I just briefly had the chance to visit the new revamp of Stormhold by Deeza. Nice work! :goodjob:
This has been added to the new esm. From a quick look-through, the changes include a more complete integration of the Barsaebic influences in the city in the form of more mossy ruin additions. For instance, the Castle is now an even more chaotic Barsaebic / Imperial / Argonian construction and an NPC (Periptero) has been added.....I really liked the market stall underneath a very jungle-style awning. However, I did notice one error....some sort of missing mesh issue involving a Green Gourd on his table. I'll look into it.
Great stuff though. Go visit! =)
Will you be setting up interior claims, Deeza? Or would you like me to do it?
I was just going to post about this actually. I did have a list made already, but unfortunately it went down the drain when my computer gave up the ghost a few days ago...
I still remember what was on it though, and will post the new list in this thread (now that I have temporary access to another computer). I made more interior cells than we strictly need (the rest could be dummy buildings if time is too short). I will post them in order of priority then.
Periptero will eventually need AI (something I have never succeeded with). I provided a bed by the store. My idea was that he could sell guides to the city, as well as drinks and food.
Cool. Nice to hear we have interiors. Make sure they match up with the buildings, of course. You should probably let IS know about Periptero here:
CLAIM: AI Development List .
First claims (HIGHEST PRIORITY). These are the ones that I was going to complete myself, before my computer problems started. There is very little left to do in each of them, mainly just AI and adding more detail:
Hospice of Mara
This is just outside the walls of the city, a shelter for victims of Black Marsh diseases. An important location for players, this is the only place you are allowed to stay if you are diseased (and for free, too!) A kind-hearted Breton priestess takes care of the inmates. She and the patient need dialogue and AI, otherwise this is finished.
Stormhold Cathedral
Temple dedicated to Akatosh and Mara. The interior is complete, but when the Priest NPCs from the Chapter House claim are made later, they will need to have AI to come here and pray/preach.
Gatehouse Bar
Partially finished by me. A grimy bar just outside the town gates which brews its own beer. The barkeeper (not made) will sleep in the box room next to the bar. There should be a couple of regulars in here (they start drinking early and keep on 'til late at night!)
Aha! I just looked in the interiors list and saw the new interiors you added. Good choice of locations. The city planning looks really nice! :goodjob: (I especially liked the Hospice idea)
I can add doors to these places and create a city interiors map for you. Then it's just a case of publishing interior claims.
Thanks. Those three already have doors set up, but none of the others do yet (the Gatehouse Bar and Hospice are outside the walls, so they teleport to the BM worldspace, not the Stormhold child space). I did try to set up interiors for the other buildings, but have you ever noticed how none of the Leyawiin upper interiors match the outsides? I checked Leyawiin out in the CS to check, it appears that the inhabitants have mastered TARDIS space-warping technology at some point...
Anyway, here are the next most important interiors (the key faction buildings that we will need for quests):
Stormhold Mercer's Guildhall
This is one of the most important buildings in terms of gameplay, and will need a lot of AI and scripting. A fraternity of local traders, the Guild offers mercenaries, jobs and income for players, and is an excellent first stop for newcomers seeking to learn the ropes of life in the Marsh. Fighters can be hired to escort the player to Soulrest and Gideon (hopefully, if we get past the beta, eventually they will offer other places as well). Players who are powerful enough can also be hired to escort traders and foreign visitors around the Marsh. Merchant characters can pay the (expensive) Guild membership fees and invest in various products, such as sugarcane, which will produce different returns based on the current market (and the player's actions). Guild members will also be given missions which will increase their rank in the Guild and their share of profits. Several NPCs live and sleep in the Guildhall.
