Tamriel Rebuilt is a massive community modding project for TES III: Morrowind that adds the mainland of the province to the original game, aiming to quadruple the size of the game world. The mod is developed and released as a series of fully realized expansions that seamlessly integrate sections of new land into the rest of the game world. Many such expansions have been released in the more than two decades that the mod has been in development; hence, players can already download and enjoy a landmass twice the size of the original game with thousands of interiors and NPCs complete with dialogue, and more than 500 new quests.

It has been quite a while since the last implementation progress update – all the way since October 2022, just prior to the release of our double expansions, Dominions of Dust and Embers of Empire. Those who read our previous teaser on the upcoming Andaram expansion will know that Tamriel Rebuilt development has been progressing at rapid pace since then.

This post will cover most of what the implementation team – that is, exterior and interior level designers and quest developers – has been doing in the past nine months (asset development has a separate progress report). For a Too Long; Didn’t Read edition:

• release of Dominions of Dust and Embers of Empire expansions (duh)
• completion of more than a hundred new quests for the Andaram expansion
• a major expansion and update to Almas Thirr’s exterior, interiors, and quests
• interior work on the Narsis expansion is close to conclusion, and the first quests are now being worked on
• several exterior claims of the new Sundered Scar and all the interiors of the remade town of Darvonis are now finished
• the first exteriors for the Othreleth Woods expansions are finished, and interior development has begun
• the Tamriel Rebuilt version of the island of Firemoth is very close to being finalized, and a few new islands have been created on the fringes of Morrowind

Read on for a more detailed breakdown of this progress, divided between the different expansions which we mean to release in succession.

Yours truly has been rather lazy in compiling these reports, hence this one will be especially long… but maybe you will stick it out! If you like much more frequent bite-sized updates, be sure to check out Denis418’s posts on our new #progress-reports Discord channel.

For the following, it is helpful to know that development work on Tamriel Rebuilt is split into pre-coordinated claims (e.g. a chunk of the exterior worldspace, a building interior, a quest) that are implemented by individual developers, then reviewed by a team of experienced developers, prior to being merged into larger section files, and eventually, the mod’s master file.

As always, the links below will take you to the relevant asset or claims browser pages, but beware of spoilers! Furthermore, beware that the content on the linked pages often falls out of date, and hence may no longer represent the current state or future intent of the development team.

Although our prior progress report at the very end of October last year covered almost everything related to these two already-released expansions, the three weeks not covered prior to the release were filled with frantic effort that should by rights be acknowledged here.

In these critical days, Jackimoff Wackimoff finished the last remaining interior for Dominions of Dust, the Tower of Contemplation for the Monastery of St. Felms and Am’Shak did the same for the Daedric ruin of Yamandalkal, the last needed one for Embers of Empire. Our interior reviewers MinerMan60101, Taniquetil, Cicero, and Vern then checked off the last items for the release, including the above as well as four caves in the Velothi Mountains (1, 2, 3, 4), made by Brannon the ilk, Phenoix12, and RDV.

A late-November release would, however, not have been achievable, if it weren’t for the absolute miracle pulled in these last three weeks by the questing department and especially the reviewers and playtesters:

• jonado and Jackimoff Wackimoff managed to put the finishing touches on the extensive Andothren House Hlaalu questline
• Taniquetil finalized the Andothren Mages Guild
• Delemis finished the miscellaneous quest Lamplit in Helnim
• Taniquetil added a simple framework for taking courses in the Firewatch College

Aside from the above four claims, our quest reviewers Mortimer, Dev Shah, Why, pralec, Arvisrend, and Rats toiled long hours to review all the questlines remaining on the docket:

• the massive Andothren Fighters Guild by Rats
• Andothren Tribunal Temple by Why
• Volenfaryon quest complex by Rats and Jani in the Armun Ashlands wilderness
• Firewatch Imperial Cult by Delemis and pralec

The reviewers also took care of the miscellaneous quests:

• Awoke and Broke in Andothren by abby
• Pursuits of the Seedy in Andothren by Jani
• Ancestral Guidance in Roth Roryn by crdgdr
• Remnants of Resdayn in Roth Roryn by Sultan of Rum (partially reviewed by jonado)
• Double Meaning in Firewatch by crdgdr
• Literary Critic in Helnim by hardycore

Never before or after have so many quest claims been reviewed in such a short time!

Yet, this is only where the real preparations for the release started. Not only did our senior developers Evil Eye, Taniquetil, Mortimer, Why, Dev Shah, Cicero, abby, Arvisrend, and others have to carefully merge all remaining disparate claims into our main release file, Chef had to package and publicly release the new Tamriel_Data v9. Afterwards, the senior developers descended on our in-development plugin to spread new items from Tamriel_Data 9 among the mod and replace deprecated ones; remove remnants of old, superseded dialogue and quests; entirely re-implement our Vvardenfell-to-mainland travel network; outright cut or replace (parts of) many older and sub-standard interiors; add NPCs, NPC path grids, and item ownership to dozens of interiors missing such things (many discovered only days prior to release); address hundreds of small technical inconsistencies; and fix dozens upon dozens of mesh placement and quest bugs.

Despite these efforts, the quantity of new or overhauled content was such that just three days prior to the release, the mod seemed a hot mess and a November release looked improbable. Yet, after three frantic days of bugfixing, the new expansions were finally ready to see the limelight on November 24th.

This was, of course, not all – all the way through to February, Why, abby, Jackimoff Wackimoff, Arvisrend, pralec, Evil Eye, and Taniquetil kept fixing dozens more bugs of varying severity, released as four hotfixes. Included in those were also Why’s Voddunius Nuccius follow-on quest and Taniquetil’s new dialogue for the Firewatch Cathnoquey Mission, all of which we had overlooked in the main release, as well as Sultan of Rum’s overhaul of Andothren’s House Hlaalu dialogue.

We originally intended to release a final, large maintenance release in Spring that would also include reams of cut content. But given the effort that a full mod release always requires, we thought it best to roll these fixes and additions into our fast-progressing next expansion. Which brings us to…

Andaram, our next expansion, will include a major overhaul and content expansion of Almas Thirr, as well as a strip of new land south of Aanthirin, centered around Lake Andaram and the town of Hlan Oek. Most of what has been happening here was covered in the recent teaser article.

