This is a proposal for the quest structure and Main Questline of House Telvanni in its redone state, prepared in tandem with this proposal.

Council Questlines

The council (Mouth) questlines play out much like the vanilla questline, misc chores that each have some relevance in the region they are tied to. Not much of an overarching story to these questlines, but they all deal with the primary themes of the regions they are in, and they are mainly easy fetch quests or similar. These quests will continuously increase your faction rep, but will not advance you past Mouth. Aryon is the only lord who will accept a new Mouth.

Sadrith Mora
Quests: 11 (5 Mouths, 2 quests each, plus one from Baladas Demnevanni)
Theme: Random wizard fetch quests, politics between the isolated mage-lords of Vvardenfell

Tel Muthada
Quests: 10 (5 Mouths, 2 quests each)
Theme: Telvanni xenophobia, business with Indoril and Velothi

Llothanis
Quests: 12 (6 Mouths, 2 quests each)
Theme: Petty squabbles of the Telvanni, old and powerful magic

Port Telvannis
Quests: 12 (6 Mouths*, 2 quests each)
Theme: cutthroat politics, “might makes right”
*One of the Mouths is for Dral, who is absent

The Hive
Quests: 10 (5 Mouths, 2 quests each)
Theme: Dealing with ashlanders, living in the ash-wastes
*Note: the unique type of magic that the Dust Masters practice almost always results in some level of madness (“ash-madness” as some natives call it). The dialogue for the Masters (and to a lesser extent the Adepts) should be garbled and deranged, filled with odd metaphors and prophecies that might take a bit of time for the player to pick apart to understand what they mean. Tirrava is the most lucid of the bunch, and Rasith is the most esoteric.

Councilor Questlines

The Masters of House Telvanni all have one misc quest each for the player to complete once the player reaches the rank of Mouth. Additionally, one Master from each Council offers a more fleshed out set of quests that deal with the region’s theme. Only Master Aryon can promote the player between the rank of Mouth and Master, but these quests will help with faction rep and some may be required to attain the higher ranks.

• Neloth (Sadrith Mora Council) - Tel Naga
  • 1 misc quest
• Therana (Sadrith Mora Council) - Tel Branora
  • 1 misc quest
• Dratha (Sadrith Mora Council) - Tel Mora
  • 1 misc quest
• Aryon (Sadrith Mora Council) - Tel Vos
  • 9 quests dealing with the player’s rise from Mouth to Master/Magister (10 if you kill Gothren to become Sadrith Mora Magister instead of Port Telvannis Magister)
• Baladas Demnevanni (Sadrith Mora Council) - Arvs-Drelen
  • 1 misc quest
• Rilmas Athyrion (Tel Muthada Council) - Tel Onoria
  • 1 misc quest
• Nisa (Tel Muthada Council) - Tel Gilan
  • 1 misc quest
• Falen (Tel Muthada Council) - Tel Niril
  • 4-5 quests dealing with helping Falen achieve long-desired status and his own ceremonial Beetle Armor
• Navari (Tel Muthada Council) - Tel Tarulin
  • 1 misc quest
• Andrano Llervu (Llothanis Council) - Tel Llervu
  • 1 misc quest
• Arvasa (Llothanis Council) - Tel Bosara
  • 1 misc quest
• Mithras (Llothanis Council) - Tel Aranyon
  • 4-5 quests dealing with securing Tel Aranyon’s position as a crossroads of important regions in Telvannis, and settling age-old scores with other wizards in order to do so (a rebranding of the “Trouble in Ranyon-ruhn” questline that everybody loves so much, to fit in with the current redo plans. Ranyon-ruhn’s hetman can offer some more quests for non-Telvanni to deal with city maintenance if this is not deemed enough, but the two questlines would be unrelated).
• Rethara (Llothanis Council) - Tel Mothrivra
  • 1 misc quest
• Meren (Llothanis Council) - Tel Savel
  • 1 misc quest
• Elmavera (Port Telvannis Council) - Tel Vinra
  • 1 misc quest
• Theldis (Port Telvannis Council) - Tel Ranol
  • 1 misc quest
• Ulvor Parran (Port Telvannis Council) - Tel Parran
  • 4-5 quests dealing with cutthroat politicking in Port Telvannis
• Angon (Port Telvannis Council) - Tel Sathas
  • 1 misc quest
• Revisa (Port Telvannis Council) - Tel Drevis
  • 1 misc quest
• Dothan (The Hive Council) - Tel Falvon
  • 1 misc quest
• Leven (The Hive Council) - Tel Sharan
  • 1 misc quest
• Nirmannu (The Hive Council) - Tel Udra
  • 1 misc quest
• Tirrava (The Hive Council) - Tel Arad
  • 4-5 quests dealing with the esoteric art of preparing and performing dust magic

Magister of Port Telvannis

The player can opt to refuse Aryon’s offer of becoming Magister of Sadrith Mora and become Magister of Port Telvannis instead. To do this, the player must complete all the Councilor Questlines for Falen, Mithras, Ulvor Parran, and Tirrava and receive their support so they can petition the steward of the Parliament of Bugs to install the player as Magister of Port Telvannis due to the absence of Archmagister Dral. If the player chooses this, Fast Eddie moves to the Parliament of Bugs to act as the player’s Mouth. Once the player becomes Magister (either of Sadrith Mora or Port Telvannis), they can begin “An Ancient Mystery” by talking to the other Magisters and begin the questline to find Archmagister Dral.

