 Tower Adamantia |
Tabber42
Knight
Registration Date: 2008.06.22
Posts: 81
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Adamantium Tower, or Direnni Tower, is home to ancient Aldmer wizards
(The Direnni Clan). The tower itself was thought to have been built by
the gods to be used as a point where they could discuss events
peacefully. The tower is circular in shape, and although it has been
modified and added on to over the years, its core is a smooth cylinder
of shining metal. The tower shoots hundreds of feet into the sky (It is
thought to have as much below ground as above, although its depths have
yet to be explored)
A passage from Pocket Guide to the Empire says, "This Island in the
Iliac Bay has been used for centuries as a neutral meeting place for
diplomatic negotiations and treaty signings by the kingdoms of High
Rock.
The traditional ruler of the island is known as the Castellan of
Balfiera, perhaps reflecting his original role as commander of Direnni
(or Balfiera) Tower, which was used as a fortress, prison, and palace
by the infamous Direnni Hegemony. Even more curiously, the hereditary
Castellans are High Elves, the only known Elven ruling family remaining
in human lands. The Castellans continue to reside in the Tower,
although its true provenance and purpose remains a mystery.
The Direnni held control over much of High Rock from 1E 477 where they
conquered it, as well as some parts of Skyrim, until 1E 498, where
although they win the Battle of Glenumbria Moors, they cannot regain
the power they once have. One by one, the control falls to the emerging
nobility of Greater Bretony, who seized power throughout most of High
Rock within two decades of the Alessian defeat. In the end, only the
Isle of Balfiera is left in their hold.
The Direnni hated the Alessian; Ryan Direnni, Aiden Direnni, who were
Leaders of the Direnni Clan that ruled High Rock during the First Era
were main antagonists of Alessia's empire. The Direnni's allied
themselves with the 'Last King of the Ayleids' (Nenalata) to destroy
the Alessian Order
Here are the various sites / sources where this information came from.
Pocket Guide to the Empire
http://www.imperial-library.info/obbooks..._dirennis.shtml
http://www.imperial-library.info/history/1.shtml
http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks...ll_hist_2.shtml
This post has been edited 5 time(s), it was last edited by Braggi: 2008.10.03 23:40.
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2008.08.20 07:52 |
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Deeza
Editor
Registration Date: 2008.06.03
Posts: 1,066
Location: Procrastination
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In Daggerfall there was only one member of the Direnni Clan left - Medora Direnni:
An Altmer of Direnni Clan. She lives in Direnni Tower, previously
known as Adamantium Tower. She is the personal sorceress and secret
lover of the former king of Daggerfall, King Lysandus. After the death
of King Lysandus, the dowager Queen Mynisera banishes her out of the
Daggerfall court. She goes back to her island kingdom of Balfiera.
However her ill-fate does not end there, Nulfaga in her madness curses
the tower. Then the tower is inhabited by liches and vampires alike;
and makes the tower as prison for Medora. She cannot leave.
In the quest to lay the spirit of King Lysandus to rest, the agent of
Uriel Septim VII is directed by Prince Lhotun of Sentinel to Medora.
The agent goes in through all the undead and daedra creatures, and
eventually the agent meets with Medora in one of the room of the tower.
She asks the agent to visit Shedungent in Wrothgarian Mountain, the
home castle of Nulfaga, to fetch a rare ingredient, the horn of a Great
Unicorn. The horn is what Medora needs to break the curse on Direnni
Tower. To make long story short, the agent eventually comes back to
Direnni Tower with the horn. Medora is more than happy to receive it.
A month later the agent is contacted by Medora and told that in order
to soothe the spirit of King Lysandus the agent has to find Dust of
Restful Death. Gortwog the King of Orcs directs the agent to a certain
dungeon in Balfiera Isle, to find the dust. With this dust eventually
the agent can converse with the spirit of King Lysandus.
From: http://www.imperial-library.info/characters/daggerfall.shtml
A picture of Direnni Tower and of all the other palaces of the Iliac Bay can be found here:
http://www.imperial-library.info/realms_iliac/
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2008.08.20 13:16 |
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Lady Nerevar
Marquise
Registration Date: 2006.01.04
Posts: 1,362
Location: Not in hiding anymore
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everything in daggerfall looks exactly the same, that is to say
immensely ugly. the most I would take away from that depiction is that
there are several houses attached to the tower.
some metaphysical background on the tower can be found in the Nu-Mantia Intercept
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2008.08.20 17:06 |
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Deeza
Editor
Registration Date: 2008.06.03
Posts: 1,066
Location: Procrastination
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Yeah, I know it's bad. But it's all we've got, and as you say, at least
we now know there are some buildings around the base of the tower. |
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2008.08.20 17:45 |
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jman0war
Associate
Registration Date: 2008.08.29
Posts: 3
Location: ireland
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Hi
I'm the creater of Privateer's Hold, along with ManaUser.
