Memoirs of the Abyss mod for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Planned to release in late 2019!
Will also be available for Special Edition.

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❂ Overview ❂
Memoirs of the Abyss is an in-development follower and quest mod for Oldrim and Special Edition. It aims to deliver strong writing, great voice acting, free-form quest design, extensive roleplaying opportunities and truly memorable quests. These are delivered via three core components;

• Follower: Jeru-Sii, a fully voice-acted argonian courier.
• Quests. An original treasure hunting adventure titled Memoirs of the Abyss.
• Ambient. New world encounters, NPCs, small-scale treasure hunts, items and spells.

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❂ Jeru-Sii, Argonian Follower ❂

The centerpiece of the mod is Jeru-Sii, a chatty, spirited companion with full custom voice-acting. Young and a touch naive, he's barely made it over the border from Morrowind with a bounty on his head for a crime he did not commit. A Dunmer noble is dead convinced that he is behind the theft of a family heirloom staff, and has pursued him into Skyrim to retrieve it and see justice delivered. The young argonian courier will need your help in resolving the matter before joining you on your adventures. Perhaps you can even help him out with his strange and unusual job once that's done - delivering a letter to a long-untouched grave. The man he'll be once his charge comes to a conclusion may very well be shaped by whoever shares his company.

Strong, Deep Writing
Jeru-Sii is written to be as realistically human as possible (pardoning the irony of his species!). He, like every other NPC added by this mod, has likes, dislikes, fears, hopes, doubts, dreams, goals and beliefs. Though his history is rather in-depth, he won't gush about it to just about anyone, and will instead slowly reveal his past by answering your questions over the course of your adventures together. He's got a thought or opinion on just about anything, and will give them on most vanilla events and interactions - hunting, fighting specific enemies, finding a certain item, completing quests, and more!

Complex Affinity System
Jeru-Sii is not your typical follower. He's got more than just his own personality - he's got thoughts, beliefs, prejudices, and these ideas change and grow alongside him throughout your adventure. In simple cases with video game companions, a character's opinion of the player is represented on a basic 0-100 'Affinity' system, with certain interactions or scenes being gated by certain milestones of Affinity. Jeru-Sii employs several of these simple Affinity systems at once to work in tandem, inspired by the way Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire handles Affinity.

He has an Affinity value for several core concepts, including Thievery, Aggression, Honour, Values and Selflessness. These values come together to form a system where Jeru-Sii is able to dislike certain, specific things about the player, but recognise their positive qualities at the same time. He'll grow to develop personal gripes and complaints about you, but much like with any real person, will put up with that because of his respect for your other values. For example, if the player is kind and heroic, but suffers from kleptomaniac tendencies when around others' property, Jeru-Sii may ask the player for a quiet one-to-one the next time they rest. During such 'Confrontation' scenes, he may express his dislike of the player character's sticky fingers, but admit that he admires and appreciates their good deeds, and so will be willing to overlook the thievery provided the PC makes a solid attempt from then on to be better.

Roleplaying with the Tag System
A key aspect of your adventures with Jeru-Sii will be the opportunities for roleplay presented to you. This mod borrows a system from the excellent RPG Divinity: Original Sin II called Tags. These Tags are summaries and quick representations of your character based on your established background, history, behaviour, decisions and dialogue choices.

You will be able to gain Tags from your choices and actions, but also by talking with Jeru-Sii. Over the course of your journeys, Jeru-Sii may ask you about events and interactions from vanilla Skyrim as well as from the Memoirs of the Abyss questline - or, more specifically,why you made the decisions you did, and how you feel about them. Does your character wish there was another way into the Thieves' Guild besides bullying honest folk for their coin? Did they side with a faction in the Civil War, but regret it or feel not enough has changed? Do they resent the idea of being a Dragonborn and wish they could've lived a normal life? Depending on your given responses, you'll gain Tags representing what sort of person you are.

Tags are used in the Memoirs of the Abyss questline and in dialogue with Jeru-Sii to unlock new dialogue options and interaction opportunities. A character with the 'Noble' tag may get to challenge someone to an honourable, legal duel, whilst someone with the Crook tag may find themselves with more opportunities to rob others of their spare cash and goods. Additionally, Tags change how NPCs added by this mod view you - a player character with 'Good Samaritan' will be recognized based on the tales of their exploits and treated differently. Examples of other tags include 'Breton', 'Anarchist', 'Soft-Spoken', 'Aggressive', 'Romantic', 'Pragmatic' and more.

