I've had numerous people ask me what's next in the Hearthfires series, and one suggested Forsworn. I initially rejected the idea, as they usually live in tent camps, or have a resident hagraven if they live anywhere else. Even in the later case, they'll still pitch tents inside whatever structure they're using.

But that shouldn't completely rule this out. If a Forsworn bed is actually a skin tent with a hay pile and fur inside it, that's quite constructible, and the rest of the space can have normal furniture, crafting stations etc.

So now I'm trying to decide what to build inside. A cave is probably easiest, just needing a hole in a hillside somewhere in the Reach, but a tower/ruin entrance is also feasible for a bit of architectural variety.

Hagravens and briarhearts seem to go together, but are possibly a faction that doesn't align with Madanach, although you do find a briarheart at Druadach Redoubt. So I'm considering a post-Cidhna quest to go establish a new camp, as part of the new Reachman kingdom. Find your empty tower/ruin/cave and furnish, then the recruits will arrive to join you. No briarhearts or hagravens will turn up, as you're in charge, and those are "boss" characters.

I may still have a mage NPC that's considering the change into a hagraven, and even started the process. That could provide a sub-quest to reverse it, after she changes her mind.

Dialogue could be the usual issue, but there should be some already around for Forsworn talking to each other. Merchant dialogue for smith, alchemist, should also be there in a Breton voice.

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The other project that was Breton-specific, was the Red Witch, but that has issues with a lack of sailor dialogue, and I'd have a lot of work to do converting it to be build-your-own. The former is much more of a show-stopper, as it needs multiple voices, and I only have one.


SubRosa - I edited the title to fix a typo.

Why am I getting visions of a hagraven with d-cups?

I used Druadach Redoubt slightly tweaked for my Forsworn base when I played one, and there were some things I liked a lot about it. The opening in the ceiling allowed light in, which made trees and a small garden plausible. The friendly goat added nice domestic sounds, though I did wonder why it wasn't eating the crops. Multiple levels with water running through made it interesting, and of course I added the crafting stations with storage that my guy needed. Plus I made some of the residents followers so that he could lead his squad around causing mayhem. If I did it again I would probably make one of them a merchant with the idea that they would go in disguise to trade with local Forsworn sympathizers. Just some ideas of stuff I would end up suggesting if you do this.


Acadian, LOL! Now I can't un-see that!!

Yes, that's the vibe I was thinking of. It wants a waterfall into a bathing pool, and maybe a piece of ruin tower for the master bedroom, so the player can have a real bed. The goat needs to be penned, and maybe there should be more than one.

The piece of ruin could house the pre-hagraven, too. She'd want a bit of privacy for the change process, perhaps. I'll have to look at combining parts of Druadach and Red Eagle's Ascent, maybe even add in a bit of dwemer just to be different.

Part of the idea comes from this mod. I'd re-make the skin texture myself, with a somewhat different pattern of growing feathers. I'd probably give her clawed hands and feet, although not as extreme as the full hagraven, just a bit scrawnier than human.

I've started work on the hagraven "chick", as I think of her. I'm taking the skin texture, and painting a new layer of pin-feathers where the "adult" or transformed version has full ones. She also has clawed feet, based on the hagraven ones, but not quite fully formed.

She's using the UNP Petite body (which ranges from AA to a small B-cup), as I'm thinking that she was selected as being small and weak as a human. She may even get scaled down from 0.95 to 0.9. The conversion isn't voluntary, and she's shackled to a wall while it proceeds. She'll have a few changes of outfit for the cure and after, all using the same body with different textures and clothing. She ends up as the resident alchemist/mage.

Backstory will be that Madanach, after you help him get out of Cidhna Mine, wants to get control back from the hagravens that have been subverting his Reachmen. You'll be sent a missive asking you to rescue the chick, and establish a new pro-Madanach group. The cave will be empty of all but one hagraven and her victim, and then you'll furnish and populate it - i.e. forsworn will move in when it's "ready", and I have to figure out what that means as a minimum level of completion. It may work like the Thieves Guild and the Ragged Flagon, with new recruits arriving as their accommodations are ready.

