Overview of House Telvanni in Morowind Elder Scrolls III - Factions and guilds in the Elder Scrolls III

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House Telvanni

House Telvanni is the house of mages, battlemages and sorcerers. They are usually isolated by tradition, and prefer solitude in order to study the arcane arts. The main philosophy of House Telvanni is ‘Wisdom gains power, power makes right’ and this is often found in the Arch-magisters and Wizard Lords who reside within the Telvanni district’s towers. All of the outstanding members of the Great House influence matters adhering to this oath, not thinking twice when needing to eliminate rival mages or conquering merely by the power of destructive magic.

House Telvanni opposes abolitionism since most wizards use slaves for every-day tasks in the tower. Being one of the ancient Great Houses, hence founded by the Dunmer, they see slavery as a Dunmer right, and strongly oppose any guilds, faction or individual who rally against slavery.

Telvanni Arch-magisters and wizard Lords are famous for their peculiar towers, constructed out of giant mushrooms which are hollowed out and contain small interconnected chambers. The main architecture of Sadrith Mora, the main Telvanni centre situated on the Eastern part of Vvardenfell, also features mushroom-housing. Since these towers don’t feature stairs, it is necessary to levitate in order to reach the living-quarters. A mage tower is recognized by the ‘Tel’ suffix.

Ranks

The Telvanni colour is brown. Their primary attributes are Intelligence and Willpower, rightly so for wizards, and needed skills include all the major and minor schools of magic (such as Destruction, Enchanting, Mysticism etc…). Since Telvannis are notably aloof and mistrustful, it is very difficult to gain a favourable reputation with outstanding members, or very difficult in rising in rank often having to do a large number of potion gathering tasks. This requires patience since the player has to travel to quite a few destinations scattered across the land.

The Telvanni House has no allies. All the guilds and factions are disliked, some more than others. They absolutely despise the Mages Guild, as they are not considered the wielders of the Dunmer primal magics, and allow anyone to become a mage. This is their first and most hated enemy. The rest of the Great Houses are simply looked down upon, but not despised as in the case of House Dagoth or the Mages guild.

The highest rank is the Arch-magister, or Gothren in Tel Aruhn. After the Arch-magister there is a council which determines how players should rise in ranks. Ranks from the bottom are: Hireling, Retainer, Oathman, Lawman, Mouth, Spellwright, Wizard, Master, Magister and finally Archmagister. Note that the Arch-magister rank is only reachable by battling and killing the current Archmagister.

This post is part of the series: The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions

A series of articles on the various factions and guilds in the world of the Elder Scrolls III.

  1. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – House Dagoth
  2. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – House Dres
  3. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – House Hlaalu
  4. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – House Redoran
  5. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – House Telvanni
  6. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – The Blades
  7. The Dark Brotherhood Guild In Morrowind - Guide to Guilds & Factions in The World of Morrowind
  8. The World of Morrowind: The Fighters Guild - Guilds & Factions Guide For Elder Scrolls III
  9. The World of Morrowind: Imperial Cult in Elder Scrolls III - Morrowind Guilds & Factions Guide
  10. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – Imperial legion in Elder Scrolls III
  11. The World of Morrowind Guilds & Factions Guide – Mages Guild Overview
  12. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions in Elder Scrolls III - Thieves guild Overview
  13. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – The Ashlander tribes
  14. The Camonna Tong Overview - Guide to The World of Morrowind Guilds & Factions
  15. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions Guide – The Morag Tong - Elder Scrolls III
  16. The World of Morrowind: Guilds & Factions – The Tribunal Temple