By
Trippy_the_Squirrel
Maeva's Bookshop. (Updated to Version 2.65)
Cyrodiil's favourite adult bookshop. Contents under pressure. Open carefully and keep cool. Now with more delicious quest content.
To instal this mod, simply unpack all the contents into your Oblivion\Data\ folder. Say 'yes' to overwrite, it won't overwrite anything in your vanilla game or other mods. Or use OBMM, or Wrye Bash. (But, if you are using Wrye Bash, you don't need my instructions.) When the files are extracted, use OBMM, or Wrye Bash, or the game menu to activate the ESP. The Textures folder is necessary to get illustrations in books that have them, including the disgustingly trashy, undocumented, picture books in the secret areas of the Hidden Library.
In order to get the quests to run, and to enjoy LunaSprite's amazing furniture, you will also need to ensure the Meshes folder is extracted to your Data folder. This will also provide Strotis' extraordinary printing press model to Maeva's bindery, and the fantastic flaming sword model for the latest quest: The Necromancer's Ring.
You will also need to disable borders in your Oblivion.ini file. There are plenty of guides, on the Nexus and elsewhere, to tell you how to do this. I won't confuse the issue further, but you have to do this in order to access the Wreck Of The Dawnstar.
This mod adds a lot of books, all lore-friendly, to the land of Cyrodiil. There are now 235 of Maeva's compositions in the mod, 123 contributed by Amalric Widmark, and a whack-load of guides (for finding the books 'in the wild'.) I have weeded out the files to only retain the most up to date version, with all the books, all the quests, all the other small extras. This solitary remaining version does not use nor require BookPlacing.
Also, for any sensitive types who have gotten this far despite the "adult" tag on the mod, many of the works in this mod contain: sexual innuendo; mild sexual themes; graphic sexual depictions; and 'spit your coffee all over your keyboard and grab your crotch' level sexual content. Be warned!
In response to several suggestions, this mod takes all of 'Maeva's' so-far released books, including any new updates she graciously provided, and puts them into several places in the world of Cyrodiil.
First off, all the books that were in the hands of individuals or bookstores in the original releases are still there. If it gives you an added thrill to sneak into Casta Scribonia's bedroom to snaffle the only copy in the wild of "In The Lair Of The Orc Bandits", you can still do so. The only books that are missing in this version of the mod are the "easy" options provided in The Maeva Scribonia Collections, 4 and 5. These are replaced by the other three features, below.
Additionally there is a whole library of works by Amalric Widmark, another author whose books are now included in this mod. Many are attributed to Casta Scribonia, and available only through Renoit's Books in Chorrol, after completing the quest "Casta's Books". Others are various works and subjects, some scattered around Cyrodiil, but also mostly available through one of the locales below.
The mod also collects all the books into several other locations.
One is Maeva's bookshop. Yes, sick and tired of the small circulation her works have garnered in the Imperial Province, and the feeble efforts of her sister to help distribute the books, Maeva has set up shop within walking distance of where-ever you happen to be. Where is the shop? It is just north of Chorrol, south and west of the extremely scenic Black Rock Caverns. Don't know where that is? Take the track north towards Cloud Top. Before too long, a track seems to open off the main path to the west. If you follow this, you'll come to a pretty, rock-bound pool with waterfalls gushing into it. Under one of these falls is the door to Black Rock Caverns. Cross the pool to the west, and you can see Maeva's establishment.
The bookshop is a convivial, friendly place, that is open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. For those of you handy with a lockpick, as always, it's open round the clock, but don't get too brazen when Maeva is around. She's tougher than she looks. (But she sleeps soundly.)
The bookshop sells books, of course; many of Maeva's released set, and some others. Maeva's books are expensive. Worth it, but not cheap. She also sells "Guide Books", one for each prior release of her works, whether singles, sets or collections. These "guides" are the readme's for the original mods. They're cheap, cheap, cheap. And they contain all the original book reviews that provide clues to where a book, in the hot, sweaty hands of its present owner, is. Note that those in the chests of merchants who will sell them to you, are priced the same as in the bookshop.
So, to recap before the exam, the bookshop sells guides, which are just the reprinted readme files, and most of the original books.
So far, so good. There is another place which also has a lot of books, and all the guides, and a few of the little extras that are tucked away in the private quarters of Maeva's bookshop. And they're all free! Well, sort of.
