The Abridged Journals of Nerussa, the Last Dragonborn, Volume I

[gnewna]

Preface to the First Edition
By Viarmo, Headmaster of the Bards’ College, Solitude

For the darkness has passed, and the legend yet grows,
You'll know, you'll know the Dragonborn comes
“The Dragonborn Comes”, Trad.

Just as each Bard in the land has his or her own treatment of this well-known ballad, so the majority have written their own versions of the tale of the Last Dragonborn, Nerussa. As Nords are fond of allowing their children to accompany them to the tavern of an evening, every man, woman and child is now likely familiar with the major events of her time in Skyrim. Nobody reading this book, for example, will be surprised by her fortuitous escape from the executioner’s block. However, even a full rendition of Talsgar the Wanderer’s (it must be said, rather workmanlike) epic poem will miss several key elements of her story, as well as many interesting details.

It was Nerussa herself who approached the College about this book. When she revealed the extent of her note-keeping, I was both excited and, I’ll admit, a little daunted. The Complete Journals are so lengthy that the only two copies of each book printed fill an entire bookcase in the Libraries of the Colleges at Winterhold and Solitude. (Students of either College may of course view the Complete Journals, and enquiries may be made to the Bards’ College by non-students who wish to refer to them for academic purposes.) This much abridged collection will run to three volumes, and, at the request of Nerussa, will include both major events and more personal recordings of the time she spent among the people of Skyrim. It is hoped that this will give the reader a better understanding of the Time of Dragons, as well as the Last Dragonborn.

For reasons which will become clear in the text, Nerussa’s journals were largely written in a cypher of her own devising, in the language of the Altmer. Certain passages are also written in Daedric script. Nerussa was personally responsible for much of the translation, however (again at her request) we also enlisted the support of Reman Turinus, a specialist in codes and cyphers from the Imperial City, and a team of Altmer translators. This both enabled us to complete the translation in a much shorter time, and to verify that the translation was a true reflection of Nerussa’s notes made during her time in Skyrim. They are, by and large, written in a conversational tone, as is to be expected of what is, after all, a young woman's private diary. There are also more formal pieces written specially for this publication, linking certain of the excerpts and covering major events.

Although Nerussa has never been secretive about her background, certain aspects of her story may shock some readers. I would caution them not to judge her too harshly, for everything she did ultimately prepared her for the moment when, surrounded by the Heroes of Sovengarde, she finally slew Alduin, the Eater of Worlds.

Viarmo, 4E 221

[pedantic_roc]

Okay - I'm on board :-)

[Mr. Shaggnificent]

I just had an idea... When you finish, make a mod that adds this as in-game books.

[gnewna]

Ooh, there's a thought! Though really I should do that for TES6 when it comes out ;)

I'm looking at setting up Mod Organiser, by the way, because I like the profiles thing it has, and I'm toying with the idea of bringing back a version of my old Dunmer character, Llerethis, with Skyrim Unbound (but possibly no Requiem) and having her join the Companions, and trying to tie the two together in terms of writing Llerethis in as a minor character in Nerussa's world. After all, there's no particular reason the PC who completes the Companions questline has to be Dragonborn, and certain events should really still happen, regardless of if my Dragonborn joins or not. Or I might not, I'm not sure. (I think I could probably do it just as well without actually playing Llerethis, but I like the idea of testing out the profiles properly, and I miss Llerethis...)

[Ilja]

If you need any help with MO, then I will be happy to help - if I can. However, NMM is soon getting a new upadate. It will now support profiles as well.

I am using MO because how the left panel is handled there (I simply love not having to worry about installation order issues), but if it is about profiles, then it might be worth to wait and see what new NMM allows you to do with it.

[gnewna]

Ooh, that might be useful if I can't get my head around MO, any idea how soon is soon? I'm also interested in the 'virtual/discreet installation' side of it, though, given I tend to feel the need to reinstall the whole shebang every time I start a new character with different mods so as to avoid issues with missing textures, things left in that shouldn't have been, and so on (which have caused headaches in the past). And like you say, not having to worry about installing things in the correct order sounds nice, although I don't think it affects any of the mods I'm currently using. Thanks for the offer of help, I remember you saying a while back that you were going to give it a go :)

Currently watching Gopher's vids, like a good girl.

[Ilja]

Alpha version should be out soon, if it isn't already.

[gnewna]

Okay, I think I've got the hang of Mod Organizer (hopefully that's not famous last words...) Really like it so far. I've seen that it has an integrated version of LOOT, is that right? If so, I can't seem to find out how to run it...

(Oh, and hooray, I managed to transfer the preset I made via RaceMenu to the new install! It actually looks rather nice on a Nord, albeit completely Not Nord-y with the golden skin, cat-like eyes etc...)

[Ilja]

The inbuilt LOOT works trough Sort buttone, in left top corner of right panel. However, I would recommend using the download version and run it trough MO, like any other application. LOOT gets updates, but inbuilt Sort (AFAIK) is only updated with during MO's own version changes.

