Hi, I am creating the town of Elinhir, using Onra's wonderful heightmaps, for TES:IV Oblivion. My first question is, would there be a church in this town??

I will likely have a lot more questions as I progress, so I'll use this thread for them all.

I don't think so, it's a Redgaurd town. There are some vague Arabic elements in there. See if you can find some of the Tamriel Rebuilt people that are working on Hammerfall.

that would be me, chiefly

no, there wouldn't be a "church" (by which i assume you mean "Imperial style temple to one or more Divines") in the "town" (by which I assume you mean "city"). Elinhir is a very traditional Crown place these days. There might be a small private chapel for the traders in the city, but i'm not even sure of that given Ayaan's stances and the animosity towards Nords in the region. I highly suggest you check out the http://www.imperial-library.info/pge3/hammerfell.shtml, and maybe, just maybe, take a look at the project in my signature.

My next question is, would there be a fighters and mages guild??

I'm presuming yes for the mages guild, but not a big presence type of thing, and a different sort of fighters guild, perhaps a Crown fighters guild, independent of the rest of the fighters guilds in the game?

reverse that. the redguards are very much opposed to eastern magic as taught by the mages guild, so a guild is unlikely. fighting is a redguard thing though, so a FG would be fine.

Of course, the game Redguard also taught us that magic use isn't completely unheard of in Hammerfell. It's just not organized/sanctioned as in other human nations. There's probably a Mages Guild presence in the country, but only in the capital or a major port town, and they probably don't get a lot of business.

Now fighters on the other hand... that's what they do. Fighting and sailing, mainly. That's what I think of when I think of Redguards. I think of pirates and sword masters.

But would it actually be part of the Fighters Guild, or an independent Redguard guild??

And thanks for the info on Mages Guild, saves me trying to find a unique model

I'd assume fighter's guild.

Gallows or no gallows??

I could probably fit it in lore wise, in that the guards kill people against the Crown cities etc. Also a threat to Nord spies?

Would a Redguard town do this?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't no much about Redguard culture or their society but they don't strike me as the kind of people who would conduct public hangings/executions.

They would probably kill Nord spies on the spot when found.

The warlike Redguard strike me as people who wouldn't perform the 'merciful' execution technique of hanging on criminals, and they strike me even less as people who'd welcome it being performed on themselves instead of a good clean decapitation.

Remember, they're Tamriel's people of the desert.

I imagine Elinhir having quite a few hand-less former thieves as well.