by Kateri
(khsimpson@gmail.com).
REQUIRES TRIBUNAL AND BLOODMOON
Introduction
This is a companion/quest mod. It started because the Morrowind Main Quest can be a lonely business.
I wanted to create someone who was more than just a silent meat
shield or beast of burden, but an interesting and believable
character whom the player could gradually get to know, and develop a relationship with, from initial suspicion to genuine friendship (or more, should you so choose), in a way that felt natural and unforced. I also wanted to give a bit of a new perspective and approach to the Main Quest for those veteran players like myself who know it backwards, but still enjoy playing Morrowind.
Did I succeed? I have no idea! But I did have an enormous amount of fun trying!
The Lowdown
Julan Kaushibael is a young Ashlander man you rescue from getting pasted by Daedra outside
Ghostgate. He wants you to take him on as a companion in order to train him into becoming a better warrior, but it quickly becomes clear that there are things going on that he isn't telling you. As you progress through the Morrowind main quest with
Julan, he gets dragged into your mission, and you get dragged into his - a tangle of secrets, lies, love, loss and betrayal.
That makes the mod sound heavier than it really is, however. I hope that above all, Julan is fun to have around, whether you're playing the Main Quest or not. He has a vast supply of sarky comments and random observations. Due to his upbringing, he possesses an odd mixture of naiveté, pride and paranoia, and is sometimes completely oblivious to how ridiculous he's being - which is unfortunate for him, as he hates being laughed at. Underneath it all, however, is a dedicated and caring person, who is desperately trying to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming odds.
Companion Features
- All the standard fare you've come to expect from a companion mod, as developed over the years by many modders in the field - see the credits section for more details! Companion share, warping, teleportation - the usual stuff to make him a help rather than a hindrance.
- Train Julan's skills in whichever direction you choose, either by training him yourself (free, once per day), by asking an NPC Trainer to do it (expensive, but unlimited) or by lending him
skillbooks. His attributes are calculated from his skills, and so will rise as you train him. He will also learn new spells as his skill in the magical disciplines increases.
- Can cast useful spells on himself or the player, such as healing, curing, etc. Dependent on magicka level and his skill level.
- Takes healing potions and magicka potions automatically, and can keep himself healed on his own, with potions or spells, unless he runs out of everything.
- Various options for fighting, including ranged, melee, no magic, or stay out of fight.
- Telepathy ring (after certain quest events) that let you warp him to you from anywhere if you are outside, and also warps him to you if you are both in the same interior cell - useful for pulling him out of battle, or out of lava pits!
- Over 1800 unique lines of dialogue for loads of topics and hundreds of cells. He'll give inane running commentaries on quests for Mages, Fighters and Thieves Guilds,and the Tribunal Temple, as well as the Main Quest. If you like companions who shut up and fight, this isn't the mod for you.
- Optional romance, for female characters. Be aware, however, that as well as the pleasant aspects, getting involved can also mean more opportunities for jealousy, screaming arguments and hurt feelings. Put it this way, he's no romantic ideal, but that's not to say he doesn't have his good points. ;) He's not a "boyfriend mod" however, and it's not the main focus.
- An optional female companion, after certain quest events. She's not as "developed" as
Julan, but she does have her own "romance" questline for male characters, should you choose to accept it. Be warned, however... she's trouble!
No guarantee of good behaviour! Julan MAY do any or all of the following:
- Disagree with things you say or do. Expect the odd yelling match once in a while.
- Get horrendously drunk.
- Get on badly with your other travelling companions.
- Get on a little TOO well with your other travelling companions.
- Moan about the weather, the location, that he's bored, etc...
- Criticise your choice of faction or quest path.
- Make fun of your choice of headgear.
Known Issues and Incompatibilities
This is a Main Quest Companion Mod. It is NOT playable by characters who are past the Vivec Informants point in the main quest, and will be best used by characters who haven't touched the Main Quest at all yet. Part of what I wanted to do with this was to inject a new perspective and interest in the Main Quest for seasoned Morrowind veterans! It is playable by fairly low-level characters as a result - all that is required is the ability to reach Ghostgate and beat up three high HP
Clannfears.
This mod relies on the Main Quest! Thus, it will of course be incompatible with any mod that alters the Main Quest in a significant manner, e.g.
- any "Instant Nerevarine" mod
- Blake's Nerevar Say Nerevar
- Princess Stomper's Ghostgate.