The biggest news since then is that our Lake Andaram section file, containing all of the changes listed below, has now been merged into the main in-development TR_mainland master file by Evil Eye. (I’d like to emphasize that this is not the released TR_Mainland, yet.) This means the there is no turning back – the new expansion is now inextricably part of our core mod! Read below for a recap of all that went into this section file or is still being added.

Exteriors

The exteriors and interiors for the new lands included in Andaram have been almost finished for a while, although we would like to do some further tweaks to the exterior, such as switching out the remaining Ascadian Isles flora and rocks with new bespoke Aanthirin ones. However, significant additions were since made in the already-released Aanthirin:

• Most significantly, in the beginning of this year, Vern and pralec completed a total exterior overhaul of Almas Thirr, subsequently reviewed by Chef, the aim of which was to make use of new bespoke models and to expand the town to include more factions.
• Realizing a lack of dungeon content on the eastern Thirr bank, in the very end of last year Vern placed several new dungeon entrances throughout the Aanthirin region, which were later tweaked and merged by Chef.
• Chef also slightly expanded the Andaram release area to include three exterior cells from Blackbird’s Othreleth Woods #5 claim.
• MinerMan60101 and Taniquetil helped improve performance in Old Ebonheart and Firewatch by removing a lot of unnecessary clutter.

Interiors

Work on the interiors of the additional Aanthirin dungeons started even prior to the release of Dominions and is now almost complete:

• an abandoned Indoril manor by obie dwyer
• a small Dwemer ruin by Aidan1470
• two Velothi towers by Aveno and Ragox,
• three caves by Aveno, Bero, and Snailsting

These were reviewed almost entirely by Denis418, with help from Jackimoff Wackimoff. Only a bandit-infested Chimer stronghold by Silvone remains un-reviewed.

Also regarding an already-released area, Cicero finished the Bal Foyen caverns underneath Andothren, where vestiges of the Kamal invasion of Morrowind still linger (pending review).

The bulk of interior work still needed for Andaram, however, was in the top-to-bottom rework of Almas Thirr – the reasoning for this was covered more extensively in our previous news post, but this is something that we wanted to do already for the 2019 Aanthirin expansion, but ran out of time for.

After pralec had completed the exterior, Shadowhawk and Bero redid the canton waistworks, splitting it into a lower and higher half. It is worth noting that Bero is one of the developers who built the first iteration of Almas Thirr – it is very nice for them to join us in this quest to make the city truly shine.

Peter also made some adjustments to the old canalworks and Denis418 to the upper-level plaza. Peter then spearheaded a master plan for refurbishing, refitting, redoing, or creating completely anew more than 47 interiors that comprise Almas Thirr (with help from pralec, Vern, and Denis418) and premade many of the interior shells, so as to ensure against spatial overlap.

Such a number of interiors was a big task, but our interior team absolutely demolished it in the few months since March. About half of the interiors made were outside the canton building:

• the Fighters Guild and Morag Tong guildhalls by Aveno
• Mages Guild tower by Salmonroll
• Hall of Tribute by Peter
• Port Authority by Fremennik
• Hostel of the Crossing by Osidian
• Infirmary of St. Meris and Indoril Garrison by Bero
• guard towers by bDacc and Aidan1470 (1, 2)
• two taverns by Nirvayn and Aidan1470
• shops by Aidan1470, Deenday, and Lumpag
• residences by Bero (1, 2, 3), ines_g, Frun1987, Nirvayn, Fremennik, and Deenday
• Dunmer trade ship by Fremennik

Inside the canton:

• the Main Temple, Temple library, and Office of Intercession by Silvone
• Majordomo’s personal chapel by Shadowhawk_the19th
• Office of Recording and Brewers and Fishmongers Hall by Bero
• Office of the Watch by Khazar
• Ordinator Barracks by Quit
• Prison by Aveno
• Tailors and Dyers Hall by Subliminal
• Thirsty Saint Cornerclub by Lumpag
• residences by Bero, Deenday, Khazar, Ragox, and Silvone
• shops by Phenoix12, Deenday, Aidan1470, obie dwyer, and Subliminal
• the Teloth Manor by Shadowhawk_the19th and the Majordomo’s Sanctum by Khazar, both in the plaza, are still awaiting review

The rest of old Almas Thirr’s interiors received only a number of smaller touch-ups by Peter, and did not need separate claims. All of this work on Almas Thirr was diligently reviewed by Aveno, Denis418, Aidan1470, and Peter.

Aside from this, some straggling claims in the new landmass around Lake Andaram still made their way in (reviews by Denis418, Jackimoff Wackimoff, and Vern):

• a shipwreck in Lake Andaram, a rework of the Othrano stronghold, and a bandit camp by Aveno
• mad alchemist’s Velothi tower by Phenoix12
• ancestral tombs by Khazar and RDV (1, 2)
• caves by RDV (1, 2) and Ataemus
• grotto by bDacc

Some of the last interiors still needed for Andaram are refits of our pre-existing cutters and galleons, as we want to take advantage of the greatly improved exterior models and interior tilesets recently made by Melchior Dahrk for the OAAB asset repository. Almost all of these are either finished or pending review:

• TEM Saber of the Straits at Firewatch by Osidian is already reviewed by Taniquetil
• the wreck of TEM General Symmachus off of Firewatch by Aidan1470
• the wreck of TEM Helseth in the Thirr delta by CdoubleOK
• TEM Princess Morgiah at Old Ebonheart by Silvone
• The Northern Wind, a galleon of the Imperial Archaeological Society off the coast of Telvannis by Silvone
• Taniquetil and Fremennik have been reworking six cutter ships (1, 2), of which three are already done

Quests

A few weeks prior to the release of Dominions, with most quest development for that expansion wrapped up, we were able to open up questing for Andaram. The first task was to add NPCs, creatures, and general dialogue to the Andaram expansion area. This work was very quickly finished by Revane (1, 2, 3), Delemis, PoasterToaster, and pralec, and reviewed by pralec and Mortimer.

