Since I'm just about ready to release the big update I have been working on, and I've finished the updates to the mod description on nexus, I felt it was time to post a blog entry about it here.  There are three major additions to mod with this update.  Nai'yari, the first part of the Nymph lore, and the placement of 23 different Nymphii across skyrim.

 

 

Version 1.9 Update Info

Version 1.9 has been published both here and on Nexus.  I hope you enjoy it!

For the Sake of Convenience, here is the link to the mod page.

 

Table of Contents

I.   Characters and books relevant to the lore

II.  Nai'Yari, Captain of the Black Opal Pirates, the Nymph Pirate Queen

III. The Black Opal Pirates

IV. Nymph Girls Across Skyrim

V.  FAQ updates and future plans

 

 

 

 

These books have become rather hard to find lately, and it's not very likely that you will find a merchant who has a copy.  However, in Winterhold, recently Urag gro-Shub has managed to secure several copies of each for the Arcanaeum's archives, and he has uncharacteristically placed his surplus copies on display, making them freely available to any student of the college who is interested in taking one.  

 

Books

A Scholar's Guide to Nymph

• Author: Vondham Barres
• Published: Unknown, presumed early 3E

 

Presumably, this was the first book written on the subject of the Nymph.  It is important as it represents the first genuine attempt by modern scholars to catalog and understand the Nymph, who until this point, had largely been viewed only as provocative creatures of fairy or fey mythos.  Barres describes the common perception of the Nymph as "beautiful, naked women who skip along tra-la-la and like to have indisciminate sex," and consequently, he was the first known scholar to presume they were anything more than this.  While it contains little actual detail of the species or any objective information, the "Scholar's Guide" provides vivid descriptions that captured the imaginations of future scholars.  

Ecology of the Nymph

• Author: Pavaldi Caglieri
• Published: Five books published Individually from 4E 113 to 114

Compiled as a series in 4E 153.  
Re-published as part of imperial archive in 4E 183.

The second book on the subject of the Nymph, "Ecology" was originally published as a series of separate volumes containing a wealth of information on a number of different aspects of the Nymph.  The volumes were published over the course of two years, and brought a great deal of fame and reputation to Caglieri, the author.  After his death, as part of the 40th anniversary of the first tome, these volumes were compiled into a single series "Ecology of the Nymph I-V".  

Going far beyond a simple description of the Nymph species, it contains information on topics like Nymph pregnancy, Nymph reproduction, Nymph/Mortal relationships, and the differences between Nymph and mortal women, to name a few.  Caglieri is also the first person to adopt the plural "Nymphii" in the manner of elves, as opposed to Nymphs, and the convention has become standard practice.

Nothing like this had ever been written before, and all of his writings were readily accepted as fact by the academic community.  

It would later be shown that several of the ideas he put forth in this series, particularly towards the last few tomes, were based on his own unsupported hypotheses.  These would later be dis-proven by subsequent authors.  To avoid confusion amongst readers, and to preserve the original tome unaltered, in 4E 183, the collection was re-published as part of the Imperial Archive including a disclaimer stating that the book has been superseded by the more comprehensive work, "Encyclopedia of the Nymph."  

In modern times, despite the provocative (yet somewhat inaccurate) depiction of a Nymph gracing the cover, it has become rare to find a copy of either of these books outside of a college library.

Encylopedia of the Nymph

• Author: Kastan Foebreaker, posthumous
• Published: 4E 157

The third, and most complete work on the subject, was published in 4E 157.  It was a monumental work that was compiled from the author's notes after his disappearance.  These notes were largely based on a correspondence between Kastan Foebreaker, a one-time student of Caglieri, and the unnamed expert who is referenced in the first several chapters of Ecology.  They contain a great deal of information, some of which elaborates on the topics which are presented in Ecology, some of which disproves theories put forth in Ecology, and much of which is entirely new.  It is a very complex text that is sometimes difficult for laypersons to understand. Thus, it is traditionally studied by scholars, or by Imperial University students pursuing a degree in naturalism or meta-physics.

The first three volumes in this series were published in 4E 157, while the fourth was published only a few years ago, by a current Imperial University author who renewed the correspondence with the until-now unnamed expert on the Nymph, in order to complete the work of Foebreaker.  

 

Characters

Vondham Barres

• Born: Unknown
• Died: Unknown

The author of a Scholar's Guide to Nymphs, Barres was an Imperial University scholar who lived sometime in the third era, early after the foundation of the Cyrodillic empire.  He sought to discover more about the subject of the Nymph.  The Nymph language had been translated into the common tongue well before the first era, but very little information was known about the Nymph aside from crude innuendo and conjecture.  Very little information is known about Barres or his life.  Supposedly, he wrote a scholarly treatise on the rituals and practices of the House of Dibellia, but no copies of this tome are known to exist.  Upon completion of the Scholar's Guide, he withdrew from his position at the Imperial University, and presumably lived out the rest of his life somewhere in hammerfell with, Ayalea, his Nymph companion.  It is suspected that Ayalea was either a High Nymph or a Desert Nymph, and lived in a secluded grotto in Hammerfell, but aside from Barres' descriptions, little else is known about her.

Pavaldi Caglieri

• Born: 4E 68
• Died: 4E 149

The first author to follow up on the work of Barres, Pavaldi was hailed as a landmark figure in the study of the Nymph, as he provided a significant amount of concrete and factual information on the Nymph.  Caglieri was a native of Cyrodiil, and by mid-life he was still a relatively unknown academic. While struggling to make a name for himself, he became fascinated by the story of Barres and how this seemingly devoted scholar abandoned his life's work after falling in love with a Nymph.  He then set out to meet a Nymph of his own in order to follow up on this work.  Initially, he did not meet with much success, but after being contacted by an anonymous "Nymph expert" who offered to provide him with information on the condition that he would compile it for publication, his fortunes changed.  

The more scandalous version of this story hints that he initially became interested in the subject of the Nymph after a drunken night in a tavern when he met a charming, golden-eyed, green-haired, pointy-eared woman adorned with leaves whom he believed was "certainly not human, and far too lovely a creature to be a mere elf."  Popular gossip amongst scholars goes on to say that he was so enamored by her that he spent the rest of his life pining after this green-haired woman.

Caglieri published two volumes in a few months on the subject of the Nymph, and gained instant recognition amongst academic circles, as these works contained brilliant deductions and a wealth of previously unknown information.  He was then after considered the premiere expert on all things "Nymph."  Three more volumes followed, which were eventually compiled into the seminal work "Ecology of the Nymph."  He continued teaching at the university for several decades, and held a number of influential positions within the Imperial University throughout his career, including a brief term of office as both Dean Non-Magicka and Imperial Provost, but he never published any further works on the subject of the Nymph.  

Many of his students went on to hold important Imperial positions in all facets of the Empire, including the legion and the political sphere, as well as both the academic and arcane fields of study.  Despite only publishing a single major work, he is still considered by many to be one of the greatest imperial scholars of the fourth era.

