Why are there only URSHILAKU burial caverns and not ones for the other Ashlander tribes?

Cheers,

The Colossus

Because the other ones are hidden much better and you can't find them, in game.

I dunno. That would be more gameplay than lore. I'm sure they exist. There's just no reason to go to the other ones, so they're not in the game.

I thought that may be the case But, I would assume they do exist, lore wise, or does each tribe have its own customs with honouring the dead?

The Dude's comment is fair enough and 'correct' - but I think there may be room for speculation here.

Of all the Tribes we met the Urshilaku appear to be the most hidebound traditionalists, with the Ahemusa following on second.

There may well be far more tribes than we meet in game - but scaling did not allow for such ...

Also there is the possibility that certain burial grounds have been taken over by the Sleepers - note the corrupted Saint's Cavern on the West Coast near the fishing village North of Hla Oad ('pologies my map gone) but in Hlaalu Territory a long way from Red Mountain. There is a frightfully strong Dagoth presence there. And those fantastic gloves too Now maybe that was once a tribal burial ground ...

Remember that the 'Great Houses' are meldings of smaller Houses that themselves absorbed various tribes. where are their burial grounds? Maybe they are now bandit caves and such also?

The Urshilaku live in a most inhospitable area of the ashlands and they are quite warlike. also it appears that they have been marvellously fortunate in discovering their spectacular caves and that may have helped keep their tribe faithful to the old ways.

The Cave of the Nerevarines holds to that same ancient way of mummification - and there is no 'corruption' there, no 'sanctified guardian undead' - just Azuras suzereinty and that magical door.

You have to wonder why you cannot communicate with all the dead in the Urshilaku caverns. Maybe even the Urshilaku grounds are not quite as they should be?

It may be that at first you are not accepted as Urshilaku and for after your inauguration the devs could not be bothered to add 'spirit forms' and 'conversation' to those figures for game reasons. Or maybe even as a 'sanctified' member of the Urshilaku you cannot communicate because the spirits do not have a blood-link to channel through.

Definately something worth a serious modder's time and consideration.

You're thinking of Ilunibi, it's closest to Gnaar Mok.


It may be that only Wise Women communicate with their ancestral spirits.

Hmmmm, I found those thoughts to be quite interesting thank you! The Great House burials, are they either taken to Necrom or put in the Ancestral Tombs?

Go with this.

Many of the prominent Great House families have ancestral tombs on Vvardenfell.

To preface this, I played MW back in 2004/2005, so it's been a while.

When we take the possessions from the Urshilaku Burial Caverns, I wonder if we're doing the wrong thing. I looted the place like everyone else does, but would it have been more respectful to leave the artifacts there? On the other hand, we're specifically told to retrieve the bow. :shrug:

That, and Magebane helps with the next quest (Dagoth shrine). the Wizard's staff at the very top saves a little cash, as well, if you're doing the Mages Guild. I think as the saviour of Morrowind, the ancestors will forgive us this once.


Sorry.... Helped my wife do that quest for the first time two days ago. She's never played MW, but loves OB, so I finally convinced her not to be a pixel-snob and play it even though it's not as pretty. Her main complaint always was the female dunmer faces it gives you to pick from are all ugly. She's playing it on the Xbox, so I can't mod the faces for her. I told her just to wear a glass helmet wherever she goes and she'll look fine. LOL. She agrees, now that she's given it a chance, that it is a far superior game.

I guess it depends on how you are role-playing. The bow is one thing, as you are specifically asked to get it by a high ranking member of the tribe, whereas the other items are not asked for. If you were role-playing a thief, or immoral character, you can take the stuff, but if your playing a Crusader or a character with morals, it would be out of place to go grave robbing.

Nice loot there, how do ashlanders take it to the grave and just leave it? It's OK that it's tradition, but the highest I ever found on ashlanders was bonemold equipment, and in there there is glass and dreugh armor plus lots of other stuff, how can it be that if they had that previously, they are totally lacking now?

Hows about they are not as wealthy as they used to be since the rise of the Great Houses and the arrival of the Imperials and Dagoth Ur. Plus they were betrayed by the Great Houses ... big surprise that.

Also it may be that the stuff in the caverns is the 'treasure' of their ages ... and that they don't use such for everyday - so you don't see it.

As for looting the Cavern - that would not just be theft - it would be sacrilege. It would take a real dumb thief to do such a thing and risk rejection by the ancestors there ... assuming he/she really wanted the help of the Urshilaku.

Again the limitations in the scripting and game mechanics enable the player to ignore such things. Too bad that. Far better if the player loots the Cavern the bow just disappears and he/she is treated as an enemy by the Urshilaku thereafter. Especially as the MQ can be completed without Urshilaku assist.

I found a bug in my MQ - I could never get the Urshilaku to give me all the info they had, and I had to find the Cavern if the Incarnates the hard way, bu tthat was fun too.

I assume that where the cell is called burial, the x is the name of the Urshilaku member buried there? Or do they have a different meaning?

No that doesn't make sense..those don't seem like people's names. "Fragile" for instance..I think these words have some other significance in Ashlander history. The words "Karma" and "Astral" are overall spiritual words which have several real-world connections to notions of the afterlife.

And speaking of Karma, we're back to the discussion about graverobbing again...

It's my opinion that since the player is the Incarnate, the ancestors would understand that he/she might need powerful artifacts to serve the greater good of destroying Dagoth Ur and the Blight, so perhaps this act which would be a transgression worthy of soul [censored] when performed by anyone else is simply ignored under the understanding that it serves a noble purpose.

Some of the names are simply inserted in, like Kakuna (a pokemon) and Juno (a Roman goddess).

Well ok - since you put is so nicely I could go with that - but I sorta feel that from a Beth/dev pov it's just plain laziness.

I never noticed the Kakuna thing.

How appropriate....that is a fossil type Poke'mon.

Didn't MK cite Poke'mon as an influence as one of the Sermons one time, too? One of the monsters Vivec faces?

edit: Nevermind...Kakuna was a bug type. I'm rusty.

And there's Peke Utchoo. (sp?)

Maybe pokemon and MK use the same sources?

Let's not forget Marowak's Spine in Ilunibi. Although it's strangely fitting for anyone who anything about Marowak and Cubone.

Also Weepingbell Hall in Arkngthand.

Oh! Arkngthand! Good times... my #2 favorite dwemer ruin

Mmmmm... #4 for me I'm afraid!

I've a 99% probability of being wrong, and quite possibly someone with a Morrowind CS could confirm, but I believe during my escapades throughout the lands, in fact I feel now 50% correct now, I have seen several other burial sights for the other tribes/clan/whatever. They, if I am correct, were not as elaborate or extensive as the Urshilaku. Or I could be wrong on that part, too. But it really seems true, now, that I did see some.