Morrowind's story seems to unite two periods - the epic events of 1E 700, the war of the First Council, and events of Morrowind proper. ES IV ends the story that began two eras long before. What of the beginning of the story? Suppose a certain hero of unknown parents were to be shipped to Resdayn as a slave? What role could he have played in that nations history?

The thread is not meant to be as a WIP or preparation of a TC of any kind. The topic is more converastionalist: What was the shape of Resdayn 4000 years ago? What were the majour cities? Inhabitants? Skills and Classes used? How did live Dwemer cities looked? The second question is even more theoretic. If a TC were to be done, what role could the PC have undertaken? There are obvious limitations as to race or actual influence on world events by PC. Quite a bit of information is avaliable through accounts of surviving NPCs, books and artifacts about Morrowind as it was thousands of years ago. Lets see what can be uncovered.

P.S. The idea for this thread came after reading a story http://forums.bobandgeorge.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=13423&st=0&sk=t&sd=a.

Let me start.
Storyline and period
Since the topic is partially about a TC, then the speculations as to the state of Morrowind should center around a certain date. The most interesting time, of course, is the time of the Battle at the Red Mountain - around 1E 700. The records state that the The War of the First Council lasted from 668 to 700 1E, however a lot of historical events are exaggerated and biased. Thus, it is possible that, the PC could arrive before the war has started, visit Resdayn in all its glory, play a role in war and at in the descisive battle at its end in the space of a few years.

General Land overview:
Resdayn is a country of two united peoples – Chimer and Dwemer. Both are ruled by their own kind and were united 300 years prior to drive Nords out of Vvanderfel. It is a time of “unprescedented prosperity and flowering for both cultures”.
With a notable exception of Bitter Coast, the lands are much greener and more fertile. The Red Mountain has not erupted.
Dwemer culture vis-a-vis its state in Morrowind is restored. Dwemer freely walk the lands to trade and interact with Chimer. Many achievements such as Observatories and Flying ships work and could be observed. Entrance to most colonies is free. Dwemer specialize in science, engineering and alchemy and trade their products freely with Chimer.
Chimer are dominated by Velothian culture. Wisard towers, Dunmer strongholds, ancient cities, now forgotten, span the countryside. Chimer are more proficient with the land and magic. They actively worship good Daedra in their temples.
Ocrs and Nords are relatively common in Resdayn, but not welcome. Nord occupation is still remembered and most are simply in search of adventure, not staying to settle. Orcs are seen as alien and primitive and are liked even less. Altmer and Bosmer visitors are rare, but more welcome. All other races known to ES IV are either unheard of or nonexistant.
Both peoples of Resdayn have “more habitable” and “less settled” areas. Contrary to original Morrowind, this division of lands should be much more striking. In some lands people are working peacefully, others are full of suriving Nord raiders and outlaws. Same can be said about wildlife, there are areas where it is roaming, others where it has been “pacified”.

Even Argonians? I think its safe to say that early Dunmer/Chimer would still have been raiding neighbouring provinces for slaves, be they men from Cyrodiil or Argonians from Black Marsh.

i think the peace between Chimer and Dwemer is highly exaggerated. The peasants still undoubtedly remember the desolation caused by warfare, and the house (clan?) leaders area fearful of their allies. The cultural and religious differences also put a strain on the relationship. I would expect some minor squabbles farther away from the main cities, some requiring military intervention and all needing delicate balancing.

In other words, while everything may seem perfect and prosperous at first glance, it is soon revealed that all is not well in the land.

From a TC standpoint, i would make only two playable races but have each race have its own main quest and general path.

No, it's not. The Chimer at this time are actually just recovering from the decline of Velothi High Culture which allowed the Nords to invade in the first place. A few centuries ago they built in the High Velothi style (as in Vivec or Odirniran), now they construct the Strongholds (Falasmaryon) for defense. Chimeri society is primitive and superstitious compared to their Dwemer neighbors, and clannish.

Compared to the Dwemer, Azura is pretty primitive. We don't know that much about the politics of the Chimer, except that it was based on a kind of simplified clan system, but socially as they were similar to the Aldmer (who also had local groups rather than central authority) in everything but religion and architecture for a long time then they'd not have been remarkably different hundreds of years later. And the Aldmer were, in comparison with other races such as the Khajiit, Argonians, and Nords, pretty modern. The traps in Ayleid ruins will tell you that much, not to mention the magical stones and security systems. One of the tales of Marobar Sul (or, more specifically, the publisher's notes at the end) explains how the Ashlanders constructed many of the fortresses of Vvardenfell, and that there were others on the mainland, as the equivalent of their yurts.

We simply don't know what they could have done before the eruption of Red Mountain, which caused the population to shift south and probably made many of the resources used for building unavailable (the stones the fortresses are built of are unlike anything else I've seen when playing Morrowind).



The inhabitants of Resdayn were aware of what happened outside of their borders. They were probably raiding Argonia, and Nerevar was at Alessia's coronation, apparently.



Nords would probably have been executed if they went back into Resdayn after they'd been thrown out. If you ask people about Dagon Fel in the game, they'll tell you that 'since Morrowind became an Imperial Province, the Nord settlers have returned' which means that it had been abandoned. No reason for the Nords to have abandoned it, as it would have been, even back then when the region was more populated, rather remote, unless the Chimer and the Dwemer were really determined to kill as many Nords as possible.

Orcs were created as a result of the Chimeri Exodus. They'd probably have been seen as Aldmer, and Aldmer, having became weak because of the comforts of civilisation, would not have been welcome - they'd ruin Chimeri purity.