Bonemold: A guide for outlanders.
By Chief Foremer of House Redoran's armory of Blacklight
Relamus Arval

At the birth of the Third Empire, when Lord Vivec signed the armistice to Emperor Talos of Atmora and soon to be liege of all of Tamriel, Morrowind saw a great deal of outlanders enter into her borders. Outlanders who gazed upon our once great armies and our superiority of arms and armor they began to desire that which is one of our holiest of creations. I speak, of course, of the ceremonial armor and weapons of the Great Houses, Bonemold.

I won't go into the history of Bonemold for I am not a historian, if you want that read the book Bone or listen to the words of the Tribunal and Reclaimionist priests. But the importance I will go into, originally Bonemold was something sacred to a Dunmer family and clan, it was armor and weapons created from the bones of our willing ancestors who wished to protect their descendants even more in death. To outlanders this may seem foolish but to us this is but one of the greatest honors we can do after our bodies fall lifeless.

Many things in Morrowind that hold importance to us is made from Bonemold. House shrines, the Ghostgate and Ghostfence and even our ancestral tombs are made from the bones of our ancestors even the Velothi towers and the once great canton city of Vivec were made to look as if they were created from Bonemold in honor of the dead.

Now on the armor and weapons themselves. They are known by many as some of the strongest gear in Morrowind, they were one of the reasons why the Dunmer were often successful at holding the hordes of Outlanders from taking our lands before. Even the Akaviri of Tsaesci, Nord invaders and the great Reman himself could barely fight off our glorious armies when our ancestors wore the bones of the honored dead.

When Outlanders came to Morrowind either to lay claim to land in Vvardenfell, build new lives, seek to do business or simply go to the far east in Telvannis to escape Imperial rule itself, they awed at the armor of the guards and soldiers turned mercenaries. Many adventurers, mercenaries and just nobles wanting something to decorate their halls with would harass smiths to make Bonemold.

Hlaalu smiths were the first to comply with this but they kept it simple. Instead of using the bones of our honored dead they built simpler models made from the bones of various bugs and animals that call our wilderness home, House Redoran and House Telvanni soon followed in doing this but not only to make a profit from outlanders but to also better field their guards with armor and weapons while the building of the great Ghostfence was being constructed to keep us safe from the forces of the devil, Dagoth Ur.

But there were three large factions in Morrowind that heavily opposed letting outlanders wear Bonemold. The Temple considered it blasphemy and an insult to our honored dead, House Indoril and House Dres soon followed with the support of the Order of the Ordinators, in fact it is illegal for outlanders to even ask a smith for Bonemold in Indoril territory.

Now enough of the importance and the petty politics surrounding Bonemold. We will now go into the types of Bonemold armor and weapons.

First are the distinction between ancestral and ceremonial bonemold and what is common sold to foriegners and Dunmer without a clan. Ceremonial Bonemold tends to be more durable and has the most unique look to it, this is due to importance of the family for which the armor was created for. It is common to see the symbols of the Dunmer's house and clan on the armor as well as holy words engraved to protect them, each type of ceremonial armor is different as it's built specifically for the wielder though often the only time you'll see the most distinct armor is from those of noble birth. Now an exception is the weapons, these were usually just standard bonemold weapons though most are carved with the insignias of the family and the house.

Now common Bonemold is less durable as it wasn't made with the care and love that was put into that of ceremonial. Instead these armors are often similar to each other and lack any unique look of themselves, they are typically made from the bones of livestock or hunted wildlife though back during the third era it wasn't uncommon for smiths to use the bones of dead slaves to fortify the armor. This is commonly not told to Outlanders though as most are often uncomfortable with wearing the bones of dead slaves.