One of the biggest things we've yet to nail down is quest progression. Since Call of the Wild will have a good share of quests, it is also an important decision to make. While CotW will have a feature to simply skip the quests and all the stuff which comes between learning new spells, abilities, crafting recipes, rituals, and getting tattoos inked on, questing will likely be the only way to obtain and unlock the new features the mod will offer if you play CotW the way it was intended to. But unfortunately, this is where the problems begin.

The Forsworn Dilemma

At first glance, it seems pretty obvious that something has to drive the quest progression. Well, at least for those of us who care about it. It is deceptively difficult to address that issue however. The forsworn are the closest thing to a druidic tribe as Skyrim's lore provides. Now if we were in Valenwood or High Rock, it'd be a no-brainer as there is plenty possibility in both provinces of Tamriel. Let's face it, the Forsworn are too busy worshiping blood-covered statues and sacrificing puppies to care about nature and its powerful ancient magicks. They'd be even less interested in performing a ritual which doesn't include carving up some poor random sob to offer his innards to some non-existent deity. The current Forsworn are simply too violent for the purposes we need them for.

Whilst having a chat with Frostbrand a while back, we can to an alternate solution: create a splinter branch of the Forsworn. This may seem a little far-fetched, but it's the best option for keeping Call of the Wild as lore-friendly as possible. The plan calls for a group of Forsworn to reject the beliefs, teachings, and way of life from their other brethren. The argument here would be that they feel their brothers and sisters have strayed too far from their free roots and twisted the old ways of the Forsworn. The mainstream tribes preferred to twist the magicks granted to them and corrupt themselves with poisonous behaviors such as revenge, spite, and wrath, forming the freaks of nature we know as hagravens. Failing to convince their fellow tribesmen, they instead break away from them and found their own tribe which embraces a harmonious coexistence with mother nature and chose to preserve the ways of the old. These guys will be known as the Thornwood Covenant. This is where the player comes in.

Arson, Murder, & Jaywalking

While minding their own business, hacking away at a revered tree or burning spriggans to a crisp, the player is approached by a member of the Thornwood Covenant who is alarmed to find him/her defiling their sacred woods. The player is confronted by the tribesman and promptly accused of being a member of the Forsworn. Much to the player's dismay, they realize that there is no way of reasoning with the angry tribesman. Here they are presented with the illusion of a choice:

1. You can either try to run away, get shot with an arrow dipped in a paralytic poison, and brought before the shaman.
   
2. You can try to talk your way out, get hit with a spell that makes you incredibly horny, and brought before the shaman.
   
3. You can agree to speak with the shaman, but get clubbed over the head anyway, and brought before the shaman.
   

Regardless of your choice, as you can see, you'll be having a little chat with their shaman. Once you're brought to him (or her, we haven't decided), you'll be forced to answer for your "crimes" which include desecration of a sacred forest, trespassing into Thornwood territory, and.. wearing clothing. Ideally, I want this part to become a little more dynamic. The shaman's reactions would differ depending on the character's race, gender, the type of gear they're wearing, and perhaps even the factions they belong to (stormcloak army, imperial legion, college of winterhold, thieves' guild, etc.).

Naturally, the shaman would be more receptive and friendlier with a Bosmer or Breton player, and more aggressive toward a Nord or Imperial player. Khajiit, Argonians, Redguards, Dunmer, Orsimer, and Altmer character would fall in the gray area somewhere. I'm not quite sure if or how custom races would be supported for this particular part for obvious reasons. Best guess is that there will be a generic reaction in place for these situations. Carrying heavy armor and a two-handed weapon will yield a more apprehensive tribe shaman, where as carrying light armor and a bow or dagger might only cause suspicion. The player's gender is the area where I am a bit iffy on. Since we're aiming to integrate both sexes equally into CotW, we'll have to be careful where we go with this. Thankfully nothing is set in stone at this point though.

Kill Trees, Meet New Friends!

