[WIPz] No name yet

[Jiggle]

Hey everybody, I am new to the site and have just kinda been lurking around, but figured I'd post this to see if you guys had any thoughts on it.

In oblivion, you read alot of books that talk about mages researching daedra, summoning them to interveiew them, or just researching things in general. You also hear mages at the arcane university discussing those exact things (actually thats about all they talk about...boring bunch...). But the closest the player ever comes to researching anything is in the mages guild quest: Vahtacen's Secret, in which you don't really research anything, you more just solve a ridiculously easy "puzzle". After the puzzle is solved you then return to being a grunt/delivery boy.

I want to change that, at least with my own quest/roleplaying mod.

The Ayleids once ruled over Cyrdiil and were supposed masters of magic, but yet all of this knowledge has simply disappeared. Or has it? Why can't the player, while exploring ancient Ayleid ruins find fragments of lost knowledge here and there? Perhaps an old stone fragment with scratchings on it, or an old statue, or maybe even a tomb full of ancient writings. There welkynd and varla stones have survived in place all these years, why wouldn't the rest as well?

In, Secrets of the Ayleids, we see first hand that knowledge of Ayleid magic can be a very dangerous thing so why can't the player strive to control that power?

Basically my idea is to add little bits of lore and info here and there, allow the player to find these and collect them. The majority would be relatively useless, being nothing more then art or stories, but others being the keys needed to unlock Ayleid magic. The mod would start out freeform, just kinda of operating in the background as the player explored and found fragments, but after the player fulfilled certain requirements the actual quest would appear and lead the player on a journey or something, haven't gotten that far yet...

But the basic idea being that a person could RP a historian or a true researcher of magic that actually had to use there brain and consisted of more then just staring at a plain old Ayleid wall or just casting spells. And add a goal of trying to learn the secrets of Ayleid magic.

I apologize for the very likely horrendous grammar, when I start typing I tend to ramble on with little regard to correct...anything...

So...what do you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Any ideas or input? It probably won't appeal to the masses, but I think appealing to them in the first place was the problem.

Edit: BTW, how do you type in the shout box? I feel like an idiot asking, but I cannot figure it out.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Jiggle

[Hanaisse]

You'll be able to play in the shoutbox after 3 posts.

This sounds like a really interesting idea (even though I don't play mages), something along the lines of The Lost Spires. Hopefully it won't just be go to different ruins and find such-and-such.

What exactly would be the end result of this quest?

And welcome to TESA! Have a !

[EruditeDragon]

Oooh... I like it a lot! It always saddened me that you found so little about the Ayleids. That, and for all their supposed magical prowess, there was all of one spell of Ayleid origin you could lern (Finger of the Mountain).

Good luck on this project!

[Jiggle]

You'll be able to play in the shoutbox after 3 posts.

This sounds like a really interesting idea (even though I don't play mages), something along the lines of The Lost Spires. Hopefully it won't just be go to different ruins and find such-and-such.

What exactly would be the end result of this quest?

And welcome to TESA! Have a !

Ah figured about the shout box, makes sense, and yay a cookie!

I really enjoyed the lost spires, but I had the same problem there, you were a grunt who carried objects back n forth. And you didn't have to really use your brain either.

But basically it would start out completely free-form. Forcing the player to just explore ruins as they normally would, but actively searching for anything that could progress there research into Ayleid magic. No journal quest to guide them, just little bits here and there that when enough have been gathered could form a picture as to what they need to do next.

Perhaps a ritual would have to be preformed, or something along those lines. All the details of what needed to be done to progress would be found in the bits of info gathered from ruins. The ritual would start an actual journal quest and from there it'd be fairly linear as you progressed towards some goal.

I am still figuring alot out if you can't tell

Edited January 14, 2011 by Jiggle

[Lanceor]

I like the idea too! The modders and players that hang around here tend to be a bit more mature (most of them anyway ) and appreciate well thought-out, intelligent mods more than the kids who see quests as excuses to kill things.

If you're going to make a mod that requires even a little brainpower, make sure you have a walkthrough ready to upload. It will save your sanity when you start getting bombarded with questions like "wherez d kvatch oblivion gate? 2 hard 2 find!!!!!!"

I've been researching the dawn of the Alessian Empire for an upcoming mod and found that there's very little concrete information. I think Bethesda left it that way on purpose so that they can retcon anything at any time.

If you haven't already, check out "The Ayleid Steps". Anyone who's interested in your concept will probably have The Ayleid Steps already installed so this is one mod that you don't want to have conflicts with, mod or lore wise. The author would probably also love it if you expanded on his/her material.

Oh BTW, welcome to TESA and have a .

[Jiggle]

That is actually the exact problem I have been running into. I don't mind have room to create new ideas and lore, but with so little to go off I feel like I would just be making things up as I go. Which I suppose isn't exactly a bad thing.

I think I refer quite a bit to mods that have added there own lore to the Ayleids, as the majority, especially lost spires, would have had a major impact on the Ayleids history.

As for the Ayleid steps...I was looking back on the mod page to see if it had updated...any I don't think I ever completely finished the quest lol...may have to go and give that a go to make sure I understand it all.

It could be cool to maybe add some "bonus" material in Ayleid Step exclusive ruins, I have to admit it was exciting to activate one and have no idea where you'd end up.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Jiggle

[Lady_Nerevar]

From what little I know of the Lost Spires, its hardly lore-correct. I suppose its OK for another mod to reference its lore, but players who have not LS for some reason might get confused.

Personally, I think the idea sounds good. I've always felt that lore research was missing from the Mage's Guild and the game in general.

I'm here, BSF, and TIL for lore help if you need it

[edit] Found this map I made a while back, it might be useful.

[Jiggle]

From what little I know of the Lost Spires, its hardly lore-correct. I suppose its OK for another mod to reference its lore, but players who have not LS for some reason might get confused.

Personally, I think the idea sounds good. I've always felt that lore research was missing from the Mage's Guild and the game in general.

I'm here, BSF, and TIL for lore help if you need it

[edit] Found this map I made a while back, it might be useful.

The references would be very unspecific and cryptic when reading it, so basically if you hadn't played LS or Aylied steps, it would mean nothing. I wouldn't want to give away anything in either mod from something someone found in my mod.

As for the map...wow. Seriously wow, I looked at that and my head about exploded from ideas pouring in. Where did you find specific locations like that? Simply from references in books and out of game lore? I obviously need to expand a tad from the wiki...

[Lady_Nerevar]

I believe all the locations are from the Songs of Pelinal. There are actually a few ruins mentioned in lore that are missing from the map, I'll see if I can make a more complete version.