u/LegateZanUjcic

A couple times, I've floated the idea that the city of Gilane in Hammerfell could potentially get ax'd, as we've seen with cities like Sutch in Cyrodiil and Snowhawk in Skyrim. Between the cities of Taneth, Rihad and the newly-added Abah's Landing, the region is fairly crowded, and its location on the isthmus of Hew's Bane is in equal parts rife with potential in terms of design, as well as potenttially frustrating.

With Gilane's history as an Imperial stronghold in the region, with Cephorus Septim ruling as king there prior to his ascension to the Ruby Throne, and Gilane conveniently not appearing on the East Empire Company map in Skyrim, I could see Bethesda potentially setting-up Gilane being destroyed by the Aldmeri during their invasion and occupation of southern Hammerfell.

If that's the case, then that could open-up some interesting avenues for storytelling. Gilane, the city, is gone, but Gilane, the kingdom, isn't, with the royal family moving their seat to Abah's Landing, perhaps leading to a power struggle between said royal family and the city's merchant lords. Though a ruin, Gilane would still have much strategic significance, with whoever controls it also controling the land trade between Abah's Landing and the rest of Hammerfell.

There could be a questline, where the player character helps the royal family retake the ruins, with them in turn being named castellan and charged with holding and rebuilding the city. This could essentially be our settlement building mechanic, with us starting out with rebuilding the citadel, then the walls and surrounding districts. And as castellan, we could involve ourselves in the power struggle in Abah's Landing, either staying loyal to the royal family and help them regain a foothold on the mainland, or side with the merchant lords against them and perhaps even usurping them, the merchant lords being content with us calling outselves royals, so long as we allow them to continue doing business as usual.

In Skyrim, we saw that the Blades had gone from the Emperor's bodyguards, to just another inteligence guild and the Thalmor's greatest opponents, only for the organisation to be decimated in the Great War and subsequently outlawed, with most of the suriving members hunted down by the Thalmor. A handful survived though, with the Last Dragonborn helping them re-establish the Blades at Sky Haven Temple and the organisation re-dedicating itself to hunting down the remaining Dragons.

It's very possible that in TES VI, we'll encounter a dragon, Tiber Septim's old ally Naafaliargus or Thurvokun, nesting in Fang Lair. And perhaps, we could see a member of Delphine's rebuilt order appear to hunt the dragon. Could make for an intersting follower, giving us some in-sights as to the goings-on in Skyrim. But that, IMO should be the extent of what we see of the Blades. I don't want to see them coordinating the resistance against the Thalmor or investigating some new threat to Tamriel. That honor should really go to local organisations.

We encounter one as part of Skyrim's Annivesary Edition content, the Remnants, who are a clandestine organisation that's keeping tabs on the Thalmor to make sure they're following the Second Treaty of Stros M'Kai. With them fulfilling a similar role to the Blades pre-Great War, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some connection between them. Perhaps a surviving Blade could be one of the Remnants' leaders, or Wind Scour Temple could serve as the Remnants' HQ?

Then, you have the Sinderill, Clan Direnni's inteligence guild. With the Thalmor taking an interest in Balfiera, with them targeting the refugees that had fled there following their take-over of the Summerset Isles, it would only make sense for Clan Direnni to use the Sinderill to try and undermine the Thalmor's interests. Given the likely prejudice between Clan Direnni and the Redguards, it would be interesting to see if the Sinderill aided the Redguards during the Aldmeri occupation of southern Hammerfell.

And of course, there's also the Penitus Oculatos, the Imperial organisation that replaced the Blades. Though we mainly see them work as Emperor Titus Mede II.'s bodyguards in Skyrim, we hear more of their covert operations in Grey Keyes' novels. We could very well see them return in TES VI, be it covertly supporting Imperial loyalists among the Forebears in Hammerfell, or keeping an eye on the petty kings in High Rock, in particular the Lariat family of Shornhelm.

Any one of these organisations fulfills the role of an anti-Thalmor faction that that player character could cooperate as part of TES VI's main quest, and would be a more believable choice than the Blades, considering where we last saw them in Skyrim.

Like many of you, I'm of the opinion that we're revisiting the setting of TES2: Daggerfall, and that the "********" is in fact Sentinel, a homage to TES2: Daggerfall. But that got me thinking, what exactly are the implications of the game being named after Sentinel?

A brief overview of the city's history. Hammerfell was once a province-spanning kingdom, ruled by a succession of High Kings and Queens from Hegathe and later Sentinel. However, upon the eruption of the Hammerfell Civil War and Hammerfell's incorporation into the Third Empire, the kingdom was dissolved, its territory divided between various Forebear and Crown petty rulers.

