Hi, folks!
I haven't updated this page for a long while now. First I was too busy working on my mod, then I forgot about my mod, then I bought Oblivion, and COMPLETELY forgot about this mod. Luckily Oblivion bores me to death (well, luckily, it was still 50 bucks :/ ), and I've started modding again. Took a few minutes to get used to again, but I'm eager to continue working on this mod. Especially after the tragic deaths of many promising mods overhere (Dawn of Darkness, Djora Rebuilt, etc. ), I don't want to leave my unfinished mod rotting on my HD until it crashes and is lost forever.
So, folks, I'm back then, and it feels good!
I've posted some screenshots, aswell, but they're still pretty old. I haven't been testing this mod too much, I'm mainly working on it. I have made a short trailer and an ultra-short sneakpeak, but the quality isn't too good, and because of the temperature overhere, I can't create any longer trailers. My computer gets overheated, and since MW is mainly a CPU intensive game (rather than GPU), it results in a CTD. And this isn't just with my mod, I suffer these CTD's pretty often with this wheather with my own character, which doesn't have this mod activated, because it's still far from finished.
I've been working on a dungeon, the Dal Barum slums, and some other interiors now, but I'm still pretty slow. I'm not a professional designer, so I need some more time to get everything the way I want it to be, and with a project like this it's no surprise it takes ages. It's much too ambitious for just one person. Good thing is, now that I have to do everything myself, I learn a great deal of modding skills, level design, scripting, and writing.
Here is some info about my mod as it is at this moment, I've posted this on the Morrowind Summit forums:
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Nchzrardumz is a group of islands south of Solstheim. It has 3 main islands.
Nchzrardumz: the only island that has the original name. It has two regions, the Mudcrab Coast, and the Broken Hills.
Two main cities are found on this island, and a mining colony. Pijnacker and the mining colony are in the hands of the Imperials. Dal Barum (very, very big city) is home to the Dunmer who came to Dal Barum after the Dwemer dissapeared.
Skaldinavia is a cold and barren area. Great tundras and rugged mountains mark the land. There is one main city, and I have plans for another one, but I can't reveal much about the second city yet (mainly because I have several completely different ideas for this city)
Taresheim is a Nord city. It's build upon a large base of stone, and from a distance it looks like a fortress.
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Thord's Forest is a large forest. some people believe that the forest was magically given a better climate. No cities here, it's mainly a region where the questing will take you, once I get to it.
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The cities:
Pijnacker is a pretty new town, built by the Imperials. It was originally intended to act as a fortress, to keep the peace between the Dunmer from Dal Barum, and the Nords from Taresheim. But once the Imperials found out that the Broken Hills on the island are rich of ebony, glass and adamantium they have set up a fort and mining company in the broken hills. Many people were attracted to Pijnacker for a job.
Dal Barum is a very large city, built on the water in Velothi Style. It's a bit like Vivec, except that the canton towers are not the main part of the city. There are two big canton towers, two cantons without a tower, but they are the center of the city. There are slums, and a neighbourhood where cheaper homes can be found (but still better than the slums, of course).
The inhabitants of Dal Barum are generally even more xenophobe than the inhabitants of Vvardenfell. They are proud of their nation, and they have had many wars with the Nords from Skaldinavia. There are only a dozen or so outlanders in Dal Barum, and most of them are either tourists or paupers, most of which tourists, because non-Dunmeri paupers are generally kicked out of the city.
There are rumors of a secret racist cult in Dal Barum aswell, which is rumoured to have some contacts with Great House Dagoth.
Taresheim is the city of the Nords. It purely consists of Nords, although they generally don't mind other races, except Dunmer of course. While the city is way down from Solstheim, it still has the frosty climate, thus the population is a bunch of frosthardy, bad-ass nords who'd eat Dunmer for breakfast.
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Lore:
I've been working on the lore a lot, but it still isn't complete. Here's the short history of Nchzrardumz.
Era of the Dwemer:
The Dwemer King Nchzrardumz conquered this land, and banished all Dunmer from it, and named the islands after himself. The climate was different in those days, Skaldinavia was not as cold as it is now, although the winters could be compared to a summer on solstheim. But during summer it usually was around 15 to 20 degrees celcius (don't know what that is in Fahrenheit).
The climate started changing rapidly once the Dwemer settled on Nchzrardumz. There are barely any outposts of the Dwemer in Skaldinavia, so some scientists believed they used wheather machines to change the climate in the area where they lived themselves. Most scientists doubt this, because Skaldinavia is the biggest island of the 3 main islands, the Dwemer could have built huge fortresses and cities there.
