Morrowind: The Legend of St. Jiub

[STAVIUS]

The Legend of St. Jiub

In the east of Skyrim, an old, wizardly scholar sits alone, researching and scribing the histories of nations near and far. Not just any history, but the history of the people. The Dovahkiin is invited not only to hear the tale of one such person, but to experience it by their eyes. The scholar allows the Dovahkiin to step 200 years backwards, into the shoes of a Dark Elf whose tale was never told.

 

After the Nerevarine left for Akavir, and before the Champion of Cyrodiil left the Imperial prison, there was another hero. A hero who served neither kings nor gods, but the people. His people. The people of Vvardenfell. For hundreds of years after, people would celebrate his life and victories, for he was known for vanquishing a most vile foe, and driving them from Vvardenfell forever. Often credited for helping the Nerevarine begin their quest on a prison ship outside Seyda Neen, 3E 427, his greatest accomplishment, his life's purpose, was driving the Cliff Racers from Vvardenfell. That story has never been told, until now. The Legend of Jiub.

 

Time period:

This mod starts by the player meeting a scholar who tells the tail of Jiub, then allowing the player to magically experience the tale, and is sent back in time to the year 3E 429 to experience it as Jiub, the dark elf.

 

The mod starts two years after the Nerevarine leaves the prison ship, and as the prison ship left Seyda Neen, Jiub's future was not certain. Through bureaucratic error, Jiub is confined to the ship and not allowed to leave. He befriends the guards and slow gains their trust, becoming a well-respected seafarer. He sails between Seyda Neen and Blacklight, near the border of Skyrim, making the round-trip journey once every 3 months.

 

He's docked in Khuul for the night with his crew. Suddenly, disaster strikes in the form of huge Cliff Racers, and Jiub is the only one left alive. He swims to shore and vows, just as Cliff Racers took his family and home from him, he would not rest until the Cliff Racers were driven away forever.

 

Locale:

This mod takes place on the entire island of Vvardenfell, after the Nerevarine has killed Dagoth Ur, the Ghost Gate has been disabled, and the Tribunal is gone.

 

Imperial influence has begun to grow on Vvardenfell, but also has the prosperity of its people. No longer does the fear of Blight disease or corprus threaten the people. The Great Houses, recently united under the Nerevarine, have an uneasy truce as they vow to not allow the Empire to dominate their influence and culture. Slavery is legal, but starting to cave under the pressure of the Twin Lamps, and Imperial influence. Khajit have become influential members of society, but Argonians seem to be slowly leaving Vvardenfell for Black Marsh, as if called.

 

Daedra worshippers and wild beasts have flourished without the Blight poisoning the land. Many areas that were formerly ash-covered have slowly begun to show signs of life.

 

The mainland and island of Solstheim will not be included in the initial release of this mod.

Main Quest:

The Main Quest is Jiub defending the cities of Vvardenfell from Cliff Racer attacks, then seeking out their brood leader and driving them away from Vvardenfell once and for all.

 

The factions from Morrowind will be present, but Jiub's relationship with them will be very limited. New factions will be present for the player to join.

 

The player will earn fame primarily from the main quest and miscellaneous quests.

 

New factions include: Smugglers, Seafarers, Pearl-divers, and most importantly the Pikesmen, a faction devoted to killing Cliff Racers. (suggestions for additional factions include: The Mythic Dawn, the Twin Lamps)

Notes:

Our team is lacking someone with experience making advanced creature models and animations. If you are interested, please contact with examples at [email protected]

 

Current team:

Stavius

Nefnoj

 

Contributors:

Vurt (trees, giant mushrooms)

Nedius (plants, ingredients)

 

Original post hidden, click show to view:

 

 

Hello fellow modders!

 

My team and I were working on a full conversion of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind using the Skyrim engine (http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/467652-the-elder-scrolls-moon-and-star/), but after players and modders alike began to disagree as to the legality of such a mod, and after I was unable to receive comment from Bethesda confirming or denying the legal plausibility of the venture, we decided to put our project on hold until a verdict could be reached. And we have decided!

 

We are pushing forward to create a version of Morrowind that is faithful to the period 200 years before the events of Skyrim, during the time of the Neravarine, but with a different story in mind: the story of Jiub.

 

For those that do not remember, Jiub is the dark elf who woke up the player's character at the beginning of Morrowind. After that, he isn't heard of again until Oblivion, where the players are informed that Jiub is considered a saint who saved Morrowind from the worst of all pestilence: cliff racers.