Since then, the progress on Andaram has been stunning, with more than a hundred new quests already complete for the next release. The first ones to be developed, starting in December, were the two major questlines in Hlan Oek, both of which are now finished and reviewed by pralec:

• House Hlaalu by hardycore and Rats, which focuses on the Indoril-Hlaalu conflict
• Tribunal Temple by Revane, exploring the dilemmas of the faithful in this thuggish town

Simultaneously, a ton of miscellaneous quests were added in Hlan Oek (reviewed by pralec and FlinSunset):

• High and Dry by FlinSunset
• The Clueless Egg Miner by Evil Eye
• Lost but not Forgotten by Envy123 and pralec
• Diving for Arns by Donnerino
• Passage to Menevia by Dillonn241
• House For Sale by DarkKnightComes (S’Wit) and FlinSunset
• Strabo’s Book Problem by Wanax
• A Pilgrim’s Guide to Hlan Oek by Revane
• Waiting on a Friend by Arkasas and Ronik

The same was the case in the countryside around Lake Andaram (reviewed by pralec and FlinSunset):

• Lurker in the Mangroves by Kevin
• Caught in a Net by Revane
• The Nymph and the Ogre by Rats and Sultan of Rum
• The Secret Master by Ricketybob is still pending review
• The Dead Pilgrim is currently being made as a quest showcase by LogansGun

Almas Thirr questing had to wait until the main structure of the revamped city was merged, but its main questlines were already opened up in March:

• a series of relatively simple writs for the Morag Tong by Revane (reviewed by pralec)
• an escalating series of jobs for the Fighters Guild by abby, going back and forth between the Hlaalu and Indoril on either side of the river (reviewed by FlinSunset)
• Thieves Guild by FlinSunset, dealing with the rivalry between the guild and the Camonna Tong (reviewed by abby)
• the soul-capture-focused Mages Guild questline, still in development by Taniquetil and Ricketybob

We intend to further expand the amount of miscellaneous quests in this enlarged Temple stronghold, but work on that can only start after we refit all older dialogue and quests into the new Almas Thirr (currently in progress by pralec) – as all interiors there have changed, we must make sure to fix any issues this may have caused in old content. pralec received help in this matter from FlinSunset, who already refit the 2019 Tribunal Temple questline for the new surroundings.

If the above was all the quest content that the relatively small Andaram expansion had, we would have been happy… but Tamriel Rebuilt has recently been blessed with an absolute profusion of great new quest developers – something that was unfathomable just a couple years ago! Faced with this mob of hungry questers angrily demanding claims, we took the opportunity to fill in gaps in the already-released Aanthirin area, similar to the interior top-up discussed in the previous section.

Most significantly, Threetooth made a short, low-level House Hlaalu questline in the Oran plantation on the western bank of the Thirr that focuses on infighting between Hlaalu plantation owners, reviewed by FlinSunset. Aside from this, there were several miscellaneous tweaks and additions (reviews by Revane and FlinSunset):

• A Will to Go On in Indal-ruhn and Casting the Riches Away in Roa Dyr – two new quests by Donnerino
• Reclaiming Haliwaran by FlinSunset
• a substantial rewrite of Drinking, Stealing, Ranting – a Roa Dyr quest originally added in Dominions – by Sultan of Rum
• His Eyes are on You in Roa Dyr by Khazar is finished, but still awaiting final review
• many new “latest rumors” in the Aanthrin region by Revane are also pending review

Another item we managed tackle was the cut content and gaps in quest coverage in Dominions of Dust. There were two questlines that just barely didn’t make into the original release, but will now release with Andaram:

• Baluath Vampire Questline by Dillonn241 and FlinSunset (reviewed by Mortimer), wherein you get to revive an ancient vampire clan, long thought dead, in the Armun Ashlands
• Andothren Thieves Guild by Rats (reviewed by abby), with a similar premise of getting to rebuild a guild chapter that was recently wiped out

As we specifically felt that Andothren had a paucity of miscellaneous quests for a city that large, several new ones were made (reviewed by pralec and FlinSunset):

• a series of simple bounties in the Roth Roryn region given in the Andothren Magistrate, made by Threetooth
• The Rivaling Alchemists by jonado
• Material Matters by Boethiah and Ronik
• Soul Inheritor by Vayatir
• The Thief, She Kindly Spoke by FlinSunset
• Drowned Out by Revane

A number of miscellaneous quests were added and fixes made in the rest of the Dominions of Dust release area (reviewed by pralec and Mortimer):

• The Proud Redoran by rockbiter64, Dunmerius, and Revane
• Shorted a Kwama by Taniquetil and PoasterToaster
• unique dialogue for Uman and the Velothi Mountains by Sultan of Rum, something that was overlooked at the time Dominions released
• abby implemented important fixes to the two Imperial Legion questlines she made for Dominions and Embers of Empire (1, 2)
• a dialogue rewrite for Tribunal Thrill-Seeking, an already-released quest, by Sultan of Rum
• a set of new latest rumors throughout the Dominions area by Donnerino are still pending review

Now scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to throw at our quest developers, we cleaned out our website of old un-implemented quest ideas and showcases, resulting in a couple of new adventures being added to Necrom (yes, you heard that right!) and Old Ebonheart (reviewed by pralec):

• Wake for the Waves in Necrom by Revane
• A Broken Family in Necrom by Lexyp and Ricketybob
• A Taste of Home in Old Ebonheart by Ronik
• Khajiit Ambassador’s Brother Abducted in Old Ebonheart by Dunmerius and Revane
• the melee tournament questline for Old Ebonheart received some progress by Marhaus, and may still be included with Andaram, if all goes well
• The Plaintiff is Hereby Summoned in Necrom by pralec is also currently in development

As a final desperate act to sate our ravenous quest developers, we decided to provide temporary stopgaps for our ancient Telvanni and Temple content in northeastern Morrowind. These relatively simple quests will help make the Telvanni lands feel less incomplete for a while, but we fully expect to nuke most of them once the grand Telvanni redo comes around in a decade’s time or so – much better to start that with a clean slate:

