I think there is a thread somewhere around here about our Oblivion characters once they are already extant. The New Toon thread, however, is going to be about developing a character, or 'toon', as it were. I usually keep the process of developing new ones to myself. I might ask others what this new one's name should be, or something basic like this, but I want this thread to be more interactive.

I'm developing a Druid idea. Going to be a 'he'. I have a very vague idea of making a Breton male druid who lives almost entirely outside of civilization. I know nothing of the druids though. I know nothing of their history, other than the stereotype in DnD, in which they remain close to nature. My new toon will stick to this stereotype. He will be somewhat like glargg's Wild Elf character, methinks.

I want to explore the possibility of all those cool weapons found in other games (like quarterstaffs and pole weapons, perhaps, maybe even blowguns and slingshots! ) for my druid guy. I know there's gotta be some mods out there like this. I've already got some sort of spear mod in my games, but the only way to access it is to visit the basement of the Skingrad FG. My druid aint going that far.

That's as far as I've gotten. I never could make a druid in the vanilla game, because it doesn't support the sort of nature scene I've been visualizing in my head for years. The only peaceful creatures are deer and butterflies. So on PC, the doors have opened. MMM adds tons of peaceful (and not-so-peaceful) creatures. Witchcraft makes a lot of hostile creatures (like wolves) into passive animal acquaintances. That sort of thing.

I am going to do some reading on druids this weekend, no doubt. This should be fun!

New toons to beat the game with!

IRL Druids were probably not much like what they are in D&D (which is to say nature-loving hippies! ). I say probably because we do not know a whole lot about them anymore. The Romans did a very thorough job of exterminating the Druids, part of a concerted effort on their part to annihilate Celtic culture. Sadly most of what we do know comes from the Romans themselves, which is rather like relying soley upon Christian monks to form an opinion of 9th-11th century Scandinavians.

What we do know for certain is that they were the intelligentsia of Celtic society. They were not just the holy people, but also the historians, the doctors, the poets, the architects, the mediators, and so on. Basically the learned folks. They moved freely through Celtic tribes, even those at war, because they were considered above all that.

That's not to say your idea of a tree-hugging hippie is a bad one. Sounds great to me! I created Witchcraft for exactly that sort of character.

I often keep most of the process of developing a new character to myself as well. Usually it starts with some spark - often entirely random - like seeing a movie or reading something. That gets me thinking about a character idea. Then I start fleshing it out by thinking of what the character will wear and use. This takes a lot of effort on my part, as it has to reflect their personality and concept. It also has to complement the character's physical appearance. As those who follow my video/pic thread now, I sometimes boil it down to three or four outfits and throw them out for opinions. Other times I see something on the character - and like Darth Vader looking at the power generators on Hoth - I know that's it. To help out I created a starting cell for Skyrim that all my new characters begin the game in. It has good neutral lighting, and chests with all the non-enchanted gear in the game. There is also a smithing station and all the ingots, leather, and strips, so I can smith up modded items on the spot. This lets me try on different outfits and see what they look like before starting the game.

Sometimes I also come up with a very detailed background. Sometimes I know only a little bit, and let the rest come as I play. Then there is the name of course. Like the outfit, this has to be just right. For a long time now I have been using the names of goddesses, as well as mythical or legendary figures, and even sometimes RL people. I usually try to pick a name that fits the character, but have not always done so. My first Morrowind character was an archer, so I named her Artemis. My second was Prytania (the Invincible Queen Of the Dead) and she was a fighter. I just like the name as it is one of Hekate's appellations and decided to use it.

LOl poor Pseron!

Cool, I'm very grateful you've typed all that, SR. That helps a lot! .. and I'm really excited to be making a new toon character! I don't think I'll be able to beat the game with him though.

So the Romans eradicating the Celts is pretty much like the Spanish doing the same with the Incas, Aztecs, etc. That sucks. And I had no idea the druids were very learned people. Again, the stereotype is what I know. Which is also okay. I like the idea of this guy spending a lot of time out in the middle of nowhere. But what you are saying is that it is okay if these characters also spend some time in civilization to some extent.

What I am thinking is maybe there's (yet another) mod that adds some sort of outcast society. You know... someplace that isn't in a walled town that could possibly add a guy or gal who sells spells. And for sure, I'm going to give my druid guy some starter spells. Calm and Control and Restoration, some Alteration spells.

Yes, I also know what you mean about that 'spark' of creativity when creating new ones. The idea of Lady Saga came to me while standing in a supermarket aisle, for instance. I saw Lady Gaga's picture on some trashy tabloid, and decided I had to make a character with a play on Gaga. And it just started from there.