Kastan Foebreaker

• Born: 4E 127
• Died: Unknown, disappeared in late 4E 155

The author of Encyclopedia of the Nymph.  Not much is known about him.  He was a Nord student of Caglieri who took a renewed interest in his mentor's work, despite Caglieri's insistence that everything important about the Nymph was already known.  After his mentor's death, he discovered copies of the letters that were being exchanged between Caglieri and a person known as "Heironymus Anon."  Most of these letters contain very emotionally charged disagreements and debate on the subject that seem to intensify as Caglieri publishes more of the "Ecology" books.  

At some point it appears as though Caglieri and Hieronymus had a falling out over Caglieri's continued insistence on taking credit for Anon's contributions, as well as publishing his own ideas and theories which Anon described as "not just unsupported, but blatantly fictional."  Correctly concluding that this was the unnamed expert who is referenced in Caglieri's early work, and recognizing the level of genius this expert possessed from his/her writings, Kastan attempted to reach out to Anon and form a collaborative relationship.  

He is eventually successful in 4E 153, and the two of them maintain correspondence over the next two years, exchanging letters with clockwork precision every two weeks.  Their collaboration pushes the boundaries on practically everything known at the time about the Nymph species, including the origins and the meta-physics involved in such a unique creature.  

Some of the copies of the original letters still exist, and the correspondence between these two brilliant minds are said to go far beyond the study of a single species, discussing topics like the nature of disease, patterns of inheritance amongst familial bloodlines, and the tiny parts that make up all living things, parts too small to be seen without the aid of a special kind of divination magic.  Indeed, Foebreaker's work is so complex and peers so deeply into the nature of the physical world that most modern scholars still have difficulty understanding all of it.  

His disappearance has long been a source of speculation amongst scholars and his university colleagues.  Some believe that he was killed by Dark Brotherhood assassins hired by some unknown party in order to prevent his work from being published.  Some believe, like Barres, he met a Nymph with whom he became enamored, and unlike Barres, followed her into the wilderness before submitting his notes for publication.  

Still others whisper rumors that the arcane and sophisticated nature of the information he uncovered led him down the path to oblivion.  These rumors say that he had reached the limit of what he could discover even by magical means, and at some point he contacted, or was contacted by, Hermaeus Mora, and was gradually seduced by the Daedric Prince's promise of forbidden knowledge.  His disappearance, then, was the result of that dark pact reaching it's culmination when he traveled to Apocrypha, became trapped, and was never to be heard from again.

In truth, no one knows what happened to him.  After he had been missing for two years and was now presumed dead, a colleague discovered his notes amongst his belongings, and compiled most of them for publication as "Encyclopedia of the Nymph."  

Hieronymus Anon

• Born: Unknown
• Died: N/A, presumed still alive

 

The expert who originally aided in the research of Caglieri, Hieronymus Anon is a pseudonym used by an unknown person in correspondence with both Kastan and Caglieri.  Very little is known about who or what this "person" is.  What little is known suggests he/she/it is quite brilliant, quick to point out the mistakes of others, and though not interested in fame or recognition, he/she becomes greatly annoyed when others take credit for ideas that are not their own.

Due to his/her apparent longevity, having corresponded with multiple authors over nearly a hundred years, Anon is presumed by most to be a reclusive Dunmer or Altmer scholar.  However, given the apparent expertise Anon possesses on the subject of the Nymph, some actually believe that Anon *is* a Nymph.  

In general, those who wish to learn from a Nymph must possess some knowledge of the Nymph language, or some prior knowledge of the Nymph must be shared in order to demonstrate their worthiness and convince the Nymph to divulge more than basic information.  Thus, most scholars agree that this theory is unlikely, as Nymphii are reluctant to share so much detailed information about themselves with outsiders.  

Even more unlikely that that, there are even those who believe the whispered rumors surrounding Foebreaker's disappearance, stating that Hieronymus Anon is actually a servant of Hermaeus Mora, or... even more frighteningly... that the letters were actually written by the Daedric Prince himself!

 

 



Name: Nai’Yari
Race: Desert Nymph
Combat Style: Swashbuckling! Yarr!
Special Talent(s): 
The Opal Scar Cutlass

Absorbs health on hit and grows in power as she levels and increases her one handed melee skill.

• Starts at 2hp/hit
• Over 30 1 hand skill absorbs 4hp/hit
• Over 50 1 hand skill absorbs 7hp/hit
• Over 70 1 hand skill absorbs 11hp/hit
• Over 90 1 hand skill absorbs 16hp/hit
• At 100 1 hand skill absorbs 20hp/hit

Blood-Opal Bloodletting

• Not only is her cutlass exceptionally sharp, Nai'yari has inhuman dexterity, and has mastered swordcraft with her chosen weapon. While wielding it, she has the uncanny ability to cause minor injuries that continue to bleed long after they are inflicted. 
  • Those who have fought alongside her say that this is a latent instinct borne of her desire to savor combat: her swings are guided towards vulnerable locations, but she subconsciously avoids lethal strokes. It is also suggested that if she did not desire to prolong a fight, she could inflict grievous or even fatal wounds without much effort.

As long as she is wielding her cutlass, she causes a stacking bleed that grows in strength as she levels

• Initially it does 2hp/second and lasts 30 seconds
• Once she is over level 20, this increases to 5hp/second for 30 seconds
• Once she is over level 40, this increases again to 9hp/second for 30 seconds
• This bleed is applied for every swing, and there is no limit to how many bleeds she can apply to any given enemy.

Fire-Opal Frenzy

Reduces stagger based on how injured she is.

• Once below 60% health, all staggers are reduced to 50%.
• Below 30% health, all staggers are reduced to 25%.

Gains a burst of melee strength every time she is hit

• Every time she is attacked, she gains an effect that increases her melee damage is increased by 12.5%
• Each effect lasts for 16 seconds and she can have an unlimited number of these effects active.

Her cutlass has a rather low base damage, being somewhere between a sword and a dagger, but it becomes quite lethal once she builds
enough frenzy.

Supreme Swashbuckling

As long as she is wearing a shield in her left hand and a sword in her right hand she has the following ability

• 10% faster attack speed, blocks 5% more with her shield.

Her attack speed, movement speed and the amount of damage she can block with her shield increase based on her percent of current
health, so she moves/swings faster and blocks more as she gets
injured.
 

• Below 90% health, her attack speed increases by 80%, her movement speed increases 15%, and she can block 10% more damage with her shield.
• Below 60% health, attack speed increases 170%, movement speed increases 25%, and she can block 15% more damage with her shield.
• Below 30%, attack speed increases by 320%, movement speed increases 40%, and she can block 25% more damage with her shield.

General Combat Description

• Her combat prowess is heavily tied to her mastery of a particular fighting style.  She is extremely skilled at fighting with a traditional pirate's "swashbuckling" style: a longsword or cutlass along with a buckler or similar light shield.

 

• This fighting style has become second nature to her. Her ability to accelerate and move with inhuman speed depends on this "natural" feeling of pure, honed reflexes, so she cannot move nearly as fast if she fights with any other style.

 

• Nai'Yari, like all Nymphii, is a hedonist at heart. Unlike most other Nymphii, she is drawn to the thrill of danger and above all the excitement of battle. Quite often, her behavior suggests she has a death wish or cares little for her own life or safety. 

• This is not strictly the case; she simply finds herself drawn to the sheer joy of battle, and in order to experience this elation she will dive headlong into odds that look impossible. Still, were it not for her natural gift at arms, and ability to astutely evaluate any situation, she would probably have gotten herself killed dozens of times over. 

