House Dres Faction Quests

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Kevaar
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Taking a stab at this. I’m working mainly off the documentation here and my own interpretations of the lore. Criticisms welcome! WIP, right now I just have the initiation plotted out.

Initiation

So! Dres are not a terribly open society, and an outlander may have to jump through a few hoops to become part of House Dres. On the other hand, joining most factions in vanilla was a straight forward process, and the suspicion and prejudice the PC faces comes to the fore more in the questlines themselves. So here are two suggestions for the first quest a PC may face in becoming House Dres. The first assumes a generic joining process, the other makes the PC do a quest first before becoming part of the faction.

Outline: Going Down the River

The more generic version of joining House Dres. The PC goes to the main Dres clanstead with their intentions to join and is accepted into the House like any other faction:

NPC Greeting 5: “You wish to join House Dres? Strange, but not unheard of.”

-->Topic join House Dres, outlines the oath the PC would be taking.

→ PC chooses to take oath or not. PC comes into the faction at Oathman level.

→ join House Dres topic now says some variation of: “Yes, you are now part of House Dres. I have orders for you. If you have lived long despite them, perhaps we can discuss advancement.“ Replace orders with a Dunmer translation of the word I think, to fit in with the strange names of the upper ranks, and to also keep with vanilla conventions of each faction gettting their own quest-starting word.

The first orders the PC gets is to join a merchant train transporting saltrice along a river.

As an aside...While slaves are present on the boat (and/or on the riverstriders?), they’re not much mentioned and there’s no way to free them. The reason for this is I don’t want to dive too quickly into the whole slave thing; they are background objects right now. Yes, we know Dres keep slaves and it’s terribad. But it’s only a piece of the faction, and should not be a main focus in their quests. After all, if you’re part of House Dres, you probably don’t care about the slave issue.

The PC travels on or to the barge (and/or riverstriders) and it has stopped at a small village of Dres on the river. The Dres plan to sell some of the saltrice here for the village to use as food, but there is a dispute between the merchant train Overseer and the village Dres. The merchants’ saltrice has been infested with bugs, and the PC is tasked to go down to the hold and clear them out. And they’re not little nice bugs that can be sprayed with pesticide. They’re big bugs that the PC has to fight. The Dres don’t bat an eye at this—apparently big bugs are the norm in Morrowind. (“What were you expecting? Little Colovian ants? You’d better grow yourself a backbone if you expect to survive out here, outlander!”)

After this, the PC goes back to the main Dres clanstead for their reward. The PC has proven their worth and is now eligible for promotion to Bondman.

Outline: I Belong Here, No Really

The alternative version of joining, but could also be used as part of achieving Crewman rank. The PC goes to talk to the NPC in charge of letting members join (or promotion). They are turned away for being an outsider.

On the PC’s way out, another NPC hails them, and asks them to come speak with them in private. The NPC is an aspiring Overseer who has taken a liking to the PC. She offers to secure the PC a place in the House if they do a favor for her first.

When the PC agrees, she sends them out to collect the droppings of <insert domestic bug here>. She is particular about this despite the PC’s objections. She also mentions the PC should wash after handling the droppings, for they are very corrosive (plus, they stink).

When the PC returns with them, the Overseer directs them to place the droppings in the distillation pot of the clanstead. (I’m not certain of the exact process here, but I’m picturing Dres mixing the dung with their crops to neutralize the acidity of Deshaan-grown plants, for the plants have a tendency to draw acid from the volcanic soil. There’s a few other steps involved to sanitize the crops after this, one of which may involve the making of mazte.) On the way to the distillation pot, the PC is greeted by another Dres who mistakes them for a slave and puts them to work gathering 15 pieces of saltrice from the fields (a smart player could also just buy or loot these from somewhere...). When they return with the saltrice, the Dres takes it and shoos them off irritably. The player may then return to the Overseer; she laughs and admits the PC must be “good for something”, and compliments them on their work ethic. She brings them into the House, possibly as a Crewman under her jurisdiction. Clears the way for the next quest.

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Just as a bystander watching the project, I like the idea of Dres being slightly harder to join (the second option).  Easier than Indoril by far, but they won’t welcome you with open arms either.

That said, my only additional suggestion is doing a fusion of the two, by allowing the second quest to be bypassed if the player can get the disposition of the recruiter high enough.  This would reflect that hiring outlanders isn’t disallowed, but they don’t like doing it.  So you either get someone to vouch for you (quest 2) or sweeten up the recruiter.

Name is supposed to be RifleAvenger.  Oops!

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Like RifleAvenger, I also like the second option more. I also like the humiliating task of gathering bug droppings, and the Dres mistaken you for a slave, which got me thinking; how about the player gets always turned away for being an outlander. Then, as you already described an Overseer talks to the player, saying part jokingly, part seriously, that the only way to “join” House Dres is as a slave.

Now the player could ask how he could become a slave then. The Overseer then quickly realises that  the player is serious about this too and he gains some respect from him, making him willing to help. So he escorts him to a slaver who sells him on the slave market, to a Dres noble. Now the clou is, that you have slavebraclets on, draining you magicka and all your belongings are stored away in a chest in the house of the Dres noble that brought you. So the player has no items whatsoever. Now you have to do some humiliating tasks, like the gathering of bug droppings, gathering saltrice, deliver messages etc.

So you work your way up as a slave, until the merchant mission you described. They also send you to get rid of the bugs with not more than a knife for their amusement, but don’t expect you to come back alive. This is another keypoint in the campaign when you again, win the respect of those Dres, they slowly but surley think of more meaningfull tasks for you and in the end let you join not as a slave, but a member.

