 Shornhelm |
Deeza
Editor
Registration Date: 2008.06.03
Posts: 1,066
Location: Procrastination
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Very nice work, and very fast, too.
Keep it up!
By the way, I've written a little book for you, about the ancient
origins of the city of Shornhelm. It also contains a possible
explanation for its name and a quest for a lost artefact. I hope you
like it!
Ulfgar Shornhelm, His Life and Legacy
The origins of the modern Breton city of Shornhelm can be traced
long back past its partisanship in the War of the Red Diamond and
subsequent Imperial Rulers, back even past the Direnni who made it
their bastion in central High Rock. For city is named, bizarrely, after
neither a Breton, nor Direnni, but a Nord.
The present location of Shornhelm marked, for many years, the furthest
reach inland of any Nordic incursion into the former Direnni Hegemony.
Following the incorporation of the West Reach as a Hold of Skyrim, many
young, ambitious Nordic heroes sought to follow its example and
liberate more of High Rock from the Elves, leading to the foundation of
the coastal towns of Northpoint, Daggerfall and many others. But the
most successful of these was the brave but impetuous Ulfgar Beornsson,
who was famed for having never worn armour in battle, afraid that he
would appear less courageous than his men, many of whom were poor and
lacked armour.
In the year 1E 247, Ulfgar took ten ships and with six hundred men
crossed the Gulf of Mafre Mori and made landfall at the furthest point
south (up to that point) that any had dared penetrate into the interior
of High Rock. The area around his beachhead fell without incident, and
though many of his men were satisfied with claiming the new lands,
Ulfgar had grander ambitions, and struck out inland, seeking to drive
the Elves out of the whole Horn of High Rock.
But his rash decision did what no other Nordic raid had done, and
provoked the full fury of the Direnni. A large army massed to meet
Ulfgar's force - but this was a mere distraction. In secret, the Elves
sent skilled archers to assassinate the Nord hero and cut off the
leadership of his army at the crucial moment.
Luckily for Ulfgar, his friends were intelligent, and suspected as
much. They begged him to wear armour, so as to at least lessen the
risk. But he ignored them, until at last he made the small concession
of wearing a simple helmet. Just as his friends had thought, as battle
commenced, a High Elf hidden in a tree by the battlefield fired off a
shot at Ulfgar.
But as luck would have it, the arrow hit his helmet, with such force
that it broke into two pieces. Ulfgar survived with only a head wound,
and threw his axe up into the tree with deadly accuracy, bringing down
his attacker. Shaken by the experience, he always wore full armour
thereafter, even whilst sleeping, and his men, having witnessed the
incident, always referred to him as Ulfgar "Shornhelm".
Close to the site of the battle, Ulfgar founded a new settlement, which
was eventually named from his nickname. His descendents ruled it for
several generations, and though the city was eventually retaken and
fortified by the Dirennis, Ulfgar remained a folk hero to the oppressed
Bretons of the area in the centuries that followed.
The rediscovery of his legendary broken helmet by the local noble and
amateur archaeologist Lady Nelawyn in the year 1E 502 was of major
significance, as it provided the final rallying call amongst the
peasantry for the last attack on Castle Gedris (now Castle Shornhelm)
that broke the Direnni hold on the city. Unfortunately, it is long
since lost in the tumultuous centuries that followed.
Perhaps your paranoid Septim ruler wants to recover the helmet,
thinking it a protective talisman against assassination which will
improve his popularity with his people? He has some records from the
Royal Archives about what happened to it, and wants the player to
investigate? This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Deeza: 2008.10.01 13:16.
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2008.10.01 13:13 |
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The Old Ye Bard
Princess
Registration Date: 2006.05.25
Posts: 3,663
Location: Post-Feminism
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2008.10.01 13:57 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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A resource ESM will arrive when I can find someone to help me get the
resources compiled! I have actually posted a claim on getting this
started - compiling the monsters as a first run. We have several
creatures that need development as well and we need to start getting
the other mods listed on the Resources post put together.
I can try to get some of that done, but I am a bit swamped at the
moment. The forums are a big job and it will only get worse for a while
- aside from what already needs to go into the CS, when Gyssar get the
height map done, I'm going to be helping him get it into the CS and
then we start removing the various flaws that will inevitably show up
in the landscape. After that we have to start getting globals sorted
out - weather patterns, land textures, regions and so on.
(So much for my copious spare time.)