 

• Most creatures begin to feel a growing sense of dread as they are injured and experience intense fear as they threatened by a challenge that brings them close to death.  Nai'Yari has a very different response. Rather than feeling panic or dread, she becomes more excited, more focused, and feels more alive as she approaches death.

 

• While such a response could lead a normal person to a pattern of incredibly irrational risk taking in pursuit of this state of heightened arousal; a pattern that will inevitably lead to their premature demise, she is sensible enough not to let thrill-seeking control her.
• Fortunately, she thrives in these situations, and seems to grow in strength and speed to match the odds she faces. It takes some time for her excitement to approach its peak, but after her battle-lust fully infuses her, she moves with such speed and strikes with such force so as to completely defy rational explanation. 

 

• No one can say what the peak of her strength is since her power quickly goes dormant once the thrill of battle wears off, and few foes are powerful enough to stand against her once her combat frenzy begins to heat up. If she actually gets pushed the true limits of her strength, it is possible that no creature or force in all of Tamriel could stand against her.

 

• While often bold, and some would say reckless, she is neither foolish nor careless, and does not deliberately engage in actions that threaten her safety or the safety of her crew for the sole purpose of satisfying her lust for excitement.
• Indeed, most who have heard the stories before they meet her are shocked to discover that the "mad pirate queen" is actually quite prudent and level-headed.
• Her crew have learned to trust that, no matter how insane her plans seem to be, she won’t get them involved in any fight that they have no chance of winning.

 

• Personality Description
  
  
  
  
  
   

Known as the "New Pirate Queen," the "Beauty of the Bay," the "Gold-Coast Goddess," and by detractors as the "Mad Pirate Queen," Nai'Yari is surrounded by so many rumors and stories that she is rarely what people expect.

• Often she is described as having a volatile and dangerous temper, becoming violent at the slightest provocation, and being a lusty and saucy wench with a penchant for taking any handsome young men from among the prisoners captured by her crew for her personal use; jokingly referred to as a "divine death sentence," with the implication that she will quickly use them up as they are never heard from again.  

 

• These stories contain some truth to them, but become more elaborate and embellished with each telling.
• Another common tale is that while having her breakfast in the captain's quarters one morning she felt that the deckhands were swabbing a bit too loudly, and she ordered them all to be hung from the riggings by their bootlaces until she was able to finish her meal in peace.  She has never done anything like this, but the story is very persistent.

• Like the legend surrounding the Black Sea-Opal ring, she may have made it up herself to bolster her fearsome reputation!

• Often regarded among the “taller” tales of the “Mad Pirate Queen” are those that say the Black Opal's Captain, upon encountering a hostile ship with orders not to surrender has been known to board by herself, giving her crew instructions to drop anchor and watch the show, casually remarking that she will return once she has given it a new coat of red paint.

 

 

• In reality, she is fairly even tempered, quite friendly, and even good natured.  Those who know her describe her as being in "perpetually high spirits," never one to frown or grumble at any misfortune. She might be accurately described as the "Jolly Nymph of the sea," and treats life as one grand adventure.  

 

• This cheerfulness is a big part of what inspires loyalty in her followers.  No matter how grim the situation or misfortune, the Captain always has a good laugh at what a thrilling adventure they are on, and thus far, she has always managed to see them through it.
• Her other major trait that inspires loyalty and devotion is her extraordinary gift for foresight and long-term planning.  While most Nymphii tend to look at things in terms of the "Big Picture," Nai'Yari takes that aptitude to a whole new level.  Not merely planning a week, a month, or even a year in advance, Nai'Yari somehow thinks and plans decades in advance.  Her plans don't always go as expected, but she's quick to adapt to the unexpected.  
• While she presents herself as having the schooling and intellect of a humble pirate, most are quick to realize she is far more clever than she lets on.  A popular rumor on the ship is that every once in a while, she will quietly and discreetly challenge a famous scholar, arch-mage, or general to a game of chess, and in nearly fifty years, she has never lost a single game.  

 

• In the years before the great war, Nai'Yari and the Black Opal pirates were known to periodically lead lightning raids on Anvil every few years. On several occasions the Barge would appear with no warning moored close to the city docks with a large fleet trailing behind that would rapidly encircle the port. The crew would then disembark and fight their way from the docks along the exterior walls up the bridge to the governor's island and would breach the castle before anyone could sound an alarm or enact any kind of defense.

• Upon reaching the castle, they would locate the current count and countess, take them hostage, and Nai'Yari would demand a ransom. Living up to her reputation as the "Mad Pirate Queen", her ransom demands were often trivial and totally nonsensical. On one occasion she demanded that the count surrender a barrel of his finest rum, as well as new eight mops for her deckhands to swab with. On another, she demanded the both count's boots and countesses' shoes, plus whatever the count happened to be carrying in his pockets. 

 

• The first time she conducted a raid in this manner, the Black Opals did so without a fleet, and the response she got was one of utterly stunned disbelief. After all, the pirates had docked the ship with full pirate sails on display, fought their way past the city guard, and invaded the governor's stronghold, apparently all to acquire something that would cost less than a hundred septims from a local merchant. When her demands were not immediately met, she made a hasty escape, but warned that she would be back, bringing with her an entire fleet, and that next time the ransom must be paid without question or she would sack the town.

 

• When she actually showed up nearly a year later with a fleet large enough to blockade the entire port, the Count took her much more seriously, though he was as surprised as anyone that upon receiving this somewhat-silly ransom she bid him farewell and the entire pirate fleet withdrew from the city.
• After a few repeat raids, it became something of a strange local tradition, and the town guard were even given orders not to attempt to halt the pirate's advance into the castle.
• During the great war Anvil was badly devastated by the Aldmerii Dominion siege, and it took many years for the city to recover.  At some point it is even claimed that monsters took up residence inside Anvil Keep!

 

• So when Nai'Yari finally launched another raid on the city in 4E 188, the same year that Wayrest was captured by Corsairs, the city was in no position to resist the pirate attack, and quickly surrendered with the promise to pay whatever ransom the Black Opals decided to demand.  Unphased, Nai'Yari issued her demands to the acting-governor stating that, "We have too many boxes taking up space on the ship and we need to store some of them here.  You lot here can take whatever is inside and do what you wish with it. I say again; I have little need of the contents. But when I return, every last one of my boxes had best be intact and accounted for, with naught so much as a scratch 'pon it, or else this town will know the wrath of the Black Opal Pirates."

 

• Nervously accepting the heavy crates, it took a while before anyone actually took a look inside of any of them to discover the contents. Each box was filled with coins and jewels, altogether adding up to several hundred thousand septims worth of treasure. The governor was unsure what to make of this until he remembered how specifically she had mentioned she had no interest in the contents, and finally realized her intent: she had actually just given them a considerable amount of money as a relief fund.

 

• True to her word, she came back almost exactly one year later and demanded that her boxes be returned. The governor, grateful for her charity but still quite wary about how serious she was known to be in her nonsensical behavior, promptly returned all of her boxes.  Every last box was in near perfect condition.