And then *poof* the Dwemer dissapeared.
Then the Dunmer and the Nords came to Nchzrardumz. The Nords came a lot farther than the Dunmer at first. There are accounts of Nordic settlements as far southwards as Thrord's Forest, while the Dunmer only managed to conquer the nearest island, which they still inhabit. The Nords built Taresheim on Skaldinavia, and some other settlements in Thrord's forest.
The Nordic settlements in Thrord's Forest have mostly dissapeared, after the many wars with the Dunmer. But the Dunmer have never bothered to conquer the forest. It has a wonderful climate for farming, while the Mudcrab Coast is generally too moist and salty, and the Broken Hills are a rugged waste of ashes and rocks. The Dunmer never bothered to explore the Broken Hills, and why would they? They received all their materials and wealth from the mainland and Vvardenfell to build the wonderful city of Dal Barum. After that they got their wealth from the trade, Dal Barum has a large harbour, from which they export goods such as pottery.
When the Empire conquered the Eastern Provinces, they officially stated that the whole of Nzhrardumz (i.e. Skaldinavia, Thrord's Forest, and Nchzrardumz) was part of the Morrowind Province. It was the most logical thing to do, since it was surrounded by the mainland and Vvardenfell, but it led to a great political upheaval in Skyrim, while the Dunmer celebrated and tried to conquer the entire Nordic territory there. They failed, and it pretty much stayed the way it was: the occasional wars, the racism, etc. The Imperials didn't care too much, it didn't seem like a place where they could gather any materials, so they left the Nord and Dunmer population bickering and warring.
While the Ghostfence was built the inhabitants of Dal Barum were at war with the Nords again. They suffered great losses, and a part of their city was burnt down. When they rebuilt the place, they created a magical barrier around their city like the Ghostfence. Although it is a lot less powerful, it served them well in the various short wars that followed, and the Nords left Thrord's Forest shortly after that, since it was relatively close to Dal Barum, the mainland, and the West Gash, which meant they were basically surrounded by the Dunmer. The Dunmer quickly burnt down the Nordic settlements after the departure of the Nords, and killed the few Nords that stayed there.
The last war was 32 years before the unsuspecting incarnate arrived in Seyda Neen. The Imperials finally intervened. The relations between Skyrim and Morrowind were suffering under the many wars, and the relations of Morrowind and Skyrim with The Empire also worsened. The Imperials came with an army, and the construction of Pijnacker begun. They guarded the two main cities of the two races, they controlled the roads, and they blocked the waterways, so no trade could be made with any of the cities, while they sent diplomats to the Nords and the Dunmer. Finally, after 2 years, the war ended, under diplomatical threats by the Empire, and the resources for the war were running out aswell.
The Imperials declared Nchzrardumz neither a part of Morrowind or Skyrim. They stayed in Pijnacker to keep the peace, and to eliminate any guerilla troops that didn't give up the fight.
Although there was no more war, it wasn't peace, the relations between the Nords and the Dunmer didn't improve in any way.
2 years after the war had ended, the Imperials discovered the precious resources the Broken Hill carried, and they set up Fort Dustmoth in the center of the hills, and explored the Dwemer mines, expanded them, and a relatively large mining colony was quickly built.
Through the years the relations of the Nordic and Dunmeri community on the islands gradually improved, while both races were employed in the mines, and the situation became more stable. There wasn't any friendship, but at least they accepted each others presence in the area, and the situation stayed like this the years afterwards.
Then the Blight came, the rumors started, the atmosphere changed rapidly. The news quickly travelled to the Nchzrardumz area. Cults were formed, information was gathered, and the fragile peace that was accomplished in the last few decades seems to crumble. And the Empire sent the prisoner to Vvardenfell.
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That's the short history. It's shabby, I know, and probably incorrect aswell. I don't know too much about the history of the Empire, Skyrim, and Morrowind. My guess is that the Empire conquered Morrowind before the war against Great House Dagoth, but I might aswell be wrong. I need to find out what happened when, and then I have to correct any mistakes in the history. I'm not a lore-freak, but I want this mod to at least be correct in a way that it's parallel to the existing history and lore of the Empire, and not breaking it.