I dug this out of my archives at the weekend, to see where I left off. It appears that quite a lot was done, but I had only worked on it for SE. The hagraven chick needed more feathers, the cave had no external entrance, and there was no sign of a quest to get it all going, but those are easier than the building work.

This may come back to life, as I have the mod urge again, and ESO add-ons are not for me.

And there are at least two mods for hagravens, but … my chick is going in the opposite direction.

It needs a recipe for the “cure” for the hagraven transformation, but my current idea is to have Bothela in Markarth make it. She will ask you for a lot of ingredients, but not confirm that they are needed for the potion. Most will just replenish her stocks as payment. That means you can’t make it yourself, and I may make it a repeating quest. The transformation could recur if not regularly treated. Undecided on that part, as players don’t like chores.

Quest considerations: Madanach must be free, so the other quest is a hard pre-requisite. Civil War does not appear to affect it, but may block access to some NPCs at times. Forsworn do not currently change disposition to the player, except the ones at Druadach, which might make recruiting an issue.

I am currently playing a version of Brenna in Skyrim SE who just helped Madanach escape from Markarth. I used a mod that turned Forsworn everywhere friendly so I’ve been looking for a home in The Reach that isn’t the Markarth house. Have you published this? I’d very much like to try it!

It’s nowhere near usable yet, as the cave is almost empty. It does have a location, an entrance, and a shackled hagraven-under-construction, whom you can’t yet release. And a goat.

Bothela is getting a few new lines of dialog via xVASynth, so she can help create a potion to let the girl stop becoming a hagraven, and revert. Her voice seemed to work nicely when I tested it, which is what reminded me about this project. Plus, she would only need a couple of conversations, one to ask for her help, and one when you pick up the results.

The major part will be scripting the build, but if your main interest is in the finished home, I might have you try that out when I get that completed. It has to be constructed first, before the build process hides it all, and reveals as you fashion the pieces. I can leave the young mage who is not becoming a hagraven in it as your first recruit. Feedback on her, and the layout/content, early in the build will help avoid problems later.

Knowing there is interest raises the priority of this one, but voicing Orc Hearthfires 2.0 still comes first. I’ll see if what exists can be packaged up, or if it needs more added right away.

Edit: I took another look, as perhaps it's not all that empty. It does have all the crafting facilities - grindstone, forge, armorer workbench, as well as alchemy and enchanting in the "tower" part. There's a player bed, but little else in the tower, too. It wouldn't take long to drop in a few more bits of furniture up there. The tents for the forsworn "staff" are there, but with no way to assign them to anyone you bring home. If "Make Yourself at Home" got ported up to SE, I think that has what you'd need to do that.

I’m using a mod that allows you to commission weapons and armor from blacksmiths, as well as enchantments from enchanters. They use basic responses that are already programmed such as “Of course” or even one that sounds like you are bothering them like “Ugggh”, lol

Maybe you could use something programmed by Bethesda for the pickup response.

Here's a sample of Bothela's voice from xVASynth. This is without any manual tweaking. And I won't need that part until I wrap the story around the build.

If you want to try out the home early, I can put that together fairly soon.

I mean, don’t rush yourself, but yeah I’d love to check it out!

This link should get you the base cave. It's just an esp, as the assets are all vanilla, and no bsa is needed (yet), The hagraven chick is disabled, so her body/outfit should not be requested.

The player room is sparsely furnished at present. The crafting facilities are all in other parts, so it just has a bed, table/chairs, a wardrobe and nightstands, and lights around the room. I'm looking for your ideas on what to add. There are plenty of alcoves for mannequins, shelves, cupboards etc.

There is no quest yet, so no new scripts needed. The cave is near the route from Salvius Farm to Ragnvald, so you should see the cave marker on your compass as you get close to the ruin.

Cool! I’ll check it out!