SilgradCity0107 [Claimed]

[sandor]

[blockquote]
District: Upper Chambers.
Cell name: SilgradCity0107.
Claim Difficulty: Medium - Difficult.
NPC's: 7 or more.
Race: Dunmer, Hlaalu.
Class: Rich.
General info: Check -=this link=-.[/blockquote]

Status: Claimed by Sniper4 (quest design) and sandor (assisting with the interiors)


You'll find the exterior building (screenshot) in the cell SilgradCity0107. Use the Silgrad_Tower.esm v3.37 plus the latest patch or a higher version. If not available on the Source board please contact me via PM.

The NPC('s) must have (full) dialogue and AI, don't forget the pathgrid.
Full AI: Eat (2), sleep, one drink and/or read package.

I'll set the rotation for the Northmarker.

Add a few windows to the interior and to the exterior building (UC child WS) as well (matching with the interior).

Use rich objects and redware objects.

For reasons of playtesting it's often handy to add a X marker (heading).
When you use the console (~), type coc "XX", replace the "XX" with your cell name.


Background.

Goldar Valen's Estate.

Sniper4 accepted to add a nice quest to this claim in conjunction with SCC0101.



Use the existing cell (SilgradCity0107) and don't delete the exterior building.



AI.

No single piece model available.

[Sniper4]

I'll finish fixing and testing my Julra Tong claim today, and then I'll get started on setting up the tiles for this interior.

[Sniper4]

I'm going to start laying tiles for the main area of the structure today. I used Excel as a sort of makeshift CAD program to help me plan tile arrangements. I've attached the plans below in pdf format. To help you interpret the document:

white = outdoors, not part of tile arrangement

arrows (< and >) = pointing in the direction of an entry door

"up" = an arrow pointing up.

sealed = I'm thinking it would be interesting if there were stairs descending from Valen's private quarters to a secret meeting room and vault in the basement of the main structure. The only entrance would be from the 4th floor (Valen's bedroom). I would use this meeting room in one of my Valen quests. Yes, I've watched a few too many episodes of "Secret Passages" .

???? = I'm not sure what goes here yet

"ballroom" = I'm not sure what else to call this. It's basically a large party room of sorts. It will probably have an area set up with musical instruments, to entertain the guests. I imagine there could be a bar here as well.

stairs: Just some tiles I've reserved for stairs. I'll play around with the arrangement of the tiles to see what works best.

Grand dining room: a place where many guests can come to feast at once.

I'll start planning out the guest house and secondary structures (guard towers, etc) after I get this laid out.

In terms of cell arrangements, I'll probably make the first and second floors into their own cells, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors will be another cell of their own. The "servant's tower" will be a cell as well, so that's four cells total for the main structure. Does this sound okay?

Note that the base of the main structure is 9 X 15 tiles, based on the exterior.

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I've started plans for Valen's five quests. Here's what I have so far:

Quest 1: The player meets Valen. He is directed to speak to Brilnus Andules (the overseer). Andules gives the player a simple task, that isn't related to Valen's plans, just to see if he is reliable.

Quest 2: Andules tells the player to take a coded message and gold to a Dunmer staying at an inn somewhere in the city. I'll need to find an inn with an unused bed for this quest. There will be hints that this dunmer is Cammona tong.

Quest 3: Undecided. It will probably tip the player off that a plot is brewing, however.

Quest 4: Andules tells the player to report to Goldar Valen. Valen asks the player to take a note from him to five individuals, and tell them that they are to meet Valen at his manor. These individuals are:
-Brilnus Andules
-The Camonna Tong dunmer mentioned above
-The head of the local Morag Tong guildhouse
-The Riverside administrator (SCC0343)*
-Undecided

Once contacted, these characters go to the secret room in Brilnus's estate mentioned above. Goldar Valen will meet the player at the entrance to the private staircase once all the conspirators have made it to the meeting room. Valen then tells the player about his plans for Silgrad Tower's independence from the empire, and emphasizes the danger Silgrad Tower will be in if the empire leaves Morrowind while ST is still dependent on them for protection.

Quest 5: Remember those four "elements" that I mentioned that would need to be controlled in order to non- violently win the city over (politics, economics, the military, and the Temple)? This quest would focus on one of those. I have some ideas here, but I'm still working them out.

How does this all sound so far?

