I'm actually going the opposite direction: I think the Deshaan plains should be made large enough so as to look impressive even with distant land on. To that end, I think most of its western border should simply be a ridge the whole plains rise up to (brown in the map below) before dropping down steeply to Lake Andaram, rather than a mountain range, so that there is no visible boundary there; that the Orethan regions and Nedothril Coast should be part of the same plain (though they would not be as flat); and that the coastal mudflats region and Argon Jungle should be at roughly water level, also not providing a visible boundary.

Now of course such a massive plain would have to be broken up to remain interesting, and there are any number of ways to do so. Leaving the other regions aside, I do think we should avoid significant hills/mesas/cliffs for the Deshaan, though. To me, Morrowind is hills. It does everything with hills. You have hills in Telvannis, hills in Velothis, and Vvardenfell is a pile of hills. You get all kinds of hills; flat tops with steep sides? Try Roth Roryn or Shipal-shin; TR loves cliffs as much as vanilla Morrowind loves hills. I think the vast Deshaan plains could play a very important role in providing a break from all the hills.

There are other aspects; leaving the terrain mostly flat would theoretically allow us to add large creatures like siltstriders or in general creatures with very broad bounding boxes to the plains without looking very silly. Also, I think that -- if all is done well -- the flat terrain could give the region a sense of drear I think it needs; the Grey Meadows provide an excellent example of that in my opinion, being a very flat region much smaller than the Deshaan.

I think the Grey Meadows in general provide a good example for a flat, interesting region: it is a challenge to make a region interesting without extreme differences in elevation, (though again the Deshaan will at the very least have crevasses), but I think we can pull it off and, again, to keep things fresh and to give the Deshaan the right atmosphere, I think we should pull it off.

To pull it off, we need good assets -- rocks and flora and such -- good textures, and ways to further break up the textures, like the chlorine pools and the chlorine clouds. We'd be able to get the most out of the flora if it covers a lot of ground with relatively few faces. Beyond that, good fauna would really help, whether hostile or passive. Skyrenders patrolling the skies, vast insects migrating across the plains, smaller muskfly-like creatures buzzing around the chlorine pools in small groups...

I do think that the purpose of your sharp-sided mesa-like hills will be fulfilled to a large extent by the Dres clansteads, though, which to me provides another reason to avoid sharp rises in elevation as you suggest: they will draw attention away from the clansteads, making the clansteads look less visually impressive; it's a very different thing to have a massive canton-like structure rise out from the middle of a plain than to have it rise up in a plain dotted with mesa-like features which may or may not tower over it.

I very much like your concepts, but also agree with EJRS. I've always had the Deshaan in mind with some depth or embossing. Differences in height are necessary to keep things interesting for the player. However, it shouldn't be a very hilly area. I think terraces. Wet ones, dry ones and salty ones.

Note that these images may have much more height than I imagine Deshaan to have.

Rice terraces during the dry season in India:

Slightly dry vine terraces in Spain:

Salt terraces in Peru:

Salt terraces in Turkey (though these colours are way too bright):

I very much like the idea of the salt terraces or low mesas which could be used to break up the area without taking away from the impressiveness of the cantons.

Just don't turn it into yet another hillscape with sand instead of grass, and I'm sure I'll love it. Agree with Gnomey wholeheartedly that the PC could use a break from the constant hills, heh.

Thanks for those images. A point I actually wanted to bring up here is that I feel as though we were going in the direction of making Deshaan a vast desert rather than the fertile plain it’s supposed to be. It has its brine pools and chlorine clouds and salt formations, but those things should generally not be toxic to the native plants and animals in my opinion; rather, the native plants and animals thrive on them. It’s everything that isn’t native to the Deshaan – which includes the Dres, who have since adapted to the conditions – that finds the place utterly toxic.

Minus the trees, and with the grass matching the beige colour palette rather than being green, you’re images are pretty spot on for how I imagined the Deshaan.

It’s good that you mention ruins:

Ancestral Tombs – I don’t think these should be found in Dres lands, as the Dres never adopted the tradition of family tombs, probably rather having more archaic ancestor burials like the Ashlanders. I think it would make the most sense if the clan burials were located within the Clansteads, as unlike Ashlander camps Clansteads naturally don’t move around. An argument could be made for having one or two long-abandoned ones, though.

Caves – while these are generally ubiquitous, given the flat nature of the Deshaan they might be less common than elsewhere; most of Deshaan’s caves would probably be part of the canal network as above. There would still probably be a few natural caves in nooks and crannies, however, and we could also consider insect burrows. (Not Kwama).

Daedric Shrines – I think any Daedric ruins should generally date from before House Dres formed as a House, so I think they should be few in number and probably mostly found in the northwest. Most modern shrines should probably be Dres in style and wouldn’t be ruins. I think any Daedric shrines in the Deshaan should be very well preserved.

Dunmer Strongholds – these would be the Dres clansteads and in the Dres set, not ruins.

Dwemer Ruins – I don’t think the Dwemer should have any presence in the Deshaan. The Deshaan is far from Red Mountain, so probably has few precious metals and little to no tectonic activity, and is very hostile; they’d have nothing to gain from settling there.

