Skyrim Monster Mod - Lore-Friendlier Replacer, for those who would like to use Skyrim Monster Mod but find some of the creatures lore-breaking or out of place.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16411

This mod add-on REQUIRES Skyrim Monster Mod v5 (http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9694) and will not work without it.

For those unfamiliar with Skyrim Monster Mod, it adds many lore-friendly creatures such as the Guar, Durzog, Boars and many others - alongside creatures from The Witcher and Stalker and new creations made for the monster mod. This mod add-on removes some of the more lore-unfriendly creatures.

Creatures removed as of this first release are:

Triceratops
Baphomet
Bullvore
Abomination
Lilith
Nekker
Parasite
Draco Griffon
Cyclops

I've also removed the Mammoth Young and Daedroth (Dragon Man) in the current version as although not entirely lore-unfriendly, they stand out too much for my tastes.

I haven't amended spawn locations (as of this release), so some may still appear in unusual locations.

Installation: Install Skyrim Monster Mod first from http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9694and replace the SkyMoMod_lists.esp file with http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16411.

Disclaimer: I haven't tested this very thoroughly, and there may be errors and/or lore unfriendly creatures that I haven't yet removed. If you find any errors or see any creatures that you believe should be removed, please let me know and I'll have a look when I next update.

All credits go to DogTown1 for the original Skyrim Monster Mod and the creators of the original creatures. This mod add-on has been approved by DogTown1.

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. monsters definitely, The Witcher 2 ones aren't bad since they're still 'dark fantasy' monsters. Aside from the different art style and names, they could existish with Skyrim stuffs.

The Cyclops though, isn't that un-lore friendly. I mean, it's still a standard fantasy monster and it looks like a mutated or enchanted Troll of some sort. I just found its animation kinda bad sometimes though. Even Baphomet and Lilith, aside from the names, could be placed under the umbrella of 'It's a Daedra thing' heh heh. Honestly the Daedra Spider woman looks worse IMO, no animations on the face, it basically just sticks out. Though admittedly, really scares you first time you run into it.

Yep, this is just the first version of the replacer. I created the replacer for my own use as some of the creatures were distracting me as they seemed so out of place, most strikingly the Abominations and Triceratops...but when looking for a lore-friendly replacer on the Nexus forums it seemed nobody had created one but many were looking for one - so when making my own I removed some of the most obvious creatures and decided to release.

I haven't actually come across the Daedra Spider woman in game yet (and didn't try adding her with the console), and the pics on the Nexus looked quite impressive, so I haven't seen her in action yet. I wanted to experience the monster mod's creatures organically in-game before amending - but I think I'll change my attitude on that and start to refine the replacer.

I'm planning a couple of optional files. One for purists, that only has creatures as seen in other Elder Scrolls games (or mentioned in lore), and another that is a little looser, with some creatures removed but others renamed to fit into lore where possible (Baphomet, Lilith, Cyclops etc can be adapted here).

In the meantime if you spot any creatures that are obviously unfriendly to lore, please let me know and I'll update over the weekend.

Yeah no prob. I stopped using SkyMoMod for a while because I kinda got tired of bad animations mostly. He's got some new models and meshes in the latest update, so I'm going to give it a go on a new playthrough. I'll check out the monsters, see which ones really shouldn't be in a TES game etc.

Thanks! This is a great idea. I was thinking of asking Dogtown myself if I could make a dependent esp on the mod that would be kind of a Lite-n-Lore version of the mod.
Here's my own thoughts of some the monster's (which by the way are impressive) that could fit Skyrim:
- Nekker (Necken is actually a creature from nordic mythology that lives in water and wells, a water spirit of some sorts, therefore I think it might fit into Skyrim)
- Werecat. I think werecats fit TES mythology quite well. Either as beasts of Hircine or a breed of catfolk (there are endless of moon-phase varieties of Khajits). Actually it would be awesome if Khajits would transform into weretigers and Argonians into werecrocodiles
- Durzog and Guar. Definitely plausible near the Morrowind border, maybe somewhere in the eastern Rift.
- Harpy. I think there are Harpies in Hammerfell mentioned in the previous games, so they would fit in the mountains near Markarth.
- Treant. They could be considered an variation of the Spriggans. In other words forest guardian spirits that could live in caves like Eldergleam Sanctuary or Shadowgreen cavern.
- Minotaurs definitely could be found near the Cyrodiil border.
- Boars might fit too although they are a bit funky looking. Kind of remind of the monster hounds in Willow.
- I think the spider daedra is the only one that fits the description of a TES daedra.
- The River Naga might fit if it was renamed something like Sea Wyrm/Serpent (or something more nordic. I think Naga is more Indian). It could stalk the Sea of ghosts.
- Ogres fit perfectly. I don't understand why they didn't have them in Skyrim in the first place.
- Drowners might fit, since they kind of remind me of the Deep Ones mentioned in Oblivions Hackdirt quest. I think there were also ghouls in Daggerfall that are somewhat similar. So they might fit some watery caves and dungeons.
- Most of the Dwarven, Falmer and Giant variations don't seem to fit the creatures we know in the game. Fire Giant and Daedra Falmer aren't really consistent with established knowledge we have on these races.