 

I now propose that we make an entirely new adventure based on the character of Jiub, who remains prisoner through the storyline of Morrowind, but is released between the events of Morrowind and Oblivion, and begins his journey to become the dark elf who drove the cliff racers out of Morrowind. This adventure will be solely one linear quest set on the island of Vvardenfell, and perhaps Solstheim, with miscellaneous quests from the people living there. We do not yet know if we shall include any factions into this mod, but they may be added later.

 

In addition to the announcement of this mod, this is also an open call to those who can assist with modelling, world forming, and voice acting. We have a few voice actors, a modeler, a texturer, and someone very familiar with how to use simple scripts and dynamic quest creation within the Creation Kit, but we will need an advanced scripter, someone familiar with animating models and making anything other than basic 3D models, and additional modders who can donate time and talent to truly bring justice to the hero who is Jiub.

 

Anyone who can, and wants to help, is welcome to contact me at

[email protected]

add me on steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/stavius

 

Please post your ideas, comments, suggestions, and questions below!

 

~~~

 

The island of Vvardenfell will be familiar to those who played Morrowind, but distinct in a few key ways.

The Blight is gone! There's a sudden influx of visitors, trade is booming, and the cities and towns have been flooded with new inhabitants. Some of the original inhabitants will be gone; the Nerevarine has long left, the Tribunal is gone, the temple slowly losing influence. The empire begins to establish a stronger foothold. Strange rumors about a cult of red-robed Daedra-worshippers... but most importantly, the blight being lifted has let the many creatures on Vvardenfell to spread, and reproduce. The worst of these is the Cliff Racers! That's where you, Jiub, the other prisoner, come into play.

 

 

Update 3/23/12

I have successfully used TESAnnwyn to import the landform data from Morrowind to Skyrim, which saves me about 6 months of work sculpting it by hand. Thanks Lightwave!

Screenshots:

(click show to view)

 

 

Vvardenfell

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00006.jpg

Sheogorad Region:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00005.jpg

Red Mountain:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00004.jpg

Path to Dagoth Ur:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/2012-03-23_00003.jpg

Click show to view

 

 

Heather:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-30-26-47.jpg' alt='TESV2012-04-1316-30-26-47.jpg'>

Comberry:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-30-35-10.jpg

Gold Kanet:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-04-1316-31-00-90.jpg

 

 

Progress on adding objects is going very well; we haven't yet found someone willing to make 3D models for buildings or creatures, so if a few people are willing to donate one or two models each, we would highly appreciate it and that way no one person has to make all the models and it's more of a community effort.

 

So far we have completed about 4% of the Vvardenfell landform, excluding of course objects for which we do not yet have a 3D model.

 

Update 5/4/12

In addition to working on the landmass, I have also created my own mushroom trees to populate the island. How do they look?

 

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-0416-58-37-78.jpg

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-0416-59-35-01.jpg

 

Update 5/16/12

FINALLY got corkbulb working! Hours of futzing with 3DS and NifSkope pays off:

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o615/staviusdreeg/TESV2012-05-1616-23-01-32.jpg

Edited May 16, 2012 by STAVIUS

[Fragginborn]

Wow! This sounds like quite an undertaking!

 

If there's some way I can help, after the art is complete etc, let me know by PM :)

[STAVIUS]

Bump for Update 3/23/12! See first post for details.

[TWarrior]

so you already have the landmass. nice.

i keep tracking. by the way better start in small pieces. i have seen a commuity project in which wheeze helps. a guy made a complete city, but no interiors and asked some guys to fill it.

how about you do the main citie layout, add your ideas and some other people do the interiors and stuff like that? saves you some time.

[STAVIUS]

so you already have the landmass. nice.

i keep tracking. by the way better start in small pieces. i have seen a commuity project in which wheeze helps. a guy made a complete city, but no interiors and asked some guys to fill it.

how about you do the main citie layout, add your ideas and some other people do the interiors and stuff like that? saves you some time.

Good plan! I actually have the original island of Vvardenfell open in another window using the Morrowind Construction Set, so I move from region to region coloring and populating the world based on the original Vvardenfell.

[TWarrior]

http://facepunch.com/threads/1165664

 

this is how they organize themselves. it a whole bunch of guys BUT they have rules e.g. everyone has to post a changelog etc.

if you do it like them it might go well. you know a lot of guys already failed on huge projects like yours.

[STAVIUS]

Update 3/27/12

It has been confirmed that Vurt will be creating custom models and textures for the trees, mushrooms, and grass for Vvardenfell. Thank you so much, Vurt!

[TWarrior]

oh nice to hear of your progress!

[STAVIUS]

Update 4/13/12

Populating the landform with landscape textures and statics, creating Vvardenfell-specific flora. See top post for pictures and details.

[STAVIUS]

Update 5/4/12

Rendered mushroom trees, in addition to continued landmass and static editing.

See top post for pictures!