Roleplaying an Ashlander - the Head Piece

bellanca6561n

Not sure where this belongs but if you want to role play an Ashlander or you rather liked the Ashlander arcs in the Pact quests and want to look like one, this is about that.

As most folks know, the Red Mountain armor is the Ashlander motif. The tricky part for me was the head piece as it's not part of the Red Mountain sets.

Hood of the Voidguide I was told was it. Couldn't find it on vendors. It's a low level item with no tactical value. Took a few characters through the Pact story line and it never dropped for me.

So I contacted the fine customer support folks for this game. All I wanted was a hint. Drops from Dark Anchors I was told. But, like all drops, not all the time. And given that it was a level 14-18 piece, not from all Dark Anchors in the Pact realms.

Redolent Loam Dolmen seemed the most likely candidate: the first Dark Anchor you encounter in Deshaan. So I camped it. And now that I'm on the EU server, starting over, I had the proper level character to do so and people to do it with. I live in Munich but played on the NA server since early access.

And here it is.....

We all have our loot I suppose. Yes, this is an odd thing to seek and cherish but, hey, who really buys that The Tribunal are gods?

Mandragora

Nice I loved beeing able to roleplay Ashlander in Morrowind and to be able to join their tribe. Thanks for the tips for their armour in ESO.

Gilvoth

could you please give a link as to where you are basing your information on that the head gear and red mountain armor belongs with or has anything to do with the ashlanders.

thank you in advance

Nazon_Katts

@dwemer_paleologist Can't find the original article that had the concept art in it, but here's the UESP link: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:ON-concept-Ashlander_clothing.png

edit: pic

Gilvoth

no insult is intended here by my comment but,
i see no evidence nor implication whatsoever that eso has Anything that is related even in the slightest with the ashlanders of morrowind.
your link made from a picture that is about eso clothing is just that "eso clothing" and has nothing to do with the ashlanders of morrowind.

Nazon_Katts

Oh, the series as a whole deviated quite a bit from what it once was at the time of Morrowind. Think you won't find any evidence for whatsoever other than shared basic lore and the names in any subsequent and future TES installment.
From a lore perspective, we're dealing with mainland Ashlanders of old in ESO, so it's not that much of an issue, when they're different to what we know from TESIII.

I agree with the sentiment however, that, quite sadly, the series seems to have had reached it's peak lore-wise with Morrowind, hasn't evolved much since and didn't change for the better. I don't expect much in this regard from TESVI either.

Tam!RUGH!

Mandragora

Im not sure if this is what you meant, but here is an original picture of Wise Woman from Morrowind and it seems to me quite similar : http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Sinnammu_Mirpal
but yes, I agree, just an armour isnt much for RP, but atleast its something I didnt expect to have their armour set in ESO

Mandragora

they have all wise women there : http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nibani_Maesa
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Manirai
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Sonummu_Zabamat

Gyudan

Here's an ingame screenshot:


I was just considering looking further into that look after questing in Deshaan with my VR7 alt. Thanks for this thread!

Gilvoth

Gyudan wrote: »

Here's an ingame screenshot:


I was just considering looking further into that look after questing in Deshaan with my VR7 alt. Thanks for this thread!

the pic you show here is a very close image of the morrowind dress of the ashlander wise woman.

Gilvoth

i know that there is a woman in stonefalls who is up on the side of the mountain that claims she is herself an ashlander. and it made me feel more at home but i believe that is the only one.
i was wanting so badly to see eso create something for the ashlanders in a Vvardenfell expansion including the Grazelands near red mountain and perhaps even ashlander and common house dunmer dark elf clothing including the ashlander yurts, and maybe even balmora and vivec city? but, alas, that is yet but only a dream and a hope.

Gilvoth

i happen to know personaly the leader of the ashlander player made guild in eso.
last i heard he had 120 some members and growing.

bellanca6561n

No references so precise old boy. The head piece speaks for itself. The Red Mountain armor simply *looks* like the clothing worn by Ashlanders you encounter in the game.

