Black Marsh Bestiary

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:20 am

I don't know if many Black Marsh-native creatures are mentioned anywhere in the lore, but seeing as most of the concepting is over with for Morrowind, and we'll either be doing Skyrim or Black Marsh next, I was wondering if anyone would bother with composing for me, (or for any of the other concepter's on here) a list of lore-friendly creatures from Black Marsh so I can get to work. If you think an animal that you made up is worthy of the lore and of being concepted, please post the name of the creature and a short description of it in your mind. Remember, It must be lore friendly and conform to the landscape of Black Marsh. (I.e. no cold-loving Ice demons in 90 degree Jungles

) Have fun!

Massalinie · Post by **Massalinie** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:25 am

you're right that we will move on to one of those next, but we are no where near finishing morrowind yet and so as a general rule, we don't discuss it at all yet until we are ready to do so. The less work we do at the present time on other provinces, the more work we will do on morrowind province and thus the sooner we will have it finished. That is our current goal and we will not be thinking about black marsh or skyrim until further notice. You are yourself welcome to work on concepts for any province, but I highly recommend working on morrowind instead.

Mass

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:34 am

Massalinie wrote:you're right that we will move on to one of those next, but we are no where near finishing morrowind yet and so as a general rule, we don't discuss it at all yet until we are ready to do so. The less work we do at the present time on other provinces, the more work we will do on morrowind province and thus the sooner we will have it finished. That is our current goal and we will not be thinking about black marsh or skyrim until further notice. You are yourself welcome to work on concepts for any province, but I highly recommend working on morrowind instead.

Mass

Sorry, but everything on Morrowind seems beyond the concept stage and onto the real modding. I'm just starting with 3ds max, so I can't offer much help when it comes to meshing. I just figured it would be good to do concepts for other provinces because that's all I can do right now. If you need a concept for anything at all to do with Morrowind, please let me know! I'm dead bored...

Orix · Post by **Orix** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:36 am

Hmmm, the static, but sentient trees, called the Hist are the only thing that come to mind at this moment, along with the various types of Argonian.

Thrignar Fraxix · Post by **Thrignar Fraxix** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:36 am

it may seem that way but if you make something good, it can probably fit somewhere. (PoHa!'s creature thingy for instance.)

Morgoth · Post by **Morgoth** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:42 am

Orix wrote:Hmmm, the static, but sentient trees, called the Hist are the only thing that come to mind at this moment, along with the various types of Argonian.

Hmmm. I know we've already had concepts of these. I'll just do my best with Skyrim and whatever is left for Morrowind while we wait for more info on Black marsh...

Orix · Post by **Orix** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 3:59 am

On this site:
[url]http://til.gamingsource.net/goblades.shtml[/url]
Under Black March there are a few arena combatants mentioned:
Pit Daemons
Shadowblades
Dark Tide
Knightblades
Black Shields
Warlords

While these might have simply been teams of heros you supposedly fought in the first concept of Arena, they could have been named after typical Argonia beasts...although its not as likely as the ones in Skyrim.

Arthmodeus · Post by **Arthmodeus** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 10:48 pm

Everyone keeps forgetting the Feathered Serpants.

*cough*I did a concept*cough*

ThorFluff · Post by **ThorFluff** » Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:48 am

we know you did *pats on back*, we know you did...

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:31 pm

here are some concepts to think on?

Will oh wisps?
beatles of various types?
snakes?
giant centipedes?
Cliff racer?

j/k
jaguars?
maybe some ape like creatures?
birds of various types?
wasps and bees?
sloths?
Swamp trolls?
maybe some kinda ooze and such?

thats my ideas for right now

Theo · Post by **Theo** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:47 pm

Crocodiles and Werecrocodiles, snakes, feathered serpents, insects (mosquitos, poisonous centiphods), spiders for more jungle-like areas, jaguars, flesh-eating frogs

, various classes of SLOADS... You name it!

Arthmodeus · Post by **Arthmodeus** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 5:06 pm

There are also the River Serpants seen in the Redguard Comic.

Assassinace · Post by **Assassinace** » Sat Sep 10, 2005 5:44 pm

Also we have a few southern morrowind creatures that would fit (that green plant thing and others).
There is also Trolls, Hist, several types of argonian/lizard men and all the generic tamriel critters.

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:04 am

i think we should have rogue argonians attack outlanders...not argonians but ... you know imperials and the like on the roads and wildlands....if i interpted parts of lore i've read about Black Marsh, its only barely a part of the empire, and some argonians don't think of it as such.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:18 am

Will somebody donate a scanner to the mister_priscilla benefit fund? I want to concept some ideas for black marsh on paper.

BTW, I reckon it's a bad idea to start thinking of the Hist as an actual creature. The best way to go about these things is have them as a static (or an activator) and let NPC dialogue do the narrative work for them. Are the Hist supposed to be huge, impressive things like Redwoods?

Arthmodeus · Post by **Arthmodeus** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:32 am

I always pictured them as huge thick swamp trees. Not like the tall, skinny redwood.

Zalzidrax · Post by **Zalzidrax** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:52 am

I imagined them as huge primeval trees that look something like palms crossed with tangled thickets as imagined in the mind of a deranged artist.

They are called spore trees as well, after all, so they have to have something spore-ish about them.

Oh and as modelling things go, any sort of cool jungley tree thing, or the sort. Maybe primitive looking gear, headdresses, spears, ceremonial daggers, pottery, fish drying racks, things of that sort.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:00 am

Redwoods skinny? I'm sure I've seen a picture of a redwood with a road going through it. But I'm British, what do I know

Hmm, spore trees, eh? What about having them with huge bloated growths around the upper trunk (think of the Lame Corprus)? That way it'll be easy to justify having lots of Hist-Resin equipment floating around; the abundant resin can be found dripping out of these spore-holding growths or something.

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 3:12 am

mister_priscilla wrote:Redwoods skinny? I'm sure I've seen a picture of a redwood with a road going through it. But I'm British, what do I know

(I'm Californian, so I could drive to a redwood in about 20 minutes, less if I didn't live in the middle of a city

)\

Trees that wide are rare, especially since the largest ones were chopoped down. Infact, there is only one (to my knowledge) that you can drive through, and it's part of the scenic highway drive that basically takes you through a lot of the old forest. By the time it got that big, it was well over 100 feet tall and 100 years old. Most trees are like a foot or so in diameter (less than a meter) and like 50 feet tall.

The reason they're thick is that they're the largest family of trees in the world.

Graff · Post by **Graff** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 9:38 am

You've evidently never seen English Oaks, admittedly not as tall as redwoods, for their size, they're incredibly thick. They appear somewhat squat, though they can be large.

I think Oaks would actually be a great base for the Hist. Of course, the texture of the bark and leaves would be completely different, considering the Hist's habitat.

Graff.

Lud · Post by **Lud** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:31 pm

I would see the hist as being something along the lines of a further evolution of a fern. They would have to stick out from the other trees around them in a noticeable way. (ferns really do propagate with spores, so tit would make sense too.

Orix · Post by **Orix** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 12:44 pm

Why not make them all sorts of different trees?

I know, I know, it would kinda be copying what they did with the Ents in LOTR, but at least that way there would be plenty of variation.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 2:38 pm

yeah, good idea, but is there no lore to say that the Hist are a certain species?

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 2:10 am

Graff wrote:You've evidently never seen English Oaks, admittedly not as tall as redwoods, for their size, they're incredibly thick. They appear somewhat squat, though they can be large.

I think Oaks would actually be a great base for the Hist. Of course, the texture of the bark and leaves would be completely different, considering the Hist's habitat.

Graff.

The largest redwood ever found was (I think..) 20-25 feet across with it's bark. I have no idea how many feet tall it was, but I'd say it was atleast 400 feet tall. Yeah, let's see your English Oaks beat that

Vernon · Post by **Vernon** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:06 am

Yeah I heard redwoods were the biggest trees. But they probably eat too much greasy food and vote for bush, so they shud be band, anyway.

Post by **Haplo** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:24 am

Yeah the Redwoods are the tallest. Then Sycamores I think, found near Illinois or some place. The Bayobab tree is the widest around. I think the record took up like 70 yards in in diameter. But of course, Bayobab trees are only like a story and a half tall.

Sload · Post by **Sload** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:25 am

Italics are from my area, bolds are Redwood family trees.

Largest trees:
Giant Sequoia (The Redwood's big brother, less common)
Coast Redwood (The Redwood)
Western Redcedar (Not a redwood, but also from the Pacific Northwest)
Kauri (Some stupid New Zealand tree or something)

Tallest Trees:
Coast Redwood
Coast Douglas-fir (Also from the Pacific Northwest)
Sitka Spruce (Also from the Pacific Northwest)
Giant Sequoia

Stoutest Trees:
Montezuma Cypress
Giant Sequoia
Coast Redwood

Oldest Trees:
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine
Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides
Giant Sequoia
Huon-pine
Rocky Mountains Bristlecone Pine (Not very far away..)

Yeah, you're not beating our trees

Infact, I ran into a redwood at school today. Like, right off the quad, it was crazy.

Odowacar · Post by **Odowacar** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:06 am

I imagined that there could be creatures in Argonia that look like dinosaur-birds. You know, like feathered velociraptors.

Lud · Post by **Lud** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:08 am

1)
Many Dinosaurs really were feathered.
Early ancestors of the theropods(the group that velocraptors and t-rexes belong to) have recently been found with feathers.(Usually such soft tissue rots)
It is extremely likely then that the real velociraptors had feathers.
Also see: Archaepteryx(half-way between a dinosaur and a bird)

2)
If we are going to go for the whole age of the dinosaurs thing then we could simply view Black Marsh as what earth would be like if the end of the Dinosaurs cataclysm hadn't happened.As ferns were the dominant plant type in these times, they would make a lot of sense.

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:22 pm

if you want to go with the dinosaur thing...we could try something like the compies

argonia's version of cliff racers? j/k

maybe a really big predator like a T-Rex or something, and herbivores and the such would have to be there

i say we vote if we wanna have dinosaurs

i can help alot by selecting species for each area after that if ya want

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:36 pm

You arent going to get big animals in a place like the black marsh. Its all dense forest, which is not conducive for hulking beasts. I think that basing a large portion of the wildlife on dinosaurs is a great idea and would add to the feel of this being far far FAR removed from any other province. The animals would likely all be smaller though, nothing larger than an argonian really, unless its a snake.

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:50 pm

Don't underestimate nature in that respect Jale there are many large creatures in the jungles of Africa.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:57 pm

I cannot see a T-Rex catching something in a dense rainforest.

Look at the Amazon, its a better parallel in terms of foliage. The biggest predators are things like Jaguars.

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:12 pm

your right but a marsh is more of a watery grassland, in some areas larger creatures will be around.

Graff · Post by **Graff** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:12 pm

The largest predators in the amazon tend to be waterbased, correct? There's plenty of scope for anaconda-like snakes, crocodile/alligator-like amphibians, plus the tree-based mammals. Personally, I want to see a faster, aggressive answer to the Sloth in Black Marsh

Graff.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:38 pm

cwandell wrote:your right but a marsh is more of a watery grassland, in some areas larger creatures will be around.

I see the black marsh as being half rainforest half marshland. Neither is suitable for huge land-based animals. Marshes are full of quicksand and sinkholes and so any large land animal would be killed very quickly. Huge water animals are a great idea.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:42 pm

I think basing the wildlife on dinosaurs is a bad move. What I mean is, if the creatures are too much like your average T-Rex, raptors, pterosaurs and stuff, it's going to detract from the whole idea of Tamriel being a wholly different world, and betray a lack of imagination. One or two, maybe, but populating the whole province with lizard-like creatures is a bit of a cop-out.
Look at things like the kagouti, netch and nix-hound; completely original creatures but still feasible and believable. In my opinion Black Marsh is the one province TR can go wild with things like that, because the place has such a vivid sense of habitat. I like Graff's idea of an aggressive sloth-type creature (those things pretty much have hooks for hands, what more can you ask for

)

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:52 pm

I was only thinking of one or two dinosaur themed things, like this fictional one from Jurassic Park:

http://www.phoxim.de/philip_bings_dilophosaurus/philip_bings_dilophosaurus2.jpg

The actual one didnt have a neck frill or spit poison but I think that would work well for the Marsh.

Savant · Post by **Savant** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:16 am

basically, Argonia is perhaps the most bizarre place you will find in tamriel, even stranger than morrowind. I wouldn't waste it on entirely earth-like creatures. Go wild, have fun, and if you're at such a loss of ideas, I have some great websites to get your creative juices flowing:
http://www.contact-conference.com/archive/art.html
http://website.leidenuniv.nl/~dijkjgvan/
http://www.eponaproject.com/EponaConXAct1Animals.htm
http://www.thefutureiswild.com/
(don't be intimidated by the sci-fi explanations--the pictures are explanatory enough)

cwandell · Post by **cwandell** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 1:22 am

how about this, an amphibious grasshopper like creature, that leaps about, capturing smaller, insects and lizards. not a tertiary consumer but a secondary one.

Carkicas - a small plant/insect hybrid creature, which has 4 stages in its life cycle. the first stage is a disease, where larval carkicas bore through the flesh of the creature gorging themselves on amine groups and the such. then are finally passed out through the intestines once they're developed enough.
The next stage is a small plant, that slowly grows to about ankle height, before entering a pupal stage, in which it becomes an green colored fly like creature, that lands on larger creatures and lays its eggs on their skin.

Water fiend - a transparent ameba like creature that floats through rivers and other bodies of water, seeking out creatures to eat.

Argonian clawhound - a small reptilian creature that glides on flaps between its forearms and back legs. it leaps from tree to tree and attacks most creatures nearby.