Location from The Elder Scrolls by Bethesda Game Studios
Western Skyrim city carved entirely from ancient Dwemer stone. Built in a massive canyon, Markarth is plagued by Forsworn insurgents, political conspiracies, and the dark legacy of the silver-blood family's mines.
Markarth is unique among Skyrim's cities, built entirely within and upon Dwemer ruins in the Reach. The Nords who occupy it merely inhabit structures they could never have built, a fact that underscores the tensions with the native Reachmen. The Forsworn, Reachmen rebels who practice old magic and worship Hagravens, wage guerrilla war to reclaim their homeland. The Silver-Blood family controls Cidhna Mine, where prisoners serve as slave labor. Beneath the city, Nchuand-Zel and other Dwemer ruins extend deep underground, still populated by Falmer and Dwemer automata. The Markarth Incident, in which Ulfric Stormcloak violently recaptured the city from the Forsworn, remains a source of bitter controversy.
Towering walls of carved Dwemer stone rise from a deep river canyon, with cascading waterfalls tumbling past bronze-green metalwork and angular stonework. Buildings are carved directly into the canyon walls, connected by stone bridges and steep stairways. The architecture is distinctly non-Nordic — geometric, precise, and impossibly ancient. Steam vents hiss from Dwemer machinery still functioning underground.
Also known as: Markarth, the Reach, City of Stone