Well, there's my two or more cents on subject. Anyway, giving some of these creatures TES names might go a long way.

Thanks for your suggestions. I wasn't looking at amending spawn locations just yet - although I may look at this once I have the initial mod finished. Placing the creatures nearer their native locations makes a lot of sense.

At the moment I'm concentrating on removing the most lore-unfriendly creatures.

I've just updated the mod with a couple of optional files (due to many requests!):

1) Remove Triceratops only
2) Remove Triceratops and Mammoth Young
3) Remove Witcher creatures (Bullvore, Drowner, Nekker, Rotfiend) plus Triceratops and Mammoth Young.

Not having player Witcher or Stalker, I'm not quite sure which creatures are from those games! Feedback is appreciated.

My next plans are to rename creatures that can fit into lore - if you have any more suggestions please let me know.

Harpies appeared and Werecrocodiles are mentioned in Daggerfall, so I don't need to worry about them - I did look into Khajiit breeds as a possible werecat renamer, but not sure that any would fit exactly. I considered something vague - "Feral Khajiit", "Feral Cat Beast" or similar - but maybe best just to leave as werecat.

Thank you, jackstarr. I stopped updating SkyMoMod when it went heavily non-lore, and have been using version 2b for quite a while. Now, with you properly removing (not suger-coating) the most immersion-breaking, non-lore elements, I will try the latest.

As for werecats, I think the name is fine. Maybe they are a feral splinter group of Khajiit, or maybe they are just suffering a different curse. Even if one plays as a Khajiit, one still gets transformed into a werewolf during the Companions quest-line. Beth should've made Khajiit's turn into werecats. Werecrocs might be the Argonian equivalent.

Here's some creatures from the previous Elder Scrolls games.
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Monsters
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Bestiary
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Battlespire:Bestiary
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Category:Dawnstar-Creature_Images

I was thinking that maybe the Necker could be named Gehenoth (a creature that was in Dawnstar mobile game)

Oh thank goodness. I think the game needs more variety in monsters but the STALKER and (some) Witcher creatures and triceratops really turned me off.

I'm going to update with two main versions of the file:

1) A standard "Lore-Friendlier" version, with some creatures removed but other creatures renamed to suit Elder Scrolls lore.
2) A "Purist Lore-Friendly" version with all creatures not explicitly seen or referenced in Elder Scrolls lore removed.

My plans for renaming creatures so far are:

1) Treant - Any objections for renaming simply as "Spriggan"? Although all Spriggans in Elder Scrolls lore are female in appearance, they are inspired by the Cornish Spriggans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spriggan) which are not exclusively female. Another option would be to rename as "Nature's Guardian" (an alternate name for Spriggan) or "Spriggan Patriarch".
I think I'm leaning towards "Spriggan Patriarch".

2) Werecat - I will leave this as it is. There are plenty of were-creatures in lore, and it could also be what the Nords call types of Khajiit they've never come across before (people name things according to other things they know, and they know all about werewolves).

3) River Naga - how about "Sjoormen"? (Norweigan for "Sea Serpent"). Otherwise just "River Serpent".

4) Baphomet - rename as "Daedric Knight" or "Daedric Soldier"? Otherwise just "Daedric Minotaur". I'd like to leave the name as open to interpretation as possible. Which realm is a minotaur-like creature likely to come from anyway - Hircine's?

5) Lilith - she's a vampire, but has Daedric-looking wings. "Daedric Vampire Priestess" seems wrong - but I can't think of anything better.

6) Drowners - I'm not sure on even including these in the "Lore Friendlier" version. Possibly as "Ghoul" (as seen in Arena - http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:ArenaGhoul.gif). Maybe can adapt as "Drowned Ghoul"

7) All Atronachs that don't fit with known lore renamed as "------ Golem".

As for the variations of Giant and Falmer - I don't have a huge problem with the Giants that I've seen in-game - Fire giants are stretching things a little, but maybe they're just cursed in some way? As far as I understand, Falmer are snow elves that have devolved and gone blind due to their time underground with the Dwemer. It seems plausible that the varieties added by the Monster Mod are either various stages of their devolution - or maybe they had been experimented on by the Dwemer?

Could you make a version that just removes all the excessive weird variations/recolors of existing creatures?

Not really a fan of the http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9694-1-1329561206.jpg. The idea isn't that lore unfriendly but she just looks like an elf with bad looking warpaint and horns. It would help if the skin was much grayer I suppose, like that of the summoned dremoras.

