[WIP] THIN AIR: Return to Pale Pass

[skyvalr]

THIN AIR:

Return to Pale Pass

What is This Mod?

Thin Air: Return to Pale Pass is a new worldspace mod that aims to portray and re-envision the famous Pale Pass connecting Skyrim and Cyrodiil. The mod includes a huge, mountainous landscape in the few miles of pass between the two provinces. Whereas most Elder Scrolls games depict provinces as significantly scaled down (the several hundred miles of Skyrim is miniaturized into two or three miles in-game), this mod isn't scaled so severely, thus the worldspace in the mod is nearly the size of the vanilla Skyrim worldspace!

What's So Interesting About a Mountain Pass?

Pale Pass has a monumental significance in the lore as the site of battle between Reman Cyrodiil's forces and the Akaviri invaders at the end of the First Era. After the battle, the Akaviri swore fealty to Reman, becoming his Dragon Guard (later the Blades). This mod fills the pass with countless Akaviri ruins of monasteries, temples, and watchtowers built by the Dragon Guard in the immediate decades after the battle, built in the "East Asian" style of their native Akivir

In the Fourth Era, the pass is now a geopolitical hotspot where the Imperials carefully guard Cyrodiil against the threat of Stormcloak commandos from the north side of the border, while adventurous caravans of traders brave the unstable border and harsh terrain to bring goods in and out of Skyrim.

The Artstyle of this Mod

I've been slightly disappointed with the diminutive nature of some of Skyrim's mountains, which inspired me to depict the pass as being climatically, geographically, geologically and even architecturally similar to Tibet. The Akaviri are analgous to feudal Japan in the lore, but in this mod I draw something of an analogy to the culture of Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Further, analogies are drawn between the Dharmic nature of some aspects of TES lore and that of Himalayan cultures.

Note that this mod is NOT intended to reflect views on any of the aforementioned cultures or their respective faiths. Rather, it's a fantasy counterpart culture much in the same vein as Oblivion depicting Cyrodiilic religion and iconography as similar to that of medieval Catholic Europe.

As for the landscape, high altitude environments are usually arid (rain clouds shed their moisture as they are pushed up mountain slopes). The thin air and low rainfall have resulted in the presence of sand dunes and salt flats in an otherwise well watered area of Tamriel. The high altitude deserts of this mod are meant to be a stark contrast to the lush deciduous forests of the Rift and coniferous forests of Falkreath.

When Will it Be Released?

Probably around the start of 2017. Whenever I'm done with my other mod, Port of Windstad (which I've been working on quite a bit this week, and is only about a month from completion).

Is This Part of Beyond Skyrim?

No. But I will make a compatibility patch when BS: Cyrodiil is released. It shouldn't be too hard.

Screenshots

Credits:

HoddminirGroundTextures by elinen
Strotis Castle Wall Resource for Skyrim by Tamira and Stroti
Lava Textures by lati100
For modders - Landscape Textures by Blakflag
Phitt's Sheogorad Resource - Part One by Phitt and Tamira
>Phitt - Models/Textures
>Dave91 - Models/Textures
>MrSiika - Models/Textures
>Kzinistzerg - Textures
>SpeedyB - Models/Textures

Edited February 9, 2016 by skyvalr

[skyvalr]

Some more screens. On the top are some Dunmer in faux Mongolian attire, at the bottom is a player character wading in a salt lake.