Guide on the Usage of Morrowind Books, for Modders

[Axen]

I've imported all of the books missing from Oblivion that were in Morrowind. Now, before you modders go crazy placing books in the world, you should learn about their usage.

Common Books
[Informational] Aedra and Daedra
[Informational] Ancestors and the Dunmer
[Religious, Temple] Homilies of Blessed Almalexia
[Religious, Temple] Lives of the Saints
[Informational] Overview of Gods and Worship
[Informational] Reflections on Cult Worship
[Religious, Temple] Saryoni's Sermons
[Informational] Special Flora of Tamriel
Spirit of Nirn
[Religious, Temple] The Anticipations
[Religious, Temple] The Cantatas of Vivec
The Changed Ones
[Religious, Temple] The Consolations of Prayer
[Religious, Temple] The Book of Dawn and Dusk
[Religious, Temple] The Doors of the Spirit
[Religious, Temple] The Pilgrim's Path
The Monomyth
[Informational] The Vagaries of Magicka
[Informational] Varieties of Faith
[Religious, Temple] Vivec and Mephala
Uncommon Books
[Informational, Scholarly, Dwemer] Antecedants of Dwemer Law
[Poetry] Ashland Hymns
[Cult] Blapshemous Revenants
[Cult] Book of Life and Service
[Cult] Book of Rest and Endings
[Religious, Daedra] Invocation of Azura
[Historical] Poison Song, Book I
[Historical] Poison Song, Book II
[Historical] Poison Song, Book III
[Historical] Poison Song, Book IV
[Historical] Poison Song, Book V
[Historical] Poison Song, Book VI
[Historical] Poison Song, Book VII
The Arcturian Heresy
The Blue Book of Riddles
[Poetry] The Five Far Stars
[Informational] The Real Nerevar
The Red Book of Riddles
The Yellow Book of Riddles
[Informational] The War of the First Council
[Informational] Vampires of Vvardenfell, Vol. I
Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi
[Poetry] Words of the Wind
Somewhat Rare Books
[Cult, Necromancy] Arkay the Enemy
[Skill] Bone, Part I
[Skill] Bone, Part II
[Skill] Breathing Water
[Skill] Chance's Folly
[Historical, Dwemer] Chronicles of Nchuleft
[Necromancy] Corpse Preparation I
[Necromancy] Corpse Preparation II
[Necromancy] Corpse Preparation III
[Informational, Personal Story] Confessions of a Skooma-Eater
[Profane?] Hanin's Wake
[Necromancy] Legions of the Dead
[Informational, Scholarly, Dwemer] Guylaine's Architecture
[Historical, Dwemer] Nchunak's Fire and Faith
[Skill] Realizations of Acrobacy
[Skill] Smuggler's Island
[Skill] The Axe Man
[Skill] The Cake and the Diamond
The Final Lesson
[Skill] The Four Suitors of Bentiah
[Informational, Great House Telvanni] The Brown Book of _E___
[Skill] The Hope of the Redoran
[Skill] The Marksmanship Lesson
[Skill] The Prayers of Baranat
[Informational, Great House Redoran] The Red Book of _E___
[Skill] The Wraith's Wedding Dowry
[Informational, Great House Hlaalu] The Yellow Book of _E___
[Skill] Unnamed Book
Where Were You When the Dragon Broke?
Rare Books
Charwich-Koniinge Letters, Letter I
Charwich-Koniinge Letters, Letter II
Charwich-Koniinge Letters, Letter III
Charwich-Koniinge Letters, Letter IV
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 1
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 2
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 3
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 4
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 5
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 6
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 7
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 8
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 9
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 10
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 11
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 12
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 13
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 14
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 15
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 16
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 17
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 19
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 20
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 21
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 22
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 23
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 24
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 25
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 26
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 27
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 28
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 29
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 30
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 31
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 32
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 33
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 34
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 35
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 36
Illegal/Forbidden Books
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 0
[Religious, Temple] The 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 18
[Informational, Religious, Temple] The Progress of Truth
[Informational] Vampires of Vvardenfell, Vol. II
Unique Books
Boethiah's Pillow Book (... Yes, that's right, Razorwing, don't put it in every possible location. )
[Joke] Capn's Guide to the Fishy Stick
[Journal, Forbidden] Galur Rithari's Papers
[Joke] No-H's Picture Book of Wood
Samar Starlover's Journal
Tal Marog Ker's Researchers
Likely Outdated/Invalid Books
[Informational, Temple] Fellowship of the Temple
[Informational, Fighters Guild] Fighters Guild Charter
[Informational, Imperial Cult] For My Gods and Emperor
[Informational, Great House Hlaalu] Grasping Fortune
[Informational] Great Houses of Morrowind
[Informational] Guide to Ald'Ruhn
[Informational] Guide to Balmora
[Informational] Guide to Sadrith Mora
[Informational] Guide to Vivec
[Informational] Guide to Vvardenfell
[Informational, Imperial Legion] Ordo Legionis
[Informational, Great House Telvanni] The Affairs of Wizards
[Informational] The Alchemist's Formulary
[Informational, Morag Tong] The Black Gloves
[Informational, Great House Redoran] The True Noble's Code

