Mesogea: Total conversion port from Oblivion to Skyrim.

Before I tell you what Mesogea is, I think its important to say that this is not merely an idea and recruitment for a mod that is never going to see the light of day. The Mesogea TC has been a work in progress over quite a few years now and the only reason work slowed was when Skyrim was announced, it was thought sensible to do only a little modding in Oblivion and to work on meshes, textures, developing plot and quests etc ready to move the entire TC across to Skyrim.

Put simply, Mesogea is already well beyond the design stage, you can visit Mesogea, there are towns, NPC's, creatures and most of the buildings and so forth are totally unique to Mesogea.

So what is Mesogea. Firstly it is not an accurate portrayal of classical history. Mesogea is a fictional period and place in Earth's past, so in Mesogea you will walk under an Earth sky and moon. Mesogea has nothing to do with TES other than utilising the game and Construction Kit to develop the world.

Mesogea much like Middle Earth is set in a fantasy period of our world. Tolkien focused very much on North European mythology for his fictional world, Robert E Howard went further and devloped a much broader base for Conan, though had insufficient time to give it much depth. The idea behind Mesogea is to give a fantasy pre-history of the Classical, Celtic, Gallic, North African and Near Eastern civilisations. The idea was to provide a huge world in which such beasts as Mammoth, Smilodon and Werewolves could exist side by side with Dragons (both winged and wingless), huge desert beasts, giant scorpions, giants and whatever peculiar creatures could have given rise to such myths as Centaurs, Amazons, Griffons, Cyclopes and so forth. Mix into this a more gritty, bloody and savage place where the streets of cities are more like the cut-throat alleyways and streets of ancient Rome and you have Mesogea.

Lets have a look at what has been done over the last few years:

We'll start over at Youtube with the Mesogea trailer. A short Machinima story showcasing Mesogea and giving a flavour of what the world is like.

This movie gives a taste of the Mesogean lands and a feel for how the cities might look and feel. This is an Oblivion trailer describing one mans journey from citizen to soldier and his travels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42TVnjGZ77U

The second gives a brief view of the Vardensara, a pass into a plague land and subterranean city. Skyrim will provide much better stuff, imagine going through the gate and finding slaves turning wheels, guard towers, whips lashing, fires rising out of the ground and spitting lava etc. The underground city will be developed into a much larger place that will take days to explore even a portion of:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Valisarius#p/u/5/8WrDQgJQkKI

This shows the Agaria, the slum district of Illusidum, chief city of the Holorian City States. Skyrim will allow for more diverse occupants and more NPC's so the cities will genuinely feel lived in:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Valisarius#p/u/15/N09WDCJcVSk

The last is the latest video and a brief look at a new town and the Island of Etruria, the island is unpopulated but a haven for corsairs whilst the creatures are somewhat unique. Giant terror birds, Hyenadon, Raptors and so forth.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Valisarius#p/u/0/YIbdE3-PsEI

So why this thread?

I am now working on a new heightmap for Mesogea, improving on the previous one and getting it ready to put into Skyrim. The map is being made with L3DT a landscaping tool and I will post screenshots as we go along. At this very early stage there is a lot of room for planning and to develop the landscape to fit into quests and ideas that team members may have. This is a good time to join the Mesogea team if you are interested in developing it and really kicking off the modding by getting things ported across and introducing NPC's and quests and a storyline at the earliest possible opportunity. This is not a mod that is being planned, it is being made.

Where can I find Mesogea?

http://www.mesogea.org/
http://mesogea.spruz.com/wiki.htm
http://www.youtube.com/user/Valisarius

What will being in the team mean? What is there to do?

Some team members over at the forum are still active (well waiting for the CK to come out)

1. Quest developer. Work in the forum on ideas for quests and mapping them out. What NPC's objects etc are needed.
2. Magic overhaul. Design and create spells and magic effects unique to Mesogea in keeping with its theme.
3. Texturer. If you can retexture and create textures then there are numerous models to work on and improve.
4. Modeller. If you can create creatures for Mesogea then please sign up, any help is appreciated.
5. City developer. Mesogea needs unique cities for various civilisations, from tundra, to arctic, to desert and arid and all thats inbetween.
6. Weapon and Armour designer. Unique kit for unique civilisations.
7. Wiki assistant manager. Help me develop the wiki in keeping with the Mesogean theme.
8. Construction Kit region editor. Help me work on the regions and develop a unique look to the world.
9. City populators. Once the cities basic architecture is ported across the cities need people, children, stray dogs and cats, thieves, robbers, merchants and the like...
10. Tomb and dungeon makers. Develop the interiors of the numerous mines, pits, underground cities, tombs and so forth.
11. Scripters. We need help scripting for all kinds of things.

Thanks for reading, and remember, this is an already released mod and a massive amount of work has been done on it and is being done.