[WIP] Elder Kings

[Vanhal]

The sixteen main Daedric Cults faiths of Elder Kings II

Dwemer Idolatry: 2 counties.
The desire to know more intensifies.

 

[Orinsul]

I guess is guys who worship dwemer ghosts? or just the idea of dwemer and hang out in ruins? like all them bandit fellas

 

[LeSingeAffame]

This is the current description of the Dwemer Idolatry faith:
An obscure folk belief found in some Reach tribes which settled in or around Dwemer ruins. Contrary to popular scholarship, they believe that the Dwemer were a beneficial precursor people who nurtured and guided the Reachmen in an ancient era. They value scholarship and wisdom, and believe that one day the Dwemer will return and lead them to a harmonious future.

 

[Vanhal]

This is the current description of the Dwemer Idolatry faith:
An obscure folk belief found in some Reach tribes which settled in or around Dwemer ruins. Contrary to popular scholarship, they believe that the Dwemer were a beneficial precursor people who nurtured and guided the Reachmen in an ancient era. They value scholarship and wisdom, and believe that one day the Dwemer will return and lead them to a harmonious future.

Aw poks, i didn't noticed it was under Reach faith.
Oh well, it at least confirms that Reachmen are really at the bad end of religious stick.

Btw are those daedric cults complete? Weird seeing such conventional doctrines there.

 

[Roguedemon]

Is the Code of Malacath religion on the map seperate from the Malacath cult or is it just another name for the same thing? When you said about the "main" Daedric faiths are there also other variations of them that exist at the start or would you have to create your own version of the cult yourself?

Also, I like how the reach is a religious mess. Makes a lot of sense given the lore rather than having them all be the same religion. Hopefully as the mod goes on, more and more obscure religions and sects can be added.

 

[LeSingeAffame]

They are two distinct faiths with two distinct sets of tenets and doctrines

 

[Roguedemon]

Wow quick reply, thought I could stealth edit in my other question into my comment before anyone noticed it but you beat me to it lol. Are there alternate variations of the other daedric faiths also, (mythic dawn type stuff?) or would you have to use the religion system to create your own?

 

[LeSingeAffame]

Right now the only Prince with two (or rather three in this case) faiths is Malacath, but as we progress we would like each Daedric religion to have at least a generic cult (that has already been done), and one localized and special cult. You mentionned the Mythic Dawn, and while it is out of the scope for the mod for now (since it was relevant during the end of the Third Era) that could be the kind of faiths we could add.

 

[Roguedemon]

The mod is set in late 2nd Era somtime after the events of ESO right? I just mentioned the Dawn cause they are probably the best known example of a specific version of a Daedra cult. While there are quite a few that could fit that for the era portrayed (or aren't too era specific) they are usually a lot more obscure and in some cases it might take a little a artistic liberty to portray them as anything other than a local variant of the cult.

If you are using UESP for sources, the "faction" lore pages and the "faction" and "religious" sections of the library pages actually have better info on various cults than the pages on Daedra lords (this is true for the gods generally) though you do have to sift through a lot of less relevant stuff too. If there is a specific place to make suggestions or even help out making the religions I'd be happy to trawl through the dregs of the wiki to scrape together some ideas.

 

[bobpotato]

The mod is set in late 2nd Era somtime after the events of ESO right? I just mentioned the Dawn cause they are probably the best known example of a specific version of a Daedra cult. While there are quite a few that could fit that for the era portrayed (or aren't too era specific) they are usually a lot more obscure and in some cases it might take a little a artistic liberty to portray them as anything other than a local variant of the cult.

If you are using UESP for sources, the "faction" lore pages and the "faction" and "religious" sections of the library pages actually have better info on various cults than the pages on Daedra lords (this is true for the gods generally) though you do have to sift through a lot of less relevant stuff too. If there is a specific place to make suggestions or even help out making the religions I'd be happy to trawl through the dregs of the wiki to scrape together some ideas.

The mod's earliest start date is 140 years before the start of ESO (2E 440 vs 2E 580). Suggestions aren't officially open, but the discord is the best place to propose/discuss ideas.

 

[Roguedemon]

Huh, I always thought it was set after it. Maybe I was thrown off by the dating system or maybe I just haven't played the CK2 mod in that long that I just forgot. In any case, that actually opens up a lot more options; there are a ton of cult factions in ESO that could potentially get used, but a substantial number of them are destroyed during the events of ESO so a pre-ESO start is actually pretty good for that.

