Despite the name, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind only covers about a fourth of the eponymous region, specifically the island of Vvardenfell (with Tribunal adding one neighborhood of the mainland capital). As vividly realized as Vvardenfell is, much of Morrowind remains a mystery to players, who have to satisfy themselves with texts describing the machine-haunted ruins of Kemel-Ze and the elegant manors of the Indoril heartland.
Enter Tamriel Rebuilt.
Tamriel Rebuilt is an ambitious modding project founded in 2002, that is attempting to build the entirety of the mainland of Morrowind with the engine of Morrowind. This is no mere flash-in-the-pan project; over two decades after the game's release, Tamriel Rebuilt is still going strong and releasing new content. Smaller teams under the related-but-separate banner of Project Tamriel are working on recreations of Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
The mod maintains the fine Elder Scrolls tradition of creating a huge sandbox for players. Parts of the mainland boast extensive quest lines, and there are plenty of factions to join (or oppose). You can also simply strike out on your own, exploring the fungal forests, ash deserts, and places stranger yet.
Currently, the eastern third of the mainland is the closest to completion. Much of the geography of the western third has been established, but some towns do not yet have services, quests, or people. The southern third, which will require a number of new assets that the team is busy creating, is mostly empty. Remember: the team is always looking for new members, and you can go to their website
to find out how you can help.
So far, the Tamriel Rebuilt modding team has released the following major installments:
- Telvannis (23 September 2006)
- Antediluvian Secrets (30 November 2008)
- Sacred East (6 June 2012)
- Old Ebonheart (31 July 2018)
- Aanthirin (19 December 2019)
- Dominions of Dust and Embers of Empire (23 November 2022)
- Andaram (31 October 2023)
- Grasping Fortune (TBA)
- Poison Song (TBA)
In addition, the mod's sister project, Project Tamriel, teams have made releases covering the isle of Stirk and much of the Reach.
Compare Beyond Skyrim, a just as ambitious modding project for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which cites Tamriel Rebuilt as one of its main inspirations.
This video game provides examples of:
- Accidental Kidnapping: The quest "The Prince of Rats" concerns a khajiiti prince and ambassador who's gone missing, with his guards and brother worried that he might have been kidnapped by political opponents. It turns out that the missing khajiit is actually of the alfiq furstock and thus physically indistinguishable from an ordinary house cat, which led to him being carried off by a pair of dunmer rat-catchers who wanted a ratter and didn't even realize that he was a khajiit.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the base game, Tarhiel was an ill-fated mage who falls to his death in front of the player due to a high-jumping spell gone wrong, serving as little more than a humorous encounter. In Tamriel Rebuilt, it's not only revealed that Tarhiel was the court mage in Old Ebonheart, but there's an entire quest dedicated to choosing which of his two apprentices succeed him. Alternatively, if the player actually manages to save Tarhiel, he can instead be found in Old Ebonheart and give the player a reward.
- Almighty Janitor: Thane Fomir in Karthwasten is a downplayed variant. Thanes are important figures in Skyrim's holds, but normally they rule a stronghold or village at most. Major settlements like Karthwasten are the domain of Jarls if not directly under the King or Queen of the holdnote , but a series of events led to the nominal Jarl of Karthwasten being barred from her own citynote and left Fomir, still technically only a thane, as the ruler of Karthwasten and trusted enough that the heir to the Reach has been sent to learn statecraft from him.
- Ancient Tomb: There are plenty of these.
- Arcadia: The more settled Indoril regions qualify as this.
- Artifact Title: When originally conceived, Tamriel Rebuilt intended to eventually build all of Tamriel. That was quickly scaled down to "just" the rest of Morrowind, but the name stuck around (the smaller teams working on Cyrodiil and Skyrim mentioned above came later and group under the banner of Project Tamriel, which cooperates and coordinates with Tamriel Rebuilt).
- Back from the Brink: This is the theme of the Thieves Guild questline in Andothren. Shortly before the start of the game, the Camonna Tong launched a massacre that practically wiped out the Guild in Andothren, and when the player comes in they work with the sole survivor to establish a new hideout and recruit new members before beginning to move against the Tong.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The mod builds on the main game's proud tradition with river striders (waterborne silt striders), plain striders (silt striders built low to the ground), sky renders (big wasps that House Dres will use as mounts), and many more.
