When people wonder why the mod isn’t modular, well, the answer is simple. Everything is connected. Quests, NPCs, books – a lot of the auxiliary content blurs into disparate sections, often in ways that can’t be separated into neat little pieces.

In fact, given how cozy everyone is with each other, you can probably tie together most NPCs through a handful of Kevin Bacons. Of course, if you’re wondering who the Kevin Baconiest character in the mod is, the fatty crown would likely go to that most affable of companions, Rumarin.

With the Elf, even someone as isolated as Kianna is only separated by three degrees. Rumarin interacts with Mugnor, who would’ve been a colleague of the slain apprentice Borvir, who used Journeyman’s Nook with Kianna.

The web gets slightly more tangled when you choose NPCs at random, but they can still be linked. Iria and Viranya, for instance, can be tied together in 4 degrees.

Iria –> Danica Pure-Spring –> Melea Entius –> Jerulith —> Viranya.

Iria and Danica are priestesses of Kynareth, where Melea went to seek a healer, who shares Dead Man’s Drink with Jerulith, who is Viranya’s old friend.

Let’s try the same with NPCs that share the same voice, like Nelos and Leifan, who are voiced by Corey Hall but couldn’t be more different. Typically, it’s easier to work from the lesser known character, given their limited associations. Leifan makes reference to most of the NPCs in Rorikstead, in particular the former Stormcloak Sonja. Sonja once spoke to Larsdon about the perils of Orphan Rock, who hired Rumarin as a mercenary in the Blood of Kings, who was inspired by Olivia to learn a new spell, who is the chief adversary of Nelos.

See? In the end, the shortest route always goes through Rumarin. Kevin Pork Strips ain’t got nothing on him.

One of the consequences of my complete lack of modding experience is that NPCs don’t always work as intended. Some things you can write around, but not stuff that is essential to their character. Typically, the Creation Kit is such that even a novice can figure shit out. Want someone to cast a spell? Just tab over to the SpellList section and add your magic of choice.

The problem is, that doesn’t work for support spells, and doesn’t always work for bound weapons. As a result, Rumarin and Valgus, two of the more prominent followers, never really acted in the way their stories would indicate.

Thankfully, with an assist from Vidalia – who pointed me to Natalie the Healer, and Madcat221 who made me realize bound swords are actually normal weapons + textures, I learned a few things:

1) Support spells can be added via AI packages – the same used to sandbox or sit down in a chair, you just have to make them override combat.
2) Bound weapons can be added to an NPC’s inventory(in the alias so they can’t be stolen) and used in place of spells.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgh0VBVgy8M

So Valgus and Rumarin will function more or less as they are intended, although there are a few things that still need to be ironed out (Rumarin’s combat audio is also a little tinny in the video, Jay’s getting a new mic so it should rectify that – maybe not for v3.03, but v3.04 for sure).

Rumarin will still occasionally use an invisible blade, no idea why, and Valgus won’t use up any magicka. He’ll use the HealOther spell if you’re within range and if your health is less than 40%, so he won’t spam the motherfucker or anything like that. As I mentioned previously, he’ll also have combat dialogue that better suits his character, but I’m not sure if it’ll make the next version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPXxfNc06NY

This video shows a few extra tweaks I want to implement for the next update. Previously, the console could be used to mute NPCs, but now they’ll be given a vanilla voice type and turned into clutter. All scenes involving the NPCs will also be turned off as well.