I don't think that King Helseth would have realistically survived. His palace is in the city of Almalexia which, if I recall correctly, is near Vivec-the site of impact. He and everyone else in that city were probably drowned and then boiled afterwards. I could see Barenziah still being alive... she may have moved somewhere else before the events of The Infernal City occurred.

Did anyone in Vvardenfell/Morrowind have any warning of the impending disaster? Not the Loveletter, but other warnings that Lie Rock was going to go splat - any magical vibes or visual tell-tails? If so, then it is reasonable to expect that those who could flee would do so with all haste - magical teleportation especially.

I really don't see how it could have struck suddenly. Sul says that the power holding back the Ministry began to 'fade', and just the very fact that they had built the ingenium says that they knew it was going to fall - afterall, the whole point of the ingenium was to stop it from falling.

They knew Vivec's power wasn't holding it back anymore, they knew the moon was going to fall, they were just trying to stop it. With that in mind one would have to assume that the Dunmer had taken some sort of precaution in case the ingenium didn't work (whether underground/magickal fortifications or simply evacuation), surely some of them doubted its efficacy... to say that all of Morrowind (and especially Vivec City) was just sitting hunky-dory in bliss believing they were perfectly safe is pure inanity...

As I mentioned above, they knew the magicks keeping back the moon were fading - that's why they built the ingenium. Sure, they didn't know the ingenium was going to fail just when it did, but surely they knew it wasn't a sure thing.

Mournhold is a long, long way away from Vivec, and it isn't on the coast.

I doubt anyone will be cultivating anything on Vvardanfell for a while. The whole place will just be black rock, although that makes extremely fertile soil eventually, so the long-term prospects for life returning to Vvardanfell are pretty good
If any miners were to survive, it would logically be the egg miners, as they still have something to eat.
In all honesty, though, I doubt the eruption would have occurred instantly, and then neither would it instantly tear Vvardanfell apart.
First, I would say that the meteor impact would have directly destroyed Vivec and Ebonheart. Seyda Neen, Suran and Pelegiad would be destroyed the massive earthquakes and such, although most cities on Vvardanfell (and a fair few on the mainland) would probably be pretty damaged. A few mintues, maybe, after the impact, tidal waves would destroy Hlla Oad, Fort Firemoth, Tel Branora, and any cities along the mainland coast south of Vivec. After that, the geothermal activity ander Vivec would probably erupt, destroying most of the surrounding region, places like Molag Mar and Balmora. The clouds of dust and steam would probably start to sweep across Vvardanfell. I doubt Red Mountain would erupt for a good few hours, and even then it would would take a while before it went completely. This would be more than enough time for anybodywho could teleport to escape, but boat would probably be impossible, as todal waves would be bouncing around the inner sea coasts. Of course, by the time Red Mountain fully erupts, Vvardanfell wouldn't really have a chance. The ashes from the mountain would quickly blind, poison, and cover most life on the island, and the massive earthquakes would allow the sea rto quickly flood large areas. If the whole of Red Mountain blew, all that would be left of Vvardanfell would be a ring of waterlogged islands around a massive fiery, boiling crater, at least until new rock bubbles up enough through the water to form an actual landmass. This kind of eruption, and subsequent tsunamis, would probably flood a lot of low-lying central morrowind, and the earthquakes could cause some damage as far away as the Imperial City probably.
I'm surprised Solstheim escaped the tsunamis relatively unscathed! All up, though, I would give the people of Vvardanfell about four hours from impact to total annihilation, which is obviously not enough time to escape for 90% of the population. The idea that they were vapourised in minutes is ridiculous, though.
In terms of land returning, though, 200 years definately seems long enough for a large amount of the island to reform, although I wonder whether Red Mountain will still be active then as well. If not, then not much land will be popping up.
I doubt the Nords would want to invade a land that had recently been so thoroughly coated in toxic ash and gas, but that is probably nothing for the Argonians. They live in Black Marsh!

If you think Mistress Therana is going to be stopped by a rock and a little hot water, then you are crazier then she is...I foresee her cooking breakfast, dropping an egg, then suddenly remembering that those new boots she ordered from Alinor were supposed to be delivered yesterday, and thusly going to find out what the problem with her order was, receipt in hand...she survives thanks to a shoddy delivery service and pure dumb (though insane) luck...

Thanks. Now I need to write that as a fanfiction. Well, now I have something to do over the next day or so.

It's good to see a post from you, One87xe; it's been a long time since the Lore RP days.

The post above from verysmartperson that gave four hours until annihilation was interesting -- a lot more thought-out than my post. I checked the statistics for Krakatoa for a comparison with Red Mountain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa

" . . . the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT (840 PJ)?about 13,000 times the nuclear yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 kT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 MT), the largest nuclear device ever detonated.