- Blatant Lies:
- The book A Fetcher's Guide to Ancestral Tombs was clearly written by a dunmer who is very angry that people keep looting their honored dead, and so includes such "helpful" advice as telling and prospective grave-robbers not to bother checking for traps, to only use nonmagical weapons against ghosts, and that anyone who has the ashes of cremated dunmer stuck in their clothing should explain their situation to the nearest temple authority for help.
- Llaalsa Vathras at Vathras Plantation is quick to defend House Hlaalu's use of slaves, claiming that the Hlaalu treat them much better than the other houses. The Hlaalu-owned plantations on the mainland paint a very different picture; the owners of Sarethi Plantation keep the skulls of Argonians and Khajiit on display like trophies, the head overseer of Oran Plantation is able to murder slaves without consequence (including an Indoril retainer being held as a political prisoner), and Llaalsa herself is perfectly willing to sell one of her own slaves into sexual slavery despite that slave desperately trying to avoid such a fate. The Hlaalu also maintain close ties to the Cammona Tong, who are particularly brutal in their own treatment of slaves.
- Can't Argue with Elves: A weird in-universe example. There's an Altmer slave who seems to take a perverse pride in being more valuable than slaves of other races.
- Church Police:
- In addition to the High Ordinators from the original game, Tamriel Rebuilt adds the Ordinators-in-Mourning, who guard the city of Necrom.
- On the Imperial side, the Guards Exemplar protect the Grand Chapel of Talos in Old Ebonheart. Their uniform is almost identical to that of regular Imperial guards, with the exemption of their pale, facelike masks.
- City of Adventure:
- Tribunal allows you to visit part of the capital city of Mournhold. Tamriel Rebuilt includes the rest of the city. It's not done yet, but the place is hugenote , and will be loaded with adventure.
- Old Ebonheart is far from as large as the plan for Almalexia or the current eventually-to-be-scrapped Almalexia implementation, but is a very compact city and has tons of quests, many which do not require leaving the city.
- City on the Water: Llothanis and Tel Ouda are both Telvanni cities grown over the water, with thick tendrils anchoring them to the mainland. Almas Thirr is another example, being a floating stone canton in the style of Vivec and Molag Mar in the original game.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Trela Varesi, a woman in Hla Bulor, is prone to some odd embellishments.
- Collector of the Strange: Tynachos, a wizard in the Almas Thirr Mages Guild, collects souls. All of his quests have him send you out to trap the souls of rare and powerful monsters for him.
- Cultural Posturing: The conference hall of the Imperial Curia in Old Ebornheart has a mosaic of Vivec prostrating himself before a victorious and grandstanding Tiber Septim. It is a bit of a... biased take on signing of the Treaty of the Armistice.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: Downplayed with the Imperial Cult. Whilst the religion itself is more reminiscent of Roman paganism, the Cult Chapel in Ebonheart is clearly modelled on Gothic cathedral buildings.
- Dead All Along: An old soldier in Necrom tasks the player with delivering his deceased comrade's belongings to his widow. The widow is initially confused, but quickly realizes that the old soldier was actually the spirit of her late husband.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance:
- Most quests involving slavery allow the player to refuse participation or outright condemn the practice, much to the disgust of the person giving it. Most are quick to point out that slavery is legal in Morrowind and protected by the Treaty of Armistice, and many characters just assume that the PC is fine with it.
- One Morag Tong quest involves an Imperial guard who refuses to accept the validity of a writ of execution. The player is forced to go through the Imperial bureaucracy to complain, resulting in the guard being Reassigned to Antarctica for arresting an assassin who had just killed someone.
- Doppelgänger: The quest Belated Justice centres on former General Casik, who has been imprisoned on charges of treason during the Simulacrum but claims that the crimes were done by a Daedric doppelganger — which is known to have happened with other people, hence how a final sentencing has dragged on for three decades. The right ending to the quest reveals that the crimes were committed by a Daedric doppelganger — but a guilty sentence is still accurate, if misleading, as the Casik they have in prison is the doppelganger, seemingly having forgotten they aren't the real one somewhere along the way.
- Dungeon-Based Economy: The Telvanni town of Marog actually bases its economy on looters, archaeologists, and adventurers exploring the nearby ruins of Kemel-Ze.
