This is the official discussion topic for House Redoran. The planning document is here: [link]
House Redoran’s document is in Stage 3: document improvement. That means that we’re looking to improve on and refine the ideas already expressed in this document rather than make big changes.
Gnomey’s commentary:
Just quickly setting this up before the meeting. I’ll go back and refine it a little later. (If another lead doesn’t feel like doing so in the interim). Also, to get the ball rolling, my thoughts on House Redoran:
Redoran is the most watered down House; heavy Imperial presence, Indoril advisors, strong Temple presence, a lot of outlanders both in settlements and in the wild.
Their fall started long before the Armistice; always among the most warlike of a warlike race, the Crab-Chiefs that would form House Redoran embraced the vision of the Tribunal and wished to help establish a utopia for their people. They had no place in that utopia, however, and they are unable to survive in it.
The Armistice was just the nail in the coffin; the Redoran were not willing to go against the Temple in breaking the Armistice to keep the Imperials out, and they were not willing to break Temple law by fighting a House War with House Hlaalu on their own terms. (Ironically unlike the Indoril, or at least Indoril partisans in the Middle Thirr, who did break the rules of the House War by engaging the Hlaalu in skirmishes). Having to rely on duels and assassinations, many high-ranking Redoran died duelling hand-picked Hlaalu 'champions', and the Hlaalu proved more adept at employing the Morag Tong as well. The tools of Tribunal Morrowind are diplomacy and intrigue, and the Redoran, while not bumbling idiots, are outclassed by the Imperials and Hlaalu who specifically excel in those fields.
I think the major theme of House Redoran in the game should be their picking up their old traditions and shaking off the rust, but as indicated in an earlier paragraph this is also a sign of the fall of the Temple. House Redoran flourishes in essentially post-apocalyptic conditions, and they're beginning to flourish again. That is not a good sign for anyone, really; it spells doom for most in Morrowind, while for the Redoran it means continuing their perennial fight of survival, but with slightly better odds.
2016-01-19 19:35
1 year 7 months ago
Been doing some thinking about the faction questline. I’m going to break this down into parts of how I think the general storyline should go, but I don’t have any specific quests in mind just yet:
Recruit Stages
This is where the character is first being introduced to the House. If they were a member on Vvardenfell, some of these quests may be pitched to the player as “yeah, you may be a muckity muck over there, but over here, things are different.” Though I’m debating if there’s a point in which we could code the game to recognize a particularly high level over in the Vvardenfell factions, and give the player a few free rank advancements over in the mainland, too.
Anyway, just as any House, these first few quests should set the stage and give the player an idea of what the House is like. They should be involved in every day life of the House. For Redoran, perhaps some sort of combat drilling, getting to witness (not take part in) an honorable duel, something tied to the Ashlands in whic the Redoran make their home, something to do with their views on the Tribunal (particularly Vivec as their patron god), and something to introduce the House’s general views of other factions, particularly the major players of Hlaalu, the Imperials, Skyrim, and the Temple/Indoril. There aren’t any secrets or big revelations, it’s just Redoran being Redoran.
Things Get Muddier
This is the stage the player gets more deeply involved in the various politics and doings of the House, as they House begins to trust them more. As I think over this, I think it would be best to break the storyline down into several parallel plotlines, and these are them:
Buoyant Armigers and the Redoran Military
I’d like to do a Buoyant Armiger storyline here, as that order pulls many of its recruits from the ranks of House Redoran, and it’d be a way to showcase what Redoran are most proud of: their fighting ability, their honor, their gods. This wouldn’t be very involved, perhaps aiding Buoyant Armigers in a mission through the Ashlands, guarding the mainland for Sixth House or Daedric activity. Another way to play it would be using this plotline to showcase how the Temple’s grip is weakening. I’ll come back to my ideas for this later.
Skyrim and Skirmishes with Nords
I have a series of events in mind for this.
1) The first event is relatively simple, the player is tasked to drive out some Nord rebels from a bandit cave.
2) The second event seems to be filler, in which some Nords are making trouble by getting drunk in a tavern and smashing everything up. The player is sent to rough them up to teach them a lesson.
3) This leads to the third event, in which the player learns that Nord they roughed up was a respected warrior back in Skyrim. Another respected warrior (the guy’s brother?) comes by to challenge Redoran for the insult.
4) Which leads to four…the resolution of the challenge hasn’t satisfied either Skyrim or the Redoran, which kicks off into a war. The war may be more implied than actually carried out through quests, but that’s something to ponder over.
Hlaalu and the Morag Tong
I’d like to come at this from a different standpoint than usual, by having Morag Tong play a heavy role in this plotline as well:
1) This first starts as an assassination attempt that the player must stop. They spend a night with the assassination target and fight off the assassin that spawns.
2) But the player stopping this causes a ruckus, for the assassination attempt was done by a Morag Tong agent, and there are consequences surrounding stopping such a heavily ritualized affair. The player must do something to clean up the mess they created (I’m not sure what this would be at present, but think along the lines of restoring honor to themselves).
3) Once they have done this, they then are sent to track down who ordered the Morag Tong assassination so it can be stopped at its source. The fact that this investigation was so much delayed due to the player restoring their honor should be stressed, as this showcases how the Redoran are not really equipped to fight cloak-and-dagger battles, and how their notions of honor can restrict them in doing so.
4) The source of the attacks—a Hlaalu—has now been found after the player’s work in #3. But there is argument among the upper ranks of how to handle them. Redoran honor would dictate either a challenge by combat or a Morag Tong assassination, but due to how this has worked out for Redoran so far (the Skyrim plotline, #3 in this quest series), the councillors are rightfully uneasy about it. One suggests a new method, hthat is actually an old method the Redorans would have used “back in the day”: launching an attack on a Hlaalu outpost and taking it by force to teach the Hlaalu a lesson. The player leads this attack.
5) The player must stop another assassination attempt against themselves as a consequence of the above. May or may not be tied to Morag Tong...
6) ??? Work calls and I will get back to this.