Temple/Imperial Cult? Which Great House?

[Tank0123]

Two questions. One: Can I join both the Imperial Cult and the Temple?

 

Two: I'm trying to decide between Hlaalu and Redoran, possibly Telvanni. What are the major differences between one they stand for, and the reward I get (stronghold, etc?)

 

My character is Imperial. I'm thinking that I want to join Redoran, however that seems out of character (I want to be more Empire-affiliated, just I've already done the Hlaalu quests up to the stronghold). Telvanni seems pretty cool, but they're also enemies of the Mage's Guild, and also are fond of slavery (my char is supposed to be honourable in a way, even though he's starting out as a Morag Tong agent).

[Tank0123]

I don't mean I've already done the Hlaalu quests, what I meant was I did them on a separate playthrough.

[NinjaGoddessAyra]

Two questions. One: Can I join both the Imperial Cult and the Temple?

 

Two: I'm trying to decide between Hlaalu and Redoran, possibly Telvanni. What are the major differences between one they stand for, and the reward I get (stronghold, etc?)

 

My character is Imperial. I'm thinking that I want to join Redoran, however that seems out of character (I want to be more Empire-affiliated, just I've already done the Hlaalu quests up to the stronghold). Telvanni seems pretty cool, but they're also enemies of the Mage's Guild, and also are fond of slavery (my char is supposed to be honourable in a way, even though he's starting out as a Morag Tong agent).

Hello Tank, to answer your first question; yes you can join both the Temple and the Imperial cult. While both factions may not like each other that much, the quests for both factions do not conflict in any way with each other. There is also no negative impact on joining both, if anything people from both factions will just like you that much more.

 

As far as what great house to join, I guess it all depends on what you stand for and what type of character you're playing through. House Hlaalu is all about "business" and making money, regardless of how they get it. There really isn't that much honor within House Hlaalu, but they do support the empire, so I guess thats a plus for you. House Redoran on the other hand is all about honor and being fair etc. but none of them are really big fans of the Empire. So I guess it's a flip of the coin for you depending on how you look at it.

 

House Telvanni is a totally different story. They may be ruthless and do anything to get what they want. Stealing and killing is perfectly acceptable for settling Telvanni disputes and no there really is no love for the Empire within House Telvanni, nor is there much honor at all within that house.

 

On the other hand though, House Telvanni I find is more about individuality than it is about the house as a whole. For the most part they just want to be left alone to their studies and don't really care much about the outside world at all or their fellow house members. They are more about isolation than anything else.

 

Regardless of which house you decide to join, you can always ask for a brief explanation of each house's princibles and what they stand for etc. before making a commitment to any one of them. Also, this link right here http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=179 is a downloadable mod that lets you join all three great houses at once if you want to do all the quests and don't want to have to choose.

 

That all being said though, I always go with House Telvanni whenever I do a playthrough, simply because they have three great mods that REALLY expand House Telvanni. I don't know of any mod that expans any of the other great houses, there could be some, if so though I don't know of them.

 

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?id=5997&view=Mods.Detail <-- this is a mod that vastly expands the inside of the Telvanni Stronghold Tel Uvirith (or Uvirith's Grave) and adds many new NPCs, quests, and interesting dialogue. A must have for any Telvanni player.

 

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=3650 <-- this mod is almost the same thing as the above link, except that it does not change the inside of your stronghold at all, instead it gives you even more quests to do which will bulk up the outside of your stronghold making Uvirith a worthy home for a Telvanni archmagister.

 

And finally http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=mods.detail&id=4449 <-- this mod adds a LOT of new quests that you can do once you become the Archmagister of house Telvanni. It basically lets you expand House Telvanni and let you control everything, you can decide whether or not you want to crush the mages guild, help or destroy the twin lamps etc. and ultimately make House Telvanni the best of the three great houses. It's really amazing and adds several hours of gameplay with tons of new quests and an interesting and unique story line.

 

The three mods I just listed are all perfectly compatible with each other and do not interfere with each other in any way. However, should you decide to download the mod that I first posted (allowing you to join all three great houses) it will almost definitly not be compatible with the last three. But the choice is up to you. I apologize for the long winded explanation but I really hope this helps. Good luck :)

[Tank0123]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I am playing Morroblivion (same quests, etc) and as such have no way of getting these mods.

[NinjaGoddessAyra]

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I am playing Morroblivion (same quests, etc) and as such have no way of getting these mods.

 

Hmm....well I'm sorry, I really can't help you there, you really should specify that when you post. Also, you may want to try posting in the Oblivion forums instead.