Acadian: I really liked the reflection picture too. It was the first time the character had been out in the sun, and I wanted to stop to take a picture outside the dark dungeon environment where she started. It turned out really well.

Well, she is no Hoag Merkiller, but she killed quite a few point-ears in her time as a soldier in Alessia's army.

I am sure we will be seeing Darryl's other brother Darryl, and Darryl too, before we are done!


Grits: I have decided that her sword was originally named Blessing, or possibly Shor's Blessing. It was enchanted by the seid workers of Skyrim. Now just like Persephone, it has been transformed into something darker, and the blessing has become a curse.

Not only is Persephone not afraid of the dark, I think it is safe to say that she is the reason other people are afraid of it!

Persephone is much better preserved than Darryl. I have been thinking about that, and it is because she is a different kind of undead. I am taking some inspiration from both the briarhearts, and the two undead in Solstheim with the heartstones. Only she was created thousands of years ago. I am thinking she has an enchanted heart made of the Ayleid Varla Stone crystal, and that it gathers in energy just like the Ayleid Wells do, from starlight (aka, magicka pouring down from Aetherius).

I keep thinking more about Persephone, and her creator (Hades?), and I think there might be a story in there. The Pre-Modern Prometheus. I even have theme music already. This is the song of her creator, a necromancer who would never call himself a necromancer. Rather he was a man seeking to defeat death itself and create eternal life. A world without end. Instead he made Persephone. This song makes me think of Persephone at that time.


King Coin: Persephone does not kill all the elves she meets. Only those belonging to hostile foreign armies. She has a lot of history there.

That water is from Pure Waters. I like it best of the water mods, for how it makes the water semi-transparent. It really makes the shallow streams look fantastic.



Persephone had to shave for this pic

This one looks like a book cover to me

A slightly different angle on the same shot

Here is a long vid of Persehpone's first visit to Helgen

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 6 2013, 01:26 AM

Lol, at least as a dead girl, she shouldn’t have to shave again!

I’d read that book. Looks like the sort of thing I’d read.

I like how she summons her sword. I need to try a conjurer sometime. First she beats right through someone’s shield, and then she swipes a head from someone’s shoulders! She’s awesome!

It seems a little funny to use a restoration spell on someone that’s dead!

I tend to avoid going inside Helgen keep when I use an alternate start. The one that I use, things go weird inside. Yeah, I’m seeing the same things in your video as well.

Head count 2.

Wow, she just plowed through that bandit chief. In my game, the lever to drop the bridge didn’t work. I ended up turning off collision to get through.

Very pretty end.

Screens:
Impressive shot of Persephone bringing down the hammer claymore!
Book cover? Gosh, you are so very right. It instantly conjures memories from the ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’ series! Such a beautiful shot! The second one is also very good, but the first one is unbeatable. Wow!

Vid: Loving that bound claymore! And Persephone knows how to use it!

I love the notion that Persephone has a self-refilling magicka source to keep her preserved. The thought behind your characters is fascinating. Necromancy could be the basis for a great love story.

Book cover is just gorgeous. What a fabulous shot. Persephone is a beauty, whatever her “living” status.

Neat to see Helgen as a bandit haven. I’ve never gone through the caves again having seen too much of them from the Bethesda Start. Kyne’s Peace! The best Shout in a spell tome. Awesome.

I could grow quite attached to a draugr summon! Darryl has excellent presence as an ally. I like his voice, and the way he lets go of his axe with one hand sometimes is pretty neat when you’re not the one being chopped.

Love the floaty blue light from Malediction. Persephone is fun to watch!

King Coin: Persephone has the highest skill of any two-handed fighter I have ever had. Currently its 80. She wipes a lot of people out with a single power attack, and can hit everyone in front of her with a sideways power attack.

There is actually a Necromantic Healing spell that only works on undead, and its a restoration spell. I think Dawnguard adds it. Persephone uses it on Darryl.

Weird things in Helgen? The things in my video are almost exactly the same as your second trip in Helgen when playing vanilla. The only thing different I did change was the bridge that gets smashed. I left that still intact and needed the lever to open. OTOH, I did remove the spiders, because I do not like them, and changed them to Chaurus Runts instead. Likewise, I removed the sleepy bear at the end.