RaceMenu3 is really cool. You can do almost everything with it. :)

[gnewna]

Thanks. Hmm, I'm trying to add LOOT through the Modify Executables thing ('edit...' when you click the dropdown with SKSE/Skyrim/etc on it) but it's not showing up (I've installed it in my Skyrim directory.) Is this what I should be doing, or am I missing something? (Probably, knowing me!)

Never mind, I found it on the STEP guide!

[Skyrimnut]

Cool idea. I like that it's already been written.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Cool idea. I like that it's already been written.

I'm sure this idea won't come back to bite me on the backside...

[Skyrimnut]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Cool idea. I like that it's already been written.

I'm sure this idea won't come back to bite me on the backside...

Yeah, it's tough when more complicated devices are being employed so this is awesome. Aelberon is not aware that Jon is starting to write about him, whereas Nerussa compiled her own notes. Another excellent device is letter writing, which once Aelberon has left Jorvasskr, he'll begin to write his Shield-Siblings with some frequency. I have always been fascinated by letters by composers and scientists. Time to use that courier service in Skyrim. LOL He seems the literary sort, though he also commits much to memory because, well, he's had to pick up and start again several times with nothing. I'm sure he's collected notes over time, only to destroy them when he's had to move. There's a light for him at the end of the tunnel though and he'll have a permanent residence soon, something's he's not had in over a century.

Where is your Nerussa going to live?

[Mr. Shaggnificent]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Cool idea. I like that it's already been written.

I'm sure this idea won't come back to bite me on the backside...

It's the "Volume I" part that scares me(from the authors point of view). There has to be at least two now. That's serious commitment.

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Yeah, it's tough when more complicated devices are being employed so this is awesome. Aelberon is not aware that Jon is starting to write about him, whereas Nerussa compiled her own notes. Another excellent device is letter writing, which once Aelberon has left Jorvasskr, he'll begin to write his Shield-Siblings with some frequency. I have always been fascinated by letters by composers and scientists. Time to use that courier service in Skyrim. LOL He seems the literary sort, though he also commits much to memory because, well, he's had to pick up and start again several times with nothing. I'm sure he's collected notes over time, only to destroy them when he's had to move. There's a light for him at the end of the tunnel though and he'll have a permanent residence soon, something's he's not had in over a century.

Damn... I'm glad I went with internal monologue. I don't have to think about any of that stuff.

I'm looking forward to both of yours.

[gnewna]

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Originally posted by gnewna:

I'm sure this idea won't come back to bite me on the backside...

Another excellent device is letter writing, which once Aelberon has left Jorvasskr, he'll begin to write his Shield-Siblings with some frequency. I have always been fascinated by letters by composers and scientists. Time to use that courier service in Skyrim.

I meant to include something about including excerpts from her correspondence with various parties, yeah, couldn't decide whether it would only be recieved stuff that she would have kept, or whether the editorial team had contacted people and gotten copies of letters from Nerussa, then I forgot to include it anyway!

I'm going to try out the Thistle Cottage near Riverwood (a little more spacious than the Hunter's Cabin, which is also in the running, and I can have it so she's renting either of them from whichever family she is befriended by after Helgen) and also have a look at... I've forgotten its name but there's a little farmlet near Rorikstead which might be a bit more convenient for boobling around Whiterun Hold at the start. I'll probably move to the Elysium Estate if she ends up with a lot of followers (as a sort of 'holding ground', kind of like the camp in Dragon Age Origins) but that won't be for a while, if at all. I'd sort of like to move into an inn somewhere like her namesake, but I don't know if there are any mods for that...

Originally posted by Mr.Shaggnificent:

Originally posted by gnewna:

I'm sure this idea won't come back to bite me on the backside...

It's the "Volume I" part that scares me(from the authors point of view). There has to be at least two now. That's serious commitment.

Damn... I'm glad I went with internal monologue. I don't have to think about any of that stuff.

I'm looking forward to both of yours.

Yeah, although let's not forget how short books are in Tamriel ;) I need to have a bit more of a think about how I'm intending to structure the game - I'd like to go roughly with the timeline provided on the UESP, except, well... it has Alduin defeated before the faction questlines are completed. (Arguably they don't actually specify dates so it could just be 'all this happens in 4E 201, but the official wiki breaks it down more specifically into 4E 201, Alduin go bye-bye, 4E 202, all that other jazz goes down). Which might well be how I'd play, but I don't know if it's that satisfying, narratively. (Although, well, I've never played the last bit of the MQ but I've watched it and it's pretty meh.)

I supect this will take a long time to complete, due to disability and other things getting in the way, but I've nearly got my mods sorted (need to install Requiem later, it seems a bit more involved than I realised, was obviously lucky not to completely ballex up my game before...) so I should actually start playing some time today/tomorrow.

And thanks!

[Skyrimnut]

yeah, in my eyes, Alduin always has to go last, and I'm already well into 202, so my lore sucks. LOL.