Lore: Great Houses Relationship

magnusthorek · December 2016

A quick Lore question with, perhaps, a not so easy answer: Does the Great House Telvanni has/had any bad (or good, who knows) relationship with anyof the other Great Houses?

Enodoc · December 2016

Over all time, or during the ESO period? Throughout the history of Morrowind, they've always been quite isolationist, while during the ESO period they're estranged from the other houses because they refused to join the Pact.

House Telvanni

LMar · December 2016

The Houses can often have infighting and they can even hire assassins to kill people from the other houses. Currently House Telvanni did not agree with the formation of the Ebonheart Pact and therefore they did not join. So they are off doing their own thing, but that does not necessarily mean they hate everyone else (more than they usually do, remember the Telvanni are mostly isolationist and more xenophobic than most Dunmer). You can actually find a Telvanni or two in Stonefalls during some quests

magnusthorek · December 2016

What about the whole picture? Or in the other way around, a Great House that doesn't like the Telvanni xenophobic and isolationist way?

[EDIT]

Found in the Wiki about House Hlaalu they were hostiles against Telvanni and Redoran, although not at warfare point

LMar · December 2016

Your best best is to read the article on the Great Houses on UESP bu in general it states that

"The Telvanni, in general, did not interact with other Houses or Guilds, nor did they have many enemies save for Abolitionists and the Imperial Mages Guild. In the Second Era, they refused to join the Ebonheart Pact, much to the chagrin of the other houses."

Most of the info is for the 3rd Era as we don't know much about House Telvanni in the Second Era when ESO is taking place.

Worthy of note however is this passage :

"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"

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,[8] and only a ranking challenging noble or a Morag Tong assassin could attack the marked noble. Before the eruption of Red Mountain, Houses routinely engaged the Morag Tong, taking out regulated contracts called Writs. This custom permitted 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 specialized in the honorable and legal prosecution of these factional vendettas. House Wars are expensive, dangerous, and disruptive to all Houses involved"

Hope that helps