I remember once i was passing a dunmer stronghold, at that point in the game i had never been in one so i figured i would check it out. Outside of it, there was a man who i was able to talk to and he told me that he was in House Redoran. After going inside i was attacked by several more people. I was able to sneak up on one person and talk to her before she was able to attack. Her disposition was fine and she told me that she was also Redoran. I ended the conversation and she began to attack me. I went further through the stronhold and there were several more people, but so far no creatures of any kind. I got to a point where there were about three people who all attacked me. I was able to kill them but the room they were in looked more like a room that belongs in a manor. It had beds, desks, etc. So are there redoran in all dunmer strongholds? if i join Redoran will they stop attacking me? are they simply bandits who the game decided to make Redoran? and finally, are all Dunmer strongholds simply Redoran strongholds and if i built a Redoran stronghold would it look like that? Sorry if this seems a bit noobish

Marandus is a sort of colony by the Redorans, most likely for the purposes of spying on Suran and the Ascadian Isles and making use of the stronghold transport system. If you join House Redoran, you will probably need to either lead the faction or be of high rank in it, the Temple, and possibly the Imperial Legion before Marandus's inhabitants stop attacking you.

Marandus is the only stronghold with Redorans inhabiting it -- the rest are mostly filled with bandits, raiders, and miscellaneous mages that all attack on sight (Rotheran is inhabited by some... distured people that run an arena putting Blighted hounds up against slaves and Imperial Cult missionaries, Valenvaryon by a colony of Orcs, Indoranyon by Daedra worshippers, and Telasero by the Sixth House). The Redoran stronghold that you have built in that faction's quest line has the architecture seen in Ald-Ruhn and Maar Gan with the actual manor consisting of a building much like the Ald-Ruhn Fighters' Guild or the recently deceased Morvayn's old haunt. You cannot build a stronghold using the actual stronghold architecture in the game. If you're wondering about those Propylon Chambers, go into Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, pinned atop Spoilers.

Thanx. One more question. Is there ever anyone important or worth note in the Dunmer Stringholds. For Example, in that Velothi tower in Gnisis(i think), it seems like there are only enemies in there such as rats, skeletons, etc. But if you make your way through to the end you find that Baladas guy who is useful in a quest, knows a lot, and is just really out of place. Are there any people like that in any of the Dunmer Strongholds? once again, sorry for the noobish question.

Nope -- With the exception of the boys at Marandus, nearly all NPCs surrounding or inside strongholds that are not there as part of a quest (The alchemy master trainer is a notable exception to this, though that NPC is in a Propylon Chamber) are intentionally hostile and thus set on killing you if you invade their territory.

...And Arvs-Drelen isn't a stringhold, or a stronghold even -- it's a simple Velothi tower with a somewhat annoying, but harmless Telvanni lord that is targeted by the Morag Tong.

Alright, thanks for the info.

Erm - before you get carried away many of these Stringholds are used in quests. Certainly Rotheran, Telasero, Berendas, Kogoruhn, Hlormaren, Falasmaryon and Andasreth are. Also you have several master trainers including Axe (Falensarano), Marksmanship (Falasmaryon) and Enchant (Indoranyon) as well as the one MB mentions in Valenvaryon.

So don't rush around chopping everyone's heads off!

Having said all this I'm moving it to spoilers.

Axe is actually a non-hostile NPC outside Marandus. Rotheran can be cleaned out of everything with the exception of slaves with no worry of upsetting a quest line, as long as you keep the unique claymore you get someplace safe. Telasero can be cleaned out entirely -- the NPC you need as part of a quest is only there while you're in the process of completing that quest. Berandas can be wiped out, as long as the artifact there is kept relatively safe. The object of Kogoruhn is to chop everyone's head off, but you should steer clear of that doozy, though itisn't a stronghold in the common sense. I've no idea what goes on at Hlormaren and Falasmayon; Andasreth can be wiped clean as long as you keep those four Redoran Banner Shields in a safe place.

Sludgewort's attempt at hijacking deleted.

This is not a double post. I was checking a couple of details before replying and needed my home computer.

Unless there is a second axe master trainer (and there is not as far as I know) he is found inside Falensarano (name Alfaedil Elf-Hewer). He is one door removed from most, though not all, of the nasties but if you do several trainings with him you can easily be attacked by a Daedric beast even as high as a Golden Saint.

I would still suggest you do not enter buildings that you might need on a quest later. When you have finished questing it doesn't matter. If you know in advance what you need to save for later through a spoiler such as this it does, IMO, take some of the surprise from the game.

It is dead easy to wipe out the three vampire clan headquarters before you decide you want to be a vampire, to kill the master Enchant trainer, wipe out daedric and dwemer sites etc and lose the important items because you don't realise they are important (see the number of requests we get here on just this point!)

Anyway, that's my two cents worth.