I like your idea for starting Sky characters in a special room. That makes it easier I bet. The vanilla game is horrible for chargen: in the vanilla game you can't make the camera get real close like we could in Oblivion.

Your obsession with outfits is like my obsession with names. Gotta have it just right. Anyways, thanks for your insights on druids.

The Romans had a nearly genetic fear/hate of the Celts. It goes back to the Celts sacking Rome. They never got over that... So when the Romans finally got the upper hand, they set about wiping out the Celts. They could not kill them all outright, so instead they did the next best thing, and struck at the heart of their culture: the Druids. That way they destroyed what it meant to be a Celt. The only places the Celts survived as Celts were in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland (though Scotland is debatable, as that seems to have been more Pictish than Celtic).

What is interesting is that while the Romans did conquer Wales, they did not assimilate the culture there as they did in England and everywhere else. The only marks of Roman occupation are the forts and roads they built for their army. Otherwise the land appears to have remained Celtic, albeit without the Druids. Contrast that to areas in England where people were building Roman-style villas before the Romans even invaded.

You don't need to visit the FG basement to get that spear, the same goes for any item added by mods. Just download The Elder Scrolls Construction Set (or is it Creation Kit? I always mix them up), choose a mod in the loading list and search for the wanted item's ID. It may sound confusing and it may look even more confusing when you run TES:CS but it's the easiest way to obtain mod-related items with the console. I often did this with some mods that require me to either visit some location either do some quest to obtain an item - I just skip the entire process and consolize the item. I wrote this very vaguely now but if you'll need more help how to get this spear's ID, let me know - You have my number.

This is made a lot easier in Skyrim, as in that game you can just open the console and type in

help "item name" 4

and the game will give you all the ids for the name you put in. If you have only a one word name, you don't need the quotations.

Renee, love the ‘Fetch Pseron Wyrd’ title of this thread!

A classic fantasy / D&D druid sounds fun; I should think though that if you severely limit his interaction with others that the game might become stale rather quickly.

Sounds like you are familiar with SubRosa’s mod to get along with and summon forest creatures. It is a superb mod as many here will attest.

I also use the following two mods and endorse them:
- Natures Bounty - This provides clothes for men and women made from leaves and vines. Buffy gets her 'spriggan' outfit here.
- Natures Arsenal for Rangers Druids etc – This provides weaponry fashioned from nature items. Buffy's living bow with leaves growing from it comes from here.

You can also search ‘Druid’ on Oblivion TESNexus and get about a page of other mods that may be helpful – I’d be intrigued by the enchanted druid tree home. . . .

Gosh darn it! Yet another thread I can never participate in!



Hey, a suggestion to Renee for a crazy character: Lou Nee Thoon!

mirocu: don't be silly, of course you can participate! .. all you need to do is start Oblivion, click on "New Game" and then uhhh .... um... uh .. maybe not.

Lopov & SubRosa: Okay, thanx! .. Still haven't used the CK yet but you make it sound easy, which helps.

Acadian: Wyrd is gonna smack me. Fly to Maryland and hunt me down and smack me around! And whoa, thanks so much for those mods. I like the bows & nature blades. I really want to find a quarterstaff mod too, just to have something that's outside the normal realm of TES4 weapons. Something new.

Hopefully, SubRosa will pop back on here with some staff ideas. I think she has used a variety of modded staves with several of her characters.

My elven ears are burning...

Armamentarium - Staffs adds a whole bunch of new staffs. They still act the same as the regular staves though, basically as guns that shoot magic. If you are looking for a staff that you can use as an actual melee weapon, I think there are other mods that do that. I cannot think of any off the top of my head though.

Awesome, SR, thanks!

I haven't forgotten about my druid idea. Just been very sidetracked from him. The inspiration will strike for him, some day. Probably summer, when it's lush & green outside again.

In the meantime, I've got yet another idea. A GUARD. He will probably be a Redguard, too. I was reading about a mod called Forts of Akatosh which adds all sorts of new NPCs, buildings, quests (etc.) and if I make my guard character guy, chances are he will be using this mod.

Oh, and his name will be Sol Vayshunn. Sol Vaytion. I'm still working on his name. As a guard, he'll be just like one of the other guards who travels around, sort of like Decrepit's character, I guess.

He won´t be stationary like Lothran, then?

Sol Vaytion (aka Red Guard) as a Legion Rider! That'll work and be fun as well. All the free ale he can drink when he pulls into a roadside tavern!

I have no idea, actually. Maybe there's tons of things to do within the fort itself.

