Cities, Towns & Villages
Places to go, people to see. Various cities, towns, and villages to visit.
36 files
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Vergayun
By Arthmoor
It's the small fishing village with the funny name!
As I was poking around in the CS, scouting locations for something to fill a hole, I took notice of a dock next to Fort Variela. I wondered if perhaps it was the footprint of something Bethesda simply left out. So I went looking for lore maps to see if anything at all was indicated there. One such map exists, and was marked with the word "Vergayun" right about where the dock is. As it turns out, an old discussion in the lore forum had taken notice of this before and concluded the name was actually added by an overzealous fan of Redguard when they extended the map for it to cover part of Cyrodiil. Well, lore correct or not, the name stuck.
Imagine my surprise when checking my load order also turned up nothing touching the two cells I wanted to use. With a name, and the site being clear, the fishing village of Vergayun is born. It consists of an inn, a farmhouse, 2 small houses on the shore, and a larger building which is being used as a warehouse. The dock area has also been cleaned up a bit to remove the broken junk that was laying around.
The inhabitants earn their living by fishing for slaughterfish, trapping mudcrabs, and harvesting clams. These are then turned into a delicious clam chowder, mudcrab stew, and slaughterfish surprise. Nobody is really sure exactly what the surprise is, and the innkeeper isn't talking!
1760 downloads
Updated
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Urasek
By Arthmoor
A mining support town situated alongside Fort Urasek.
Ever wonder where all the mithril for all those pieces of mithril armor come from? Unless we're to believe it appears by magic, someone has to spend the time digging holes in the ground to bring it up to the surface and turn it in to useful ore, which is then sold to blacksmiths to make armor. The town of Urasek attempts to answer this in some small way by representing the last known operational mine in Cyrodiil where mithril ore is brought up. The town consists of an inn, blacksmith who sells ore and finished pieces, and the arrogant Altmer land baron who runs things.
I've checked lore sources and found next to nothing detailing how and where mithril ore is mined. Nothing says that Cyrodiil ever had any, nor do any sources mention exactly where the stuff comes from. So I felt this would remedy the situation without going too overboard.
2329 downloads
Updated
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Sutch Village
By Arthmoor
As many are aware, Bethesda once had plans to include the city of Sutch in the game. The E3 demos contained passing hints to its existence, the map loop in the game's intro had it marked NW of Kvatch, in the CS you can make out the land depression they prepared for it along with several cells tagged as being part of it, and it even has its own Oblivion gate.
For reasons unknown, it was cut from the game at the last minute and a ruined Fort Sutch plus the Oblivion gate is all that remains. As a result of this, several people have attempted reconstructions of the city. Plenty of projects have been abandoned, while others left their work for someone else to pick up.
This village mod is our take on restoring Sutch to the game. Based on extremely sketchy lore found in scattered places on the web, we arrived at the conclusion that the city itself has been destroyed and only a ruin is left behind. Rather than attempt to rebuild a large city over the top of a ruin, this mod takes the position that settlers have only recently come back to the area in an attempt to start over. There is a village northwest of Fort Sutch, containing a manor house along with some housing, an inn, some supporting farms, a vineyard, and an ebony mine. Yes, the only one known to still be functioning in Cyrodiil. The stuff can't only be available in Morrowind
2128 downloads
Updated
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Reedstand
By Arthmoor
Argonians in the swamp. Who would have thought?
Reedstand is a small Argonian settlement in Blackwood just to the north of Reedstand Cave. It isn't much, but the locals have been here for what seems like an eternity, and have come to like their isolated little portion of the swamp. There is, however, trouble brewing. An eccentric wizard has caused corruption of the local plant life and landscape. The people have tolerated this so far, but they are growing impatient.
This is yet another village mod stuffed into a small gap that doesn't appear to have been used yet. For those who say Cyrodiil is too overcrowded, be more creative, or I'll end up filling in all the spaces
2135 downloads
0 comments
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Open Cities Reborn
By Arthmoor
Open Cities Reborn takes the concept of Open Cities and steps it up to the next level. The project redesigns each city covered by the original Open Cities in such a way that would make more sense strategically. The castles become a more central focus of each city's layout, with housing, commerce, and the cathedrals spread out around them in more distinct ways. When possible, concept art provided by Bethesda was followed as closely as space restrictions would allow. Where none was provided or where it was not practical to follow, creative license was used instead. City walls in several cities have been modified to suit the location. For example, Bruma now uses wooden palisades, Cheydinhal has lower brick walls that reflect Dunmer influence, and the city part of Bravil has no walls at all instead relying on their island nature. This has the added bonus that each city is now more visible as you approach. Rather than large imposing walls that block the entire view, you can see buildings on the other side along with most of the trees and bushes.
