It's probably written somewhere but I want to give you guys something to talk about: Is all the dialogue going to be voiced? If not, is the "main quest" one going to be? Also... Is there any big spoiler related to how we get to "Ethas" or it's a "totaly new place" like Nehrim or we simple will be able to take a boat? So many questions!

When is this being released?
Is it going to be difficult like nehrim?
How related to nehrim is it?
What will be added?
Morrowind citys?
Where is it?

Hey, this looks pretty cool (and professional)!
Good luck, I look forward to that podcast.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7481262/EthasCover.png

Oh, and yeah, summer update is tomorrow. It'll include a bunch of new screenshots, a podcast, and a little something extra!

Summer Update Time!


We're releasing a bunch of new screen shots that show what we have been working all on summer. From the re-imagined Plains of Sorrow to the forests of the Heartland, we have a quite a few new things we'll be showing within the images. Some of the new things shown off include;


- 2 of the 3 new playable races.
- The Heartland, the forested lands in southern Arelia, and home of Arelia's capital.
- Our redesigned color palette for the Plains of Sorrow.
- A screen showcasing an open city. Yes, we will be having open cities.
- Elven Ruins


Also with the screenshots, we are releasing our first podcast! We talk over a few general topics concerning Ethas: Embrace of Destiny, and what it's all about. It provides a first insight into the world of Ethas, and what you can expect in Embrace of Destiny.


http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/videos/ethas-embrace-of-destiny-podcast-01


And last, but not least, we are also releasing the main theme for Ethas: Embrace of Destiny, composed by our own Justin Hardin! We hope you enjoy this look into the feel and some of the atmosphere we are going for within the musical realm that will be brought to you in Embrace of Destiny.


http://soundcloud.com/justin-hardin/ethas-embrace-of-destiny-main


If anybody is interested in joining the Ethas team or is interested in voice acting, email us at ethasproject@gmail.com. If you're looking to become a team member, be sure to include examples of what you've created in the past. The Ethas team has a very open workflow, so you won't be forced into a specific position, you'd pretty much be free to do whatever you want (within reason!).


Remember to keep watch, as we'll still be updating in the future with more stuff!


Below are links to the screenshots we released today, as gamesas forums don't allow image posting:


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Plains.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Plains_Waterfall.jpg


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Just_an_Epic_Screenshot.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Heartland_Fog.jpg


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Hawkreath.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Freydan.jpg


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Eldahli.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Boat.jpg


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Ashir-Kai.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Ashir-Kai_Camp.png


http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Western_Reach_Rain.jpg

My eyes! My eyes are melting! Why you did this to me!?


Jokes apart, wonderful work.

Thanks! I think we got to all of your questions in the podcast, so hopefully you enjoyed that as well. I think it turned out pretty good for Justin and I never having done a podcast before.

J here with an update! Some have asked about new weapons that would be in Ethas: Embrace of Destiny. Well today we finally have something to show you all! In the render below, we have the blades that are apart of the Ethisian Steel Weapon set, modeled and textured by our own Kevin Eriksen.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6408/steelbladesrender.jpg

The weapons showed above are as followed;
-Ethisian Steel Dagger
-Ethisian Steel Shortsword
-Ethisian Steel Longsword
-Ethisian Steel Claymore


This is just a part of the full weapon set Kevin is working on, too include the above blades, bow and arrow, etc. This is just one of many of the new weapon sets that Ethas will have. But of course, we all know you just want to see an in-game screenshot, so here you go;

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/SteelClaymoreScreen.jpg

Shown within the same pic is not only some of the Ethisian Steel Weapons, but a piece of the Great Valley region, and also an insight as to what you will encounter while exploring.

We'd also like to welcome a new addition to our crew. Ceri Rogers (aka DiGiTALZOMBiE) is joining us as an architectural modeler. Get ready for some incredible new architectural styles in Ethas. Hopefully we'll have the chance to show off some of his work in our Winter Update, so stay tuned!

Hey everybody, ModDB is hosting their 11th annual mod of the year competition, and we need your help! If you like what we're doing, head over to our http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny and nominate us for mod of the year!

While you're at it, nominate our friends at http://www.moddb.com/mods/merp-middle-earth-roleplaying-project as well. Their hard work and dedication needs needs recognition.

I voted, I'm really looking forward to this mod! Hopefully work will go along smoothly for you guys, I haven't really seen a major quest mod for Skyrim yet.

It has so far, with the exception of an annoying CK bug that was preventing us from working (since fixed). Thanks for the vote!

Is this a total conversion? Regardless, looks awesome.

Thanks! Ethas isn't a total conversion, we a simple spell system that lets the player travel between Skyrim and Ethas. Basically, no matter where you're standing in Skyrim, you can travel to Ethas. When you travel back to Skyrim, you teleport back to where you originally were. It works the other way as well. It has the same conditions as fast travel, so you can't switch while in combat, falling, etc.

You can also start a new game in Ethas. If you want to play in Skyrim after starting a new game in Ethas, you can travel to Skyrim and you start in the cart like normal, the only difference being that you won't get to redo your race. Ethas, however, is completely separated lore-wise from Skyrim. It takes place in its own universe.

In other news as well, one of our team members, Kevin Eriksen, has posted our first Development Blog! We'll do a few a these throughout the development of Ethas, and they'll go over things such as small updates on what's going on currently, and what's to come. Most importantly though, the blogs will go over different design approaches we're taking in Ethas and how we're bringing the world of Ethas to life. In the future, we'll also be doing some different in-depth tutorials on how we accomplish or did certain things within the development of Ethas. In the first dev blog, Kevin goes over the design approach for the Ethisian Steel Weapon set. You can read it on our moddb page here; http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/news/ethas-development-blog-entry-1

Hey everyone!