- Easter Egg: Much like the base game, there are items that can only be gotten by doing very specific actions. For example, the Battlemage's Cuirass can only be acquired by offering Tynachos Azura's Star filled with the soul of Vivec or Almalexia without any quest or dialogue pointing to it being possible to do so.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Old Ebonheart is in much a piece of Cyrodiil plunked down in the middle of Morrowind, which means it features political, social and material elements more similar to Cyrodiil than the surroundings, including some that are featured in Tamriel Rebuilt before Province: Cyrodiil — such as the Briricca Private Bank, owned by Heartlander merchant nobility.
- Enslaved Elves: Though most slaves are beastfolk, it's not hard to find human and elven slaves.
- Eternal Engine: The Dwemer ruins of Kemel-Ze.
- Everyone Has Standards: One quest involves a bandit gang that freed a slave during a raid, and plan on helping him return to his homeland.
- Evil Tainted the Place: Aranyon Pass sure has a lot of undead...
- Evil vs. Evil: The conflict between Bel-Betu, a mad necromancer who clearly has little to no regard for mortal life, and the mabrigash sisters of Volenfaryon, a trio of Wicked Witches who have magically enslaved several men into being their bodyguards. Both sides will task the player with killing the other, and neither side is anywhere close to good.
- Face Stealer: A Temple quest has you face one of these. It will even take on several different forms when fought, with each one using different weapons and spells.
- Fake Relationship: Geloise Marard in Teyn ropes the player into posing as her fiancé, having made one up to keep her overbearing mother (who is coming to Morrowind for a visit) appeased. The player can stick to the provided backstory, go off the rails, or reveal the truth.
- Faking the Dead: Several quests that involve tracking down escaped slaves present this as an option, allowing you to claim the bounty on them while allowing them to escape.
- Feed the Mole: A quest for House Telvanni involves ferreting out a Mages Guild spy by baiting several suspects with fake intel about Telvanni agents in the Guild and seeing if any of the "agents" suddenly disappear. A similar quest for the Mages Guild involves determining if one of their moles with the Telvanni (the same mole as in the other quest, in fact) has become a Double Agent by "leaking" information about a fake Guild expedition to them and seeing if the Telvanni act on it.
- First Town: Teyn is an unusual case. It is not an actual first town (unless you use other mods), but it is designed to somewhat mirror its counterpart on the other side of the Inner Sea (Morrowind's First Town, Seyda Neen) and consequently to act as a good starting place if you go directly to the mainland at level 1 and look as a place where people might first arrive in Morrowind (complete with a Census & Excise office).
- Forced Transformation: The alchemist in Arvud has been transformed into a Shalk by a mabrigash, and needs the player's help to be freed from the curse.
- Fungus Humongous: This is Morrowind, so mushrooms are everywhere. The fungus-riddled Tevanni Isles and the desolate Grey Meadows are the most notable examples.
- Ghost City: The fabled ruins of Kemel-Ze can be considered this. The only living residents are archaeologists and surprisingly polite looters. Go deeper in and you'll run into residents who are less alive and less friendly.
- Good Shepherd: Though the Temple is shown to be pretty corrupt in the main game, many of the mainland priests seem to care for their flocks. Those in Telvanni territory continue serving the faithful despite the persecution they suffer.
- Grail in the Garbage: The Stone of Septimia is a gemstone of Tsaesci origin, looted by Uriel Septim V's forces during his disastrous expedition to Akavir. It was thought lost following the evacuation of Imperial forces, only to later be found on the mantelpiece of a Bosmer scout who stole it during the chaos.
- Happiness in Slavery: Some house slaves appear relatively content with their lot, and may even express genuine loyalty to their masters. The field slaves usually don't feel this way.
- Hermit Guru: Tamriel Rebuilt adds new Master Trainers, and continues the tendency for many but not all of them to fall near this trope:
- Margia Sycora (a master of alchemy), Massitha (a master of illusion magic) and Za'bar (a master of acrobatics) all live in caves of their own. Appropriately to his specialisation, Za'bar's cave requires high acrobatics (or magic) to even reach.
- Bel-Betu (a master of enchantment) exists in Sehetu, a building hidden inside a cave behind a magical maze. Unlike the others, he couldn't leave even if he wanted to as his survival is down to being ensconced inside magical machinery, and instead operates through his undead servants and potentially the player.
- Holy City: Necrom is the standout, a sacred city of the dead boasting a brand-new architectural style. Entire neighborhoods are devoted to corpse preparation and interment. The cities of Almalexia and Almas Thirr also qualify for this trope.
