Velothi Mountains
Velothi Mountains is a towering mountain region in the Velothis District, Morrowind. It forms the border between Morrowind, northeastern Cyrodiil, and Skyrim and is riddled with dangerous passes, only a few of which actually serve as passage between the provinces. The Redoran and the Empire patrol the borders.
Current Implementation
The current implementation relies on Red Mountain rocks and textures, is snowy in the higher, western parts, but otherwise mostly free of snow. Vegetated patches are relatively few and variable, generally either being barren with little vegetation or greener with a lot of Bloodmoon trees, West Gash flora, and some other stragglers, although several new flora meshes were shipped with Dominions of Dust.
Plan
The southern part of the Velothi Mountains, released in November 2022 as part of Dominions of Dust, will stay largely the same, having benefited from a successful exterior overhaul by Nemon, Chef, and Phenoix12. Some changes will still need to be made; the Velothis should conform to the vanilla design while keeping the mountain peaks, which form quite a small part of the region play-space. Planned changes include:
- switch to unique rock and land textures
- addition of new mountain flower assets
- switch to unique tree species
- remove most vanilla assets used so far
- fix spiky terrain
- improve navigation, for example by removing superfluous rock groups and snow
Towards the north, in the unreleased TR_RestExterior area, the region retains a few landmass seams and places where the topography is perhaps somewhat square (especially due to the seams northeast of Knocker's Neck and southwest of Verarchen). The cell transition just south of Kogotel is especially badly matched. This area, moreover, needs the Southern Velothi Mountains treatment – addition of peaks, removal of snow statics and general static overuse (rock clumps, cobbling with vanilla assets will need to be replaced with Wolli and SHotN peak and cliff meshes). Details in the valleys need to be toned down.
The addition of Malahk-Bazul will much extend the width of the Velothi Mountains. As of gridmap 2022-12-07, the Velothi Mountains will be further extended all the way north to the Sea of Ghosts, as they were prior to Uld Vraech getting split into its own region. This extension will be a relatively narrow strip east of the Great Valley, to be complemented on the Skyrim side of the border later. It is likely that this new strip will need to be remade entirely from scratch.
Points of interest will include Cyrodiil border forts, Malahk orc settlements, Redoran hamlets, Dwemer freeholds, Daedric Ruins, goblin caves, and strongholds. In the central part there will be Reman ruins (a remnant of the Four Score War) and in the north, Uld Vraech Nord settlements. Ruined Nord barrows will be found throughout the northern half of the mountain range.
Malahk-Bazul
A wide highland valley on the tri-point between Morrowind, Skyrim, and Cyrodiil, populated by the Malahk orcs, relatively closed from both the Morrowind and Cyrodiil side except for a single pass that is only infrequently used by caravans.
The landscape should consist of narrow, barren mountain valleys and passes with a few streams flowing out the mountains. Care should be taken to not restrict player movement too much in practice; this will need some testing. Assets palette can borrow from the rest of the Velothi Mountains, possibly with some unique sub-regional characteristics, highlighting the rugged and dull personification of the Orcs. Points of interest will include Malahk orc settlements and camps, a ruined Redoran stronghold, the Ayleid ruin of Cael (an Imperial corruption of the Ayleid Cey-El), and a Dragon Cave.
The area will be populated by various goblinkin, such as orcs, kobolds, goblins, gremlins and ogres, if available. Possibly, there will be werewolves in various small tribes, fighting with each other. Some Ogrims will come with Malacath worship. Wolves, trolls, cliff racer variants (possibly fluffy?) and other flying critters will round out the the rest.
A dragon fight (should Lamb Shark's dragon asset see daylight) could occur in a cave, as the AI makes a free-flying fight nigh-impossible. The dragon could, however, sometimes fly outside of the cave effectively as a passive activator creature without being able to engage or by engaged in combat with the player.
Settlements
- Uman – a Redoran hamlet in the south-central part of the mountains; released.
- Mazkun – a small, hostile Malahk orc village south of Mount Dunul; released.
- Shadowgate Pass – an Imperial-controlled pass in the southernmost part of the Velothi Mountains. This is the most important pass between Cyrodiil and Morrowind, as Mir Corrup's problems affect Septim's Gate pass down south, and is the starting point of the Veloth's path pilgrimage route. The current implementation in claim VM_01, just west of Kragenmoor, will need to be moved further west, owing to Tamriel Rebuilt annexing more of the Velothi Mountains to its west.