Tags can also be lost if you fail to uphold the picture that's been painted of you. Are you an Imperial Loyalist? Deliberately assaulting Imperial soldiers for no good reason will quickly tear away your status as one. Jeru-Sii's interactions and ambient, contextual dialogue will also change depending on your tags - roleplay a character with a new personality, background and beliefs, and you'll get new experiences in return!

Combat Capabilities
Jeru-Sii is at least somewhat nifty with a dagger, but is certainly no blade-toting warrior. He knows a Restoration spell or two to help you out in a pinch, and is most effective upon first recruitment as a support mage, occasionally weaving a frost spell between healing magic. Provided he trusts you, he may come to look up to you as a mentor figure, allowing you to train him in the arts of war and tailor his combat style to better compliment your own.

Collaborative Scenes with Other Followers
In addition to his own lines, Jeru-Sii is also planned to have unique interactions and dialogue scenes with other follower mods, includingLucien and Auri.


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❂ An Adventure Like No Other ❂

The second piece of the mod is the questline attached to Jeru-Sii, Memoirs of the Abyss. This is an exciting, memorable treasure hunting adventure that will challenge your wits moreso than your brawn.

Use Your Head
Quest markers are not all-divining here. You'll be presented with information and evidence, from which you, Jeru-Sii and your allies must decide on what leads to pursue. On your adventure, you'll face puzzles, riddles and more abstract tests of intellect, and it's up to you to solve the clues and work out what's next on the agenda!

Consequences
This is a race against a truly dangerous foe to places and an artifact whispered of in long-forgotten myth alone. There's no inherently golden choices you can make - no matter what, any and all decisions will have both positive influences and negative drawbacks. It'll be up to you to decide what to sacrifice to keep your investigation afloat, and what moral standards you are willing to compromise for that.

A Colourful Cast of Dangerous Folk
Like Jeru-Sii, each and every NPC added by this mod is a fully fleshed-out character. They each have their own desires, needs, fears and goals, and all feature extensive dialogue trees for you to explore, should you wish. There's much to learn about the world and people around you that isn't clear at just a glance, and asking some deeper questions can bring out some very useful information for your quest - or draw some seriously problematic attention. Furthermore, high-quality voice acting is a key aim for this mod's production, and from December 2018 - April 2019, auditions for talented and/or experienced voice actors are being held on CastingCallClub.

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❂ Ambient World Content ❂

The final pillar of this mod's experience is the addition of ambient world content, taking the form of new random encounters, small-scale treasure hunts that yield new items/spellbooks and a handful of new NPCs at key locations. This content is separate from Jeru-Sii and the Memoirs of the Abyss questline - you do not need to have recruited Jeru-Sii or started the questline in order to access these smaller additions to the game.

World Encounters
Inspired by the Stranger missions in Red Dead Redemption 2, several new encounters have been added to the world of Skyrim. Each of these encounters features new NPCs and brand new moral quandaries to face, with consequences, Tags and Jeru-Sii's comments/opinions all involved. Such encounters are longer and feature far more player choice than vanilla Skyrim encounters, allowing for excellent roleplaying opportunity and adding an element of unpredictability back into Skyrim.

Treasure Cache Hunts
These smaller-scale hunts can see your pockets lined with wealth, forgotten arcane knowledge and fantastic lost artifacts. Whether you're looking to collect, use, abuse or sell such loot, you're going to need to employ the same sort of critical thinking skills that the Memoirs of the Abyss questline asks for. Jeru-Sii and co. can certainly lend a helping hand, but they're not omniscient problem-solvers! You can get tip-offs about treasure hunting opportunities by reading newly-added books, purchasing riddle leaflets or maps from Galiad of Ytr, or by overhearing/asking for rumours from vanilla NPCs. Though Jeru-Sii doesn't need to be by your side to go hunting for these treasures, he has unique dialogue and conversations for each rumour thread and cache.


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❂ Credits ❂


~ Development ~

Writing, CK Implementation & Voice Direction
Adameme

Music Composition & Production
MichaelNobleMusic



~ Voice Acting: Questline ~

Jeru-Sii
Adameme

Naakhu the Wanderer
pinchy17

Stride Marshal Oco
clbroyles

Decentius Berne
Kahu Gillespie

Saru'Ka
EdenG

Dar'Eilun
Candourlight

Ogles-Bright-Trinkets
Yon Shady Glenn

Argonian Mercenaries
Yon Shady Glenn
acousticdonuts

Dunmer Mercenaries
acousticdonuts
millsy3
Tartankiwi

Nord Mercenaries
Yon Shady Glenn
acousticdonuts


~ Voice Acting: Ambient ~

Galiad of Ytr
Kahu Gillespie

Bysilth
complete-the-circuit

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