- Holy Ground: The areas around Necrom, the Sacred Lands, are an example of this.
- Hunter of His Own Kind: Khajiit are frequently hired as "catcatchers" to hunt escaped slaves, since they know how their fellow Khajiit think and where they're likely to hide.
- Illegal Religion:
- House Telvanni openly bullies and persecutes the Tribunal Temple, even though the Temple is the official state religion. There's even a quest that assigns you to get rid of a local preacher (though you have a lot of options in how you can handle it). However, some Telvanni lords tolerate the Temple (and one is implied to be religious himself).
- The Temple has the authority to outlaw religions and heresy (except for the Imperial Cult) within Morrowind as a clause of the Armistice. The Empire tends to dislike the idea of outlawing religions for theological reasons, as a lingering reaction to the extremism of the Marukhati period — which does not mean it does not outlaw religions, it just does so for political reasons, like connections to anti-Imperial movements (many Meridian cults), being involved with conspiracies to usurp the throne (there was a crackdown on Mehrunes Dagon cults after the Simulacrum) or attacking the legitimacy of the Septim Dynasty (Arcturianism).
- I See Dead People: Becoming a Speaker for the Dead involves gaining this ability, as a Speaker's job is to communicate with spirits and assist them as needed.
- Layered Metropolis: Port Telvannis is an unusual example, with many shops and even entire manor houses grown over the lower pods.
- Mad Oracle: Aurelia Draconis in Old Ebonheart has considerable natural faculty for communing with and channelling the dead. Unfortunately, she isn't aware of this nor has she any training in it, which has resulted in her visions and accidental summonings leaving her somewhat… detached from reality around her.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: A Fighters Guild quest in Andothren tasks the player with killing a pack of alit threatening the people of Menaan. However, Menaan's governor offers a bonus if local guide Darra, a former slave turned Imperial settler, is killed in a way that makes it look like the alit were responsible. The player has the option to warn Darra and ensure her survival when she leads them to the alit, even if it means a smaller reward.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage:
- An elderly Dunmer in Omaynis leaves his property and fortune to the Temple rather than his estranged daughter, since he disapproved of her decision to marry an Imperial woman and move to Cyrodiil.
- A miner in Evos is being haunted by his ancestors, who are upset that he is in a relationship with an escaped Argonian slave.
- Military Maverick: Rojanna Jades at Fort Ancylis has little patience for Imperial Legion protocol and even less regard for Dunmer law, frequently asking the player to go take extrajudicial action during her quests. Her second-in-command Kathellomar typically points the player towards more by-the-book approaches, and even tries to get Jades Kicked Upstairs where she can do less harm.
- Mithril: Re-introduced from the older games, but given a new niche. Mithril here is a Breton-made (but derived from Direnni experiments, hence the association with elves) alloy of iron and spellstone (a sort of solidified magical residue), and acts as a sort of side-grade to adamantium, not as tough or hard-hitting, but lighter and easier to enchant.
- Mugging the Monster: One quest for the Imperial Cult has you retrieve a relic alongside another adventurer. After fighting through a haunted tomb filled with undead to retrieve it, your companion will threaten you if you don't give the relic to him. You have the option to hand it over, fight him, or intimidate him into backing down.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- The potential end result of the quest No Good Deed. It features a group of Indoril-owned slaves that the player is tasked with interrogating, on suspicion that one is a Hlaalu spy. The player can discover that there are in fact two spies among the slaves, and free them from their bonds. One will gladly take the chance to give up spying. The other, secretly furious that their cover and means of infiltrating the Indoril have been blown, will ambush the player days later.
- A quest in Sailen involves a violent hermit near the town who is causing problems. Calming him has him pass you a note explaining that his voice was magically stolen, and the local hetman will direct you to a mage who can help restore. Restoring his voice doesn't make him any less violent. Not only will he still attack you, but he will insult you quite viciously and invoke the name of Mehrunes Dagon while doing so. If you don't kill him in self defense, the local hetman will likely have him executed for heresy.
- Original Flavour: A variation in that the aim is to be true to the lore and flavour at the time of Morrowind, which means that — especially prominently in the Project Tamriel provinces — it can end up fairly diverged from actual later Bethesda releases covering the same areas (for example, a major aspect of the PT Cyrodiil is the difference between Colovians and Nibenese, something prominent in the First Edition Pocket Guide to the Empire but barely mentioned in Oblivion).
