NPC 'voodoo' link with Silgrad Tower

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Yes, it all seems to gel quite nicely, I think. Btw, if you take another look at the link I posted earlier called 'Anaster Marrowmir Samples' you'll see some new stuff on there along with news that the sound set is more or less finished now - scripted and recorded.

Hopefully, I can draw on various people's expertise to make this happen. You guys seem to have a lot of great ideas for the voodoo side of things. That should give me some freedom to concentrate on other stuff. brucevayne and SACarrow will help with the audio stuff and Dephenistrator is on hand to assist with magic effects. Anything that you can add to that would be wonderful. Note that some of Anaster's spell-casting derives from his snake-staff which I think I would like to call 'Ashamballah' after the Haiti snake deity 'Damballah'. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for someone to offer their skinning and weapon-creation talents in order to make Anaster come to life...

So, to sum up, some of the ideas being considered are: the 'Mesmerism Ritual' (which makes the subjects dance as per Morsyth's idea), the 'Voodoo Tarot' (which could incorporate a range of different effects), the 'Voodoo Summoning' (already taken by Dephenistrator; a work in progress) along with various potions / poisons such as IQ-reducing 'zombification', a 'speak to the dead' potion (possibly for use in a quest), various other poisons and, of course, the 'juju' doll which I suggest that, owing to its power, we introduce a few measures that will make it difficult to acquire such as having to pickpocket the individual in question so as to obtain items like a lock of hair and so on.

If you guys choose to do any of these then you may wish to keep some of these in-house (i.e. exclusively for 'Black Marsh') but I hope that you can use Anaster somewhere along the lines.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

:bananarock: Yay! Success. The soundset is here. Quoting brucevayne:

"I've just sent you the rar archive containing an .esp file, mp3 and lip files. In game you can find Anaster in the Testinghall (to get there just type 'coc testinghall'). I made him the only member of a new race (AnasterRace), this race is based on the Redguard Race, but any aspect of it can be changed without a problem. For testing purposes I gave him one spell (summon skeleton)."

Please note that Anaster will eventually have conversation and rumours lines added so that he can converse with NPCs normally but for the time being, this is all we have. More details regarding the development of Anaster can be found at the start of this thread and here at 'Silgrad Tower': Potential Reward for Quest Developers - WIP . I now need someone to model the body so that he has a skeleton tattoo on his chest and maybe even his face. Then I'd like to alter his features, perhaps using VonDjango's 'unique features' mod, if this is possible and also usable within BM.

After that, we're looking at spells, clothes and perhaps the idea for Anaster's walk which I was hoping could use the lich animation so that he 'lopes' along when he is walking. Given his magical skills and background then it wouldn't look totally out of place to alter his animations completely so that he floats and acts entirely like a lich.

Anyway, this is the base model: http://files.filefront.com/AnasterTheCom...einfo.html . If you only want to hear the lines (it's difficult to get many to play in the testing hall) then just go into the voice folder and play them using the base files.

[Deeza]

So... sorry, I seem to have missed a fairly major part of this. What is it exactly that you want Black Marsh to do?

Come to think of it, presumably that idea for a link between Blacklight and southern Black Marsh is on the scrapheap now since Blacklight was archived?

[Tlo1048]

Jeez, I've missed alot on this thread. :eek:

I read through all the stuff I missed, and I definately look forward to this in-game. I can retexture his skin if you want, or do you want completely new models?
There will be a mod out soon (I've already played) called "WAC" from Waalx(maker of RealSwords). Its a great production and will include many shaman-like clothing/armor + more for Cyrodiil in general.

Actually for a Voodoo control spell...It wouldn't actually give control, but we could use the SI crazy guy animations (Guy that comes through the gate at beginning) and port it into a spell making it play the animations, apply new dialog and make guards/Friendly NPCs kill them. Or just make them die. haha.

I could probably piece together a staff in NifSkope (As that always comes out right, unlike armor. X( ), and some other stuff. I could even piece together a nice robe (from Waalx's base model) but we'd have to keep that STRICTLY private. As in I keep the models, but I can show pictures ONLY to our team.

It would be cool to incorporate general occult items as well, making the game a bit more "tricky". Like activators that summon demons/zombies, etc.

Anyways...just let me know if you need something :goodjob:

[Deeza]

So are we going to have human cultists doing this thing, or will it be the Argonian shamans doing it out in the swamps (possibly for good, or at least for the good of the Hist?)

I guess we could even do both!

A couple of "monkeylore" snippets I thought up while reading this thread:

Presumably Argonian voodoo is rather different to Imperial and Elven magic. Its power probably comes from the Hist and the swamp. So to the Argonians, it's a holy thing, part of their religion. They probably wouldn't like much what some foreigners are using it for! (Would make for some great missions)

I was also thinking about the idea that was knocked around for a while in the discussion forums that the Hist trees contain a reservoir of the souls of all the dead Argonians (that's one interpretation of the lore anyway). So perhaps instead of Daedra, when Argonian Shamans whip up a few "demons", it's actually more like the greek "daemon" - a departed spirit that's come back with a mission, or just to cause havok. They could then use these spirits to power up artefacts and Argonian eggs, instead of using soulgems (I had an idea this could be how they believe Argonians get their souls, sort of reincarnation on an installment plan via the Hist).

