Lore:Great Houses

The Great House traditions derive from ancient Dunmer clans and tribes, but now function as political parties.  In modern times, Morrowind is ruled by the Grand Council of five Great Houses: House Redoran, House Telvanni, House Sadras, House Indoril, and House Dres. House Hlaalu previously sat on the Council, but lost its seat to House Sadras in the early Fourth Era.  Each House governs an eponymous district on mainland Morrowind; Redoran in the northwest, Sadras (previously Hlaalu) in the western-center, Telvanni in the east, Indoril in the central heartlands and Dres in the southeast. Three of the Houses also had interests in the island of Vvardenfell,  and identified themselves by their traditional colors: red for Redoran, yellow for Hlaalu, and brown for Telvanni. 

Organization
left|thumb|The five Great Houses gathering together
Dunmer Great House membership is largely a matter of birth and marriage, but outlanders may also become retainers of a Great House, or may be adopted into a Great House. Those seeking to join a Great House are implored to think carefully before choosing, as once one has joined a House, no other House will ever consider them for membership. Loyalty is very important in the Great Houses. When joining, one becomes family, and, by Dunmer standards, it's a matter of blood and kin, and irreversible. Even if one gets kicked out of one house, no other house will have them.  Initially an outlander may gain status in a house as an oath-bonded hireling, pledging exclusive loyalty to a single house and forsaking ambitions with all other houses. Later, after faithful service and advancement in lower ranks, an outlander may seek adoption into a Great House. Adoption and advancement to higher ranks in a Great House requires that a Great House councilor stand as sponsor for the candidate's character and loyalty. Finding a councilor to sponsor an outlander often involves performing a great service for the prospective sponsor and the Great House in question. 

In times of extreme danger, house councilors may choose to elect a "hortator" who has the ability to make decisions on behalf of the House as a whole. Election of a hortator requires unanimous consent among all councilors. It has been known for a single dissenting councilor to fight a potential hortator candidate in a duel to the death, thus protecting the honor of the councilor if they win or proving the candidate's ability if they lose.

History
The Great Houses have their origin in the ancient customs of the Chimer, a self-exiled Aldmeri sect who followed their prophet Veloth across Tamriel from the west. They abandoned their former nomadic lifestyle, and divided themselves into political clans,  which would become the Great Houses Indoril, Redoran, Telvanni, Hlaalu, Dres and Dagoth. In  , following almost two centuries of suppression by the ruling Nords, the Chimeri hero Indoril Nerevar united the squabbling Great Houses as Hortator, also making alliance with the Dwemer, their traditional enemies, and succeeded in driving the Nords out of the region. Nerevar and the Dwemer leader Dumac Dwarfking subsequently created the First Council of Resdayn to jointly rule the area as an independent nation.  Resdayn flourished for a few hundred years until the War of the First Council broke out between the secular Dwemer and the orthodox Chimer Houses Indoril, Redoran, Dres, Hlaalu, and Telvanni.  The role of the sixth House, House Dagoth, is not fully understood. Some Imperial sources claim that they sided with the Dwemer in the war,  while other sources, including the Apographa of the Tribunal Temple, claim that they never betrayed their kin.  Whatever the case, House Dagoth was thought exterminated following their defeat at the Battle of Red Mountain. After Nerevar's death, three of his associates from House Indoril,  Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil, succeeded to control of the Council, which they renamed the Grand Council of Morrowind. 

House Indoril, due to their association with Nerevar and the Tribunal, remained the dominant party in the Grand Council right through until the end of the Second Era.  Throughout this time, the Grand Council was responsible for local governance in Morrowind, while the land as a whole was ruled indirectly by the Tribunal.  In  , the Kamal of Akavir invaded Morrowind after ravaging Eastern Skyrim. After their defeat in Stonefalls with the assistance of the Eastern Nords and two legions of Argonian Shellbacks,  the Great Houses Redoran, Indoril, Hlaalu, and Dres signed the Ebonheart Pact with the Nords of Eastern Skyrim and the Argonians of Shadowfen and Thornmarsh, while House Telvanni abstained from the alliance.   The four Great Houses belonging to the Pact donated troops and resources to the Three Banners War a decade later, and vied for control of Cyrodiil and the White-Gold Tower whilst also warring with the First Aldmeri Dominion and the Greater Daggerfall Covenant. 

In  , the Armistice was signed between Tiber Septim and Vivec which saw Morrowind reorganized as a province of the Empire. Hlaalu eagerly accepted this unexpected turn of events, while Redoran, grateful for a graceful excuse to avoid facing the legions unsupported, were the second to accept the treaty, with House Telvanni joining them shortly thereafter. House Indoril and Dres swore they would resist this to death, and the Lord High Councilor of the Grand Council, himself an Indoril, refused to accept the treaty, and refused to step down. He was assassinated, and replaced by a Hlaalu. A number of other Indoril chose to commit suicide.  House Hlaalu, who had advocated accommodation to the Imperials since the Legions started massing on the western border, took this opportunity to take over a number of Indoril councils, while House Dres finally agreed with strong provisions protecting the practice of slavery.  Their enthusiastic support of the Empire cemented the Hlaalu as the leading Great House throughout the Third Era. Little is known of the Grand Council through the Third Era, but the role of the figurehead Monarch of Morrowind, personally selected by the Emperor, was first filled by Queen Barenziah, a member of clan R'Aathim and thus House Hlaalu.  She was succeeded by her uncle, Athyn Llethan and later her son, King Helseth of House Hlaalu, whom ruled Morrowind at the end of the Third Era. His reformation of the Grand Council was seen by some as a return to more traditional Dunmer ways, although he also managed to persuade both his own House and House Dres to back the abolition of slavery, and carry that policy through the Council. 

