The Hordelands Of Morrowind

[Keedo420]

OK, so the original version of The Hordelands Of Morrowind has been scrapped, but I have started a new version that will be completely independant of the Morrowind, Bloodmoon, and Tribunal master files, though it will still require that you have all three installed. This new version is going to have a completely new landmass and setting (based on my Horde Lands mod for Mount & Blade), an expanded selection of armor and weapons, more than 30 playable races (including my own custom race Keedo's Goblins), hundreds of new creatures from common farm animals to classic monsters such as dragons and gelatinous cubes, an expanded selection of pack "animals" (including the pack rat, pack krin, and several varieties of pack guars and pack boars), and more undead than you can shake a holy symbol at! It will include many gameplay enhancements, such as Galsiah's Character Development (though it will be optional). Other enhancements will be required but not included. For example, it will require the installation of Necessities Of Morrowind, Morrowind Comes Alive, Vampire Hunger, and Vampire Embrace as I will be using many of the resources from them, but players will have the option of disabling the scripts of those mods during character creation. No other esms or esps will need to be loaded to play the game, unless they are mods of THOM. More info and screenshots to come soon, though I currently have no ETA for an initial release. Keep an eye on the Progress Report thread for the latest info about this mod. I will also post updates here from time to time.

Planned Features

• Integration of Galsiah's Character Development (Done) - A vastly improved attribute/skill/levelling system. It will however be optional in case anyone actually prefers Morrowind's original system.
  
• Integration and expansion of Necessities Of Morrowind - Though NOM itself will probably be required to be downloaded separately, it will be an integral part of this mod and with the addition of many new creatures, plants, and ingrediants, I will be expanding on NOM's cooking.
  
• Integration of certain parts of Morrowind Comes Alive - Though MCA will probably be required to be downloaded separately, some of its features will be an integral part of this mod.
  
• Integration of Vampire Hunger & Vampire Embrace - These two mods will have to be downloaded separately. Though their inclusion will be optional, I will be creating a large amount of content for vampire players.
  
• Interactive Character Generation process - After the initial phase of chargen (Name, race/gender, class, birthsign), there will be additional phases that are dependant on various choices from the initial phase. For example, the choice of starting locations will vary based on your race and class, but there will also be a few choices (such as survivor of a shipwreck) that will be available regardless of your initial choices.
  
• Completely new map based on the map from my Hordelands mod for Mount & Blade. I will be using many of the same town and village names, though there are many more races than in that mod, and some races will be relocated (most notably the Dark Elves/Drow who are being moved underground and their place on the surface is being given to the Sho).
  
• Silt Striders are being replaced with horse/guar-drawn carriages.
  
• Players will be able to start their own towns/strongholds, and build a variety of structures based on your chosen architectural style. The culture you choose will have an effect on the types/races of npcs that are attracted to your town.
  
• More details to come soon....
  

[Keedo420]

OK, so here's the first screenshot for the mod... A bird's-eye view of every currently playable race in the mod. Note that I have not yet gone through the process of requesting permission to include these races in my mod, but I intend to use every single one. In the event that I do not get permission to include a certain race, I will just have to make that race an optional add-on (with that race's villages or whatever turned into ghost towns overrun by undead unless that race is installed). Below the screenshot is a brief description of each race.


Sho: An asian race of humans found along the southwestern coast.
Velorian: A race of humans originally from the island of Wayland. Their culture is based on medieval Europe and they are found along the eastern coast.
Levarian: A race of humans originally from the island of Wayland. Their culture is based on ancient Rome, and they are found along the south-eastern coast.
Aluvian: A nordic race of humans found in the southeastern portion of the north mountains.
Gharu'ndim: A race of desert-dwelling humans found in the desert of the northeast.
Drow: A race of elves dwelling primarily underground.
High Elves: A race of city-dwelling elves found along the southern coast.
Wood Elves: A race of forest-dwelling elves found in the central Hordelands.
Orcs: A barbaric race of humanoids found in the northern portion of the north mountains.
Goblins: A carniverous race of humanoids found along the northwestern coast. They dwell mainly underground (with a few defensive surface structures), but do most of their hunting above ground at night.
Kobolds: A reptilian race of desert-dwellers.
Caith: A desert-dwelling race of feline humanoids. They are found mainly on the northeastern peninsula.
Kage: A subterranean sub-species of the Caith.
Lupin: Lupin, both the Fox and Wolf varities, are nomadic humanoids. They are usually found in packs of 10-20, but solitary hunters are not unheard of.
Draconians: A reptilian race of mountain-dwelling humanoids. They are mostly solitary. When found in groups, they are usually a single family.
Griffons: A half-lion/half-bird race of mountain dwelling humanoids. While mostly solitary, they can be found in flocks of up to a dozen or so.
Ungen: A subterranean race of rodent-like humanoids. They are scavengers by nature and are often found in networks of tunnels near cities, in sewer systems, or in abandoned structures.
Drudges: Drudges are an offshoot of Goblins that can be found almost anywhere, but they are far less-organized than Goblins and are easily manipulated, often found in the service others.
Cactaur: Cactaur are a mysterious race of desert-dwellers. They are solitary and almost never found in groups. It is unknown whether they are spirits of nature or some form of magical golem. Not even the Cactaur know how they come into existance.
Drider: Driders are magical crossbreeds of Drow and Giant Spiders. They are believed to have been created by the goddess Lolth. Unless in the company of Drow, they are rarely encountered in groups.
Living Dead: Zombies and Skeletons that were animated by binding a spirit to a corpse are referred to as Living Dead. These types of undead are intelligent, thinking beings with freewill instead of being mindless automotons.
Droids: Four types of Droids have been discovered among underground ruins of an unknown race. Their memories have been erased, but many are still functional and have been reactivated.