Anywho, after explaining yourself to their leader, you will be absolved of all your "crimes" except one: wearing clothing. The Thornwood Covenant fiercely adhere to their ancient traditions and customs. Wearing clothes within their land is considered a grave offense, as they had sworn away with clothing long ago. The reason for that being is that they believe that proper worship of the forests' spirits can only be done when a person has become one with nature. This means that said person must be in their purest form, which is the same way they were brought into the world: stark naked. Our valiant Dragonborn hero will be faced with a critical decision from here. You'll either choose to do fulfill a dying tribeman's last rite and fuck an old coot if you're female, or an old crone if you're male. Alternatively, you can refuse to do as they ask.

Choosing to comply with their demand will absolve your last crime and clear your name. Furthermore, you'll be setting the foundation down to join the Thornwood Covenant later. Refusing to grant the dying tribe member their last rite will cause the tribe leader to exile you. Being exiled from their settlement isn't the end, however. You can still choose to return at a later time and redeem yourself. After being given the boot from the Thornwood Covenant, you will be contacted by the Forsworn and offered to join them instead. These guys will differ from the rest of the Forsworn in the sense that they're more obsessed with Primal Magic than their mainstream counterparts. They're trying to do the exact opposite that the Thornwood Covenant is. They focus on the darker subschools of Primal Magic, namely the Ferocity & Decay schools. They'll still require you to swear away clothing in order to join, as this Primal Magic is also closely tied with the worship of the old spirits.

Jooooin ussss!

Both the Thornwood Covenant and Forsworn have their pros & cons. As mentioned before, the Forsworn will emphasize the Ferocity and Decay subschools of Primal Magic, which specializes in damage spells and placing hexes on opponents to wear out or control them. The Thornwood Covenant will focus on the Growth and Allure subschools, which excel at boosting, healing, and manipulation of opponents' sexual urges as a means to reduce their combat effectiveness or incapacitate them. There is a middle ground between both factions when it comes to the special conjuration spells they utilize. Forsworn conjuration spells summon powerful demons or daedra and subjugate the spirits of the dead, forcing them to fight for the caster, whereas the Thornwood Covenant call upon the spirits of their ancestors or wild beasts to aid them in battle.

The beauty of primal magic's lore is that it requires a balance of the four subschools in order to function correctly. Choosing to focus too much on a single subschool can cause the deities of the forest to lose their favor or even right out abandon you. Both factions have different ways of releasing the accumulated primal energy as well. Thornwood tribesmen will either have consensual sex or perform a ritual of sexual or erotic nature. Forsworn tribesmen will engage in brutal rape, sadomasochistic sex, or perform demonic rituals involving sacrifices (which are also of sexual or erotic nature). These methods of release will become vital, as going without releasing stored primal energy can be detrimental to your health and could lead to death if held in long enough.

A Rigged Election

Now, if you've been wondering what the poll is all about, then let me explain a bit more. Call of the Wild is going to include new perks, at very worst it will overhaul the existing ones. Since creating entirely new perk trees is impossible, we're starting to explore alternative methods to add new perks while being minimally intrusive on what already exists. Ideally, we can get something like a MCM-based perk tree in which players will spend earned XP points on new perks via the MCM menu. This is what was being explored prior to Frostbrand's kidna - I mean, before he returned to school for the next semester. Since that is a league out of my department, I don't know the exact details of what is going to happen with that. While it is an extremely attractive alternative to simply redoing perk trees, we still have to consider the possibility of having to butcher at least one to get the perks we need in the game.

From my own experience, the Alteration tree was the one I never used. Not once did I drop a single perk point into that tree. There was just no incentive for doing so. Sure, the armor spells were nice and all, but it was a BITCH having to keep switching spells during combat to cast or refresh stoneflesh or ebonyflesh. It was a hell of a lot easier to just wear light armor and enchant it with magicka regeneration effects or cost reduction enchantments. This makes the alteration perk tree a prime candidate for the cutting block in my book.

Also, I (we) am concerned that we might be taking the quest progression in the wrong direction. We've gotten mixed feedback from this and would like to get your thoughts on it. Although there will be the option to skip the quests and get all the neat features, spells, and abilities at the press of a button, there are those who still enjoy a good tale and immersion.

What do you guys think?