After a year of lurking, I've finally gotten around to finishing my first mod! It's a short but hopefully atmospheric, open-ended quest mod revolving around a lost shrine to a certain Daedric Prince of forbidden knowledge...

http://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43635/? (has some screenshots) https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0ss6y_pJT86fkwxWjloN3JILW5pS0QzeENRVlgwMndSWV96bG1TMnhZZUZNeUlFOEVNMDA&usp=sharing

The readme...

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Love in the Time of Daedra v 1.0

By HangHimHigher

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Contact
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Elder Scrolls Forum: I go by the name "HangHimHigher", and you can message me via that name.

Email: ClimbIntoMyCageOfBloodAndBone@gmail.com

Tumblr: http://www.nihilisticproductionfactory.tumblr.com/

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, bugs, typos, suggestions for improvement or any other feedback on the mod!

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Overview
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What do a heartbroken Buoyant Armiger, a House Indoril priestess, a pompous con artist, a vengeful warrior and a cold-blooded bandit have in common?
In one way or another, all of them have something to do with the the last known shrine of Hermaeus Mora on Vvardenfell.

This is an open-ended quest mod with an emphasis on stories. The quests themselves are quite short, and you won't find any epic dungeon crawls or battles to save the world. But what you might find, if you dig a little beneath the surface, are people with stories and secrets of their own.

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Installation and Requirements
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This mod requires the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions.

Install it as you would any other mod: copy all of the folders in the 'Data Files' directory including the .esp, paste them into your Morrowind data files directory of choice, and activate the .esp file prior to playing.

I recommend that you start a new game with this mod. I haven't run any tests trying to add this mod to an existing save game, and so while I'm not aware of any problems, I can't guarantee that it won't cause problems. If you do want to add this mod to an existing save game, please at least make a copy of your save file and keep it as a backup just in case.

For those of you who use MGE/MGEXE's distant lands feature, you may want to regenerate your distant land, as this mod does add a small landmass. However, you won't miss out on much if you don't do this. The mod will still be perfectly playable.

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FAQ [or QIABAF -- questions I anticipate being asked frequently]
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Q: Is this mod clean?

A: As clean as I can make it! This mod has been cleaned thoroughly with TESAME.

There are some modified cells which might look like junk cells because they have no references, but I've landscaped them.

There are no GMSTs or dirty references that I'm aware of.


Q: Does this mod conflict with any other mods?

A: Other landmass mods which alter exterior cells to the far north of the map may conflict with this mod. Such mods include: 'Island of Tusar' and 'Hawkfir island'.

There may be other mods which I am not aware of which conflict as well. If you are in doubt, you can always try using TESPCD (The Elder Scrolls Plugin Conflict Detector) -- it's really useful and simple tool to use, and you should be able to download it freely on the net.

I am confident that this mod will NOT conflict with most of the major landmass mods such as Tamriel Rebuilt, Solstheim Castle, LoKKen Island etc.

Companion from other mods will have trouble because this mod involves a fair few scripted teleport sequences. It might just be better for you to leave them at home.

There is a very small chance that other mods will drastically alter some other vanilla game cells which this mod needs to work, but I'm not aware of any at the moment.

If you discover conflicts, please let me know! I'd be happy to make a patch if it's feasible, or at least update this readme to let people know.



Q: How do I start the mod?

A: This is actually a little tricky to answer because this mod is not linear.

You can do some, or all, or none of the quests, and many of them can end very differently depending on your actions.

However, one thing to note is that because all of these quests converge on a certain lost Daedric shrine, your finding this Daedric shrine (whether as part of a quest or not) will block any quests you haven't already started.

This means that you can play these quests concurrently or ignore the ones you don't like, but you can't finish one and then start another.

Here are some ways you can start some of the different quests:

- Ask for rumours at any town in the West Gash, or go tomb-raiding until you find a tomb with a very special person in it.

- Ask for rumours at Ald'ruhn.

- Ask for rumours at Ghostgate.

- Don't actively seek out anyone, just play the game, and I'm sure you'll eventually stumble onto someone.

You are of course perfectly free to ignore the quests and seek out the lost Daedric ruins and the treasures within for yourself.

A note: you can go about some of the quests in very different ways depending on your choices.

If you are curious about alternative choices/endings, you may want to save your game often before talking to the quest NPCs.



Q: What level do I need to be to start this mod?

A: The mod doesn't really focus much on combat, but there are one or two potentially tough fights. I would suggest being at least level 10, assuming your character doesn't have stats trailing off into the 1000's...