To avoid any serious compatibility issues, and because lore calls for it to remain fortified, Kvatch is not touched in any way.
The Imperial City will also remain in the layout it now has since strategically speaking, it's already built the way it should be. Although there is room in the concept art for some somewhat radical adjustments to be made. That may or may not come at a later time.
To get the most out of these changes, it is highly recommended to download Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys. This is the evolution of Texian's Window Lighting System and is fully compatible with Open Cities Reborn.
To go with that, and provide LOD for all the new goodies, I also recommend: Really AEVWD. Just be aware that there's a bit of a performance hit in activating all the extra LOD that Open Cities will provide that's directly proportional to the power of your PC, and how many other mods you have installed.
3620 downloads
Updated
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Open Cities Classic
By Arthmoor
Open Cities Classic is a comprehensive project that aims to bring back at least part of the feel of Morrowind - specifically with how most of the cities were a natural part of the world and you could just walk in without loading screens. The added immersion and realism goes a long way, probably a lot more than you might think. Ever wanted to ride your horse into the center of Cheydinhal? Well now you can. Need to get some help from the city guards to vanquish a foe? Run toward the gates and the guards will do their duty while you can seek safety within the walls. The town guards make for some very interesting interactions this way.
The only cities not covered by this project are Kvatch and the Imperial City's central districts. Kvatch has too much main quest material setup in very specific ways to mess with it, and the Imperial City is simply too large and unwieldy to properly open up.
Highly recommended complimentary mod: Animated Window Lighting System and Chimneys - This is the evolution of Texian's Window Lighting System and is fully compatible with Open Cities.
To go with that, and provide LOD for all the new goodies, I also recommend: Really AEVWD. Just be aware that there's a bit of a performance hit in activating all the extra LOD that Open Cities will provide that's directly proportional to the power of your PC, and how many other mods you have installed.
852 downloads
Updated
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Molapi
By Arthmoor
Molapi is a small village built on the island just north of the city of Leyawiin. There you will find a small group of Argonians and Khajiit who are making the best of poor living conditions and oppression from the nearby city. Tensions are high, and there is an uneasy peace which is not being helped by the city watchman assigned to patrol the area.
The name Molapi was actually plucked from an unofficial map of the area that had been created by a community member, which listed the Niben River as the River Molapi - supposedly deriving from old Elsweyr maps. As seen here: http://www.imperial-...oyb_elsweyr.jpg
There is a quest included, which will only trigger some time after you've spoken to the village residents. Just visit once in awhile and it will start, unless the local city watch guard has been killed before the timer runs out. Be careful with your decisions during the quest - it has multiple outcomes and not all of them may be considered favorable to you.
2099 downloads
0 comments
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Gottshaw Village
By Arthmoor
Sometimes it makes little sense the way there are inns scattered about in places far enough from civilization to warrant being something more. Gottshaw Village is an expansion on the Gottshaw Inn to address this problem for one such place. Now instead of just a sleepy little inn, there's a blacksmith and two homes. Gottshaw also plays host to a group of refugees from Kvatch who will decide to settle and build a home here. One of these refugees is looking for her husband. Will you help the poor dear or leave her hanging?
1823 downloads
Updated
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Frostcrag Village
By Arthmoor
High in the Jerall Mountains lies the impressive Frostcrag Spire. A magical wonder which you have apparently inherited from a long lost relative. As you arrive to claim your inheritance, you soon discover that there is a small village at the foot of the Spire which your unknown benefactor has failed to mention at all.
Frostcrag Village is a small Nordic settlement that sits in the shadow of Frostcrag Spire and serves as the homes for those who became the Spire's caretakers. It is a fairly simple place, with a tavern and homes for the residents to live in. Yet despite its simplicity, there are things to do here, so talk to the folks. Especially the tavern keeper, who as usual has loose lips about any and all who live there.