I agree, Povuholo - but Dremora in Daggerfall and Battlespire had more human-looking skin - so even this implementation isn't too lore-breaking.

Maybe I'll look at a more radical overhaul in the future, but for now I'm just making a version of the Monster Mod with the most lore-breaking creatures removed.

My next step, as mentioned before, will be to play around with the replacer a little more - looking at spawn points. I don't want to take the replacer too far from Dogtown1's original version, otherwise it would become a whole new mod in its own right.

Updated to v0.6 - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16411

New version as follows:

The main file currently removes the most lore-breaking creatures and renames others to fit into lore where possible. I will also be a making a purist lore-friendly version to remove any creatures not seen or referenced in lore.

I've simply removed the following creatures from the Monster Mod:

Triceratops
Mammoth Young
Abomination
Nekker
Bullvore
Giant Cyclops
Draco Griffon
Parasite

Other creatures have been renamed as follows to make lore-friendlier:

Baphomet - renamed as Daedra Knight
Lilith - renamed as Ascended Vampire Ancient
Daedroth - renamed as Blood Daedroth
Rot Fiend - renamed as Flesh Atronach
Drowner - renamed as Ghoul
Treant - renamed as Spriggan Patriarch
Tree Spirit - renamed as Spriggan Spirit
Sea Dragon and Sea Drake - renamed as Sjoormen
Glass Atronach - renamed as Glass Golem

There are optional files if you would like just some creatures removed - please look at files for details.

This is a great idea. If you could trim out some of the less carefully done ones, that'd be great too... The Living Flame is just a fire atronach with the armour/black bits removed.
Tree spirit is a Ghost-formed Spriggan. Daedra falmer... just makes no sense. And I'm not a fan of the Fire Giant.

The mind-flayer or illithid or whatever it's called (titled Daedra: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9694-2-1332066189.jpg ) isn't very friendly. I don't know if these are in the current version but I have to assume so.
oh and one from stalker is this: http://static.skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/images/9694-1-1332629818.jpg
it's called "Daedra" according to the photo (perhaps he couldn't think of a skyrim version? it's really called a Pseudogiant http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/Pseudogiant )
Another: I'm pretty sure the boar assets are from stalker. It's okay as they have a place in the game, but it's a bit less immersive because I know them from elsewhere.

The werecat and werecroc should stay, and if anyone wants to make a wereshark that'd be great! (they're in lore)
I'm a bit confused by the vampire goat headed "minotaur". There's a perfectly good minotaur in there, why make a goat one?

aaaanyway, despite all complaining, I like this idea, I'd like to use the monster mod if it didn't make things so ridiculous. Thanks!

Living Flame doesn't seem too odd to me - how about renaming as "Flame Atronach"?

Tree spirit has been renamed as "Spriggan Spirit", the one from Stalker (called "Abomination" in the original mod) has been removed.

Werecat and Werecrocodile are staying in.

Some of the names in the Nexus photos have already been changed by Dogtown1 - "Daedra Falmer" has already been changed to "Dark Falmer". As mentioned before, Falmer are devolved snow elves and variations of their look should be fine.

Okay, I can see a Daedra Falmer just being a Falmer that worships an unsavoury Daedra, and dresses up.
Living flame annoyed me because it's clearly the same thing and barely changed, how about Unbound Flame Atronach? Then if it appeared wild, or was hostile to anyone including the summoner, that'd make sense, and explain the loss of the black armorlike bits.
Spriggan spirit, a bit odd, as isn't a spriggan already a spirit which just inhabits a plantlike form? but okay, I can see a loose one making sense (although a different shader would help! i'm not religious, to talk about souls, but ghosts make more sense for people than creatures)
The rest sounds good, glad to hear the pseudogiant's out! What about the tentacle faced "daedra"? In or out?


aaand, eventually I'll give this a try so I can know what I'm talking about before commenting!

"Spirit" not as in "ghost of dead thing" but as in "the spirit of the forest". If it sounds too odd then I'm open to suggestions.

"Unbound Flame Atronach" - I simply see the Living Flame as an unarmoured variation of Flame Atronach, not necessarily "unbound" - I don't see the need to point out the obvious fact that it's unarmoured. Maybe just call it "Fire Atronach" or "Flame Atronach".

The Werecrocodiles can be renamed Daedroth since there are in fact, bipedal crocodile-like lesser Daedra called them, and they were present in both Morrowind and Oblivion: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Daedroth_(Oblivion)

Heck even the Werecats can be a form of Daedra in that case. Technically only werewolves and werebears are mentioned in the lore (werebears are actually considered a myth, while the werewolves are considered fully realistic, apparently according to one of the lore books in-game).