 

• When asked about it later, she denied any notions of charity or aiding the town, insisting that "no pirate would ever part with plundered coin for the sake of a bunch of bilge-sucking townsfolk!"  She also added that she was deadly serious about her terms, and that she fully intended to sack the town had they broken any of her boxes.

 

• Nai'Yari has a very particular idea of what a pirate is supposed to be, and she rarely tolerates anyone suggesting she or her crew should behave in an "un-piratelike way."  Her idea of a pirate is also a very romantic one, viewing pirates as an idealized sort of adventurous rogue, and she fully expects her crew to adhere to this. While the gritty reality of a pirate's life at sea may be gruesome and cruel, the Black Opal pirates are anything but a typical crew of bloodthirsty villains. She has very little, if any, tolerance for the typical raping, pillaging, or torturing that most expect is commonplace behavior aboard a pirate ship, and new recruits quickly learn to adapt to her expectations or are punished severely, with repeat offenders eventually being dismissed in a dramatic fashion.
• It is not uncommon for ships sailing the Iliac Bay to find desert islands inhabited by one or more ex-opal recruits who have been marooned after being foolish enough to cross the Queen more than thrice.

 

• Despite the fact that she is one of the more infamous pirate captains in one of the most heavily trafficked seas in all of Tamriel, her true nature has remained a secret to all but her closest companions.  
• Sailors tell stories of a legendary ring lost long ago on some forgotten island far to the west of the Abecean Sea, a dark ring cursed by some unknown Daedric Prince.  Any who slip this ring upon their finger will be protected from blade or arrow, and will be granted youth, beauty, and life everlasting, for as long as they wear it. But whosoever puts this ring on, for even a moment, may never take it off!  For if they do, they, and all their kin borne whilst wearing it, will die a most horrible death, rotting from the inside out and then evaporating, as their body returns to the sea.  This powerful artifact is known as the “Black Sea-Opal” ring.

 

• • Nai'Yari's rise to fame and fortune supposedly coincide with her unearthing of this “lost artifact” as a young sailor's apprentice.  The earliest known appearances of her as a pirate are stories that mention a beautiful young pirate woman wearing little to cover herself, and indeed, wearing very little clothing at all aside from a pair of fine boots and a ring set with a malevolent looking black opal.  
   
  • This was nearly fifty years ago, and the consensus amongst all those familiar with the “New Pirate Queen” is that she is a Redguard woman of approximately 68 or 70 years of age who owes her youth, beauty, and durability to the cursed ring that she wears.
    
     
  • The truth is somewhat less mythical, though still fantastic. Nai'Yari owes her eternal youth, beauty, and resistance to common weaponry not to a magic ring, but to the fact that she is an immortal Nymph, and more specifically, a Desert Nymph.   The ring is in fact an ordinary ring set with a Black Opal gemstone that is enchanted to be impervious to understanding by divination magic and to inspire a deep sense of dread and foreboding in all who examine it closely. These are properties shared by most Daedric artifacts, so to the average scholar, this is more than sufficient to conclude the validity of the ring's origins as a cursed relic.
  • Showing a great deal of foresight, Nai'Yari had the ring enchanted as a favor from an elderly master enchanter, long since dead, in exchange for some of her Nymph Essence; the waxy oil coating the skin of all Desert Nymphii.
  • She then quietly and carefully spread the legend of an ancient ring lost on an island far to the west of the Abecean Sea, cursed by some unknown Daedric Prince forgotten by both time and history. After the story seemed to have gained acceptance amongst the bards and innkeepers of the Gold-Coast, she emerged as the new owner of this ring, became a pirate, and eventually took the legend as inspiration in the naming of her crew, the “Black Opal Pirates.”
  • Simply, Nai'Yari wanted to achieve fame and fortune by adventuring as a Pirate, and she knew that if she was famous for long enough, eventually people would begin to question why she did not seem to be growing old, how she could take a thrust from an iron dagger without injury or bleeding, or why she had never borne any children.
  • As a Desert Nymph, she has always felt the adventurous spirit that is more common amongst Nymphii of that subtype, but represents something of an extreme: She lives for excitement, thrills, challenges, and danger.  While most Nymphii tend to avoid danger at all costs, Nai'Yari embraces it on a level that even an orc would consider reckless.

 

• • Often those who cross blades with her drastically underestimate her strength.  At the start of any fight she is somewhat slow and does not seem particularly skillful.  Indeed, many a fool has concluded after only a few swings that her legendary combat prowess must be naught but fiction!  Those who have seen her in action know better: she thrives on challenge, and is only at her best when the odds look hopeless.
  • As she fights, she begins to truly come alive, with every blow struck against her fueling her to strike back that much harder!  A heavily armored knight who finds little difficulty blocking her fiercest swings initially can soon find himself struggling to stay on his feet from her lightest feints.
  • As she is wounded, the thrill and elation of combat actually heightens her senses.  A normal person (even a nymph!) will gradually get tired and fight more sluggishly as they pile up injuries. But for Nai’Yari every cut, every stab, every arrow-shot, drives her to move faster and faster.  Once on the brink of death she will be moving so fast that it is impossible for the eyes of men to follow her movements.
   
  • There may be no limit to her “real” strength.  As long as she can fight and stay alive, she will keep striking more swiftly and more violently.  Her crew have often remarked that their Captain could fight an entire army by herself, so long as she survived long enough to begin enjoying the battle.
  • She often attacks ships purely for the fun of it.  Once capturing or boarding a ship, she tends to rapidly assess the defenses and defenders, not in terms of potential risk, but in terms of how much excitement the battle will offer.  Contrary to popular belief, she does not tend to let ships that offer no resistance or surrender easily escape out of mercy, but because of how boring it is!  
  • Her crew will then taken a small token tribute to maintain the crew's reputation, and possibly one or two prisoners (usually young men, just as the rumors suggest), and then let the rest of the crew of the captured vessel escape with cargo intact.  While this does fuel the infamy of the Black Opals, it also has the frustrating consequence (from Nai'Yari's perspective) of making future vessels much more likely to surrender without resistance.  How dull!  How tedious!  Where's the thrill in that?

  

• •  
  • When this happens too often, the Black Opal pirates tend to disappear, often for months at a time, without any sign or sighting of the Barge along the coasts of either High Rock or Hammerfell.  During these instances they pursue other sorts of adventures, ones that rarely reach the ears of the public, and tend to take the form of exploration or investigation of any particularly dangerous or exciting places they encounter.  
  • The maps kept aboard the Black Opal Barge actually chart an extensive archipelago far off the western coast of High Rock that is not found on any map of Tamriel, and is marked with by a series of nondescript labels that include fantastical titles like "island with skeleton army," "island with troll kingdom," or even "floating island with winged elves."  Whether or not any of these places actually exist to fit this description is anyone's guess, since the ship's logbook detailing visits to these places never has more than one line of description and always follows the pattern "visited 'island with troll kingdom'. Fought battle, won battle. Sailed south-southeast from 'island with troll kingdom'."
   