Mandragora

I just found out: is Red mountain set only medium? What about light set? the hood itself is light armour so I m not sure now.

AlexDougherty

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

i know that there is a woman in stonefalls who is up on the side of the mountain that claims she is herself an ashlander. and it made me feel more at home but i believe that is the only one.
i was wanting so badly to see eso create something for the ashlanders in a Vvardenfell expansion including the Grazelands near red mountain and perhaps even ashlander and common house dunmer dark elf clothing including the ashlander yurts, and maybe even balmora and vivec city? but, alas, that is yet but only a dream and a hope.

There are others, that woman on the mountain has her entire tribe with her, and there are a number of others around. Admittedly they are not saying "Hello outsider, we are Ashlanders", but the Ebonheart Pact has them around.

bellanca6561n

There are at least five story arcs in the Pact involving Ashlanders...

1. The outcast from her tribe gal looking for her Argonian outcast hunting partner.
2. The Ashlanders who attacked the Shrine of St. Veloth due to fear of the plague.
3. The Hunter outside Ebonheart whose leg was injured and asks you to hunt three dangerous creatures.
4. The Ghost Snake folks who want to feed the idiot Hlaalu trader to the object of their worship
5. The Ashlander male elder who decides his tribe should attack a monastery or somesuch over the objections of his head wisewoman.

And there is likely at least one more.

Here's my main in Red Mountain armor without the cops which I didn't like and with Primal (or Barbaric....I forget) boots. Well....she was my main until I went to the EU server.

There are Red Mountain boots for the outfit, I simply didn't like them as well. And, of course, this was before I got the Hood of the Voidguide which I did on my new character on the EU server.

Gilvoth

insightfull indeed, i spent most my time in pvp and have not seen the ashlander's you speak of.
awesome to know there is atleast more then i knew of.

Mandragora

This is my orcish shaman with ashlander armour that she got in Epic I think:

Gilvoth

Mandragora wrote: »

This is my orcish shaman with ashlander armour that she got in Epic I think:

this to me seems the most realistic and most beautiful of any armor or clothing i have ever seen in eso.
well done
please share where to find this wonderfull apparel.

now that we have the wisewoman clothing, we just need something for the ashkhan (leader) to wear. and also something for the common ashlander with no title to wear.

Gilvoth

i am in shock and cant get over how beautifull her clothing looks ...

Gilvoth

bellanca6561n wrote: »

There are at least five story arcs in the Pact involving Ashlanders...

1. The outcast from her tribe gal looking for her Argonian outcast hunting partner.
2. The Ashlanders who attacked the Shrine of St. Veloth due to fear of the plague.
3. The Hunter outside Ebonheart whose leg was injured and asks you to hunt three dangerous creatures.
4. The Ghost Snake folks who want to feed the idiot Hlaalu trader to the object of their worship
5. The Ashlander male elder who decides his tribe should attack a monastery or somesuch over the objections of his head wisewoman.

And there is likely at least one more.

Here's my main in Red Mountain armor without the cops which I didn't like and with Primal (or Barbaric....I forget) boots. Well....she was my main until I went to the EU server.

There are Red Mountain boots for the outfit, I simply didn't like them as well. And, of course, this was before I got the Hood of the Voidguide which I did on my new character on the EU server.

i am very sorry but that armor looks like "bonemold" armor

bellanca6561n

Well I don't doubt you've played more than a few Elder Scrolls games but, by your own admission, you don't know ESO very well. ESO is all I know of Elder Scrolls as I don't play single player games, even though ESO can very much feel like one when you're doing the story line quests.

Here's a sample of Ashlanders in ESO. All are Dark Elves by the way, and wear variations on this theme. Oh, and the women are all...uh....gorgeous which is what gets the Hlaau trader into trouble

And a male member of the Mabrigash tribe:

My characters may not follow lore dating back two decades but they're hot and that's what matters to me the most. It's why I chose Dunmers. As Raston says, they're lovely.