It also conflicts with:
Guarded Ghostgate
Armingers[sic] at Ghostgate.
Exercise common sense! If you are unsure whether a certain mod will cause problems, please contact me and ask.
Other Issues:
I do NOT recommend making excessive use of the console, especially the
"COC" command. It can mess up quests, break scripts and make companions behave strangely. For instance, to quickstart this mod, DON'T COC to
Ghostgate. If you must cheat your way there, COC "Ghostgate, Tower of Dawn" and exit through the door.
Julan has a LOT of dialogue, and this can result in slowdown in the dialogue menu. It should only affect him, and not other NPCs though.
Issues with companions and the game engine in general, such as:
- Don't give him Constant Effect items, they might start working backwards.
- Save before levitating through doors, as, very rarely, companions get zapped out of existence. He'll almost always appear eventually if you keep moving away from the door though.
- If he starts behaving strangely (more strangely than normal, that is!), try telling him to wait, then ask him to follow again. If he's still behaving strangely, open the console, click on him, and type StartCombat player. Close the console. If he attacks, open the console again and type
Stopcombat.
Any other problems or questions, please email or PM me.
Credits and Thanks
First of all, thank you to Emma for all her help and support, and for hosting Julan on her site. Along with those from Qarl's Underground, her "living, breathing" companions were my inspiration to try and create something like this.
Thank you to Grumpy, for his companion templates and tutorials, without which I would never have been able to start putting my ideas into practice. I hope he'd have liked what I made, even if I daresay he'd have disapproved of having so much dialogue! :D
Thank you to all the talented scripters whose work I have learned from, adapted, borrowed and generally pulled apart and put back together, including
CDCooley, Cortex, DinkumThinkum (especially for his PotionSaver code),
Qarl, Thelys and TheOtherFelix. Thanks also to Neko, Edwardsmd, Flycatcher and everyone else on the forums who helped with scripting issues. Thanks also to GhanBuriGhan for Morrowind Scripting for Dummies and Edwardsmd for Morrowind Mod Maker's Manual - both invaluable resources!
Thanks to lalalalalallaaaaa, Earth_Wyrm, Lady Rae, Rogue_Shadow, The Pimptastic
Fo, Larissa Mem, nikolai1962, Kirel, Emma, Not Quite Dead, and the rest of the Elder Scrolls Morrowind Mods and Emma's Elder Scrolls forums with ideas for Shani's catfight insults!
Huge thanks to everyone who helped with testing, including: Tim, Emma, Hand of
Sotha, Riptide, saber, Christianne, Dimitri, Phoniex, Apophis2412, Ohoyo
Tashka, Ramira and fireseed. Thanks also to everyone on the forums who gave encouragement and support - it kept me going! Thanks also to wonderful Phil for being generally fab and not minding too much when I was paying more attention to an imaginary elf than to him!
Credits:
- Julan's face is a mixture of faces by Lizardo and Westly, reworked by me. Thanks also to Dimitri for texturing help!
- Shani's face is by Qarl (Hot Girls Pack 3) and her hair is by
iReni, recoloured and with ears added by me.
- Mashti's face is a mix of several faces, mostly from Better Heads, and I think, one of Emma's.
- Another face by Lizardo, slightly altered by me.
- Other hair by the Better Heads team.
- Animations by RX31, packaged by Qarl.
- Some quotation from Aeschylus' Oresteia, the Robert Fagles translation (Penguin 1979).
- WildKarrde for his Ashlander sword resources, which was partly retextured by me for this mod.
- NioLiv for the dress mesh. Texture by me, but partially inspired by Aleanne's Mabrigash robe.
If I've forgotten anyone, please remind me and I'll fix it!
Version
1.2 - Changes from 1.1:
Julan's hair texture path fixed.
Julan's training scripts have been revamped slightly, for your
convenience. Also, prices slashed!
Mages' Guild service refusal conflict with Vampire Embrace fixed.
More romance options with Shani.
More hints added to certain parts of the quest, where they seemed
to be needed.
Journal entries altered slightly to hopefully aid their removal
when the quests are over. Won't take effect if you already
finished the quest though.
Various other minor bugfixes/spelling errors.
There are also other little things altered/added here and there.
Nothing I'd say worth starting a new game for, thus, you don't
have to update, if you're already running 1.1, just use 1.2 if you
decide to start a new character you want to travel with Julan.
Software for
decompressing files in 7z-formats can be found here
