Morrowind Role-play: The Imperial Artisan

Danae

Jun 30, 2025 • 6 min read

Character Sheet

Race: Imperial
Birthsign: The Steed (we'll be a peddler for some time until we can afford a shop)
Class: Artisans are talented people who love to make new items and repair them. They are handy and skilled with a hammer. They can even create more refined items, some magical. They are also shrewd salesmen.
Starting scenario: Commoner, waiting tables in Suran. You have heard that Seyda Neen is a place of opportunities that welcomes Imperial and that has a single shop.
Character background: Apprenticed to a shopkeeper.

Motto: "Fair coin for fair goods"

Religion

Worships Zenithar, the god of work and commerce, believing that honest labor blessed by divine favor leads to prosperity and that wealth earned through skill honors the Divines. Practices his faith by tithing a portion of their profits to chapels and shrines.

Affiliations

✅House Hlaalu
✅The Imperial Cult
✅Business in need of owners/investors (see modlist below)
🟡The Mages Guild, especially if you plan to pursue Enchanting.
❌Any faction that lives on the fringe of the law, as being connected to illegal activities, could result in Imperial sanctions

Goals

Accumulate enough wealth to purchase a grand manor and live as a respected merchant-artisan

Handicaps

You are not a warrior, avoid fights, hire an escort (or friends) to keep you safe on the roads
Pass, ignore, refuse quests that require theft or heavy combat
Keep to the roads (especially those with patrols)
Raiding caves, tombs, and ruins is not your business; you craft goods to sell, you don't steal.

Likes and Dislikes

Dislikes shoddy craftsmanship - wear/use quality items only
Has an irrational hatred of rusty items
Has an odd obsession with collecting rare gems and metals, not for their value but for their potential in creating masterwork pieces

Worldview on Major Issues

Choose pro-Imperial dialogue options
Avoid or decline anti-Imperial storylines
Join House Hlaalu for business advantages but maintain a neutral reputation with other Houses - never attack their members
Complete trade-related quests for any House that pays well
Refuse to deal with the Camonna Tong and the Thieves Guild, regardless of potential profits
No interest in current affairs (Main Quest)
Slavery is legal; you may choose to use slaves.
Avoid dealings with the Ashlanders, who are reportedly violent, especially towards outlanders.

Modlist

Gameplay

Buying Game: ESSENTIAL!! Based on your mercantile, spot good deals (items in high demand, in high supply) and buy from anyone. This means you don't need to kill or steal to get items.
Stay On the Roads - Wild Life Attacks NPCs: Allows creatures with a fight value to attack nearby NPCs if they have a line of sight.
CCM Guard Patrols and Quests: Adds a few guards from different factions out in the wilderness and some guard patrols. Some of these leaders have quests you can complete and get rewarded for.
Immersive Maps: You only have a static map. Better look at the road signs!
Signpost Fast Travel (MWSE): I only use them when I am travelling on a known road to avoid tedium and entirely not spoil the challenge of travel
PRAY - Prayers Rituals And You: includes two prayers to Zenithar (with effects)

Shops and Businesses

PC Clothier Balmora: become the owner of a clothing shop, hire an assistant, and have shelves filled with clothes for sale. Doubles up a comfortable home in Balmora.
Erengard Mine Redux: Establish and operate a diamond mine.
The Broken Drum: A new tavern near Ebonheart, including new characters, objects, dialogue, live music, and new mini-quests. You will have the opportunity to buy the tavern known as the Broken Drum!
Horror at Helvil Mine: Ask around about the Latest Rumors in Maar Gan to find a tale of a mine in peril. Bring forth its demise, or save it from financial ruin!
Wayfarer's Rest: Have an inn built from the ground up.
Racer's Roost: Buy and run a small pub, make the drinks to sell to your customers.

If you only want to brew drinks, get Merlord's Brew Master. If you want to brew drinks usingrd of Skooma (and beverages) instead.

Consignment Chests Expanded: Adds consignment chests to several traders in Vvardenfell that allow them to save over time to buy more expensive items from the player.
Sails and Sales: Become the captain of your own ship, recruit crew members, and acquire cargo to sell.
Import Business the Merchant of Vvardenfell: In the East Empire Company office on Ebonheart, a new Import Ledger book is installed. With it, you can import stuff. Warning: You are buying in bulk, which is a lot of septims, and you'll most likely need help to carry it all.