 

I thought of this, because it would also make sense for beastraces to join House Dres this way (of course beastrace player would not become a slave out of free will but could get captured if they do a particular quest). I don’t know how doable this would be for implementing but it would be an interesting experience for the player I think. What do you think of that? Too complicated?

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On the issue of first becoming a slave: I personally don’t think it should ever be stated baldly the PC is a Dres slave. The Dres really have no reason to free their slaves or give them rank, so it’d be a dead-end for the PC. It’d also be a little difficult to justify how the Dres would subdue the PC into being a slave, even with magical slave bracers—we’re talking about the Nerevarine here! However, we can still abuse and humiliate the player for being an outlander and make them do all sorts of manual labor jobs instead. laugh

I do think a stint of being captured and serving as a slave could make an interesting quest somewhere, though. Perhaps as the initiation quest to the Twin Lamps? The player could have a few ways of being captured: (1) roving slave raider bands that will turn the PC into a slave (similar to random vampires and vmapirism) and (2) a specific questline in which a powerful bounty hunter (perhaps one tasked to hunt False Incarnates?) is paid for subduing the PC. Instead of killing the PC like he/she should, he/she sells them into slavery and reaps the reward. After a few slave labor jobs, the PC either escapes, or is helped to escape by the Twin Lamps. The Twin Lamps then offers the PC a position in their ranks. Something along those lines.

Back to the two Dres quests:  I could see switching these two quests around to include both of them, actually. Player first does the bug dropping quest to get into the house at the lowest rank. The Overseer says the player must still work hard to prove themselves, and sends them off to the barge (aka, PC enters in a ship’s interior and greet the captain inside).

The captain can currently be found in a slave galley area at the bottom of the ship. The captain greets the PC and tells them to get to work manning the oars. It’s again never said the PC is a slave, but the PC “could” look around and see everyone else in the galley is a slave. What a funny coincidence, George.

The PC agrees to work the galley oars. Time passes (dialogue Fade Out Fade In should work well; alternatively, PC must rest in a bedroll shoved under one of the oars). The captain then fetches the PC from the galley saying there’s a problem in the saltrice storage cabin, and that the PC seems the most competent out of the crew to handle it. PC goes to cabin and fights the big bug infestation.

The captain thanks the PC (seeming a little surprised, if truth be told), says the Overseer has new orders for them, and deposits them back at the clanstead. AKA, while the illusion is that the PC is actually travelling somewhere, the entire quest is handled in dialogue while the player is in this one ship’s interior. Not as interesting maybe, but a LOT easier to code. The PC is told that they must stay in the galley so we don’t have that little immersion problem of them popping outside and wondering why the ship hasn’t gone anywhere.

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I agree, good ideas there. Yeah the slave thing would be better in a Twin Lamps quest. Definitely keep the humiliating quest theme for the Dres; at least for the beginning.

I also really like your ship idea, gives a kind of claustrophobic feel and the player may gasp for fresh air, after finishing the quest. cheeky

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These are still in the stage of building up the backstory and general atmosphere for this House. Editted these quests after a closer look at this planning document.
 

Miscellaneous Quest, minimum rank Oathman

This quest would be highly dependent on getting the coding to work.

Premise: the PC herds a bunch of bugs into an enclosure.

Details: based on one of those simple herding games. I don't know if you guys have ever seen one of those, but this is how it would work:

A bunch of bugs are scattered about on a field. When approached, they run in the opposite directon. (coding wise, have them move several feet in the same directon the PC is movi/facing when the PC gets within a certain distance—may be able to hijack the code for Hello or the aggro distance for this, or use a short-lived Fear spell) The PC must use this mechanic to get them all into a fenced enclosure. The Chap’thil offers them a reward for their service--probably not gold because its the equivalent of a minimum wage job in Morrowind, but maybe potions that increase and restore stamina.

Miscellaneous Quest, minimum rank Bondman

Premise: One of the clan’s young nobles has been captured and dragged off by a rogue plainstrider, and the PC must rescue them.

In more detail: one of the nomarchs (clan leaders) has been grousing that their son has been lazy and irresponsible lately (like one of those Thrice-cursed Indoril!), and so sent them off to work with the bugherders for a day to teach them a lesson. But, the son hasn’t returned home yet and the nomarch is starting to get worried. They send the PC off to check on the herd.

The PC arrives to discover that the clan’s bug herd was spooked by a pack of <insert predator here>. The PC first must kill the predators, then has to find the particular plainstrider that dragged off the son by tracking a trail of webbing, blood, and the occassional footprint left behind. The PC finds the plainstrider down in a canyon, crouched over the son. The creature has been wounded by the predators and is extremely hostile. While the herders would rather the PC heal the plainstrider, the son is screaming for the PC to just kill the thing already and save him. PC chooses how to detain the plainstrider, frees the son, and takes him back to Papa, who scolds the son for being an irresponsible idiot. He next sends the son out to gather bug droppings for the distillation pot (sound familiar?). Then he turns back to the PC, commenting how maybe the PC may be useful, and offering the next quest in the line.
 

Quest 3 in Advancement Series, promotion Bondman to Crewman

Foraging quest, perhaps taken from the female Overseer mentioned above. In practice, this quest would be similar to the Mage’s Guild quest where the PC first goes out and gathers herbs, is told something about the lore behind them.  However, the PC has to face problems from the  inhospitable Deshaan landscape: one of the plant species is caustic to the touch (deals poison damage after harvesting), one plant only grows in the middle of boiling/caustic pools of water (PC must wade into one of these pools, which deals damage for as long as they’re in there. a smart player may waterwalk), one grows only on the cliffs of canyons (PC must fly or jump to reach them), and one grows in a salt flat filled with sinkholes and clouds of toxic chlorine gas the PC must dodge (gas wanders, deals damage. sinkholes slow the player if crossed, making them more susceptible to being caught in a wandering gas cloud). The questgiver gives them a potion of restore health and a potion of jump, but tells the PC they are on their own once they use up those two.