Sentinel, once the capital of Hammerfell, was now merely a Forebear kingdom, surrounded on all sides by hostile Crown states. However, following the Warp in the West, Sentinel would come to conquer these states, with King Lhotun establishing the Lhotunics, a new faction that sought to bridge the gap between Crowns and Forebears, though he faced heavy opposition from both factions. Later, during the Great War, Sentinel would come to the aid of Hegathe, sparking the reconciliation of the two factions.

That is where things stand as of the events of Skyrim. Hammerfell is not outright stated to have been reformed as a kingdom, though it could have. Whether it has or Hammerfell remains a patchwork, Sentinel would likely have a central role in Hammerfell, both as the largest of the Redguard kingdoms, as well as a melting pot of Crowns and Forebears and the architect of the reconciliation between the factions.

If TES VI turns out to be a Hammerfell-centric game, instead of a rehash of the Imperial Legion vs. Stormcloaks questline, we could perhaps see a political questline revolving around Sentinel striving to unite Hammerfell. Between the devastation from the Great War and the resentment against the Empire in the south, tensions with Dragonstar and the re-established Orsinium in the north and good ol' fashioned blood-feuds, any would-be High King or Queen would have their work cut out for them.

If instead TES VI turns out to basically be a spiritual successor to TES2: Daggerfall, encompassing either both provinces or just the greater Iliac Bay, we could see some pretty interesting developments in the political questline. Perhaps Sentinel allies with some of the Bretic kingdoms and aids them in their own rebellion against the Empire? This could be an oppurtunity to re-introduce the (allegedly) Septim-related Lariat Dynasty of Shornhelm, with them leading the charge against the rebels, while also using the oppurtunity to advance their Imperial ambitions.

As a sort of continuation from my previous post about the Breton House Lariat, I decided to explore what a hypothetical antagonist for a game based around High Rock/Hammerfell could look like.

Basically, the antagonist would be the Breton grandson of Hlaalu Helseth and his lover, the court sorceress of Wayrest Karethys. Prior to Helseth's exile from court, the two would have had a son, who would have become an influentual figure in Wayrest after the Septim line of kings died out and House Barynia attained the throne. This son would have been the architect of the conspiracy against King Barynia, with the intention of replacing with him his daughter, believing her to be a more pliable ruler. However, he had underestimated the king's paranoia, with him orchestrating a corsair raid on Wayrest in order to deal with the traitors in his court and escape. Whether he succeeded or not, his daughter Queen Barynia assumed the throne, and Karethys, stricken by grief over the loss of her son, swore vengeance on House Barynia.

Helseth's son was survived by his own son, a Breton who inherited his father's red eye color, the same eye color passed down through generations by House Lariat of Rivenspire. With the king of Rivenspire being old and childless, Karethys saw an oppurtunity to pass off her grandson as the king's descendant after he dies. Leaving Wayrest with the boy, which she named Andorak, Karethys took-up residence in Shedungent, where she bid her time.

When the king died, Andorak would emerge, claiming to be the rightful heir to the throne. Though his claim was dubious, Houses Tamrith and Dorell ultimately agreed on Andorak as a compromise candidate, mistakenly believing they could use him as a puppet. Andorak would waste no time populating the Order of the Crypt with the brigands and robber knights he had gathered during his time in Shedungent and replacing Tamrith and Dorell men at court with his own supporters. His vassals hopes of deeping their ties to their liege through marriage were also dashed when Andorak announced his betrothal to Karoodil Rinnala, the exiled princess of Firsthold.

Following the Thalmor's rise to power, Hlaalu Morgiah and her two half-Dunmer half-Altmer children Rinnala and Goranthir fled Firsthold, taking refuge on Balfiera under the protection of Clan Direnni. Though Goranthier took to his new home, immersing himself in studying the wealth of arcane knowledge accumulated at the Direnni Tower, Rinnala came to resent it, lamenting her loss in status and freedom. So, when Karethys approached her with offered to bethrothe her to her Breton cousin and rule alongside him as queen, she jumped at the oppurtunity.

Karethys' ambitions however didn't end with the throne of Rivenspire, as Rinnala had a claim to the throne of Wayrest through her mother, Morgiah. And with Queen Barynia proving to be an unpopular ruler, with the capital falling into squalor after the corsair raid and many believing her predecessor was complicit in the raid, some of her vassals began to consider ousting her in favor of Rinnala and in doing so, unite the two kingdoms.