I might also suggest that players who are *too* strong will find the combat underwhelming. Level 98 Daedric armour-wielding fiends with cumulative constant restore health enchantments, here's looking at you...



Q: Is this mod lore friendly?

A: I have added things into lore which didn't exist before. I'd like to think that these are tasteful, subtle additions in keeping with the spirit of Morrowind, and they're certainly minor additions, not rewriting the core of the mythos or anything like that.

Is that lore friendly? I would say so. I can't really say for anyone else, though.



Q: Are there any bugs/problems with this mod?

A: None that I know of, except that I write in "British English", which I understand doesn't fit with the "American English" you see in the rest of Morrowind...



Q: You gave me a cryptic opener, but I still have no idea what this mod is about!

A: My approach to modding is a little like writing short stories, so it's a hard for me to say. The mod is dialogue and background detail heavy (relative to its size), and I think of it less like a series of quests, and more like living out some short stories. There are quests, characters, a landmass, new creatures, scripts, and a mild feeling of melancholy (or maybe that's just me).

I will say that I have an unhealthy interest in love stories, especially *morbid* love stories, and one of those features quite strongly in this mod (hence the title).



Q: I found a bug/typo/something I don't like/I hate this!

A: Awesome! Well, other than the "I hate this" part. But please, this is my first mod, and I'd be really grateful for bugspotting, feedback or commentary of any kind. My contact details are at the top of the page.

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Useage, Distribution, Permissions and Disclaimer
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Useage:

I haven't added any custom resources to this mod, unless you count my scripts (which I don't really count as resources anyway, but you can use them if you like). Please DO NOT take meshes/textures etc from this archive and use them for your own mods, because none of them are mine.

All of the custom models you see in this mod are modder's resources, and I'd ask that you download the original resources and use those files. Just because I've renamed some of them here, and so that you can give credit for the resources properly.

If you'd like help identifying where a certain resource came from, get in touch and I'll happily show you where it's from!


Distributions:

You may distribute, host, upload etc this mod anywhere as long as you:
a) don't change anything; i.e. upload the archive exactly as you downloaded it with all files and the readme present.
keep crucial details such as the mod author (me) and the version number of the mod visible; and
c) don't charge anyone money for it. Just generally please don't do mean things.


Permissions:

You may:
a) Make translations of this mod freely, no need to contact me. Though it would be nice if you did, just because it would be cool!
Make patches for this mod and any other mod you like, as long as in the process of patching it you don't just start changing this mod to suit your own tastes and then releasing that. Again, no need to contact me, though it would be nice.

You may not:
a) Remake, alter or remix this mod and release it publically in any way. (Privately, you can do whatever you like!)
Try to pass it off as your own or someone else's.

Basically, just be nice! If in doubt, contact me with your request, and I will probably say yes! =)


Disclaimer:

I've tried my best to make this mod safe to use, but I can't take responsibility for any adverse effect which comes from you downloading and/or playing this mod. I can't take responsibility for any good thing which comes of it either! It's all on you!


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Credits and Thank Yous
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There were a lot of amazing resources used in this mod, and I am so incredibly grateful. This would all be so much less exciting without all of that. My heartfelt thanks to everyone below!


Shannon: For the excellent skeleton race resource.

Melchior Darhk and the Tamriel Rebuilt team: For the brilliantly bizarre Hermaeus Mora statue model.

Arcimaestro Antares: For a very special, very awesome creature resource.

The Better Bodies 2 team
Silaria
Hurdy Gurdy
Lillia
Lochnarus
Emma
Korana
TheSiriusSnape
Rhedd
RexxEdge
UQForgotten
redwoodtreesprite
mightyjoeyoung
and
Lingarn: For the special ghost race resource. It fit the character perfectly.

Grumpy: For his companion v3.1 template which really made it all possible.

Cyran0: For their journal-entry-upon-reading-a-book script in the MW Script Library which I've used so many times. And also for their generally being supportive and generous with their time on the construction set forums and helping me with my stupid problems again and again and again.

The Sotha Sil Expanded team: For their warping effect activator script which I still find mesmerising.

Phijama, DragonLance and B3d00: For their gorgeous sword resource and associated sheathe and scripts.

AnOldFriend: For the subtle but awesome unique staff models.

AnOldFriend and Lords of Crusan: For the freaky (in a 90's underground good way!) shield models.

DarkElfGuy: For being the best beta tester anybody could ask for and helping me fix up the mod. And also for helping to revitalise the Morrowind modding community, and for taking all the time and effort to make tributes and showcases for this great game!

Bethesda: For the only game that's ever gotten me hooked.

You: For being interested enough to download and read this far. I really do hope that you get something out of the mod.

That's it!