In Oblivion, the House is apparently referred to as being in ruins (from http://wikibin.org/articles/houses-of-morrowind.html). I know that during the events of Morrowind, Indoril does not have much power, especially due to the suicides of the nobles, and I can only imagine that their power would fall even lower when the disappearance of at least 2/3 of the Tribunal is discovered.

But why is the appearance and validation of the Nerevarine not enough to revive House Indoril? I read that it was down to politics, particularly to do with Hlaalu, Dres and the Empire, but this doesn't ring entirely true to me. The Nerevarine is already the Hortator of Hlaalu and so must wield some sort of power; apart from that, he/she is probably head of a few factions and immensely physically/magically powerful and revered. Surely the citizens of Morrowind would be eager to have a replacement for their living Gods, and Indoril in particular would support and be supported by (as long as your Nerevarine is real/good) the reincarnation of Nerevar. Seems to me also that a lot of the inhabitants of Morrowind are still essentially xenophobic and resistant to the Empire, so would side with House Indoril (although I might be biased here since I personally would prefer the Imperial influences to be purged from Morrowind...). I actually think it's strange that you get so little interaction with Indoril during Morrowind.

Apologies if this has been discussed, I did a search and didn't turn up anything specifically on this topic...

Nerevarine's actions made significant impact on Morrowind's everyday life and history, but in the end an outlander has little or no power at all to change course of politics in Morrowind .

Two main reasons, I think. Firstly, the collapse of the Temple. You say it yourself, but I think this would hurt Indoril a great deal - it makes their holy cities no longer (as) holy. Even the High Ordinators will eventually wake up and realise Almalexia (and Vivec) ain't coming back.

Secondly, their hostility to the Empire doesn't help. The growing power of Hlaalu and Helseth is in direct contrast to the principles of Indoril. Even Dres sees which way the wind is blowing after slavery is given up, allying against Indoril with Hlaalu.

also, redoran was indoril's closest ally, and redoran is also in tatters after the oblivion crisis
indoril has no political leverage against the combination of hlaalu, dres and helseth

WHAT? when? I love Redoran :cryvaultboy:. I know that Ald'ruhn was destroyed, but they have massive holding on the mainland. And war is prosperous, especially against stupid no good Nords*.

* Up until the Thu'um stops Millitary profiteering

war is rarely prosperous if it is the kind of defensive war redoran is (apparently) fighting with the nords, and i was under the impression that ald'ruhn became the council seat because of the threat to the mainlanbd holdings, which basically implies the house isn't in good shape on the mainland, and what with the destruction of ald'ruhn (and presumerably the many many redoran warriors who would have died in defence of their house) it doesn't seem to be in good shape on vvardenfell. as well as this, it was deeply dedicated to the temple, and as the temple has also (stupidly, imo) apparently collapsed, this takes away a large portion of the influence wielded by redoran. needles to say, helseth would also have done his best to damage the house, as it was/is the antithesis to hlaalu, and probably stood as one of the greatest internal threats to his rule.
also, from "the fall of ald'ruhn" : "With their warrior House decimated", and "REMEMBER REDORAN. NEVER FORGET."
don't imagine for a second i am happy about any of this, as i also love redoran, but it is what it is

People who rule their nations on the basis of mere rumour are likely in trouble - but they just don't know it.

Moderator: No argument by anology to current real-world politics; it's against the rules, and there's too great a risk of offense sufficient to require moderator intervention.
edit - heh - you're right - the argument does not actually need the RL anology - ty end edit

It is likely that Redoran was badly damaged by the loss of Ald'ruhn - but cities can be rebuilt - Remember Redoran. Likewise Indoril 'recently' lost their leader and spokes-person/goddess to madness and then death so they have no voice until another leader takes over the reigns.

Sure Helseth would want a new ruler/head of Indoril to be him or no one - and will have put out a lot of propaganda to that effect. Look at the the past though - many Indoril nobles committed suicide so their children took up the reigns of power and carried on.

Likewise you also suggests that House Dres is weakened but from what I have seen there is a lot of money in illicit dealing so illegal activity for a house that is notorious for the 'dark' side of its operations both in Morrowind and outside should not be a problem - they could always keep their slaves on as 'indentured' labour and spend less on their wages than on them as slaves - at least slaves do not go into debt.