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2008.10.01 14:11 |
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Deeza
Editor
Registration Date: 2008.06.03
Posts: 1,066
Location: Procrastination
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Why not ask Ja'Ka'Jay? She appears to be an expert on asset merging
matters, and could maybe point to a good tutorial or two. |
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2008.10.01 14:20 |
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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
A resource ESM will arrive when I can find someone to help me get the
resources compiled! I have actually posted a claim on getting this
started - compiling the monsters as a first run. We have several
creatures that need development as well and we need to start getting
the other mods listed on the Resources post put together.
I can try to get some of that done, but I am a bit swamped at the
moment. The forums are a big job and it will only get worse for a while
- aside from what already needs to go into the CS, when Gyssar get the
height map done, I'm going to be helping him get it into the CS and
then we start removing the various flaws that will inevitably show up
in the landscape. After that we have to start getting globals sorted
out - weather patterns, land textures, regions and so on.
(So much for my copious spare time.)
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Architecture should come before any other type of modeling right now,
and I may be able to put together the .esm file, if I can find the time.
For the Heightmap, I suggest getting it made via photoshop, so you can
acurately get the coasts, mountain ranges, etc, then using Lightwave's
utilties import it into Oblivion 
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2008.10.01 14:21 |
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The Old Ye Bard
Princess
Registration Date: 2006.05.25
Posts: 3,663
Location: Post-Feminism
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Okay, well with further development on the visual side, it seemed appropriate for some more Lore Development.
The population in Shornhelm is mainly Bretons, Nords, and Dirreni High
Elves. After Shornhelm was granted to the Andorak's, the Dirreni
quickly swooped in and began purchasing land, being able to thrive
under the Imperial Wealth brought to the city by the Andoraks, however
this quickly brought down the local Bretons and Nords and many were
forced into poverty by the political change, and the sudden influx of
Elves in the city.
Most of the oringinal culture of Shornhelm lies lost, the current
Andorak Septims having no love of its history or diveristy, preferring
to keep close with Imperial Traditions, and those of the Dirreni, as
such most of the Court of Shornhelm is made up of Elves, and those in
good diplomatic standing with the Empire; that is to say those who have
power or money.
When one walks through the city, it becomes quickly apparent at the
differnces, on the South Western side of the city one notices tall
hedges, kept finely trimmed, remiscent of the gardening prowess found
in Summurset, with large spacious manors & estates behind them,
when one travels towards the center of the city, one tends to notice a
decline in any such richness, shops closely packed together, some
struggling to stay open, yet others prospering, catering to the tastes
of the Dirreni. Further east, and one finds themselves in an overgrown
part of the city, almost if it were a park, however unkept, and spoiled
by run down cottages owned by the poor and those wishing to stay
unseen; however it is here were the true culture of Shornhelm lays,
traditions kept alive by those of Breto-Skaldic descent, a culture
similar to those found in Skyrim, and amongst the Reachmen. It is even
rumored that the oringinal descents of Shornhelm still live among these
people.
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2008.10.02 08:37 |
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Deeza
Editor
Registration Date: 2008.06.03
Posts: 1,066
Location: Procrastination
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Sounds good. It's definitely the only place in High Rock where there
reasonably could be some powerful elves (the Breton nobility really
hate them and would never let them get a look in elsewhere). Perhaps,
although they imitate the Altmer in their dress and style of houses,
there is a constant power struggle at court between the wealthy Breton
merchant nobles, and the poorer (but more cultured and refined) High
Elves?
(Most of the High Elves probably don't do much work, and owe their
position to inheritance, whereas the Bretons in the city have done it
by more recent merchant activities and sucking up to the Empire,
causing a natural resentment between the two.) |
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2008.10.03 14:36 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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Sorry for the quiet day there folks. Had a bery busy time off line and
was unable to get free to continue here. Let me fix that by answering
each of you:
Deeza:
Regarding the resource ESM, I can likely merge things well enough using
TESGecko. I've done some merging already for my personal mod collection
with excellent results. However, I certainly won't turn my nose up at
information on how to make the process both smoother and easier!
The main problem that we'll face in merging the resources is trying to
make certain unnecessary stuff doesn't "come along for the ride" so to
speak. A number of the resources mod oblivion directly, adding in new
items/locations to Cyrodiil and we'll want to leave those parts out.
TYOB:
As far as development goes, I like what you are doing for Shornhelm,
both in terms of visuals and Lore. Please keep right on developing Lore
as your creativity directs and time permits.
Once you hit a point where you have enough information please put it
into an omnibus entry for the city. That way, we'll have everything in
one place for development reference, right across the mod.
In fact, if you would like and once the omnibus is done, I'll happily
add it to the initial entry for the thread to make it easy to find.
