Largest Building in Tamriel

Aristocles22

While it seems like one of the (possibly) reality-supporting towers would take the title of tallest Building on Tamriel (White-Gold, Crystal, Direnni), what about the largest building?

Of course, this isn't as easy a question as it seems. Buildings can be measured in different ways, such as by footprint, volume, floor space, etc. Let's stick to footprint (area on the ground) and volume (a multiple of length, width, and height in some manner). And lets stick to external geometries, as the insides of buildings don't usually match well with the outside in TES (or most other) games, and many buildings on the inside are best described as a series of tunnels which connect widely separated rooms. Good for adventuring, bad for many other purposes. Also note that I don't know if it is a good idea to count structures in Oblivion or other dimensions, as not only does space not necessarily work the same way there, none of them are actually on Tamriel.

Going by ESO, I would think that it boils down to three likely candidates:

1. White-Gold Tower (by volume)

2. Tribunal Temple (by floor area)

3. Palace of Vivec (by either one if not both)

I am sure there are ways to accurately measure the geometry using the models, but I unfortunately lack the time and means to do so. There's also the matter of in-game appearance vs. lore, as well as the fact that things can't always be kept consistent between games (different modelers, different engine, etc). Sometimes, this inconsistency is deliberate, like the difference between Mor Khazgur in Skyrim (a small camp made of wood), and Mor Khazgur in ESO (a gigantic stone arena many times larger than the camp.)

A few other candidates for the title, by one measurement or another:

- Scarp Keep (the Orc king's palace in Wrothgar)

- One of the monuments in Summerset (Royal Palace, Crystal Tower, Monastery of Divine Serenity, College of Sapiarchs)

- One of the castles in High Rock or Cyrodiil or possibly a xanmeer in Black Marsh

- A Dwemer structure, possibly Understone Keep in Markarth.

RebornV3x

The tallest would probably go to any of the main towers White-Gold Tower, Crystal Tower, Direnni Tower etc it would prove quite difficult to really prove which one was taller

VaranisArano

I'd give a special mention to Labyrinthian, the longest effing dungeon in Skyrim.

Largest single room? Does Blackreach count?

Aristocles22

RebornV3x wrote: »

The tallest would probably go to any of the main towers White-Gold Tower, Crystal Tower, Direnni Tower etc it would prove quite difficult to really prove which one was taller

That is true, I am sure, but that is also not what is in question here. The question is the largest building, not the tallest. A building can be very large IRL, but not very tall. The Pentagon is one example of a very large but not very tall building IRL, even though size and height often go together.

Aristocles22

VaranisArano wrote: »

I'd give a special mention to Labyrinthian, the longest effing dungeon in Skyrim.

Largest single room? Does Blackreach count?

Labyrinthian is more of a series of structures, natural tunnels, artificial tunnels, and a few other things. This is meant to cover the geometry we can see from the outside, as TES games tend to have inconsistencies between what is on the outside and what is within. Plus, it is hard to account for tunnels which connect different structures, whether or not we count naturally-occurring tunnels, natural tunnels with buildings later put into them, etc. And Blackreach is a gigantic but natural cave with many branching tunnels and different Dwemer structures built into it, none of which are likely to be the single largest in Tamriel.

Best to just count what we can see outside.

DirkRavenclaw

Hm Imperial City Prison is quite large. Also, Moonhunter Keep. Just 2 that come to mind for me

Aristocles22

DirkRavenclaw wrote: »

Hm Imperial City Prison is quite large. Also, Moonhunter Keep. Just 2 that come to mind for me

I'm sure they are on the inside and out, but I doubt they can match the three likely largest mentioned in the OP.

Tatanko

White-Gold Tower is definitely up there, even more so if you count everything going on in its sub-levels (and below!). When you think about the Imperial City as one big structure with its interconnected buildings and walls, it's massive.

Aristocles22

The Imperial City is definitely not one structure. It has large structures, but it isn't one itself. At most, the walls are one (or a couple of) large structures. Everything else in between is not.

And I said that I am only counting the external geometries as seen in-game. The insides don't always match the outside. After looking again, I think I can safely say that the largest building in terms of volume and the largest overall is the White-Gold Tower, followed by either the Tribunal Temple of Mournhold or the Palace of Vivec. After those three, some of the other towers are probably next (Crystal and Direnni towers), probably followed Scarp Keep, the Monastery of Serene Harmony and/or the College of Sapiarchs (including the platforms they are on) which is then followed by the largest Imperial, Altmer, Dunmer, and Breton castles/forts, followed by the largest of the Xanmeers (which includes the platforms they are on), and then probably the Imperial Chapels.

Remember, only counting the external geometry. The internal spaces frequently don't match what we see outside.