Main Questline

(Archmagister Dral in Beetle Armor by Feivelyn)

(Archmagister Dral without Armor by Feivelyn)

An Ancient Mystery

There are 4 breadcrumb quests that each present layers to the mystery behind Dral’s disappearance. These are in the form of Master quests (like Neloth’s, Therana’s, etc.), but instead are offered by Magisters and require you to be Magister to start. All 4 must be completed in order to fully begin the Dral questline in Port Telvannis. These are all under one quest name: “An Ancient Mystery”. The quest completes and reopens with each of the breadcrumbs that are respectively completed/opened, until the final one is complete.

• Magister Vaerin asks you to steal a unique book from Dral’s Library, something that’s never been successfully done before. When you enter the library, you cannot find it (it’s actually in Dral’s realm). You report back to Vaerin to let him know that significant portions of the “Daedric” and “Religion” sections of Dral’s library are missing. Vaerin is puzzled by this, remarking on how absurd it is for a Telvanni to show any interest in religion. He rewards you with some gold for your troubles.
• Magister Rasith lets you in on a secret: he was visited by Dral some centuries ago, who asked about the source of the extreme power the Dust Masters hold. Rasith told Dral a half-truth in hopes of keeping the secret–that the powers were granted by the large crystals deep underground. While it is true that they are great sources of magical energy that can be channeled by skilled wizards (to perform acts such as growing Sadrith in harsh environments, extending life, and other phenomena), the dust magic is much more than that. Anyway, Rasith has long feared to follow after Dral and visit the crystals under his Tel, and all the retainers he has sent to check it out have never come back. The player investigates, and after disabling a magical barrier set up by Dral (near which many corpses are littered, killed by the shock barrier), can investigate a research area Dral set up to study the crystals. One of the crystals appears to be gone (with a dug-out area in its place to indicate it. It is present in Tel Thenim’s Laboratory). Report back to Rasith about the missing crystal and he is very concerned by its disappearance. He says he will get a new crystal to be grown/installed at once, and thanks the player by giving them a Telvanni artifact.
• Magister Sathisi informs the player of an anomaly that currently exists in Molag Ruhn: a daedric beetle. He does not know if it is actually daedric in origin or how it came about, but he wants the player to lead it to Tel Darys so that Sathisi can study it and possibly harvest its exoskeleton. When the player does this, Sathisi rewards the player with a piece of information: that there was only one known anomaly like this in the past. It was after Dral had insisted on making a temporary residence in Molag Ruhn, centuries ago, to conduct “crucial research”. Sathisi points you to a small abandoned Tel in the hills where you can find some small remains of Dral’s work there. There is a piece of the extremely valuable Daedric Beetle carapace, tools and alchemical apparatus, and a book in a locked chest. The book contains some of Dral’s notes. In the book, Dral remarks that he needs to don a set of protective beetle armor, as the western lords do, in order to “hide [his] hideous appearance”. He also says he wants armor “of the toughest variety”, and with “healing properties to mask the transformation”. The book updates the journal with details on the mystery.
• Magister Gothren gives you a quest to “kill yourself”. This is obviously not a quest and just a dialogue line. If you have a high enough disposition with him, however, he’ll tell you that he wants nothing to do with you, and to seek Divayth Fyr if you want to solve an “ancient mystery”. He is clearly being sarcastic about that, as he thinks Fyr is too busy to interact with the likes of you, but it opens up an actual dialogue topic (ancient mystery) that you can bring to Fyr if you have a high enough disposition with him. Fyr says that Dral came to him asking questions about Daedric plane-hopping. Both Fyr and Yagrum kept pretty tight-lipped about it, but to protect against the risk of angering Dral, Fyr pointed him to a large Dwemer Ruin in the Dagon Urul region, one of the most remarkably well-preserved ruins to exist (perhaps it’s where Yagrum Bagarn left to explore the outer planes from? Inference only, this should not be stated as fact). Fyr says that if you seek to follow an ancient mystery, to start here. In this ruin lies a unique ancient text that talks about the impossible art of creating daedric planes. Evidence of Dral’s transcription exists in the int (such as papers and charcoal and quill pens, etc), but the book remains undisturbed. If you take the book, many daedra spawn and attack you, a trap that Dral likely suspected, which is why he left the book there. Taking the book updates the journal with the player’s findings.

Fear Among Wizards

After completing “An Ancient Mystery”, you will be attacked in your sleep by Vermai. Most people in Morrowind will say they have no idea why Vermai would try to assassinate you, but nonetheless direct you to Port Telvannis because that’s where most of Morrowind’s heathens and profane wizards reside (if you are attacked in Port Telvannis, this breadcrumb will be skipped and the next part will start immediately). Upon arrival in Port Telvannis, the city is attacked by Vermai and Perthan. When the city has been made safe, a guard will forcegreet you and say that the steward of the Parliament of Bugs demands your presence in the chamber at once.