1942 downloads
Updated
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Feldscar
By Arthmoor
A small Nordic village in the lower Jerall Mountains, north of the Frostcrag area. Black Rock Inn serves as the primary means of local support, while trade in hides and leather goods made in the local shop serve as their ties to the rest of Cyrodiil. They live a reasonably isolated life but welcome visitors from far away places. Some well known people have passed through on their way through the back country, as Feldscar is one of the few places to escape the biting cold of the mountains.
1770 downloads
Updated
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Faregyl Village
By Arthmoor
Feeding the empire, one roast chicken... or pork chop... or rabbit steak at a time! Cyrodiil demands MEAT!
Ever notice how there's no real farming presence in Cyrodiil? Except for some really small isolated places, there's perhaps one major operation going on outside of Skingrad. And they make wine. Wine is great and all, but where do folks get the meat? I mean the good meat. Chicken, pork, rabbit. We have plenty of mutton, but, well, mutton can only go so far before it gets old. There's also a noticeable lack of traditional crops being grown anywhere on any kind of meaningful level. So I got bored while thinking about this and decided it was time to do something about it!
I searched high and low and found only a small number of farming mods. The usual. Sheep, sheep, sheep, and oh, more sheep. Wonderful. Got the mutton sources covered now. So I'm attempting to fill in some of the gaps. There were a number of other good farming mods but they all landed in locations that were less than ideal, at least for my game. The UL team has someone working on a grand implementation out by Anvil, so I figured on letting them take care of that. So why Faregyl? What's so special about this place? Nothing really. When I scouted for locations it wasn't used by anything I could find. So I figured it was as good a place as any to stick some small farming operations.
This mod adds a pig farm, chicken farm, rabbit farm, some traditional crops, and a local smithy to the Faregyl area. Instead of an isolated sleepy old inn, now there's a useful farming village to help sustain the population. Each farm is owned by an NPC who has a work schedule and a normal eat/sleep schedule. Don't try and mooch off the stuff though. Killing the livestock or stealing the crops is going to make someone angry if they catch you! There's also a local smithy who will repair gear and sell mundane supplies and equipment. He's got an ox to pull his cart, but the ox is mean. Don't mess with him. There's also two local legionaries who patrol the area to help keep the peace. And of course, the abandoned gold mine. Something the locals are reluctant to talk about....
Addendum for 2.x:
If all you're looking for is a nice little village mod, you can ignore the quest and things will continue on their merry way. This mod was originally intended to be just that. A village with some nice atmosphere and a bit of a twist on the buildings. The mine quest as it was in version 1.x was an afterthought thrown together without much planning or direction. It is of course fun, and has some nice story elements and is worth the trip down there just to see it.
Of course, as with all things of this nature, I couldn't resist tweaking and fiddling and have ended up creating something much more. So if you're into questing, the surest way to trigger things is to head for the mine. You may also get it as a rumor from elsewhere. If you've played through 1.x already, then you'll already have a pretty good idea of what's going to transpire. Things have been adjusted some and the quest is now tracked via the journal with actual logs. The story has been fleshed out more and is a lot more interesting. There's also a bit of cross-mod story telling going on. A mod called Pemberly Manor had some mention of one of the NPCs having holdings around Cyrodiil. One of which was the farms at Faregyl. I've incorporated this into things and not only are the farms owned by the NPC, but so was the mine. To say more would spoil.
A word of warning - the quest now has some real consequences based on what you do and the decisions you make. The mine is no longer the end of the story. The state of the village itself can be affected. As you progress this should become somewhat obvious. It is also possible that you will not get to experience everything that's possible. Yes, some decisions can have dire consequences. Yes, you can be evil, and yes, you can screw things up even if you weren't planning to. This is an aspect of many games that Oblivion is lacking in. Most of your actions have no real impact on Cyrodiil. They will in Faregyl though. Of course, that means you can play through again with a different character and have a different outcome.
Something else to keep in mind. Certain mods may influence the outcome of events depending on what their NPCs may do while in the village. Play your cards right and some of those extra NPCs may help you turn a bad situation around. Travelers from TIE come to mind as the most common examples. A few of them make regular stops in Faregyl and are generally friendly to the player. Influence from mods can also go bad if they place enemies near the area. You've been warned.
Also a general caution. This has been the case since first release, but none of the villagers are marked essential. If they die, they die. I've made every effort to keep nasties away from the village by removing spawn generators but I can't cover everything.
2041 downloads
Updated
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