[WIP] Memoirs of the Abyss | Argonian Follower, Questline & Other New Content

[Adameme]

Planned to release in early 2020!

Will also be available for Special Edition.

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Overview

What is this mod?

Memoirs of the Abyss is a content mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It's primary feature is the new, custom-voiced follow it adds, an argonian named Jeru-Sii. He currently features almost 4,000 unique lines of dialogue, with plans for more as the mod nears completion. Inspired by Inigo, Lucien and Interesting NPCs, he has the capability to grow with experience and tutelage, shift his personality and learn information about the player character as he spends time with them.

 

It has a hearty dose of various tones throughout its story, as all good adventure tales do - a bit of tense excitement, some emotional heart-to-hearts, a dash of humour and silliness - but underpinning it all is the ultimate drive of chasing something otherworldly and fantastic. Furthermore, it's something to really involve your own player character in these themes and moments; something that gives them a voice to be the person you intend them to be, rather than a stoic, emotionless brick wall who only asks questions and says "yes" to fetch quests. When events happen, characters will seek your thoughts and your counsel. What you say and do will matter to them, and subsequently impact how the story develops.

 

Memoirs also features open-ended quest design. No character added by the mod is tagged as Essential - only Protected, at most. There will be multiple possible routes to complete each quest, and the route taken will influence outcomes, character dispositions and rewards. There is no 'golden' path; each and every choice has a consequence, big or small. Perfection is not in the cards for you - greatness, on the other hand...

 

The mod also will feature a custom soundtrack composed by Michael Noble, the musician behind the songs of Artificer, as well as in-depth custom voice acting. The soundtrack will take influence from those of Pathologic 2, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, and Norse/Slavic folk music.

 

What is this mod not?

As large and ambitious at it is, Memoirs of the Abyss is not a new land mod. It does add one new small village, several small-to-medium-sized new dungeons and small, enclosed locations from other provinces such as High Rock and Morrowind, but there are no huge new continents to traverse and explore here.

 

It is not a romance mod. Jeru-Sii is intended to fulfill the role of a friend, protégé, sounding board for ideas or a tool for better roleplaying. Whilst I appreciate many fans of follower mods do enjoy romance content (I'm a fan of older Bioware games myself, so I should know!), I do believe it would detract from the experience on offer here. There is also some deeper, much more serious subject matter explored in regards to relationships both platonic and romantic, which is being handled carefully and respectfully.

What help do you need?

I have already finished a good chunk of the necessary work for the mod - swallowing the frog that is learning the Creation Kit, working out how to get new mechanics and systems to function, writing almost all of Jeru-Sii's lines and beginning work on the full script for each quest. However, there are some areas of this project that I will need some help with.

Voice Acting

I have already run a casting call for NPCs who will appear in the first of the mod's ten main quests, 'A Cursory Affair'. However, as new work is completed, additional vocal talent is required. To that end, I am currently running the second of three rounds of casting calls. Round Two will be open until late July. Round Three is anticipated to begin in late December 2019. If you are interested in auditioning for a role, please do check out the casting call and submit an audition!

3D Art

The other key area of the mod that I cannot complete alone is the modelling and texturing of the new Treasures and Artifacts the mod adds. These are special items that have unique magical properties or are exceptionally rare and valuable - from the mundane curiosity of a coin belonging to a dead First Era duchy, to the bizarre and reality-altering Abyssal Dreamcatcher. Many of this items are Alchemy ingredients or Misc. items rather than weapons and armour, and as such, I am looking for 3D artists to help create the models and texture work for the many new items added by the mod.

When can I play it?

The current goal is to release a feature-light Alpha build here on Nexus Mods in the next few months, hopefully by late September at the latest. This build will feature Jeru-Sii in a more basic form but still with much functionality and personality, as well as the first quest, A Cursory Affair. It will also include one Treasure Hunt and some of the new Treasure and Artifact items, in addition to some World Encounter NPCs. This release will likely be quite buggy! As such, I ask that any players please report any bugs or issues they encounter. Further details on this playtest and how to report bugs will be given closer to Alpha release.

 

Feature Breakdown

ARGONIAN FOLLOWER

JERU-SII

 

The centerpiece of the mod is Jeru-Sii, a chatty, spirited companion with full custom voice-acting. Young and a touch naive, he's barely made it over the border from Morrowind with a bounty on his head for a crime he did not commit. A Dunmer noble is dead convinced that he is behind the theft of a family heirloom staff, and has pursued him into Skyrim to retrieve it and see justice delivered. The young argonian courier will need your help in resolving the matter before joining you on your adventures. Perhaps you can even help him out with his strange and unusual job once that's done - delivering a letter to a long-untouched grave. The man he'll be once his charge comes to a conclusion may very well be shaped by whoever shares his company.

