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All about Nymphii (Background)


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So here’s a little info on the follower mod I am working on in the screenshots/videos I have been posting

 

Basically the big picture idea is to take elder scrolls lore about nymphs from daggerfall and expand on it in a way that makes sense, emphasizes sexy, and is still lore-friendly.  

 

Project has two aspects

  -A standalone follower mod featuring 6 female followers 

 

Each one is either a racial subtype of nymph or a partial blood nymph. Each follower has a custom class/combat style, Nymph Racial Traits, and her own unique signature spell/ability that I have built from scratch.

 

   -A set of unique nymph playable races with new racial traits 

 

The followers are basically done, just a matter of finishing the unique powers, finetuning the appearances, playtesting the combat styles at different levels, and loading it in different mod environments (ie totally vanilla vs. heavily modded) for functionality testing.   The custom races still need some work.

 

 Thus far my goal has been to make them interesting using as little scripting as possible in order to make it easy to port to skyrim SE or even VR.   

 

^ From my tumblr

 

tumblr_pdkmqioKiP1xtv3t2o1_1280.png

 

So what exactly is a Nymph in Elder Scrolls lore?

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Nymph_(Creature)

 

A Nymph is a magical creature that looks like a beautiful naked female, and is essentially just a monster type in Daggerfall, much like Orcs were.  They can't be hurt by mundane weapons (iron or steel), and can drain fatigue.  Fatigue is similar to stamina, but if you run out, you collapse.  I can't help but wonder whether this was deliberate innuendo on the part of the developers: the other creature that drains fatigue on touch with the same spell is the Daedra seducer (equivalent to a succubus). 

 

Think for a second, what activity with a naked woman would cause someone to use up a great deal of energy and then pass out?

 

 Nevertheless, I have been quite surprised that in all the time Skyrim has been out and people have been modding it, no one has touched on this part of the lore that is so definitely full of potential, both for lore and for sexiness.

 

So here's where I come in.  I have come up with a foundation for "fleshing out" the Nymph as a playable race, and deliberately left some aspects unexplored in the hopes that other modders will be interested in adding their own kinds of Nymph.

 

If you have no interest in the background lore or maintaining the cohesiveness of a "lore-friendly" world, feel free to skip over this spoiler.
What follows is a rational attempt to expand upon a part of the elder scrolls canon to introduce new possibilities relating to one particular creature only briefly appearing in daggerfall, the Nymph

Spoiler

The argument is quite simple, but the supposition that follows can seem somewhat convoluted.  

Based on the following four canon elder scrolls facts

1. Nymphii are naturally existing creatures rather than supernatural creatures created or controlled by some divine/daedric force
2. Nymphii are all female
3. Nymphii are very sexual creatures
4. Nymphii can be killed

 

it is logical and reasonable to conclude: that since as a species, Nymphii were not willed into existence by oblivion, have a distinct female gender but no males, are sexual creatures, and can die, they therefore must reproduce somehow

 

    a. the theory this dicussion is based upon is that a Nymph will mate with a male of another species to produce offspring
    b. since there are no recorded instances of well defined half breeds of other races, it is reasonable to assume that all offspring of this mating must only be Nymphii
    c. but, since Nymphii apparently mate with males of any sentient species and maintain long term relationships with these males, are selective in choosing mates, and exhibit courtship behavior, they must have some purpose for selective mating
    d. thus it seems logical to conclude that if there must be a reason to distinguish between mates, this reason would come in the form of traits or properties inherited, else selective mating is meaningless

 

First, a couple disclaimers
    I admit, this is an attempt to apply scientific reasoning to the fantastical and fictional, which is a hard sell for many folks, so please keep an open mind and do not read this as any kind of gender/sexuality bias, purely as a rational biologically rooted conclusion.


    Additionally, while it is possible to propose alternative non-biology explanations to this conclusion, none of those allow for a similar expansion of the lore, which sort of defeats the purpose of exploring the subject at all.
    (basically, if Nymphii can magically wish a new fully grown Nymph into existence, there's nothing new to add to the topic in this regard, so please keep that in mind.)

 

 

Therefore we are presenting our "unofficial Nymphii lore" as follows: 
        

    1. Similar to the Asari from the Mass Effect series (another all female fictional species), Nymph/mortal pairings will produce a new Nymph that is phenotypically a Nymph but integrates some characteristics of the mortal race

  •  this characteristic may not be any kind of inherent property of the mortal race itself (ie it is not genetic inheritance), but is a trait that the Nymph acquires when integrating some part of that race into her magical being
  • this characteristic may even be seemingly unrelated to the male in question, meaning it is not a trait possessed by that male mortal, but some racial magical essence that influences the composition of the new nymph
  • whatever it is or wherever the trait comes from, it is consistent amongst all Nymphii that result from this pairing.