- Our Orcs Are Different: The Malakh Orcsnote are a subgroup of orcs found in the mountains between Morrowind and Cyrodiil/Skyrim who can essentially be summed as exaggerated orcs — stronger, larger, more aggressive and a more intense berserker rage, but also even more fragmented and isolated from mainstream Tamrielic society with the "barbarity" that comes from that.
- Portal Network:
- The two portal networks of the main game are, respectively, expanded and planned to be expanded on the mainland — there is a mainland Guild Guide network which is connected to the Vvardenfell network, and some of the mainland Chimer strongholds have functional propylon chambers — which might be more important than on Vvardenfell, as not all of the strongholds will necessarily be accessible by normal meansnote .
- While it is not part of an actual in-game network yet given none of the other nodes are close to finished, the Weir Gate in Old Ebonheart lorewise connects provincial Legion headquarters.
- Prestigious Player Title: A design point is that Morrowind's primary Prestigious Player Title, being the Nerevarine, ties into Dunmer legends and concerns a threat that most people outside Morrowind don't have the context to understand the scope of. So, while it will grant respect throughout most of Tamriel Rebuilt, if at times begrudgingly, it won't do much in the areas Project Tamriel covers, outside special cases like the Dunmer diaspora in Cheydinhal and Winterhold. Of course, those areas will have their own prestigious titles the player can gain, just not as singular and mythically important.
- Rage Helm: In addition to the solemn "Frozen Face" Indoril helm of the main game, there are specialized Ordinator groups whose helmets are altered to show other emotions. The ones who have shown up thus far are the Ordinators in Mourning, the guards for the necropolis of Necrom, whose helmets are designed to look like a crying face.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Master Mithras, one of the few Telvanni lords who actually care about his subjects. Just remember: reasonable isn't the same as nice...
- Rilmas Athyrion, the Telvanni leader in Marog, may also count.
- Red Herring: During an investigation of why bodies keep disappearing from the Old Ebonheart mortuary, Leius Corsus indicates that his fellow priest Washes-Their-Scales behaves in a very strange manner while preparing the dead for burial. It turns out that Corsus is working with the court surgeon to acquire bodies for medical research. Washes-Their-Scales is just a strange person, albeit one who performs his job dutifully.
- Sex Slave: Ahnaissa at Vathras Plantation is afraid she'll be sold to a brothel if her master finds out that she worked as a dancer in Senchal's 'nightly dens' before being enslaved. Revealing this to said master has her do just that, though the player also has the option to give Ahnaissa a cover story or outright free her.
- Shout-Out:
- Bel-Betu, the Master of Sehutu, is a reference to Mr. House. His personality, goals and influence is entirely different, but he is in a magical version of House's physical situation (ensconced in machinery beneath his base of operations that keeps him alive and lets him communicate with the outside world, primarily operates through non-living minions and, if you come along and join him, a single highly competent operative), and his name means (more-or-less) "Mr. House" in Assyrian.
- One quest for the Mages Guild involves being sent to a pocket dimension and completing a puzzle to escape, with several dialogue options determining where the player returns to Nirn. One places them on a small ledge on a high tower, with a cart full of hay directly beneath them.
- There's a group within the Tribunal Temple known as the Speakers for the Dead.
- A note accompanying some smuggled goods in Firewatch mentions a desire to avoid Imperial entanglements.
- The quest "Atriban's Metamorphosis," is likely an homage to The Metamorphosis, as it also concerns a businessman who awakens one day to discover that he's been transformed into an oversized bug.
- There's an Argonian slave on a farm near Savrethi Distillery named Clever-Girl.
- Upon learning that an East Empire Company mine is overrun with vampires, Mette Black-Briar responds with, "You say there's a vampire infestation? In our iron mine? It's more common than you think."
- The bar at one trading post is called The Guar With No Name.
- Talking to one slave in Sailen has him simply say, "You're out of touch, I'm out of time."
- Sinister Minister:
- The Tribunal Temple in Andothren has some truly compassionate members in its ranks, but its head priest Nalvs Andolin offers fake 'cures for greed' to the rich to secure donations (wasting valuable curative potions in the process), is perfectly willing to feed rat meat to the poor, and refers to an Orc interested in following the Tribunal faith as 'it'. If the player helps expose his embezzlement of Temple funds, he is replaced by the far more sympathetic Ravur Othravel.
