The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal (0)

Overview

The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal is the first of two expansions released for and was released November 6th 2002. The main location for this expansion is the temple/city of Mournhold, the capital Morrowind, located in the largest city of . The title refers to the three "Living Gods", who are referred to as the Tribunal.

Opposed to the main game, Tribunal, or the city of Mournhold, is not located in the open world. It is located in so-called interior cells and thus only accessible through . The creators of the game still managed to capture the feeling of the open-air towns, while this is not the case. Because of this the player can not in Mournhold, because that would reveal that the sky is just a ceiling on the interior cell. If a player would managed to get up in the sky or outside the city, they would find that the city was floating in an endless ocean. The other districts of Mournhold will be absent from that ocean. This was probable done because the original game only contained the islands of Vvardenfell, while Mournhold, according to the fictional geography of Tamriel, lies on the mainland and a considerable distance inland.

One of the most notable modifications in this expansion pack besides the quest content is the revamp of Morrowind's journal system. Because the player's journals would become extremely lengthy and cumbersome, the Tribunal journal allows the player to sort his journal by quest (instead of the old chronological sorting), to make finding and navigating through all the quests way more accessible. Another new feature is the Museum of Artifacts, where players can sell their valuable for more reasonable prices. The owner of the museum will pay the player half of the value of the artifact (up to 30000 gold), which is notably more than the normal storekeepers would pay. The museum starts out with just one artifact, but as the player sells more artifacts, the museum will display more of them.

Story (Spoilers)

The story of Tribunal starts off right when the player goes to sleep after installing the add-on. An attacks the player in his or her sleep and is revealed to be a member of the , an assassins that can also be found in several of the other games in the series In order to find out more about this guild, the player is sent to Mournhold, Morrowind's capital. After arriving in Mournhold, the player's first task is to find out more about the Dark Brotherhood and specifically to find the leader of the guild. In addition, the player is asked to complete a series of quests for the new king, Helseth, and the living god, Almalexia.

Right after completing some of the side quests, the Plaza Brindisi Dorom is attacked by creatures known as Fabricants. These creatures emerge from the in the center of the plaza. After the attack, a hole is discovered at the location the creatures emerged, revealing a hidden entrance to the ruins beneath Mournhold. Since the Fabricants are mechanical, the god is suspected to be behind this attack. The player has to go through these ruins in order to investigate the origins of the Fabricants. After investigating the ruins and completing several side-missions, the player is able to restore the lost sword Trueflame. When the player acquires the sword, the player is sent inside the ruins to kill Sotha Sil.

The gods are all vulnerable at this point, because the game takes place after the events off Morrowind and therefore it is assumed that the Heart of Lorkhan has been destroyed, rendering the gods mortal once more. The player continues to explore the ruins in order to find Sotha Sil, but ultimately finds its body. As soon as the player tries to leave the room, Almalexia appears and she says she's the one who killed Sotha Sil and started the attack on Mournhold to gain more control and power over the citizens. The player is then forced to before being able to return to Mournhold.

Upon the player's return in Mournhold, the prince appears and reveals that the Heart of Lorkhan drove Alamalexia and that mortals can never become gods without facing severe consequences. Later in the game, only three NPC's in the game are willing to believe that Almalexia is really dead. All other inhabitants will be unable to believe the player's story and will have a lower disposition towards the player as a result. By destroying the Heart of Lorkhan and killing Almalexia, the player continues to fulfill the Nerevarine prophecies.

PC System Requirements

• OS: Windows ME/98/XP/2000
• Processor: 500 MHz Intel Pentium III, Celeron, or AMD Athlon
• Memory: 256 MB
• Graphics: 32MB Direct3D Compatible video card with 32-bit color support and DirectX 8.1
• DirectX®: 8.1
• Hard Drive: 1GB free hard disk space
• Sound: DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card