Braggi has asked me if it were ok for your project to use PH, and of course it is. I've still got all the 3d max files.
High Rock sounds neat, highly ambitious.
Although tbh, I don't have an entirely clear picture of the entire scope of this mod from your site.
I haven't made any mods for Oblivion, however I started one.
My goal was to recruit a modding team much like you've done with this site.
You'll probably be interested to know that I've been modeling (my own
version) Direnni Tower. I've pretty much got the exterior done, and am
currently working on the main room of the interior.
I recently had a romp around the place in TES2 and realise that the
size of the dungeon is probably too large and confusing for an Oblivion
mod. In fact, since the world and character scale of TES2 vs TESIV are
so different, I doubt a literal translation of the dungeon would even
be workable. TESIV characters and beasties require much more elbow room
than their TES2 counterparts. So I think the dungeon probably has to be
changed in some aspects.
From my own experience, I reckon this dungeon alone will take me at
least 2 years to complete. That's because real life gets in the way:
full-time jobs, moving houses/cities/countries etc, etc.
I sent a PM to Braggi explaining that instead of modding for Oblivion
today, I feel that I at least, (and maybe you too) should be modding
for TESV.
Whatever and whenever that will be.
Nevertheless I thought i'd share with you my Direnni Tower, as it is
currently. Maybe it will be placed in your High Rock who knows?
Direnni Tower, have a look at Direnni Tower Exterior, and Direnni Tower Interior.
Let me know what you think.
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2008.10.01 21:48 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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Welcome jman0war!
Very glad to see you dropped by. I just looked over your screens.
Amazing - just as with Privateers Hold, you managed to keep the look
and feel of TES2 without its limitations. Brilliant!
Regarding the scope of the mod, we want to do the province as it would
be during the Oblivion crisis. That means a lot of updating and
research to get things in line with changes created in game by the
events of TES2 and the Warp in the West, as well as extrapolating what
the eastern half of High Rock is like, since it was not detailed in
TES2 or any other game so far.
A couple of questions, if I may:
1. By the size of the dungeon are you referring to the interior
shot you have posted or the dungeon as a whole? (If it is the latter, I
can definitely agree with you - all the TES2 dungeons were complex and
elaborate in layout and Direnni was no exception.)
2. How long did it take you to get the project you have to it's
current state? By this, I'm referring to not just the 3D work you did
on the building, but also the worldspace it is in as well.
3. If you like what we we are doing, would you have any
objection to my adding this series of posts to the Adamantine Tower
thread in the Visual Discussions forum (located here).
You are well past the initial concept stage in your work and I am blown
away by it. We also have a concept thread started on the Lore aspects
of Direnni Tower as well, which is here if you are interested.
Based on what I've seen here, and my personal experience in playing
through Privateer's Hold for TES3, I know your work is excellent,
detailed and faithful to the original. No matter what you decide about
this mod, let me take a moment that thank you and your co-creator
ManaUser for bringing Privateer's to Morrowind. It gave me chills to
adventure through it again.
Thank you again for taking the time to drop in and let us see your work. Very much appreciated!
__________________
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2008.10.01 22:30 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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TYOB:
You couldn't know this since it hasn't been mentioned anywhere, however
jman0war had mentioned exactly the same thing when I first inquired
about the possibility of redo-ing Privateer's Hold in High Rock some
months back. We originally contacted him about the Hold in 2006, right
before the time where Gyssar and I got pulled away. He was good enough
to drop by today in response to a PM I sent him a day or two ago, two
years after our very first request, even though I know he has limited
internet connectivity due to a recent move.
Everyone:
Jman0war indicated that it would require some work and time to get
things done the right way for Oblivion and that he knows the models
need updating, assuming he was to do it again. At the moment, I know he
is too busy to commit and I respect his honesty while encouraging his
interest.
Personally, I'm hoping that he is willing to invest the time and effort
down the road, especially given that he has co-authored and put out a
high quality mod already. It's obvious that he and ManaUser are both
willing and patient enough to do what needs to be done to get get
quality results. The more the merrier.
If he is interested at some future point (and assuming that it is still
open), what would the rest of you say to the possibility of giving him
Balfiera as a development location? I have not made this offer to him
at any point yet, for the following reasons:
1. I only became aware of his desire to create a Balfiera mod today after reading his post.
2. He is currently in transition offline and that's something that can't be rushed.
3. He has not indicated an overriding desire to join the modding
effort at this point, but he is willing to advise us on what he did and
how he did it. Although there are differences between the TES3 and 4
construction sets, there are enough similarities for his experience to
be very helpful.
Whatever the level of his interest in High Rock, if the desire to help
us create is there, I would like to encourage it, just as we have with
Tabber in Wayrest, Deeza in Orsinium and TYOB in Shornhelm. After that,
the rest us up to jman0war.
Thoughts?
