Nordic Burial Rituals : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:03 pm

I have a quick question for the lore buffs. Have you ever noticed that the burial urns in supposedly ancient nordic ruins contain the same septim curreny found within the modern day Skyrim/Tamriel? I was just wondering what lore accurate item I could replace these coins with...perhaps a nordic coin? I guess ash would work put I'm hoping for something a little more interesting.

» Tue May 08, 2012 11:09 am

I can't remember the name but someones working on a mod for that

» Tue May 08, 2012 2:58 am

I can't remember the name but someones working on a mod for that :smile:

Well I am getting rid of the gold loot in ritual urns and reducing it across the board, making physical loot more cost/risk appropriate and just sort of tweaking everything from a lore, roleplay friendly approach. It's all apart of a larger loot tweaking project.

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:37 pm

Nordic coins would work. There are some amulets and rings in Sarthaal, those might also be found in urns. I imagine they would also contain mundane, personal objects (combs, toys, medals, etc.) that aren't found in Skyrim.

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:30 pm

Sounds like a fine idea, the modern septims in ancient tombs thing really bugged me though, here's http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1345430-relz-skyrim-coin-replacer/ I mentioned.

» Tue May 08, 2012 1:44 am

Ahh thats a neat mod. I'll stick to the ashes for now but maybe once I have taken care of some more of the lists across the board I'll take the time to model some of those "mundane" relics that Lady Nerevar mentioned. That sounds like a neat way of enticing people to look for tiny collectibles. Either that or I'll make my own coins. We shall see, but thanks for the ideas.

» Tue May 08, 2012 5:54 am

It might go without saying but adding alchemical effects to the ashes would be a cool incentive to loot them

» Tue May 08, 2012 3:45 am

You have to be careful with these Nordic Coins though because some of the tombs do date to Ysgramor's dominance of Skyrim via Windhelm, but others are set within the first and even into the second Empire.

» Tue May 08, 2012 7:41 am

but others are set within the first and even into the second Empire.

A lot of them are more recent than that.

There seems to be an architectural distinction between the really ancient ones (i.e. Yngol's Barrow) and more recent ones, such as Hillgrund's. The older ones seem to be built mostly into the rock, with walls acting as support, whereas newer ones have antechambers and are mostly man-made.#

They're becoming more similar to the Halls we see in cities.

» Tue May 08, 2012 2:06 pm

So, I had a thought about these burial urns. We see a lot of draugr in these burials - obviously warriors were buried more or less intact. It's possible that the urns contain organs (or ashes of organs) like Egyptian burials. But it also struck me that the urns could contain women and children and storekeepers - people clearly not destined for Sovngarde. There do not appear to be any dessicated, mummified women or children in the tombs.

» Tue May 08, 2012 2:25 pm

So, I had a thought about these burial urns. We see a lot of draugr in these burials - obviously warriors were buried more or less intact. It's possible that the urns contain organs (or ashes of organs) like Egyptian burials. But it also struck me that the urns could contain women and children and storekeepers - people clearly not destined for Sovngarde. There do not appear to be any dessicated, mummified women or children in the tombs.

But there are draugr woman.

» Tue May 08, 2012 9:26 am

But there are draugr woman.

There are draugr WARRIOR women. A goodly half of Nord women, even back in the day, were not warriors.

» Tue May 08, 2012 11:54 am

There are draugr WARRIOR women. A goodly half of Nord women, even back in the day, were not warriors.

Yes, yes. But the same goes for Nordic men.

Edit: But I know what your point was. I don't know why I tried to argue the thing about woman. So never mind.

» Tue May 08, 2012 7:04 am

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/amongst-draugr

An interesting read.

» Tue May 08, 2012 11:53 am

I just can't bring myself to believe all the draugr we meet were Merethic Era Alduin worshippers. How does this explain the draugr in Hillgrund's Tomb? Or those interred with Potema? Or Jurgen Windcaller?

» Tue May 08, 2012 2:52 am

I just can't bring myself to believe all the draugr we meet were Merethic Era Alduin worshippers. How does this explain the draugr in Hillgrund's Tomb? Or those interred with Potema? Or Jurgen Windcaller?

Seems obvious they can't all be followers of Dragon priests.

» Tue May 08, 2012 8:28 am

Draugr, I think, is a catch-all term for 'cursed undead'. Nordic tomb-ghouls, kept back from the world beyond for a variety of reasons, be it Dragon priest enthrallment, cannibalism, or general necromantic mischief. Note that not all the bodies in these tombs are Draugr.

» Tue May 08, 2012 4:19 am

French Ninja- I don't believe all are. I'm guessing some are followers of the dragon cult, some are Nords who ate human flesh and were cursed for it, and the rest are just generic zombies that Bethesda couldn't be bothered to make a unique model for. Kind of like how conjurers of any race could summon a Dunmer bonewalker in Morrowind, but not a single regular zombie could be found.

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:59 pm

The ashes of common folk makes alot of sense to me, also the urns should contain jewelery so maybe add more gems to the loot list? Or perhaps simple gold ore? Gold is the most common form of currency in every culture, it just how they decided to form them and what image or design they stamped on them. I honestly think the ash idea is best though, with alchemical properties too boot. :biggrin:

» Tue May 08, 2012 11:31 am

Why would an emperor go around minting his own currency when there's a perfectly good currency already?

We might call them Septims nowadays (even though Medes might be more appropriate), but what's to say gold coins haven't been around since Ysgramor's time. The face on the "heads" side might change, but they're still gold coins, aren't they?