Issue: need alchemical, harvestable plants created for these? Silverstalk may work for the plants growing in pools, but is currently not a harvestable plant.

Quest 4 in Advancement Series, promotion Crewman to Chap’thil
After completing the Foraging quest above, the Overseer sends the player to a Chap’thil friend of hers. The Chap’thil sends the player out on an expedition to gather eggs from a Skyrender mound. (Obviously, the wild Skyrenders will not be happy about this). The Chap’thil explains that normally, the Dres do not tame Skyrenders in this way because the mounds are too dangerous, and wild Skyrenders, like wolf pets IRL, have too many instincts and are too shy and jumpy to be useful as work animals. However, the Chap’thil wants to use the wild Skyrenders to interbreed with his domestic stock, improving his strain’s strength and stamina, and making them more appealing to buyers.
 

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Updated the quests above, and two new quests below proposed. I’d like input on these, as it’s beginning to get deeper into the story behind the Dres.

Miscellaneous Quest, minimum rank Chap’thil
One of the Dres comes to the PC and tells them the Nomarch is on the trail of a Hlaalu infiltrator trying to ferret out the agricultural secrets of the Dres. As the PC has proved themselves loyal to the clan but is also an unbiased outsider, the Dres decided to make use of them as the main investigator. The player finds clues leading to the identity of the Hlaalu (just what these are TBD). The clues point to one of the Crewmen working under your female Overseer as being the spy. The PC takes this Hlaalu custody—or kills him outright—and successfully completes the quest.

Quest 5 in Advancement Series, promotion Chap’thil to Molag’thil
Premise: The PC has now proved themselves to the Dres, and is ready to be sworn into a particular clan for their next rank. However, they must have a sponsor, and despite the player’s hard work, no one will give an outlander their stamp of approval. Luckily, the female Overseer comes to the rescue again! She has a way to get the PC a sponsor, by making it her. There’s only one problem: the Overseer is not of the rank to be a sponsor, and needs the player’s help in gaining it. Things get tricksy now—see details.

Details: Female Overseer is rather put out that one of her own men was found to be a traitor. She tells the PC she personally doesn’t believe this Dunmer was a spy, and that it was all a political scheme to put her in her place by the unfair Nomarch. In the name of revenge, she asks the player to discredit the Nomarch by making it out to seem that HE hired the Hlaalu spy. She mentions to the player that if they do this for her, she will be able to usurp the Nomarch’s position and become the player’s sponsor. She gives the player a series of correspondences from a House Hlaalu nobleman for the player to plant in some conspicuous spots around the Nomarch’s home.

If the player were to read the correspondences, they would find out following suspicious details:
*The first letter demands the recipient find a willing accomplice to help them in gaining the Dres’ trust. The Dres are known for respecting hard work and force, so the letter suggests hiring a strong mercenary to do the job.
*The second letter scolds the recipient for sending the newly hired accomplice down the river. (Hmm...) It points out this will only make the mission take longer until the accomplice can return.
*The third letter asks after what information the recipient has found out so far. This is the first hint of the Dres’s bargains with the Sload. The letter reminds the recipient that the Dres are almost unnaturally good at what they do, and that they must have more than just agricultural tricks to be able to survive in the Deshaan. The letter ends on suggesting the recipient get in good with a certain Chap’thil for his information. The player may notice this certain Chap’thil is the quest giver from the Skyrender quest. (Hmm…!)
*The fourth letter states it is the last letter that will be sent, for the writer believes their operation has been found out.

After the player plants the evidence, they walk out of the house and are forcegreeted by a Dres warrior serving the Nomarch. The Dres challenges the player for being a Hlaalu spy, and attacks. The PC returns to the Overseer, only to find she’s gone. Under her desk (tucked back there as if it was hurriedly dropped and kicked out of sight) is a damning piece of evidence: a letter to the Hlaalu written in her own hand! The letter states the operant is getting very close to finding out the secret of the Dres, but that the Overseer needs more time and resources to figure it out. This is the second hint of the Sload bargains. The Overseer begs the Hlaalu to not cut her off, but she was apparently distracted before she could finish the letter.

The PC walks out of the house and is forcegreeted by the Nomarch himself with two bodyguards. The Nomarch tells the PC they know the female Overseer was working for the Hlaalu, and that the PC was working for her. He has been keeping an eye on the player’s progress however, and has been impressed with their skills. He offers the PC a choice: help him ferret out the the female Overseer’s Hlaalu contact, or be killed. (Or POSSIBLY become a slave and go through the slave arc suggested earlier in the thread, where they do a few hard manual labor jobs and then are offered the chance to join the Twin Lamps. Joining the Twin Lamps would kick the player from House Dres and be made unable to rejoin it, however.)

Ferreting out the contact involves heading to House Hlaalu territory and killing the the Overseer’s Hlaalu contact. The PC returns and is sworn in as a Molag’thil to the Nomarch. The Nomarch considers their deed a proof of loyalty, but threatens the player should they step out of line again.

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Is no news good news or bad news? laugh Wasn’t sure if I posting in the right place or there’s already an idea for this and all that...