 

Jeru-Sii is written to be as realistically human as possible (pardoning the irony of his species!). He, like every other NPC added by this mod, has likes, dislikes, fears, hopes, doubts, dreams, goals and beliefs. Though his history is rather in-depth, he won't gush about it to just about anyone, and will instead slowly reveal his past by answering your questions over the course of your adventures together. He's got a thought or opinion on just about anything, and will give them on most vanilla events and interactions - hunting, fighting specific enemies, finding a certain item, completing quests, and more!

 

Jeru-Sii is not your typical follower. He's got more than just his own personality - he's got thoughts, beliefs, prejudices, and these ideas change and grow alongside him throughout your adventure. In simple cases with video game companions, a character's opinion of the player is represented on a basic 0-100 'Affinity' system, with certain interactions or scenes being gated by certain milestones of Affinity. Jeru-Sii employs several of these simple Affinity systems at once to work in tandem, inspired by the way Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire handles Affinity.

 

He has an Affinity value for several core concepts, including Thievery, Aggression, Honour, Values and Selflessness. These values come together to form a system where Jeru-Sii is able to dislike certain, specific things about the player, but recognise their positive qualities at the same time. He'll grow to develop personal gripes and complaints about you, but much like with any real person, will put up with that because of his respect for your other values. For example, if the player is kind and heroic, but suffers from kleptomaniac tendencies when around others' property, Jeru-Sii may ask the player for a quiet one-to-one the next time they rest. During such 'Confrontation' scenes, he may express his dislike of the player character's sticky fingers, but admit that he admires and appreciates their good deeds, and so will be willing to overlook the thievery provided the PC makes a solid attempt from then on to be better.

 

Jeru-Sii is at least somewhat nifty with a dagger, but is certainly no blade-toting warrior. He knows a Restoration spell or two to help you out in a pinch, and is most effective upon first recruitment as a support mage, occasionally weaving a frost spell between healing magic. Provided he trusts you, he may come to look up to you as a mentor figure, allowing you to train him in the arts of war and tailor his combat style to better compliment your own.

In addition to his own lines, Jeru-Sii is also planned to have unique interactions and dialogue scenes with other follower mods, including Lucien and Auri.

 

 

 

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BETTER ROLEPLAYING

THE TAG SYSTEM

A key aspect of your adventures with Jeru-Sii will be the opportunities for roleplay presented to you. This mod borrows a system from the excellent RPG Divinity: Original Sin II called Tags. These Tags are summaries and quick representations of your character based on your established background, history, behaviour, decisions and dialogue choices.

You will be able to gain Tags from your choices and actions, but also by talking with Jeru-Sii. Over the course of your journeys, Jeru-Sii may ask you about events and interactions from vanilla Skyrim as well as from the Memoirs of the Abyss questline - or, more specifically, why you made the decisions you did, and how you feel about them. Does your character wish there was another way into the Thieves' Guild besides bullying honest folk for their coin? Did they side with a faction in the Civil War, but regret it or feel not enough has changed? Do they resent the idea of being a Dragonborn and wish they could've lived a normal life? Depending on your given responses, you'll gain Tags representing what sort of person you are.

Tags are used in the Memoirs of the Abyss questline as conditionals for gameplay and dialogue opportunites. They are often used in dialogue with Jeru-Sii to unlock new dialogue options and possible interactions. A character with the 'Noble' tag may get to challenge someone to an honourable, legal duel, whilst someone with the Crook tag may find themselves with more opportunities to rob others of their spare cash and goods. Additionally, Tags change how NPCs added by this mod view you - a player character with 'Good Samaritan' will be recognized based on the tales of their exploits and treated differently. Examples of other tags include 'Breton', 'Anarchist', 'Soft-Spoken', 'Aggressive', 'Romantic', 'Pragmatic' and more.

Tags can also be lost if you fail to uphold the picture that's been painted of you. Are you an Imperial Loyalist? Deliberately assaulting Imperial soldiers for no good reason will quickly tear away your status as one. Jeru-Sii's interactions and ambient, contextual dialogue will also change depending on your tags - roleplay a character with a new personality, background and beliefs, and you'll get new experiences in return!

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MAIN QUESTLINE

MEMOIRS OF THE ABYSS

The second piece of the mod is the questline attached to Jeru-Sii, Memoirs of the Abyss. This is an exciting, memorable treasure hunting adventure that will challenge your wits moreso than your brawn.

You must use your head. Quest markers are not all-divining here. You'll be presented with information and evidence, from which you, Jeru-Sii and your allies must decide on what leads to pursue. On your adventure, you'll face puzzles, riddles and more abstract tests of intellect, and it's up to you to solve the clues and work out what's next on the agenda!