Common: You'll find these all the time. Mostly informational and Temple books.
Uncommon: Not as commonplace as, er, common, but you'll run into them often.
Somewhat Rare: Contains most of the skill-teaching books. Also a lot of necromancy books. I'd say no more than 15-18 of each should be present.
Rare: Contains the 36 Lessons of Vivec and the Charwich-Koniinge Letters. No more than 2 or 3 should be around.
Illegal/Forbidden: 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 0 is unique. 36 Lessons of Vivec, Sermon 18 should only appear once or twice and not in public areas. The Progress of Truth should only appear one or two times. Vampires of Vvardenfell, Vol. II should appear no more than four times.
Unique: These books should only appear once each.
Outdated/Invalid: These books are not up-to-date or aren't valid in Oblivion. They probably shouldn't be used.

The words in the brackets are basic categorizations of the book based on its content. You'll find books most "Temple"-marked books in Tribunal Temples. You won't, for instance, find a "Red Book of _E___" in a Hlaalu area, either, since the Red Book is Redoran.

edit by raggidman: Axen, please forgive this addition to your thread, but I wanted to add an open book icon (hope it shows up on the board) to your newly stickied thread as I hope that people will continue to use this thread not only as a source of Lore and ideas, but also to note when they are using books and ideas from here in other forums and projects!

It is one way to get an idea of how useful a thread is, and what people already have accessed and might need next.

[Razorwing]

Neat, this'll be a great guide for modders after the next Alpha is released =)

I have a question. Does the books you've marked as outdated have information in them which new lore overrides? Because I guess there's no harm in having outdated books and just letting the reader figure out they were written years ago, but if their content just isn't true anymore then I agree they shouldn't be used.

[Axen]

Originally posted by Razorwing
I have a question. Does the books you've marked as outdated have information in them which new lore overrides? Because I guess there's no harm in having outdated books and just letting the reader figure out they were written years ago, but if their content just isn't true anymore then I agree they shouldn't be used.

I think the only one that does is The Alchemists Formulary (the Levitation effect). Speaking of levitation, I think I might have a flawless solution...

[Treebiter]

Levitation hasn't suddenly disappeared from the world. It may not have been in Oblivion but that's no reason to no presume that it no longer exists. This does complicate things when trying to explain it though admittedly.

Perhaps Oblivion breaking through into the world screwed that aspect of magic. Or maybe due to a backlash of energies from the destruction of Dagoth Ur and the numidium-like thing (I can't think of it's name off the top of my head) the skies have been too unstable to risk it.

Clutching at straws I know.

I look forward to your solution. Hope it's better than mine

[KuKulzA]

how about we say that levitation has been increasingly looked down upon by magicians...
why? well because rumors abound of Dunmer wizards who use levitations and such to escape up their towers... and so the Mages Guild attempts to discourage this art... also so that they can be the only ones outside of Morrowind to use this art of levitation and have a monopoly over its secrets... I dunno, just being creative

[TheImperialDragon]

How about we bring back levitation? I remember someone on the wiki was asking about levitation, and there was a pretty good solution. Unfortunately, I can't remember where it was.

[raggidman]

If levitation is looked down upon by magicians, that indicates that the supposed lookers down are in fact levitating above the levitators - ? = invalid argument.

Nah, we know that Bethsoft had their reasons for deleting levitation, but I am not sure how many genuine players really never cared about it in the first place, but guess amost none. Most likely those who supported the Dev's line were just trying to maker the best of a bad job and suck up.

So bring back levitation - this is Morrowind. And whatever the law in Cyrodiil itself, mere Imperials do not dictate to true Dunmer - esp not since they lost their Emperor and the Gates of Oblivion opened and we had to save ourselves w/out their help! where are the legions when they could be useful? Cowering in their barracks.

Btw, did someone write 'books' - for some reason we like boks in Lit Dev! Hint. esp plain text, no downloads... :ninja bookseeker:

[Cuthalion]

What are Vivec's 36 Lessons Sermon 0 and 18, why are they illegal?

[Axen]

Originally posted by Cuthalion
What are Vivec's 36 Lessons Sermon 0 and 18, why are they illegal?

You might want to read them.
Sermon 0: "Vivec is the false or lesser key."
Sermon 18: "This sermon is forbidden. This sermon is untrue. The ending of the world is ALMSIVI."

[Axen]

Perhaps this should be stickied?