Hey everyone! It’s time for another Elder Kings 0.2.1 Developer Diary! Our last installation covered the vampires and lycanthropes, two types of supernatural beings who can trace their origins to Daedric Princes. This time, we’ll be talking about the reworked systems for Daedric Princes and their associated cults, and we will discuss the ways in which these powerful denizens of Oblivion can help and hinder the inhabitants of Nirn. Due to the depth of the new systems for Daedric Princes and their religions, this Developer Diary will be a two-parter.
In Elder Kings, there are 16 Daedric Princes who can be interacted with. Jyggalag, the 17th Daedric Prince, has yet to be freed from the endless cycle of Greymarches and therefore is not accessible to Nirn’s inhabitants in the Second Era. Even so, the active Princes are only slightly better-understood, and most people hardly ever interact with them. The only reliable way for the average person to establish lasting contact with a Daedric Prince is to worship them. Since Daedra worship is traditionally frowned upon in most parts of the world, this is easier said than done, but there are three major methods to worship one of the Princes:
1. Worship a Daedric Prince as a patron deity in a larger pantheon. Followers of Riddle’Thar can, for example, worship Azura, Mehrunes Dagon or Sheogorath, whereas followers of the Green Pact may have Hermaeus Mora as a patron deity. Daedric Princes do not disapprove of this, but they approve less than if they were worshiped exclusively.
2. Worship a Daedric Prince exclusively, and publicly. This is when a character belongs to the “Cult of…” and the relevant Prince will strongly approve.
3. Worship a Daedric Prince exclusively, but in secret. This is often a very safe option regardless of which religion you follow, and the relevant Prince will still approve of this quite a bit, although not as much as if the worship was public.
Since Daedra worship is often clandestine, Daedric religions may appear to be somewhat inaccessible to the average ruler, but there are ways to get around this. The first method is to take Scholarship Focus and, after building an Observatory, following the path of studying Oblivion. This will eventually lead a character to an event where they can hire a Daedric scholar specializing in any one of the 16 Princes and will include the option to secretly practice the associated religion.
The other possibility is that a Daedric Prince may contact a character directly. This is rare and may cause the character to adopt any one of the 16 Daedric cults but requires no specific actions on the part of the character other than choosing whether to stray from their original religion or continue worshiping as they previously have.
Once a character has established contact with a Daedric Prince, they may petition the Prince to receive one of a few potential boons. This will however require Ardor, a currency based on Jade Dragon’s Grace mechanic, which represents a Prince’s perception of a character’s combined devotion and usefulness in advancing their causes. Just like the vanilla offmap system, a character has numerous ways to raise Ardor with a Prince. Ardor is passively generated based on how the character worships a Prince and can be based on numerous traits – Hircine is fond of Lycanthropes and those with a sense of honor, while Boethiah has a favorable outlook on Duelists and other martial artists with self-serving attitudes. Ardor can also be increased with offerings such as gold, valuable artifacts, and even captive prisoners, depending on the circumstances.
With enough Ardor, a character can spend it to receive a boon of their choosing. This can be something relatively simple such as a bound Dremora warrior or a treasure sent from that Prince’s plane of Oblivion.
A character can also claim a Daedric Prince’s unique artifacts, provided no currently-living character already holds them.
Some decisions aren’t always available; the powers of Daedric Princes wax and wane with the circumstances. A Prince might feel confident in interacting with Nirn and its inhabitants as their plane of Oblivion bustles with activity – in which case, earning their support is easy. On the other hand, a Prince may be recovering from a major internal cataclysm and be in no mood and no condition to project power beyond their realm – and many of their boons may be off-limits. However, if a Daedric Prince is truly feeling powerful and a character has garnered an exceptional amount of Ardor, then that character has the potential to dissolve what little holds back the forces of Oblivion and ignite a full-scale invasion of Nirn. The Prince's selected Herald will receive an enormous army of non-inheritable event troops, and Oblivion Gates swarming with vicious Daedra will open up all over the map, plunging the world into chaos and despair and paving the way for a rapid conquest of the mortal plane.
