City Planning Thread 5 - Thorn

[Deeza]

We know almost nothing about this place, so I've had to improvise quite freely:

The northenmost city of Black Marsh, the port of Thorn is a bit of an oddity, as nobody's quite sure who it belongs to, although on paper it's part of Black Marsh. Known as "the Gateway to Morrowind", it's the traditional stopping-off point for Imperial ships trying to round the Telvanni Cape and enter the inner sea of Morrowind. Consequently, its city crest is a black Dunmer portal.

Originally founded by breakaway Velothi refugees, the city was offered to Great House Dres by the Tribunal on condition that they cleanse it of heretics. Easier said than done, as the Velothi had learnt the terrain well, and put up stern resistance. The city changed hands several dozen times over the centuries, the Dres attacking by sea even as Arnesia remained impenetrable. The Velothi made alliances, both with Argonian tribes with shared anti-Morrowind agendas and with the Second Empire in exchange for docking rights.

Then disaster struck and the city was almost wiped out by the Khanaten flu. Its importance as a port was eclipsed by the Dres city of Tear, and it was almost forgotten. Everything changed though when Tiber Septim desperately needed a rival to Tear as a launchpad in the run up to his conquest of Morrowind. Making contact with surviving Velothi tribesmen, Septim secured their assistance in locating the ruined port, its entrance long since choked by mangroves. In exchange the Velothi were offered privileges in the new port, and their ranks were soon swelled by the early Dissident Priests and other heretics fleeing from Tribunal persecution.

Since then, Thorn has relied on Imperial protection to stave off advances from the Dres, even as the rest of Arnesia fell during the wars fifty years ago, but recently this has faded as the Empire has steadily withdrawn troops from the East. After losing a recent power struggle with King Helseth, the renegade Dres lord Rethan led his fanatical followers south and annexed the city, whilst cleverly leaving the Imperial port facilities intact. Without the resources to push them out, the Admiral was forced to aquiesce to this new situation, and an uneasy peace exists to this day.

The city is a mixture of ancient Velothi structures, Imperial houses, modern Dunmer shacks and a few new Dres buildings under construction.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I guess it would be good to announce here that, with the alpha release of Phitt's Sheogorad mod here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37329 , we are now looking increasingly in a position to work on Thorn. The East Coast will be worked on in patches although the main focus now is going to be dungeons and quests.