I have articles claiming House Telvanni "has a net worth rivalling the riches of the Imperial Treasury," but these were from websites I'm not sure are verified.

Here they are;

http://elderscrolls.filefront.com/info/province6

And a copied version on another site;

http://www.answers.com/topic/houses-of-morrowind

These pages deal with other Houses and aspects of Morrowind as well. Where are they from? PGE? Or are they fan-originated?

It wouldn't surprise me. Why, I don't know but that's just the feeling I get from having interacted with these guys alot.

I wouldn't think they would, but thats just me. There to isolationists and aren't good traders, not like Hlaalu or Dres. Telvanni also seems to lack the most unity of all the Great Houses, so I seriously doubt they are so rich. but then again, they all seem like self absorbed greedy bastards, so if they are so rich, chances are its squandered and put to personal use instead of for the better of the house.

They seem like hoarders. Sitting on their money instead of making it work for them.

They keep to themselves, but that doesn't mean that they aren't good traders. Telvanni are notorious for their huge slave market. I think they also own by far the most land of all the Houses (Telvanni Islands)

They are also all adept magicians, and sorcerers. It would not surprise me in the least for them to use magickal means to harvest deep ores, and rare materials of high value.

Aryon gives away overpowered artifacts like candy. :shrug:

They are also the most eccentric of all the houses, and I bet they ALL just love to gather the weirdest and rarest of items, which are often pretty expensive.

Naw ... the Dres are the traders, the Telvanni are the customers. The main slave markets were in the Dres lands. They may own the most land, but by far, I don't think so. Especially after Hlaalu and Dres have been eating away at Indoril's land, and the Indoril land was pretty expansive. There was a map that showed the borders, but I can't find it at the moment.

"I made this when I was an apprentice centuries ago. You can have it if you like."

(Pawns off Aryon's Helper... Summons a storm, flame, and frost attronach for 120 seconds, with a charge capacity of several thousand.... Yeah.)


So uhm.. Yeah. The Telvanni tend to have some pretty powerful trinkets laying around. They are also insanely xenophobic, and posessive, and like to kill would be theives, so they get to keep their trinkets, until they want to give them away, or bore with them. (Though the DO often steal trinkets from each other... I seem to remember nicking a flame mirror robe for somebody.....)


Anyhow-- The Telvanni could produce huge quantities of wealth just by employing good tailors, then enchanting the BEJEEEBUS out of those items, and selling them for a premium.

They are economically apathetic. Their wealth only lies in durable goods they don't care about.

I've searched Morrowinds dialog and the Imperial Library for terms from that phrase but it does not appear to be mentioned anywhere. Although might be plausible considering the large amount of magical artifacts the Telvani are hoarding, I can't find anything that backs it up as factual.

well not sure this would count for obscenely wealthy but therana gives you a daedric curaiss and leggings just for saying you wont bring her any more ash yams, but that maybe just more of her madness.

I'd say it makes sense. Just to add to the list of Telvanni examples of insane freebies, Fyr has stuff in that dungeon that that would make Canctunian and Company explode in clouds of bureaucratic astonishment. Telvanni need no money to build their houses at all, only to buy furnishings, which obviously is advantageous to the treasuries.

They do sell demon/devil/fiendish weapons. Ra'virr buys them from the Telvanni.

Hm. I do remember something about the Telvanni being insect-herders... or at least the House being mentioned in such a context. It would make sense, after all... what of their eponymously named Bug Musk? It has to come from somewhere... and why name it after them if they do not have some part in its harvest, manufacture or distribution?

I don't know where I remember this from, but I'm about 75% sure of it. It might have been in-game, or it might have been a pre-release interview, or something. I'll scrounge around in Zeph's treasury and the Morrowind CS and see if I can find a proper reference.

I've always thought that most of their operations are concentrated in Telvanis, hence why you never see their economic activities. I imagine that slave trade comprises a large percentage of their economy; even if the Dres are the largest distributors of human labour, the Telvanni might be middlemen, or have sources of their own. Other contributing factors might be enchantment services or artifact trade.

Update: It appears I was mistaken... can't find any reference to the Telvanni and insect herders. Still... curious thing about the Bug Musk, eh?

Also, another interesting tidbit: In http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/realizationsofacrobacy.shtml, Gothren is referred to as an "Ashkhan". Mayhap I unconsciously connected the Telvanni and the Ashlanders (who are stated to herd insects) through this reference.

I have a feeling that Telvanni's sector of the population is even more backward and isolated than Redoran herders in the Ashlands.

I see them as the traditionalists without the customs of traditionalists. They are the salt of the Dunmeri earth, but there is no House to assure them of their honor and worthiness like Redoran does, and certainly not to take care of them. There is only a distant and disinterested leadership that has no relation to its subjects, besides perhaps to pay too little for the little Velothi trades the common folk tinker in.

These people are either unfortunates like those in the shanties of Tel Branora or self-suficient isolationists like the famers and herders of Vos, though they are coddled by comparison.

No House, not much Temple, certainly no Good Humor Man.

I see the Telvanni mage lords a bit like the Sparks of Phil Foglio's http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/ (which is a very good comic, even if the title could have been better) -- they're individually very powerful (both militarily and personally), they're pretty much all insane, most of them have no concern for other people's rules or their underling's lives, and even those that seem, compared to the rest, progressive and liberal have a twisted sense of humor and are far from being humane. (Master Aryon's "http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Imperial_Museum_Welcome" is a hilarious example of this, the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Beram_Journal is a darker one.)

I think the wealth of House Telvani comes down to a simple question: What do they buy?

They grow their houses from natural ingredients, they make their own enchanted items, they probably Conjur their own Daedric equipment, they grow their own food, they use spells more than they use weapons.....

They're thrifty. This thriftyness helps them be wealthy.

As far as I know they do summon their own daedric armour however as far as I know summoned (bound) armour does not remain there for eternity so the question still remains where they do get their daedric. I'd say that if it's anyone's hobby to go treasure hunting in the most dangerous daedric places it would be the telvani (just look at Fyr). And as we all know someone who takes these "immense" risks like the PC becomes immensely rich.

I agree with this statement. The problem with Telvanni is that as individual's, the mage-lords are incredbily wealthy, but as a house and people, they are dirt poor. I say this makes the house not rich. Countries like Saudi Arabia IRL are considered backwater and poor, even though it contains some of the wealthiest men in the world, because the people are poor.

Redoran isn't much better. The only house I see as wealthy in Vvardenfell is Hlaalu (although Gnaar Mok and Hla Oad aren't exactly well off).

In my opinion the Telvanni would be rich, seeing as most of them are incredibly old, and even someone who is poor could amass quite a large sum of money in many many lifetimes.

Take how much you earn in a year, and times it by 4000. The gives an idea of what I mean.

They're as rich as they are neurotic, and in my opinion, that means that they're uncomfortably rich. My first impression of the Telvanni was of a group of megalomaniacal, paranoid disillusioned magisters. Now that I think about it, they seem like the type to horde all their wealth for one strange reason or another.

Yes. Tends to happen every Bloodmoon. The wealth amassed, I mean. Vast hordes of treasury being horded by wizards of old. I don't think dragons are very happy about this though.

Have you ever been attacked by a treasure http://www.geocities.com/grammardoc5/horde.html? Not a pretty sight, I can tell you. All those evil gems, bloodthirsty coins, frenzied antiques, berserk artworks...