Editing Scrollhammer: Great Houses of Morrowind (section)

==Introduction==

Beyond the Land of the Niben and the Land of the Sky, beyond the endless mountains, lies the mysterious eastern empire of Morrowind. There dwell the Dark Elves, the Dunmer in their tongue, cursed by the Daedric Prince Azura to have skin of Ash and eyes of Fire. For it is in Ash and Fire that the Dunmer live their lives, the shadow the great Red Mountain in the heart of the holy island of Vvardenfell. 

The Dunmer are a grim and dour people, capable of living for centuries in an inhospitable land. Ash storms and horrific diseases ravage crops and farmers every year. Armor and weapons are forged from the carapaces of the many giant insects and other strange creatures that roam the land. Pale, dark mushrooms grow alongside twisted trees in the endless swamps. Rivers of lava flow across the desert slopes of the Red Mountain. And at the top of the Red Mountain itself dwells Dagoth Ur, the Sharmat, who sends forth countless plagues and storms upon all Morrowind.

[[Image:vivec.jpg|thumb|400px|right]]

The Dunmer take refuge in the faith known as the Tribunal Temple, dedicated to the worship of the three entities Almalexia, Sotha Sil and Vivec. These three are ALMSIVI, the physical gods who have ruled Morrowind for three thousand years. Processions of priests and pilgrims cross the perilous land, wearing robes, veils, and resin eye-goggles. They brave even the ash storms to pray to their gods at the holy shrines, that their ailments might be healed. Many leave their homes forever and follow them on these pilgrimages, for it is an honor to be chosen as a Priest of the Tribunes. The rites of the Temple faith are countless and utterly alien to human religion, filled with masks and eerily chanted hymns. The Temple teaches that ALMSIVI dwell in mortal flesh in the highest temples of their holy cities, and that from their blessings are the Dunmer preserved. Only the Ashlanders, the savage tribes who dwell on the slopes of the Red Mountain, reject the authority of the Temple over all things.

The Dunmer first came to Morrowind before the rise of mankind, as the pale-skinned Chimer, or Changed Folk, following the Prophet Veloth the Pilgrim. In these days, the Land of Ash was known as Resdayn. Veloth taught that the kingdoms of his fellow Elves, all the ancient empires of Summurset Isle, Valenwood, Cyrodiil and Pyandonea, had grown decadent and false. He taught his people that the philosophies and religions of other Elves were likewise foolish. In the place of the Aedra, the Chimer worshiped the Daedra: Azura, Prince of Dusk and Dawn, Boethiah, Prince of Ambition, and Mephala, Prince of Secrets. They meanwhile sought to appease or battle their Daedric enemies, Mehrunes Dagon, Molag Bal, Malacath and Sheogorath, the Four Corners of the House of Troubles. Veloth taught the Chimer to live out their lives loyal to the Temple, and to pursue the oft-deemed impossible Psijiic Endeavor, CHIM in the language of the Ehlnofey. Through virtue and enlightenment, the Chimer were taught, they might be blessed with godhood.

Veloth's followers lived as nomads for millennia, but many of the clans united into the Great Houses. These families each ruled a section of Resdayn, seeking profits as a syndicate while meanwhile providing temporal government to the local tribesmen. The Great Houses made war upon each other, until but six remained: Indoril, Redoran, Telvanni, Hlaalu, Dres and Dagoth.

But the Chimer were not the only inhabitants. For the Dwemer, the Dwarves, had long inhabited much of Vvardenfell. The Dwarves were first scorned by the Chimer for not worshiping the gods, but instead entirely devoting themselves to worldly matters of magic and science. But in the First Era, Resdayn was conquered by Men, and incorporated into a larger empire. For two hundred years, the Great Houses were put under the authority of humans. It was in the 5th century of the First Era that a young hero of House Indoril, Nerevar by name, was named Hortator, supreme commander of the armies of every Great House. Nerevar held the First Council with his advisors and with Dumac, King of the Dwarves. Chimer and Dwemer united, and overthrew the foreign rulers. A peace was made afterward between the newly independent nations of Mer.

