The time is approximately 700 years prior to TES3: Morrowind and 925 years prior to TES5: Skyrim. The island of Vvardenfell is in strife while the three Great Houses (Redoran, Hllalu and Telvani) are in constant bitter fighting, the Nerevarine who is prophesied to unite the houses has not been revealed, and Lord Vivec suffers from a mysterious illness. A hero is needed to save the houses from themselves.

You can show just what kind of adventurer, champion, even hero that you are. A new “chapter” of exploration awaits you in The Elder Scrolls Morrowind. With this expansion, you can expect the following information to benefit you in the changes being made with ESO Version 3 (Update 14).

The Tribunal

Possibly the most confusing or foreign aspect of Dunmer culture is their worship of the living gods known as the Tribunal. The Tribunal is made up by Almalexia, Mother Morrowind, Vivec, The Warrior Poet, and Sotha Sil, the Clockwork God. These three did not begin life as gods but rather achieved godhood through a process known as mantling. Each member of the tribunal began life as Chimer, the predecessors to the Dunmer. However, during the War of the First Council, when Nordic forces invaded Morrowind, Almalexia, Vivec, and Sotha Sil discovered the Heart of Lorkhan in Red Mountain. The three were charged by Lord Nerevar to guard the Heart and refrain from using its power. The three refused the orders of Lord Nerevar and slayed him in Red Mountain before using the Heart. Through their interactions with the heart of the dead god Lorkhan they achieved godhood. The murder of Lord Nerevar along with the use of the Heart enraged Azura and as a punishment and reminder to the faithless elves she bound the ash of Morrowind to their skin and turned the Chimer into the Dunmer.

In the Second Era the Tribunal continues to rule Morrowind. Almalexia has her seat of power in Mournhold, Sotha Sil resides in the Clockwork city, and Vivec has begun construction on a city where he will reside named after himself. Vivec is the member of the tribunal who will take center stage in Morrowind. He is a being of great and unimaginable power, but he is also an incurable narcissist. Little of what he says or recalls can be trusted and every story he tells should be viewed with suspicion as they are rooted in his egotistical bias.

The Great Houses

Morrowind is ruled the Tribunal, but five great houses exert control over the land of the Dunmer: House Hlaalu, House Redoran, House Telvanni, House Indoril, and House Dres. However, when speaking of Vvardenfell, only Redoran, Telvanni, and Hlaalu exercise influence over the area. These houses feud and struggle for increased influence, prestige, and wealth often resorting to sabotage, bribery, intimidation, and murder to achieve their goals.

The Morag Tong

The tribunal has recognized that if the conflict between these houses is left unchecked, they could destroy one another and leave Morrowind open to foreign invasion, particularly from the Imperial province of Cyrodiil. In order to address this concern, the Tribunal has sanctioned an assassin’s guild – the Morag Tong. When two great houses come into conflict the Tong is called upon to eliminate the offending parties and end the conflict with minimal bloodshed. The Tong engage in their graft with a religious devotion and follow the ideals of the daedric prince Mephala. However these assassins should not be confused with the fanatics of the Silken Ring gathering in the Cradle of Shadows, nor should they be confused with the charlatans who serve the Dark Brotherhood. The Tong venerate Mephala and strengthen the Dunmer through their actions. The Silken Ring are mindless killers and cultists and the Dark Brotherhood is a collective of thugs who have conjured excuses in order to kill for money.

To get started on Vvardenfell, open Collections and choose Stories and the Chapters tab to find Morrowind and accept the starting quest.  From there seek out the navigator, Captain Jenassa, located near the docks in the major cities throughout Tamriel. Talk to her and she will offer to transport you to Vivec City or Seyda Neen.  You can also take a boat located in Mournhold, Wayrest, or Woodhearth.

Travel around the island is first accomplished by using Silt Striders to visit cities; they are easily located by looking at tall tower-like buildings with the Strider docked.  Typically from their destination, you can unlock wayshrines and use that network from then on.

Public Dungeons

The following are dungeons available from start:

1. Nchuleftingth [nah`chu-lef`teenth]: Help Neramo the scholar uncover the secrets of Nchuleftingth and prevent an unscrupulous ruins robber from plundering ancient Dwarven technology. Explore the Ashlands in the east to uncover this Dwemer ruin.
2. Forgotten Wastes: On the northern coast, enter the Forgotten Wastes to explore ancient Dark Elf ruins and solve a murder mystery while dealing with evil cultists intent on resurrecting a long-lost Dunmer House.

The following is a dungeon referenced that may yet come:

1. Maelkashishi

Delves

There are six (6) new delves:

1. Ashalmawia — A delve found in the West Gash region.
2. Khartag Point — A delve found in the Bitter Coast region.
3. Matus-Akin Egg Mine — A delve found in the Azura’s Coast region.
4. Nchuleft — A delve found in the Grazelands region.
5. Pulk — A delve found in the Grazelands region.
6. Zainsipilu — A delve found in the Bitter Coast.

