Morrowind's Hlaalu questline actually respects your greed in ways the other Houses don't

the more I think about it, the more House Hlaalu's questline is kind of genius. like, Redoran wants you to be honorable and Telvanni wants you to be clever, but Hlaalu just goes "yeah okay you're corrupt, let's make money together" and never pretends otherwise. there's something refreshing about a faction that doesn't dress up its ambitions in honor codes or magical superiority.

plus the way the questline actually progresses your character's wealth feels tied to the story in a way that doesn't happen in the other Houses. you're not just grinding for gold on the side—the quests themselves are about consolidating power through coin and favors. the whole thing feels like a proper career ladder instead of just "do increasingly difficult tasks for the same faction."

anyone else find themselves siding with Hlaalu more often than expected once you actually get into it? I feel like people write it off as the "boring" House but it's honestly the most grounded.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but I think you might be giving Hlaalu a bit too much credit for honesty. They're not really saying "yeah we're corrupt" - they're just better at hiding it under a veneer of business pragmatism. Redoran and Telvanni are at least upfront about their ideology. Hlaalu dresses up exploitation as "opportunity" and calls it a day.

That said, you're right that the questline structure is different. The progression does feel more like climbing a corporate ladder than the other Houses, which is kind of the point - they're the merchant house, so it makes sense the quests would be about deals and leverage. But I'm not sure that makes it more grounded so much as just... thematically consistent.

Where I'd actually push back is the idea that it respects greed more than the others. Telvanni absolutely respects ambition and self-interest - that's kind of their whole thing. Aryon will literally help you advance if you prove you're clever enough, and the whole house is built on the principle that might (or in this case, magical talent) makes right. That's not dressing it up, that's just being honest about it in a different way.

Hlaalu's thing is that they're comfortable with moral compromise as long as the bottom line works out. Which is interesting! But it's not more honest than the other Houses - it's just a different flavor of justification. Morrowind was really good at making all three Houses feel like they had a point, even when their point was kind of awful.