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by Tlo1048
I read through all the stuff I missed, and I definately look forward to this in-game. I can retexture his skin if you want, or do you want completely new models?
There will be a mod out soon (I've already played) called "WAC" from Waalx(maker of RealSwords). Its a great production and will include many shaman-like clothing/armor + more for Cyrodiil in general.

Actually for a Voodoo control spell...It wouldn't actually give control, but we could use the SI crazy guy animations (Guy that comes through the gate at beginning) and port it into a spell making it play the animations, apply new dialog and make guards/Friendly NPCs kill them. Or just make them die. haha.

I could probably piece together a staff in NifSkope (As that always comes out right, unlike armor. X( ), and some other stuff. I could even piece together a nice robe (from Waalx's base model) but we'd have to keep that STRICTLY private. As in I keep the models, but I can show pictures ONLY to our team.

It would be cool to incorporate general occult items as well, making the game a bit more "tricky". Like activators that summon demons/zombies, etc.

Anyways...just let me know if you need something :goodjob:

Yikes! I completely forgot about this. I got side-tracked with my Steadhelm region landscaping.

The idea of you retexturing his skin sounds very, very sweet to me, Tlo! I've been looking for someone to give this a go for a while.

I'll have to review the ideas now because they're all distributed throughout this thread and other ones. Anyway, here's what I'm hoping to do with Anaster:

1) Get the NPC reskinned so that his face and body roughly matches the painted skeleton tattoos that you see in the attachment in the first post of this thread entitled 'voodoo dude 1'.

2) Adapt his body and features to make him appear a little uglier with big eyes (for that 'hundred-yard-stare' sort of look), a gaunt face (and perhaps adding to the effect using Von Django's 'Unique Features' mod) and very tall and thin (to accentuate his morbid, looming, undertaker-type presence).

3) Create clothes to offset the effect (again, as shown partly in the attached picture above) including: a staff with a sort of snake motif (not exactly a 'Caduceus' though), an old, battered, dark and dirty top hat, trench-coat and boots, perhaps some skull / bone pendants and / or a blue pendant as described later on in the diary: Diary of a Redguard Necromancer - Anaster Marrowmir .

4) Animate his walk so that he 'loped' about like a lich. Von Django has already helped out in this respect. He suggested the possibility that Anaster could walk in this manner but also run and fight rather like a Xivilai. As a result, he sent me these animations: http://files.filefront.com/Vampire+Anima...einfo.html .

5) Equip him with some appropriate spells. Most of the discussion about this took place here between myself and Dephenistrator: Potential Reward for Quest Developers - WIP . However, Dephenistrator has had to move on owing to real-life commitments but the main ideas that were suggested include something related to Anaster's 'skeleton crew' that arise from the oceans to help him.

This developed into three spells that were related: Summon Last Victim, Summon Zombie Victim and Summon Skeleton Victim. The goal was to make the summoned creature reflect the race of whichever humanoid it was that Anaster last killed. Hence, the undead are effectively raised by him under the power of his staff. Martigen's monster mod, for example, contains elven undead and undead with certain characteristics intact.

How this is enacted in the game itself will depend on the practicality of the thing and the help available but personally, I see a lot of benefit in having a situation whereby the undead come out of the sea to answer his summons. The highest possible realisation of this idea would be to have the undead literally come out of the earth in an animated sequence similar to the legendary film 'Jason and the Argonauts'.

6) Plan out ways in which Anaster can provide a foil for the development of a storyline in which the alien world of voodoo (and particularly Black Marsh culture) is explored. He would also be a go-between in some situations with his connections to the criminal world of piracy and smuggling (PCs of different races might otherwise be regarded negatively) and a supplier / authority on voodoo trinkets and spells as developed by the Black Marsh team in line with the ideas concerning Black Marsh voodoo.

Naturally, I can offer extra lines, featuring conversations, rumours and mission dialogue as and when required. I can also act as advisor on the missions, or write them myself, depending on where you want to go with this and how deeply involved you want Anaster to be. I hope that helps. =)

P.S. All your ideas sound good to me, guys. Feel free to select or discard some ideas of yours or my own along the way. I thought that, with him being fairly ugly, the Argonians might actually take the opposite view and regard him as one of the most beautiful Redguards they'd ever met .

[Ibsen's Ghost]

This is something I wrote up as the muse took me when I pondered the 'rumours' that were posted up by Deeza recently. The inspiration is derived from exactly that:

Argonian Voodoo magic might well be connected to the Hist's powers. As discussed with respect to Gideon, sometimes a nexus is created to focus those powers. When a nexus must be created to focus it's energies, the Hist calls upon its 'children' to return. Yet the individual soul is reluctant to once more immerse itself back into the uncreate energies of the Hist's power (the 'nexus'), not for fear of its demise (and meeting with oblivion) but in the knowing that it will be irrevocably altered.

