Fleur in Skyrim, her own thread, just because. Options

[ghastley]

Rather than pollute other threads with developing my Skyrim character, I'll start a new one.

Fleur, an Orc is following a family tradition by becoming a bear-rider. Her ancestor Uzgash (a daughter of the legendary Gortwog himself) was one, and it's a profession her family approves, unlike some of the others they've had in the past.

She has a white bear to ride, and she's a two-handed fighter, preferring axes. They're the happy medium between the faster swords and the greater damage of hammers. She's current unsure if she likes them enchanted, and needing a supply of soul gems, or just plain.

Her bear is complaining about the armour she's wearing. It's supposed to look like this with plate top, plate boots, and as little as possible in between as detailed in the manual, in my Oblivion mod.

I suspect I'll have to make some for her, although there's a goodish selection of suitable boots. I'm unsure at the moment whether to classify it as Light or Heavy when I do so.

Any advice on the other skills she'd find useful? I'm assuming that Smithing will be one, and enough Alchemy to keep her in health potions, but what else?

[ghastley]

There's not much more to tell. Fleur is my test character for Skyrim, and so she's spent most of her time exploring the map. She's made a couple of higher-grade outfits - elven and steel plate - to test out the looks and see what's suitable for a bear rider. The intent was always to make a Skyrim bear rider mod, with its own quests etc. to provide another faction to join.

So I'm now working on adding a headquarters for the Bear Riders near the border with Cyrodiil. They'll have moved there from Bruma some time in the last 200 years, and are no longer affiliated with the Legion. The Mede Emperors weren't as supportive as Ocato had been, and they got their funding from the Jarls and Counts of the local regions instead - i.e. Falkreath, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Helgen, and probably Mournhold - to keep the mountain roads safe for trade between the provinces.

My Oblivion mod had them in the Jeralls, with one patrol in the Valus Mountains. Uzgash supoosedly patrolled on a bear in the Wrothgarians, as part of Gortwog's equivalent corps. That would have been defunct after the sack of Orsinium, and the riders may have joined up with the Nordic one prior to the Skyrim period. Claudia was a Redguard from the Hammerfell part of the Jeralls, and I'd expect a few of her ilk to be members of the new Bear Riders, too.

I'm trying to make the new Riders Lodge as similar to the one outside Bruma as I can. The Riders have cosy bedrooms in the basement, which need some more furnishings to meet the level of the Bruma one. I think I found a source of teddy bears, but haven't included them yet,

Fleur has defeated Alduin and Miraak, and has also become Arch-mage. She didn't take sides in the civil war, and has no intention of joining the Thieves' Guild, Dawnguard, or becoming a werewolf or vampire. She built a house at Lakeview Manor, and she's spending most of her time there smithing and enchanting, trying to get the perfect bear-riding outfit.

The mod that provided her bear has proved to be a bit disappointing, as the bears are fixed-level, die easily, and don't seem to respawn, even though they're set to do so. I need to learn from its mistakes, and add my own bears for the Bear Riders mod. I'd also like the rider outfits to be craftable only at the Lodge (which has a forge, with grindstone and workbench, in the basement), but I'm unsure how to make location part of the recipe. Improving it should be possible anywhere, as I don't see any reason to restrict that.

Gunilla, the woman who holds the post Gudrun had in Oblivion, will also have bar-tending duties at the Riders Lodge. The Timo equivalent, (also called Timo!) will be the smith.

The part I need to work on most is the supply of bears. In the Oblivion mod, Meija the trainer lived n Falkreath, so I'm thinking that the tradition may continue, and a character in Falkreath will get bears sent to her for training again. She can live at the inn, and the bear will arrive a few days after you pay her to train one. If I make the bear essential, you'll do this "quest' once.

When I get the Riders mod going, I'll most likely create a new character for it, and Fleur will get retired.