During the Oblivion Crisis of  , the Empire pulled the Legions out of Morrowind and the province was left virtually defenseless.  While House Redoran succeeded in creating an army, and House Telvanni were able to close some of the Oblivion Gates, the Redoran citadel of Ald'ruhn was destroyed by the Daedric invasion , and House Hlaalu was left powerless without the backing of the Empire.  Following the eruption of Red Mountain in  , which obliterated the settlements on Vvardenfell, Morrowind came under siege from the Argonians of Black Marsh. House Hlaalu, due to their close ties with the Imperial administration, became the scapegoat for all of the Dunmer people's suffering. As a result, Hlaalu was stripped of its Great House status and dismissed from the Grand Council.  House Telvanni, having lost most of their settlements on Vvardenfell to the eruption of Red Mountain, was almost extirpated in the Argonian invasion as well, with at least one report of its destruction when the last mainland settlement also fell to the Argonians. A few survivors escaped in a ship called "The Pride of Tel Vos", which was later found wrecked in Skyrim. The last child of the Telvanni familial line itself was brought up in Black Marsh under the Argonian name of Brand-Shei  , although some of the House survived to re-found a colony in Solstheim under the aging Master Neloth. Telvanni, in fact, appears to have rebuilt well enough to hold its seat on the Dunmer council, while the previously unknown House Sadras was selected to fill the space left by Hlaalu.  House Indoril, meanwhile, had been in decline since the end of the Second Era. The downfall of the Tribunal Temple in the closing days of the Third Era, along with the machinations of King Helseth and his Dres allies,  saw the Great House suffer greatly, culminating in the sack of their capital of Mournhold by the invading Argonians.  While House Indoril still technically exists and holds a seat on the Council, the priesthood of the New Temple are now considered one and the same with House Indoril, and those who become priests are now considered to have "joined Indoril". The political power of the Indoril has thus passed entirely into the hands of the New Temple.  House Dres' modern status is ambiguous, though as the most southerly of the Great Houses and the one most involved in the slave trade, it is likely the Argonian Invasion was devastating. However, the Dres have retained their position on the Grand Council, and are thus known to have survived with a significant portion of their power intact.  House Redoran became the eminent power in Morrowind as a result of their distinguished military and domestic leadership during the Oblivion Crisis, Red Year, and Argonian Invasion, taking the position as leaders of the Grand Council. They moved the capital to the Redoran city of Blacklight in the wake of their rise to power and the sacking of Mournhold, where the Grand Council meets within the Rootspire. 

House Wars
By the immemorial customs of Dunmer society, a House may challenge the honor of another House in the person of one of the House's ranking nobles. The ranking noble of the impugned house is marked for death -- in ancient times, actually formally marked with a black banner, but in modern times, served with a formal written public announcement. If within the year of the challenge, the marked noble still lives, the challenging house must publicly forgo any further complaint or scandal on the matter. 

In pre-Tribunal Morrowind, feuding was carried out with open warfare. This was forbidden by the Tribunal,  and only a ranking challenging noble or a Morag Tong assassin could attack the marked noble.  Houses routinely engage the Morag Tong, taking out regulated contracts called Writs. This custom permitts Houses to hassle one another on a small scale without threatening public peace and rule of law. Codes of behavior under House Wars are complex and subtle, and the Morag Tong specializes in the honorable and legal prosecution of these factional vendettas. House Wars are expensive, dangerous, and disruptive to all Houses involved. On the island of Vvardenfell alone, a dozen or more Marked Challenges were being prosecuted at any one time. 

Current Great Houses
House Redoran
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House Telvanni
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House Indoril
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House Dres
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House Sadras
 

Former Great Houses
House Hlaalu
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House Dagoth
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Historic Houses
House Dwemer
Little is known of the faction referred to by some as House Dwemer. During the time of the First Council, Resdayn was united by the Chimer hero Nerevar and the Dwemer king Dumac. According to some Imperial texts and Tribunal Apographa, the Dwemer of Resdayn were considered a Great House.   The Rourken, Kragen, and various other clans chose to perform an exodus out of Resdayn, referring to the Dwemer who chose to stay as part of the First Council as their Eastern brethren.  Their recognition as a Great House was discredited when the Tribunal came to power. 

House Mora
 

House Ra'athim
  was an influential family from the city-state of Ebonheart. They were known for being miners of  . Some of the most notable Ra'athim are Katariah and Moraelyn.  

House Salothan
House Salothan is a little-known lineage that died out simultaneously in a monumental battle, during the time of Chimer. They have an Ancestral Tomb in the northern West Gash, near the township of Gnisis. 

House Sotha
House Sotha was a minor House with holdings in the homestead of Ald Sotha, considered an unremarkable town belonging to an unremarkable family.  The only known members were Sotha Sil, a future member of the Tribunal, and his older sister Sotha Nall.  It is said that Vivec rescued Sotha Sil, the only surviving member of the House, from Ald Sotha when the town was destroyed by Mehrunes Dagon. 

References