Acadian: The Book Cover pics came out really well. I always start thinking of screenshots whenever it is near sunrise or sunset, especially if there is a good backdrop.


Grits: I still have not decided if Pesephone's creator (Haides I think) was human or Arimer. My original thought was that he was an Ayleid, hence his idea to pattern her heart after the wells, and his knowledge of manipulating varla stones and the like. But I cannot see him ending up in Skyrim with her. OTOH, I can picture him a breton or nord mage too, using the tools of the enemy against them. I am thinking Persephone was created in White Gold Tower after Alessia had taken it. Unknown to Haides, the tower itself played a hand in making Persephone, as it is a focus of Ayleidic magic. I can picture him presenting Persephone to Alessia and her advisors, trying to 'sell' her the idea just like a modern arms dealer. Because after all, Haides needs money, lab space, and more test subjects to keep up his work. Persephone was only the prototype after all. But Alessia would never go for necromancy, no matter what you call it, or how pretty a package it is in. So she would have told him she'd think about it, and then ordered his arrest. Then Haides was forced to flee Cyrodiil, and go on in secret. If he was a Nord, he'd naturally go back home to Skyrim. But since White Gold itself was part of the creation, he'd never succeed in making another like Persephone, and he would never figure out why until he was dying (probably with Persephone's hands around his throat).

I picture a real love-hate relationship between them. I know Persephone refused to ever speak to Haides. Though she would speak to other people - like Alessia. It infuriated him, and was her only means of expressing her will. Otherwise she was under his power. My thinking is that he made her heart in two halves. One was in her chest, the other was in a ring that he wore. The pieces were radically different in size, but when it came to actual power they were equal pieces. I am not sure how it eventually happened, probably a feud with other necromancers, but I can see Haides and Persephone in some dungeons or caverns after either an earthquake or explosion, with a metal beam piercing clean through his chest. His last act was to give Persephone her freedom, placing the half of her heart from his ring into her chest, fusing both pieces together. He would have said something like "Because it is all I have left to give." Persephone's first act of freedom was to strangle him, repeating the very same words back to him. Even she does not know if she killed him as an act of mercy, or one of vengeance.

And as I write, this song is playing. How perfect.

I can also picture Persephone killing all of the rival necromancers, and destroying their lair while inside it, burying herself within. Like the ending to Bride of Frankenstein, where the monster has his hand on the switch to the explosives and says "We belong dead."

Kyne's Peace was the first shout that I turned into a spell. It is practically indispensable for most of my characters.

Darryl is quite useful as a follower. But his other brother Darryl is even more kickass. Darryl II shouts!

I love the blue wispy effects of Malediction as well. It is actually the effect of the Ghostblade from Ansilvund.


Persephone lets the Thieves Guild know what she thinks of them

Meet Darryl's other brother... Darryl

Darryl can Fus

Persephone finally decided to update her outfit

Under the stars

A bad day to be a bandit

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 20 2013, 04:18 PM

That’s a great shot as Persephone introduces herself to the TG. A beautiful sky and mountains in the background if it weren’t for the blood and flying head blocking the view.

Old Blue Eyes is fabulous!

Uh oh on the wardrobe. I confess to liking the outfit she has on in the first three shots. The new ‘Serana’ outfit looks a little more constraining and harder to get blood stains out of. I mean it’s not as if Persephone cares about keeping warm.

Bad day to be a bandit indeed! Here comes double trouble!

If you had played Skyrim as long as many people have, and had to constantly put with that fella Brynjolf accosting you to join the Thieves Guild, you would think his death was the most beautiful thing in the world! Seriously, there are even mods to keep him out of your hair.

Old Blue Eyes? I guess its that Old Black Magic that has Persephone in its spell. Or maybe Darryl just Did it his way?

Its true the old outfit had a lot less material to clean. But the new one is black and red, so the stains should not show... much. I like the way it accentuates her figure.


