Modding enthusiasm indeed!! Sounds like a hefty project you have planned.
My very first post on the Bethesda Forums site was me announcing to the community I was going to create a mod called "Oblivion 2". It would seamlessly link together all the big mods for Oblivion in one big story and include various "fun" mods by fitting them into the lore, I would organise voice talent to voice them all and handpick graphical mods to get the feel right, then assemble a massive soundtrack from all the best community submissions. I would then put it on multiple installation disks to be mass produced and distributed for free, in custom DVD cases with their own, re-written manuals for all the new content. I planned to do this despite only opening the CK once, and running Oblivion on low settings with emulated hardware... on a six year old... macbook.
I'd like to say I was joking, but this genuinely was how I introduced myself to the mod community The forum at large reached through the computer screen, lifted me from my comfy safe chair, and carried me away to be burned at the stake in the greatest flame thread known to man. Three of my modding heroes (including Hex, the awesome guy behind Unnecessary Violence) who's mods I loved and wanted to include personally (and rightfully) tore me a new one. Bearing in mind that these guys were like mythical beings of greatness to me, it felt like the gods themselves had at last stepped down from heaven, only to smite with the thunderous rage of zeus before returning to their lofty palace in the clouds.
To cut a long rambling story short, I took my burned, shrivelled self here, a place of comparable peace and sanctuary, to learn the ways of the modder in the same way a down-on-his-luck stockbroker might shave head his head and travel to the mountains to start his new life as a buddhist monk. I did as you are doing now- set about learning what I would need to know with my end goal in mind. Along the way I found myself distracted by new ideas though, and ended up working on and finishing a multitude of projects, the last of which was second place for file of the month! (losing, of course, to a big boobie mod). I never really let go of Oblivion 2 in my mind along the way until Skyrim came out, by which point I had realised everybody makes their own Oblivion 2 anyway when they mod their games, and I was simply forcing my own preferences on others.
What I'm trying to say is this: Hanassie is definitely right when she warns about over facing yourself. You have made a thread asking enough questions to keep the modding equivilant of The Justice League busy for a few days, and the thread is called "Newbie Questions"! It's clear you have a lot of experience with modelling and texturing and would probably find it easy to adapt those skills to work with the creation kit in no time, and your idea is nowhere near as far fetched as mine was, but your planning to do the sort of thing that 7 paid professionals might do for a job in your spare time.
My advice however, is definitely not to abandon the project, or even put it aside 'for now". Throw yourself at it, make lists of every skill you will need to learn, divide it into manageable sections, and don't be put off if you fail a thousand times if you have succeeded even once. Be as uncompromising as you like, but allow yourself to be distracted. If you are working on talking animals, and figure it out, and make a cool talking rabbit companion, why not turn that into something stand-alone? If you were working on one thing, and you start experimenting and it kind of turns into another thing, thats fine; see where it goes and release it, because it's all experience. It will feel great getting something done, which is MUCH needed when your sat working on the same thing for months at a time with no relief; I've been working on the same mod for a year now, and it feels awful just looking at the thing because i've not had the reward of releasing something and finishing it and being proud of it in so long. Don't be disappointed in yourself if you find your mind wandering or you need to take a break; it's not settling for less, it's being open minded!
Whatever the case though, don't ever lose the "modding enthusiasm" that makes you charge headfirst into things you have no idea about. As soon as you realise you have a comfort zone, smash it to bits and run as fast as you can! Sometimes, the only way to get anywhere in modding is running off the edge of a cliff wondering if you can fly or not, even if it means learning to do so from the rocks below. Or in my case, arrogantly stumbling off a cliff and flapping for 3 years until everyone had stopped throwing pitchforks at me
As for practical advice with your problems, I know you came here for quick advice, but I would warn you away from trying to find fast solutions. (Sorry, If someone said that to me when I was looking for help I know I'd want to eat their face.) Instead, look for help finding your own solution. For example, I know there are several tutorials on how to get talking animals working that tell you exactly what buttons to press and what boxes to tick. However, as soon as you want to do something NOT covered by the tutorial, you have no knowledge to fall back on. (this happened to me many, many times ) Start by looking at the animal companions that use the dialogue system that are already in the game- like that talking dog from the deadric quest. See what boxes are ticked and what scripts are used, then search them in the creation kit wiki. Thats not to say that asking for help is bad, and I'm not at all being snidey; this place is here so everyone can help eachother and share their experience, and I'm always asking for help here when I'm stuck on something! I just found that the more I poked around for myself and investigated, the less questions I had to ask, and the faster I solved things in the future.
Anyway, enough rambling about things. Good luck with your project, and I hope you have as much fun as I did learning the ropes! I hope I haven't said anything to discourage you, that wasn't my intention. You certainly came to the right place- I tell everyone that listens that the alliance is the best place to learn, not only from the enclave, but just from talking to all the great modders here!
Mysterious Mr. Bear :D
PS: A tip for a new user of the CK: The CK is not your friend. Don't trust that thing with a dime. The CK isn't your noble steed, the CK is a starved, rabid mountain lion you are trying to ride to glory. If you aren't constantly asserting your dominance to this thing like an emotionally insecure high school jock, it will turn your beautiful creation into an inside out, back to front, upside down husk of a Friendship Is Magic conversion mod. Seriously, if something isn't working, consider ANYTHING to be the culprit, even if it seems impossible. Your NPC hasn't arrived at the destination: is it the package? Is it the pathgrid? Is a door accidently locked? Is he scripted? Do you have another mod overwiting your changes? Do you need to try with a clean save? (some changes, especially with activators, don't take place until you start a new game). To misquote Sherlock Holmes: When every possibility is exhausted, consider the impossible.