There is a price to be paid, but it doesn't involve giving away your hard earned, ill-gotten, or found-by-chance Septims. All the information you need to seek this out, and be forewarned of the circumstances, is contained in another book. This one is not for sale at Maeva's bookshop. The only copy in Tamriel was last seen in the for-sale stock at Southern Books. You'll know it when you see it, the title is pretty self-evident.
There is a set of "Welcome" books in the Bookshop and in the Hidden Library, which provides some information on the sequence of events for all the books, and the temporal order of the plotlines. (This is my work, don't blame Maeva for the pedestrian prose in here.) Also, in the Bookshop, there are several handbills lying around which are safe for you to read and which cover much the same territory as this readme. (It always annoyed me that establishments in Cyrodil had handbills lying around, ostensibly for their clientele to read, but which led to immediate arrest if you took a peek.)
The third locale is the wreck of the Dawnstar. You'll find this as you complete the "Amalric's Book Cubby" quest included in the mod. The miscellaneous works by Amalric are all here, as are some of Maeva's and Casta's later books.
This mod is not Maeva's own mod. That is a very impressive sorceress' tower in Colovia, with many more books and some other nifty features. This mod is my own work, apart from 'Maeva's' and Amalric's books, of course, and any errors or problems are mine. Please point them out, and I'll correct them. Maeva's comment, on reviewing it: "Pretty naff." But she was touched enough by my effort to donate some new books, and write the clue book for the Hidden Library.
One or two minor things I have noticed: If you arrive at the bookshop the same in-game day that you activate the mod, sometimes Maeva has not unlocked the store. You can pick the lock without penalty (it's supposed to be open!), or you can come back the next or any other day and she will have unlocked at 8:00 am. If you have companions with you, and you decide to dodge the 'gate keeper' at the Hidden Library, and go up the trap door ladder while your companions are fighting, there is a chance the 'gate keeper' will follow you into the library. I didn't think this was possible, and don't know how to stop it. These are the only things that showed up in testing. Let me know if you find anything 'interesting' in your play.
Lots of new books in the Bookshop that weren't released in any previous standalone mod. As always, excercise judgement and good sense in downloading these books. They were written by 'Maeva' for her own collection, and were never intended for release. If you download the mod, and open it in game knowing this premise, anything you cannot deal with in the books is your problem.
As mentioned above, a talented contributor has provided the curiously missing works of Casta Scribonia to the game. The first parcel, contained in a quest you can pick up from Casta Scribonia (if she likes you enough) provides access to a library of Casta's books. Including 'Woman Gone Wild'! Amalric's style is quite distinct from Maeva's, and his worldview of Cyrodiil is slightly different, but if you enjoyed Maeva's books, you will like these. Amalric cheerfully characterises his books as 'smut', but they are much more than that. Estelle Renoit also sells a catalogue of Casta's works for next to nothing, but only for select customers, of course (i.e. those who've finished the quest).
The quest to get access involves doing an errand for Estelle Renoit, but the mod does not otherwise affect the landscape. The second parcel of books, unlocked through a quest obtained from a high-disposition Quill Weave, does change the landscape. This has now been modified to avoid any conflict with other known mods, such as 'Reclaiming Sancre Couer'. It involves obtaining some feminine companionship for a not-very-sympathetic character in Anvil, involving blackmailing one of the town's female characters. He'll then steer you to the book cache, and a snug, if quirky, player residence. Don't expect any thanks from the female NPC after finishing the quest, however.
There are also three quests to perform for Maeva Scribonia, one of which involves recovering a missing proof (which is a climactic book in the Nimbea Indaryl story arc, or at least the arc released so far). This quest will lead you to the hidden library, if you've been unable to locate it. The next, an errand more than a quest, will have you help her 'acquire' a particularly juicy diary. Ahem, for 'research', of course. And the third deals with the fallout from the second quest, which involves hurriedly returning the diary to its owner before the full weight of Imperial law falls on your hapless head.
Another quest starts when you have completed the Mages Guild arc 'Confront The King' and have access to the Dawnstar. A new book, the culmination of the 'Bhargaz' Adventures' series has a note inside the cover which starts you on a mission to find one of Mannimarco's rings, then trade it for either gold, or the location of a legendary, undead-trashing, sword.
And, with update 2.63, a new book, the last in the 'Skingrad Sisters' arc, starts you off on a quest to find the treasure hinted at in the book. I recommend reading the other stories in this series first, as you will run into some of the characters in the tales on this quest, and should know what to expect.
All of these quests are covered in more detail in the article in the mod package.
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