2015 08 01 Meeting Summary

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The meeting of Saturday, August 1, 2015 could best be described as rambly. In short, St. Veloth hijacked the meeting to share his ideas on a variety of subjects, which were then discussed in TR's trademark 'let's go completely off-topic' fashion. There was also some discussion on TR's accounts on various sites, but since that's both confidential and not very interesting, I won't go into further detail.

As for the new ideas, we didn't reach any kind of decision on any of them, so I'll just leave them hear for other members to think about.

House Dres (and possibly all of Morrowind) could have similarities to Edo period Japan.
House disputes happen at night, except for Morag Tong activities and duels.
Enemies still attend each others' parties to show they're not afraid.
The Indoril could be like the Shoguns. Their castle-estates overlook Velothi towns.
A very strong tie between religion (Temple) and government (Indoril) could be shown. Alternatively, we could strongly showcase the division of power (Morrowind split between the Temple/Houses/Empire)
The player should be allowed to create their own story.
Showcase the self-importance of noblemen by having them cut down commoners in the street. No commoners complain because they fear/are in awe of their rulers.
There was some brief discussion on this Telvanni architecture. The sprawling nature and the underground pods were Veloth's favorites.
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/page-16
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/page-17
Telvanni are self-sufficient.
Commoners are in awe of, possibly even worshipping, the Telvanni.
The wizards are variable in how much they enjoy governing. Some are showoffs, so they like having people nearby they can impress.
The Telvanni don't expand with the goal to get more territory, but rather they're trying to get away from each other.
The wizards see commoners as resources.
The commoners and wizards have very different personalities. The commoners form a very close-knit community (though they still don't like outsiders.) The (prospective) wizards are very back-stab happy. The commoners have a 'you were born here, you'll die here' attitude.
The Telvanni and Indoril have some parralels in how they like to lord over people from on high. The Telvanni have a lot of individualism, whereas the Indoril have unity.
There could be a community of Deadra worshippers among the Telvanni. Telvanni make use of Daedra, which is already a heresy. Gnomey thinks Telvanni aren't the worshipping type.
Some Telvanni can rival the power of the Tribunal.
The Telvanni Arch-magister has retreated into his own pocket realm; he's the extreme of Telvanni individualism.
Telvanni characters could be insufferable but also charming. Current arch-magister doesn't have much of a presence.
The leader of House Telvanni only has his power. No rules anywhere that state that his word is law, but since he's the most powerful, no-one has a choice.
It could be satisfying to have the player force the Telvanni to work together for a while. The player should (to a certain degree) be able to fix the problems of the house.

The Dres display as much wealth as possible, to make it seem they're not about to fail thanks to their deals.
Veloth is frustrated with Hlaalu's loyalty to the Empire.
House Sadris could be an offshoot of Hlaalu. They're constantly trying to become new fifth house. They're able to fit the Hlaalu spot post-Red Year because they're similar. Alternatively, the Red Year left a huge power vacuum which Sadris filled. Could make reference to house Sadris by just having a single noble ruling a village.
There could be a presence of other Houses in Almalexia, possibly in the form of embassies.
If you can afford a holding in Almalexia, you are powerful enough to be a Great House.
Gnomey disagreed because of the Houses having a theological basis.
Multiple Houses in the same city could be a sign of cooperation and seperation at the same time. Stories could be told of various assassins at work in Almalexia.
Telvanni and Dres would be in Almalexia for trade, prestige, and to annoy the other Houses by being there despite being unwanted. Alternatively, them having holdings there could be seen as conforming to traditions. Or they have holdings, but they're never there because they don't give a damn.
Instead of mixing architecture styles for the embassies, the Indoril set could be used, but with heavy influence of the Houses' respective styles.
An old Velothi tower could be the traditional seat of power in Port Telannis. Possibly it's now overgrown because the Telvanni don't care about tradition.
The Redoran tileset lends itself very well to deserts. While that's not likely, there should be no fertile Redoran lands, instead they should be very arid and dry.
The Velothi mountains shouldn't have snow, but maybe volcanoes and ash instead.
Some Redoran concept art was also shared.
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/page-6
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/page-12
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/page-14\
http://36.media.tumblr.com/405127e2af96b3fb845b37039e32841d/tumblr_mz1n1pMvGN1t3fruoo6_r1_400.jpg
Veloth is a huge fan of the purple look of the third image.

Once again, no decisions were made on any of these topics, and they should be seen as food for thought.