Mandragora

Im sorry it is not from ESO It is from Morrowind Overhaul with hardware 3d graphic adjustment.

I think Ashlanders are like Native American Indians, they have similar culture and even their armour was obviously inspired by them. That was even the reason why I liked them in Morrowind, because I like books from Karl May.

So I think any kind of armour that would be near to it would be OK. Medium armour looked really like Red Mountain set. In Morrowind was the armour of Wise Women more colourful, maybe it looks better because of that.

To be honest I like the ESO version too, but it seems like the light version isnt set, just random loot. Do you think Bellanca that they would give you names of the rest of the armour also?

bellanca6561n

That's really the thing - I have to rely on you folks to tell me the lineage of a two decade old series of games, as the only one I've played is this one.

And just the story line in this case as the PvP portion failed to appeal to me. I never felt an overarching motivation in the PvP in ESO other than just killing other players, the factional motivation ruined by the fact that the story line had me play all three.

And, yes, it all seems like random loot. But it's not as if I know anyone at the studio.....I simply wrote customer support to ask for hints on how to get that specific piece. The Red Mountain armor pieces I found on guild store vendors.

bellanca6561n

Oh, and here's Shuldrashi - the outcast Ashlander you encounter early in the Pact story line when she asks you to find her Argonian partner. This outfit also has the cops and sash you find with the Red Mountain armor set as well as the chest and leg pieces.

Mandragora

Morrowind was great with its system of different kind of joinable factions. It was around 20, which is quite a lot All of them had rank system and you had to fulfil their requirements to be able to join and rank up. You wouldnt say how the small stupid quests suddenly had real meaning for you But it wasnt just that. They also had small stories of their relationships. So at the beginning you did some ordinary tasks - like to bring something, but with your progress you were introduced to their main enemies and the most hostile of them - Telvanni had requirement for beeing their archemage to kill the previous one

Also most of them were connected to the Main quest somehow.

The Main quest itself was awesome. The beginning was similar like in Dune by Frank Herbert - you were dreaming about an unknown country as a prisoner in the main imperial city. One day Emperor contacted you that he had vision about you that you are connected somehow with Morrowind which just became the latest imperial colony with a lot of unrest. So he gave you a choice - to die as a prisoner or to be sent to Morrowind as an imperial agent.

So at the beginning you can join imperial agents - Blades and do quest for their Blademaster. He tells you to try to join all the possible factions on the Island and listen carefully to find out what's going on.

There you start to hear about Ashlanders - that they are hostile nomad tribes camping on the north - east side of the Island.

When the blademaster really sent me there I didnt expect that By your meeting with them starts another important part of the main quest. I really loved it.

That is the reason why it seems that fans of Morrowind are complaining all the time - because Bethesda never actually continued in that system - since Oblivion the games share just the Lore, but Bethesda is focused on gorgeous graphic more then on the factions even though their Lore would be perfect for that.

I dont know any other game that would have it, so thats why all the nostalgia

Gilvoth

bellanca6561n wrote: »

Oh, and here's Shuldrashi - the outcast Ashlander you encounter early in the Pact story line when she asks you to find her Argonian partner. This outfit also has the cops and sash you find with the Red Mountain armor set as well as the chest and leg pieces.

that is bonemold armor (belt, cuirass, and pauldrons) found in morrowind on the Guards in Balmora. the ashlanders in morrowind wore clothing and if you did happen upon ashlanders wearing armor it would be leggings and maybe boots and sometimes 1 pauldron, made from steel mostly. most ashlanders would wear clothing.
the developers of eso really just took armor and clothing they found and put it on npc's with no idea of what they were doing according to lore.