The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 cubic kilometres (5.0 cu mi) of rock, ash, and pumice.[4]

The cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Western Australia, about 1,930 miles (3,110 km) away, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles (5,000 km) away."

Since Red Mountain was one of the tallest mountains in Tamriel as far as I know, the effects would have been worse when it cooked off.

Re-read what I said. "Or achieved godhood through other means".

In any event he's removed from the events of Tamriel, at least for the time being if not for a VERY long time, or forever. Much like Dr. Manhattan who was possibly one of his influences, he's off to explore other realms.

For him there are no other realms.

I mean, i've been to Krakatoa, and it's, like, TINY!

You do believe he achieved CHIM, as is apparent by your lengthy letter to archmage Trebonius which is being kept at the Imperial Library of Cyrodill.

I don't pretend to know half as much about this wonderful concept as many of you do, but doesn't it make him the highest order of being in the entire universe, capable of doing absolutely anything? Or am I way off the mark? If I am right, then why, with all this new found power, would he allow his people to suffer the sacking of Ald'Ruhn and the Red Year? As a lesser god, he and his siblings protected them from the Blight and other evils for years and years. It's obvious he was deeply passionate about the wel being of the Dunmer race. Why would he abandon them in their time of greatest need if he's discovered the god-button?

They've finally learned "Love" haven't they? He didn't adandon them, he sent the Loveletter.
It has all worked out the way it is intended.

Anyway, if he really had the interests of the Dunmer at heart, he would have killed the Nerevarine "Agents in that event were tricked by the Dagonites. The First Stone should have remained as it was".

At least two things. Its likely Vivec shows no partiality anymore. The Dunmer are just as much his as any other group. Plus, excercising omnipotence is boring. I suppose he could make the Dunmer the supreme rulers of the universe, but that would be boring. :frog:

Vivec didn't send the Loveletter.

:turtle:

Although unlike the Doc, at the moment he seems to have lost interest in all things and NOT gained it back. Assuming he did get CHIM or it's even more than just him being crazy after eons of living past his natural lifespan and believes he has it. Because for a regular mortal seeing an overblown divine leech excersize power and seeing someone manipulate the world be being the world would look the same, how could anyone but Vivec even tell?

And aren't there enough threads on Vivec? Let's go back to talking about VVardenfell, which went boom. So wow, no more Bitter Coast, no more Grazelands, no more looking out over the Sea of Ghosts, it's all been blown to hell.

You're right. I went to imperial-library.info and looked at their maps. For some reason I was thinking that Mournhold was closer to Vivec...

What I'd like to know, is since Dunmer have a natural resistance to fire, does this extend to lava and hot water and other generally hot things (like can they put their hands on a hot stove without being seriously injured)?

Realistically, I doubt they could survive lava (although my Dunmer Nerevarine did fall off the ledge when fighting Dagoth Ur, and turned out okay- in fact, I managed to knock Ur down with me, and then levitated up to Lorkhan's heart to smash it uninterrupted ) but the hot water... who knows, maybe it was just a slightly-too-warm bath for them?

I doubt Dunmer could withstand such boiling water, let alone the lava's of Red Mountain. Even if, the environment sure didn't.

In the novel, Sul returns to Vvardenfell for a short spell, and he doesn't even think about swimming. So no, I do not believe that Dunmer can survive boiling water. That whole "fire-resistance" thing probably just helps against just that - fire. I bet a Dunmer can step on a campfire with less injury than any other race, but if one tried to dip their hand into a magma river, they'd probably receive what anyone else would - a charcoal stick instead of a hand to draw charcoal pictures on stone. :thumbsdown:

Edit: never mind.

Wet heat and dry heat are two very different things. For example when wearing "heat-resistant" gloves you can pick up a beaker full of boiling water with no problem, but put your hand over this beaker and the steam will (with most types of gloves) give you third degree burns.

I wonder how big the eruption was.

Edit: I mean, I know it was huge, but we don't have that much detail into it.

I wonder; How many times in the past has Red Mountain erupted? And why is this incident different? (Minus Baar Dau Crashing)

I think this may be different based on the foyadas. It seems like previous eruptions resulted in comparatively gentle lava flows, more like slow rivers of lava than the explosive detonation of the mountain we seem to have here. Then yeah, the moon just fell on the largest city on the island, so the water is also boiling. see how much worse the little things can make it?

I have a mental picture in my head of rising waters as a result of the moon crashing down, with some Dunmer around Ghost Gate retreating to higher ground on Red Mountain, only to have it erupt on them violently. RIP Buoyant Armigers.

It would be interesting to see the Ruins of Vivec city (If any of it's left). It wouldn't necessarily make up for loss of those unique Dwemer ruins though