It is at this point where the player would enter into the story, cooperating with Clan Direnni's inteligence guild the Sinderill in investigating a plot against Queen Barynia in Wayrest. A band of robber knights calling themselves the Knights of Saint Hjalti would be stirring-up resentement against both the queen and the Mede Dynasty, claiming that House Barynia sold out its subjects to the corsairs, and that the Mede Dynasty had left Wayrest defenseless by recalling its Imperial Legion garrison.

Furthermore, they accused the Mede Dynasty of only agreeing to the ban on Talos worship, because as the last descendants of Tiber Septim, House Lariat had a superior claim to the Ruby Throne than they did. With the Knights of the Rose being too few to maintain order in the capital and strike out at the rebels in Alcaire, the player would travel to Dwynnen to enlist House Othrok and the Order of the Raven, who'd be in the middle of a border dispute with House Flyte of Anticlere. After resolving their dispute, the Order of the Raven would drive the rebels from Alcaire, uncovering evidence leading them to Shedungent.

Infiltrating the mountain fortress, the player would fight their way to Karethys, who'd reveal her plan, claiming it was far too late to stop her. Slaying Karethys and recovering evidence of Andorak's real identity, as well as as a mysterious white crystal, the player would leave Shedungent, only to learn that Andorak and the Order of the Crypt had marched out from the Old Gate and defeated the Order of the Raven at Alcaire, with them now preparing to lay siege to Wayrest itself.

While the Knights of the Rose and the survivors from the Order of the Raven would defend the capital city, the player would be tasked with finding reinforcements to come to their aid. If the player had aided either Daggerfall or Sentinel in a seperate questline, revolving around their struggle over the isle of Betony, then either the Knights of the Dragon or the Knights of the Candle would arrive to relieve the siege. If not, they could enlist the corsairs, offering them patrons and titles in return for their aid. Regardless of choice, the outcome is the same. Andorak and his army are beaten back and forced to withdraw.

But before Andorak can return to Rivenspire profer, the player infintrates Shornehlm and delivers evidence of his true identity to his vassals. Seeing the writing on the wall, Rinnala makes a deal to keep her crown, setting a trap for Andorak when the returns. Upon arriving at Shornhelm, Andorak and the Order of the Crypt are set upon by Tamrith and Dorell forces and are routed, with the player facing and slaying Andorak, only for the body to dissipate into nothing, revealing it to have been his shadow.

The real Andorak, now revealed as a Shadow Mage, was held-up in the Crypt of Hearts, where he was using the shadows cast by the war to power a Shadow Magic ritual, intending to meld all possible versions of himself into one existance. However, upon entering the Crypt, the player and their allies would discover that the ritual had gone horribly wrong. Andorak had succeeded, but the different versions of himself competing over control of his body had driven him insane, leading to him turning on his remaining knights, ripping their shadows from them to use as his thralls. The player and their allies would then delve deep into the heart of the Crypt to find Andorak and drive the white crystal, one of the Star Teeth, into his heart, breaking the connection and putting him out of his misery.

That's where we'd leave things off. Though not grand enough for a main quest, IMO something like this could make for an interesting political questline, one of a few, the others being the aformentioned struggle between Daggerfall and Sentinel, and another revolving around the tenous peace between Crowns and Forebears being undermined by Thalmor agents. I might go more in depth with either in future posts.

House Lariat is a Bretic noble family that, during the mid-Third Era, managed to seat their blood on the Ruby Throne when Uriel IV., the son of Katariah Septim and her consort Gallivere Lariat, became emperor. Upon Uriel IV.'s death, the Elder Council disinherited his son and heir Andorak, on the grounds of his lacking a connection to the Septim bloodlone, instead offering the throne to Uriel's cousin Cephorus II. For nine years, Andorak and his suporters waged a bloody rebellion against Cephorus II., until he was placated by being granted the throne of Shornhelm, with Andorak's descendants still ruling Shronehlm up to the writing of A Brief History of the Empire.

This means that, for the past two years of the Fourth Era, the dissilution of the Empire and its reformation under the reign of the Mede Dynasty, the rise of the Thalmor and the Great War, House Lariat - a family of Dunmer-descendent royals, who undoubtedly still carry a massive chip on their shoulders over being denied the Ruby Throne, have been ruling Shornhelm in the background, plotting, biding their time. And now, with the future of the Mede Dynasty uncertain and with Skyrim, the literal backbone of the Empire, paralysed by civil war, with Wayrest, the largest and richest city in High Rock, having been sacked due to Imperial negligance, perhaps their time has finally come.