This is a race against a truly dangerous foe to places and an artifact whispered of in long-forgotten myth alone. There's no inherently golden choices you can make - no matter what, any and all decisions will have both positive influences and negative drawbacks. It'll be up to you to decide what to sacrifice to keep your investigation afloat, and what moral standards you are willing to compromise for that.

Like Jeru-Sii, each and every NPC added by this mod is a fully fleshed-out character. They each have their own desires, needs, fears and goals, and all feature extensive dialogue trees for you to explore, should you wish. There's much to learn about the world and people around you that isn't clear at just a glance, and asking some deeper questions can bring out some very useful information for your quest - or draw some seriously problematic attention. Furthermore, high-quality voice acting is a key aim for this mod's production, and until late July, auditions for talented and/or experienced voice actors are being held on CastingCallClub.

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SIDE CONTENT

WORLD ENCOUNTERS, TREASURE HUNTS AND SIDE QUESTS

The final pillar of this mod's experience is the addition of ambient world content, taking the form of new random encounters, small-scale treasure hunts that yield new items/spellbooks and a handful of new NPCs at key locations. This content is separate from Jeru-Sii and the Memoirs of the Abyss questline - you do not need to have recruited Jeru-Sii or started the questline in order to access these smaller additions to the game.

Inspired by the Stranger missions in Red Dead Redemption 2, several new encounters have been added to the world of Skyrim. Each of these encounters features new NPCs and brand new moral quandaries to face, with consequences, Tags and Jeru-Sii's comments/opinions all involved. Such encounters are longer and feature far more player choice than vanilla Skyrim encounters, allowing for excellent roleplaying opportunity and adding an element of unpredictability back into Skyrim.

One of the more intriguing elements of the side content added are Treasure Hunts. These smaller-scale hunts can see your pockets lined with material wealth, forgotten arcane knowledge and fantastic lost artifacts, and will see you delving into incredible new dungeons unlike anything vanilla Skyrim offers. Whether you're looking to collect, use, abuse or sell such loot, you're going to need to employ the same sort of critical thinking skills that the Memoirs of the Abyss questline asks for. Jeru-Sii and co. can certainly lend a helping hand, but they're not omniscient problem-solvers! You can get tip-offs about treasure hunting opportunities by reading newly-added books, purchasing riddle leaflets or maps from Galiad of Ytr, or by overhearing/asking for rumours from newly-added 'Rumour-Miller' NPCs. Though Jeru-Sii doesn't need to be by your side to go hunting for these treasures, he has unique dialogue and conversations for each rumour thread and cache.

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Credits

~ Development ~

Writing, CK Implementation & Voice Direction
Adameme

Music Composition & Production
MichaelNobleMusic

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~ Voice Acting: Questline ~

Jeru-Sii
Adameme

Naakhu the Wanderer
pinchy17

Stride Marshal Oco
clbroyles

Decentius Berne
Kahu Gillespie

Saru'Ka
EdenG

Dar'Eilun
Candourlight

Ogles-Bright-Trinkets
Yon Shady Glenn

Argonian Mercenaries
Yon Shady Glenn
acousticdonuts

Dunmer Mercenaries
acousticdonuts
millsy3
Tartankiwi

Nord Mercenaries
Yon Shady Glenn
acousticdonuts

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~ Voice Acting: Ambient ~

Galiad of Ytr
Kahu Gillespie

Bysilth
complete-the-circuit

Edited June 9, 2019 by Adameme

[Ludicrous]

Looking good. Shame I'm just starting to learn 3D modelling now otherwise I'd jump in.

[Adameme]

Looking good. Shame I'm just starting to learn 3D modelling now otherwise I'd jump in.

 

Thanks! And I know the feeling. I've only dabbled in it myself, which is why I'm looking for some more experienced folks than myself in that department. Either way, I'm very excited to bring this mod to everyone, and can't wait to share the alpha in a few months' time.

[Adameme]

Some screenshots and voice clips for show;

 

https://youtu.be/C_1Gb0NPf3c?t=89

 

 

These were taken on an older and weaker PC during the last complete build - I've got a better rig and will be creating future screenshots and video trailers using the better hardware and graphics, showing off some of the new locations, new NPCs and teasing the story. A poster is also in the works for the mod, in addition to the first elements of the soundtrack. Some of the non-spoilery ones will be made available on Youtube before the mod's release.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Adameme

[Ganzlinger]

Really excited for this mod. Followers like these are what makes replaying Skyrim fun. Good work!

[Valthmor]

Looks very promising, dont burn yourself out!

[Adameme]

Thanks, guys! Hopefully you'll all enjoy the alpha. The goal is to have it release late September. I'll keep this thread updated, as well as the mod's Discord server for news and discussion. If you guys have any questions about the mod in the meantime, just ask! :)