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A tall tale.... and a (sort of) new [WIP].


Trykz

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I say (sort of), because this is something I conceptualized and began building

for Skyrim Legendary Edition quite some time ago. After making the switch

to SSE last year, it sort of got lost as I started doing other stuff with Fallout 4.

After getting a tad bored with FO4 modding, I jumped straight into playing

and lightly modding SSE. I started with converting Moonshadow Elves.

Then a simple house mod. And I'm currently working on an Angels and

Demons mod.

 

Well, last week I decided it was time to upgrade my rig to something

significantly more suited to gaming and modding. Be that as it were, I

went looking through stuff to transfer from my first modding rig from

around 5 years ago. And that's when I came across this.....

 

It started as the concept for my Wildlings race mod. But I could never get

quite the way I really wanted it. So I stripped it down, and it ultimately

became the Wildlings race mod.

 

Now, it's a new rig, and a whole new level of modding capability for me.

And this WIP is what Wildlings was really supposed to be.

 

And that's where this little story begins.....

 

With a tree.....

 

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A tree? Yes. A tree. But this isn't just any tree. This is THE tree. The very

first on Nirn actually. I know, I know.... doesn't look like much, right?

 

Well, look closer.....

 

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Do you see the significance of this particular tree now?

 

Now I know what you're thinking.... "wtf, Trykz? You built a freakin' treehouse?"

 

Well, no. Not exactly. Because this tree is very special. It's called a "Home Tree".

However, it is NOT the only one. There are 4 actually. And if you look very

closely, you'll notice that something is missing. What, you ask?

Well, there is NOTHING connecting any of the platforms to the ground.

 

By now you're surely thinking "guys, Trykz has gone fucked in the head".... right?

 

Not exactly. And here's why.....

 

Because this tree, and all others like it, can be EASILY accessed by:

 

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Her.

 

And "what is she" you ask?

 

Well, she's a Forest Nymph. And she's as old as the tree she's sitting on.

And ONLY Forest Nymphs get 4 very special spells. 1 for each Home Tree...

North

Central

South

and the one you see here:

East.

 

Each spell will teleport you directly onto a platform in that particular tree.

 

East is the oldest and largest Home Tree of all.

It's said that each platform on each tree was placed

during the tree's growth, so the limbs would secure them

in place as the tree grew. Once each platform was stable

enough, an access ladder or bridge was added to

reach it.

 

But enough about the trees for now.....

 

The race is basically Wildlings. On steroids.....

 

I'm sure those who played that race remember not all

too fondly the elusive hood disguise. Once obtained, the

hood  allowed you to walk right into places where you would 

normally be killed on sight.

 

Well, Forest Nymphs

get something similar. A circlet. However, this circlet is obtained

in a completely different manner.....

 

You have to make it.

 

But..... you can't create it until level 15.

And one of the ingredients is hidden. Somewhere.

However, finding the ingredient is not a hopeless

cause. Because at each Home Tree is a clue.

A clue that leads you to the ingredient's location.

 

So get used to delaying your usual quest lineup for a while.

You have something slightly more pressing to

get through first ?

 

Watch this space.....

 

Trykz

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Almost there.....

 

If you think Wildlings was a challenging race to play, you

haven't seen anything yet. Because this race has fewer friends

than Wildlings do. And with the new conditioning on

certain aspects of the mod, it's exponentially more challenging.

 

Wildlings was mostly a sneaky fighter type race. Forest Nymphs

are more of a spellsword mixture, with a lot more magic focus

than Wildlings has. Don't get me wrong. You can still play

a sneaky fighter type character should you so choose.

 

However.....

 

This race can easily be played either way once your health

can take the punishment of a close combat style. Or, you

can play as somewhat of a druid styled character. By

somewhat I mean your list of nature bound friends is

very short. In fact, ONLY wolves, giants, and mammoths will

come to your aid in combat. EVERYTHING else will try to kill you.

 

I didn't simply add this race to the Werewolf faction either.

In fact, though wolves are friendly toward you, Werewolves

will try to eat you. As will bears. And sabercats. And pretty

much everything (and everyone) else. Wandering patrols

of civil war participants will attack you on sight.  Revelers will

look past your misgivings if you have a drink with them ?

 

So why does everyone want to kill you?

 

Well, it's a simple story really, as written by a long

since deceased Forest Nymph elder.....

 

Quote

By now you're wondering why everyone and nearly every thing wants to kill you. The answer is quite simple, really. It's your ears. As the eldest of all Elvenkind, Nymphs have always been regarded as the wisest and most beautiful of all elves. It is said that the Goddess Dibella restricted our kind to the female gender so she could more easily focus on our inner and outer beauty.

 

Deep woodland dwellers since the beginning of time, we witnessed much of this world's very creation. We took great joy as The Divines sent new creatures, plants, and insects for us to share this world with. We were especially delighted when they began growing the Home Trees we would dwell upon for eternity.

They taught us to place the platforms in just the right places at just the right times, and how long to wait until they would become permanent parts of each tree. Many years passed as each matured and became habitable. They taught us the words that would transport us into their safety, high above any potential harm.