*I currently have SCC0343, but it still has quite a bit of work left in it. It's fully furnished and all containers are placed, but most items have not been placed yet, and it still needs NPCs, AI, etc. I still don't know what to do with it yet, but I'm thinking I should probably upload my progres so far and unclaim it, in case someone else wants to work on it.

[jucklesjenk]

Wow - I like your thinking behind all this. :goodjob:

This depth of quest is interesting to read and think about.

Just a thought for the undecided NPC - perhaps a high ranking city guard on Valen's payroll whose influence he can use to accomplish a lot in his aims for the city?

[Sniper4]

Thank you .

It's funny that you should mention the city guards. I've been considering the possibility of having quest 5 focus on getting Richard Bleau, the councilor in charge of the Silgrad Guardians, on Valen's side.

As far as who that guard may be, I found the following in the lore forum:

"As the Empire withdrew from Silgrad, he was invited to take the vacant chair on the Council of Elders to serve as a security advisor. His second-in-command, the Dunmer Rithlas Dievor, stepped up to take charge of the routine of administrating the peacekeepers. Being a citizen of the Empire, Richeard longs for their return, and directs his Guardians to keep the Imperial spirit of cooperation alive. He seldom speaks on the Council unless given direct questions, but when he does it's usually to adress security concerns."

And some more lore on the elite guardians:

"The four Elite Guardians (not counting Richeard Bleau) are old friends from when they served as mercenearies for House Hlaalu during the "Battle for Silgrad Tower". One of them, a Dunmer named Rithlas Dievor, is somewhat of a Captain over the other three, although as an outsider you wouldn't notice it as much. The Elites have just one task, to guard the Council of Elders building when the Councilors are in session."

This Rithlas Dievor sounds like our man . As a Dunmer, he would be able to see the danger that looms ahead. Perhaps he can be used as leverage to persuade Bleau (a Breton) that Silgrad needs to stand fully on its own two feet, without need of imperial backing and support, if it ever has any hope for survival in post- imperial times.

Also, I had plans to house one of the elite guardians in a tower at Valen's manor (before I learned there were only four elite guardians). Perhaps this could be Dievor?

[Sniper4]

It took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but now I've managed to set up tiles for everything but the guest house, entrance guard tower, and grounds patrol guard tower. I was thinking I could finish what I've done so far in only a day, but the Hlaalu "room" tileset decided to be difficult . I now see why so many buildings in SC were tiled exclusively with the "hall" tileset.

I managed to tile as much as I could with the room tileset, and tried to only use the hall set when I wanted to make an actual hallway, or when the room set was making my layout impossible.

Once the whole structure is completely tiled, I'll test the layout in game to make sure the room tileset isn't causing any more problems, and to make sure I didn't accidentally bleed any "shoes" or pillars into each other.

@Sandor: When I'm done with tiling, should I upload my tiled interior to give us a "platform" to work off of? Or should I launch straight into adding furniture?

edit: The guest house is now done . Note that I added three exterior doors to the structure to make it more accessible from the outside. One of which was attached to a 2X1 tile structure that has now been labeled as a garden shed, since there's no way to attach it to the rest of the structure interior-wise and still be consistent with the exterior . It's that tiny thing between the two parts of the guest house and is on the walkway to the grounds patrol guard tower. You'll know it when you see it .

This now means that all I have left to tile are the two remaining guard towers .

[sandor]

Originally posted by Sniper4

@Sandor: When I'm done with tiling, should I upload my tiled interior to give us a "platform" to work off of? Or should I launch straight into adding furniture?

Thanks for the update.

Please submit the file and I'll post a new patch later today.

Please send me a PM regarding the interiors.

[Sniper4]

It's done and fully tested in game, now. Just a few quick notes:

-On floor 2, I had to switch the "training" and "storage" rooms around. The tile arrangement didn't change, but I found that the previously assigned training area was going to have traffic through it, so I made it the storage area for the kitchen, and the old storage area is now the training room.

-I've also attached the floor plan for the guest house below as well.

[sandor]

Thanks.

Tomorrow I'll reply to your PM in a more elaborate manner.

[sandor]

Sorry for the delay.


I checked the layout and it looks fine! :goodjob:

I could start with the SilgradCity0107M2 (Dining area), I assume it includes a kitchen.

I'll use rich class/redware objects.

Just let me know if that's okay.