And although I try to be historically correct, geographically it's horribly wrong. The islands cover a bit of the Inner Sea, but also cover the areas which should be the mainland (this mod will be incompatible with Silgrad Tower, Blacklight, and any other mod that alters the land in those areas (Havish, Black Queen Chronicles, etc.)
Anyhow, here are the stats of my mod so far:
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Regions:
Skaldinavia, cold, barren, 97 exterior cells so far, of which 20% - 25% has been finished.
Thrord's Forest, a mix of various types of forests. Pleasant climate, but not as warm as the Ascadian Isles. 81 exterior cells so far, of which 30% - 40% has been finished.
Nchzrardumz main island, 2 regions: The Mudcrab Coast and the Broken Hills.
The Mudcrab Coast, wet swampy area, slightly salty soil. Vines and mosses are the most common type of flora here. 25 exterior cells, which has all been finished.
The Broken Hills, harsh environment, rocks and ashes, while it has an exceptional amount of precipitation. Perhaps a Dwemer wheather experiment gone wrong. Rich in valuable minerals. 4 exterior cells, which have all been finished.
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Major settlements:
Pijnacker, 4 exterior cells, 14 interior cells, of which 10 have been completely finished. The remaining 4 only need some more detail, some cosmetic tweaking. Will be finished in a day or two.
Fort Dustmoth/Mining Colony, 1 exterior cell, completely finished, 3 interiors, of which 2 have been finished. The Mine needs more detail, and needs to be expanded aswell, probably a week's work.
Dal Barum, 7 exterior cells, of which 5 have been completely finished, 104 interior cells, of which 34 have been completely finished. Most of the remaining 70 cells only have the base laid, meaning only the rooms itself have been done, and they need to be fully decorated. When the remaining 70 cells have been done, expect at least another 100 of interiors to be made. This will take a while. A long while.
Taresheim, 1 exterior cell, 22 interior cells, of which 4 have been completely finished. The remaining 18 cells mainly need more furniture and small details, won't take too long, probably 2 or 3 weeks.
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Misc interior cells (tombs, caves, houses outside cities)
37 misc interiors. Of which 50% or so has been finished. I don't know exactly. When these have been completely finished, expect at least another 50 or so to come. I still have to finish a whole lot of exteriors, and when those are decorated, dungeons will be placed there aswell.
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Quests:
I haven't gotten very far yet with this, mainly because my scripting skills are not very impressive, but I've got several working quests, some buggy quests and some unfinished/not yet implemented quests.
Total quests : 17
working quests : 6
buggy quests : 4
Unfinished/not implemented : 7
I've been working on various important plot lines, including the main military quests, for which you can choose 3 sides, the Empire, Dal Barum, or the Nords from Taresheim. Apart from that I've also written a plot for the Dawn Of The Dunmer (hey, don't go copyrighting on me, I thought of that name even before Oblivion was released!), which is a racist Dunmer cult, with some connections to Great House Dagoth, political influence in Dal Barum, and bad attitude.
Apart from that I've also been thinking about a plotline uncovering a great deal of the Dwemer history on Nchzrardumz. I love Dwemer ruins, and their machinery, and many ruins are to be found on the islands, of which most don't have the interiors yet, but it'll come, just gimme a few years xD.
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Misc. stats
no. of NPC's:
403 so far. Expect at least twice as much npc's in the final version. This includes all levelled hostile npc's, Orc Barbarians (male and female), Khajiit Sabre Cats, and many more.
Weapons:
26 new weapons, 1 new mesh, and 2 meshes that came with the game, but were't used.
Armour:
The Dwarven Towershield, mesh by T-Bone can be found in the levelled lists of the bandits, in ruins, and in various other locations.
Creatures:
Tons, most of which are based on the stock creatures of MW. I've created a level 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, and 75 version of each creature, to give low level characters the ability to play this mod, while not making it easy for the high level characters. Heh, I had this idea before Oblivion was released. I'm a genious. xD
Static:
custom trees, created by Dracus. Dwemer ship meshes, credit goes to Dongle. Gallows, found it on the Morrowind Workshop, I believe, it was anonymous. nDib's cliffs are used in the mod, aswell as nordic trees (ascadian isles trees retextured), of which I can't remember the author. Blood meshes by LadyE (I believe) can be found in various cosy locations =].
I will post some ingame screenshots soon, and a map aswell, which will be helpful when reading my description of the various regions.
Heh, I've been working on this mod since 2003, although not full-time, but now I put more effort in my project, it's about time I'd release at least a properly working alpha version for download.
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Olle