• Reclaiming Oathrung for Mistress Faruna in Tel Oren by Donnerino (reviewed by Jackimoff Wackimoff)
• a questline for Mistress Rathra in Tel Ouada by Ronik is now pending review
• a final confrontation with Rilvin Dral in Port Telvannis is still in development by Ronik
• abby has been continuing Why’s end-cap to the Ranyon-Ruhn Temple questline, which currently ends on a cliff-hanger

As all this was happening, viol was steadily addressing a frequent player complaint about a lack of roleplaying reasons to visit the mainland. The solution was to add a series of simple quest hooks to questgivers from Vanilla, which will be packaged together with the optional TR_Factions plugin file. Several such quest hooks are now complete (reviews by FlinSunset and Revane):

• Invitation to Andothren – fast-rising members of House Hlaalu on Vvardenfell may now find a letter from Tholer Andas, suggesting they come visit him in Andothren
• Tenyeminwe’s Message to Banvira Auctoria – as you help Tenyeminwe escape Sadrith Mora in the Vanilla Mages Guild questline, she will ask you to deliver a message to Firewatch
• Request from Ajira to send a letter to her friend in Old Ebonheart

Further good news is that Revane has now finished the review of our long-suffering Foul Murder questline by 6plus, which we originally hoped to ship with Dominions, but which may now ship with Andaram, instead. This will be an epilogue of sorts to the Morrowind main quest, centered mostly in Necrom, that will explore the Temple coming to grips with the waning power of the Tribunal. For the purposes of the quest, Cicero created a burnt-out Ashlander camp near Necrom (pending review), but some exterior edits and a new Velothi tower interior are still needed before the quest can see the limelight. Also still needed is the completion of a mural, a special bonewalker, and, just possibly, a new cutscene.

With a few more quests still in development, we hope this will be enough for the “little” Andaram expansion!

Lastly, we should mention all the diligent playtesting, claim merging, bugfixing, content tweaking, and other improvements that have been happening on the background thanks to Jackimoff Wackimoff, Evil Eye, pralec, abby, MinerMan60101, Taniquetil, Mortimer, Chef, Peter, Denis418, Ronik, and others. This work may be less sexy, but incredibly important for making the new expansion come together.

The expansion that will contain the city of Narsis will rival and possibly exceed Dominions of Dust in geographical extent and amount of content, containing not only the eponymous city, but also the rest of the Coronati Basin region around the middle part of the Thirr river and a huge chunk of the southern Shipal-Shin region.

Exteriors for this expansion have been completed for a while, with mojo187 finishing the review of Chef’s work on Narsis in February. We still hope to include a small strip of the Deshaan Plains in this expansion, but that is still waiting behind a couple more ground textures to be developed (interested texture artists, please come forward!). Hence, the big focus was on finishing up all the needed interiors – and, boy, are there many to go through!

Interiors

First opened for interior development last Summer, the city of Narsis with its nearly 200 interiors has been built quarter-by-quarter, in order to better manage the workflow. By now, thanks to hard work by all involved, most of the city’s interiors are finished and almost all of the few remaining are in development.

First in the line was the northwestern Market Quarter, where the roads to Mir Corrup and Stormhold cross, being possibly the busiest concentration of mercantile activity in the whole of Morrowind. Most of this quarter was already finished last October; since then, all but two of the remaining interiors have been completed (reviews by Mark, Peter, Denis418, Jackimoff Wackimoff, and Vern):

• the Manor of the Sixth Family of House Hlaalu by PartiallySane
• Hlaalu Council Company offices and bank by Peter
• Hall of Farmers and Laborers by Vern, Fremennik, and Khazar
• the smaller of Narsis’ two Tribunal Temples by Hemitheon
• egg mine storage building by Syzygy
• fancy clothes shop by Mark
• residence by Bero
• a within-city-limits farmhouse by Blackbird
• Bero is still developing the Market Quarter sewers, continuing off from Peter’s work, as well as the drawbridge over the Thirr river

The second one, St. Veloth’s Quarter, is a run-down and claustrophobic district mainly for poor Dunmer workers, dominated by the Camonna Tong and affiliated business interests. It, too, has been mostly complete for a while, but many more items than in the Market Quarter were finished since October (reviews by Vern, Denis418, Mark, and Jackimoff Wackimoff):

• “Brevur Heights”, the larger of the quarter’s two huge apartment towers. Coordinated and reviewed by Vern and Denis418, with individual apartments made by Nirvayn, Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Mark, Aidan, and others
• “Velothi Tower”, the “smaller” apartment tower. Coordinated and reviewed by Jackimoff Wackimoff, with apartments created by Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Lumpag, Fremennik, Exovian, and others
• other residences by Khazar (1, 2, 3), Kaiel, Thal, rayetaspen, Maurvir, Ragox, and Threetooth
• Hall of Tailors and Dyers by PoasterToaster and PartiallySane
• St. Veloth’s Quarter sewers by Osidian
• a fishery by Exovian
• a seedy backwater pub by Khazar
• shops and services by Aidan1470 and Aveno

The third quarter to be opened up was the Waterfront. Hugging the eastern cliffside right next to the Thirr, this is where most shipbound traffic in Narsis loads its goods. As the above quarters, it, too, is nearing completion (reviews by Peter, Mark, Jackimoff Wackimoff, Denis418, and Vern):

• The manor of the Seventh Family of House Hlaalu by Osidian
• East Empire Company offices and warehouse by Khazar
• Camonna-Tong-owned Kwama egg warehouse by Ataemus and Aveno
• Raran Family Company warehouse by Khazar
• Waterfront sewers by Osidian and Aveno
• pubs and clubs by Aidan1470 and Salmonroll
• a food store by Khazar
• two ships by Aveno (1, 2)
• residences by Aveno, DarkKnightComes, and Khazar

Next up for development was the huge Foreign Quarter in the south of the city – an anachronism from pre-Armistice times when foreign merchants were only allowed to ply trade in the floodlands south of the old city. Most interiors there are now finished (reviewed by Mark, Jackimoff Wackimoff, Rats, and Aidan1470):

