I have decided to share a recent WIP verson of my Children of Tamriel project, so that COM fans on this forum may review it if interested and provide feedback. This is still a pre-alpha, meaning it is not at all polished at this time, though some changes have been made since the Proof of Concept version I put up two months ago. There is no readme yet at this early stage, so I will share relevant information in this post. I have copied (and updated where relevant) most of the original info posted in the POC version’s thread so people who look at this WIP have an understanding of the ideas behind this mod without having to refer back to the other thread.
Requirements: Children of Morrowind, TR Mainland, TR Data.
Currently, there are child and/or teen npc’s in the following areas:
Ashamul (2)
Ayemar (3)
Bahrammu (4)
Baldrahn (1)
Bal Oyra (13)
Cephorad Keep (1, no Tel Muthada yet)
Enamor Dayn (6)
Evos (2)
Fire Watch (27)
Necrom (16)
Ranyon Ruhn (9)
Seitur (1)
Tahvel (1)
Tomaril Manor (2)
Fort Umbermoth (1)
Verulas Pass (1)
Windmoth Fort (1)
Dreynim (4, not complete please see notes)
Details:
The plan is for “Children of Tamriel” to add kids and/or teenagers to settlements in TR. My plan is with each release version of CoT to include whatever TR settlements are on Mainland at that time. The CoT project will not touch Preview towns no matter how complete they look, due to various reasons including the demographic research I do on each town, some players choosing not to run incomplete lands, etc. With each Mainland update I will go through and see if new towns have been moved out of Preview and into official release, and add them accordingly. If and when TR is officially complete, there will probably be several hundred kids and teens all over Morrowind province! There are approximately 400 in the original CoM on Vvardenfell and TR is much bigger so this project is likely to grow a lot over the next few years. I am also trying to fit the kids to the town populations demographically, though in the case of teenage apprentices I am allowing myself a small degree of flexibility. No little kids of a race in a town where there are no adults of that race, etc.
Younger kids I am setting up similar to the original CoM, with a playground in the settlements and the kids mostly centered around there. However, the original CoM mostly treated teens as big kids, and I am taking a radically different approach with those characters which is likely more lore-friendly. Elder Scrolls is set in a fantasy world loosely based on ancient and medieval civilization, during which by teenage years people were already training for their careers. Therefore, I believe that the teens of Tamriel, particularly in a dangerous and conflicted province such as Morrowind, would already be apprentices in their chosen (assigned?) careers. For example, I have a few young soldiers in training for the Legion, amongst other teenage apprenticeships.
Further note on Dreynim: I’m not sure what to do there. My original idea for the Spa was to do a “teenagers on spring break vacation” thing there to help break up the serious nature of life in Morrowind province. However, after thinking about it, it doesn’t really fit the lore. Dreynim Spa is described as being a popular resort, so it’s a half-fit to the lore, but I can’t currently think of why a bunch of kids busy in their rigid apprenticeship trainings would have time to get together and go there. That said, there is a little kid living in the village proper, a teenage waitress in the Spa Restaurant, and left over from the vacation idea, a teen couple swimming together at the hot spring. If I drop the vacation idea I will move those two elsewhere. I may just develop the resort with some teenage staff apprentices.
Due to CoM usage rules each of the kids has a schedule script so they only appear during in-game daylight hours. Also, they are unkillable. If you attack one, they are scripted to teleport away, and even if there are no witnesses you receive a bigger bounty than for any other crime. Guards will have a death warrant on your head pretty quickly if you decide to be a creeper. I am also trying to address a bug with the script that was left open in the original CoM.
Finally, the CoM assets include baby carriers and pregnancy robes. I have not currently implemented these features. I do plan to put in some babies, though am undecided about whether to include pregnants. Unlike the kids which are whole npc’s, using babies and pregnancy robes involves either adding or modifying existing adult npc’s. I’m not sure how I want to implement this. Also, original CoM only gives babies to women. When I add my baby carriers, I plan to include a few dads too.
The previous PoC version included a comment in its thread description saying not to talk to teens because their dialogue was embarrassing. I have taken two of my three planned steps towards addressing that issue so it should be alright to talk to them now.
If interested, please take a look and comment below! Also, if you have ideas or suggestions, I’ll be glad to hear them. I can’t guarantee I will take every idea into consideration, due to my limited modding experience, but I do not work in a vacuum. TR is collaborative, always evolving, and this addon will likely reflect that as it rounds out an important part of Morrowind’s society.