LE True Anthropomorphic Race

[Emberfeather]

I've seen a lot of discussing on this topic, so I figured I'd throw in my 2 cents.

Below are the races for all you lore-puritans.

However I feel lore doesn't matter. It's a single-player game. You're not spoiling anyone else's fun playing the game the way you wish to play it. What comes next? Claiming the Noble Dragonborn shouldn't be Stealing or Killing innocents for contract?

If you feel a golden badger with pink butterfly wings that farts rainbows and shoots peanuts from it's ears is fun to play in a Skyrim setting, just go for it. And no one should judge you for it.

 

On 11.11.11 it took 3 hours to get a naked mod online. And at least 20 followed a week later. Is it lore-friendly to say all women in Skyrim prefere to show off that they shave and appearantly have a resistance to the cold climate? I doubt so, but no one gave a "ohnoeslore" arguement on those.

 

Anyway, here we go.

 

Lilmothiit - EXTINCT

"It is currently believed that the Lilmothiit are extinct. It is unknown when they died out, but it was likely by the time of the Akaviri Potentate."

uesp.net

 

Imga:

Have no reason whatsoever to travel out of a sub-tropical climate to a nearly-frozen wasteland they are likely not able to accomodate to.

Also consider that it's human-dominated and the Atlmer are in -very- little numbers and beyond the suppression of a deity and a single building near Solitude their culture is not supported.

"They see the Altmeri as their lords and masters and as a portrait of an ideal, civilized society."

"The Imga feel that Men are beneath them as lesser beastfolk and pretend to find their smell exceedingly offensive: when Men are around, Imga hold perfumed corners of their capes to their noses."

uesp.net

 

Sload:

I think the quotes below will be clear enough.

"Sload are innately cautious and careful."

"The Sload language has no word for 'adventure', and the closest equivalent more accurately means 'tragic disaster'."

"The Sload Coral Kingdoms have generally followed an isolationist policy, with only limited contact and trade with Tamriel."

uesp.net

 

Ka Po' Tun:

No one knows what they look like, but making another cat-folk doesn't make a lot of sence to me personally. Others may disagree.

You could just play your Khajiit and "pretend" you're Ka Po' Tun.

A tiger-people trying to turn into dragons from the East of the mostly Eurasian-resembling continent, would make it very simple and "cliché" lore to give them a Chineese culture. Which means making gear that looks similar to chineese traditional garments or armor, would make it easy to distinguish yourself from Khajiit. Of course this would be pure speculation (though the reasoning behind it makes sence. To me at least.)

 

For people trying to become Dragons, coming to Skyrim to study dragons would make a lot of sence though. Perhaps even already seeking audience with the Greybeards to learn about the Dragon Shouts.

Being Dragonborn could be considered by them as ascending to a Dragon. But then killing dragons makes no sence, as they revere the creatures..

 

Kamal:

"Snow Demons", now these would very likely be fine surviving in Skyrim, the climate works well for them, they're from another continent, so the lack of Kamal NPC's makes sence. However, there seems to be no idea what they would look like. You could make something up, but then the question comes to mind: How would a Snow Demon do in Skyrim? Given history, they wouldn't be treated friendly by the natives of Tamriel. Considering they're "demons" it's likely they'd be killed on sight.

Before people start flaming me for including these in my list: Yes, I know "snow demon" is probably not a beast-like humanoid race. But I just figured I'd add it since it's on the Akavir list.

 

Tsaesci:

"Their appearance has been described differently on many occasions, the only consistency being that they are "tall, beautiful (if frightening), [and] covered in golden scales." They have been described as having human upper bodies and snake lower bodies, to being entirely snake-like. There is no hard evidence verifying this description, as the nature of the race is a tapestry of historical contradictions."

uesp.net

Though this means you could potentially remove the legs and increase the tail of an Argonian (adjust the animation of the tail for a better movement), we cannot actually be sure this is what they would look like. And it'd cause trouble when your character puts on boots. And the armors would all have to be adjusted (all bodies in Skyrim seem to use the same model, short of the head and added tails) which would be, by lack of a better word to properly describe this, a *censored*.

It would make sence for them to be in Skyrim though. Not specifically for a purpose, but they can easily be living there. So despite the modeling complications, the race would potentially be a proper asset to the game.