This is a method I'd like to use for all of the cities as we go, so
that quest modders and so forth have an easy reference right at their
fingertips.
Finally, regarding an ESM, please do put that together and keep it
handy. At some point we are going to have a file server ready - in
fact, I happen to know that Gyssar is at work on that aspect right now
(along with the HM) and is looking to get some preliminary tests done
on it in the very near future. Once that server is up and reliably
configured, you will be able to log in to it, upload any items you want
to share for safekeeping and edit or alter them as you like, should a
design change or a new idea come along in the future. This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Braggi: 2008.10.04 00:20.
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2008.10.03 22:42 |
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The Old Ye Bard
Princess
Registration Date: 2006.05.25
Posts: 3,663
Location: Post-Feminism
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Sweet
Well more on the lore development:
Shornhelm, isn't going to have snow in it. This is based on the description of the terrain around it in The Sage, as being rocky highlands, so it's out of the snow line, yet still cold.
Secondly, Shornhelm needs a knightly order, and I think the name
'Knights of the Helm' would be a nice name, though it's open to change.
These knights would be mostly bretons and nords, and slightly more
wealthy then the standard orders, having stronger finiancial backing
(from the Andorak Septims) than what is normal. They routinely go
throughout the kingdom enforcing the law, and upholding the nine
divines (opposed to the Eight divines, the andorak septims converted
the order). In the time of the oblivion crysis, they are routinely
closing the gates (which are more severe around Shornhelm, with a great
gate only just being closed once). The 'Shornhelm' helm of the
oringinal king of Shornhelm is an artifact they revere, and they go on
searches for it across Highrock (grail quest-esque), which will relate
to the rulers quest where you present the Helm to the king, and he
passes it on to the Knight for safe keeping, and you are then inducted
into the Knightly Order.
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2008.10.04 00:04 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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Yes, I think Knights of the Helm is a great name for the order. It is
not on the list of previously created Knightly Orders from Lore, so
that gives you a wide open field to play with. If you'd care to develop
the order a bit more (heraldry, principles and so on) that would be
good preliminary information to add.
I really like the way you are working in the "Shorn Helm" idea too. Any
thoughts on the game properties and visual look of the helm to play
with in creating the artifact in the CS?
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2008.10.04 00:26 |
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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
Yes, I think Knights of the Helm is a great name for the order. It is
not on the list of previously created Knightly Orders from Lore, so
that gives you a wide open field to play with. If you'd care to develop
the order a bit more (heraldry, principles and so on) that would be
good preliminary information to add.
I really like the way you are working in the "Shorn Helm" idea too. Any
thoughts on the game properties and visual look of the helm to play
with in creating the artifact in the CS? |
I'm thinking a very ceremonial look, so much so it might
even look abit silly being worn (and impractical), lots of gold
finishings, things inscribed into it, etc, but all of that extra stuff
being built upon an allready present silver helm (what it would have
oringinally been). In the this way, I think it would look far more
ceremonial and give it a 'holy artifact' look to it.
The heraldry would be very similar to Shornhelm's(the city) own, seeing as they very closely intertwinned.
Heraldy of the city:
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by The Old Ye Bard: 2008.11.21 23:54.
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2008.10.04 00:31 |
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Braggi
Seigneur
Registration Date: 2006.09.23
Posts: 287
Location: B.C. Canada
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Can you give me the quote or location for that reference? I know Arena
pretty well and can fire it up instantly on my legacy system if it is
something from in-game. I don't remember running into that particular
reference - I'm not doubting - just want to see the quote for mining
potential in terms of Lore.
If we can nail this one down, it could have some great spin-off
potential for developing the Crypt of Heats once we get to that point.
And, I love the Heraldry for Shornhelm. I'd very much like to add it to the Heraldry thread in the Concept Art subforum, with your permission.
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2008.10.04 04:15 |
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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
Excellent find! I had encountered this before, but missed the reference when I went though it.
So, that returns us to your question - what is the connection between
the Crypt and Shornhelm? There is very little Lore on the Crypt itself,
that I know of. Thus, if we can locate some other solid information on
the location, aside from what we know from the actualy dungeon in TES1,
we can really give the city some background and continuity. |
Well, it could have been that they built it as a crypt for their dead,
and hence they have no graveyards in the city, over time it grew to a
grand size, and other kingdoms also used it, as such it became quite a
significant place to the people around it (e.g. all the rulers would
have their own crypts there, etc). However, beacuse it is so vast, with
sub-crypts in the grounds, Necromancers can often be found in some of
the more forgotten and over looked Tombs and Crypts, so it is unwise to
venture to deep.
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2008.10.04 04:46 |
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