I have been working on a concept for a new character - an asian/Akaviri this time. Something not easy to manage in Skyrim. I was inspired by a mod that adds an asian follower from a custom race. I made the race playable, and made the follower a preset. Naturally the player character I made from that looked nothing like the follower, not the least bit asian. *sigh*. So I scoured the Nexus for asian race mods. The best one seems to be the Ashen Race, which touts itself as an oriental race mod. So it should be no surprise that none of the presets for it look even slightly asian. I did find a save game of a character that looked mostly asian, and have been able to work from that. Now I am going over equipment mods.

I settled on a mod that more Japanizes the Blades Armor (apparently it adds a twin backpack in the chest as well... )

And comes with town clothes as well

The sword is a sticking point.
On one hand there is Akaviri Katana Reborne, which has some neat glowy runes

But Insanity's Dragon Katana goes better with the armor

The Dragon Katana's blade is nothing special though

So I am not sure which one to go with. Probably the Dragon Katana, because the black and gold fits the armor best.

I do not have a name for the character either. Maybe Tomoe Gozen? I have used that one in Fallout 3 already though. Perhaps Jingu Kogo?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 21 2013, 12:51 AM

I'll come back in a bit to look at the screens, but if you like the sword Aravi's been using in my screen shots lately, it is part of a sword pack called Jaysus Swords. Screen. Keep in mind, if you do get that sword pack, it was created before the CK was released, so you need to use a separate patch to keep it from overwriting some other things. I can provide links if you are interested.

EDIT:

Thieves Guild, is that Brynjolf? That guy is so obnoxious. You can’t sell those unique gems without getting in with him, so I added a small mod that lets one of the Khajiit caravans by them.

Persephone is looking good in her new outfit. Under the college is a cool place. I got a mod that adds a necromancer alter somewhere under the college.

I like the new Blades armor, though I’d do without the helmet. The robe looks comfy.

I like Insanity’s sword, but then I’m not a fan of glowing runes and stuff like that.

second edit: some annoying thief's name was incorrect...

This post has been edited by King Coin: Oct 23 2013, 01:12 AM

Fun with samurai! The blades armor looks good - even better without the gold bow around her neck and without the helm. A katana of some sort is the clear choice of course and both those look good. I see what you mean about the blades themselves, but I'd give priority to how the scabbard looks. The in town outfit looks simply delicious, and very dark hair with dark eyes are natural choices.

No clue on a name. Given the name of my only character, you surely don't want any advice from me. . . else you might end up with a Barbi or Bambi!

For a name how about Betty? She was named after this fish because of its darting, elusive nature, and only later found that, in the Nord language, it shared its name with a woman. I leave it to you to determine the name in her language.

I like Insanity's sword. The blade looks like it might actually do its job, and has been zone-tempered to produce hardness variations along its length.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Oct 22 2013, 04:28 PM

Persephone:

How nice to see Brynjolf’s head flying. Thanks to a mod he leaves my characters alone now, but still…

It would be awesome to have a Fus-ing follower! I’ve already downloaded your Undead Summoning mod for Darnand when he eventually gets to come out and play. Even though he’s not a necromancer.

Under the stars is lovely. Persephone looks like she’s moving on with her unlife now that she’s in an outfit instead of her tomb armor.

Wow, Darryl is big! I love how he holds the axe.

Akaviri warrior:

I like the Blades armor. The hat is admittedly not my favorite, but it gives a very distinct and readily identifiable look.

The town outfit is gorgeous! It looks great with her coloring. She’s beautiful.

I love Insanity’s sword. The scabbard works very well with her armor, and I love the realistic detail on the blade. If she’s going to be very magical I’d go for an effect on the plain blade over the glowing runes. Is there any goldish magic effect? The only thing I can think of is healing.

Names… What’s she like?

King Coin: Thanks for the link to the sword. But I find I like the Dragon Katana best. It is perfect for Jingu's look.

Brynjolf used to really drive me nuts until I got that mod that Grits mentioned, that shuts him up and stops him from force-greeting you with the the Thieves Guild introduction.

I tried that mod that lets you sell the unusual gems to the Khajiit, but it did not work. Maybe I was trying one of the wrong Khajiit caravan leaders, rather than Riisad? I'll try it again.