 

Tang Mo:

Now these are only known to be "monkey people". To how far they're humanoid or simply concious monkeys, is unknown.

I think it would be possible to make a monkey model (I personally would say, fold a Khajiit with bent legs. Extend the arms. Adjust the head to resemble a monkey. Curve the tail and adjust the animation to make it move more (even while standing still).

Seems easy.

Using the Khajiit for this would also make it easy for armor to be applied to this new model. However extending the arms could ruin textures around this area. And adjusting all the animations the game uses for all the different actions, would be a lot of work. Given that this monkey-man wouldn't be standing up straight, which means combat poses would be adjusted. Swinging weapons would probably be okay. Walking needs to be adjusted, since a monkey walks differently.

 

I could just be overthinking this process. If you'd like to go simpler, get a khajiit model, adjust the head, give it new textures. Perhaps make the hands and feet longer, to make it a more primate appearance. Perhas adjust the tail a little.

 

Then again: What would a Tang Mo be doing in Skyrim? Far from home, no other would appear due to the lack of NPC's.

They're not there to trade. They don't need thick furs to keep them warm. They don't need the little food Skyrim has to offer. And if they would have to trade anything, they're already allied with the Ka Po' Tun. It's not unlikely that they'll have a fine economy on Akavir.

 

And if you're still reading this, and haven't given up after I said there's nude-mods and started looking for 'm, GZ you're not a TL;DR douche! Huzzah!

[shadowxi304]

@Emberfeather

 

I completely agree with you on everything you said. ^^

 

@HellsMaster

i liked the anthro wolf mod that was made in oblivion, it just wasnt exactly anthro, to me i thought everything was proportional except for the head, though iv yet to have seen an anthro mod for oblivion that actually has a beast head that looked good except for the dragon race mod and the drake race mod which completely reminds me of the seawolf dragon avatars on SecondLife.

 

and also i think, personally, that most of the anthros depending on what they are they they should be slender and curvey, even for males. like for fox race, i think that both genders should be slender and curvey, wolfs i could see a slender but not much curve to them, etc. i dont know, that's just me, i mean hell i want to be a fox "trap" character that cross-dresses on skyrim so that's just me wanting a more feminine male race. x3

Edited January 16, 2012 by shadowxi304

[Jeffman12]

I imagine Imga being more gorilla like and Tang Mo being more like monkeys, with tails and lanky arms and legs.

 

The common description of Ka Po'Tun is that they are more like tigers than any other kinds of cat. This implies they have wider faces, are more muscular, and distinctly striped, something largely unheard of with Khajiit(Aside from head/faces). Not all of them are trying to be Dragons but they worship and revere their leader who is said to have ascended to Dragon form.

 

Kamal have actually invaded, or attempted, Tamriel. They would have course likely be shunned, but it's not likely people know what they look like, so some people might think they're just a particularly hideous Orc or some other elf race.

 

As for the lilmothiit, there's always some grounds to bring back a 'possibly' extinct race in at least a limited number. Except maybe dwarves, they could come back en masse if Bethesda said they did, they even hint at it.

 

Now, I'm not a very big canon nazi, and I'd probably never use any of these added races, I'm fine with my Nord warrior or Khajiit thief, but I like seeing more lore friendly options open, so I'd probably end up getting such a mod just to have the extra options in the long run.

 

I should also point out, maybe the discussion should be about how the races fit in and what their aptitudes would be. Wouldn't want a bunch of pure balance races.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Jeffman12

[DrakeTheDragon]

Tiffa's Wolven Anthros' heads were no wolf heads, because that's the way it is. This is no TES race or anything based on lore. It was made after this race:

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/images/32821-1-1281983647.jpg

which was created outside of Oblivion (the race, not this image) or any other game way back in the past already and always was that way.

Go read her comic The Last Element and you'll know there's a lot more races such as this where this is coming from.

 

Nevertheless Tiffa even went far out of her way to include a real wolf head mesh for the next release, although it's completely against her own design and the own lore of this particular race, only because it was "requested" (yeah, let's keep calling it that for now) that often. Just this was never released yet and it got a little quiet around the project a while ago.

 

There's some confusion repeatedly coming up with the meaning of the term "anthro". It simply means "more human-like". In no way does it define "how much more" or "to what degree" and even less so "which parts".