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No news means, I’m afraid, that I hadn’t gotten around to reading this until just now.

Kevaar
The first assumes a generic joining process, the other makes the PC do a quest first before becoming part of the faction.

I frankly don’t think either of these are the correct approach. No amount of proving would, I think, make the Dres approve an outlander as a member, as it would be missing the point: Dres simply don’t allow outlanders to become members of their clan. If you do a bunch of fantastic stuff like killing Dagoth Ur they might respect you in a grudging fashion, but that wouldn’t make you one of them by a long shot.
However, the Dres are all about bargaining. Outlanders have a worth and can be traded, as the slave trade shows. Particularly if a Dres thinks a particular outlander could prove a useful tool in advancing their machinations. The player becomes tied to House Dres not through being accepted by House Dres, but as a matter of convenience for the questgiver: the value of the player will rise if the player is tied to the House. Similarly, the player rises through the ranks not through gaining recognition, but through clever positioning to ensure someone with the power to do so will find a use in advancing the player.
I think it’s only later in the questline, after the player has been ping-ponged back and forth between questgivers and has become wrapped up in various schemes, that the Dres will start to realize that they have unwittingly vested real power in a complete outsider, and the player will be recognized as having agency. By this point, any attempts by Dres to address the player will only reenforce the player’s importance, and the player will have gained enough power to start to have a say in what goes on. Effectively, it would be the point in the questline where the player is finally recognized by necessity as a member of House Dres, and it would be where the real fun starts.

Kevaar
The PC goes to the main Dres clanstead

As far as I’m concerned, the Dres shouldn’t have a main clanstead. They are a confederacy; a league of clans that maintain their general independence and autonomy. Tear might serve as the capital in name, but I do not think the Dres would recognize it as such. They don’t necessarily even like the place; to them it would probably just be an oversized trade outpost filled with too many outlanders.

Kevaar
The PC travels on or to the barge (and/or riverstriders) and it has stopped at a small village of Dres on the river.

Note that the main river systems used by the Dres – especially for transporting saltrice – are subterranean. That being said, all that means is that rather than passing a village (ie. saltrice plantation) the player would pass the plantation’s depot.

Kevaar
I’m picturing Dres mixing the dung with their crops to neutralize the acidity of Deshaan-grown plants, for the plants have a tendency to draw acid from the volcanic soil.

The Deshaan probably has some of the least volcanic soil in Morrowind, as it’s far from Red Mountain and is behind several mountains and ridges. Salinity rather than acidity is the bane of Dres agriculture. (Plants native to the Deshaan are generally too saline for safe consumption while even saltrice, which is highly salt-tolerant and doesn’t grow in places with low salinity, has trouble thriving in the interior of the Deshaan).

Kevaar
I do think a stint of being captured and serving as a slave could make an interesting quest somewhere, though.

I like this idea as well. There are two ways I could see this happening: either the player becomes a slave deliberately, for instance a Twin Lamps quest to infiltrate a high security camp and provide some sort of aid to the slaves in the camp, or the player becoming a slave is only one possible outcome of an encounter, if the player is successfully overpowered by assailants or something. (ie. loses all fatigue and drops to the ground).

Kevaar
The letter contains a confirmation that the Dres’ skills are in some way magical

As far as has been discussed, there is nothing magical about the Dres’ saltrice farming. What the Dres got from the Sload was simply knowledge; the Sload showed the Dres that it was possible to transform their wasteland into Morrowind’s breadbasket, and perhaps told them how to do it. Now by themselves the Dres would have never come upon such a grand scheme, as they were (and in essence still are) a bunch of tribal bugherding hicks. To people paying really close attention, as such, a bunch of squabbling bugherds suddenly erecting infrastructure on a massive scale, practicing argriculture and hauling in slaves by the boatloads might seem suspicious, but they like the Dres would probably just assume the Matriarchs were guided by visions as Matriarchs are. If anything, the Dres being able to haul in Argonians by the boastload could give rise to suspicion, however impressive their slave hunters are.

As for the player serving as a galley slave, at least as far as the Salt Washes (subterranean rivers) are concerned there probably wouldn’t be any galleys to slave, as Riverstriders serve the purpose and have oars inbuilt. My greater problem with the idea, though, is that to actually get the player rowing and having it look good will require a lot of work, and given the necessary lack of input from the player will probably only be interesting for a moment before the enjoyment wears off.

All of the above being said, I do like a lot of your quest ideas. I actually think a good use of them would be miscellaneous quests which would serve their main purpose before the player joins House Dres: completing the quests could be one way to raise the stunningly low default disposition Dres NPCs would probably have to a point where they’d actually be willing to talk with you. Perhaps each quest could provide a minor disposition boost with NPCs of the questgiver’s clan.

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Quote system doesn’t like me today, so in no particular order:

Gnomey
The Deshaan probably has some of the least volcanic soil in Morrowind, as it’s far from Red Mountain and is behind several mountains and ridges. Salinity rather than acidity is the bane of Dres agriculture. (Plants native to the Deshaan are generally too saline for safe consumption while even saltrice, which is highly salt-tolerant and doesn’t grow in places with low salinity, has trouble thriving in the interior of the Deshaan).

What are the pools as presented in this concept art made of then? Just salt, no other toxic chemicals?

I’m...actually not sure how they would get the salt out, science-wise. The trick of evaporating the water out would leave all the plant matter behind too. (Though that does beg the question...do Dres have special moisture-farming greenhouses to get their water?)