Anyhows it's early days yet - there is a lot more to be considered such as the position of the Empire and the effect of a hole in Imperial politics as well as the long-term effects of the destruction wrought by the Gates episode. We do not really know if that will strengthen or weaken Helseth - but we would expect him to go 'uber' and present himself as a strongman because we saw him employ that tactic in Mournhold in response to the weakening Tribunal.

Thus we know that Helseth who is the Imperial 'king' will present/publicise himself in the Imperial Province as strong and those he consiers enemies or opponents as weak. What you have at this stage is 'news/spin' - wait and see what history has to say about Helseth and Indoril - there is a reason that one only becomes a saint after death - because to be a saint your whole life must be judged

In reply to the original post:

I don't think there's a good foundation for thinking the remnant of Indoril (at least to the extent that the utterances and actions of the Ordinators, who are mainly Indoril, represents Indoril's position) or Redoran would be flocking to the Nerevarine. They were entrenched enemies of the Nerevarine Cult and fanatical supporters of the Temple. The only reason they acquiesced in the Nerevarine is that Vivec ordered them to. These things do not change overnight. Sotha Sil dead at the hand of Almalexia, Almalexia dead at the hand of the Nerevarine, and Vivec in self-imposed exile? Their reaction would be what is portrayed in Tribunal: angry disbelief.

Indoril, the Temple, and Redoran are reeling, though probably not ruined. Dres has been co-opted.
The Ashlanders had their moment of glory when the Nerevarine rose up; now there are "blue skies over Red Mountain", and they want to be left to their ancestral lands and guar herds.
The Nerevarine, if it's not already time to give him up for lost in Akavir, is Helseth's catspaw (as he was Azura's before).
Helseth is in the catbird seat. Anybody who wants anything in Morrowind has to negotiate with him now. Just be circumspect in accepting his invitation to dinner.

I'd agree. The Empire is probably reeling after the Oblivion Crisis and the provinces are probably going to push for greater autonomy, or just seize it. Helseth's position is probably stronger than the Empire's by now. Kings keep their thrones by doing whatever it takes, including negotiating with an empire but keeping it at arms' length; killing or coopting your rivals; and going to war when necessary.

Just leave the Telvanni alone. You don't want to piss off 1000 year old mage lords that tend not to be of the most stable people, own extreme riches and powerful artifacts, and could turn one into ash by snapping.

You leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. Unless you are a crumbling Indoril, they'll take you land and laugh at you as they put your temple priests in broom closets at best.

i cant wait to find out how titus mede is dealing with morrowind!

But by that time....There might not be a Morrowind left

Well, we'll all find out in six days, shan't we?

Let's just hope it's good and not ridiculous.

You have a very powerful and plausible argument to encourage the Nerevarine to leave Morrowind for a while there - the possible reaction of Indoril to almalexia's demise. Surely the Indoril outside Mournhold would not have felt the impact of her madness to the same extent that the inhabitants of her capital did. And I would not be surprised if Helseth decided that since he could not kill the Nerevarine the next best would be to ensure silence by absence = a real wild goose chase to another continent. That could have worked assuming Helseth was able to provide the Nerevarine with cogent enticements to go to Akavir in addition to that argument. One reason why so many players killed Helseth off.

But the Nerevarine also destroyed Dagoth Ur, the devil of the Tribunal religion and current public enemy number one in Morrowind.

It's just my take on it, but I don't picture the Nerevarine as staying the pawn of Helseth after the events of "Tribunal". Since the player character has finished being Azura's puppet, as well as Almalexia's and Helseth's, I think it's more likely that he travelled to Akavir as his own idea, out of curiosity.

I think the Ashlanders feel much more strongly that way than the settled House Dunmer, even the Temple and its supporters, do. The settled Dunmer were content to wall off Dagoth Ur behind the Ghostfence and suppress the Nerevarine cult to avoid actually doing anything about the menace, and not even the Buoyant Armigers had ventured through the Ghostgate in anybody's memory.

But the Nerevarine at the head of even a united army of the four major tribes would be no match for House Hlaalu and their allies in the remnants of the Dark Brotherhood and Camonna Tong. And if it got out that the Nerevarine actually had offed the Blessed Mother Almalexia, 1999's right, his immortality wouldn't be much of a defense against a poison dart in the back.

According to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind%3a%50lan_to_Defeat_Dagoth_Ur, Temple has been trying to defeat him. In addition, Vivec said this in Morrowind.

I thought that was because of his ring?

shh - I want to keep that for myself