• Heron Hall (the de facto district headquarters for the Imperial Legion), the printing office for The Canyon Echo newspaper, the Briricca Private Bank, a dockside theater and the Guild of Merchants, all by Khazar
• Guild of Prostitutes by Syzygy
• Guild of Barristers by PartiallySane
• Hall of Furnishers and Caravaners by Bero
• Hall of Bakers and Distillers by Fremennik
• Hall of Brewers and Fishmongers by Shadowhawk_the19th
• a part of the Foreign Quarter sewers by Aveno
• clubs and taverns by Bero and Shadowhawk_the19th
• Census and Excise offices by Shadowhawk_the19th
• Coast Guard tower and cutter ship by Khazar
• guard towers by RyanS and Shadowhawk_the19th
• shops and services by Aidan1470 and RyanS
• residences by Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4), Shadowhawk_the19th (1, 2), RyanS, and Worm

Many of the more significant interiors in the quarter still remain in development, but most of these are well on their way:

• Divine Temple of Zenithar by bDacc
• Guild of Fighters by RyanS
• Guild of Mages by Taniquetil
• the rest of the Foreign Quarter sewers by Aveno
• Fighting Chance tavern by CherryGoat
• trader specializing in underwater exploration equipment by bDacc
• apartments by Maurvir

Sitting halfway up the cliffs just north of the Foreign Quarter is the wealthy Old Quarter, which in long times past was the core of the city. Most interiors there have been reviewed by Mark and Jackimoff Wackimoff:

• manor of the First Family of House Hlaalu by RyanS and Osidian
• old manor of the Narusa family and the manor of the Hlaalu Council’s chief clerk by Bero
• Raran Manor, home of the Chief Justice, and a pair of apartments, all by Khazar
• Hall of Potters and Glassblowers by Shadowhawk_the19th
• various fancy shops and services by Aidan1470 (1, 2), Bero, and Khazar
• guard tower by Bero
• pending review are some Hlaalu retainer apartments by ines_g and AverageRedoranEnjoyer, a barrister’s house by Bero, and the home of the Hlaalu Council’s chief inquisitor by kronifer and Exovian
• still making progress in development are the old catacombs by Vern and Osidian

The last one to be opened up in Narsis, simultaneously with the Old Quarter, was the Council Quarter on top of the mesa. As it holds most of the wealthiest kingpins and institutions of Narsis, these are some of the trickiest interiors to make, and many are waiting behind bespoke models becoming available. Still, some are already reviewed by Mark and Denis418:

• Grand Casino by Osidian, serving also as the headquarters of the Camonna Tong
• the shop of one of Morrowind’s richest traders by Mark
• one of the massive spires of the Hlaalu Council Guard by Aidan1470
• manor of a minor Hlaalu noble by Aveno

Many other major interiors are either pending review or already well into development:

• grand Tribunal Temple by Aveno, pending review
• the gigantic Hlaalu Grand Council Hall by Fremennik
• Imperial Proconsulate of Morrowind province by PartiallySane and Taniquetil
• manor of the Second Family of House Hlaalu by Mark, the richest mansion in the entire province
• manor of the Hlaalu Council Company director by Salmonroll
• three more Council Guard spires by Bero (1, 2; both pending review) and adamantum

All told, 153 interiors in Narsis have been reviewed, 6 are pending review, and 17 are still in development out of a total of 189. The city, the second biggest in all of Morrowind, looks on track to be completed after only a little more than a year in development!

A comparable amount of interior work was done outside of Narsis, too. There are several smaller towns in the Coronati Basin and Shipal-Shin region, most of which are now completed interior-wise.

One such is the town of Hlerynhul on the mouth of the river Kanit, called Ud Hleryn in our previous progress updates (and what a nauseating re-naming debate that was – ugh!). There, the last remaining interiors were finished and merged (reviews by Vern and Denis418):

• Guild of Fighters by Mark
• Temple of Dibella by Fremennik and Lumpag
• apartments by Denis418 and Exovian

The little town of Sadrathim on the eastern bank of the Thirr very recently received its last interior, too: the Temple of Stendarr and Zenithar by Saddboye, Denis418, and Khazar (reviewed by Denis418 and Mark).

Ald Iuval, one of the two Redoran holdouts in the Coronati Basin, got a new Tribunal Temple by Jackimoff Wackimoff (reviewed by Vern), but is still waiting for Peter to finish the Council Hall of the Waters March, which very recently received a bespoke building mesh by Shivatheo.

The last major settlement in the Narsis expansion to not have received any interior work was the once-wealthy, but now decrepit caravan town of Shipal-Sharai. Phenoix12, who also created the town’s exterior and conceptualized its story, opened up the first claims only in June. All were soon gobbled up by our many interior developers, with a substantial portion already finished for review. The House of Red Wings, a once-glamorous cabaret by Phenoix12, has even been reviewed by Jackimoff Wackimoff. The rest follow:

• caravanserai office by CdoubleOK
• Imperial Legion post by Silvone
• manor of the local Hlaalu lord and a jewellery store by Bero
• apothecary by Osidian
• abandoned store by CdoubleOK
• warehouse by Khazar
• inn by Shadowhawk_the19th
• apartments by Bero (1, 2), Deenday, and Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• the town’s depleted mines by CdoubleOK

Others are not yet finished, but have already received substantial progress:

• the caravanserai, the main reason for the town’s continued existence, by AverageRedoranEnjoyer
• general goods store by Aidan1470

Aside from Narsis and the other towns, an important objective is to finish the wilderness and countryside interiors of the Coronati Basin, which would allow us to open up our next NPC, dialogue, and quest claims. These have been worked on for a long time, with many of the interiors having remained in review limbo for more than a year. New and returning interior reviewers (Jackimoff Wackimoff, Peter, Denis418, Aveno, and Aidan1470) have, however, made great strides this Summer in getting all of them wrapped up:

• Velothi tower by Excuses & Accusations and RDV
• Redoran ruin by Snailsting
• plantations, farms, and ranches by Fremennik, Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11), RDV (1, 2), and Dubba_D
• shipwrecks by CherryGoat and PartiallySane
• ancestral tombs by DarkKnightComes, Khazar, and Aveno
• caves and grottos by Am’Shak, Ragox, RDV, and Thal
• Kwama egg mine by christixn

Seveeral more were finished within in the past nine months, but not yet reviewed:

• winery manorhouse by RDV and Khazar
• ranches by Exovian and Khazar
• Redoran ruin by CherryGoat
• riverside shack by CdoubleOK
• Kwama egg mine by RDV
• grotto by Snailsting

Also well under development in the Coronati Basin is Vandirelyon stronghold near Othmura by Quit, which will play an important role in the town’s Mages Guild questline.

