Sacred Lands

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Sacred Lands region, as seen in TR_Mainland since 2012.

Sacred Lands is a region in Mournhold District, Morrowind. It is a rugged coast where rocky ridges surround the sparsely vegetated land that hosts the Dunmer holy city of Necrom, the City of the Dead.

The hallowed and haunted lands around Necrom appear dour and cold, but are alive with the whispers of Dunmer dead carried by the wind, and with the spirits themselves. This is not a place for outlanders, whom the ancestors despise.

The region was released in 2012 as part of the Sacred East expansion, but is slated to be reworked almost completely in the medium-term future.

Current Implementation

In its current technical implementation, Sacred Lands is essentially West Gash version 3.0. Necrom's white architecture contrasts starkly to the browns and greens of the surrounding area. The region also contains the Indoril town of Sailen and the tiny hamlet of Evos, as well as outlying Temple institutions, such as the Acre of St. Meris and the Sacred Lands Sanctuary. Ancestral Tombs dot the landscape, as do older structures like Daedric and Dwemer ruins.

The region used to contain a very dense and poorly performing grove of West Gash trees in its outlying western part near Drakehold, which was cut by Cicero during the Dominions of Dust release cycle. Drakehold, too, is now cut and an ashlander camp has been put up in its stead.

Plan

The potential new borders of the Sacred Lands region, as drawn on the gridmap by be-a-stranger.

Sacred Lands may be the third major re-do project initiated (long) after the Embers of Empire and Sundered Scar re-dos.

The Sacred Lands near Fort Umbermoth by be-a-stranger.

The region, according to current conceptualization, will become the northern part of the great eastern Morrowind mudflats (as intended by Bethesda in their 1990s Morrowind concept map). Mudflats will characterize the shores, whereas tender, muddy hills covered in golden-orange grass and ghastly mushrooms will be dominate inland. Ancestral tombs, Daedric ruins and ancient Indoril strongholds dot the landscape. At the beaches, Shreals come to rest their flippers, while the hills are haunted by the immensely loud calls of the Mourning Cicadas. Often-times, travelers mistake their eerie husks for ghosts staring at them.

Possibly, the region will be reduced in scope, cutting out its current western rectangular part. The coastline may also be changed slightly to have mudbanks and the like.

Settlements

  • Necrom - one of the most sacred cities of Necrom, where the Dunmer bring their dead to be interred in the catacombs. Although the current version of the city is competent, it has some gameplay and narrative issues – most acutely, a lack of faction content. Hence, the city is slated for a redo, which will give it a foreign quarter, a bustling Dunmer population, and a symmetric design.
  • Sailen - will be redone as a wholly Velothi town on the most important crossroads of the region. Will perhaps have a temple of its own.
  • Evos - a small Velothi settlement east of Sailen.
  • Enravel - a small Velothi coastal village in the mudflats south of Necrom.
  • Terevoth - a small Velothi coastal village in the mudflats south of Necrom.
  • Varethis - an isolated Velothi coastal village on the island north of the Necrom peninsula.
  • Sacred Lands Sanctuary - an outlying monastery in the northern part of the region.
  • Acre of Saint Merys - an outlying monastery southeast of Necrom.
  • Veloth's Beacon - a replacement for the Necrom lighthouse, this time to the northeast of Necrom.
  • Hunted Hound inn - an inn on a crossroads in the southern part of the region.
  • Fort Umbermoth - one of the last remaining manned forts of the Eastern Shield, on the mudflats west of Necrom.

Needed assets

Flora and Environmental

Fauna

Architecture

Armor

Additional links

2021 meeting with some brainstorming

be-a-stranger's Sacred Lands and Necrom concept