Introduction:

Welcome, welcome, welcome! So good of you to stop by! Have a look around, why don't you? We have something for everyone here! Everyone's deepest desires fulfilled!

Well, that's not entirely true - and not entirely false. There is something for everyone here, but not something everyone will want. The truth hurts, you know? Tearing away the veil of childhood to reveal the Lie? How many of you are brave enough to face that? How many of you have the golden souls necessary to embrace it? Others have gone before you, and left the trail for you to follow - but only for those with the cunning and the will to persevere. To Be in the face of All, and to both reject and embrace the Lie. To break the clock so that its gears might be seen at last, and reconstruct it into a sacred mockery of the dream-deluded Godhead that made it.

After all - just because something is an illusion, doesn't mean it isn't real.

The Project:

This mod was originally titled "Sacrifice," but I felt that was too on-the-nose. Dinmenel (my ever-patient, ever-threatening muse) suggested a different title, which I shortened to "Inheritance," because it feels more thematically appropriate. I would have abandoned it long ago if not for certain threats of bodily harm. Also, I've just put way too damn many hours into it now to let it die completely.

Inheritance adds a !New city to the game, with its own quest-line, fully voiced characters, and texts. It expands on existing Dwemer ruins to a !Small extent, as well as Winterhold. Because it is designed to extend from the College quest line, you pretty much have to complete it (or be done with it) to play the mod. Of course, Beth made it so any axe-wielding maniac could become Archmage of Winterhold, so maybe you'll be fine. Maybe.

As a side-note, this mod does not hold your hand entirely. Some of it requires lengthy explanation, and some of it the player just has to go out and dig for. There are no quest markers, because I feel that these make the game way too damn easy. Fighting isn't everything, folks. Sometimes, you just have to go rooting around in a ruin while an ancient artifact burns out your brain so that you can find what you're looking for.

What this mod is, and why it is important:

In the course of this mod, the player will be introduced to more (and more!) information about the Dwemer, their origins in the first years after convention, and the rise of the first true empire on Nirn. It re-envisions the Dwemer in a fashion which, I hope, is believable and interesting for the people that play this mod. It offers alternate perspectives on certain conflicts and individuals which shaped the course of history. It also gives the player the chance to explore Winterhold's history, and get an idea of what the city was like in the early Fourth Era, before its destruction.

Of course, if that was all the mod did, it would be better off as a fan-fic in the forums. And it would be boring as sin. I've been working on it for years now, so I feel like it's pretty boring, but Dinmenel and Toesock might be able to offer a fresher perspective. (Feel free to bug them about it. They won't mind. At all.) I'm starting to identify with Magnus at this point.

How it came about:

This mod is the unholy love-child of two different story-mods I've been working on over the past several years. I'm note entirely certain, now, how it came about. Things took on a life of their own, and here we are. It's been a long time coming, and it has a lot of ground left to cover before it's finally ready, but I feel comfortable enough now to finally open a WIP. You poor, poor [VEHKS].

The first ingredient was a Dwemer history mod I started working on - only in the conceptual stages - back in the days when people still accepted that Morrowind was the best game ever made. We all grow up eventually, I suppose. What were the Dwemer like, at the height of their civilization? Where did they come from? What happened to them?

That last question is bound to rankle some feathers (best hang up the boas, dearies, we're in for a long ride,) so let me be clear : This is not a "what happened to the dwarves?/DORFSINSPACE/Lolnumidum" debate. That isn't a part of this mod. We all know what happened to them, even if we disagree on the specific mechanics or functions of radiant animunculi. Take that fight somewhere else - I run a respectable establishment here.

I went back across TIL's timelines, in-game books, etc. and said "you know what? Lets get this party started." The origins of the Dwemer are vague enough to give some room for creative interpretation/monkey-truth. I eventually abandoned that mod/idea because Vvardenfell was too crowded, and I really just didn't feel it was appropriate for the setting of Morrowind anymore. But fate has a way of giving you plutonium-laced lemons as often as the non-poisonous variety, and [VEHK] it all if I'm not going to rustle me up some glow-in-the-dark scurvy-medicine. Thank you, piss-poor implementation/hand-waving explanations of the Dwemer in Skyrim. You were a [REDACTED]-send.