In any event, Sol is merely a concept right now, he's not even in alpha yet. (ha ha).

You come up with the best names, Renee! I'm still waiting to hear more from Skankee Crack-Ho (sic).

Skankee Krahk-ho died actually. She was a character I had back in 2012 or 2013, and she had a habit of doing some really risky things, so she didn't last long.

She lived in Embershard Mine, and finished absolutely zero quests, outside of Unbound and joining the Mage's College. She did a bandit contract for the jarl of Whiterun, for instance, but never bothered to collect her pay! .. When Hearthfire came out, she somehow got a notice from the Jarl of Falkreath from that courier guy. She read it, and tossed the flier on the ground! .. This was REALLY hard for me because I was really psyched for HF, but Skank could have cared less.

She also had some very sick habits. She *ahemed* with dead people, for instance.

Somehow that seems appropriate.


What a skank!

Too bad she never met Persephone...

Why is this? Uh oh...

Persephone is undead. She lived in the First Age. She joined The Empress Alessia's army, only to die in the battle to retake The Imperial City. She was the first and only test subject of Haides, a necromancer who was seeking to defeat death itself. He raised her from the dead, replacing her heart with one made of varla stone crystal. Haides was killed by other necromancers who had a difference in opinion about how the undead should be treated. But Persephone continued on.

Poor Skank.

SubRosa, I did not know that Purse Phone was actually a Briarheart Varlaheart. Neat!

*spits tea*

Renee, Sol Vayshunn is my favorite name yet. I had a great time with my Riften guard (until a mod disaster), but a Legion Rider will be even better with so much more ground to cover. There's always a new Gade toon to look forward to!

Aww thanks Gritsy

I remember Persephone now, just from seeing that first, innocent-looking pic. What face mods did you use there?

Some of you have already seen Belladonna elsewhere. She's my newest actually played character - a custom race Illusionist/Archer with orange hair and dark purple eyes, and she's been a blast. But I've got two more I've been working on lately.

The first is something I've tried to do for a couple of years now - a female Altmer. I've just never been overly fond of Altmer, and hadn't managed to play one at all until about a year ago, when I finally put together a male Altmer that I liked. He's a barbarian named Lemdel and is currently level 12 and CoC (it's a long story).

I've tried to put together a satisfying female Altmer for a couple of years now, but with no luck. I gave it another shot a week or so ago, and when I ran up against one of the recurring problems - their poor skin tones - I decided to at least deal with that, so I spent a while doing a set of custom-tinted Altmer textures and pointing at them in the CS. And while I was at it, I finally did a set of Redguard textures and dealt with that tendency to get green faces on orange bodies.

Then I put together a near-seamless and relatively attractive Altmer and named her Elenin and... with that, I'm stumped. I have absolutely no idea what to do with her. Mage? No. Archer? No. Melee fighter? No. Battlemage? No. Thief? Um... no. Assassin? No. Paladin? No. Healer? No. Barbarian? No (one Altmer barbarian is enough). I can't even work out what she'd wear.

I'm considering skipping back from the sewer exit start and starting her at the actual beginning, just to follow through and see if I get any insight into her that way (and just for the amusement value when Baurus tells me that she's obviously a Bard). I just don't know.

Then last night, Jana was killing time at Battlehorn castle and I started rereading The Real Barenziah, and suddenly felt an urge to build a red-headed Dunmer. I already have two female Dunmer - Kyla and Maelyn - and they're both tremendous characters. Kyla's a sincerely noble person and a fierce claymore fighter, and Maelyn is a sultry and self-assured pure mage. I see the red head as... sort of scrappy, light armor, either blade or war axe, probably a bow, probably no magic to speak of. Pretty standard stealth fighter, actually. I haven't found the right face yet though.

So new... eventual toons, I guess?

Gpstr - Welcome to chorrol. Nice to see you over here from the BethSoft forums. Good luck with your Altmer and Dunmer lasses as they begin adventuring in Cyrodiil!

New toons to beat the game with! Welcome to Chorrol gpstr, always good to see you.

A fiery, red-haired, elven archer? Excellent choice!

Perhaps you could try doing something different with the Altmer lass? Something you do not normally do, whatever that might be. Maybe a no-violence character who only uses command spells? Or a cleric who buffs her followers? ghastley is playing a mythic barbarian in Skyrim, perhaps doing something similar, using bound weapons and armor?

How about if Elenin was a traveling alchemist? She'd travel all over Cyrodiil, picking flowers and other ingredients and either sell them or use them to create potions and sell them. She wouldn't be really a fighter but she'd know how to defend herself.