Gilvoth

Mandragora wrote: »

Morrowind was great with its system of different kind of joinable factions. It was around 20, which is quite a lot All of them had rank system and you had to fulfil their requirements to be able to join and rank up. You wouldnt say how the small stupid quests suddenly had real meaning for you But it wasnt just that. They also had small stories of their relationships. So at the beginning you did some ordinary tasks - like to bring something, but with your progress you were introduced to their main enemies and the most hostile of them - Telvanni had requirement for beeing their archemage to kill the previous one

Also most of them were connected to the Main quest somehow.

The Main quest itself was awesome. The beginning was similar like in Dune by Frank Herbert - you were dreaming about an unknown country as a prisoner in the main imperial city. One day Emperor contacted you that he had vision about you that you are connected somehow with Morrowind which just became the latest imperial colony with a lot of unrest. So he gave you a choice - to die as a prisoner or to be sent to Morrowind as an imperial agent.

So at the beginning you can join imperial agents - Blades and do quest for their Blademaster. He tells you to try to join all the possible factions on the Island and listen carefully to find out what's going on.

There you start to hear about Ashlanders - that they are hostile nomad tribes camping on the north - east side of the Island.

When the blademaster really sent me there I didnt expect that By your meeting with them starts another important part of the main quest. I really loved it.

That is the reason why it seems that fans of Morrowind are complaining all the time - because Bethesda never actually continued in that system - since Oblivion the games share just the Lore, but Bethesda is focused on gorgeous graphic more then on the factions even though their Lore would be perfect for that.

I dont know any other game that would have it, so thats why all the nostalgia

perfectly written post. all truth from what i can see.
well said Mandragora.

bellanca6561n

Yes, thank you.

I was frankly bewildered at times. A player stops me to tell me how much he loved the outfit of one of my characters - a mixture of primal and barbaric motifs - telling me how much it reminded him of Morrowind. I have no clue what he means.

I work at putting together an outfit of an Ashlander as I see them in this game and am told - albeit very nicely - that, nope, that's not "it."

Now I'm curious. Then I come across this video....

http://youtu.be/jf0jiOpD-AQ

And slowly much of the disappointment I failed to understand becomes a bit clearer

Gilvoth

bellanca6561n, you have done nothing wrong. i am inlove with morrowind, and all that is Vvardenfell, and i have been since around 2000, 2001.
any complaints i have are directed at the company called bethesda and zenimax only because of changes they made, that to be honest were inevitable.

in order for a company to stay in business they must stay on top of the times and allways creating new items and new experiance. this, sadly i understand and wish was not true but, it has ruined what we had in morrowind.

the clothing and armor for me that was found in morrowind gave me a personal experiance that i refuse to allow to be altered or changed.
as i see others try to duplicate that armor or clothing i will allways see something to complain about it.

however, i will compliment elderscrolls online about one thing about the clothing And the armor And weapons.
many of the weapons, armor, and clothing Does infact look Very much like what we saw in morrowind. and that for me is an amazing accomplishment they have accomplished, wether or not they meant to do that or not is beyond me to know.

the video you provided above about morrowind is very accurate and very truth in what he said. i enjoyed the video and i do respect and am thankfull that you would try to duplicate anything about morrowind, especially anything related to the ashlanders.
and for that, i do tip my hat to you.

well done.

Gilvoth

i think one thing that is allways over looked and allways not being done is this ...

the very boring and plain look of the clothing in morrowind was perfection. it gave us something to grow on and start at. and to be like them in morrwind we had to become like thier clothing "boring, and plain"

the same can be said about the actions of the npc's in morrwind. thier actions were boring and plain. they had No schedule and Nothing to do all day and all night.
and That was perfect! it led you to imagination and creativity.
whereas in oblivion and skyrim we did not have that. instead, bethesda tried to create actions and activities for the npc's that totaly ruined the experiance and love we had with the boring in morrowind.

they tried to create life in a place that allready had life, lol. in doing so, they killed thier own game.