Tamriel Data:Narsis: A History

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Narsis: A History

by Varian Felannus

On the past of the Hlaalu's greatest city.

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Today the city of Narsis stands as the capital of commerce in the exotic province of Morrowind, ruled by the Great House Hlaalu. It is the most cosmopolitan native city in the province, and the center of Imperial-Hlaalu relations. When following the Purple Road from Cyrodiil, one is accosted by the protruding shops and vendors of the Market Quarter before the road reaches its final destination in the city proper. The bustling Grand Bazaar, with its many-colored lights, is one of the Wonders of the East. But it wasn't always this way.

Narsis began in the Merethic Era as a steading built by the legendary Founder of Great House Hlaalu, Narsara Hla-Alu, to guard a tomb of Chimeri who had died during the exodus. Its geography made it easily defensible--a prime location for a city. The Founder's husband was the first keeper of the tombs, a duty that has passed down the line of the First Family of House Hlaalu until the present day. When this steading expanded into a town it took on the name Narsaris, which became Narsis over time.

In the High Velothi period, Narsara's grandson, Tharel Hlaalu, is credited with laying the foundations for the city we know today; he established a trade post on the upper West bank, built the original towers that ringed Narsis' tor, and formally vassalized the families outside Clan Hlaalu that farmed and mined around the plateau. This was the beginning of the Second Family of House Hlaalu, which remains the most influential family in Narsis. In this time the Third and Fourth Families had also formed.

The next phase in the history of Narsis was a bloody one. The Warring Houses period began with a feud between the Second and Third Families early in the First Era, who vied for power in the city. The violence was supplemented by the raiding of the Red Khans, a horde of tribes from Central Morrowind who were unable to compete with the emerging Houses of Indoril, Mora, and Dres, and so moved South in the late Merethic Era.

The Red Khans built strongholds around Shipal-Shin, weakening Narsis and eventually conquering it, ruling for over a century. They were driven out into the canyons by the legendary hero Nerevar, who returned Narsis to the rule of the Second Family of Clan Hlaalu. After the Battle of Red Mountain, a relationship of watchful peace between the Red Khans and the Hlaalu formed under the Tribunate.

During the Four Score War, Narsis was sacked yet again, this time by the Second Empire. Natives engaged in guerilla warfare and the Empire cracked down, leaving the city a burnt ruin when they withdrew from Morrowind. In the decades after, the Hlaalu rebuilt the city, making Narsis an important trade hub in the turbulent years of the Interregnum, thus equipping themselves well to deal with Tiber Septim and the emerging Third Empire.

After the signing of the Armistice, the city experienced an economic boom. Foreign merchants, who were formerly segregated into a shack town on the South flat of the plateau, began to disperse throughout the city and encourage more commerce and infrastructure. During the Simulacrum, Duchess Vermothah governed Narsis and became an important figure in the history of Hlaalu-Imperial relations. With the cooperation between the Hlaalu and the Empire, Narsis prospered and blossomed into modernity, a city of wealth beyond measure.