We started our winter update today, which will be split into 5 parts every Thursday up until Jan 3rd, which will be our "big" update.

For week 1 of our winter update, I talked about one of the new races in Ethas, the Eldahli. You can read all about them here;

http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny

Also, since everyone likes pictures, here's the pic that was including within said feature;

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/EldahliRaceFinal.jpg

We're at week two of our winter update, and this time we're focusing on companions. Companions are quite important to not only our development team, but to RPG fans around the world. http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/news/2012-winter-update-week-2 In addition to the article, we've also http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Companion06.png of one of our companions in a tavern in one of our many cities. Stay tuned, we've got another update coming next week!

Hey everyone, here's Week 3 of our Winter Update! This week, we took a deeper in look into the actual world of Ethas. You can read up on it in our moddb article http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/news/2012-winter-update-week-3

With said article, we also have a http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/EthasMaps.jpg complimenting the content of the article.

Also, we'll be doing another podcast for our big update on January 3rd, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and we may just answer them!

Time for week 4 of our winter update! http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/news/2012-winter-update-week-4 Ethas's reward system, a system that brings meaningful rewards for quests and dungeon diving. http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/RogueCaptain.jpg that shows off the starting armor after having chosen the Rogue class as your playstyle.

Also, there was some confusion on how this will effect such a basic system such as loot. Almost all of the loot in Ethas will be completely random, just as it has been in Skyrim. This system merely changes what type of rewards you'll get for quests and at the end of dungeons. Think of it this way - instead of making it to the end of a dungeon, finding a high priced staff you'll never use, then find that no merchant has enough gold to even buy the thing, you'll instead get a reward that fits your playstyle. And if you're not a fan of this system and instead want completely randomized rewards, we'll have that as an option as well.

Check back next week for the final, and most epic, part of our 2012 winter update. We'll have a slew of new screenshots, info, and the second episode of our development podcast.

And here we are at the final week of our 2012 Winter Update!

Along the new screens we've released so far for our Winter Update, we have 6 new screenshots today for you all. The 6 new screens feature the following;

-The Great Valley
-The town of Hearthlake
-Combat featuring the Ethisian Steel Warhammer
-A Dwarven Ruin in the Wasteland
-Elven Ruin Interior
-The City of Rilekarth

Along side the new screens, we have our 2nd podcast! We go a bit deeper into the world of Ethas, talking about our companions, locations, and story. We also announce the date for our first trailer, so keep an eye out for that.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/ethas-embrace-of-destiny/videos/ethas-embrace-of-destiny-podcast-2

And finally, we have new music. This ambient track, titled "Reachwind", is named for the Reachwind Pass in Ethas, which connects the Great Valley of Virardan, and the Plains of Sorrow in Arelia. The piece combines the majestic views of the Great Valley with the solemn undertones of the war-torn Plains of Sorrow.

https://soundcloud.com/justin-hardin/reachwind

On February 7th, the one year anniversary of the Creation Kit, we'll be releasing our first trailer. We can't wait to show you the first in-game footage of Ethas, and are pretty excited for it. Make sure you keep an eye out for the trailer!

We hope you enjoyed the 2012 Winter Update, and as always, look back for more information in the future!

Below are links to the screenshots we released today:

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Elven_Ruin.jpg

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Wasteland_Dwarven_Ruin.jpg

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Rilekarth.jpg

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Hearthlake.jpg
(also, big shout out to zTree for the creation of the two large trees featured in the shot. Thanks a ton!)

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Great_Valley_Pond.jpg

http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/21/20603/Great_Valley_Combat.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkhIGR-SFxI

One year ago today, Bethesda released the Creation Kit, allowing many of us modders and players to bring our own dreams, worlds, and ideas to life. To celebrate the anniversary of the Creation Kit, we're releasing the first trailer for Ethas: Embrace of Destiny! We hope you enjoy it, and big thanks to Ben Britton for voicing King Emmeric Evers for us. So sit back, and take in the sights and sounds of the world of Ethas!

Hey everybody, long time no see. We're looking for a talented level designer to help us shape the world of Ethas. As I'm sure you've seen in past posts, we are an experienced team with most of us having large completed projects under our belt, and as such, we are looking for somebody that knows their stuff!

What you'll be doing:
Helping shape the world of Ethas, a land made of many diverse environments
Creating interesting and unique dungeons and various other interiors, including large, living towns
Crafting narrative through exploration, using the land and the spaces below it to help tell a story

It would be great if...:
You have experience designing exterior locations for large-world projects
You have created one or more well-crafted dungeons
Have plenty of experience in the Creation Kit or other Bethesda editors
Any other relevant skills (modeling, scripting, etc.) are not required, but would be a huge plus!

We're a very laid back and fairly small (on purpose) team. As anyone on the team can tell you, Justin (who is the other co-creator) and I don't bark out orders - we let the team have freedom to work on what they want. Sure, we occasionally have deadlines if we want to show off a certain part of Ethas by a certain date, but for the most part, it's up to you.

We synchronize all of our material through Dropbox, so if you have an account, that'd be great! If not, we'll help you get one set up and linked to our team folder. We also have an IRC channel, our main means of communication with the team.

Feel free to post here, PM me, or email us at ethasproject@gmail.com. Make sure to include any photos, videos, or links to past projects.