Acadian: In the end I decided to go with the Dragon Katana, precisely because of what you said about the scabbard. It's look fits in much better with her outfit overall than the other sword.


ghastley: The Insanity sword does look very realistic and usable. One of the reasons it won out!


Grits: Persephone shedding the tomb armor and getting into the vampire outfit was indeed a part of her finally leaving the past behind and getting on with her undeath.

Darryl is kind of odd with his shouts. He says the full "Fus.... Doh Rah!", but it only seems to be the Fus effect alone that happens, as people do not go flying. Those times battling through Solitude with Ulfric it seemed like a tornado had hit the place, with the way people were flying!

I am glad to hear that Darnand the necromage well-respected member of the magic-using community will be getting some use of Darryl and his brothers!

No one likes her samurai helmet? The horn things are a bit grandiose. If it is any consolation, like most of my characters she almost always goes bareheaded.

After looking through my book on Samurai Women, I decided to go with Jingu Kogo for a name. She's the only one who can really hold a candle to Tomoe Gozen (who I have already played).


Thanks to her waterwalking spell, Jingu is the sole survivor of an Akaviri trading ship that sank in the Sea of Ghosts

Jingu likes to explore this strange, new land

But still, she says her daily prayers to the morning sun, and home.

Warming her hands by the fire

Another book cover

How is this helmet?

Slugging it out with the Falmer

Sneaking like a ninja...

...and striking like one

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 25 2013, 05:35 PM

She’s pretty! But doesn’t look especially Asian… weird how Skyrim is like that. Actually the book cover screen looks more Asian than the others.

In strange new land, her pose seems oddly appropriate.

Prayers is pretty. The one in town looks a lot more comfortable next to the fire in her robes.

Uhh.. no helmets.

I see she has a spell in hand. Does she usually fight with magic and her sword? Or does she block with a one handed weapon?

This post has been edited by King Coin: Oct 26 2013, 03:49 PM

I like the interesting but uncomplicated way that Jingu found herself in Skyrim. Was that view toward Azura’s statue and Winterhold pretty much her first sight upon reaching land? Neat to see Skyrim through new eyes and from a different direction (not Helgen).

Morning prayer is one of those pictures that tells a story. Very nice.

It’s great to see Jingu’s slim shape as she warms her hands, since her robe does not have her armor’s auxiliary chest storage feature.

It’s hard to pick a favorite between book cover and the sneaking one. I love the way her face looks in the sneaking one, but the book cover one is such a gorgeous picture! I like the way her spell lights up her face.

Jingu looks awesome as a dual-wielder. Does she have an enchantment on one of her swords?

New helmet? Lol. The Nord horns make me like the gold horns more!

King Coin: I know, she only looks Asian in certain lights/angles. And that is using the most Asian-looking mod out there!

No love for the horny helms? No fears, I cannot ever see her wearing the Helm of Yngol again.

Morning Prayer is a case where I looked over to see the sun rising over the ocean, and knew I had to take some kind of picture of that.

She's mainly a dual-wielder, but uses magic in her left hand as well, especially for ranged attacks before closing to melee. It has been a long time since I played a dual-wielder, and I really cannot say I like it much. It seems to be mostly just button mashing, where playing a shield and sword or two-hander has some strategy in timing your blocks and bashes.


Grits: Jingu actually spawned at Pilgrim's Trench. This way I can say that one of those ships down there was hers. She spent a lot of time exploring the northern coast though, with the help of her water walking spell. (I still cannot believe they left that out of the vanilla game. They really expect your characters to swim though the arctic ocean).

Those twin storage units in her chest are handy for carrying around her loot!

Her swords are not enchanted, not yet at least. You are probably seeing the faint glow of her Oakenflesh spell. She always uses that to buff up her armor, since as a dual-wielder she cannot block.

I thought that Helm of Yngol would make the Japanese one look good!



