» Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:09 pm I am currently taking part in the development of a stand-alone mod that would take the player on a journey not across Skyrim as Dragonborn, but across various realms of Oblivion as a Dremora. It's quite a big project and any help is welcome of course (http://realmsofsouls.wikidot.com/features), but what I want to discuss here is the lore. I'm friendly with TES lore, read almost all books, most of MK's posts, etc, but I'd like to make sure that what we're doing will please the fans. That's why I'd like some feedback over the reliability of the following aspects.
I'll begin with the synopsis then get a little more into the details.
Synopsis
The player is a Dremora under the control of a mage. As the game starts, both the mage and the Daedra are conjured in the base of a secret society of dissident scholars, to join this organization called "the Veil". The base is located on a small plane of Oblivion and a ritual will have to be performed soon in order to strengthen the anchors of the plane. Unfortunately, as some members travel to another realm to prepare the ritual, they are made captive by Clavicus Vile who asks for souls as a ransom. The members of the Veil hence decide to pay the ransom with the souls of former mortal criminals who performed deeds terrible enough to become little lords in Oblivion at their death. And so becomes a hazardous journey in Oblivion...
The player
The playable character will be imposed to allow us to build a stronger plot and better dialog options with the NPCs but a lot of freedom will still be given in the way you want to play this two-headed entity. The Dremora, Velkan, is supposed to be under the control of the mage, Calemryon. Hence if you have an unappropriate behavior, the other NPCs will likely think that Velkan is taking the upper hand.
- Velkan himself is a Kynval Dremora (warrior-knights who have distinguished themselves in battle, and shown the deliberate steadiness of potential war leaders). He used to be a Caitiff as zealous as any Caitiff can be, but since he was promoted to an upper rank and gained more power over lesser castes, he started to become more independant and issident. He removed his armor to expose his body with defiance and arrogance, focusing his martial training on attack rather than defense. This kind of behavior is not the most common thing but it may reveal a strong temper and higher ambitions. For a Dremora, Velkan is rather enclined to thinking and observation of mortals before trying to kill them, and it is the reason why he was chosen by Calemryon.
- Calemryon is an elf of mixed Elven origins who settled in Summerset Isles to study Conjuration, Daedric artifacts and mostly, ways to Oblivion. He was gifted but had little education and spent more time trying to understand how he managed to achieve something than to try to do the said thing. When the Thalmor went to purge the society from those who weren't of Aldmeri blood, they came for him as well because of his bastard blood (and because he was considered as a troublemaker). Calemryon managed to get rid of his aggressors and out of panic, he tried to flee to Oblivion by opening a portal with a Daedric artifact. Unfortunately he was unaware of Akatosh's barrier and the artifact shattered. A shard of him ended in Calemryon's spine and he lost the use of his legs from this point. It was only with the forced help of conjured Daedra to hold his body that he could run away from the Thalmor and go into hiding. When the Veil heard of his fate, they tried to contact him to offer shelter and protection.
As of now, Calemryon is disabled and trying to remove the Daedric shard could cost him his life. He has hopes that Nocturnal who the artifact belonged to, could recover the the shard. Meanwhile, Calemryon uses the Daedra as a replacement body, seeing through their eyes.
- Male witches
Highrock witches are known to use magic in a way different than what mages and sorcerers do. I tend to consider that what witches do is closer to the Old Ways of the Psijic Order. Witches have always been women but so far I have not found a decent way to explain why females would be attuned to this kind of magic and men would not. Hence, men should be able to perform witchcraft as much as women and thought of male witches. It cannot be called a wizard or sorcerer because it's not the same thing as a witch, and I imagined that the first male witches disguised as women to avoid troubles with covens. - Sailing to Oblivion
If Calemryon was born to be a smuggler like his father, the elf's fate changed when some odd person in Senchal offered him a treasure map and a boat for free. Calemryon gave the adventure a try but quickly found out that the boat was nothing normal, going its own way across the Padomaic ocean and feeding on its sailor's soul, binding it to the helm. It was quite a Daedric trickery and Calemryon wanted to go ahead of his doom and sailed with the will to join the shores of Oblivion. And incredibly enough, it happened. The elf landed in Clavicus Vile's realm and dealed his freedom with the Prince to return to Tamriel. A first theory is that the boat acted as a portal to Oblivion, but Calemryon is persuaded that the oceans are the water of Oblivion of Tamriel, and that it would be possible to sail to any Daedric realm with an appropriate vessel. - Shaping an Oblivion realm
Saranya is an Altmer who was born under extraordinary auspices that gifted her with an incredible amount of Magicka. Harnessing this power was tiring and difficult and the young elf caused quite some accidents that decided her to live in seclusion. She tried to experiment things but had no real goal, save for the strong hope that her world could become as perfect as everything she could dream of. She spent more and more time thinking and day-dreaming until she realized she was starting to confuse dream and reality, that the two seemed to merge. Within two centuries of experiment she had claimed a piece of Vaermina's realm and fashioned herself a princess. The Veil recruited her to become the architect of their realm and keep her under control. As things go, Saranya seems to be becoming one with the realm, the walls and corridors are her ears, her eyes. - Wtf
There should also be some theories that will be more NPC's view over various topics and might be total crack or divine illumination, sometimes serious, sometimes humorous, sometimes both. http://izz-noxfox.deviantart.com/art/TES-TAMRIEL-342878103 (I give the illustration and let you figure out what's depicted, explanations may come later).
