Soluthis Location #009: Kanath Ancestral Tomb [Finished]

[Razorwing]

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<td width="352" bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-top:1px dotted #0000FF;">Kanath Ancestral Tomb</td>
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<td bgcolor="#FAFAFA" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-top:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC;">Velothi Tomb</td>
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<td bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-left:1px dotted #0000FF;border-bottom:1px dotted #0000FF;"><font color="#0066FF" size="2" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif">Location in SoluthisWorld08:</font></td>
<td bgcolor="#F0F0F0" style="border-right:1px dotted #0000FF;border-bottom:1px dotted #0000FF;">&quot;SoluthisW8TempleLakeSouthwest&quot; -13,44</td>
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<p><em><font color="#FF0000" face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="3">Status:</font><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="3"> Finished by earendil.</font></em><br><br>

<p><a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/SoluthisLoc009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/th_SoluthisLoc009.jpg" alt="Click for a larger image" width="160" height="128" border="0" align="right" style="padding-left:7px;padding-bottom:7px;"></a>
<p><strong>Location</strong><br>
From a bird's eye view Kanath Ancestral Tomb is situated just northwest of the Temple compound, seen in the map image below. However the only way to reach the tomb in-game is to follow a path around the whole wall of the Temple compound, and even then the tomb is well tucked away behind a rock formation. So if you're looking for a location for a mystery quest then this claim would probably serve you well because finding the tomb could be a mystery in itself. Having said that, if you have another quest in mind you shouldn't hesitate to stake this claim either because you could always use a quest marker to help the player find his way here.</p>
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<a href="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/SoluthisArea05_north_full.jpg" target="_blank">
<img src="http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a177/SilgradTower/th_SoluthisArea05_north_full.jpg" border="0"></a>
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<p><strong>About the place</strong><br>
The location is a Velothi tomb, meaning it's a burial site used by the dark elves in older times. Like all tombs it has fallen into public disuse and is no longer used for religious purposes, but it is of course still considered sacred. You could liken it to an abandoned cemetary where no new services are conducted and the descendants of those buried there have dies out or just forgotten them - but it's still a sacred place from a religious viewpoint.</p>
<p>Unlike cemetaries however tombs are often prime property for outlaws, necromancers, cultists, slavers, smugglers, or just about any other kind of shady characters in need of a base of operations. But most of the time they are 'just' tombs, guarded by undead or daedra and sometimes rigged with traps of various kinds.</p>
<p>The name Kanath has no particular meaning, and you're welcome to change it if you like. But keep the Ancestral Tomb part at the end because all tombs follow that syntax.</p>
<p><strong>How to mod it</strong><br>
There is a starter cell for this location, which you can access by loading up the cell SoluthisLoc009lvl1 in your Construction Set. As you can see I have put together a layout which you can use if you don't like working with the tileset. If you do like working with the tileset then by all means delete the layout and create your own. You can find the tileset pieces in the list &quot;WorldObjects &gt; Static &gt; ST &gt; Velothi &gt; Houses &gt; Interior &gt; Tileset&quot;.<br>
<font color="#FF0000"><em>TIP:</em></font><em> right-click on a CS entry and choose Use Info to see other places where the entry is used.</em> This is a good way to find examples of how an object has been used in other cases, like for instance seeing how other Velothi tombs were put together.</p>
<p>Note that there are two kinds of Velothi tilesets in our mod. One starts with StInVel and the other with StInVelSil. Unless you know what you're doing you should use the set that starts with StInVelSil. To avoid mixing them up just make a habit of using the list &quot;WorldObjects &gt; Static &gt; ST &gt; Velothi &gt; Houses &gt; Interior &gt; Tileset&quot;. It should be said that some components of the other tileset can be used in the new tileset as well. (The old tileset won't be deleted from the mod, it's just that the pieces aren't compatible with one another.)</p>
<p>Altars with urns are the bread and butter of Velothi tombs. Any given tomb is loaded with them, for obvious reasons - they're what the tombs were constructed to store. Most of the time there'll be offerings on the altars, which equal loot of little worth ranging from ingredients to lockpicks to armor. Almost anything is ok to place as loot, the only exceptions are objects that are too valuable or aren't dunmer in origin. More valuble loot should be placed as usual, in chests or on NPCs. There's usually at least one ash pit in a tomb, which should have bones on it and prayer stools around it. Lighting is usually done via the special braziers, although you can compliment that with wall-mounted torches (a kind of sconces) when needed.</p>
<p>You may notice miniscule tears in the joints between tileset pieces. The problem is with the models, and I'm working on resolving them. You should absolutely not try and fix the tears by moving tileset pieces with the snap-to-grid turned off.</p>
<p><strong>Size</strong><br>
Kanath Ancestral Tomb should preferrably be a large claim because it's situated so close to the city and is relatively easy for the player to find. But large doesn't necessarily have to equal base area of the layout, it can also be large in the sense that it has a quest attached to it. If you mod a quest then it's okay if it has one cell, if you don't mod a quest it should have three or more cells. Cells in this sense should have a facecount of at least 400,000 and no more than 600,000. If you need to add an additional cell beyond what I suggested then the facecount of the additional cell doesn't matter.</p>

[earendil]

May I stake this claim?

I have an idea for a quest. First, a bit of backstory:

Around 1E 2920 when Sotha Sil visited Artaeum to meet with the Psijic order, his Dunmer apprentice followed him to learn from the Psijics to suppliment his teachings. He came back with Sotha Sil to Morrowind and went about to learn on his own. He met a racially prejudiced Nord warrior to whom he won a bet against. This Nord warrior was a descendant of those Nords who previously conquered Morrowind and were ousted by the First Council of Resdayn. The Nord was furious and tried to kill the Dunmer, who defended himself by killing the Nord. Feeling remorse for his murder, he took the Nord and tried his hand at necromancy by resurrecting him, but ended up only trapping the Nord's resurrected soul in his sword. He holed himself up in his ancestral tomb and had his grandson seal him in so he could continue to work on bringing the Nord back from death. Only a descendant of the Kanath family can open the sealed portion of the tomb.

You enter the tomb and find a dead Dunmer with a note mentioning his Nord apprentice being captured by necromancers. The necromancers are trying to commune with Sotha Sil's apprentice and the Dunmer was a descendant living in the tomb, protecting the secret. The Nord was someone who decided to help the Dunmer in his job, but he has secrets of his own.

[sandor]

Have fun!

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Good to see you back with a new project, earendil! :goodjob:

[earendil]

sorry i havent posted anything yet. been busy with the teaser and craziness at work :dunce:. i have the interior built, need to work on the quest mechanics then detail.

[earendil]

I'm having a bit of difficulty with a portion of the quest. At one point, Ennbjof the Nord is supposed to initiate conversation with the player and then "knock him out". You then wake in a different part of the cavern.
I can get Ennbjof to talk to the player and can transport the player to Arvil Kanath's chamber nearby, but its instantaneous. I need to make some sense of being knocked unconscious for the player, such as a load screen, but I can't figure out how to do it.

[sandor]

You could use e.g. a combat loading screen from OB and rename it.

Make sure 'Arvil Kanath's chamber is located in another cell.
Open the 'World>>Cells menu' and drag the cell name to the load screen (displays only when these items load).

I don't know if it works when you teleport the player through a script.
If not, I think it's possible to find a solution.

[earendil]

Here is my first draft. Hopefully it looks ok.

[sandor]

Originally posted by earendil
Hopefully it looks ok.

It does. :check:

I like the combination of the two tilesets.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Let me know when you need Ennbjof voicing! =)