But the peace would not last forever. For the Dwarves had found the Heart of the Missing God Lorkhan within the Red Mountain. Kagrenac, Chief Tonal Architect of the Dwemer, forged Tools of incredible power, through which the divinity of the Heart of the World could be channeled. Tapping into the powers emanating from the heart, Kagrenac formed Numidium, the Brass God, a war golem hundreds of feet high. The Dwarves plotted to achieve godhood, as an entire race, in due time. The Chimer were appalled by this, and went to war with the Dwarves to stop them. But Voryn, leader of House Dagoth, betrayed his fellow Chimer. To secure the power of the heart for himself, he made false promises offering it to the human King Wulfharth, who came to the aid of the Dwarves in the battle.

This army crushed the Chimer, again and again. It was only then that Nerevar was once more made Hortator that they stood their ground, uniting every House and Tribe against their enemies. The Temple teaches that Nerevar became Herald of the Tribune Way through this war, guided by ALMSIVI in righteous fury. For his wife was the goddess Almalexia in physical form, and the gods Sotha Sil and Vivec came to him and gave him advice and wisdom. Nerevar infiltrated the fortress of the Dwemer, at the peak of Red Mountain, and slew Dumac and Kagrenac for their heresy. He then did battle with his former friend, Voryn Dagoth, and defeated him. But through these events it is said he was mortally wounded, and did not live to see the next day dawn. The entire race of Dwemer, save one, disappeared in an instant.

Another source says that Voryn Dagoth did not reveal his treachery to Nerevar until Nerevar attempted to destroy the Heart. And yet another claims that Lorkhan himself fought in the battle. But regardless of which historical account is used, Nerevar fell at Red Mountain, and the Dwarves vanished.

It is then that the Temple teaches that ALMSIVI ascended their thrones, having long been Anticipated as the True Gods of the Chimer by Azura, Boethiah and Mephala. The Chimer were cursed by Azura for the shameful events of the war and the slaying of Nerevar; it was then that they became the Dunmer, their faces and eyes transfigured into same the hellish darkness of the Red Mountain. Indoril Nerevar was forever made a saint of the Tribunal Temple. For two thousand years, the Great House high culture thrived throughout Morrowind, led by House Indoril and the Tribunal Temple. Countless slaves were taken from the southern parts of Tamriel to Morrowind, toiling their days in vast plantations. Vast cities were built, and holy shrines were built to the Temple of ALMSIVI.

At the end of the First Era, after an eighty year's war, the Tribunal made peace with the human Empire of Cyrodiil. They would hold a nominal place in the Empire, but be governed primarily by their own laws and customs. It was in these later days of cooperation with the Empire that Voryn Dagoth awoke. Before Nerevar had slain him, he had used the Tool of Kagrenac himself, and had used the Heart to become a god. Now immortal, and possessing incredible powers, he unleashed the Blight upon Morrowind, causing all its inhabitants and their livestock to die in droves. He unleashed Corprus upon them, a plague twisting the flesh of its victims until they became deformed beyond recognition, while twisting their minds until they went mad. He was Dagoth Ur, Lord of the Sixth House once more. He stole the Tools of Kagrenac back from the Temple, and prepared a master plan. The Empire would no longer hold any power in Morrowind, or anywhere else; all the world would be his. 

And not even ALMSIVI could hold Dagoth Ur forever. Vivec, Almalexia and Sotha Sil constructed the Ghostgate, an impenetrable wall made of the revenant dead, called up once more to serve their descendants. But even that did not suffice. At the end of the Third Era, the Great Houses of Morrowind were desperate for a hero, or even a flicker of hope, to allow them to survive the return of the Sixth House. But little time remained.

The following book contains the rules necessary to field a Dunmer Great House army in games of [[Scrollhammer]].