  • Incidentally, a significant portion of the riches accumulated by the Black Opal seem to come from these "side adventures." Make no mistake about it, no matter the tendency of their whimsical captain in letting merchant ships loaded with plunder escape unscathed, the Black Opal pirates are a phenomenally wealthy crew.  
  • Nai'Yari herself is not known to hoard riches, but members of her ship's council are rumored to be wealthy enough that they could hire all of the mercenaries of Hammerfell, many times over, to build their own private army, if they so desired.  Some drunken former crew-members have even hinted that this is part of a long term defense plan enacted in secret between the Ship’s Council and the Crown Princes of the now independent state of Hammerfell, intended as a failsafe strategy in case of future Aldmerii Dominion aggression.  
  • Others suggest, rather than secret collaboration, there is instead some connection with the pirate group to the wealthy "Iliac Bay Lending Company," a powerful bank in the region that is known to lend vast sums of money to aristocrats and statesmen all over the empire.  Consequently, the bank is rumored to use the influence behind these outstanding debts to apply pressure and pull strings, presumably in favor of the pirates, and to do so at the highest levels of government...
  • Merchantmen with bold tongues and bruised egos may even suggest this is why none in power seem too keen to capture the Black Opal's Captain nor her crew!     
    
     

Best heave to with that talk of conspiracy matey, lest ye wish to hang the jib and feed the fishes! Any sailor worth his tack knows that the New-Queen is just too wily an old salt for those landlubbers in Sentinel to Hornswaggle, bucko!

 

• •  
  • When the Black Opals return to piracy in the Bay, the Captain herself makes the rounds through the Iliac Bay's taverns to announce it.  She travels from tavern to tavern and will buy drinks and a feast for everyone within earshot, letting the Bay know that the Black Opals are back, so let all ye who ply trade in these waters be wary!  
  • Some crusty old retired sailors even keep an ear out for rumors of her re-emergence at the taverns on the western shores of High Rock and plan their travels for the next month to follow along her traditional tavern-hopping route, getting themselves a few weeks worth of raucous entertainment, not to mention free food and drinks for their trouble!

 

• Nai'Yari is currently travelling Skyrim as the first step in a very big expedition she has planned.  She and two of her officers are scouting out other pirate crews and making contact with other pirate organizations in the Skyrim area.  What purpose this serves is anyone's guess, but given her knack for grand plans, and her normal reluctance to work with other pirates, it is probably for something massive. 
• 
• Local couriers mention they saw three women fitting the description of Nai'Yari and her officers camped out on a small island not far from where the "Dainty Sload" was anchored.

 

 

Black Opal Nymph Officers

•  Cassiopeii, "First-Mate Cassi" first mate/cargomaster (blended nymph preset)

 

First Mate of the "Black-Opal Barge" and overall second in command of the Black Opal Pirate Organization.

            Former Captain of the Black-Opal Fleet ship "Unexpected"

 

• Cassiopeii is a Blended Nymph who has been sailing with Captain Nai'Yari for nearly as long as she has been a pirate.
• Compared to her Captain, she is almost the polar opposite in many ways.  Where Nai'Yari is carefree and optimistic, first mate Cassi always expects the worst, both from circumstances and from people.  She tends to worry about what might go wrong, and she is very slow to trust people.  
• Although most pirate ships do not nominally have a first mate, the Black Opals are an exception.  Owing to her considerable cleverness, Nai'Yari is a strong believer in the value of consensus reached through opposing viewpoints. 
  • The Captain of the Black Opals has no use for a second in command who agrees with every decision she makes!
• Consequently, Cassi may be one of the only people who can talk the Captain out of anything after she has made her mind up.
• She has a lot of pride in being a Nymph, and like many Nymphii, she considers herself superior to "mere mortals."
  • She is, however, discrete about her real nature.  If it were well known that she were a Nymph, it wouldn't take long for people to notice the similar properties shared between Captain and First Mate, and start to question the legend of the Black-Sea Opal ring.
  • Standing in the shadow of her legendary Captain, she's simply not famous enough to be the subject of rumor.  Which is probably how she prefers it.
• Serves as Cargo-master as well as second in command. 
  • Generally pirate ships did not have Cargo-masters, this is an officer position usually only held on Merchant Vessels. 
  • The considerable wealth held by the Black Opal pirates has, until recently, been stored entirely aboard the Barge.  With the high turnover rate amongst the junior crew members, at some point it became prudent to ensure that all of it was accounted for.  It would be very tempting for a thief to pose as a potential recruit in order to gain access to the ship.
  • When the Black Opal pirates recruited Nostra, the ship's treasurer some time after the Great War, this became a shared responsibility, but Cassi still likes to keep an eye on their treasure, just to be sure it's all there...

 

• Fights at long range with a powerful reinforced crossbow.  She likes to keep her distance, and she is an expert marksman.  She has a knack for landing shots in spots that slow down the movement of her targets.
  • She usually uses bolts made out of a special metal found only on the islands of the Forgotten Archipelago as a kind of jelly. 
    • When heated this jelly hardens into a metal resembling steel, and becomes almost unbreakable.  It also acquires unique properties that defy explanation. 
    • Despite having weight and density comparable to steel, objects made out of this metal will fly farther, straighter, and faster when thrown as a projectile, almost as though the metal is resisting gravity and friction.
    • As you can imagine, it was a natural conclusion to make arrows or bolts out of this metal.  
• Her ability to outrange almost any opponent, combined with her natural near-invulnerability to return fire from any archer using iron or steel arrows makes her a deadly long-range threat. 
  • She usually fights from one of the ship's crows nest where she can calmly and carefully fire lethal shots, one after another.
  • Quite often she can match the range of any shipboard artillery like ballistae or scorpions.  Crews manning these weapons are her favorite targets, since they never expect to be picked off by crossbow bolts.

 

•  Shalice, the "Iron Maiden" Quartermaster (desert nymph preset)

Quartermaster of the "Black-Opal Barge" and nominally third in command of the Black Opal Pirate Organization.

 

• Shalice lives something of a dual life.  To her friends and fellow officers, she is cheerful, carefree, and a little bit scatterbrained.  To her underlings in her role as Quartermaster, she is the stonefaced unforgiving disciplinarian, nicknamed the "Iron maiden" for her particular preference for Iron weapons.
• Besides both being Desert Nymphii, Shalice and Captain Nai'Yari are very similar in many ways.  They share an optimistic outlook and a love of adventure.  Neither one is afraid of danger, though Shalice does not embrace it quite the same way as her venerable Captain.
• She is tasked with maintaining discipline and order on a Pirate ship, which is no easy task by itself, but the Black Opal's Captain has certain expectations that naturally run contrary to the attitudes of your average would-be pirate. 
  • Captain Nai'Yari expects a high level of discipline, probably equal to or greater than would be found on a ship in the Imperial Navy, which rubs many who first join the wrong way.  She also expects her crew to follow her often nonsensical orders promptly and without question.
  • Even more strenuous is the Captain's expectations for what most would call "ethical behavior" amongst her crew.  She has very little tolerance for what she personally terms "Pirate's Indiscretions," the usual range of raping, murdering, thieving, torturing, and other forms of villainy.  Those found to have committed such acts against townsfolk while on shore leave, or even against prisonsers on a captured ship, are severely punished.
    • This is very difficult for a lot of new recruits to accept, as most associate the Pirate's life with a freedom from laws or rules.
• Shalice, through a combination of empathy, skill as an actress, and decades of experience, is extremely skilled at a job that very few other people would be capable of doing at all, let alone doing so masterfully.
• Her nickname came about as a result of her use of an Iron club she calls "Discipline" and an iron dagger called "Punishment".  She uses these in case any disgruntled underling manages to disarm her and tries to use her weapons against her, since as a Nymph, she is nearly invulnerable to her own weapons.
  • Most of her underlings are genuinely terrified of her.  The accepted wisdom aboard ship is that she's simply so mean that iron is afraid to hurt her.
• Despite the fear she cultivates in order to keep things running smoothly, she actually spends a lot of time in ship's council meetings advocating for the crew.
  • A perpetual argument exists between her and Nostra, the ship's treasurer, regarding the budget for provisions and accommodations.  Shalice is all too aware of just how far she can push the crew without fermenting desertion or revolt, and is always trying to buy more high-quality rum, food, and clothing to make things a little bit nicer aboard ship. 
    • Pirates are naturally short-sighted folks concerned with immediate pleasures, so a pirate with a belly full of good stew, a bottle of nice rum, and a comfy hammock can put up with a lot more than one forced to eat only potato soup and drink cheap rum.

