- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I made a new character, killed some crabs, completed a quest or two in the first town, Seyda Neen, and took my first quest for House Hlaalu. Wow. This game is a lot better than I remember. Or rather, than I don't remember. I hardly remember a damn thing about the game, so now, I guess, I can have the new game experience. I never had that. When I first bought the game for Xbox in February of 2002, my friend was over and spent the entire time explaining every aspect of early gameplay to me. It made the beginning a lot faster, but a lot less fun. So I've decided to document here, for the first time, my first Great House quest since July of 2004. I was to go from Balmora to Ald'Ruhn to intercept some Great House Redoran orders/plans, and I'd be damned if I used a fast(instant) travel method, like Silt Striders or Mages Guild teleportation.
My character, bow drawn
I don't remember why I took this. It's at the very beginning of the trip, so I guess it counts as part of the documentation.
A beautiful picture of the cloudy night sky, with the largest moon of Nirn, Masser, in sight.
In case anyone here is a beginner in Morrowind and doesn't know what "Nirn" is, it's the planet that Vvardenfell is on. Vvardenfell is a district of Morrowind, which is a province of Tamriel, which is the central country/continent of Nirn, which is nicknamed Arena.
Another fairly early picture of an Imperial town known as Caldera.
Caldera is a short distance north of Balmora. It's an important town for the Imperial mining industry, which has a small camp in the mountains near the town.
Looking down a mountain
Sunrise, looking down one of the hills in the West Gash region. According to Elder Scrolls lore, West Gash used to be like the Bitter Coast. That is, it used to be a swamp. The gods had a mighty battle there, and it left a mighty wound in the region that caused it to be a twisted and strange place.
I've entered the Ashlands, and no dust storms in sight.
The Ashlands are the lands scarred by the volcanic activity of Red Mountain in the center of Vvardenfell. It is split into three sections: The Ashlands in the north, and Molag Amur in the south, and Red Mountain in the center. Red Mountain is the center of evil, and where the end of the main story part of the game takes place. There are only a few civilized settlements in either region, like Ald'Ruhn, Fort Buckmoth, Maar Gan, and Molag Mar.
So much for no dust storms.
Speaks for itself.
A sludge pool in the Ashlands
Some sort of sludge. I'm not actually too certain on why these things are here, but they're all around the volcanic parts of Vvardenfell.
Aw man, I am so freakin' lost. Where the hell is the base?
I had been wandering around for 15 minutes before I finally found that sign in the distance and regained my direction. I lost track of the road.
A Nix Hound!
Originally, this was to be another "lost" picture, but with my sword in it, and I was going to include a little rant about how I heard a Cliff Racer, the most annoying creature ever, etc. But then after I took it the Nix Hound charged at me and I realized I now had a picture of a low-level monster.
A Silt Strider in the distance!
Things started looking up at this point. My 45 minute journey was coming to an end.
By the time I reached the gates of Ald-Ruhn, the sand-storm had ended.
You may notice a radical difference in architecture here. See, there are a few different factions in Morrowind. There are 5 different Dunmer(Dark Elf) Great Houses, Hlaalu(thieves and economy), Redoran(War and honor), Telvanni(Magic and killin' folk), Dres(Agriculture and slavery, you never meet them), and Indoril(Religion and worship, you meet them in the Tribunal expansion but can't join them). Each of these has a different style of architecture. There are also a few other factions that have different types of architecture, like the Imperials(who control Tamriel, and concern themselves with charisma and such, thing Rome), the Skaal(A Nordic faction you meet in the Bloodmoon expansion), and the Ashlanders(A Dunmer cult that lives in the Ashlands). Most of these own a city or a settlement, so sometimes you'll see two cities that look similar, and others two cities will look wildly different.
A Redoran Guard.
Yes, that's a skirt. That guard is female.
Under Skar!
That giant building is the rich, or "manor" district of Ald-Ruhn. It is called Under Skar, and like all Redoran structures, is made of a giant crab shell. Most of the Redoran buildings are made of King Mudcrabs, which are about the size of an elephant. Under Skar was made out of an Emperor Mudcrab, which was about the size of a cruise boat. It's huge. Luckily, King and Emperor Mudcrabs are extinct, all we have now are regular Mudcrabs, which level 1's can fight and are about the size of a cat.
Alright, well, I'm not doing that again. Taking the silt Strider back.
Silt Striders cost a small fee and can take you to a few nearby towns. In real time, the journey takes a few seconds, but in game time, a few hours pass.
Balmora at sunset.
Well, the end of my journey has come, and I got a nice picture of Balmora's Hlaalu architecture.
The journey was about 1/4 the size of the island length-wise, and it took 45 minutes or so.
[Edited on 1/3/2005 12:53:22 PM]