Three more interiors were finished in the thin strip of Othreleth Woods next to the basin (reviews by Denis418 and Vern):

• Daedric ruin dedicated to Malacath by Aveno
• bandit camp by Aveno
• fisherman’s shack by Khazar

Finally, innumerable wilderness interiors in the Shipal-Shin region were opened late last year and are now inching towards completion (reviews by Mark, Jackimoff Wackimoff, Denis418, Vern, and Rats):

• the final interiors needed for Castle Narsis, the palace of the disgraced Duke of Narsis, by Aveno and Khazar
• a part of the border post for the Stormgate Pass to Black Marsh by Phenoix12
• a part of the Septim’s Gate pass to Cyrodiil by Exovian
• all of the grand Vedas Plantation by Aidan1470 and Syzygy, Deenday (1, 2), Denis418, and Exovian
• parts of the Old Dren Plantation by Khazar (1, 2)
• several smaller farms by Khazar (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Osidian, Salmonroll, and christixn
• Velothi tower by Aveno
• two Daedric ruins by Phenoix12 and RyanS
• Kwama egg mine by Silvone
• guard tower by nectarine juice

Many of the remaining Shipal-Shin interiors were finished, but not yet reviewed:

• the rest of the Imperial fort of Septim’s Gate Pass by Aveno, Quit, and Khazar
• most parts of the Shinathi-occupied Yaradnan stronghold by Aveno (1, 2) and RDV (1, 2, 3, 4)
• the abandoned stronghold of Ulumarano by Aveno
• Daedric ruins by Aveno and RDV
• farm and a Shinathi camp by Khazar
• mines by Bero, Khazar, obie dwyer, RDV, Shadowhawk_the19th (1, 2), and Silvone
• ancestral tombs by Khazar (1, 2), RDV, and Ragox, including a guard tower attached to the massive Hlaalu ancestral tomb near Narsis by RDV
• caves by Aveno (1, 2), Paramelia, RDV (1, 2, 3, 4), RyanS, and Aidan1470

And then there are several still making development progress:

• the long-abandoned Reman Imperial ruin of Fort Casimor by Ragox and obie dwyer
• the ancient Ayleid border post of Mala Tor by Phenoix12
• ruins of the Daedric “city” of Ald Khan by Lumpag
• a Velothi tower by Salmonroll
• caves by MinerMan60101, Ragox, Silvone, and Snailsting
• ancestral tombs by Serpentbyte, AverageRedoranEnjoyer, Khazar, and RDV

As you can see from the unwieldy length of the preceding chapter, the past year has seen the completion of the bulk of the interior work needed for the Narsis expansion. The rest are all under active development, with the exception of a few that still lack a required asset or two.

The most numerous of the latter camp are the Skyrender hives in the eastern part of the Shipal-Shin, which need to have their interior tileset finalized (willing 3D modelers and/or texture artists are welcome to help bring the in-development files to completion!), although we can initially ship these exterior-only, if need be.

Quests

Given the interior-completion of several towns in the Coronati Basin and with Andaram quests very nearly done, questing for the Narsis expansion has officially begun!

The first NPC and dialogue addition claims were already opened up in April for the towns of Hlerynhul and Othmura, and were quickly finalized by Revane. Now reviewed by abby and pralec, you can already see these NPCs strolling through our Thirr Valley section file.

Months of conceptualization by Revane, abby, pralec, FlinSunset, Donnerino, Mark, and others meant that several questline designs were ready to roll, one of which is already done:

• Hlerynhul Fighters Guild by FlinSunset is already awaiting review
• Hlerynhul Imperial Cult by Donnerino
• Hlerynhul Imperial Legion by hammered on sujammer
• Othmura House Hlaalu by Khazar

As many more designs are currently under development, waiting for interior work to catch up, expect busy questing activity throughout the Narsis expansion area soon.

We must finally mention the hard work that Mark, Vern, Chef, and others have been doing in conceptualizing the city of Narsis and its surroundings; the structure, characters, and relationships within House Hlaalu; the Shinathi nomads; and many of the faction questlines. All the documentation written by these authors will hopefully ensure a smooth development cycle for Narsis content and a cohesive experience for our players.

The Sundered Scar expansion aims to remake the currently almost content-less Sundered Scar region (just east of Old Ebonheart) into a truly unique biome with plenty of quest content.

Work on this expansion has been relatively sluggish, with most people focusing on Andaram or the Narsis expansion. Still, several important strides have been made since last October and it may still be possible that we release this expansion prior to Narsis.

Exteriors

Solid progress has been made on Sundered Scar exteriors:

• Cicero’s new island of Gorne, finished since last Summer, was reviewed by Chef in the beginning of the year.
• Chef himself finalized the very first claim in Sundered Scar proprer late last year, which included the fully overhauled and expanded town of Darvonis. It was reviewed by Cicero in February.
• Cicero’s next contribution was the completion of a huge chunk of the inhospitable western Scar early this year, soon after reviewed by Chef.
• Very recently, pralec finished a northwestern slice of the region, including the future site of Ida Vano, the Indoril player stronghold (previously called Id Vano), as an exterior showcase. This claim is still pending review.

The three finished claims above have been merged into a new section file by Chef. The rest remain under development:

• Denis418 made some progress on the area just north of Almalexia, containing the town of Varon, prior to having to drop the claim.
• Chef has re-sculpted the landscape for a part of the range of volcanic mountains directly abutting the Aanthirin region to the west.
• MinerMan60101 has created the basic heightmap for the north-eastern part of the region, which will include the coastal town of Marog (a name repurposed from a to-be-reduced Telvanni settlement near Helnim).