Caith Half-Breeds: Caith are one of the only beast-races known to be genetically compatible with other races. Nine types of half-breeds have been identified so far. While most show clear indications of their human or elven heritage, the origin of the Kanyu remains in doubt (though it is clear they are half-Kage).

I don't have a good name for the Giant Ants yet, so that's what I'm calling them for now.   They are playable though!

[debux]

Must... edit... need... punctuation...marks...!

[Keedo420]

There!!! How's that for an edit?!

[Jubal]

Don't you mean "The Hordelands"? Or have you been taking a cue from TWD? 

[debux]

Better, thanks Keedo... although I wish I would understand (I don't even know the game you're modding, I'm completely ignorant here )

[Silver Wolf]

Interesting races... That's going to be one hell of project btw.
Best of luck !

[Keedo420]

The game I'm modding is in the title of the thread. Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.

[Jubal]

I still suspect the thread title is a typo... isn't it?

[Silver Wolf]

Hell no, it's not... It's just a bit adventurous ! 

[Keedo420]

Hahaha!! Wow I didn't even know what you meant when I read your comment yesterday Jubal. I was rushing through my internet session. Otherwise I would have considered it more thoroughly. Yes. It is a typo (I will fix it). Though the oldest profession in the world will be present in this mod.

P.S. The forum seems to be running very slowly today. I hope it's just me.

[Keedo420]

I made a small edit of the first post in this thread detailing some of the planned features for this mod.

[Silver Wolf]

As I've already said, the idea looks nice... Are you alone out there or is there someone helping you with this project ?

[Keedo420]

Currently it's a solo project, but when you think about it, a lot of the work has already been done by other people. Except for the goblins I've made, I'm basically taking other people's work (a lot of which was posted online as modders' resources) and putting it into the mod. I will however, be making some of my own scripts, customizing all of the books to fit the lore of the Hordelands, and redoing most of the dialogue. And of course the new map and interior cells will be done by me. It is of course too early to tell how long until I have a version ready to be uploaded for testing. There are some things I will be needing help with (such as making vampire heads for the goblins).

I've got about 1/4 of the exterior of the city of Arkright done. At least as far as buildings go. I'll be posting a screenshot of that soon. The section I completed is called The Commons. It's the middle-class housing section. The section I am working on now is called The Bazaar. It is going to be the trading center of the city and features a retextured hippodrome mesh that will function as the city's "arena" for gladiator games, public theater, and public executions (though that part will probably only be a part of the lore).

[Keedo420]

Work on the city of Arkright is proceeding well. In the original D&D campaign that I ran, Arkright was based on the Lankhmar: City Of Adventure map.

In this mod, the city will be significantly smaller but will still be quite large by Morrowind standards (probably about half the size of the city in the above map). Currently, the city is composed of four quarters (The Commons, The Maze, The Gardens, and The Bazaar) surrounded by a large circular wall. Each quarter takes up one full cell. However, these 4 quarters will only be the "inner city". I also have plans for several outer regions. Here are some brief descriptions of the current and planned regions of Arkright:

Current:

• The Pavilion - This is the center of the inner city. This is not a region in itself, but is centered more or less at the center of the 4 inner city regions. It uses the Mournhold Pavilion Fountain mesh. To make this work as an exterior mesh, I had to lower the ground-level underneath it enough to "fill" the fountain sections of the mesh with the exterior water. I also took the MH Cobblestone texture used by the mesh and made it into a land texture so that the fountain mesh would blend fairly well with the land.
• The Commons - This is the "middle-class" housing section of the inner city. The buildings here that border The Pavilion are a tavern and shops that sell common items. Towards the back of The Commons is a stable.
• The Maze - This is the "lower-class" housing section of the inner city. The housing buildings are placed in such a way that even with the in-game map it will be confusing. The buildings here that border The Pavilion are shops that sell common items.
• The Bazaar - This is the trading center of the inner city. There are two stables here (one for horses, and one for pack animals), an arena for many public functions (gladiator games, theater, and executions, for example), a smithy, and many merchant stalls where randomly spawned merchants sell various goods (most of which will not be found in the common shops).
• The Gardens - This is the "upper-class" section of the inner city. This section is not yet complete, but will feature such structures as a bank, magic/alchemy shops, housing for the city's nobles, and possibly some guild halls.

Planned:

• The Royal Docks (name subject to change) - This section will be connected to the river which flows near the city. It will feature docks for the kingdom's navy, various imperial structures, a training academy (which will eventually be a starting location for those new to the game), and one or more temples.
• The Common Docks - This section will be connected to the river which flows near the city. It will feature docks for the general population, housing for fishermen, warehouses, and a few to-be-determined guild halls.
• Arkright Castle - This section will be north of the inner city and will feature the castle plus various royal/military structures. It may consist of more than one cell.
• Several cells east of the city will be used as farmland. Additionally, various common and noble housing will be placed outside of the main city walls.

Additionally, I have been doing some script work on a couple of planned features. One such "feature" is related to the Driders, Giant Ants, and another race which I have not yet decided to include. These races are not beast races, but due to their monstrous lower bodies I had to create a script that would prevent the player from equipping pants, greaves, shoes, or boots. This was done by giving the player an invisible set of pants and shoes which have scripts attached to them that forces them to be equipped at all times. The player cannot remove them manually or by trying to equip something else to that slot.