Unless, of course, a Hero emerges.
Next time, we'll explore some more of the new Daedric content, including the ways in which the inhabitants of the mortal plane can fight back against invasions from Oblivion, and seal the barriers to prevent - or even completely defeat - these otherworldly incursions.
In Elder Kings, there are 16 Daedric Princes who can be interacted with. Jyggalag, the 17th Daedric Prince, has yet to be freed from the endless cycle of Greymarches and therefore is not accessible to Nirn’s inhabitants in the Second Era. Even so, the active Princes are only slightly better-understood, and most people hardly ever interact with them. The only reliable way for the average person to establish lasting contact with a Daedric Prince is to worship them. Since Daedra worship is traditionally frowned upon in most parts of the world, this is easier said than done, but there are three major methods to worship one of the Princes:
1. Worship a Daedric Prince as a patron deity in a larger pantheon. Followers of Riddle’Thar can, for example, worship Azura, Mehrunes Dagon or Sheogorath, whereas followers of the Green Pact may have Hermaeus Mora as a patron deity. Daedric Princes do not disapprove of this, but they approve less than if they were worshiped exclusively.
2. Worship a Daedric Prince exclusively, and publicly. This is when a character belongs to the “Cult of…” and the relevant Prince will strongly approve.
3. Worship a Daedric Prince exclusively, but in secret. This is often a very safe option regardless of which religion you follow, and the relevant Prince will still approve of this quite a bit, although not as much as if the worship was public.
Since Daedra worship is often clandestine, Daedric religions may appear to be somewhat inaccessible to the average ruler, but there are ways to get around this. The first method is to take Scholarship Focus and, after building an Observatory, following the path of studying Oblivion. This will eventually lead a character to an event where they can hire a Daedric scholar specializing in any one of the 16 Princes and will include the option to secretly practice the associated religion.
The other possibility is that a Daedric Prince may contact a character directly. This is rare and may cause the character to adopt any one of the 16 Daedric cults but requires no specific actions on the part of the character other than choosing whether to stray from their original religion or continue worshiping as they previously have.
Once a character has established contact with a Daedric Prince, they may petition the Prince to receive one of a few potential boons. This will however require Ardor, a currency based on Jade Dragon’s Grace mechanic, which represents a Prince’s perception of a character’s combined devotion and usefulness in advancing their causes. Just like the vanilla offmap system, a character has numerous ways to raise Ardor with a Prince. Ardor is passively generated based on how the character worships a Prince and can be based on numerous traits – Hircine is fond of Lycanthropes and those with a sense of honor, while Boethiah has a favorable outlook on Duelists and other martial artists with self-serving attitudes. Ardor can also be increased with offerings such as gold, valuable artifacts, and even captive prisoners, depending on the circumstances.
With enough Ardor, a character can spend it to receive a boon of their choosing. This can be something relatively simple such as a bound Dremora warrior or a treasure sent from that Prince’s plane of Oblivion.
A character can also claim a Daedric Prince’s unique artifacts, provided no currently-living character already holds them.
Some decisions aren’t always available; the powers of Daedric Princes wax and wane with the circumstances. A Prince might feel confident in interacting with Nirn and its inhabitants as their plane of Oblivion bustles with activity – in which case, earning their support is easy. On the other hand, a Prince may be recovering from a major internal cataclysm and be in no mood and no condition to project power beyond their realm – and many of their boons may be off-limits. However, if a Daedric Prince is truly feeling powerful and a character has garnered an exceptional amount of Ardor, then that character has the potential to dissolve what little holds back the forces of Oblivion and ignite a full-scale invasion of Nirn. The Prince's selected Herald will receive an enormous army of non-inheritable event troops, and Oblivion Gates swarming with vicious Daedra will open up all over the map, plunging the world into chaos and despair and paving the way for a rapid conquest of the mortal plane.
Unless, of course, a Hero emerges.
Next time, we'll explore some more of the new Daedric content, including the ways in which the inhabitants of the mortal plane can fight back against invasions from Oblivion, and seal the barriers to prevent - or even completely defeat - these otherworldly incursions.
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