Perhaps there’s some sort of microscopic critter that likes to eat salt, that is naturally found in large quantities in <insert plant or animal here>. So the player takes that substance and mixes it with the salty food. The microscopic critter eats the salt out of the food, then either leaves the food in search of other salt, or their bodies process the salt into something else that’s more edible (and by Dres standards, tasty?) and that’s how you get unsalty food in Morrowind.

So maybe I’m overthinking the science of it. laugh But as far as the quest goes, the basis could be the same—mix nasty bug droppings with the plant, wait until all the salt has been leeched out, and there’s other steps of processing implied after that.

Gnomey

As far as has been discussed, there is nothing magical about the Dres’ saltrice farming. What the Dres got from the Sload was simply knowledge; the Sload showed the Dres that it was possible to transform their wasteland into Morrowind’s breadbasket, and perhaps told them how to do it. Now by themselves the Dres would have never come upon such a grand scheme, as they were (and in essence still are) a bunch of tribal bugherding hicks. To people paying really close attention, as such, a bunch of squabbling bugherds suddenly erecting infrastructure on a massive scale, practicing argriculture and hauling in slaves by the boatloads might seem suspicious, but they like the Dres would probably just assume the Matriarchs were guided by visions as Matriarchs are. If anything, the Dres being able to haul in Argonians by the boastload could give rise to suspicion, however impressive their slave hunters are.

EDIT. Or I did say that. Easy enough fix, though, where it’s only the Hlaalu’s beliefs that there’s something magical going on, because as you said, they noticed a bunch of squabbling bugherds suddenly created infrastructure. The Hlaalu never do find out what’s going on, but for the player, it’s the first hint that there’s something more to the Dres than meets the eye, which can be touched on and explained more clearly in other quests.
 

Gnomey
As for the player serving as a galley slave, at least as far as the Salt Washes (subterranean rivers) are concerned there probably wouldn’t be any galleys to slave, as Riverstriders serve the purpose and have oars inbuilt. My greater problem with the idea, though, is that to actually get the player rowing and having it look good will require a lot of work, and given the necessary lack of input from the player will probably only be interesting for a moment before the enjoyment wears off.

Yep. I don’t think this should be animation or even an action of the player’s, but implied. Along the lines of: they click the dialogue option to “get to work”, the dialogue does that fade-out fade-in thing (that you see when you train). The next dialogue is the slave master greeting them in the morning with their bug problem.

As far as riverstriders go...I’m not sure how big they are inside. I could see having a couple slaves inside them to help take care of maintaince—keeping them clean, rubbing moisturizing goo on their exposed parts, shifting the heavy cargo around so they don’t get the equivalent of bed sores, etc. The bug infestation the player faces may then also be riverstrider parasites just as much as it is a crop infestation.
 

Gnomey
Note that the main river systems used by the Dres – especially for transporting saltrice – are subterranean. That being said, all that means is that rather than passing a village (ie. saltrice plantation) the player would pass the plantation’s depot.

That gives me another idea for a menial labor quest. PC is to help unload some stuff off a riverstrider. Mechanics-wise, player takes thing out of Crate A and sticks it in Crate B. Rinse and repeat 3-4 times. Overseer yells at them if they don’t put the right things in the right crates.
 

Gnomey
However, the Dres are all about bargaining. Outlanders have a worth and can be traded, as the slave trade shows. Particularly if a Dres thinks a particular outlander could prove a useful tool in advancing their machinations. The player becomes tied to House Dres not through being accepted by House Dres, but as a matter of convenience for the questgiver: the value of the player will rise if the player is tied to the House. Similarly, the player rises through the ranks not through gaining recognition, but through clever positioning to ensure someone with the power to do so will find a use in advancing the player.

I’m going to have to think about this one and what it’d look like for a plot. Mechanics wise though, this would mean a very long lead-in quest until the player can join the faction, and then a faction questline dealing with more political and internal issues?

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Kevaar
What are the pools as presented in this concept art made of then? Just salt, no other toxic chemicals?

Ah, those pools mostly have an incredibly high salinity, but some other toxic substances might be mixed in as well. Those substances are, however, native to the Deshaan, not originating from Red Mountain.

As for how they get the salt out, they don't. That's where the Salt Washes come in: they're not only canals used for shipping goods out of the Deshaan, they also carry fresh water from Lake Andaram to beneath the saltrice paddies, where massive pumps carry the water up to the surface. As the water is contaminated by salt both within the Salt Washes and on the surface, (and because in general stagnant water isn't much good for anything), the water needs to be replenished either constantly or periodically. (Not sure which, actually). The salt-contaminated water is probably just pumped out onto the surface of the Deshaan to evaporate or gather in the Salt Marshes, as letting it flow back into the salt washes would rather defeat the purpose. Again, a massive endeavour, but aside from the shear scale of it not very complex.
 

Kevaar
I’m going to have to think about this one and what it’d look like for a plot. Mechanics wise though, this would mean a very long lead-in quest until the player can join the faction, and then a faction questline dealing with more political and internal issues?

Mechanics wise, joining House Dres would probably be similar to joining the Morag Tong; it is directly joinable, but only in a specific location by a specific NPC. (If we liked, we could have a few NPCs provide the player with an ‘in’, but that would make for a more complex opening to the questline until those separate threads can be tied together, so more work). From there, it would function just like any other House mechanically. The difference is in presentation: while the player is gameplay-wise and nominally part of House Dres, and rising through the lower ranks, the NPCs won’t really acknoweledge that fact until late into the questline. Basically, they will treat the player like foreign dirt even when the player is a fellow member of House Dres.