Also, some consideration of calling the Baphomet a form of Xivilai Daedra? http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Xivilai

I haven't encountered one of the goats yet, so I'm not sure what they can do. They might not be powerful enough to be called those.

But like I said, if there are fully in the lore bipedal crocodile lesser daedra, we could just about effectively call any of the bipedal creatures that have no were-counterpart in lore as forms of lesser daedra.

Werecats could simply be a Werecats of some form, even Weresabretooths of some kind.

TES lore is steeped in Werecreatures, and we already have sabre cats in Skyrim, so linking the two is not hard at all.

And, hating to disagree with Elementroar, but the previous games (Arena/Daggerfall) had a lot of lore (and, iirc, ingame encounters) with other were creatures.

Weresharks are a part of the lore, WERESHARKS.

I'm not sure why some people think the Triceratops is out of place. Actually, based on the vanilla Skyrim content, a Triceratops is more or less fitting. We have Mammoths, after all. It's not that big of a stretch if you study paleontology.

Same thing with the Cyclops. It fits with the Giants.

If we're taking out lore-unfriendly stuff, we need to remove some of the vanilla stuff that isn't really fitting.

However, stuff from games like Witcher and Stalker certainly don't belong in TES as far as lore is concerned. On the other hand, we have the Space Core, too, so lore is pretty much gone, anyway.

Sure, leave it as Flame Atronach, I was just suggesting a way it could be different, and in my opinion, more interesting. I'll be assuming it's an unbound one in my mind, anyway
And, for the Werecrocodiles debate: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/On_Lycanthropy
This was apparently in Daggerfall, as well as vanilla Skyrim, so there's plenty of lore for it.
I personally don't have a problem with the concept of the Cyclops, or Giant version. is it a visual thing?
I think a version of Xivilai could make sense, or call it something else, related. Goat Xivilai... nah perhaps best just leave it as Xivilai. The book Varieties of Daedra has a good list of the different sorts, it's not specific about the appearance of a Xiv.

@AiTenshi1 There's a 60 million year difference between Triceratops and Mammoths (mammoths only died off within the last 4500 years). I take it that studying paleontology would actually show why there are even more out of place together, except in a museum.

@ Ravenholme and evilgiraffe: It's about location. Lycanthropy by its definition is a disease and its name only pertains to Lycans which are the wolf family. The only other form of the disease mentioned is the werebears by the Nords, which are considered a myth but isn't far off considering bears and wolves have a common ancestor. Furthermore, the Nords and Skyrim in general, have a very close connection with wolves more than any other animal, primarily through the God of Luck, Sai (whose non-inclusion as even a reference in-game is really a loss opportunity for lore IMO).

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Sai


Note that it isn't directly related to Lycanthropy however since that disease/curse is done by Hircine.


Far as I know, Hircine only ever bestowed the contractable form as Lycanthropy in Skyrim. Other creatures are possible but it would depend on location. The problem is the Werecats look like weretigers, if the skin didn't look like they were from a jungle environment they would fit better. Similarly, crocodiles wouldn't survive in the colder Skyrim water environments, so I doubt they can bite Nords.

To put a lore spin on this, Hircine was a sworn enemy of Ebonarm, the god of war who gifted Sai with immortality. Wolves are natural hunters and symbol of Hircine, but the focus on werewolves could be attributed to mocking the wolf form of Sai who became a god under Ebonarm and whom the Nord revered. That however, is pure conjuncture on my part.

You make a good point. Werebears, wolves, and sharks are the only lycanthropes that should be native to Skyrim. That said, as they are human(oid) a lot of the time, it would be easy for another form to migrate to skyrim. We know plenty of Dark Elves have done so, which would account for crocs, and some of the Khajitt trade caravans have recently arrived, perhaps unwittingly travelling with a werecat among them.

I was interested to read about Sai. I agree, it's a loss. But many gods have been lost, and altered, to fit new interpretations, as you can tell from looking at the Nordic pantheon alone. And as Sai was last heard of in Daggerfall, it seems time has hidden him from the world. You could make a very interesting quest mod about him, don't you think?

You actually make a really good point with the refugees, something I forgot to consider. If only they had a transformation script or something (like Tales of Lycanthropy), would make them even more fitting. I still think the werecrocs being Daedroth would be fine either way. They don't have scripted spells though, so werecrocs is probably better if they're fully melee.


I'm slowly working through tutorials on the CK, since this is the first time I've really got interested in a TES game, I'm not familiar with the tools or the folder structure so it's kinda learning a decades worth of lingo most in the modding community have gone through

I could probably make a ghostly wolf NPC that roams all over Skyrim that perhaps makes 'good things happen' for a moment while it's near the player or friendly NPCs, come to think of it.

(wait if Sai was a mortal elevated to God, doesn't that mean Talos isn't the only mortal to become a God? Well he did become one of the Divines I guess...)