    2. Unlike the asari, there is no such thing as a pure-blooded Nymph, as they presumably cannot reproduce with each other, nor have they developed in isolation from other species, so all Nymphii must then be the result of Nymph + non-Nymph mating

  • the sole scholar writing on this subject does mention the lack of any other writers reporting a Nymph seeking out "him or her," at the very least suggesting that Nymphii may form relationships with female mortals
  • However, if they could reproduce with each other through conventional anatomical sexual intercourse (however that may occur), as opposed to a direct genetic exchange, it would make very little sense for Nymphii, as an all female race, to mate with males at all

  

   3. Different subtypes exist based upon the region they live in and what race or species of males they have access to

  •             for example, after mating with males from hammerfall for many generations eventually there will be no Nymphs in this area that are not essentially redguard-Nymphii
    •  the proposal elaborates on this distinction by declaring this a full subtype of Nymph, the Desert Nymph
    •   comparatively, Nymphii that have many generations of Nymph-bosmer pairings become Wood Nymphii
      •  given the typical "fey" description of both mer and Nymph, we suggest the possibility that some fey traits (pointed ears, dainty features) are actually mer inherited, not Nymph specific
      •  in terms of appearance, the ratio proposed for this subtyping would be something like 95% Nymph, 5% subtype race, although some traits may be highly exaggerated (long pointy fae ears on a Nymph vs. pointed humanoid ears on the woodelf source)
  • it also seems reasonable that there may be a distinct difference in dunmer-Nymphii (dark Nymph?) and the rapidly vanishing chimer-Nymphii (elder Nymph?)

    4. Additionally, in the transition between one major subtype and another, there will exist hybrid Nymphii

  • these hybrids represent the blending of two major subtypes through successive generations of mating with males of different races or species
  •  the ratio proposed here is then 95% Nymph, 2.5% subtype A, 2.5% subtype B, making both subtypes very subtle individually
    • consider - in skyrim, both bretons and nords have co-existed for a long time
      •  Nymphii in this region will establish a medium between 
      • the nordic Nymphii (let's call her a tundra Nymph) and 
      • the bretonic Nymphii (high rock is the only region with established in-game Nymph appearances so we will call her a "common" Nymph)
    • the result will be what may be termed the "sky Nymph"
      • other examples may be Cyrodillic/Dunmer Nymphii in Morrowind (which we term the "Night" Nymph, rather than using the awkward sounding "Morrow" Nymph)
    •  these hybrid Nymphii will essentially be indigenous to these multiple race regions, unlikely to exist elsewhere
      • Sky Nymphii would not be found outside skyrim since each successive generation that is not a Nord or Breton pairing alters the evenly split balance  
    •  thus, they should only exist in regions that have maintained multiple population bases for hundreds of generations, long enough to produce precise 50/50 traits
      • so while skyrim has had both bretons and nords since before the first era and would have Nymphii hybrids
      •  The Summerset isles has only had any significant non-Altmer living there for a few hundred years, brief in the lifespan of a Mer, let alone a Nymph

                                
    5. Finally, there should exist points of diffuse characteristics such that the Nymph resembles none specifically, or all of them blended together

  •                 these "blended" Nymphii are probably found in metropolitan regions such as Cyrodiil with many races/species living together                        
    • (this is the largest logical leap of this "lore", so pardon my suppositions)
    • we are suggesting that some of these may not know that they are indeed Nymphii
  •     these Nymphii ignorant of their own backgrounds may have been separated from child rearing mothers (but unlikely abandoned given the reclusive nature of the species)
    •  given the properties of the Nymph species, this ignorance seems unlikely unless the Nymph believes herself to be a member of a particularly long lived race or is still young
    • they would also require some way to explain the magical nature of their background
      •   possibly as divine favor or Daedric curse or simply a belief that they are "special" or "different"

          

 To conclude, we are attempting to establish with a "lore-friendly" background the concept of types of Nymphii that are not hertofore known in elder scrolls canon as well as the possibility of "secret" Nymphii living amongst mortals

 

The extent of this mod's exploration of this topic is to define the subtypes relevant to the characters present in the mod itself, not to produce a comprehensive list of everything related to the Nymph, this includes

the Wood Nymph 

the Night Nymph 

the Desert Nymph 

the Beast Nymph

and the blended Nymph

 

    We will invite other members of the modding community to eventually take it upon themselves to flesh out other unexplored subtypes of Nymphs so long as it makes sense within the argument presented here and the overall elder scrolls lore

Well, ok, that seems reasonable right?


Ultimately what this boils down to is a way that lets you add Nymphii of all sorts to your game that still makes sense.  
If you're like me, you may have a hard time adding supposedly "lore-friendly" content to a cohesive world that takes an idea based in lore but then turns it into something that requires a deific/"extreme magical" explanation (chosen of Dibella or Mara or sanguine or Molag Bal, ad naseum), excessive suspension of disbelief, or simply makes no sense.

 

For the next entry in this blog I will go over each girl in detail both in terms of gameplay as well as a little bit about their personalities.  I'll also elaborate a bit on the types of Nymph I have worked out.  Plus, pictures!

 

Thanks for reading!

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This Looks awesome, I was actually looking into the Law of nymphs and wondered myself why there was such a lack of content on them, I think they are pretty cool.

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