- Nivis Serethran in Hlan Oek is a subtler example. While he works hard to support and protect the pilgrims passing through the town on Veloth's Path, he also has sympathies for the violent and xenophobic Camonna Tong. He will express disappointment if the player refuses to help them track down an escaped slave, and will be outright angered if the player peacefully convinces a group of Orcs looting an ancestral tomb to leave. If the player kills the local Camonna Tong boss during a related quest, he will outright state that he thinks it was a mistake to let outlanders join the ranks of the Temple.
- Space Cold War: Tensions are running high between Houses Hlaalu and Indoril for control of the economically critical Thirr River, with the Hlaalu seeking to expand east into the Indoril's productive lands and the Indoril seeking to reclaim former territories from the Hlaalu in the west. In the middle is the holy city of Almas Thirr, whose branch of the Tribunal Temple is trying to keep the peace despite their ties to the Indoril. Many quests in the area involve the affairs of the two houses vying for influence and trying to infiltrate or sabotage each other. If the player reveals to Indoril Ilvi that the Hlaalu enslaved and killed one of his retainers, a House War becomes inevitable.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: The Orlukh vampire clan is comprised of Orcs formerly from the Imperial Legion, who still wear their old uniforms.
- Swamps Are Evil:
- The Sundered Scar fits the bill, being a large region of swampland infested with durzogs that is also home to Ruinous Keep, the skeleton-filled lair of a powerful lich and her human lover.
- Averted with the Inlet Bog, which is somewhat dangerous but not particularly awful.
- The City Narrows: The poor section of Old Ebonheart is an example, complete with a local gang.
- The Witch Hunter: In addition to being a base class, you can help a pair of witch hunters clear out a Daedric ruin.
- Timed Mission:
- A Mages Guild quest has you accompany a Lamp Knight into a Daedric ruin. If you don't meet up with the Lamp Knight within a certain time frame, she will attempt the quest solo off-screen and die in the process.
- One quest has you track down a wandering knight to retrieve a young man's ashes from him. Depending on how much time has passed since beginning the quest, he may be located in several different places, with locals offering directions along his trail. Leave the quest for long enough, and he'll actually return to the quest giver and hand over the ashes himself, completing the quest without your involvement.
- Truce Zone: The Temple-run bridge city of Almas Thirr straddles the Thirr River, and keeps some degree of peace between House Hlaalu and House Indoril. Downplayed in that the Temple tends to favor House Indoril (and vice versa), but the priests there do seem to keep things calm.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Just like the base game there are many choices you can make to be compassionate and heroic, going out of your way to aid those in need.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Also just like the base game, there are plenty of opportunities to do some absolutely horrible things; participating in the slave trade, killing innocents, betraying those who put their trust in you...
- Whole-Plot Reference: As the name implies, the quest Shadows Under Aimrah parallels The Shadow Over Innsmouth, with a sleepy fishing village, unusually xenophobic townsfolk, a secret pact with undersea monsters (dreugh in this case), and half-monster hybrids.
- Wretched Hive:
- Hlan Oek is all but controlled by the Cammona Tong, who operate with relative impunity. They even abuse its position on the Veloth's Path pilgrimage route, targeting outlanders taking the pilgrimage and using it to smuggle goods.
- Andothren also has a very strong Cammona Tong presence, to the point of them recently wiping out the local Thieves Guild chapter in a gang war. The local temple is stretched to its limits, thanks in no small part to the local priest actively embezzling donations while under-funding actual charitable efforts. Even the local Mages Guild offers some dubious jobs involving theft and assassination.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The Sogat Dur-Gada is an underground group seeking the return of the areas Hammerfell lost in the War of Bend'r-mahk (the Skyrim perspective is that the areas were reclaimed, as they were only lost by Skyrim less than two centuries prior, as a result of the War of the Red Diamond). From their own perspective, they are liberators fighting against Nord oppressors, while from the Nord perspective they are terrorists. From the perspective of the rump Bend'r Mahk government in Dragonstar West, they are extremists that vary between being useful and being a threat to sober, considered preparations to reclaim the lost territory of the Bend'r Mahk (or at least Dragonstar East, which had been in Hammerfell even before the War of the Red Diamond).