Interiors

Chef organized the first interiors of the expansion to be opened up in the town of Darvonis at the very end of last year. All of these have since been finished (all reviewed by Denis418):

• Dust Market, the main place of commerce in Sundered Scar, by Aveno
• water purifier, necessary for the survival of the town, by Aveno
• Hall of the Ash Sweeps by Shadowhawk_the19th
• headquarters for the Darvonis Watch – i.e. the local peacekeepers – by Aidan1470
• Tribunal Temple by Aveno
• lighthouse by Osidian
• an inn and a smith’s shop, both by Khazar
• watchtower by Aidan1470
• Kwama egg mine by Aveno
• trade ship by Khazar
• the Hetman’s house by Khazar
• a ton of other residences by RDV (1, 2, 3) Khazar (1, 2), ines_g, Bero, Fremennik, Azrayel, and Deenday

Just days ago, Peter also opened up the first wilderness interior claims for this expansion, corresponding with exterior claims 01, 04, and 07, and our interior developers are currently diving into them. Shadowhawk_the19th has by now put a tomb up for review, whereas Quit has made progress on a second one. Even prior to all this, Ragox had been working on a cave in the region that he himself made many years ago, but which needs some updates.

Quest-wise, we are still waiting for more of the region to be finished, but Revane, Donnerino, and Sultan of Rum have already done some conceptualization in terms of miscellaneous quests and a Temple questline. Moreover, two new and enterprising developers have already created quest showcases that take place in the region:

• Simple Cartography by Donnerino, successfully passed thanks to pralec
• Muck Business by Deenday, which is currently in limbo, but will likely be turned into a full quest claim in the future

As a final bit of bonus content, we would dearly love to ship a rework of Kemel-Ze together with Sundered Scar – although the interior of that most famous Dwemer ruin has been in the mod since 2008, it is far from a coherent and full experience. heavenlee has been slowly making progress on a total rework of the interior, but much more is still needed, especially in conceptualizing the questline that will take place there.

Hopefully, steady progress on the exteriors and interiors will continue and we may soon see the full vision of the remade Scar come to life.

This section of the newsletter actually concerns two different upcoming expansions – one centered around the town of Andrethis (previously called Saint Seryn) and one around Kragenmoor – both of which will mostly feature the Othreleth Woods region with a little bit of Shipal-Shin on the side (plus a little bit of the Velothi Mountains next to Kragenmoor). For now, however, there is little to differentiate the expansions in terms of development flow, and we will consider them together here.

Exteriors

The exterior claims for the two expansions remain right on track, with nearly all of them having received at least some progress by now, and a couple already finished.

The finished claims were both made by Blackbird, a veteran exterior and interior developer who decided to rejoin Tamriel Rebuilt just last year:

• The first claim, Othreleth Woods 05, forms the northeastern bit of the Othreleth Woods region and includes the sprawling Narusa winery, home base for perhaps the most influential Hlaalu councillor. Finished already late last year, it was quickly reviewed by Chef and forms the first bit of our new Othreleth Woods East section file.
• On the opposite side of said section file is Shipal-Shin 14, which Blackbird finished in February, and which was reviewed early this June by mojo187 with help from Phenoix12. This area is mostly desert wilderness roamed by the Shinathi clans; the only sign of civilization is a crossroads inn.

Although these two are the only finished claims, several others on the eastern side of the Othreleth Woods (i.e. the Andrethis expansion) are quite far along:

• Shipal Shin 13, a small claim on the border of the province that has a decent-sized Drumpear farm, is very nearly finished by Tombomb47 and Cookiemonster16, needing only slight border-matching with neighbouring claims.
• Shipal Shin 11 – a large wilderness area on the Cyrodiil border – has also been brought very close to finalization by Sevenup243.
• Shipal Shin 12 on the transition from the Othreleth Woods to the Shipal-Shin canyons contains a significant mining town (formerly called Andrethis, a new name is pending). Chef has made some progress on the town itself and the surrounding cliffsides.
• Othreleth Woods 04 – a stretch of deeper woods with the Veloth’s path passing through – has seen a lot of work done by Chef and is currently being finalized by Blackbird.
• mojo187 has completed a decent portion of Othreleth Woods 06, containing the Hlaalu village of Ilaanam as well as plantations and farms along the middle span of the Kanit river.
• A significant part of Othreleth Woods 08 – a relatively cultivated stretch of the middle Kanit and its tributaries, also including the Hlaalu village of Narun – was finished by Saddboye this February. Silvone, another returning veteran developer, is now continuing it as part of an exterior developer showcase.
• Fremennik made some progress on Othreleth Woods 09 early in the year. This claim holds the meandering lower span of the Kanit river, the Redoran ruins of Ald Lambasi, and the Hlaalu town of Ferventhil.
• Wanax, a new exterior developer, made initial progress on Othreleth Woods 10 this June. This claim forms the southeastern corner of the woods and is almost entirely made up of deep, dense mushroom forest full of dangerous creatures and bandits.
• Othreleth Woods 07, containing the Balmora-sized industrial town of Andrethis (earlier called Saint Seryn), is perhaps the least far along, with only heightmap and basic layout work done late last year by Gnomey.

Much of the western side of the Othreleth Woods (slated for the Kragenmoor expansion), is not far behind:

• Shipal Shin 16, a dramatic cliff-scape containing the Hlaalu town of Salvelis, was finished in February by Phenoix12 and is currently awaiting review.
• The centrepiece that is the city of Kragenmoor (claim Othreleth Woods 01 by Nemon) has been asymptotically creeping closer and closer to completion. Chef made some bespoke building meshes for the city earlier this Spring and Nemon is now only a couple steps away from sending it to review.
• Phenoix12 has finished most of what’s needed for Othreleth Woods 02, a stretch of deep woodlands south of Kragenmoor, containing a major abandoned Reman Imperial ruin from late in the First Era.
• Othreleth Woods 03 by DarkKnightComes received some initial progress early this year. This claim contains the town of Hla Rud, which is where goods are transferred between the carriages and wagons that travel through Shadowgate Pass through Kragenmoor, and flat-bottomed riverboats that ply the Kanit river down to Morrowind’s heartland.
• Shipal Shin 15 is a wilderness area on the Cyrodiil border, home to the Liver Eater goblin tribe. It was worked on previously by Kaiel, but is now close to being finished by Mothpot as an exterior developer showcase.
• Nemon has now started working on Velothi Mountains 01, just to the west of Kragenmoor, which contains the source of the Kanit river.