 

• Shalice has total faith in her captain and trusts her implicitly.  She even has a little bit of hero-worship when it comes to Captain Nai'yari, believing her to be invincible and infallible.
  • Shalice might actually come close to her captain's strength, though she would never believe such a thing is possible.  
  • She is so imposing in battle that her foes find their resistance weakening with every strike, their wills and resolve soon break.
    • None can stand against the Iron Maiden indefinitely!
  • Her combat prowess is a big part of why her underlings are afraid of her.  It is unlikely that they would be able to defeat her in the event of a mutiny, even if every member of the junior crew joined together to ambush her.

• Despite her no-nonsense, humorless persona, she's a very different person outside of her official duties.  She's easygoing, quick to laugh, and never one to worry about what might go wrong.
• She's actually a little scatterbrained, has a bit of a problem with impulse control when she goes shopping, and frequently misplaces things. 
  • She keeps a regular personal journal, but she always forgets to write the date.
• Though several other members of the Senior Crew or Ship's council were at one point Captains of other vessels in the Black-Opal fleet, Shalice has never been interested in more responsibility than she has now.
  • Truth be told, she is more than a little disorganized, and probably not well suited for more responsibility either.
  • She is and has always been, the Barge's Quartermaster.  She excels at this particular job, and perfectly happy to follow Captain Nai'Yari on her grand adventures while keeping the riffraff in line.

 

• The Black Opal pirates are a small band of independent pirates operating in the iliac bay, formerly along the gold coast. They have a reputation for daring and brazenness that some would say borders on insanity. Led by the infamous captain Nai'yari, known as the "New Pirate Queen" (or disparagingly as the "Mad Pirate Queen"), the crew of the Black Opal pirates operate almost entirely at her whims. She has been known to attack and board a richly loaded ship only to let it go largely unharmed in exchange for a paltry tribute. She has also been known lead her crew to attack armed vessels that offer no real prize or reward; ships carrying soldiers or mercenaries that are heavily defended but carry nothing of value.

 

• The "Black Opal Barge," as it has sometimes been called, is relatively small, and carries a crew of only about 40 or 50 pirates at any given time.  It is said that there is a steadfastly loyal "core crew," made up almost entirely of women, numbering about 10 or 15, and the rest of the ranks are filled by sailors who sign on as temporary junior members.  These junior crew typically have a very short membership, as the Black Opals frequently engage in very dangerous assaults that many would-be pirates would rather avoid.  A certain amount of these inexperienced or temporary crewmen may become casualties, however, it is far more common for them to resign out of frustration at the nonsensical whims of the Captain, or out of fear of losing their lives in violent and unnecessary skirmishes.

 

• Despite this, many other pirate bands consider these "former black opal mates" to be highly regarded and esteemed pirates, and a practice has developed where a novice pirate seeking to make a name for him or herself will sign on with the Opals for a short duration in order to bolster their "pirate resumes"; pirate bands seeking to expand or recruit will consider anyone with a period of service aboard the Black Opal Barge to be a prized recruit, and often immediately make such recruits full share members without the typical period of half-share junior membership imposed on most recruits.

If ye sailed with the Mad Queen and lived to tell tales of it, surely ye must have veins filled to the brim with saltwater, my lad!

• Her core crew includes a small number of Nymph crew-mates, most of whom are senior mates or members of the ship's council and have sailed with her for more than a decade.  This adds substantially to the fame (or infamy) of the crew!  Even in the world of Tamriel it is less common to find female pirates, so for a ship to be crewed by a bevvy of beautiful ladies who are as comely as the fairest Breton castle-maiden and as salty as the most barnacled Redguard seadog is something that is always a favorite topic of drunken gossip in taverns frequented by sailors. Any merchant crewman who is lucky or unlucky enough to cross paths with the "New Pirate Queen" and the "Black Opals" and lived to tell the tale is sure to be a local celebrity upon reaching port.

 

• The ship itself is a square-rigged two mast ship with front and aft lanteen sails that give it both excellent coastal maneuverability as well as making it a very fast ocean-faring vessel. It is something of a cross between a sloop and a brig. At considerable expense, the captain has also paid to have many pieces of the ship enchanted. 
• These pieces include the hull (which resists friction from water and prevents the deck from being splashed at high speed), both masts (making them practically unbreakable), the mast-sails (which deflect headwinds), the lanteen sails (which circulate winds off the sides back into the mast-sails), as well as much of the riggings (making them very easy to handle). The end result is that the ship is incredibly fast, even in a headwind, and can actually begin to accelerate in a strong tail wind, ensuring they will always overtake any ship they are attacking, and they can outrun any pursuing ship.

 

• Since most pirates and pirate hunters employ battlemages to summon favorable winds, (the Black Opals are no exception), it is often difficult for the navigator of a small ship to outmaneuver a large enemy ship, particularly one large enough to have enough sails that it benefits from a coordinated effort by a group of battlemages. One of the most ingenious additions to the Barge is the enchantment on the rudder, which causes the ship to leak pockets or bubbles of a very specific kind of counter-magic that alters air temperature and pressure unpredictably. Once leaked from the ship, these bubbles float along the surface of the water, similar to rune magic, but they don't last very long, and will generally dissipate harmlessly unless a ship happens to be following the Barge within half of a nautical mile. 

 

• Any ship that is pursuing the barge and sails into one of these pockets will find that wind magic cast within a 20 to 30 meter radius suddenly becomes totally unpredictable, useless, or even dangerous. It will change the direction and speed at random, and if powerful enough wind-magic is being employed by enough battlemages at once, it can actually cause a tornado to form on the deck of this ship.

 

• All of this combined gives the Black Opal pirates the freedom to choose their engagements, and in almost fifty years sailing the bay, the Barge has never once been captured by an enemy ship.

 

• Though it is not public knowledge, the Black Opal pirates are largely financed by a system that could be described as a "professional adventuring company," since most of the real wealth garnered by the crew comes from an organized form of adventuring in regions of the world that are still almost entirely untouched by career adventurers.

 

• By leading teams of 10 to 15 highly experienced and incredibly capable warriors and mages, Nai'Yari delves the depths of lost ruins, temples, and dungeons that the rest of the Tamriel has never even heard of, emerging with piles of treasure and ancient artifacts that they dispose of through their traditional black market pirate-fence contacts.