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On the topic of getting the salt out of the water, I was brainstorming the other day about some creatures of the Deshaan, and one of them, some sort of bug, would be perfectly adjusted to the harsh environment, by drinking the pure salt water out of the pools. Then he would lie in the sun, his back would be out of a transparent membran, causing the sun to shine trough dierectly onto the saltwater that lies in his belly. It would then become steam, but instead of going into the atmosphere, it would condense on the inside of the transparent membran, from which it would run into another organ which is the actual waterreservoir of the bug. Maybe the Dres could use the hides of these bugs, to filter the water out of the salt, and use this as drinking water.
I could make some sketches if you want, so what do you think of this Idea? It could be an additional way of winning fresh water besides the pumps.

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Gnomey

Kevaar
What are the pools as presented in this concept art made of then? Just salt, no other toxic chemicals?

Ah, those pools mostly have an incredibly high salinity, but some other toxic substances might be mixed in as well. Those substances are, however, native to the Deshaan, not originating from Red Mountain.

As for how they get the salt out, they don't. That's where the Salt Washes come in: they're not only canals used for shipping goods out of the Deshaan, they also carry fresh water from Lake Andaram to beneath the saltrice paddies, where massive pumps carry the water up to the surface. As the water is contaminated by salt both within the Salt Washes and on the surface, (and because in general stagnant water isn't much good for anything), the water needs to be replenished either constantly or periodically. (Not sure which, actually). The salt-contaminated water is probably just pumped out onto the surface of the Deshaan to evaporate or gather in the Salt Marshes, as letting it flow back into the salt washes would rather defeat the purpose. Again, a massive endeavour, but aside from the shear scale of it not very complex.
 

Kevaar
I’m going to have to think about this one and what it’d look like for a plot. Mechanics wise though, this would mean a very long lead-in quest until the player can join the faction, and then a faction questline dealing with more political and internal issues?

Mechanics wise, joining House Dres would probably be similar to joining the Morag Tong; it is directly joinable, but only in a specific location by a specific NPC. (If we liked, we could have a few NPCs provide the player with an ‘in’, but that would make for a more complex opening to the questline until those separate threads can be tied together, so more work). From there, it would function just like any other House mechanically. The difference is in presentation: while the player is gameplay-wise and nominally part of House Dres, and rising through the lower ranks, the NPCs won’t really acknoweledge that fact until late into the questline. Basically, they will treat the player like foreign dirt even when the player is a fellow member of House Dres.
 

For the pools—it could then be kept that they need to leech some the acidity out, with a correction to where the acidity came from.

quest idea for the pumps—player must go in and repair one of the pipes, doing a dungeon crawl to get down to them. Would the Dwemer be at all involved in their construction? An alternate or supporting quest could be grabbing a gear out of a Dwemer ruin to replace those in the pipe system. (even if Dwemer are not involved, it could be explained as being a replacement part until the trade caravan can come in with the actual parts. The player could also play a role in negotiating the price down when the spare parts arrive) chronologically, this could work well after the Hlaalu spy arc is resolved: the Dres would want someone trustworthy to mess with their water system, and the dungeons would be harder.

Faction progression: to go along with what you said, I think we could keep the general idea behind the quests mentioned above, but the rewards would be different. Rising through the ranks would be slower, and instead of the NPcs commenting on the player’s prowess and worth, they would comment on their usefulness and contribution to the clan’s wealth. The dialogue would also be more condescending and dismissive (except for the Hlaalu spy woman, who wouldn't share the same culture, being an imposter).
 

Ateiggaer

On the topic of getting the salt out of the water, I was brainstorming the other day about some creatures of the Deshaan, and one of them, some sort of bug, would be perfectly adjusted to the harsh environment, by drinking the pure salt water out of the pools. Then he would lie in the sun, his back would be out of a transparent membran, causing the sun to shine trough dierectly onto the saltwater that lies in his belly. It would then become steam, but instead of going into the atmosphere, it would condense on the inside of the transparent membran, from which it would run into another organ which is the actual waterreservoir of the bug. Maybe the Dres could use the hides of these bugs, to filter the water out of the salt, and use this as drinking water.
I could make some sketches if you want, so what do you think of this Idea? It could be an additional way of winning fresh water besides the pumps.

My personal feelings are it seems a little deux machina, and we have a lot of insect creatures so far. At the same time, I wonder if this is why netches have those blue membranes? I don't guess netches live in Deshaan, but perhaps another species? My vote would be for something not an insect, perhaps a netch or a type of lizard.

 

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It sounds like an interesting idea; give it a try, see if you can come up with some unusual variations, and post it in the concept art forums. It could be a plant of some kind, or a grub, or something, for instance. Or maybe it uses the salt crystals that result from evaporation as some sort of hide or defense or something.

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Been doing some thinking about where to take the storyline for mid-levels part of the plot. The first few quests are built to “set the stage”—give the player an idea of what daily life is like for Dres. On the other end, the last “endgame” quests would be dealing with the secrets behind Dres “vampirism” and the ancient deals they made with the Sload.

The middle quests I’d like to dedicate to more mundane societal issues faced by the Dres. The slave issue. Politics between Dres clans. Politics between other Great Houses and Dres. These would have little hints in them about the “endgame”, but nothing should be revealed in its entirety. This is the step where the player begins to piece together odd coincidences, but it’s still not a clear picture yet.

So a few quests ideas, not all fully fleshed out:

Miscellaneous quests:
Escaped Slaves
Bring back escaped slaves. Straight forward, but will need more morally gray options than plain old “be a saint and free them” or “be the devil and re-enslave them”, I think. Perhaps these slaves are criminals who have murdered Dunmer children? Or maybe they killed some innocent civilians during their escape.