Interiors

Perhaps the bigger news on the Othreleth Woods front is that interior development has now started up! To sate our busy interior bees with nothing to work on, Peter made claims for the first two reviewed exteriors late last month.

In the Othreleth Woods 05 area, a considerable portion is already finished or pending review:

• a small netch ranch was completed as an interior developer showcase by Donnerino and reviewed by Peter
• a laborer’s shack by paramelia was reviewed by Jackimoff Wackimoff
• in the grand Narusa plantation, the winery building by Fremennik, slave lodgings by Shadowhawk_the19th, two guard towers by Deenday and Donnerino, and a storage building and retainer lodgings by Khazar are pending review, whereas some progress has been made on the foreman’s house by Aidan1470
• Paramelia finished a Kuj pod farmhouse and a poor guar rancher’s house, both up for review
• an ancestral tomb by Shadowhawk_the19th is awaiting review
• a Velothi tower by CdoubleOK is awaiting review, too

The same is true in Shipal-Shin 14, despite claims only being opened up a week or two ago:

• an ancestral tomb by Shadowhawk_the19th has already been reviewed by Jackimoff Wackimoff and two others by Aveno and Khazar are pending review
• a farm by Khazar
• a Velothi tower and a set of Shinathi tents by Quit
• a large stronghold by CdoubleOK (1, 2, 3, 4)

As the Narsis expansion moves firmly into the questing stage, expect much more exterior and interior progress here in the coming months.

In addition to these major upcoming expansions, Tamriel Rebuilt has been developing a series of smaller islands on the side, dotting the far shores of our landmass (see here for an in-depth overview). None of these are yet pegged to any particular expansion, but may instead be attached to the next upcoming one as soon as any are finished.

The furthest along of these is our rework of Firemoth (the island being called Saros Caldera in our in-house lore, as from a TES III technical standpoint it is important for wilderness regions and settlements/forts to not start with the same name). In recent months, the final remaining ruined interiors from earlier were reviewed by Denis418 and Vern, as were a set of brand-new restored ones:

• a ruined keep tower for Fort Firemoth and Sulfurwatch Keep, Fort Firemoth’s companion naval base, by Denis418
• Fort Firemoth keep, and an extensive mine and cavern complex underneath the fort by Evil Eye
• restored versions of the fort’s gatehouse and keep tower, as well as the navy fort, all by Nirvayn
• restored variant of Firemoth’s main keep by RandomPal
• the only remaining interior is a galleon shipwreck, which was worked on by obie dwyer, but currently remains unclaimed

Early in the year, Evil Eye also started the re-implementation and re-imagining of the Siege at Firemoth quest, which will integrate into the game more fully than the original version. After many iterations informed by Denis418’s playtesting, the quest is now ready for review! Evil Eye has also been brainstorming a follow-on questline for Imperial Legion players, wherein the fort will be restored as your own faction stronghold.

After several rounds of bugfixes and merges by Evil Eye, Denis418, and Taniquetil, the redone island is closer than ever to completion; only one interior and the restoration quest remain undone.

Something to note is that while the Tamriel Rebuilt version of Firemoth will still be optional, we will possibly bundle it into our main file by default, so as to make it easier to integrate the island to other mainland content. We will instead offer an optional plugin to remove the island and associated quests for those who prefer to load the original plugin or an alternative mod.

The next closest to completion is Vounoura, a Mephala-and-Sanguine-related semi-mythical island far to the north of Telvannis, in the Sea of Ghosts. Cicero, the creator of the island, recently finished its Daedric ruin interior, complete with twin shrines to the two Daedric princes. While that is pending review, Cicero moved on to conceptualizing a quest for Sanguine, for which he already created a small new tropical island in the southern Padomaic Ocean, close to Morrowind’s shore.

Our longest-developed island is Olanar, situated a ways east of the Telvanni Isles, and slated to be the site of a complex miscellaneous quest involving the Maormer. This island, too, made some progress on the interiors front, and only an abandoned Telvanni tower remains to be finished:

• RDV finished the Shaav grotto on the island, with a lot of feedback from Denis418. The interior is now waiting for review.
• Osidian very recently finished up Vadridan, a Velothi tower at the “edge of the world,” which was subsequently reviewed by Mark.

Finally, Cicero recently created a small archipelago called Leviathan Islands to the north of Sheogorad, based on Taniquetil’s design (pending review). These islands are there to host two locations mentioned in TES III canon:

• The wrecked old Leviathan Keep from the War of the Red Diamond, also interpreted as one of the “series of Imperial garrisons along the coastal Morrowind islands” mentioned in the Brief History of the Empire.
• A runestone and Nordic tomb belonging to Fokbar, an Atmoran companion of Ysgramor mentioned in the recounting of the Five Hundred, whose daughter is said to have “troubled the East.”

And that is all for implementation progress on Tamriel Rebuilt for the past nine months, although surely many items were forgotten. Hopefully it was enough to sate your thirst for progress; rest assured that work on the project is continuing at this very moment.

Outside of Narsis District, the start of exterior development on further expansions requires additional assets to be finished – if you are interested in helping out with 3D models or textures, see, for example, our wiki page on the Clambering Moor region, which will be the start of our Redoran content.

For more frequent progress updates and a view into the mod-making process itself, come see us on our Discord server, where we develop the mod in the open. And if you would like to help make the world of Morrowind come to completion sooner, consider joining the development team. TES III modding is very easy to get started in – no prior experience is needed and there is plenty of work to go around for beginner developers!

Special thanks to FlinSunset for a ton of screenshots, and hammered on sujammer for the banner screenshot!