 

• The Opals are also rumored to have drastically expanded their power, wealth, and influence in the last ten years, through unknown means. The more conspiracy minded are quick to note that this directly coincides with the rise of the Iliac Bay Lending Company.

Surely, this is just naught but a coincidence lad. What sort of pirate would lend out their hard plundered coin?

Iliac Bay Lending Company

• The Iliac Bay Lending company is a recent addition to the financial world of Tamriel, having been established in the last decade. While most previous banking institutions were localized and relied on inter-bank arrangements to share assets, the IBLC is one of the first to offer its services empire-wide. Most local banking institutions have negotiated a deal to house a representative of the IBLC within their walls, and the convenience of being able to deposit money locally and withdraw it in any imperial province with an IBLC representative for no extra fees or taxes has helped the bank become very popular amongst adventurers, whose career demands they travel frequently.

 

• Further, by offering low rates and generous repayment schemes, the IBLC has attained a trusted reputation amongst the aristocracy of Tamriel, and their ability to service multi-million septim loans has allowed them to hold title to loans all over the empire. Their more prominent clients include a considerable number of Imperial Councilors, the Crown Princes of Hammerfell, the kings of Daggerfell and Sentinel, as well as princes, barons, and lords, from the Iliac bay all the way to the Black Marsh.

One of the fastest growing banks on Mundus, the IBLC is also rapidly becoming the most trusted name in banking.  Whether you need to raise an army, replant your crops, or just need that little bit extra to afford a high-quality enchanted blade, the IBLC can offer you a loan that will fit your lifestyle.

Any rumors that the bank is associated with or wholly owned and operated by any pirate organization is entirely unproven. The IBLC has a stated policy that it does not finance any acts of piracy, pillaging, political upheaval, daedric ritual, or treason.
 

• In short, despite the fact that the Black Opal pirates steal very little from actual acts of piracy, members of the Black Opal pirates are among the richest and most successful sailors in all of the Iliac Bay, and the crew may have accumulated enough wealth to gain significant influence empire-wide... 

 

IV. Nymph Girls Across Skyrim

 

 

Skyrim is now populated by Nymphii!  

 

• There are 23 unique Nymph girls that can be found all over Skyrim.  Quickly entranced by the essence of the dragonborn, they will all be eager to join you on your adventures once you find them.  They are divided into two categories roughly based on where you will encounter them and whether they are hiding their Nymph nature; either civilized or wild Nymphii.  All of them can handle themselves in a fight, and they all have a unique individual fighting style.  A couple of them even have unique powers, but these girls will be a bit harder to find!

• For some general tips on where to find them

Civilized Nymphii dress themselves and try to pass as one of the locals.  Your best bet of finding one of them is to check the local taverns.
 

• Blended Nymphii are known to prefer smaller towns like falkreath or ivarstead, and can often be found in rural inns. 

•  Some of them might be adventurers, and a particularly lovely guardswoman working at the nightgate inn is rumored to be a Nymph

• Night Nymphii like big city life, and would normally be rather difficult to spot in a crowd.  Fortunately for you, the perception altering magic of the Night Nymph doesn't work on the dragonborn, so you should be able to tell them apart from the local tavern-goers rather easily.  

• At least one may be a member of the thieve's guild, and another dresses like a member of the dark brotherhood!  Maybe she followed rumors of someone in Windhelm performing a certain ritual?  

• It is even rumored that the famous playwright, the "Unknown Bard", is a Night Nymph recluse who is hiding somewhere in the Bard's College.

 

 

Wild Nymphii embrace life the natural Nymph way, and most live out in the wilderness
 

• As you might expect, the best place to find a Wood Nymph is by a pond or grove, someplace that is also frequently the habitat of spriggans.  Some Wood Nymphii get along with spriggans, though not all of them do.

 

• There have been rumors going around in Ivarstead about a beautiful naked woman with pointed ears who has been seen around the abandoned alchemist's shack.  Could she also be a Wood Nymph?

 

 

• Desert Nymphii are known to favor grotto type caves - the best place to find one is in a cavern with running water. 

 

• One traveler visiting the bee and barb in Riften recently told a story about an unusual redguard adventurer who stopped him on the road and asked for directions.  He admits that he was a little drunk, but he insists she was completely naked except for a scarf and a pair of boots.  She was also one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. He claims that she was trying to find Crystaldrift caverns.  Based on the name of the cave, perhaps she was a Desert Nymph looking for a home, and had mistaken the cave for a grotto?

 

 

Beast Nymphii are a little trickier to find.  Normally, a Beast Nymph likes jungles, marshes, and swamps.  Unfortunately, there aren't any jungles in Skyrim, and the only swamps, found around Morthal, are far too shallow to suit a Beast Nymph.  If there are any Beast Nymphii that have settled in Skyrim, they may have had to find a nice cave to live in, or they may be more adventurous than your average Nymph.

• Khajiit Nymphii are often known to be rather curious, and some may have been lured by something irresistible inside an local house.  Upon discovering that the house was abandoned, it would not be unusual for such a Nymph to make herself right at home.  What would trigger her curiosity, though?  Perhaps her appetite, or maybe her hunter's instincts? 

 

• Perhaps a hungry Beast Nymph found an empty shack full of fish...

 

• Maybe another was looking for some prey when she found a house overrun with mice...

 

Argonian Nymphii are known to be restless when they can't find a good swamp to settle in, so you may have more luck looking for adventurous Nymphii.

 

 

• A local of winterhold mentions a story about a woman who inquired in the local tavern if the innkeeper knew any nearby caves where she could hunt trolls.  This local says that from what he could see of her face she was a very attractive human woman and looked like a very seasoned adventurer.   He didn't see much else of her, as she was covered from head to toe in thick furs, which is not particularly unusual in Winterhold.  This man says the only reason that he paid much attention to this encounter is that as she was leaving he was certain he spied what looked like a lizard tail sticking out from under her cloak; except he was sure by what little of her face he could see that she wasn't an argonian.  After thinking a bit, he remembered that she also had unusually shaped blue eyes.  None of the other tavern-regulars remembers her, and are quick to suggest the man was probably drunk.
  
   
• Temba, the owner of the mill in ivarstead, remembers a strange adventurer she met recently who offered to help her with her bear problem.  When asked where she could find these bears Temba suggested this woman investigate the local caves.  The woman thanked her and began heading towards the nearest cave.  Temba, hoping this one might actually solve her problem, returned to her work and shortly thereafter resumed grumbling about bears under her breath. Shooting one last glance towards the cave, she saw something strange that didn't strike her until a moment later.  It looked as though the woman had completely undressed herself before entering the cave.  Doing a quick double take, the woman was no where to be seen, and Temba would have dismissed it as her eyes playing tricks on her if she hadn't seen the woman's cloak lying on the ground. 
• "Strange girl... Adventurers come in all sorts, I guess," she muttered, then returned to her work.  Thinking back on it, there was something else a little strange about her... scales?

 

 

 

V. FAQ updates and future plans

 

FAQ updates

I've only had a few questions come up a lot since I published the mod, but since two of them have come up repeatedly, I want to take the time to address them both.