Hint about the secret Sload deals: the slaves tell the player they ran off because they notice slaves keep disappearing out of the pens at night, and they don’t want to be next.

A Raw Bargain
Now fleshed out. A Dres clan is trying to replenish their slave workforce after a recent drought killed off many of their Argonians. (Or rather, the Dres severely rationing the water supply did.) The player is sent off to make contact with a bunch of rogue Argonians, who have agreed to sell them the slaves. This is heavily based on the idea of how the slave trade in Africa started: blacks were selling other blacks that they had captured in war or for profit.

The player has been asked specifically to be sure they lower the asking price. When they reach the rogue Argonins, they learn this “asking price” is that the Argonian wants Dunmer captives in exchange for the slaves! The player can buy the rogues off with gold (~2500 gold), offer them high-quality slaves of other races, or (if they fail) a Dunmer captive. The player then has to go and escort the high-quality slaves and/or Dunmer captive to the rogue Argonians. The Dunmer captive needs to be convinced it’s “for the greater good” (or else they will fight to the death). The other slaves will come along without argument.

Hint about secret deals: The whole Dunmer captives thing is to hint back to the deals that ultimately caused the Arnesian War. The Dres still maintain some of these ancient exchanges with rogue parts of Black Marsh society, as we can see. These deals probably no longer lead directly back to the Hist, so it can be imagined what happens to the Dunmer captives when they get back to Black Marsh. This also showcases the self-sacrifice that is part of Dres culture.

And here’s a trio of quests to develop the growing story of what’s happening to Dres in the present time. Meant to be more of a middle-to-lategame transition, rather than purely the middle quests.
Missing Dunmer
A clan on the outer fringe (hearby known as Fringe Clan) has been dealing with a rash of disappearances of their clansfolk recently. While usually clans deal with their own problems, in an unusual breach of custom, the clan leader of a neighboring clan (hereby known as Neighbor Clan) asks the player to go investigate. The player finds the missing Dunmer in a cave outside of town, but they are dead. Further within the dungeon is a den of common vampires. The vampires attack on sight, and the obvious thing to do is kill them all.

However, if the player Calms the vampires (or is a vampire themselves), the vampires tell them they didn’t kill the Dunmer, and are terrified of a Snake-Faced Devil that has been doing rituals on their front doorstep. Player can tell them to go find a new den far away from Fringe Clan. Or they can kill them. Either completes the quest.

Death Rites
I need to read up on this, but when the player returns to Fringe Clan, they can take part in the cremation for the missing Dunmer. One the priests participating in the rites mentioned they are troubled by the lack of response from the spirits of the dead to this ritual, but this doesn’t go anywhere (yet).

Not Fit to Rule
The player goes back to Neighbor Clan’s leader, and she’s not satisfied. She tells the player this is a sign of Fringe Clan falling apart, and that Fringe Clan leader needs to step up her act. I’m debating what would be most in character for the Dres to do, but possibilities:

1) the player is to issue a formal “challege by combat”, sanctioned under Boethiah and Almalexia. The player faces off with a champion of Fringe Clan.
2) blackmail. The player delivers a threatening letter to the Fringe Clan leader, perhaps also grafittis the walls with phrases that mean something to the clan leadership (aka, reference the profane deals), but are only so much gibberish to the player at this point.
3) calls a formal council in which the Fringe Clan is brought up on her inadequacies.
4) ???

Whatever the method we choose for Dres doling out their warnings, the player would notice Fringe Clan leader has disappeared after the resolution to these quests. If asked, other members of the clan vaguely say she “had something else to do”.

^^^
So the true story behind these three quests is intentionally hidden from the player. Without deep digging, it should look like a straight-forward clean-out-the-vampires quest.

What really happened is the clan leader of Fringe Clan has gone crazy and/or desperate enough to be begin feeding on her own people to maintain her immortality. She is the Snake-Faced Devil (name could be changed: but it should reference the ritual mask the clan leader wears). These killings is also the reason the priest can’t make contact with the spirits of the dead in Death Rites: either the ancestors are angered or the souls have been destroyed entirely as part of the profane ritual.

The leader of Neighbor Clan has figured this out, but in name of keeping the secrets and pride of Fringe Clan intact, asks the player to merely participate in “warning” Fringe Clan leader rather than tell them the full story. Off-screen, the punishment of Fringe Clan leader is the ultimate one: she has been allowed to “die” and fulfill her contract with the Sload. This will have domino effects on other parts of the plot.

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Kevaar

Miscellaneous quests:
Escaped Slaves
Bring back escaped slaves. Straight forward, but will need more morally gray options than plain old “be a saint and free them” or “be the devil and re-enslave them”, I think. Perhaps these slaves are criminals who have murdered Dunmer children? Or maybe they killed some innocent civilians during their escape.

Hint about the secret Sload deals: the slaves tell the player they ran off because they notice slaves keep disappearing out of the pens at night, and they don’t want to be next.

Fleshing this one out a bit more, loosely based on an RP that happened over in TESO the other day.

The Nomarch has a new slave. New slave, being new, is doing all sorts of rebellious things and was called to task for it. The Nomarch’s son attempted to (rightfully) discipline this slave, but it turned into a scuffle, where the son was thrown down some stairs, beaten, and nearly killed. In the excitement, the slave fled, taking several others with him or her. (Possibly the Nomarch’s son should be an Overseer instead? To not be mistaken for the other Nomarch’s son we’ve dealt with.)