The second parent for this mod arose out of my "Oh hell no" reaction to Winterhold and the College's storyline. Sure, we've all had a great deal of fun speculating on the causes of the Great Collapse (I'm looking at you, you three-tusked cetacean [VEHKS]) but the whole "No idea what really happened/Oh hey, you get to be archmage over a lunatic asylum because some spooky Not-A-Jedi said so" storyline stuck in my craw. I choked to death, but thanks to my handy-dandy phylactery, I was able to return for vengeance. How did you find my shop, anyway? We're in the middle of a Necropolis, for [VEHK'S] sake.

Back to the matter at hand:

So, inanity aside, what is this mod all about? It's about a story. It's about the Dwemer as a civilization and a culture - as a living, breathing people. It's about their history, rising out of Convention to pioneer a new way of life that would reshape the course of history. It isn't entirely in-line with existing lore. When I started working on this project, we still didn't have things like the Aetherium War(s) or Miraak to deal with. We only had questions - largely without even hints for answers. So I got creative. I worked to construct a history which fit thematically/aesthetically in the world of The Elder Scrolls without being confined by existing interpretations. After all, if the existing histories are at least somewhat suspect, then why not expand on it? Are you willing to walk through the darkness to find what they left behind? Are you willing to awaken their machines and fulfill the second-greatest endeavor their race ever undertook? Are you willing to defy gods and monsters, and stare into the starry heart of all creation - even though it may mean giving up everything you have ever cared about or accomplished? If so, you should really re-evaluate your perspective on life. Or just dive in head first, and see where the waters take you!

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1468572-the-epithalamium-of-arimatha/

What is done:

There's probably more, but these are the important parts:

~ The main ruin/city and minor additions to existing ruins are all laid out and mostly done. They probably need more detail work, but they're laid out, lit, somewhat cluttered, and navmeshed.

~ The first two (of three) quests are largely written and done along with their dialogue/entries/updates and scripts. Some of that still rough, and my co-writer for one of the characters is currently occupied by another project, but it's a WIP. Give it time.

~ Two of the three characters involved in the main story are, at this point, voiced. Their dialogue may be scaled back a bit in the end to make the story less 'go here and do this,' but that's largely Skyrim's play-style.

What still needs to be done/What I Need From You:

This mod ultimately requires a great many custom meshes. Most of these are minor retextures of existing assets from Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn. Hearthfire didn't add anything particularly interesting to the game, so I didn't make the mod dependent on it. It also includes a number of minor characters and altered vanilla characters which, as a matter of making things feel up to standard, need to be voiced. I'm at the point with this mod that I need someone else (anyone who's interested, really) for the following:

- Voice Actors

- Someone who can work meshes. The mod will ultimately include a suit of custom armor and some clothing, and hopefully a new race. Yes, I recognize that that's kind of a big deal.

- Someone who can work with textures. See the point above.

- Testers. Seriously. I've been working on other projects (my M.A. Thesis, for example) while working on this mod, but I put a lot of time into building and testing it before I ever let Dinmenel or Toesock see it (again, feel free to bug them.) It's to the point where I kind of hate playing Skyrim anymore, let alone my mod. Fresh eyes would be a blessing. You just have to be willing to sign away your soul.

- If anyone particularly wants to help contribute flavor-texts, please contact me. There's a lot of Dwemer and Falmer material to cover, and while I have some of it down so far, I'd like to include much more. Why have libraries if there are no books?

TL;DR : (No. Go back up there and read it. No? Fine then. Lazy [VEHK].)

I would greatly appreciate the assistance/contributions of any other modders who want to work on this project. I've done a great deal, as the screens below should show you. I'm not some green-horn proposing an overly ambitious project which I have neither the knowledge nor the means to bring to fruition. I just need your help at this stage.

If you wish to contact me, please feel free to do so on my summoning day, the 28th of June. I can also be reached here, of course, if the proper offering is given. I no longer accept Black Soulgems, as I frankly have far too many at this point in time.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bx5Ywb1S65liVjFpN0tpYkE2T1U&usp=sharing