If only we'd known what the other Divines were doing while we were so distracted....

 

Humans. Orcs. And even other elven races. Most were unphased by our existence. Except for the "High Elves". A pompous people, so full of themselves. They challenged our beauty from the moment they first encountered our kind. They challenged our skill with the various magics.

 

And then came the slaughter. Most of our kind were hunted and killed. The High Elves burned entire Home Tree villages to the ground. Killing all who dwelled upon them. Even the young that Dibella graced some of us with birthing into the world. Only 4 trees are known to yet survive in charted Tamriel. There are rumors of a single village grove hidden somewhere in the world. The High Elves hated the Fae so passionately, that they spread rumors of their own atrocities as being committed by our kind. Soon, the other folk began to fear and hate us as much as the High Elves. And our beautiful ears are now the prized trophies of all who would hunt us.

 

That's right. You won't be the only one of your kind.

Others have hidden throughout the world for centuries.

But every now and then, one still gets caught, and their

ears taken by hunters as trophies. Or alchemists as potion

ingredients. Or by others as simple bounties to the Thalmor.

 

Most remain within the relative safety of the hidden grove.

But someone must sneak into the civilized places to steal

supplies. Will it be you? Will your ears become story props

in some hunter's trophy satchel? Or a highly sought after

ingredient in an aspiring alchemists latest potion?

Or perhaps as objects to trade to the Thalmor

for some gold pieces? Or maybe you'll be

different. Maybe you'll be the champion they

tirelessly pray to Dibella to send forth.

 

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As with the 4 trees, the Grove of the Fae can ONLY be reached by teleport spell.

 

It's an entirely new small worldspace, completely

separate from Skyrim proper.

 

It CAN however, be reached by some external mod NPCs, such

as those in the Sands of Time mod.

 

Next up:

 

Some more specific details pertaining to the race itself.....

Spells

Abilities

Statistics

etc...

 

Trykz

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"Three gems Dibella gifted you,

three gems for which to care,

taken when they came for you,

taken you know not where....."

 

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This is where your journey begins.

 

It's a rather small quest. But if started at too low of a level, can take a REALLY long time.

 

In testing, I breezed through the first objective at level 5.

 

But that was WITHOUT Sands of Time and a bunch of my other challenge mode

mods running. On Legendary difficulty. I also haven't fine-tweaked the race just yet.

 

I assume that once I fire everything else up, tweak the racial stats and spell costs, and add

some new enemies into the player's path, it will be significantly more challenging. Though the

quest is delivered by the Courier at any level at which you are close enough to a town/city, I'm

homing in on somewhere around level 15 or so to begin working through the objectives, with

quest completion sometime between levels 20 and 25.

 

Completing this quest is REQUIRED to forge the crown which disguises you.

And therein lies the challenge. The first objective is easy because of the location

of the first diamond. The other two? Well, lets just say that they're deep into territory

you WILL NOT be welcome in. And no, they're not in dungeons.

 

The diamonds are marked as quest items. So SexLab mods "should" leave them alone.

However, the crown they are used to make is not. For this reason, I set the gems to respawn

to keep them available should you somehow lose the crown, so it can be reforged again.

So expect to wait for the areas they are located in to respawn before you can get them again.

Or to need the console to obtain them sooner.

 

I haven't tested too far into other areas yet, but I don't expect this mod will have

any effect on the MQ if you use an alternative start, since it doesn't interact with

the Greybeards Faction. I use Skyrim: Unbound myself.

 

But it CANNOT be used on a vanilla game. This mod DOES interact

with MANY other factions. Mostly in very negative ways, by setting your

starting faction as an enemy to nearly everyone (and every thing) else.

Guards, most creatures, the Civil War factions, etc..

You could try. But it will be a rather "short" play through ?

 

The race itself is quite challenging to master. With a decent mix of

magic and non-magic abilities...

 

On the magic side, they get about a dozen spells which are quite powerful.

Some are for healing, and others are for combat, and two are what I call

"utility" spells. An armor spell, and a "meditation" ability to regen magicka.

 

Wait.... I didn't tell you? Oh... sorry. They DO NOT regenerate magicka. AT ALL.

And they get NO utility spell to absorb it from others. They HAVE to

meditate to replenish it (complete with it's own animation ?).

 

Their health and stamina are greatly reduced, as are their respective regen rates.

But they have a significant amount of magicka. If combat depletes magicka, and

meditation (which takes about 90 seconds) needs to be delayed until after,

then you'll need to rely on your non-magic combat skills to survive.

 

Which brings me to:

 

On the non-magic side of the race, you get enhanced

sneak, one-handed, and archery skills. And one more utility

"lesser power" called "Cloak of the forest". A 90 second invisibility

that can be used to escape certain death in many instances.

 

Like I said earlier......

 

Wildlings. On steroids LOL

 

Trykz

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Just a quick bit of info before I head off to work....

 

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This is what happens when you use the meditate power (Focus of the Grove)

 

It randomly selects and plays one of the three Greybeard meditation idles.

 

Now, off to work.....

 

Trykz

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