I'm currently designing a mod called "Losing My Religion", which brings many features of the Daggerfall religion back in Oblivion, and also much more lore with the 9 gods.

Amongst my array of features, I'm decorating the interiors of the chapels with objects and themes that fit the worshipped god.
Here are some examples :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/Cliffworms/Oblivifall/Oblivifall1.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/Cliffworms/Oblivifall/Oblivifall5.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/Cliffworms/Oblivifall/Oblivifall8.png

I'm currently facing a wall with the following:

The Temple of Stendarr, god of Mercy and Patron of the Legion
I will most likely put a large ornate goblet, the symbol of Stendarr, on the chapel altar.

The Order of Talos, Hero God.
Right now, the Order has flags of the Empire.

The Akatosh Chantry, god of Time
The Akatosh Chantry, located in Kvatch, is in ruins, but I could add more decorations. Right now, I have two large, static, hourglasses on each side of Akatosh's statue.

The Resolution of Zenithar, god of Work and Commerce
Right now, I have large, static scales on each side of Zenithar's statue.


Do you have any suggestions? May it be rugs, bookshelves, furniture, unique objects or general decorations that should be added to these places.


On another subject related to the mod...
As it's known with Oblivion, Sutch was taken out of the game along with its associated Temple of Kynareth. I am planning to build a place in the Gold Coast or in the Colovian Highlands where Kynareth is worshipped.
Should it be a priory with a small chapel and houses for the worshippers?
Or, since Kynareth is the goddess of Air and Nature, should it be a small shrine in the wilderness with a house or two for the worshippers?
Of course, a cathedral is out of question.

Thank you for reading this post.

The Dibella chapel priests and priestesses should be wearing outfits that emphasis physical beauty. The chapel of Arkay should reflect life and death, his symbol, which is a black and white circle, and his priests maybe should wear gray robes or black and white (again, to symbolize life and death). The chapel of Julianos should have scholarly looking priests, and scholars.

i'd go for an open air "chapel" for Kynareth. some of those nice white wayshrine columns could do nicely, just arrayed in a circle around the statue, overgrown with ivy and those nice clingy flowers (morning glory? nightshade? dont remember).

for Talos you could add some ceremonial hanging weaponry to go with the theme of conquest. could also work for Stendarr.

I will try to match Daggerfall's clothing style for the new NPCs. Some Dibella worshippers will be naked, others barely have any clothing at all.
I like the ideas of the black and white, or gray robes for the Arkay priests. I could ask someone in the community to texture Arkay's symbol on the robe as well.
For the Order of Arkay, you'll see on the picture that I've used the plants and the lighting to represent life and death, along with the cycle of the seasons.
Winter on the left, barely any lighting and dead plants. Spring next with green plants and some lighting. Summer, with flowers in the plants and pure, vivid lighting. Then finally Fall, with less lighting and brownish plants.

For Julianos, I'm matching Daggerfall's looks which were, indeed, scholarly looking.

http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/5/50/DF-Donation_Collector_Julianos.png
http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/c/c7/DF-Magic_Item_Merchant_Julianos.png

Robes with books attached to them, beards for some of the men, etc.

Thanks for the suggestions.



Yes that is what I was thinking about for Kynareth. A place that inspires tranquility and peace. A place in the wilderness where you feel safe from danger.

Excellent idea with Talos and Stendarr. Ornate swords and shields hanging on the chapel's columns would be great.
On each side of Talos' statue, I have placed the statue of the Imperial Dragon and the statue of the Imperial, bearded soldier you can find in the Market District.

As for Stendarr, I have placed a large, ornate goblet/altar with an Imperial Legion horseman helmet on it.

Thank you for your suggestions, Lady Nerevar.

Perhaps in the Chapel of Stendarr you could have bunks on the side built for the beggars of the city, as a sort of homeless shelter. The monks themselves should also look rundown and haggard, with minimal flourishes -- practically beggars themselves. I'd use the idealized http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t039/T039777A.jpg as an inspiration (imagine him with dirt on his brown habit and more ragged-looking).

I like the idea of having some more practical and specialized services related to the patron deity showing up at the temples, like having a midwife or two definitely in the Temple of Mara, and maybe even the Temple of Arkay (since he's the god of the circle, which starts at birth), more extended tombs in the Temple of Arkay, an art studio in the Temple of Dibella, a marketplace outside of the Temple of Zenithar.

Also: The Temple of the One needs something done to it, if you haven't already considered it, since it's so boring in game. Like, even more boring than any of the other chapels. At least they have gorgeous stained glass and like, NPCs who come there sometimes. I know it's supposed to be destroyed, but still. Perhaps it could have a few more hints at the Cult's Alessian past, with some more Nordic details and statues of the Saint herself, and with some more Lorkhanic elements, however you'd implement those visually. But make it very very old, and sort of covered up by the polytheistic present. Almost as if it was built for one thing ages ago and was redecorated for another more recently, if that makes any sense at all.