Mines – I think there should be few or no traditional mines, and certainly no egg mines.

Velothi Towers – Velothi towers are generally built in mountainous terrain, which the Deshaan has very little of, and were probably built either by the original Velothi pilgrims or are otherwise very ancient in origin, and the Deshaan was probably only settled relatively late. I’d expect one or two towers along the western edge.

Skyrender Nests – these would naturally require a new tileset.

On the whole, I don’t think the Deshaan needs a high density of ruins. The exterior would be dangerous enough, and then between the canal network in the northwest, the Skyrender nests looming on the horizon and the occasional natural cave and insect burrow I think we’ll be pretty well covered, with the possibility of Daedric shrines if we want more traditional ruins.

I’d like to discuss the flora and color palette of the Deshaan:

(This is a doctored photo in case you’re wondering)

The salt of the Deshaan could and should probably have a few colour variations, but a stark, perhaps even slightly bluish white will probably be predominant. I’m not too sure what colour the dirt should have other than that it should be pale; a very light brown or red seems likely. The grass should, I think, be a very subtly vibrant beige colour as pictured, to highlight that the flora is flourishing and not dessicated. Green should generally be avoided; it certainly should not be the default colour of plants.

I’d generally deemphasize the arid nature of the Deshaan. I’m not even sure if the Deshaan should be an inherently arid region. The dry nature of the region comes about from its high salinity, not the broader climatet.

On to flora:

Saltrice - we need new models for Deshaan slatrice; it needs to be as sparing in polies as possible, cover as much ground as possible, and should probably be a bit larger in size. Three variants might do the job.

Marshmerrow - this could maybe be found in the mudflats, but I’m not really in favour of it. I certainly don’t think it should be found elsewhere.

Puffgrass - I tried out a few colour variants of this one, as I don’t really like it as a green plant for the Deshaan:

I think the translucent milky white could give the plant a nice ghostly appearance and add to the atmosphere of the Deshaan. The reddish hue could add a splash of colour to the region to avoid the Deshaan looking too monotone. The golden hue is unusual, and could lead to some interesting colour contrasts. I think this plant would work better scattered out in the open plain. Two or three variants should do, more wouldn’t go amiss, especially if we want to have them grow in clumps.

Saltstrap - this plant looks thoroughly like a desert plant, which is why I’m not really comfortable using its current palette in the Deshaan. I tried out a few variations, though all sorts are possible for this one:

For the dried out leaves, I tried out the alternatives of the leaves being caked in salt blown by the wind or having been steadily mummified until stiff and dark. For the leaves that aren’t dried out, a pale colour would accentuate the overall paleness of the region, a darker colour would create a bold contrast, while a relatively vibrant but washed out reddish colour would lend the plant the appearance of a massive but warped flower, which aside from looking pretty would also play nicely on the Skyrenders as massive but warped wasps. I think this could be managed with five variations for the big plant, four for the medium and three for the small, but the alternative of making it modular also works.

Untitled plant 1 - I like this one. Two to four variations should do the trick.

Glasswort - I think this one should have a broader habitat, though perhaps it could still be restricted to lower altitudes and thin out as the plain rises up. This time I’m for keeping the colour; if the other changes are made the green will be the exception rather than the rule. At least two variants.

Tribunal cacti (introduced in trib.exp.) - I don’t think these work in the Deshaan, though I suppose if they’re really limited to the very border of the region it might work. In general these cacti bother me, especially the Desert Sweetbarrel with its vibrant colour that probably won’t fit well with Shipal-shin and certainly won’t with the Deshaan (which isn’t a desert anyway). I’m tempted to suggest that they’re foreign imports from Elsweyr or Hammerfell, but failing that I’d remove the ‘Desert’ in Desert Sweetbarrel and use it in greener regions such as the Orethans.

Saltgrass - I like this one. I don’t think it should be a retexture; people would notice it, and this shouldn’t be hard to model anyway. Probably needs at least three variants.

Kreshweed - I don’t really like this so far south; I generally prefer its habitat as being in the vicinity of the Inner Sea.

Silverstalk - I like this one. At least two variants.

Spindlewort - I like this one a lot. Not sure if these should be single or in small clumps, probably the latter. Maybe something like four variants?

Yeah, it looks like the saturation may have ended up higher than intended. The yellow can tend towards looking too sulfury in my opinion, but that’s probably mostly the saturation talking. Trying out a few variants:

For my part, though, I still like the beige colour in my last image best of all of those.

I’d actually consider going the other way around; I think the Upper Deshaan should be mostly covered in vegetation but with a lot of large salt patches, while the Lower Deshaan should look more like the central part of this image:

If we divide Des lands up into subregions we could get something like this:

The Deshaan, as described, slopes evenly downwards to the Argon Jungle. There is a large triangle of land where the land flattens out, the Salt Washes. Whenever it rains in the Deshaan, (which I think it should from time to time), the rainwater flows down the slope carrying salt with it, gradually forming seasonal streams which collect at the base of the slope. The water there is plentiful and variable; some is very salty, some relatively fresh, some is still and some flows gradually southwards. As such, in some places the Argon vegetation might be able to grow, in others the Deshaan vegetation, and other spots would support no vegetation.