The Elder Scrolls Treasury III - The Imperial Library

House StylesHouse StylesThe three → Dunmer → Great Houses that have settled → Vvardenfell have distinctivearchitectures and lifestyles. Aristocratic, warlike Great House → Redoran favors a spacious,irregular, organic building style. Great House → Hlaalu, an aggressive mercantile culture, stronglyadmiring and influenced by → Imperial culture, prefers simpler, more modern, more denselypopulated settlements, while bizarre wizard towers dominate mushroom−hut villages of the GreatHouse → Telvanni sorcerer−lords. A fourth Great House style, the Velothi or → Temple style, isevident in the monumental architecture, bridges, buttresses, and grand canals of the ancientreligious center of → Vivec City.House TelvanniSee → Telvanni.House WarsCodes of behavior under House Wars of Honor are complex and subtle, and the → Morag Tongspecialize in the honorable and legal prosecution of these factional vendettas. By the immemorialcustom of → Dunmer society, a House may challenge the honor of another House in the person ofone of the House's ranking → nobles. The ranking noble of the impugned House is 'marked fordeath' −− in ancient times, actually formally marked with a black banner, but in modern times,served with a formal written public announcement. If within a year of the challenge, the markednoble still lives, the challenging House must publicly forego any further complaint or scandal onthe matter.Only a ranking challenging noble or a Morag Tong may attack the marked noble; inmodern times, Houses routinely engage Morag Tong. This custom permits Houses to war upon oneanother on a small scale without threatening public peace and rule of → law. House Wars areexpensive, dangerous, and disruptive to all Houses involved, but on the island of → Vvardenfellalone, a dozen or more Marked Challenges are being prosecuted at any time. Such violent disputesamong → Great Houses are called 'House Wars.'Hrothmund's BaneA wolf−shaped formation on → Solstheim, which is only visible from the air.Humanoid RacesElves consider themselves the only 'truly human → race,' being descended directly from the gods,and regard the Manish and Beast races as highly intelligent animals. On the other hand, Imperialscholars consider Men, Elves, and Beastmen as 'men,' on the basis that individuals of all threegroups can mate with one another. Offspring of inter−racial matings have the racial appearance ofthe mother, but may occasionally share inherited characteristics and → abilities of the father.Sloads, dragons, and other sentient races cannot mate with Men, Elves, or Beastmen, and are notconsidered 'human.' Exceptional accounts of matings between men and → daedra do not fitsmoothly into this scheme.Lit.: The Annotated Anuad (TEST I 2 : 898).106