GENERAL Overview

A new power -- an ancient, creeping terror -- is gradually enveloping the island of Solstheim off the coast of Morrowind. For it seems the long-forgotten tombs and sacred stones are resonating; grasped firmly by the machinations of the first Dragonborn: Scholars tell of a priest named Miraak, who served the dragons with a group of powerful acolytes, before finally turning against his dragon masters, and finding new strength and knowledge under the yoke of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora. Miraak is demonstrating his fortitude by siphoning the island’s All-Maker Stones, and enslaving its inhabitants. As his power grows, he has even sent his followers into the provinces of Skyrim in search of the ‘false’ Dragonborn, the only one who may be capable of stopping his return.

Important Locations

Raven Rock

Raven Rock is a settlement located in the remains of the Hirstaang Forest. It’s situated strategically in a small cove on the southern end of Solstheim. In Raven Rock’s glory days, a pair of large docks jutted out into the cove, which provided access to the cargo ships the East Empire Company needed to send ebony out of and bring supplies into the colony. Now, only a single rickety dock remains. The eastern end of the city is dominated by the Bulwark, a massive stone fortification used to defend the town. A long, tall cliff protects the town’s northern side, sheltering it from Solstheim’s harsh conditions. Ever since Red Mountain’s eruption, the once-lush pine forest has been transformed into ash waste. The Bulwark now serves as a different kind of barrier—protecting Raven Rock’s inhabitants from ash storms.

Tel Mithryn

Dominated by the Telvanni tower along the island’s southern coast, this Dunmeri settlement sits a little east of the ruins of Fort Frostmoth. It has a classic mushroom shape, with a fungal growth hollowed out into a top floor and a stalk holding it up off the ground. Currently, one section of it appears to be withered and dying. At the base of the stalk are bulbous growths that form secondary buildings. Tel Mithryn is home to Neloth, a Telvanni wizard who survived the Red Year of Vvardenfell. Neloth has been experimenting with the ash and other debris, such as heart stones, from the eruption of Red Mountain. He has multiple goals, but all of them involve returning to Vvardenfell and becoming Arch-Mage, although sometimes it just looks like accumulating power for power’s sake.

Skaal Village

Skaal Village is located along the Felsaad Coast. The terrain is flat but rocky and dotted with pine trees and low scrub. There is no real economy here, as money has little value to the self-sufficient Skaal. Hunting is the main source of sustenance, as the Horkers on the northern coast and nearby Lake Fjalding are relative easy and lucrative prey. More adventurous Skaal seek the elusive Snow Wolf or Snow Bear, whose pelts are highly valued among their people.

The All-Maker Stones

The animistic Skaal hold these ancient carved stones to be evidence of their deity, part of a simple cosmology in which the All-Maker created all matter and the world. While these notions may seem primitive to Nords of Skyrim, the magic that courses through these stones is very real—so much so that Miraak seeks to siphon it and has tainted them with evil, compelling the weaker-willed people of Solstheim into constructing strange arched shrines for this purpose.

Temple of Miraak

In the distant past, one of the great temples of the Dragon Cult stood atop Solstheim’s central mountains. It was destroyed by the dragons long ago, in the war fought over Miraak’s betrayal, and forgotten. Now it is the site of the Tree Stone, one of the five All-Maker Stones sacred to the Skaal people. But a new temple is rising, with strange arches and an ornate. Its architects are the ordinary people of Solstheim, who have unknowingly fallen under the control of Miraak.

Nchardak

The dwarven city of Nchardak was built on a series of platforms extending out into the Sea of Ghosts. Thousands of years of disuse, and the cataclysmic Red Year, have decimated the ruin, causing most of it to sink into the sea. Only the tops of a few towers and the walkways connecting them still rise above the waterline. Many are tilted at precarious angles or have been ruined entirely, but a few, such as the domed Reading Room, remain intact.

Apocrypha

Amid a black ocean filled with writhing tentacles lies the endless library of forbidden knowledge. This realm of Oblivion is the domain of Hermaeus Mora. Black-covered books adorn every edifice. Pages flitter as if pulled by invisible string. And grotesque creatures malformed by Mora stalk the constantly elongating and retracting halls, feeding off the ghosts of those seeking knowledge. The laws of the mortal world hold no power here.

Important Characters

Frea Crag-Strider

Frea is the daughter of Storn Crag-Strider. When Miraak began to seize control of Solstheim, she was with her father and was protected from Miraak’s mind control. Her friends were not so fortunate and haven’t been seen in quite some time. While her father focused on protecting the village, she devised a way to make that protection portable so that she could attempt to find out what has happened. With a special talisman to keep her safe, she’s made it to the top of the strange temple in the center of Solstheim, looking for answers.

Storn Crag-Strider

Storn is the Skaal shaman, the spiritual advisor to the tribe. Stoic and patient, the Skaal look to him in times of difficulty for guidance and comfort. He communes with the land and calls upon the power of the All-Maker, the creator and sustainer, to protect them. Times have grown harder of late, and now his people have been shattered by the loss of most of the tribe to some unknown dark magic. At the last moment, Storn was able to shield the remaining few of his people from this spell, but it is taking all of his concentration to maintain the barrier, and he can’t keep it up forever.

Neloth

Master Neloth is the Telvanni wizard who dwells in Tel Mithryn. Neloth seems to have difficultly with the concept that other people matter. He judges their health and well-being solely based on his personal comfort and needs. That said, he is no fool. He recognizes power and that power in others must be respected. At this point in his life, he has given up kidnapping women. He claims that it no longer interests him. Once you’ve kidnapped someone, you have to put up with their whining and complaining. It just isn’t worth it.

Miraak

Miraak was the first Dragonborn. His destiny may have been to defeat Alduin back in the Mythic Era, but he chose a different path: to use his Dragonborn abilities to gain power for himself. Originally a dragon priest, he was seduced by Hermaeus Mora and secretly became his disciple. He gathered a cult to Hermaeus Mora at his temple on Solstheim.

Eventually, the other dragon priests discovered Miraak’s heresy and led a crusade against him. He was defeated, his followers killed or scattered, and his temple razed. But Miraak was able to escape into Hermaeus Mora’s realm of Apocrypha, where he has been growing in knowledge and power over the centuries while he waited for a chance to return.

Hermaeus Mora

Hermaeus Mora is the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, he who scryes the tides of Fate, weaving his way through the past and future. Always lurking, he is the void and the ever-seeing eyes. He resides everywhere and nowhere but takes glee in tormenting mortals from his realm in Oblivion, the plane called Apocrypha, where the infinite pages of countless books containing all forbidden knowledge are found.

Available Quests

There are a total of seven Dragonborn Main Quests. Aside from Cleansing the Stones, which must be completed after The Fate of the Skaal but before the conclusion of The Gardener of Men, each quest leads directly into the next, as shown in the following table: