Skyrim

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RaJevir
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Skyrim

Post by RaJevir »

It is time to start addressing various isseus concerning skyrim. If we wait until it is actually opened, we will have a tremendous mess. We need to decide: local politics, local customs, statics (we will use things from bloodmoon, be we really should have more), flora and fauna.
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Post by Zarkis »

I think you should first finish something of morrowind before tackling Skyrim... ;)

Seriously: Don't get to stretched out or nothing will ever get finished.
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Post by Haplo »

Originally posted by Zarkis
I think you should first finish something of morrowind before tackling Skyrim... ;)

Seriously: Don't get to stretched out or nothing will ever get finished.

Yes, but we're not 'tackling' Skyrim, we're preparing to tackle it. We should be able to start Skyrim by the end of the summer, if all goes well. After all, there are only about 450 cells left to be claimed, and a total of maybe 1000 or more that need to be either claimed, re-claimed, submitted, reviewed, and/or accepted before we're done... At least map 1/1a is complete.

We only have a few pix from Arcadea(I think?) on Nord stuff, and we do need a lot more Nordic style statics and flora as well.
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RaJevir
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Post by RaJevir »

BEFORE we can start doing exteriors AT ALL we need statics, flora, regions. BEFORE we can start on ANY cities we need to have a full political picture so that we can build the cities appropriately (and we need more statics). It doesn't work very well to try to adapt guilds into an already finished city. I expect that this process will take several months, which is why we need to start NOW.
"Scrib specimen number two escaped from its pen today. Again. I shall have to find some other way to limit its mobility, as building higher walls seems to have little effect" -Mistress Rathra
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Post by Anonymous »

Prometheus gave me the attached rough political map of Skyrim.
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Post by RaJevir »

Excellent. Now we need to decide deatils about each faction, as well as make ones that don't show up on a political map (things like guilds). I think Skyrim would be a good center for a bard's guild.
Last edited by RaJevir on Mon Jan 12, 2004 5:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Earl »

I figure the nine Holds of Skyrim would be like the Great Houses of the Dunmer - join one only.

"By the early years of the First Empire, Skyrim was already divided into Holds, then ruled by a patchwork of clan-heads, kings, and councils (or moots), all of which paid fealty to the King of Skyrim." (Pocket Guide)

"...the Reach, by far the most cosmopolitan of the Holds of Skyrim, Nords of the pure blood holding only the barest majority according to the recent Imperial Census."
. . .
"The Reach could be mistaken for one of the petty kingdoms of High Rock; it is full of Bretons, Redguards, Cyrodiils, Elves of all stripes, and even a few misplaced khajiit." (Pocket Guide)
If Nords were such a tenuous majority at the time of the Pocket Guide, then they might actually be rather low in population percentage - maybe as low as 33%, with the other 67% scattered among the 9 other races.

"The original Nord settlements were generally established on rocky crags overlooking a river valley; many of these villages still survive in the more isolated Holds, especially along the Morrowind frontier. In most of Skyrim, however, this defensive posture was deemed unnecessary by the mid-first era, and most cities and towns today lie on the valley floors, in some cases still overlooked by the picturesque ruins of the earlier settlement." (Pocket Guide)
So the Holds along the Morrowind border might still be guarded and defensive, conservative and isolationist. Other Nords might regard them as unnecessarily cautious. Assuming we assume the info of the Pocket Guide is still relevant in the modern era.

"The northern and western Holds -- Winterhold, Eastmarch, Rift, and the Pale, known collectively as the Old Holds -- remain more isolated, by geography and choice, and the Nords there still hold true to the old ways." (Pocket Guide)
It might be more interesting if the Pale adopted a more diplomatic posture, given it's proximity to Cyrodiil. Then again, one might figure the Rift to be the trader group - they border Cyrodiil, and they're a stone's throw from Hlaalu territory. The Pale Pass was a battle between Cyrodiilic forces and Akaviri. . . I know next to nothing about the battle, but you'd think for the snake-men to be fought there, they must have captured some territory in Skyrim. This suggests that, at the time, The Pale had a poor military. So maybe there's reason to think they're more tradery, and the Rift more militaristic.

"Here, too [in the Old Holds], the people still revere their hereditary leaders, while the other Holds have long been governed (after a fashion) by elected moots." (Pocket Guide)
So Winterhold, Eastmarch, Rift, and the Pale might still have kings -- and according to lore, Solitude has a king. The remaining four Holds [mostly lack names, so I'll call them by their apparent capital cities] -- the Reach, Falcrenth, Hrothgar, Dawnstar -- are probably ruled by a council.

It might be cool to make one of the northern holds -- Winterhold or Dawnstar -- very foreign in style. Being so close to Atmora, their home country, they might still feel kinship or at least influence from it. Winterhold is near the ruins of Saarthal, one of the earliest Nord settlements. The Hold might view itself as the only home of "true" Nords, holding fast to traditions that predate their landing in Tamriel. Snobby high-minded nobles like Indoril, maybe.

Solitude is described as a flourishing port. . .
"Today, Windhelm remains the only sizable city in the otherwise determinedly rural Hold of Eastmarch, and serves as a base for Imperial troops guarding the Dunmeth Pass into Morrowind." (Pocket Guide)
And Hrothgar is the likely place to put the King of Skyrim.
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Post by punkfiveo »

Sorry it's been about 2 months since I last posted on this website. I would like to become a part of the early stages of Skyrim and would like to help as much as I can getting it off it's feet.

"I figure the nine Holds of Skyrim would be like the Great Houses of the Dunmer - join one only."

-I second that motion. Since each Hold will either be ruled by a clan-head, king, or council as Earl stated, the Holds should have SOME division between each other based on their political standpoints. For example, Holds that are ruled by a King would not like Holds that are ruled by council, vice versa and so-forth.

One thought that spawned off when I was thinking... Will the region names be divided into the names of the holds? If not we need to make names for these regions based on climate and environment.

" I think Skyrim would be a good center for a bard's guild."

-I also second this motion. Although a Bard's guild would not be very common, I'd say one in every major city of each Hold. Some of these Bard's guilds will hold the actual writers of some of the books in Morrowind. (e.g. the author of "The Third Door", a book in Morrowind, could have been written by a person from a Bard's guild in Skyrim.) though I'd imagine that most of the books concerning faith and religion in Morrowind would have been written by the temple or the Imperial Cult. (e.g. "The Lives of Saints" would have been written by a member high up in the Temple, etc.)

Also, another thing we need to watch out for...DIALOGUE. We will have to create all new dialogue for the province of Skyrim. Since Bethesda made the topic "Morrowind" universal and unlimited in terms of cell or faction, we will have to make a whole new set of factions for Skyrim. One way we could do this is to make all new factions for Skyrim. For example, an NPC in the faction "Commoner" has (by default) the ability to speak about the topic "Morrowind". What we can do is edit this dialogue so that we will have an NPC in the faction "SKYRIM Commoner", who will have a different greeting, and different default topics than a normal NPC.

Not that this needs to be worried about now, but just keep it in your mind as a note when we do get to Skyrim.
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Post by Anonymous »

What about 3 different architechtures (not that varied, but noticable) and 3 retechture? :)
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Post by RaJevir »

Let's see. I think the new holds would have a decidedly different look than the old. The old would be more of the appearence of, say, the Skall Village - crude, but pratical, built from whatever materials are on hand. We should have a couple archetectural styles here, possible based on minor culture differences, or perhaps on different conditions (causeing use of different materials). Also, there are those old castles built on hilltops. We should probably use a different tileset for them than imperial, since I would imagine that they were built differently.

The New Holds would be more influenced by the outside world. The archetecture here would be richer, with artistic design instead of merely pratical. There would also be some imperial influence on these regions. (BTW: We will need to consider a bit into imperial archetecture for this. I doubt that all of Cyrodil uses the same archetecture as Caldera, and any other archetectures would have their influence on that of southern Skyrim).

The old holds, for the most part, would have similar archetecture to each other, with only minor changes between each.

The new holds would possibly be fairly different from each other, though not, perhaps, as much so as the houses in Morrowind.

I think we will need about 7 archetecture tilesets for Skyrim: a spectrum of archetecture for the old holds, castle ruins (and unruins, since a few of them are still in use), multiple styles for the new holds (there are 5 of them, so probably five styles), In addition, we should design about 30-50 new types of flora, 20 or so new trees, new rocks (quite easy after you get a basic texture for each type :D ), about 20 new monsters, a couple new dungeon tilesets, some new sounds (for each monster, and then ambients), probably a few new terrain textures, about 40-50 types of misc floura, new ingredients, perhaps a new armor and weapon style or two, different armors for each of the holds... GAH! this list keeps growing! That's a few hundred new meshes right there! Now we all see why it's so important to start preparations for Skyrim early!:bash:
Last edited by RaJevir on Sat Jan 31, 2004 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jacurutu
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Skyrim

Post by Jacurutu »

There are a few snow tilesets at Mod Summit . . . they might be useful to this project. I haven't checked them out yet, but they might work.
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Post by GT70sgt »

would we be able to add new voices to the people...since it is not in the province of morrowind, we could make them call people something else besides n-wah or something like that.
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Post by Majra »

There was a thread a while back about new voices... some people were for some were against due to the fact that no one as of yet has really good sound recording equipment(more than a program and a mic)
Plus the original voices were done by real actors...
I think this is the kinda stuff that will be covered in NPC construction which comes after exteriors and after interiors(but someone should be looking into resources now I suppose)
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Post by Morden »

Actually, a few months ago, i posted the beta version of my Nord Male Voice Pack. I guess its no long attached to the forums, cause of the switch, but i could put it up again. It sounded good, and i only have basic equipment.
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Teli
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Post by Teli »

Yeah! You should do that! Your male nord voice pack was really awesome!
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Post by Xerox »

I completely agree with different holds being joinable faction’s idea, I also would like to take that point further.

Rather that creating different armour for them all we can use the one we already have, give all the guards the same armament BUT give different shield configuration to various cities e.g.:

Blue and white
Red and Blue
Green and white
Orange and Black
etc.

(I was actualy trying to do that, however i was way-tracked by the fact that you need a 3dMax, which I dont have...I'll post my drawings through, soon)


These would be displayed on a circular Viking Raider type of shield, All we would have to do is: Re-skin the "Nordic wooden shield" with colours.
----------------------------------------------

Viking culture is a decentralised, feudal structure. Local lords swore allegiance to the king swears allegiance to the emperor.

Catch no.1: "King" changes all the time since, Vikings have this rule "Winning a Hall". Basically a person of certain rank can challenge you to a duel, you can fight it yourself or have your champion do it. The winner got the losers possessions. This champion also doubles as your lawyer. To make sure he doesn't kill you, you both swear brotherhood. IF blood brother dies, all brotherhood members MUST avenge his death. In other words your champion can't kill you without committing a serious travesty.

What we can do: We can let the player join one of these factions, and rise to the rank of champion and then have the Lord of the hall die, forcing you to seek vengeance. And then you become chieftain and later maybe a King

This can be our main plot, particulars will vary depending on which faction you join, for example, faction1's leader is slain while faction2's simply is too old and retires, etc.

You cant join the KING'S faction (we can make him out a real bastard), and some other factions are going to be xenophobic about you, but say 6 faction will allow you entry, each faction could value a particular skill, archery, Destruction, Long swords above all else, and you rise is dependant on these skills. Quests should also vary radically were in faction1's you'd seek honour in fighting, In faction2's you'd help diplomatically and so on.

Eventually there would come a time when a new town would need to be settled, aka your new stronghold, and you'd be placed in charge of it. You’d construct it the same way as Raven Rock colony in "Blood Moon".
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Post by Assassinace »

Ok based on the map of skyrim
http://til.gamingsource.co.uk/maps/
(map of skyrim)


Issue one main travel
From Morrowind
There are two main ravines in the east
Riften-Greenwall-Sungaurd
Windheim-Lamol-Laintan Dale
As well as boating along the coast

From the imperial province
There is a large valley that opens up to Riverwood, Sungaurd, and Nimalten City

Since Hammerfell is connetected to skyrim at the lowlands travel isn't really an issue.

Next issue Cities
The Rift
(Mostly old way and defensive especially since the main morrowind attacks would come here)
Riften would be a main keep with town with the keep built on a mountain and a small city below.
It would link by mountain pass to vernim wood and to the NW by ravine to Greenwall which would be basically a keep kinda like the ghostfence.
Vernim wood would connect to morrowind by high mountain pass so there wouldn't be much traffic here but would have a lot of wayward travellers.
Sungaurd is a fairly major city for the east
Nimalten City would probably be like Pelagiad with a imperial garrison near it.
Reich Corrigate may or may not still exist but if it did it would be small.
(Will finish after more research)

Guilds
Bards guild: A few of the main old keeps will have a bard guild and the new keeps will have a less structured bardic area that house a guild. However for actual quests it would probably be better to get your quests from bards wandering the land and the guildhalls can tell you where these are as well as advance you.

The normal empirial guilds will exist

Possibly make the tongues a joinable faction

As previously stated have the holds as houses like morrowind

possibly make the witches guide joinable although you wouldn't become a witch unless female you could become something from a servant to a trusted ally or defender.

Also depending on storyline other factions will exist.

More to come and as always critisism is welcomed.
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Post by Asylum »

Maybe a "sport" guild. the RL vikings had a sport like wresting they called Glima quite beloved those days like football is nowdays.
They probably also held friendly swordfights of axefights or whatever to train and just because they like it.
This guild could be counter fighterguild like and could be in competition with eachother like the dark brotherhood and the morag tong (or whatever).



also i have a question will there be an arena or more then one in skyrim? and where would they/it be
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