[WIP] Atvir Dres: The Last Prince of Tear

[thunderclam]

I used Live Another Life and started as a Dunmer refugee in Windhelm. Very cool to wake up and find Atvir Dres immediately. I enjoy him a lot except at Level 6 starting, and dual-wielding, he kills everything. Does this level off eventually? I guess it was assumed that people would be higher level before encountering him right?

 

I'm just wondering if he's overpowered at any level or it's just my specific circumstances?

[JanusForbeare]

He`ll be less powerful in the next update. I`m still working at balancing him out; it`s not easy, though, as different players play at different difficulty settings, and further modify the difficulty of their game through mods that add more creatures, make them tougher, change the nature of combat, etc.

[nakakita]

I found a couple more sources regarding dunmer ages I thought you might be interested in seeing. Firstly, another survivor of Red Mountain now in Skyrim. And second, an interview I'd never seen before. They're a bit contradictory though. The NPC's in Skyrim that survived Red Mountain look old, but not elderly (then again, as there are no 'elder races' for elves that might be completely meaningless). I also feel like an idiot for not knowing what a 'Skylamp' is. But, I hope this is helpful?

[JanusForbeare]

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I don't remember meeting that Dark Elf when I played through the TG questline (though I admit it's been a while). The interview is an intriguing bit of lore... though I suspect it's a little out of date. From what I can gather, it was written as a "teaser" in preparation for the release of TES III. My guess is that some of the subjects being referred to got cut from the final version of the game. TES III was originally intended to take place across all of Morrowind, not just Vvardenfell (you can still find some official maps online that show how cells were to be assigned across the entire province), so it's safe to assume that things like "Malahk-Orcs" inhabited the regions that didn't make it into the finished game. As for the "Sky-Lamps", the description makes them sound an awful lot like Netch.

 

I find the comment about the lifespan of Dunmer as confusing as you do, though. As you say, the survivors of the Red Year don't look so ancient in Skyrim. If we take the Dunmer in the interview at his word, it would certainly put Atvir well past middle-age. For that reason, I choose to believe that he's lying/incorrect.

 

Actually, come to think of it, Occam's Razor would suggest that the whole subject's just been retconned by Bethesda. I rarely say this, but in this instance: screw the lore. :D The old lore, anyways.

[nakakita]

I thought they were netches until netches were mentioned later in the interview. So they're just some other.. thing. As for that NPC, I didn't remember him either, until I saw some mod that popped up recently making him and other thieves guild members marriageable. As I didn't recognize the name, I did a search, and viola.

 

That reminds me, have you looked at any non-canon sources for inspiration on House Dres stuff? The Less Generic NPCs mod for Morrowind added several Dres NPCs, and some random rumors about them (assumptions that some members of the house are vampires for example). Just a thought.

[JanusForbeare]

Nope, not as such. I didn't mod Morrowind extensively (though my first attempts at modding were done in its CS), so I'm not very familiar with some of the work that was done for that game. I'd prefer to stick to canonical references where possible, though admittedly they're few and far between. That's part of what makes it fun, though... there's more room for creativity!

 

I missed the bit about netches in the interview. I'll need to take another look. I skim-read, it's a bad habit.

[AmericanJackal]

Is it normal that Atvir doesn't recognize other Dunmer? (On my dark elf character, he essentially assumed I was a 'pale skin'.) I know this is only alpha, but also that the feature for him to recognize races is planned. Just don't know if it was implemented yet.

[AnnikaBlue]

Janus...Congratulations on making such an excellent mod. I sincerely think this is the best mod since Ashlander Julan. I have a few suggestions for your consideration.

 

One of the best parts of this mod is the dialog, though I was wondering as Atvir is kind of a pig of a man (and I mean that lovingly) and I'm wondering why he doesn't try more things with my character (or other NPCs) while he is in the pub (ass grabbing, more belligerence, louder singing, trying to hug people, inappropriate propositions, etc....). I think the last one would be awesome as the player could either slap him, say something equally repugnant back to him or even take him up on the offer. That would be fanatic (as would the ability to get him really drunk).

 

While I love Atvir, I really don't like his appearance, and yes, I am aware of how shallow that sounds. Will you be making any changes his appearance in the December update? I would change it myself, but I am a total end user and unsure of how to go about doing it. I've tried using the Skyrim NPC editor, but have had issues (my idiocy being the main obstacle).

 

Last thing, Atvir seems like a mercenary kind of guy (which is great cause my character is a mercenary kind of girl). I'm wondering if there would be a way to incorporate Atvir demanding a cut of the profit a character takes from a quest? He does an equal amount fighting and should probably demand some kind of pay.

 

Again, thank you for creating this mod--it's made Skyrim playable for me.

[VenusM]

I disagree with AnnikaBlue i kind of understand that he is going to be an inmersive follower, so dunmers dosent look live "cover males", please dont change his apperance if someone dosent like the already perfect Atvir they would have to learn to change him themselves Edited December 11, 2012 by VenusM

[Oubliette]

I actually agree with AnnikaBlue but I also understand that tastes in character appearance are highly subjective. To that end I'd probably just make personal edits to Atvir (if/when I figure out how to use the NPC editor).