The community town Northreach is an island, that we have established developed a prosperous town due to its trade route importance. It was originally a Nord settlement before the Imperials came and took over. There was discussion about whether it was appropriate or not to have a small Telvanni district. How do you all think about Northreach's relationship with the Great Houses?

The original idea, where Northreach included all the different architectural styles, was appealing to me. I would love to see something like that.

The idea of an "embassy" doesn't really translate well into Morrowind/Dunmer culture, at least I don't think there is any precedent for that kind of thing.

I seem to recall Skyrim and the Argonians having embassies at Ebonheart. I could be wrong. Plus all three Great Houses had districts at Vivec, coexisting relatively peacefully, even though they were at war.

This is a Nord place, not Dunmer, so they probably would have embassies, but of the Great Houses? Seems unlikely, so I voted no representation.

Agreed. And the Nord and Dunmer are hardly bestest best buddies. Why would they have embassies? The only reason they aren't whacking each other over the head is due to the Empire having taken over both provinces (to enough of a degree to regulate the province's military movements and have a dominating political and military force to enforce the Emperor's will).

The Empire governs the island though, not the Nords. Maybe one embassy for all Dunmer? Or none would make sense too.

On a similar note, we need to choose four Morrowind boat docks to send the ship to. I figured Dagon Fel, since it's the closest Vvardenfell dock, and maybe Ebonheart as the seat of the Empire in Morrowind, so we have north and south, maybe for my other two destination choices east and west, Sadrith Mora and either Gnaar Mok or Khuul? Are those good choices or should I concentrate in the North, maybe Khuul, Dagon Fel, Tel Aruhn, and Solstheim? What is the best way to do that?

I'd say stick to the north. In vanilla MW there aren't any boats that go from one end to the other. They make you stop at each stop on the way and pay to get to the next port. Considering how far north Northreach is, it doesn't make sense to have a boat going to Ebonheart or Vivec.


KF

North it is. The boatmaster NPC object is receiving his travel coordinates tonight.

One question though- I've never actually played the expansions, since I just recently came over from vanilla Xbox. Where is the dock in Solstheim?

:facepalm:
maybe you should be familiar with GOTY (a must-have) before modding it?

I'm familiar with the new objects and stuff, used some in my museum mod WIP, and new lore, I just haven't explored the island yet.

It's on the southern end, in the center. The cell is called Fort Frostmoth, or something like that I believe. Google "Solstheim Map" and you can't miss it.

For the Great Houses, I think if you had any of them it would be Hlaalu, because they are the most flexible of the houses. Meaning that they are likely to work with the Nords, regardless of their past differences, in order to make a buck. Though I think an East Empire Company influence would make much more sense, because of the Northreach's Imperial influences and it's relative proximity to Solstheim.

Thanks! The ship will go to Solstheim, Dagon Fel, Khuul, and Tel Mora. When I add him, I will also add a boatmaster character to each of those towns who will be a dedicated Northreach pilot. This is to avoid conflicts with the default NPCs. Since I had forgotten about this complication, I will create those NPC objects soon.

Drop Tel Mora and leave the other three. Not every boat has to have four destinations.

Before you choose to implant or not a Great House , I think you should ask WHY the Great Houses could be interessed by this settlement.
If the Imperials are in command then the Est Empire Company will claim the first dibs on Northreach then maybe some Hlaalu will make their move, some (il)legal Telvanni squaters or smugglers setlling in the extremes reachs,...

For me the best answer is Stick to the lore : Imperials invade en masse , settle then wheel and deal under the Pax Imperia : they pull a "Raven Rock".
Hlaalu worm their way through brides, blackmail and good old cloack 'n daggers ( in the Imperials and locals back...).
Telvanni don't give a rat ass about laws, customs and the neightbours but fried anything who threatens their interest.
Redoran are powerful, seek to expand their borders to reconstruct their declining status as a Great House but lack the political savvy of the Hlaalu and their honor impede them for an aggressive politic like the Telvanni.

Weight the pro and the con of each faction and their grip on Northreach but more impotant settle them as they would for such a case.

I'm going to have to agree on this one. There is absolutely no good reason for any of the great houses of Morrowind to be in a Nord settlement that far to the North. In fact, if you go by lore, there should be hardly any elven-kind there at all. However, that does sort of take all of the fun out of it...

I would suggest that you go primarily with Nords, followed closely by Imperials. Perhaps a smattering of other races, since it's a port. However, as far as full-time settlement goes, that island is far too small for a great house to set up shop. I could see a lone Telvanni stronghold, especially if there is a Dwemer ruin nearby.

I'm not sure whether the Dwemer facility survived the early concept, but I know for sure there is a Daedric temple being worked on. At this point I think we should go ahead and say no official Great House representation. It seems that the Houses would not make sense here. Maybe we could include one embassy for all the Dunmer (and maybe even some in-fighting among the staff to represent the rivalry between the houses?) since this is a major port town. Maybe a Telvanni building or two IF the Dwemer facility is used.

I'm not sure if a Dwemer ruin would fit well into the concept, but a Daedric ruin certainly would. It could (would?) predate even the Nord settlement. Besides, it'll give us a nice excuse to create a nice big dungeon crawl and some interesting quests. I don't think it should be near the settlement though. Maybe on the other side of the island or sunken just off the coast? Since there won't be any greathouse influence on the island I'm thinking of making the north end of the island a little more "wild". I may also increase the size some, as it it a little small at the moment.

I'll be working on the island most of the day tomorrow (unless my plans get zapped) and I'll try to post an update. And yes, the new ships will be there.



KF

I think that because there aren't any Daedric or Dwemer ruins of Solstheim there shouldn't be any in Skyrim and none here. They just don't suit the white and green environment, if nothing else.

Eh, I voted "1 of each", then I read posts.

Good point Greatness.

We can always make some nice barrows and ice caves.


KF

Darkelfguy is already working on a nice big Daedric ruin. The original concept was for it to be lost, and accessible only underwater.

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else saying there shouldn't be any Great House representation. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense given the location and atmosphere. Although now we have the question of what to put in that space instead....



Actually, there was one Daedric ruin on Solstheim, during part of the Bloodmoon quest line (though it was hidden and didn't have an exterior that I know of). As far as I know, we're using a similar strategy with this Daedric ruin (partially hidden and underwater) so it should fit in fine.

The Daedric ruin will fit just fine. Hircine's maze was Daedric. And with it slightly off the coast and underwater, it could be from the cataclysm that created the inner sea. I don't think there would be any worshipers (like in the Vvardenfell ruins) because it would be hard for them to enter and leave. There would certainly be all sorts of Daedra and maybe undead. Maybe one of the quests can be to rescue some fool who went exploring in the ruin and didn't return. As for the space left that isn't being used for the greathouses, I'm planning on filling it (and more) with wild forest and occasional barrows, as well as ice caves. I may also redo the docks a little and expand the mountains a little more. I'm also thinking the lighthouse would look a lot better on the peak of the mountain rather than next to it. A nice switchback system would look awesome imho.



KF

What is a switchback system?

I'll get the word to Darkelf in the next few days about the change in focus on the Daedric quest. If we do caves, we have plenty of room to set up a criminal operation, maybe smuggling or slavers.

A switchback is a road or trail that zigzags up a slope rather than going straight up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Col_de_Braus-small.jpg.



KF