Stormhold Chapter House
Headquarters of the Imperial Cult in Black Marsh, this was once the nerve centre of the ambitious effort to convert the Marsh to the Nine Divines. Though the attempt failed, its legacy lives on here and in Stormhold Cathedral. Contains the Prelate of Argonia (very old Imperial cleric who still lives in the past), his two ambitious assistants (one male, one female Imperial) and their Argonian servant. The priests need AI to visit the Cathedral (accessed by a rope bridge from the ChapterHouse across the road out back) and preach regularly. The basement contains several extra beds for wandering missionaries - it is currently home to a recuperating injured Knight Errant, who gives the player a quest to find his missing friend out in the swamp.
Stormhold Castle
This was started by the Grey Wizard, but the exterior has changed so much it will need to be re-done. Please used the new cells I created, not the original, to avoid confusion between the two. A huge structure, this is divided into several smaller claims:
Customs and Excise Office - official entry point for all visitors to the Marsh, this is the tall building directly in front of the castle, which offers the only way for players to enter. This is where the player gets registered as entering the province and can obtain papers to enter the cities of Gideon and Soulrest, as well as papers allowing them to trade (it is an offence to do this without being registered). This ties in to Ibsen's plan to have the player "earn" access to each city.
The Entrance Hall - a magnificent Barsaebic Hall, the finest piece of Marsh Elf architecture left in Stormhold. This is where all the day-to-day activity of the Castle goes on - visitors are recieved here, the inhabitants eat, and staff go about their jobs. Much like the audience halls of the other castles in Cyrodiil, but much more multi-functional.
Barracks - home to most of the Imperial Legion that's left in Black Marsh. Bog-standard accommodation using the regular castle tileset, but with a few bits of Marsh elf stone mixed in. The remaining Legions spend their time skiving off work and complaining about their "lucky" friends who were recalled back to Cyrodiil. The Commander of the Guard, an old Redguard veteran, is looking forward to retiring to his sunny homeland. He has lived in BM for decades and is a valuable source of survival tips.
Dungeons - Marsh elf ruins converted into a prison, using a mix of mossy ruin tilesets and assets from the vanilla fort ruins and jails (portcullises, chains etc.) to construct a really nasty, dank prison. This is where the player ends up if the Legion busts their criminal operations.
Shivers-in-Starlight's Tower - home to the Lord High Archein, a powerful wizard formerly of the Mages' Guild, an important character for giving quests who appears a loyal servant of the Empire but may in fact serve more ancient powers..... It's a marsh elf tower with an Imperial extension on top, and the decoration should reflect his magical interests. There should be a secret hidden room, containing his personal shrine to the Hist.
Governor's Quarters - these are the offices of the Governor Plutarchus Naso. It's supposed to be his workplace, but he's afraid of assassination so he lives up here with his wife. The quarters should look like they were meant to be offices but were hastily converted (furniture piled up in corners, untidy paperwork, and so on).
Imperial High Commission - a group of offices, where several administrators of diverse origins do the day to day work of administering BM. They are less boring than they might appear, and seem to be covering something up... (quest to follow)
Servant's Quarters - basic rooms which are home to the castle servants.
Kitchens - a group of converted and extended marsh elf rooms, containing the castle food stores and cook.
Quote:Originally posted by Ibsen's Ghost
(I especially liked the Hospice idea)
Me too!
We could use the SI animations for the sleep deprived people for the inmates. That'd be a good little detail.
Rottmere Museum of Argonian Folklore
The life's work of Iulius Rottmere, this building contains many exhibits about the traditional life of tribal Argonians. For now, most of the museum will be empty, and we will fill it up with more artefacts as we continue to make the tribal villages. For now it needs to be filled with rows of display cases along the centre of the rooms, with static versions of weapons and so on fixed to the walls. The Curator of the museum lives in a small room on the ground floor next to the reception desk where he sits for most of the day. He could also be scripted (if time allows) to give guided tours. The most important gameplay mechanic of the museum is that it buys rare artefacts at close to full price, in a system similar to the Museum in Tribunal, through scripted dialogue for named artefacts. The basement of the museum is a marsh elf hall, which contains ayleid exhibits.