I do like what you've got so far. Though I do foresee a bit of chaos caused by the physics engine in the Temple of Julianos with all those books everywhere, should anyone decide to cast a fireball spell . . . Eh, what are you gonna do?

I was indeed thinking of adding one or two empty bedrooms for the beggars in some of the chapels, that the player could use when he's at a low health. (And therefore, benefit from a the services of an healer at a cheaper price)

Nice idea for the monk clothing. In fact, one of Daggerfall's http://www.uesp.net/w/images/images.new/c/c9/DF-Potion_Maker_Stendarr.png in the Temple of Stendarr wears such clothing.



Excellent idea with the specialized services. I will take this in consideration.
Which makes me think, do you believe the women giving birth are sent to the nearest temple, or do they give birth at home with the assistance of a priest? I could extend more the chapel halls where the priest sleep and eat to accomodate such needs.
For example, the Temple of Stendarr has the reputation of having the finest surgeons.

Also, great ideas for Zenithar and Arkay. But for Dibella, I was thinking of a room where erotic instruction is given.

For the Temple of the One, I indeed intend to change it, but I haven't started it yet. I'll read more lore about its origins and change it around these ways.

Oh and for the physics thing with Julianos, fear not. The bookshelves and the books are one static mesh. With no physics. They are purely for decoration.

I thought something like the shrine of kynareth was added with the nights of the nine plug-in but it wasn't anywhere near sutches supposed location. you could use that if you wanted to just add stuff around its in the wilderness. been a while sinse I played so might be another god I'm thinking of. too stuck in daggerfall right now to remember the blandness of oblivion.

Excellent work so far. I think there should be vendor stalls inside the temple of Zenithar.

More stores? Why not use the crypt space as a vault? De crypt-ize it. You could move the library into the living quarters of the Julianos chapel, that way the shelves could safely have actual books on them.

It's been too long ago since I've played Knights of the Nine. Talking about Knights of the Nine, my project will go somewhat against it, since I remove the "All gods are unified under the Nines" aspect of Oblivion's religion.
Therefore, the Knights of the Nine are actually the Crusaders, the knightly order for the Temple of Stendarr.



Thanks!
Well the Resolution of Zenithar has a potion seller and a potion maker as vendors who make profit for the Resolution. But I do, indeed, have a lot of space to fill up inside the chapel. I'll put merchants both inside and outside.



I prefer to keep the undercroft as crypts where important characters have been buried.
As for the living quarters, they have been expanded. Great ideas for the Julianos chapel, I will place more bookshelves and items of knowledge inside their walls.


I recall a similar project that was underworks. "Church of Cyrodiil" if I recall correctly. I'll contact the authors and see if they are still working on it. If not, I could merge it with mine.

Making the Knights of the Nine into crusaders of Stendarr seems a bit arbitrary. If any change is needed, Talos would be much more relevant.

By the way, anyone khows why there was Ankh used on signs of Eight Divines Temple in Daggerfall?

It's a pretty generic "holy place" symbol that's not a cross.

:hubbahubba:


Is the static bookshelf just a placeholder until you work on a real one? You could make it a real library, and just make the books reset to their original positions after a few days, like the library in the Mage's Guilds.

Only problem is finding enough books in the game to fill those massive shelves, unless you made some new book objects, imported from Daggerfall and Morrowind or the Imperial Library site.

Yes, evidently so. And no lore about it?

Not really generic, since it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh.

You should make the books real but the shelves a creature so that when you shoot finger of lightning at it you get attacked for defacing Julianos's library.

Heh, I'll definately need to read again the books from the Knights of the Nine DLC.
I actually made by judgement by basing myself on their armor, which is called "[Something] of the Crusader"

The knightly order for Talos has been named "Knights of the Dragon". I believe it fits.



I love that smiley.

The static bookshelf is not a placeholder. It's the best way to change a room from an empty cathedral to a place where knowledge is taught and studied, without hurting anyone's computer. If all of the books are handplaced, most people's computers will burn down.

But the bookshelves are actually containers. So the player may "open" them and steal the books that are in them.



That is impossible, though the idea of being attacked for messing up with their books would have been great to do.
But if you steal one of the books, be ready to feel their wrath, of course.


In other news, I've built the layout for Kynareth's Shrine, which is located somewhere in the wilderness. I would like to know if I am missing a structure/theme that I should add.
It consists of :

- An exterior shrine to Kynareth, with benches, candles and a lectern.
- A priory chapel that will be used for worshipping sessions when it's raining outside
- An outpost for the Kynaran Order not too far from the shrine, which also contains stables and a training area.
- 3 Houses for the priests and those who work at keeping the shrine clean or take care of the Kynaran Order stables and blacksmith.

As for landscaping, it's filled with trees, bushes and butterflies. The statue of Kynareth has been placed so the sun rises in front of her.