"To my loyal Thane ,

, the time has come to once again prove your worth to your Jarl.

As you probably know, many citizens of Skyrim lost or were forced out of their homes due to the war or those damned Dragons. More and more refugees from all over Skyrim come to my city, seeking a place to sleep, food to eat, and in the better cases, work to be able to afford the aforementioned. We cannot afford to let that many people in our city, we don't have sufficient resources to support them nor enough guards to maintain public order. These people must leave this city as soon as possible!

Merely showing them the gates is not an option since half of them would resort to banditry in order to survive, terrorizing my people all over the Hold. Fortunately my adviser suggested an idea that would turn this mess into something useful. Someone is to lead these refugees away from my city and is to found a new settlement inside the borders of my Hold. Rather than harming my people through banditry, these people would contribute to the local economy and thereby strengthen the Hold.

I have not been able to find someone in my court yet who is both suitable and willing to undertake this endeavor. I will not lie to you Thane , this is a heavy and costly undertaking. Should you choose to accept this responsibility you are expected to finance everything yourself. Yet, this is a unique opportunity to get to rule over a fief of your own. As thanks for the service you do my city and the investment required of you, you shall be granted ownership of the lands that your new settlement will occupy.

One last thing, Thane. The bearer of this message is an architect with a good head on his shoulders. I trust him and have appointed him as your adviser. I expect his insights will turn out to be invaluable. He shall fill you in on the details and shall answer any questions you might have.

Do not let me down, Thane .

, Jarl of "




The overall idea is made clear in the above letter. With your adviser you will find a spot for your new settlement, after which the settlers (10-20 of them) will be brought there. It is your task to take care of their needs and build and expand your settlement and it's sphere of influence. The mod will provide social, economical and military challenges to the player.

Securing resources and keeping your people safe and happy will be your top priorities. It will be possible to build and occupy existing outposts all over Skyrim to secure either resources (food (hunting cabins and farms), wood (lumber mills), stone (mines/quarries), ores (mines), money (trade routes)) or strategic positions (forts). Transports of goods between outposts and your main settlement can be attacked, protecting those routes will be very important.

Keeping your people happy will attract new immigrants, who will be vital to be able to expand and secure your holdings. The wealthier, more powerful and more numerous your people become the bigger the target on your back and the bigger the potential gains!


At some point I would like to tie the new political situation into the civil war, or even let the player start local wars. The Jarl might eventually start seeing you as a threat instead of an asset, or other Jarls might be unappreciative of your people occupying outposts in their Holds and might demand just a little too much compensation... Who knows where it might lead if you could actually beat a Jarl?


Technically speaking, the mod will provide building mechanics as shown in the videos at the bottom of this post. The settlement will be lively, with your people having automatic fitting daily routines. They sleep, they eat and they work, some might be disobedient or downright corrupt/criminal and if you abuse or neglect your people you could face a rebellion. The goal is to provide a settlement building game from an RPG perspective. It should feel very believable and immersive.


This mod is meant as a mid/end-game feature. Especially at the start it will cost a lot of money, since you'll have to buy resources from other towns/cities to get started. The longer your settlers live in a "survival" situation the unhappier they will become, and having your people gather all required resources themselves from scratch to build the first buildings will take a long time and will prove to be a difficult situation.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LodqREbsaI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZEKFx5FKaQ

I could actually use some help with this mod. If you ...


... can adjust vanilla architecture models in NifSkope or another modeling program, I could use models for different construction stages to simulate more realistic construction of buildings.
... can script with Papyrus on an advanced level we could share the load. My life is a bit busier than usual lately so I wouldn't mind some help. Most of the core mechanics are scripted already, but there is still a lot to do!
... have great ideas and like fleshing out the concepts of the economical/social mechanics in great detail, that would save me a lot of time as well!
... are a talented writer, a lot of new dialogue is required for the new settler NPC's. I bet the letter from the Jarl that I wrote could use some improvement as well!

Maybe this could be your 9th symphony since MERP had to be put to a halt.

Looking very good! Good luck

Awesome! I want this.

How cool, reminds me of when I got my fort in Neverwinter Nights 2, I loved that bit, managing the land and fort.

Maegfaer, PM me about what Papyrus work needs doing, I'd like to help .

Sounds brillient! Definitely downloading this when it's done.

Perhaps you could utilise and expand on the mechanics introduced in Hearthfire, might save some future scripting induced headaches?

Cannot wait, good luck.

- Hypno