The Hist might well take such action, either as a defence mechanism to the Daedra or as a means of creating the Sarpa in order to further its ambitions beyond the realms it is restricted to, or even for some other purpose.

When a 'call of the Hist' is refused, voodoo can be used by the faithful Shaman to summon back the Argonians. However, there are drawbacks with this method as others may well be affected by the sap in some way once they come into contact with it and therefore also fall under its influence. The word 'voodoo' then has negative connotations as it enrages both its patron power (the Hist) and the Lords of men and mer and is therefore, by definition, a risky business.

It is a common misconception that all of this power belongs to 'voodoo' when in fact, voodoo merely draws upon or feeds off the already active power of the Hist. Yet, in Argonia, voodoo magic can be used as a 'bargaining tool' between the Hist and the individual will of the soul, so as to affect the ultimate outcome of the return to the Nexus i.e. so that they may be 'reborn' after a particular fashion.

Yet there are times when a void is created and the 'collected' souls spill into this gap. As mentioned earlier regarding the Sarpa, this might occur when necromancy is practised on a subject that has been 'recreated' by the Hist, thus resulting in a paradox where someone attempts to resurrect something that has never existed or been altered by the Hist's powers of 'shaping'. This is when the power becomes all-consuming and makes no distinction between those of the Hist and those of other origins. The Daedra, for example, may have found a way to rip open such a void and exploit it....perhaps if it were not for the action of the Argonians then the assault of Mehrunes Dagon would have been far more serious and powerful....and yet the Empire still regards the Black Marsh with suspicious eyes....

So voodoo effectively transgresses the boundaries not only of the Hist's powers but also a degree of power over life and death itself.

Anaster Marrowmir seeks this power and, in doing so, to resurrect the Redguard hero Cyrus of ages past so that he might discover the lost destiny of the people of Stros M'Kai.

The reason why he finds it so easy to find favour in Argonia is that the Argonians respect Redguard voodoo as it is more ancient and more powerful since it does not rely upon the Hist....even so, in celestial terms, mortal power is far less than that of entities such as the Nine and the Hist.

[Deeza]

Minor lore correction (we don't want to annoy the lore-monkeys do we)

Traditional Redguard magic isn't voodoo, it's Yoku. They don't use spells, they use singing, and it's a deeply spiritual thing that draws magic directly from the stars and Aetherius.

Interesting you mentioned Cyrus, though. I was planning to include him in some form as well. If the Hist really did snare his soul after he died as payback for something he did to them in life (and it must have been REALLY bad, but we don't know the details - I assume he tried to steal the Eye of Argonia), then presumably he's still living a limbo existence somewhere in their plane. It would be awesome if the player gets to do a team-up with his ghost at some point, after which the Hist might finally release him. He could then leave the player a parting gift, such as a power that infuses the player with part of his spirit and ridiculously raises your luck once a day....

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Originally posted by Deeza
Minor lore correction (we don't want to annoy the lore-monkeys do we)

Traditional Redguard magic isn't voodoo, it's Yoku. They don't use spells, they use singing, and it's a deeply spiritual thing that draws magic directly from the stars and Aetherius.

According to my diary (see above), Anaster's tradition is a little different from that of Yoku. Although I haven't actually made that clear by specifically referring to Yoku (I really should do that actually), Anaster has nonetheless uncovered the hidden 'voodoo'-style practices in ancient Redguard tradition. The enemy necromancer in the game Redguard itself is referred to as someone who, despite being Cyrus' enemy, is nonetheless a Guardian of those traditions which were lost due to Cyrus' 'liberation'. Anaster believes that that liberation brought a lot of good but also destroyed the traditions, especially those relating to the hidden necromantic practices of Redguard magic....and thus left the Redguards with impoverished magical powers as a race and culture.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

I'm reviving this thread considering recent work on Anaster. I enquired about the lich animations at Bethesda and was guided towards a series of really cool mods that I could use. I have listed them below but, as I'm utter crap with stuff like anims, I'd really appreciate people's opinions on which ones they think look the best. I should be able to set most of them up in BM with varying degrees of quality.

• Float Like a Lich - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5522 (very simple floating)
  
• Lich Casting Animations - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=19413 (floating when a staff is equipped and uses casting anims too)
  
• Two-Handed Weapon Fighting and Lich Casting Animations - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28249 (may involve a mesh or two extra but having the option of a foe fighting double-handed sounds like it could come in useful)
  
• Alternative Casting - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12011 (very magic casting anims - don't know how easy it would be to merge the files though)
  
• Actors in Charge - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=6239 (this last one is now very well-known - it might be worth merging it, with Trollf's consent, if it were to prove very useful as it's not a large file)
  

My own favourite is 'Lich Casting Animations' as it looks relatively easy to set up, uses both floating and casting anims and also appears to be restricted to the use of a particular staff which will help to specialise Anaster.