Greetings!

I wrote http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1435718-yet-another-case-for-hlormaren-as-a-player-home-potential-spoiler-alert a while back, the idea being that there might be other players out there like me: essentially, 1) people who want to explore alternatives to the (imho) limited selection of Player Character (PC) Homes available in TES3, 2) people who actually are concerned with the ownership/stolen item issue in TES3, and 3) people who don't really want to go to PC Home mods to solve the problem(s). I thought it might be helpful for some to have this info somewhat compiled in one place for http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Hlormaren, the location I was writing about at the time. Well, after going pretty deeply into another playthrough with a new PC, I thought I might revisit this format to talk about another one. I don't know if I'll do any more or not, but I just started over with a new PC, so we'll see...

Rationale
As a big fan of Oblivion and Skyrim, I finally got around to giving Morrowind a try late last year. Since then, I have quickly come to view Morrowind as the best TES game to date (though Oblivion and Skyrim are awesome in their own ways). Entering Vvardenfell with a TES4+ background and POV, I was pretty impressed with the idea that you can just "move in" to a lot of the locations in the game. Kill the original owner(s) or get them to move out some other way (quests, etc), and just move on in. The lighthouse in Seyda Neen was my first in that regard, as is often the case. But then I discovered the damnable ownership issue in TES3. So, I steal a steel dagger, or put a legitimately owned one in an owned container and then take it back out, and from that point forward every steel dagger in the game is considered to be stolen??? Man, what a flaw! I'm surprised this was never addressed in a patch, but I guess the root cause must be buried deeply in the engine. It's unfortunate.

Further complicating the matter, I was quite disappointed with what I see as a very limited selection of PC Homes. The Strongholds that come with rising to the top ranks in the Great Houses leave an awful lot to be desired, particularly in terms of adequate safe storage.

And so began my quest for homes with lots of un-owned storage, and as many other perks as I could manage. Today, this brings us to...

The Hlaalu Ancestral Vaults (http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Hlaalu_Ancestral_Vaults)

Location
Ask anyone... when it comes to Real Estate, it's location, location, location! And this is certainly the strongest feature, I think, in the case of the Hlaalu Ancestral Vaults. True, St. Delyn Canton has a well-known location often used as a PC Home in Vivec, but that particular one has very limited storage (albeit safe storage). The Hlaalu Vaults are quite another story, as addressed below. Further, if one happens to be playing as a member of the Great House Hlaalu, you'll find yourself very conveniently co-located with two of the NPCs that have business for you, right there in the same canton.

Storage
The storage discussion here is much simpler than it was for Hlormaren. For one thing, there is only one level to discuss, and really only three relevant "rooms". Even there, only the sleeping area and the storage area below it have containers to talk about. The vast majority of the containers are in the sleeping area, making everything close together and easily accessible without a lot of running around. There are 20 or so chests, urns, barrels and crates in this room, generally piled together in three corners. The other corner has a table with a few chairs, so there's a place to display a few of your items if you so choose. Just down the stairs from the sleeping area, there is another open storage area. There are some crates and barrels here, but not quite as many as above.

But the other thing that makes this easier to talk about than Hlormaren is the one thing that makes the Hlaalu Vaults such an awesome, worry-free place to store your stuff: Every single container in the Vaults is safe! Not a single one has any ownership on it, so storing things here is totally safe, regardless of the container. And that, I think, along with the sheer amount of storage, makes this a great place to live. Serious pack rats will probably run out of room eventually, but those that wish to hoard only the best of the best should find themselves with plenty of room.

Transportation
Being in one of Vivec's cantons, the Vaults are in close proximity to all modes of transportation (except the Dunmer Strongholds, but even that is dealt with if you have/complete the Master Index plugin/quest). The Hlaalu Canton has its own gondola service, the Mage's Guild over in the Foreign Quarter has a Guild Guide, and just outside the Quarter are both Boat and Silt Strider services. Marking the Vaults for recall makes it even more convenient, as always.

Perks
There are two Temple shrines in the Vaults: a Shrine of the Tribunal, and a shrine to St. Nerevar (somehow fitting, I think, even if you don't play as a member of the Temple). So, right there in your home you have access to the curing and restorative benefits of the Temple shrines, but also to the four buffs you get from the Tribunal blessings plus Nerevar's. Nice!

Potential Bummers
First, you have to take care of the group of ruffians that are currently squatting there. This is actually http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Writ_for_Mathyn_Bemis, so be advised of and/or take advantage of that! Also, there are two rats that re-spawn here every time you leave/re-enter the Vaults. I simply shut the door to that section of the Vaults, effectively solving the problem about 90% of the time. Every once in a while a rat would spawn on my side of the door, but hey... who doesn't have to deal with a rat every once in a while? Ha ha!

And that pretty much sums it up! There are several bedrolls, so resting is taken care of as well, as one would expect from any good PC Home. My last PC loved it... perhaps yours will, too!

Thanks again for your time, and have fun out there!
veg