I'll check out the discord at some point over the weekend probably.

 

[bobpotato]

The Interface of Elder Kings II, Part 1

Good morning/evening/afternoon, I am Varlatra/Bobpotato, one of the newer members of the Elder Kings Team.

The previous dev diary talked about personal deities and communing with patrons, ending with "Once we are ready to show it in more detail, we will!". Well that time has come. Some of you may have seen previews of this content on the discord, but the system hasn't really been explained in any detail.

For those that played the original Elder Kings with Jade Dragon, you will be familiar with the Daedric Princes and other entities being represented by offmap powers. With the move to CK3, this feature has been lost. Fortunately, CK3 unlocked a lot of GUI features for modders to use to create custom interfaces. As you can probably guess, this dev diary will be about recreating the offmap interface in CK3.

Selection Interface

Patrons are divided into two categories: passive and active. Passive patrons include the more benevolent deities, such as the Eight Divines, but can include Daedric Princes. The above shows the selection interface for a faith with a pantheon, granting access to passive patrons, and a tenet granting access to Sanguine as an active patron. Passive patrons can be taken as a personal deity, granting a trait with small bonuses depending on the deities sphere.

Sample Patron Traits

Passive Patron Interface

The selection of personal deities is accessed by communing with your pantheon, leading to the above interface. As stated in the previous dev diary, the specific deities in a pantheon are dependent on the pantheon doctrine of the faith, but can be modified with syncretic tenets. As an example the eight divines religion is divided into four faiths with the same core pantheon. The Breton Cult faith has a tenet adding Magnus, Jephre and Phynaster to the pantheon and thus can take them as personal deities. For a more complete overview please refer to the previous dev diary.

Active Patron Interface

Active patrons have a more tangible impact on the world and include the Daedric Princes and Tribunal at the time of writing. A faith that permits worship and has the requisite tenets/doctrines will enable followers to commune with a patron and access the above interface.

Patron State

The status of a patron affects the type of interactions that will be available. For the Princes there are currently four states:

• Nominal - the default state, most interactions are available.
• Ascendant - an ascendant prince is looking to increase their power, this state is a requirement for calling a Daedric invasion.
• Cataclysm - after a failed invasion, the prince must regain power. This state severely limits the available boons.
• Convalescing - after a period of cataclysm the prince starts to recover their former standing. Most of the same interactions as nominal are available but with increased costs.

Worship type is the second way that interactions are restricted. As stated in the previous dev diary, the makeup of a pantheon can be influenced by tenets. If a Prince is part of a pantheon because of a tenet, they are considered to have the "pantheon" worship type. This restricts some of the interactions that may be taken. The second type is "focused", which comes primarily from following a cult religion. This adds no restrictions on the interactions available and may make some of them cheaper.

Patron Ardor

Ardor is the currency used in interactions. It can be earned by making offerings to a patron, such as tribute or a sacrifice. Ardor is required for boons, with 10000 being the amount necessary to call an invasion. Unlike offmaps in EK1 there is (at time of writing) no ticking ardor, it is only changed by interactions.

Patron Interactions

Interactions are divided into three groups:

• Offerings earn ardor, the exact amount depends on the type of offering and how partial the Prince is to it - Molag Bal likes sacrifices more than Nocturnal.
• Minor Boons generally have a small impact, such as a stat boost or small amount of gold. They are typically available to both focused and pantheon worship.
• Major Boons include claiming artifacts and calling invasions. Many of them are restricted to focused worshippers.

Sample Interactions

You may notice that Clavicus Vile has the option to offer a sacrifice, but Sanguine didn't in the previous images. This is intentional, not all Princes are equal. Many interactions will be shared, but all will have unique interactions that reflect their sphere.

The system is based on decisions so the AI is able to fully utilize it. Currently there are no weights assigned so it doesn't know what it is doing, but it tries.

 

[theStormWeaver]

The Tamriel Rebuilt/Project Tamriel community would be an excellent resource for obscure cults, both canonical and those created with (source faithful) artistic liberties.

 

[Rémerod er Bannt]

Thank you for the Dev Diary! It does give us some warmth and light in these dark times

 

[Theyn_T]

The Tamriel Rebuilt/Project Tamriel community would be an excellent resource for obscure cults, both canonical and those created with (source faithful) artistic liberties.

We are always looking to other TES Fan Projects (TR/PT, BS, etc.) for inspiration - but EK is it's own project, with its own view on Tamriel and its own Lore. Also just implementing other peoples ideas without or with only few creative input from oneself isn't really fun.
So while you might encounter those or similar cults in EK2, they all will have a personal note.

