LE Missing Crafts

[rmk125]

In Skyrim armor and weapons come from Blacksmiths and from Smithing skills. The metals and leather for crafting armor and weapons come from mines and animal pelts. You can collect the ores and pelts yourself or you can depend on miners and hunters to provide them. Potions are created by alchemists who use ingredients which can be collected from wild growth or they can be cultivated.

 

But Skyrim has numerous items that are 'just there'. They don't have any origin. Fabric is just there. Sheep shearing, spinning, and hand looming are tasks which are not beyond the technological level of Skyrim. I'd expect most farms to have a few sheep and/or goats and most farm houses to have a spinning wheel and a loom. Someone with modeling and animating skills might think about creating a mod that allows the residents of a farm to at the very least create their own fabrics. It would be possible for skilled weavers to create fabrics which are sold in general stores and to clothing shops.

 

Furniture is just there . Why are there no furniture makers? I'd certainly expects to see skilled furniture makers and cabinet makers to be hand crafting furniture in cities and villages that have nearby sawmills.

 

Stores in Skyrim are regularly resupplied. How do those supplies get there? Shouldn't there be wagons and barges hauling supplies over the roads and rivers. Perhaps a Teamsters Guild or a BlackBriar Transport Company. Those shipments would require protection from bandits so many of the mercenaries wandering around Skyrim or languishing in taverns would have some reason for being. Players could earn money by hiring on to guard shipments. The could also hire followers from amongst these guards.

 

A more ambitious thought that may be stretching the lore a bit is for a Utopian Community which combines many of these ideas. I can envision a village somewhat like Rorikstead which combines traditional farms with a sheep ranch (necessitating shepherds). The village would have communal centers for weaving and for carpentry. The carpenters could build spinning wheels and looms as well as the normal furniture found in Tamriel. Sheep could be sheared. The weavers could spin wool into thread, dye the threads, and weave the fabrics on one or two person hand looms. I know I'm leaving out combing and carding the wool but it would seem sufficient to me just to suggest those activities take place by have the appropriate tools displayed around the area. This process would not be limited to wool - cotton could be imported from another province or could I suppose come from cultivated Tundra Cotton. A hauling company or independent haulers could transport the fabrics and furniture produced across the province. A village organized like this and located near a waterway and sawmill could grow quite wealthy and provide the Dragonborn who financed its construction with a substantial return on the investment as well as a near perfect place to raise a family.

 

I'm throwing these ideas out because by the time I developed the skills to implement these ideas (if I even could) the next release of The Elder Scrolls would be available. I'm also hoping someone is inspired to develop some of these ideas becase I'd love to see them in the game world.