Flinging a firebolt

On the lookout for a killer

Facing off against The Butcher

The after-slaying party at the Candlehearth

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 30 2013, 04:20 AM

Jingu looks wonderful! Like Grits, I think her story is simple and very effective. Hmm, honestly, I'd dump the helmets entirely for her and start looking for a circlet to suit her. Red is absolutely and definitely her color for her casual clothes - she looks spectacular in it! If you're not happy with the dual wielding, how does it work and feel using one blade in her right hand with magic filling her left hand? I know that I would struggle with having to stow weapons before casting.

Acadian: Sometimes the simplest stories are the most effective. They can always get more complicated as time goes by. Like an ordinary street urchin from the IC who gets caught up in the Oblivion Crisis, or a simple bowgirl from Bravil who ends up hip deep in the same.

I really like that simple robe outfit. Even though its just a retexture of the vanilla robes, it has a very Japanese feel to it.

Jingu does use magic in her left hand for distance attacks and the like. But it is not very effective when you really get to close quarters. You cannot block that way, so you have no defense. Since you cannot defend, you might as well just go with two weapons and make the most of your offense. Or you can just empty out everything from your left hand and block with the sword in your right hand. But while it is easy to put something in your left hand, it is a real hassle to remove everything from it. I even tried using a shield with Jingu, but it just does not feel right for a Samurai.


So I have been experimenting with some other characters. First off I tried a reboot of Le Chevalier D'Eon. I also tried out an Orc, a race I have not visited in a long time.

Le Chevalier D'Eon came to Skyrim via a ship

She is not the only one who feels like a fish out of water...

Skyrim may not be as refined as High Rock, but it still has rock stars

How often have you seen this in Skyrim?

I also created Durga, an orc who left/was kicked out of the stronghold of Dushnikh Yal (she stole a pile of potions from the cellar before she left!)

Durga is hanging around the Reach

She thinks this guy is a liar

Darkness and light

Disguised as a Forsworn

Doing something rude to a Silverblood mercenary

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 30 2013, 06:31 PM

I love the ‘Flinging a firebolt’ picture. Very nice shot of her.

‘On the lookout’ looks like the guard is watching something too.

I was never able to properly finish the butcher quest.

Ah, back to the French knight. She has such fancy armor, I almost expect to see her with a dueling sabre.

Fish… Kill it. Some easy and useful alchemy ingredients.

I did not expect to see her dancing at the inn!

No quests?!

Love the way your Orc looks! That second screen, she has a nasty brooding look.

She looks great as a forsworn, fits her savage look.

I’m not entirely sure what she’s doing in ‘rude,’ almost looks like she’s bouncing his skull off her chest plate.

Old news: Aww, how wonderful to think back to the simple origins of our wood elves. Speaking of bowgirls, I don't suppose it is possible (in Skyrim) to weld a bow to one's left hand (for shooting and blocking) and use one's right hand to fluidly switch from unquivering/shooting arrows to casting spells like a mystic archer? Chasing spells with an arrow and chasing arrows with a spell?

*

I very much like everything about your Chevalier character – her look, story, armor, all of it.

Rock stars – aww, I was expecting Rocky the stone golem storm astronaut.

I see Chevalier is a master of quest avoidance! I say avoidance instead of completion because I know you well.

Durga looks great! The war paint really suits her. Looks like she favors a most appropriate two-handed axe? And I’m guessing the untruthful hooded cat is SkyM'aiq.

Fireball looks great with all of the glowy magical effects around her.

How funny, she’s getting the eye from that guard. Doesn’t she know there’s a killer on the loose?!

Wow, did Jingu find the Butcher inside the house? Neat!

I’ve never found a comfortable way to empty the left hand for one-handed blocking. I love the way an unarmored or lightly-armored one-hander can dance around in a fight, but mine have all died before I got good at it. Another reason to embrace the greatsword.

Yay, D’Eon!! You did an awesome job with her face.

Lol, that is an ambitious fish. LOVE D’Eon’s boots.

Le Chevalier D’Eon looks like she’s having more fun at her no-quest party than Jingu had at her after-quest bash. Perhaps it’s the empty log!

Durga (“the invincible”?) looks hot. And not just for an orc. Wow.

Ooh, big axe, very nice.

It looks like M’Aiq and Durga did not enjoy each other’s company.