Morrowind mega-mod Tamriel Rebuilt is adding 'one of the holy grails' that players have wanted 'for more than 20 years' in its next mammoth expansion

(Image credit: Tamriel Rebuilt Team / Gnomey)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Tamriel Rebuilt is one of the most impressive mod projects of all time. Its quest is to build every part of The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind's titular province that Bethesda didn't get to, and it's been doing that for literal decades. Earlier this year it released its ninth expansion, Grasping Fortune, and now it's gearing up for number 10: Poison Song.

This is a big one. Well, they're all big ones, but this is a big one for a new reason. Poison Song means players are finally getting "one of the holy grails that TR players [have] been waiting for more than twenty years—the ability to join House Indoril."

This is either the most hype-inducing sentence you've ever heard, or completely meaningless (if you are normal), so let me try to break it down.

Base Morrowind let you join any of three different Houses—Morrowind-native political factions that, conveniently, pretty much mapped to each corner of the Fighter-Mage-Thief triad. There was Hlaalu, the Empire-sympathetic merchant guild; Redoran, the traditionalist fighter sect; and Telvanni, dickhead wizards who live in mushrooms.

Missing from this lineup were House Indoril—the house of the legendary Indoril Nerevar himself—and House Dres, whose whole thing is somehow loving slavery even more than the Telvanni. So with Poison Song, it means we finally get a chance to sign up to Nerevar's own house, which is a pretty big deal considering a lot of Morrowind's main quest revolves around people proclaiming you the guy's literal reincarnation.

A single figure walks foggy streets with a lantern. — (Image credit: Tamriel Rebuilt Team)

What makes this actually exciting, rather than merely a neat curiosity, is that Tamriel Rebuilt's writing quality is genuinely pretty stellar. The project's whole aim is to create the province of Morrowind in the same way that Bethesda of the early 2000s would have done it—full of esoteric lore and mythopoeia. I don't doubt for a second that when I do get to sign up to House Indoril in Poison Song it'll feel of a piece with the rest of the game. 23 years on, and we're still getting more Morrowind.

"Overall, the pace is good on all fronts," say Tamriel Rebuilt's leads "and finalization of the expansion is expected to be a matter of months away." I can't wait.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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