__________________
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2008.10.02 00:55 |
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The Old Ye Bard
Princess
Registration Date: 2006.05.25
Posts: 3,663
Location: Post-Feminism
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| quote: |
Originally posted by Braggi
TYOB: You couldn't know this since it hasn't been mentioned
anywhere, however jman0war had mentioned exactly the same thing when I
first inquired about the possibility of redo-ing Privateer's Hold in
High Rock some months back. We originally contacted him about the Hold
in 2006, right before the time where Gyssar and I got pulled away. He
was good enough to drop by today in response to a PM I sent him a day
or two ago, two years after our very first request, even though I know
he has limited internet connectivity due to a recent move.
Everyone:
Jman0war indicated that it would require some work and time to get
things done the right way for Oblivion and that he knows the models
need updating, assuming he was to do it again. At the moment, I know he
is too busy to commit and I respect his honesty while encouraging his
interest.
Personally, I'm hoping that he is willing to invest the time and effort
down the road, especially given that he has co-authored and put out a
high quality mod already. It's obvious that he and ManaUser are both
willing and patient enough to do what needs to be done to get get
quality results. The more the merrier.
If he is interested at some future point (and assuming that it is still
open), what would the rest of you say to the possibility of giving him
Balfiera as a development location? I have not made this offer to him
at any point yet, for the following reasons:
1. I only became aware of his desire to create a Balfiera mod today after reading his post.
2. He is currently in transition offline and that's something that can't be rushed.
3. He has not indicated an overriding desire to join the modding
effort at this point, but he is willing to advise us on what he did and
how he did it. Although there are differences between the TES3 and 4
construction sets, there are enough similarities for his experience to
be very helpful.
Whatever the level of his interest in High Rock, if the desire to help
us create is there, I would like to encourage it, just as we have with
Tabber in Wayrest, Deeza in Orsinium and TYOB in Shornhelm. After that,
the rest us up to jman0war.
Thoughts? |
I can know because the link he posted had screenshots of the models 
lol
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2008.10.02 01:32 |
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jman0war
Associate
Registration Date: 2008.08.29
Posts: 3
Location: ireland
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| quote: |
Braggi.
1. By the size of the dungeon are you referring to the interior shot
you have posted or the dungeon as a whole? (If it is the latter, I can
definitely agree with you - all the TES2 dungeons were complex and
elaborate in layout and Direnni was no exception.) |
I was referring to the dungeon as a whole.
| quote: |
Braggi
2. How long did it take you to get the project you have to it's current
state? By this, I'm referring to not just the 3D work you did on the
building, but also the worldspace it is in as well. |
Well, firstly I modeled the exterior, that probably took a week.
However I was trying different building designs initially for a month.
Originally I had in mind an Oblivion mod, but also was eager to
experiment in this new program I was trying (Vue); so I experimented
with landscape, texturing the tower and animation. The idea was to have
an animation sequence involving the tower. This dragged out for a
number of months and I wasn't satisfied with my results. The project
took a back seat for about a year.
Then I started the interior and that's been through some design changes
as well of course. Plus it's taking longer than I thought. The interior
so far, has probably taken several months.
I'm really designing as I model, I don't use a concept sketch.
Also i've made some modeling desicions which are poor in hindsight, but I have soldiered on as going back seems to labourious.
| quote: |
Braggi
3. If you like what we we are doing, would you have any objection to my
adding this series of posts to the Adamantine Tower thread in the
Visual Discussions forum (located here). You are well past the initial
concept stage in your work and I am blown away by it. We also have a
concept thread started on the Lore aspects of Direnni Tower as well,
which is here if you are interested. |
I don't mind at all.
| quote: |
Deeza
Are the Privateer's Hold assets for Morrowind entirely of your own design? |
Entirely mine, yes.
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2008.10.02 19:27 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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Jman0war:
Regarding my first question, we are planning on redoing the interior of
Direnni Tower from scratch. Direnni tower and Balfiera Isle have an
important role to play in both the main quest and a couple of side
quests as well, so we will tailor it to the needs of the mod.
I must admit, I'd personally like to use your initial idea for the
interior of the central tower as a basis to work from - there are
enough exits from it to give us lots of floors and side areas to suit
our needs.
Also, that particular design reminds me of one of the main quest
dungeons from TES3, the Urshilaku Burial Caverns, where you recover the
Bone-Biter Bow for Sul-Matuul. One of the caverns is arranged around a
central rock spire with a path that winds it's way upwards. "Landings"
off the path at various points that give access to different
sub-caverns. (That is a personal favorite of mine, in fact. I hate
heights and that cavern certainly hit me on that button, which in turn
adds added excitement and enjoyment to the adventure for me.)
Thank you for permission to add this series to the Tower Adamantia
thread. I'll be doing that a little later today, which will also allow
this post to get back to it's core topic.
__________________
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2008.10.03 23:38 |
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Tower Adamantia
