Vales of Mephala [Region Plan]

[Yeti]

Something I've been working on -- a region plan for the Vales of Mephala (formerly Mephalain Mountains) that follows Swiftoak's standard approach to them. Comments appreciated.

[st.Veloth, The Repenting]

hey man, i don't mean to be a total jerk, but we've already got a decent amount of mountain/highlands in redoran territory... canyons too. perhaps something of a low, dune-shaped plain of volcanic rock, with small patches of ash, rather than having continuous hills followed by mountains with the same texture. i think it would be better to have a nice stark contrast between the two areas. this is NOT an ashland, but more of a frozen lava plain.
i'm just putting out ideas here, nothing final, no orders, just a suggestion, almsivi bless.
image ref:
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http://www.kalapanaculturaltours.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/IMG_6299.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/imag ... nUiZE1IsRA

http://www.geocities.ws/alhy731/volcanoes/typeFB.jpg

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https://martianchronicles.files.wordpre ... g_5640.jpg

[st.Veloth, The Repenting]

also, wouldn't it be cool if we saw telvanni gettin' up all in there? slowly colonizing and revolutionizing the multiple egg mines (as bugs are their specialty)

[ihavefivehat]

Personally, I'm really relieved to see that you guys won't be doing anything drastic to the geography of this region.

The mephalain mountains region is my favorite area in the current release. It's fun to learn the terrain, and it's full of interesting vistas and neat secrets. I think with a few unique models (something to replace the overused west gash trees) and perhaps textures, the region would be complete.

You know, why fix what isn't broken? There are plenty of other areas in the project that could use time and attention.

[sirrah]

also, wouldn't it be cool if we saw telvanni gettin' up all in there? slowly colonizing and revolutionizing the multiple egg mines (as bugs are their specialty)

It seems like the mountain-range is more of a barrier to Indoril expansion than the Telvanni; remember that the Telvanni land-grab on Vvardenfell is considered out-of-the-ordinary for the mage-lords, who are oblivious enough to their southern holdings that they let Helnim spring up in the first place. I kind of imagine that the Telvanni see everything south of the Boethian mountains as a buffer-zone.

In fact, this might explain the apparent Telvanni ambivalence towards Helnim; the Imperial settlement is effectively blocking Indoril encroachment on south-western Telvanni territory.

[Marandahir]

For that reason, Firewatch even more so needs to be in contest during a House Telvanni take-over quest – they may not be interested in the Vales of Mephala and the Inlet Bog, but anything in the Boethian Mountains, the Molagreahd, the Telvanni Isles, the Nebet Bay, Azura's Coast, the Grazelands, or Sheogorad is of interest to them. And Firewatch is squarely within their territory.

[Saltrice]

I'm in favour of this plan. I do like Mephalain Mountains region as it is for most parts, but Akamora, Dun Akafell and Valley of Mephala should be redone into something. Distribution into smaller locations and making these new places really nice seems like a good choice.

I also want to mention that culture around eggmining, history of velothi people in the region and reclusive cultists and some telvanni mages hiding in the mountains were very entertaining read and might guide Vales of Mephala into a most interesting region.

[Gnomey]

Excellent document, though it's naturally incomplete. A few notes:

1. aside from overcast weather patterns, I think fog should be very common, if not dominant.
2. not sure at all about the vampires in Dun Aamul, but as far as I'm concerned that can wait; it's not terribly important.
3. as I contractually have to make at least one orthographical correction for every .pdf document: "[...] threatens to stroke tensions [...]" should read "[...] threatens to stoke tensions [...]" in the second paragraph of Section V. Hardly a big deal, but the error made me chuckle.