The steward tells you to talk to all the Magisters individually. All the Magisters have convened (including the elusive Rasith) in the Parliament of Bugs, saying that cities in their respective regions have also been attacked (if you visit, you will find one or two daedra attacking in a few cities, but nothing as big as Port Telvannis. Some say that the only one who is capable of such an attack is a Daedric Prince. Others scoff at the idea that a Prince would do something this trivial to the Telvanni, and say that it is a sign Dral (who is presumed dead) is actually alive and planning vengeance. In any case, after speaking to all of them, speak again to the steward who tells you little is known about the attack, but you might find more answers if you explore Dral’s tower, Tel Thenim.

The Dead Tower

Tel Thenim is abandoned of all men and mer (except for the Lower Hall, which is maintained to keep the Tel as a symbol of Telvanni might), but is daedra-infested (Vermai, Perthan, Guardians?). You can explore the entire Tel except for the laboratory, which is blocked by an extraordinarily powerful magical barrier. When you interact with it, your journal updates, saying it is too strong to deactivate.

As you continue to explore, you come across the final room: Dral’s personal quarters before he abandoned the Tel. In them, you can find scattered notes that he left behind. One of them contains the alleged location of a Telvanni staff artifact used to channel extreme amounts of chaotic magicka. The Journal updates. This is the chance to disable that barrier. The artifact is said to be possessed by a hermit deep in the Sunad Mora region. Return to the Parliament Steward to finish the quest.

The Hut on Guar Legs

The Steward will tell you that a ferocious witch lives in a hut in Sunad Mora that stands on Guar legs. This is obviously a Baba Yaga easter egg, but the hut is actually standing atop two rock formations that look like guar legs, instead of actual legs. The witch has the staff and she must be killed to obtain it. Return to the Steward to finish the quest.

Way of Monsters

The steward tells you to investigate the tower again with the staff, but warns you of the potential danger and points you to places to prepare. This is basically him telling you this is the final stretch of the questline. 

When you get to the magical barrier to the laboratory, you can use the staff on it and the barrier will open. Inside you can explore Dral’s enormous lab and find more books of notes. 

A personal journal will talk about experiments he performed on himself that had a cost to his physical form and caused immense pain. It explains his stages of grief and how that tied to his further research. It ends with vague reference to his plans of creating a new plane of oblivion. A lot of references to the metamorphosis of insects like butterflies. And even has crude sketches of his own stages of evolution. 

There is also an area with a few pieces of Daedric Beetle carapace. Tools, alchemy apparatus, and notes about the creation of beetle armor dot the area.

The giant crystal from under Tel Haresi is present here, focused onto a platform on which a giant sadrith abomination stands. A golem of Dral’s making. He is tasked with guarding the entrance to Dral’s realm. He briefly speaks to the player and mentions the disturbing nature of Dral’s research, as well as the name of the realm, which is [undecided]. The Golem is a miniboss that must be killed in order to collect a ring which, when worn, can teleport you to the realm. Once you enter the realm, the next quest begins.

Apotheosis

A huge realm with an unimaginable duality of beauty and terror. The primary daedric inhabitants are Vermai and Perthan. Flesh atronachs also roam. Green and purple are the primary accent colors of this realm (to draw visual similarities to the green of the Telvanni’s sadrith and the purple of the crystals). 

(3 images of Dral's realm by Feivelyn)

(Bossfight with Dral by Feivelyn)

The destination of the realm is a perfectly in-tact Daedric Temple. Before it, A Daedric Count stops the player and talks about the realm and some of Dral’s potential motivations before deciding to attack the player. The final pre-Dral miniboss.

Once the player enters the Temple, the main hall features large crystals surrounding a centerpiece of some magical/technological nature. Dral levitates before it in his suit of Daedric Beetle Armor and the player can talk to him. He explains his plan of apotheosis in his arrogance and describes his plans to ransack Telvannis to punish those lords who opposed him. At the end of the speech, he can remark on the player’s status as Nerevarine if applicable, and then attacks. The first phase of the fight involves destroying his Beetle Armor. Once his first form dies, his second form spawns, much more powerful but a bit less resilient. 

Once Dral is defeated, the player can loot his personal quarters for some goodies, and then return home with the ring (a new option). Upon speaking to the Steward of the Parliament of Bugs, the player is declared Archmagister. The Magisters have returned to their towers but the Steward hints to the player that they may offer rewards.

Reward

Each Magister offers the player an added reward as a token of thanks for dealing with Dral and saving the Telvanni, and also as a tribute to the power of their new Archmagister. 

• Magister Sathisi grants the player a set of Daedric Beetle Amor, made by studying the beetle the player helped Sathisi get his hands on.
• Magister Gothren grants the player 1000 gold and tells them to shoo, Archmagister or not.
• Magister Rasith grants the player an amulet that allows them to recall to the Hive.
• Magister Vaerin offers the player a breadcrumb to a Daedric Artifact somewhere in Morrowind. 
• Various other lords might give thanks if you meet them.