- Malahk pass – a Redoran-controlled fort meant to keep the Malahk orc is check.
- Malahk-Bazul settlements:
- Akgun – a Dwemer ruin overrun by orcs. The main population and questing center in the area.
- Three other Malahk settlements...
- Frimvorn Pass – the southern pass to Skyrim, and through there, to northern Cyrodiil, just north of Malahk-Bazul (which lore source?).
- Silgrod – a Redoran-controlled village on the road from Kogotel to Frimvorn Pass, built around a Remanite tower (i.e., the Silgrod Tower). Not implemented in TR_RestExterior.
- Hulyn – a Redoran village west of Selethis, previously known as Kuhn Mar.
- Dunmeth Pass – the main pass connecting Baan Malur/Blacklight to eastern Skyrim. the current implementation in TR_RestExterior by Nemon tried to preserve Prometheus' 2004 variant, by far the nicest part of ancient map 5, which includes his bespoke architecture set. Possibly, this will have to be wholly redone.
- Eskarath – an Uld Vraech Nord village on the coast of the Sea of Ghosts, previously known as Askareth. Will be moved west; hence, rebuilt.
Exterior Design Guide (Work in Progress)
Ref limit: 250 excluding cells containing dungeons or settlements.
When editing provincial claim borders, be sure to load this esp to avoid landscape tears: https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/asset/province-border-claim-landscape
Ground textures
- T_Mw_TerrGrassVM_01
- T_Mw_TerrGrassSnowVM_01
- T_Mw_TerrGravelVM_01
- T_Mw_TerrGravelSnowVM_01
- T_Mw_TerrDirtVM_01/02
- T_Mw_TerrDirtSnowVM_01
- T_Mw_TerrRoadDirt_01 - dirt roads
- T_Mw_TerrRockVM_01 - Main rock of the region
- T_Mw_TerrRockSnowVM_01/02
- T_Mw_TerrRockVM_02 - less common rock for variety
- T_Mw_TerrRockSnowVM_01/02
- T_Nor_DngBarrowFort_TxFloor_01 - in Nord forts
- Tx_BM_snow_**.dds
- Tx_BM_ice_**.dds
- T_De_SetInd_TxCobbleStone_01 - Veloth's Path
Terrain
- T_Mw_TerrRockVM_**
Static Flora
- T_Mw_FloraVM_AspaTree_** - common tree
- T_Mw_FloraVM_AspaTreeSnow_** - snowy version
- Flora_tree_BM_** - common tree
- Flora_tree_BM_snow_** - snowy version
- T_Mw_Flora_TowParasol_** - lowlands and valleys
- T_Mw_FloraUV_Conespruce_** - rare tree
- T_Mw_Flora_TumtumParasol_** - common
- Flora_BM_grass_** - grass statics
- T_Mw_FloraVM_Shrub_01-04 - common bush
- T_Mw_FloraVM_Shrub_05-08 - lush bush
- T_Mw_Flora_ShroomTableB_** - non snowy areas
Container Flora
- T_Mw_Flora_Bloatroot** - in lowlands away from snow
- flora_black_lichen_** + T_Mw_Flora_LichenBk03 - on rocks
- T_Mw_Flora_MountDama** - VM flower
- T_Mw_Flora_GhostLaur** - VM plant
- T_Mw_Flora_NodStreak** - VM plant
- T_Mw_Flora_Orcscrown** - VM plant
- T_Cyr_Flora_Mandrake01
- T_Cyr_Flora_Stinkhorn**
- Puffball (pending)
- Snowfall Mushroom (Pending)
Farms & Ranches
- T_Mw_Flora_Bloatroot**
- T_Mw_Fau_Skylamp_01 - Redoran only
- T_Mw_Fau_RedoranHnd_** - Redoran Only
Vertex Shading
- Under statics: 78,78,78
- Between textures: 144,144,144
- Under statics (snow areas): 105,105,105
- Between textures (snow areas): 167,167,167
Assets Needed
Required
Nothing at the moment
Nice to have
Additional Links
2016 ThomasRuz' Malahk Orc asset that lays out the reasoning for Malahk-Bazul
2016 Conceptualization thread by Gnomey
2016 Flora Conceptualization thread by 10Kaziem