If I make a dog walk upright, it's anthro. If I give a human a dog tail and ears, it's already anthro, too. The inbetween is totally undefined.

 

Maybe there aren't that many custom beast races with a "good-looking" beast head, because it's simply a pretty tedious work to create one the right way.

My dragon heads are simply reshapes of the Argonian head mesh, so I didn't have to go the "really" tedious route, creating new EGM and TRI files myself, yet. It still took me 2-3 whole months already until everything was working without the head literally exploding when moving.

 

Going the real route involves creating 400 (not an estimation nor exaggeration) completely new meshes from scratch, the base head plus 1 for all morphs and animations applied to their fullest, for the head itself, the inner mouth mesh, the upper teeth, the lower teeth, the tongue, and likely even the eyes as well... hmm, looking back 400's not even close to enough... and then create the EGM and TRI files of them with Scanti's handy tools and a lot of hex-editing aftermath. Let's not forget, all the time during the process you have to take care the vertex order and count is absolutely unaltered by all means, or the resulting morph in the files will not work with the mesh anymore (that's when the head literally explodes into thousands of polygones flying off then). Yeah, I've run into similar and related issues even going the "simple" route.

 

Yeah, well, just felt like defending those poor modders by mentioning some facts. No hard feelings. :no:

 

And now I'll give those "seawolf dragon avatars" a search for in google, as your comparison caught my interest. I don't have SL, so I hope it can come up with some images at least. :blush:

 

edit: I really hope the procedure for custom head meshes will be far more easy with Skyrim.

Edited January 16, 2012 by DrakeTheDragon

[raqur]

maybe something along the lines of a crab would be interesting

 

like someone evolved the mudcrabs

[Jeffman12]

Yeah, well, just felt like defending those poor modders by mentioning some facts. No hard feelings. :no:

 

Wait, who was under attack?

 

maybe something along the lines of a crab would be interesting

 

like someone evolved the mudcrabs

 

Dammit, Marsha, someone evolved the mudcrabs again! They're all prance'n about on legs like they ever done more'n scuttle!

 

Maybe, instead of an anger facial expression they could bubble at the mouth in combat.

 

Oh, weren't there 'land dreughs' before?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Wait, who was under attack?

Nah, noone was. It was just the 2nd paragraph of shadowxi304, "though iv yet to have seen an anthro mod for oblivion that actually has a beast head that looked good", which could be perceived the wrong way by those fellow beast race modders.

Making custom head meshes just wasn't that easy in Oblivion, not easy at all from my own experience, and I applaud every beast race modder who attempted it and succeeded. That's all there is about it. Your post just got inbetween while I was typing. :blush:

 

I do welcome compliments or praises, really, I do, but it doesn't feel remotely as nice when your work gets praised while others' gets downgraded in the same sentence. :ermm:

[huntsman2310]

Yes but Land Dreughs were essentially built like Centaurs but with a crab lower body, a vaguely humanoid upper body, and pincers for hands and arms.

 

Also its too cold for them to survive in Skyrim.

[davekmoody]

You can become a dragon f.e. - just check here: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Console

 

Type: "player.setrace dragonrace" (without the "s) and you'll be a dragon

[BeakieHelmet]

Wait, who was under attack?

Nah, noone was. It was just the 2nd paragraph of shadowxi304, "though iv yet to have seen an anthro mod for oblivion that actually has a beast head that looked good", which could be perceived the wrong way by those fellow beast race modders.

Making custom head meshes just wasn't that easy in Oblivion, not easy at all from my own experience, and I applaud every beast race modder who attempted it and succeeded. That's all there is about it. Your post just got inbetween while I was typing. :blush:

 

I do welcome compliments or praises, really, I do, but it doesn't feel remotely as nice when your work gets praised while others' gets downgraded in the same sentence. :ermm:

Oh hey, it's you!

 

Morrowind Style Argonians was a godsend back for oblivion, and I did really like your dragon mod - it just broke HGEC BBB, which is why I didn't use it often. >_>

 

Still, it was one heck of a good mod. I did something similar with khajiit faces for my own game but there was always some distortion around the lower jaw area that I could never fix... I'll probably try it again for skyrim, the female khajiits have really oddly proportioned faces compared to the males. My mod is/was here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40806

Edited January 16, 2012 by BeakieHelmet