Stormhold Undercity - an epic mossy ruin dungeon, filled with secrets and interesting inhabitants.
Nivinil - a small marsh elf ruin some distance outside Stormhold, it is much larger under the surface, though it is almost entirely flooded. Somewhere in its half-collapsed, ruined halls is a small, hidden door which leads to the Secret Passageway.
Secret Passageway - a long, twisting, partially flooded tunnel leading to the Catacombs from a small Marsh elf ruin outside the city walls. A secret entrance into the city favoured by smugglers and secretive tribal argonians.
The Great Cistern - a large reservoir filled with live food for the city's argonian population. It functions as a restaurant of sorts. Pay the Master and he will open a gate which causes more fish to spawn in the cistern for the guests to eat (apparently, argonians prefer food this way).
The Great Bazaar - a large circular hall which is filled with market stalls of small traders, come to Stormhold to ply their wares.
Undercity Slums - tiny, squalid Marsh Elf cells which are home to the city's poorest, most desperate colonists as well as tribal argonians who have wandered in from the swamps. This is a really tough neighbourhood, infested with rats and under the control of a brutal gangster.
Catacombs - the main body of the Undercity, the Catacombs are a vast and confusing flooded maze into which many of the town's basements open out. It is used as a rubbish dump by the city inhabitants, and contains as many secret chambers as you want to fit in, containing smuggler's stashes and homeless argonians in rare pockets of air. There is an extremely dangerous series of flooded halls right at the bottom which lead to the Tomb.
Tomb of the Elven Noble - I gave a randomly generated name to this cell, I don't remember, but you can make up a better one if you like. This is the tomb of the last Barsaebic King of Stormhold, a direct descendent of Barsaebus himself. The tomb will contain quite a few hints as to what actually happened to the Marsh Elves, but getting there will not be easy. The tomb is sealed to players and can only be opened by completing a quest. Inside, the place is a maze filled with extremely powerful undead (the King's skeletal bodyguards). There are, however, plenty of artefacts, which you can get a very good price from the Rottmere Museum.
Here are the labelled maps of the important interiors, attached. I suggest making another subforum to put them in? The only one I forgot to label was the "Inferno Inn", which is the Bravil-style building connected by a rope bridge to Customs and Excise.
The remaining buildings were just going to be houses, nothing very interesting, though we should perhaps make one of them into a buyable house for the player?
Nevertheless, I have already created an empty interior cell for all of them in the version I sent you (I suggest we make a door and have it set to "needs a key", so they look more like real buildings).
Here are the last 4 interiors which are less important but it would be fun to include:
The Inferno Inn
The only building mentioned in lore as existing in Stormhold, I thought it would be fun to include this. It prides itself on being the "warmest, driest place in the city", hence the huge number of hearth fires in each room, and serves Imperial-style food. It's run by Novia and Veptimus Xerius, an Imperial couple.
Morrowind Embassy
Home to the Morrowind ambassador to Black Marsh. Helseth sees value in keeping relations good both with the Imperial governor and the Royal Court, so the main embassy is in Stormhold, with a smaller branch in Lilmoth to the south. The Ambassador is a very modern, intelligent Dunmer who is a close confidant of the King back in Mournhold, though he resents being sent to BM, preferring a post in more "civilised" countries such as High Rock or Cyrodiil. He lives with his wife, Dunmer secretary and several Argonian aides.
Governor's Mansion
This mansion comes with the job of Governor of BM. The current incumbent is afraid of assassination by the KLA, so he sleeps in the castle and has divided his mansion into apartments and rents it out to several snobbish colonial families, who are really up themselves because they live in such a palatial accommodation.
Rottmere Mansion
Formerly the city residence of the (in?)famous colonist, this manor is a mere shadow of its former glory. It's now home to an elderly couple who are down on their luck and may be willing to sell if they are allowed to stay on as lodgers in a few of the rooms. They have quite an interesting life story, which the player will get to know if they buy the house.