The player is to track down these slaves. The PC is encouraged to kill them for the damage they inflicted on the Nomarch’s son. However, upon meeting the slaves, the slaves tell the PC a few conflicted stories:

1) The beaten slave says the Nomarch’s son had instigated the whole thing by being a dictator who kills slaves in cold blood, etc, etc. He is adamant on not returning and would be very easy to provoke into attacking the PC.

2) Another slave feels terrible about the whole thing, for she had a good relationship with the Nomarch’s son. She wishes to be able to return to House Dres and begs the PC to not let the Dres punish her. (Intended to reference Stockholm Syndrome, but note the Nomarch’s son is not supposed to be an overt villain, so the reference should be gentle.)

3) Another slave says they followed the Beaten slave out of loyalty and because they desire freedom, but expresses the opinion that the Beaten slave probably deserved the discipline. Would be very difficult to persuade to return if the Beaten Slave is killed, but may be convinced otherwise.

4) The fourth slave says the Nomarch’s son isn’t a bad guy and they bear him no ill will, but say the son serves a “bad master”. They tell the story of slaves being taken out of their pens at night. This slave would refuse to return, terrified they may be stolen in the night, too.

5) The fifth slave is opportunistic and came along for the chance of freedom, nothing else. They offer a deal with the player: they will help the player subdue the others and return to the clanstead willingly, so long as the player puts in a good word about them to the Overseer. Easy to convince to return if the player takes this deal, impossible otherwise.

Based on these storylines, the player may attempt to convince these slaves to return, to let them go, or to kill them. To satisfy the quest, 3 out of the 5 slaves must either be slain or returned to their master.

Hidden story behind this quest: The Beaten Slave was soon to be used as cattle for the vampiric Dres rituals, as he was causing so much trouble and the Dres are growing more desperate with the rituals. (Slave 4 also hints at this) Nomarch’s son may have been trying to give him one last chance to turn himself around by inflicting the discipline. But Beaten Slave heard the “you could be killed if you keep this up”, chalked it up to Dres cruelty, and jumped the shark by attacking the Nomarch’s son. This is to give more of a grey moral flavor to the otherwise black and white slave beating issue here. Nomarch’s son, as House Dres as a whole, is not supposed to be evil, but more a product of the circumstances.

Slave Rising, Misc. Dres Quest

Not to be confused with a slave UPrising. This is based on the idea that in history, some slaves could work their way out of bondage. It makes sense to transfer this to Morrowind slaves, as we have an example of that in Divyath Fyr’s Argonian slave. (And this also gives Slave 5’s request some weight, having there be a precedent.)

A slave among the field workers has been very obedient and has shown some skill with keeping track of ledgers and the like.  The story goes she saved the Dres clanstead from being cheated out of a fairly substantial profit by finding an error in the saltrice shipments and reporting it. One of the Overseers was impressed by this, and asks the player to petition the Nomarch to allow the slave to be moved from the field and be given a position as a clerk. The Nomarch agrees under one condition: the slave must be able to read and write in Dunmeris, and demonstrate knowledge of the Tribunal and Dres laws. (Think citizenship test.)

The PC then talks to the slave, who is very excited about this opportunity. There’s only one problem: she has very little knowledge of House Dres and the Tribuna, and her Dunmeris is only passing. She asks the player to get her some books on these subjects, and points them to a nearby bookseller.
She wants the following two books:
*The Dres equivalent of the Red Book/Brown Book/Yellow Book that the vanilla Houses have, to read up on politics
*One of Vivec’s sermons, to learn more about the Tribunal

As a joke, the Dres bookseller also tries to convince the player to also buy ABC’s for Barbarians to teach her Dunmeris. This would have no effect on the quest dynamic, though the slave may roll their eyes at the player for giving it to them.

Other possibility, tied to jclark’s Literature posting: The slave wants the Exegesis book (substitute for Vivec’s sermon). Or, they can’t make heads or tails of Vivec’s sermon, in which case they ask the player to consult with Llevana Dren the Temple priest, or otherwise obtain a copy of one of her Commentaries.

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In the process of getting these transferred to the asset browser. The first advancement quests have been reworked into a possible questline to join House Dres, making use of some of Swiftoak’s ideas.

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All but the vampire quest arc have been added to the asset browser. I’m waiting to get on the vampire thing once the discussion in the House Dres Brainstorming thread comes to some kind of agreement.

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So! Dres are not a terribly open society, and an outlander may have to jump through a few hoops to become part of House Dres. On the other hand, joining most factions in vanilla was a straight forward process, and the suspicion and prejudice the PC faces comes to the fore more in the questlines themselves. So here are two suggestions for the first quest a PC may face in becoming House Dres. The first assumes a generic joining process, the other makes the PC do a quest first before becoming part of the faction.

Sorry for reviving a mostly-dead topic as a random passerby, but I had a thought that I felt might be constructive, related to the above quoted bit. I had been looking into some of the House Dres quests and plotlines and wondered if a sufficiently high-ranking Dres might already have a reason to trust a particularly suitable looking outlander: there’s practically a gurantee they’re not affected by the hist? 

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That’s a good question— would there be a guarantee though? Do we know that the hist have only tried to mimic dunmer?

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There is no guarantee as such, but given that the player character is from Cyrodiil, it would seem unlikely.

Also, the Hist as per the meeting decision wouldn’t mimic anything. They just off-load their excess soul mass and drown out loyalities and instincts. They are kinda like a more harmless and benevolent version of the Bydo.

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Welp, time to revive this thread!

A misc. quest where the player does a supply run to a travelling Deshaan Priest, who is beginning her next tour of the plains with shield-bearer.

(I added Duhande Almisti information to House Dres discussion.)