 

[theStormWeaver]

We are always looking to other TES Fan Projects (TR/PT, BS, etc.) for inspiration - but EK is it's own project, with its own view on Tamriel and its own Lore. Also just implementing other peoples ideas without or with only few creative input from oneself isn't really fun.
So while you might encounter those or similar cults in EK2, they all will have a personal note.

Of course, I would fully expect EK to put it's own spin/interpretation on things.

 

[Orinsul]

If there's still a lore hole about the maomer, I still have the stuff i did for the ck2 mod sitting somewhere?
there was a really cool feathered serpent cult take of maomer religion on the official forums back in the day too, it would be cool for post-orgnum stuff if you dont want to go something original and if ESO hasnt done anything (still havent gotten around to ESO).

All those little heresies that I did for the old mod could work now too, as, Eight Divines but they think X is the most important to an extent that makes their society different, didnt work in ck2 but could with the faiths system?

 

[rus-chel]

I want to speak about special buildings in baronies -
First obvious thing - Cyrodiil and Skyrim and Vvardenfell can easily filled with landmarks due to obvious reasons, and balacing them will be a challange.
Skyrim
Markath - Stone City (fort lvl, garrison), Mine-Prison (inprisonment chance, and vanilla mine bonuses)
Solitude - Castle Dour (levies, fort lvl, garrison), Port (dev increase)
Whiterun - Dragonsreach (fort, levies garrison), Temple of Kyne (vanilla bonuses for Aedric worshipers)
Volkihar Isle - Volkihar castle (fort)
Winterhold - Collegue (exp gain, duh)
Dawnguard fort (only for Aedric, fort with piety)
Blackreach entences (tax, exp, dev, prestige - but very small at scale)
Cyrodiil -
Imperial Isle - White-Gold Tower (temple+palace), City walls
Sankre Tor - ruined fort (as Aleppo citadel)
Pale pass - fort
Ayled ruins (weaker verison of blackreach enterances)
Morrowind -
Vivec city - Temple of Three, Ministry of Truth
Almalexia city - Mouronhold palace
2 Ebony mines (one in Vvardenfell, one on mainland)
Entrance to Clockwork city
High Rock -
Wayrest - walls
Isle of Balfiera - Adamantine tower (piety and exp i guess)
Ruins of Orsinium - ruined fort

And other big thing - other provinces are less known to public, and so it would be a problem to give smth justified. I think each province must have at least 1 mine province, 2 - better.

 

[Theyn_T]

If there's still a lore hole about the maomer, I still have the stuff i did for the ck2 mod sitting somewhere?
there was a really cool feathered serpent cult take of maomer religion on the official forums back in the day too, it would be cool for post-orgnum stuff if you dont want to go something original and if ESO hasnt done anything (still havent gotten around to ESO).

All those little heresies that I did for the old mod could work now too, as, Eight Divines but they think X is the most important to an extent that makes their society different, didnt work in ck2 but could with the faiths system?

Pyandonea/the Maormer are currently not in development as we're doing Tamriel first. ESO also expanded on the Maormer quite a bit, including their first appearance.

I want to speak about special buildings in baronies -

We're looking into special buildings but there is currently nothing we can share. Though regarding White-Gold Tower and other Towers: We have a special tower holding for those. So those holdings will probably get some different special building than their own tower.

 

[rus-chel]

So i'll add some more ideas -
Cyrodiil
Imperial Isle - Arcane University, City Walls, Temple of One. Seriously, Isle is worth 3 slots.
Battlespire (don't know its location) - knights effectifness and retinue stats
Cloudruler temple - ruined - vanilla castle
Skyrim
Ivarstead - Thousand Steps - piety gain %, a bit of piety flat.
Eastmarch Velothi Mountains - Skuldafn - powerful temple, disabled unless nordic pantheon (Sovngarde entrance), Dragon Cult or Dragon Cult syncretic
Windhelm - Palace of Kings - prestige and knights
Soltsheim - Temple of Miraak - learning exp, piety, prestige (if you will be really generous add Thrisk Mead Hall, please)
Hammerfell -
Rourken clan ruins - same as Ayleid ruins
High Rock and Skyrim pass - forts
Morrowind -
Birthplace of Nerevar - piety, knights effectivness, retinue bonuses. Nerevarine cult (and Azura maybe) only