Trials

There is a new Trial on the island named “Halls of Fabrication” where ancient and deadly clockwork automata are spilling forth from a mysterious magicka conduit, and you and your companions must enter the rift, discover the Clockwork City’s Halls of Fabrication, and shut down the Assembly General.

In the Halls of Fabrication, you and your team will uncover the secrets of Sotha Sil’s experiments and put an end to the Fabricant threat. You will not be alone, however, as you will be assisted by the mysterious and powerful Dunmer sorcerer Divayth Fyr himself!

This classic TES3 character Divayth Fir (the last Dwemer) guides you throughout the halls of Sotha Sil’s complex, he will offer (mostly) helpful advice for dealing with the Fabricant threat. Pay close attention to the Telvanni sorcerer, as he could provide clues regarding some of the Trial’s more challenging mechanics!

Things known from the start:

• Requires two tanks
• Several traps and new environmental hazards
• Less mobs means quickly getting between Bosses

Miscellaneous

• Like all other ESO zones, there are six (6) World Bosses.
  • Salothran’s Council
  • Missir-Dadalit Egg Mine
  • Sulipund Grange
  • Wuyuvus
  • Dubdil Alar Tower
  • Kimbrudhil the Songbird
• There is an equipment vendor available near the world boss north of Vivec, around the water.
• There are 12 tomb grave rubbings to collect which will give you a neat item when turned in.
  • The first one is just north of Vivec on the shore.

Battlegrounds

These are small-scale, fast paced battles with three teams of four players each where Alliance does not matter.  Groups up to four (4) players may queue into a Battleground via the Activity Finder.  There are three maps and three modes.  In matches lasting up to 15 minutes, each team attempts to score the most points (maximum 500).  Rewards for the Battlegrounds include items, gold, XP and AP.  Gaining medals (think of them as achievement markers) increases the quality of your rewards.  Battlegrounds also has mode leaderboards which will grant those ranked special awards.  There are also daily quests available for them, available from a Battlemaster: in the Gladiator’s Quarters near Vivec City, or at the entrance for each Battleground.

Modes:

• Team Deathmatch – Points for kills. Power Sigils will spawn randomly during the match.
• Capture the Flag – Only when you have your own flag at rest can you grab an enemy flag and bring it back.
• Domination – Capture any and all of four distinct zones to earn points.

Maps:

Cyrodiil

• Claiming Keeps, Resources and Outposts have a Alliance Points (AP) reward cooldown of five (5) minutes.  Re-taking ownership of the same area within five minutes will net no AP.
• All current campaigns have ended and will reward end-of-campaign items. The new campaigns have begun:
  • Almalexia: 7 day Non-Champ
  • Sotha Sil: 30 day Non-Champ
  • Vivec: 30 day Champ
  • Kyne: 7 day level 10-49 Non-Champ

Miscellaneous

• Anti-gant changes were made… “Sneak attacks no longer grant a bonus to Critical Damage when used against other players. Sneak attacks will continue to guarantee a Critical Strike and stun the target, and will also still grant a bonus to Critical Damage when used against monsters.”
• Vigor: Increased the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 30%.
• Caltrops:
  • Multiple player characters can now stack this ability and its morphs in the same area and damage the same target.
  • Reduced the size of this ability and its morphs to 8 meters from 12 meters.
  • Reduced the duration of this ability and its morphs to 12 seconds from 30 seconds.
  • Reduced the cost of this ability and its morphs by approximately 50%.
  • Increased the damage of this ability and its morphs by approximately 75%.

The following illustrate some of the more important changes coming to ESO with Update 14.

• The Warden class is available exclusively to those that purchase Morrowind.  This jack-of-all-trades class represents the first new addition since the game started.
• Buff and Debuff indicators are provided.  However, they pale in comparison to the customization of add-on trackers.  The base game indicators are large, provide no custom location or size and are not intelligently aligned.
• Skill Lines require being unlocked to display.  Unlocking a particular skill requires certain features:
  • Armor skill lines unlock when you equip 3 pieces of a given armor type (light/medium/heavy).
  • Weapon skill lines unlock when you get a killing blow while the weapon is equipped.
  • Crafting skill lines are unlocked when you visit the appropriate crafting station.
  • Your racial skill line unlocks at level 5.
  • The Alliance skill lines now unlock when you gain Alliance Points.
  • Other skill lines will continue to unlock as they did previously, such as the Mages Guild skill line when you join the guild.
• General skill changes:
  • Increased the damage of Light Attacks by 15%.
  • Decreased the damage of Heavy Attacks by 15%.
  • Increased the resources restored by fully-charged Heavy Attacks by 30%.
  • Reduced the cast time of fully-charged Bow Heavy Attacks by 10%.
  • Reduced the cast time of fully-charged Flame and Frost Heavy Attacks by 12.5%.
  • Due to the vast changes to skills, re-specing skills and attributes will be cheaper for a limited (2-3 week) time. Resetting skills will cost 1gp instead of the usual 50gp per skill point.
• Entering the Crown Store will dismount you and remove you from stealth.