If TES VI includes High Rock in any fashion, I could easily see House Lariat feature as an atagonist faction, stirring-up anti-Imperial sentiment in their neighbour's kingdoms and perhaps even being acclaimed as emperors. With High Rock already divided between petty kingdoms, I could see House Lariat making moves resulting in a very messy, very interesting civil war. Less what we saw in Skyrim, more Imperial Legions dissolving into opposing cohors, noble houses aligning with Mede loyalists and Lariat supporters, using the oppurtunity to pursue their own grudges.

Shornhelm is also closely associated with the Crypt of Hearts, with the Spell Knight Armor Creation introducing us to the Order of the Crypt, a knight order charged with guarding the Crypt of Hearts, which have also taken it upon themselves wage war on the Reachmen. Assuming the Order of the Crypt is linked with House Lariat, that could also give us an idea so to House Lariat's views on the Reachmen and their intentions towards the notoriously lawless Western Reach.

There is also their ancestry to consider. Though the Lariats may claim to be Septims, even being distant relatives to the Septim bloodline, their actually ancestry makes them members of the Dunmer clan Ra'athim, the same clan as Barenziah and her children, Helseth and Morgiah. Helseth's fate is unknown, but between the Argonians' sacking of Mounrhold and House Hlaalu being stripped of its Great House statues, we can probably assume he's dead. As for Morgiah, she married King Reman Karoodil of Firsthold and had two children, Goranthir and Rinnala. But following the rise of the Thalmor, Morgiah and her children likely went into exile, if they weren't killed outright.

From Greg Keyes' novels The Infernal City and Lord of Souls, we know the Thalmor harassed the refugee communities in Sentinel and on Balfiera, with Legate Fasendil recounting the events of the Night of Green Fire, where Thalmor mages destroyed Sentinel's refugee quarter. Because of these dangers, its possible that Morgiah and her children could have sought refuge somewhere else, perhaps their distant relations in Shornhelm?

TES questlines are often rooted in a province's culture. Morrowind had the Nerevarine prophecy and an ancient evil connected to the Tribunal. Cyrodiil had a Daedric threat, but the main quest was still entwined with the Septim Dynasty. And Skyrim had the return of the Dragons and us chasing down a god from the Nordic pantheon. But with a game that features two provinces, be it whole or only in part, you can't really do that. Well, you can, but it would probably come off as awkward. So, whatever main quest would need to both strike a balance between incorporating Bretic and Redguard elements, and the main threat needs to come from outside.

For example, Clan Direnni, sequestered on Balfiera with a community of refugees from the Aldmeri Dominion, strikes me as the perfect neutral party that could be involved in the affairts of both provinces. Their inteligence network, the Sinderill would be busy nudging rulers towards forming a new power bloc in western Tamriel, a Third Daggerfall Covenant if you will. But they are facing strong opposition, and not just the Thalmor that have been gunning for them since before the Mede Dynasty hammered the Empire back together.

In High Rock, still nominally a part of the Empire, the Lariat Dynasty of Shornhelm has usurped Imperial authority, the King of Shornhelm having declared himself Military Governor of the province and marshalling the Empire's resources to bring the rebellious kingdoms back into the fold. And in Hammerfell, a fanatical cult called the Devotees of Satakal has been spreading through the devastated southlands. Left disillusioned by the Empire's betrayal, many Forebears flock to the Satakals, embarcing their wish to drive foreigners from Hammerfell and making war on their former comrades for alleged sympathies towards the Empire.

Working alongside the Sinderill, the player character would travel both provinces, working to secure this ruler or that ruler's support, culminating with the formation of the Covenant. In what order these quests are completed could be up to the player, with a variety of paths to choose. And the Covenant would form not a moment too soon, because the Thalmor have come a-knocking. An invasion fleet sailing along the western coast of Hammerfell into Iliac Bay, their intent to capture Balfiera and the all-important Direnni Tower.

Hegathe would be the fleet's first target, drawing the attention of whicever Forebear faction the player character chose to support. This would however merely be a distraction, with the bulk of the invasion fleet moving north. Betony would be next, with the Covenant's fleet meeting the invasion fleet in the strait between Betony and the southern tip of Greater Bretony. The battle would be cataclysmic, burning ships smashing together in the narrow passage, but a handful of Aldmeri ships, incluiding the flagship, would breka through, making a beeline for Balfiera, seizing control of the island and besieging the Direnni Tower. The player character would then rush to Balfiera, descend into the depths of the now breached Direnni Tower and slay the Thalmor commander before they can fulfill whatever plans they have for the Zero Stone.

That's how I'd approach it anyway. If anyone has some suggestions as to how a main quest for both provinces could look, I'd love to hear them.