Hlaalu Content

Tamriel Rebuilt: Great for any playthrough, even better with all the new Hlaalu content and the Banking system + Hlaalu Council Company Bank - Vvardenfell Branches and/or Tamriel Rebuilt Briricca Bank in Vivec

Other banking mods include Wealth Within Measure, Indy Bank, Wealth Beyond Measure.

Even with Tamriel Banking, I would install and use Weath Beyond Measure as it lets you buy stocks, and hope their value goes up rather than down.

OAAB Odai Plateau: Complete remake of House Hlaalu's Stronghold with new exterior/interiors, gameplay mechanics, and quests.
Roleplay Options for Great House Hlaalu: This mod adds several new ways to complete quests for Great House Hlaalu. Persuade, bargain, and extort Hlaalu rivals to soar your way through their ranks, as you learn to walk, talk, and act like a proper Imperial-boot-licking bureaucrat.

Crafting

Ashfall: Adds immersion while on the roads, but bushcrafting offers an early-game option to gather resources, craft useful items for your travels, and sell things for a small profit.
Morrowind Crafting: Craft everything the game has to offer (including items from Tamriel Rebuilt). Warning: it takes time (and money) to craft things.

These two mods are not fully compatible; most notably, firewood from Ashfall cannot be used in Morrowind Crafting recipes (including campfire). However, foods and drinks from Morrowind Crafting are recognised by Ashfall.

More quests

Fetchers of Morrowind: Fetchers of Morrowind is a company that finds items and delivers them to customers.
Imperial Employment Office: Adds a new faction to the game, which is focused on non-combat odd jobs and errands for the player.
Supply Chain: This mod adds 12 lore-friendly, infinitely repeatable tasks with varying degrees of difficulty that you can do while adventuring. You can earn a decent, but not over-the-top, amount of money for your efforts.
Broadsheets and Notice Boards Redone: With this mod, you will now find notice boards throughout the world. Here you can find public declarations and notices, requests that begin side quests, and broadsheets containing the latest news, along with many other types of documents.

Armed Escort / Carriers of Burdens

Friends and Frens: A large companion mod with 30+ brand new NPC companions, 40+ vanilla/TR npcs as companions and 20+ creature companions.
Devilish Bribery Overhaul: Bribing guards will lower their alarm value (how much they care about crime such as theft, lock picking, assault and murder). If you bribe them with about 2000 drakes, they'll even work for you.
The Followers: Adds 10 mercenaries for hire to Vvardenfell.
Privileges and Services: With House Hlaalu, you can send subordinates to lower the prices of vendors, or to raise NPCs' disposition, and ask for an escort guard, make an arrest of NPCs...
Live Free: You can now buy or steal any slaves you come across, and they have advanced AI to control their behavior as companions.
Tetra the pack guar: Tetra, the Pack Guar, will be added to your game. She's difficult to kill, hard to lose, and can carry a lot of stuff. She will also fight beside you. Tetra can be found in the Abaesen-Pulu Egg Mine, near Seyda Neen.

I prefer my pack animals not to fight, so I use Peaceful Pets. You can of course (also) pick Paxon the Pack Rat and Henwen the Pack Piglet.

Home

I'll be using my own Pegasus Estate (in beta for 10 years and counting)
Nerano Vaults - A little more than just a player's home. Includes scripted displays for artifacts.
MyManor.esp - Purchase Hlaalo Manor: Allows the player to purchase Balmora, Hlaalo Manor empty or furnished after completing quest House Hlaalu: The Death of Ralen Hlaalo. Comes with an unfurnished version if you want to make your own furniture.
Varo Manor - Varo Manor adds a player's home in Caldera and a quest to obtain it. To begin the quest, inquire about the latest rumors in Caldera. The quest is designed for characters who are at least level 10.
Imperial Dragon Manor - A lavish, Imperial-style manor right in the heart of the scenic Ascadian Isles.
River Rock Falls - Adds a beautiful estate in its interior cells. From Balmora, head north along the road. Before you reach the bridge, look to your left and down. There's a rowboat in the water.
Staff Agency: The player can hire various staff through a new NPC in Ebonheart's great hall or relevant vanilla NPCs. The staff performs (daily) services for a monthly wage.