Lore:West Gash

The West Gash is one of Vvardenfell's largest contiguous areas, stretching from the city of Balmora and the Odai River, to the northwest coastline around historically Redoran-owned settlements (i.e., Gnisis, Ald Velothi and Khuul) The region is mostly rocky shrubland throughout the interior, marked by natural rocky bridges and arches, as well as the sparse highland along the north coast.  The land between the Salothran Ancestral Tomb to the north, to Caldera and later Balmora to the south is a long stretch of land that separates the Bitter Coast from the Ashlands like a gash in the earth.  
 

History
Early History & Tribunal Myth
thumb|right|Vivec and the Ruddy Man
thumb|left|Arkngthunch-Sturdumz
According to   mythology, the West Gash was the result of an epic battle between the Warrior-Poet,   and the  , the fifth monster that escaped the warrior's spear,  .  As the story dictates, a Velothi boy from Gnisis found the monster's carapace and became possessed by it. Vivec found the boy near his home village and their resulting duel created an upheaval of the land that created the West Gash. Pilgrims that travel down the land site will hear sounds from the battle.  The temple built the Shrine of Valor where the battle took place, in the old sea cave,  . Pilgrims are advised to bring   to the shrine as a token to Vivec's victory.  In another story in Vivec's sermons, the Warrior-Poet had to fight the Flute-and-Pipe  s of the West Gash, another of the many factions stirred up by the   while they prepared for the  . 

Both the   and Dwemer had lived in the region since antiquity, long before the Tribunal Temple was ever established. In the late  ,   had come to a rapid decline and the Chimer decided to settle next to the abandoned Velothi towers throughout the region. The Chimer that would later create Gnisis settled south of the old tower, Arvs-Drelen, next to the  's estuary. The Chimer that settled in these settlements would become the House Dunmer while those that cling to their nomadic roots became the  .  The   have lived in the northern West Gash for years.  The earliest examples of Dwemer colonies also date here  but unlike the southeast, the Dwemer left barely a footnote in the West Gash, however, there are a couple of examples. The ruins of   sits on the northwest point of the island, next to the  's western entrance. Its name translates to the "Graveyard of the Ghost Invaders" in  .  Other than that, the only other Dwemer ruin in the region is  , located deep in the Gnisis   Mine. It was discovered in the late  . 

The West Gash has a wide variety of ancient Velothi landmarks such as ancestral tombs, and Daedric shrines. Since at least King  's reign over   in the early  , the temples,   and   were active settlements. Ambassadors from these temples traveled to the compound,   for the wake of  . Many of the guests were killed during the ninth day of mourning in Hanin's attempt to bring them with him to the afterlife.  The ancestral tombs in the West Gash are noteworthy for their status and ancient history. Seven of the thirty revered families of Vvardenfell ( ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , and  ) are located throughout the region.  The   family was a warrior clan that fought in an important and monumental battle but barely left a footnote in history.  The Elves of   are an ancient family that traces their origin to the   folk-hero,  , who slew the  ,   and united the four major tribes.  The   have a long and prominent history with Vvardenfell and also claim to descend from the prophet,   the Pilgrim. 

The West Gash in the Second Era
thumb|left|Balmora
thumb|right|The Kudanat Ebony Mine
Vvardenfell by the   is lightly populated, except for the four ashlander tribes. The upper north-west portion of the island was taken over by   at the behest of the Great House Dunmer in  . They were sent there to exploit the land of its resource  but eventually by  , House Redoran had expanded their control of Vvardenfell from the Gnisis region, all the way south toward Balmora and  .  

Begrudgingly, however, the Redoran were forced to employ their rivals   to build these settlements and even trade. So even though their power extended to roughly half of the island, Balmora and Suran are noticeably built in the Hlaalu style than the Redoran shell design, and the Hlaalu now had a larger foothold than previously in  .  In that time also, the   built a camp near the West Gash's   to the ruins,  , where they engaged in arena combat.  

House Redoran acquired complete control of the West Gash, from Balmora to the coast. On the road north of the city, they built a large compound, and slowly but surely, they expanded their territory north into the environs of the West Gash. At some point in the mid-Second Era, House Redoran took control of the land north of the Caldera Crater  and opened with great fanfare, the   for its promising   veins. It later became evident that the ore in Kudanat was shallow and the mine's hype was soon played out.  House Redoran was forced to leave the area when an ash storm blew over and in their absence, the   took it over.  Not long after, the Redoran nobleman,   sought refuge with them after he was exiled by his house in Balmora.  

thumb|left|The Redoran Garrison
thumb|right|Khartag Point
By orders of Ulran's father, Councilor   ordered his captain,   to displace the Ashlanders around Kudanat Mine,  unaware that his son was hiding there. Captain Brivan led his mercenaries,   to the mine and blindly slaughtered them.  Ulran tried to talk them out of it but he was killed amid the chaos.  All the while, his sister,   went missing, trying to find her brother. She eventually found her body and   in the hollow Kudanat Mine and set forth her plans for revenge against the captain and her father.  