PvE Changes

• Dark Anchors: Standing still while in combat with a Dark Anchor now causes an an extraplanar charge to gradually accumulate at your location. A charge that has built to critical levels explodes, damaging those who contributed to its growth and significantly reducing their health recovery.
• Increased the reputation reward for completing Undaunted Pledges on Normal difficulty.
  • You now get the same amount of reputation from any pledge that awards a single Undaunted Key, regardless of whether it was completed on Normal or Veteran difficulty.
  • Completing the Veteran Challenge and receiving two undaunted keys continues to award more reputation.

Champion Point Changes

• Cap increased to 630.
• All points are refunded for every character.
• All Champion passive values are now significantly more front-loaded. This means that earlier points are worth much more… at 50 points invested, you will obtain roughly 75% of the total bonus. This new value curve also applies to the Health, Magicka, and Stamina gains by investing in the red, blue, and green constellations.
  • The Health, Magicka, and Stamina percentage increases from investing in the red, blue, and green constellations now cap at 20%, obtained by reaching CP300 (100 in each constellation). The current attribute increase is 19.88% at CP600. Players at all CP levels will see a slight increase in stats.
• Below is a list of all Champion abilities and their new 100-point caps:
  • 15%: Hardy, Elemental Defender, Quick Recovery, Siphoner, Mooncalf, Arcanist, Health, Tenacity, Tumbling, Blessed, Elemental Expert, Mighty
  • 25%: Ironclad, Thick Skinned, Bastion, Warlord, Shadow Ward, Elfborn, Shattering Blows, Master-at-Arms, Thaumaturge, Precise Strikes
  • 35%: Expert Defender, Sprinter, Bashing Focus, Shade, Physical Weapon Expert, Staff Expert
  • 55%: Befoul
  • 5280: Spell Shield, Light Armor Focus, Medium Armor Focus, Heavy Armor Focus, Spell Erosion, Piercing
  • 1650: Resistant
• The following represent passives that have changed:

Addons

It’s possible some of your add-ons will not work or may even prevent ESO from launching successfully.  Be prepared to temporarily remove them from your add-on folder.

Itemization

• There are fifteen (15) new Item sets:
  • Craftable:
    • Assassin’s Guile
    • Daedric Trickery
    • Shacklebreaker
  • Overland:
    • Infector
    • War Maiden
    • Warrior-Poet
  • Trial:
    • Automated Defense
    • Inventor’s Guard
    • Master Architect
    • War Machine
  • Battlegrounds:
    • Coward’s Gear
    • Knight Slayer
    • Impregnable Armor
    • Vanguard’s Challenge
    • Wizard’s Riposte
• There are six (6) new dyes:
  • Colossus Brass: This rare dye, named for the distinctive sheen of the Dwarven Colossus, can be earned by completing Halls of Fabrication.
  • Vehk’s Mystic Blue: This rare dye is unlocked after… something…
  • Warden’s Moss Green: This common faded green can be earned by defeating a total of 100 Wardens in Battlegrounds or the Alliance War.
  • Firedrake’s Flame: Based on the heraldry of the Firedrakes, this uncommon dye can be earned by defeating 1,000 opponents in Battlegrounds.
  • Pit Daemon’s Poison: Based on the heraldry of the Pit Daemons, this uncommon dye can be earned by capturing 100 enemy relics in Battlegrounds.
  • Stormlord’s Lightning: Based on the heraldry of the Stormlords, this uncommon dye can be earned by seizing 250 capture points in Battlegrounds.
• There are four (4) new motifs:
  • Morag Tong
    • Motif chapters can occasionally be found in Bounty Dispensations or Explorer’s Dispensations awarded to those who complete tasks for the Hall of Justice.
    • The style item, Boiled Carapace, can also be earned from the same quests.
  • Militant Ordinator
    • Motif chapters can occasionally be found in Bounty Dispensations or Explorer’s Dispensations awarded to those who complete tasks for the Hall of Justice.
    • The style item, Boiled Carapace, can also be earned from the same quests.
  • Buoyant Armiger
    • Motif chapters are rare, but show up more often in higher-difficulty chests and treasure map chests. By quirk of fate, those who have proven themselves friends of the island and the living god Vivec are more likely to find its chapters or book than others.
    • The style item, Volcant Viridian, can be refined from Viridian Dust, which can be found uncommonly on any harvestable resource in Vvardenfell.
  • Ashlander
    • Motif chapters can occasionally be found as rewards for performing daily quests for Numani-Rasi or Huntmaster Sorim-Nakar.
    • The style item, Ash Canvas, can also be earned from the same quests.
• Normal Mode Dungeon Trophies
  • The final boss of every dungeon, Trial, and Arena now awards a unique Undaunted Trophy associated with one of the iconic monsters from the encounter. Similar to the Undaunted Busts already available in Veteran Mode, these can be placed once per home, and are account-wide.
  • To help keep things organized, there are now separate sub-sections of the Furnishings category for Undaunted Trophies and Undaunted Busts. Similarly, the Gallery section of the Housing Editor has separate subsections for each.
• Mundus Stones will become available as furnishings at some point in the future.

History and Lore contributed by Rearden7.