sotha Sil, the exact location of this place is unknown; some report it to be deep below the Black Marsh, some say it is high in the Velothi Mountains, while still others maintain that it is kept in a bottle on Almalexia's mantle. Whatever the case, very few have visited it, and fewer still desire to. Necrom Necrom is the vast Necropolis of Morrowind, its alabaster walls appearing strange for a city of such purpose. Day and night, bodies stream in, attended to by priests whose duties are solely to prepare the bodies for burial in the honeycomb of caves and tombs beneath it. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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