As the Redoran Council assembled at the Redoran Garrison north of Balmora, Veya attacked the garrison and slaughtered her way to the meeting. In her wake, she killed her father and the captain until she was put down by her mentor,   and her  . Because she killed without a writ, the   would put Veya to death but with the help of the Redoran High Councilor, the whole situation was swept under the rug and Veya escaped to the  . 

By the mid-Second Era, a group of  ish abolitionists called the   started making the rounds across the entire island while they set their base on a sea cave in the West Gash. They would liberate slaves from places such as the   region and put them on a boat to the mainland. Eventually, they caught the attention of the   syndicate and a meeting was arranged with the Ropefish leader,  . That meeting went awry and the Camonna Tong, led by   attacked the cave. Despite the resistance, the Ropefish were unable to withstand the assault and Khartag was at his wit's ends. An adventurer traveled through the battlefield and rescued anyone they came across. Ultimately, they defeated the Camonna Tong commander but were unable to save Khartag's life. Defeated, but undeterred, the Ropefish continued their operations  while Khartag became a local hero to the Orcish people. The cave and rocky promontory that he called home were now called   and became a famous pilgrimage spot for Orcs. 

Vvardenfell's Expansion and the Caldera Land Grab
thumb|left|Caldera
thumb|right|The Raw Ebony deposits of Caldera
 's invasion over Morrowind was interrupted when the   solidified the province's integration into the  . One of the treaty's terms was to mark Vvardenfell as a temple preserve protected by Imperial authority. It was previously undeveloped and unpopulated, except for the ashlander tribes and Great House settlements sanctioned by the Temple. However, several years later in  , King   revoked the Temple's ban, causing a vast flood of   colonists and House Dunmer to come and expand on the territory.  

The land grab for the West Gash between the Hlaalu and Redoran ended with both parties acquiring familiar territory. House Hlaalu managed to take over Balmora, as well as Vvardenfell's southern tier (i.e., Seyda Neen and Suran),  while House Redoran regained most of the West Gash from Gnisis to the coast, and even more with   and   in the Ashlands.  The Redoran Council had split the West Gash politically three-ways,  from the West Gash around Gnisis, which was ruled by Councilor  .  The North Gash, which was governed by Councilor   and the South Gash, which was governed by Councilor  . 

Despite the spread of their newfound territory, the Great Houses squabbled for more land, especially land that intersected between them. The biggest example of this was the land grab for Caldera and the crater in the mountains. In  , the land was acquired by the  , a company chartered by the Empire that was granted a monopoly to extract the   while working with House Hlaalu.  House Redoran believed that Caldera sat in territory that was rightfully theirs and because the company was hired by the Empire, they could not start a House War for it. Meanwhile, they were suspicious that the Hlaalu Governor,  , who oversaw the town was corrupted.  Odral Helvi was extracting ebony that was not reported to the Empire for his project called the  .  It is unknown if he was caught, but House Redoran sent one of their agents to find evidence of their corruption. 

In that same year, the Redoran noble,   went crazy when his daughter was kidnapped by the Telvanni lord,  . Amid this crisis, Mandas fled to the cave,   and proclaimed himself, the "Lord of West Gash". He managed to gain a following of brigands and demanded tribute from travelers on the road toward  . Lord   sent a lawman of House Redoran to deal with the Mad Lord of Milk. Arethan's reign was put to an end, but it is unknown if he was cured of his   or if he was killed in action. 

The West Gash in the Fourth Era
When   erupted in  , the entire island of Vvardenfell was destroyed by the waves of lava coming from the fire cone. The West Gash was obliterated in the wake of the destruction. The town, Gnisis was plowed over by the lava and its people were burned alive, even unaware of what was happening. One of the only things left from the town was the resident,  , who passed out on the Samsi's riverbed and managed to avoid the fire. She recovered two days after in the Temple of Azura in Blacklight and essentially found Gnisis had been wiped off the face of  .  The widespread destruction was reported all over the province and many mourned the loss of loved ones in cities such as Balmora. Balmora was barely recognizable but a relief effort led by House Redoran from   was sent to repair the city and other settlements hit the hardest. It took roughly two months or so for the town to recover. 

Notable Locales
thumb|right|West Gash's wayshrine
; : The second largest city on Vvardenfell and the seat of power for the Great House Hlaalu in the district.
; : A medium-sized town owned by the Great House Redoran and occupied by the Velothi, Ashlanders that settled to life as a House Dunmer.
; : An Imperial charter town that was founded in the late Third Era by the Caldera Mining Company. It is built in the Western Imperial style and is comprised of colonials.
; : A large crater in the mountains of southwest Vvardenfell. It has a large vein of raw ebony that is prized by the Great Houses.
; : A rock formation that is famous to the local  s. It was named after an   champion and it later became the site of a statue dedicated to  .
; : A holy site to the Tribunal Temple, where Vivec fought the Ruddy Man and confiscated his carapace.
; : The tomb of an ancient family with prominent ties to the province's history.

Gallery
 

Notes
The   is a greenish-type of   that lives in the West Gash. Compared to other types of Netch, they are timid and docile, and will sometimes follow people that smell like their favorite fungi. 

See Also
For more information, see the Morrowind and ESO articles.

References