 

Q: Why do the Nymph races have such large bonuses to starting skills?  Don't you think this is unbalanced?
A: This is the result of my attempt to reconcile the superior mental and physical abilities possessed by the Nymph.  In daggerfall, the Nymph is an approximately level 5 enemy and had stats that are far greater than most player characters could get at that level without taking on a massive experience penalty.  Due to the low level of Nymph enemies encountered, my conclusion is that these are "natural" abilities.  This can be better explained by comparing the Nymph to the starting stats of a few playable races

 

                     Altmer               Khajiit                   Breton             Nord      Orc (from morrowind)     Nymph
Strength          30                      40                         40                    50                   45                            40
Intelligence     50                      40                         50                    30                   30                            70
Willpower       40                      30                          50                    40                   50                           60
Agility             40                      50                          30                    30                   35                           80
Speed              30                     40                          30                    40                   30                           70
Endurance       40                     30                          30                    50                   50                           55
Personality       40                     40                         40                    30                   30                            60
Luck                 40                     40                         40                    40                   40                            50

 

 

As you can see, not only does the Nymph have considerably better overall stats than any of the mortal races, she actually surpasses EVERY race in EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY except for strength.  In the case of agility and intelligence, she has twice what most races get.  The elder scrolls Nymph is very tough, inhumanly clever, and extremely acrobatic.  Don't tell me you thought she was just a pretty face!

 

This is also a part of why every Nymph follower is supposed to be extraordinary in some way - I think the major limiting factor for the Nymph is motivation more than anything else.  There are probably tens of thousands of Nymphii in Tamriel, but only a handful of them ever do more than spend centuries prancing naked through a forest or swamp.  By the time she decides to become an adventurer, she has already overcome her biggest limitation.

Now, if you think the current experience penalty still doesn't offset how powerful a Nymph can be, I'm willing to consider that, but I haven't seen all that many people who still feel that way after seeing the canon racial stats.

 

 

Q: I have an idea XXX for a Nymph race.  Will you make it for me?

A: Unfortunately, I barely have time for my own mod, so I have to say no to this question a lot.  Don't get me wrong!  I have had some people suggest some really great ideas for Nymph races.  I definitely encourage you to try and invent your own Nymph race!  Believe me, there are so many possibilities left unexplored, you're bound to come up with something nobody has thought of before.

So if you need help with making your own mod, I will be glad to help you when I get the chance.  But ultimately, it will have to be your own mod, I can't agree to add anybody else's ideas to my mod at this point.

 

Future plans

 

The Black Opals land in skyrim!

 

Two of the Black Opal's officers, Quartermaster Shalice and First-mate Cassiopeii, have been known to keep regular journals, and if you're curious about what the Opals are doing in Skyrim, or are interested in learning more about the Black Opal pirates, I suggest you give them a read.  

 

• I plan on doing more with the Black Opal Pirates in the future, and at least one of the other characters mentioned by both officer's logs will eventually be added as the 8th unique Nymph follower.  I won't give away too much detail about her right now, but there is a Nymph mercenary who sails with the crew and has a rather unusual background.  
• This mercenary is employed by the Black Opals for her unique skillset - she is supposedly a former member of the Devilrock-Witch coven, a coven famous for their commitment to a single Daedric prince, much like the Glenmoril witches.  Rather than Hircine, favored by the Glenmoril Coven, witches of the Devilrock coven dedicate themselves to Meridia.  Devilrock witches train their entire lives to serve Meridia's crusade against the darkness and are renowned for their fanatical dedication to the eradication of the undead. Like most witch-covens, the Devilrock witches pass down secret knowledge and ancient Daedric magic unknown to outsiders, and sisters of this coven have a well-deserved reputation as some of the most elite vampire hunters found anywhere in Nirn.  She was supposed to be sailing south with the rest of the crew as part of an important mission, but rumors of the rising threat of vampires in Skyrim may have changed her plans...
• Besides that, I also want to come up with a way at some point where you can recruit random generic members of the Black Opal's crew as disposable followers, similar to how the dark brotherhood lets you recruit generic assassins.  They would probably be human or elves instead of Nymph, and might be either male or female.
• I may also want to expand the details of the Iliac Bay Lending Company at some point.  Maybe a few quests, but definitely some kind of presence in skyrim, since the bank has a lot to gain from a civil war...

 

The High Nymph Race!

 

I am planning on creating at least one more Nymph race.  She is going to be done in the style of the original daggerfall nymph, and she is a Pure Breton-Nymph. 

At the moment this is all tentative and likely to change before I actually create the playable race.

 

But if you're curious what I have in mind, the basic idea is that using the stamina draining powers of the Nymph you find in game in daggerfall, I wanted to come up with a way to make that interesting. 

 

Her planned abilities are
1. She gets a little bit of magic resist. 
2. She drains stamina on hit.  This value increases as she levels.
3. Her power attacks cost more than normal (150%), but if her stamina bar is at least 70% full, she gets a bonus to her power attack damage that uses her current stamina value as a multiplier.
4. Her naked power is my way of making her more like the Daggerfall Nymph.  As long as she is naked, she gets an extra layer of mundane resistance that makes her all but invulnerable to iron, steel, and also protects her against silver weapons.  Consider it an extra 15-20% to her protection.  The downside is that while it is extremely strong, like the normal Nymph protection it stops helping that much after level 25 or so.

 

The overall concept is to make her more of a pure warrior-nymph race that builds up stamina from a lot of little hits in order to land one massive power attack.

 

In terms of personality, they are far more friendly and outgoing than your average Nymph.  They usually live outside civilized places like the Wood Nymph or Beast Nymph, but they are naturally curious and most of them greatly enjoy meeting new mortals.  They can also be a bit more violent and aggressive than other Nymphii too, especially if these friendly overtures are rebuffed. 

 

The High Nymph population is one of the largest of all Nymph subtypes due to this fascination with mortals, counter-balanced by the fact that they are also one of the most likely to die a violent death.  High Rock is among the few places where travelers report being attacked by Wild Nymphii, and this may have something to do with it.  Those who speak even a little bit of the Nymph language say that speaking to a High Nymph in her own tongue goes a long way towards expressing friendship.

 

More Nymph lore!

 

I've got a lot more lore content to add to what is already included in this update, so if you still want to know more about the Nymph, you're in luck!  For the next update following this one I hope to finish "Ecology of the Nymph" and possibly also include the first two or three tomes of "Encyclopedia of the Nymph".

 

Additional ideas and plans

 

• Besides the High Nymph, I have at least one more Nymph race that I plan to make at some point.
• I'm still toying with the idea of "Nymph Hunters" as well as "Anti-Nymph" enchantments.
• At some point, I want to write journals for all of the unique followers similar to the Black Opal officers, so you can relate to them a bit better.
• After the enormous amount of time and care I put into Nai'yari, in terms of appearance, equipment, backstory, and gameplay, she has become a pretty detailed character.  I also know some people are probably going to be disappointed that she doesn't have her own voicelines.  While I've said that it may be unrealistic to add a unique voice for all of the followers, I'm seriously considering how feasible it would be to do this at least for her.  I think I would really enjoy working with a voice actress at some point to bring Nai'Yari to life.  Who knows?