Or if she belonged to some order, determined on preserving books which means she'd find unique and rare books and protect them from being taken/destroyed by bandits or necromancers. Then again, this requires her to do some fighting.

She might also be a tourist, I had a character with this class once but I used a custom start and he arrived by ship to the Imperial City. As the class name suggests, he was a tourist who enjoyed taking walks in the Imperial City, admiring its architecture and occasionally betting in the Arena. Eventually he was arrested for some petty crime and thrown to jail so after being released he angrily boarded the first ship that was heading back to his homeland.

Although you said that thief is out of question, it's something I have to once try with an Altmer because they're totally opposite to this class so it should be interesting.

Hey all... nice to see you, thanks for the responses.

I tried four different starts with Elenin last night - the beginning of the game plus three variations on TUStartingOptions, and none of them clicked. The only things I got were that I'm not interested in taking her through the MQ and I think she's going to have dark hair, high, thin dark brows and green/gold eyes.

@Lopov - I actually hesitated on thief for her when I was running through that list because it was most likely, or at least least unlikely. It was a real hesitation - not a sarcastic one. The idea of an Altmer thief is sort of appealing, if for no other reason than that the idea of someone that tall sneaking into a house is sort of amusing. But I already have an Orc thief going currently, so even that wouldn't be much of a novelty. Still though...

@SubRosa - first, just Hi. It's been a while.

I read your response this morning, and I have to say - the bound armor idea is nibbling at me. When I took her through the tutorial last night, she tried both armors and neither one clicked, just as she tried all the weapons and none of them clicked. The first alternate start was so I could try her out in clothes with a claymore, but that was too reminiscent of Jibran, and Dawn, and sort of Belladonna (though she's clothes and a bow, but still). But the idea of just clothes at least had a bit more appeal than either type of armor. I then tried it with a war axe, but that didn't click either. I considered doing a battle axe, but that's Lemdel (my male Altmer barbarian). And one of the problems with just clothes is that they either have to be heavily enchanted, which is a bit too easy in the long run, or the character has to be a notably talented and somewhat eccentric fighter (or a mage), and I don't really see her as either one. But bound stuff...

I did a character like that in Morrowind (in which it was actually gamebreakingly easy) and poked around in it a bit in Oblivion, but I haven't done a dedicated one. It'd take a bit of modding to do it right - the spell effects are just too expensive to cast for very long until later in the game, when killing stuff is easy pretty much no matter how they do it. I've always thought it'd work better if the effect "grew" with skill increases, so that instead of being limited on the number of things summoned and the duration of the summons, the character would be limited on the quality of the things (I think you did a bit of that in Witchcraft, IIRC). And then I got to thinking - if I modded it... she could be able to summon not just armor and a weapon, but some of the painfully over-the-top armor and weapons I never get a chance to use otherwise - some of the stuff like Nico's Dreadweave or Tyrael that's all spikes and blades and frills and trim, that I could never envision any actual character ever actually wearing without feeling at least a bit foolish.

I can almost envision her transforming from a simple Altmer lass into a hulking, gargantuan, Shrike-like assemblage of steel and razor wire, then rending flesh, then simply transforming back. I sort of like that idea.

I'm not sure how to balance it with the progression of items. I really don't want to start her off just being able to summon a dagger and a helm and for 10 or 15 seconds at a time. That's the wrong way to limit the power of the thing. She needs to be able to summon a full suit of armor and a full fledged weapon from the beginning, even if they're rusty iron (or the equivalent). But then I can't really do the whole hulking brute bit, or at least nowhere near as well. But maybe that'd give her something to work toward. And it sort of conflicts with the only insights I did get into her - I found I preferred her with dark eyes and brows and hair - it gave her a bit of an edge. I'm thinking to really pull off the transformation into a hulking brute thing, she needs no edge at all. She needs to look about as threatening as Ardaline.

But then again, maybe that bit of an edgy look would work - people would have the impression that she was more dangerous than they would've otherwise thought, but won't know why - there's just something about her eyes...

We'll see...

Can I get her phone number? I think I am in love...


I never liked the way each separate piece of bound armor was a different spell. By the time you summon an entire suit, the fight is over. That is why when I made the bound witch armor for Witchcraft I did it all in one spell. That is really the only way to go. Just make the armor and weapons of varying levels of power to go with what level you are currently at. I love the idea of modding the more fantastic gear to use as bound armor and weapons. I never liked the daedric stuff that much either. So a long time ago I took the Ice Morrigan Armor (I can't find a link to the original mod by jojo), and used it as a replacer for the bound weapons and armor in my game. The Silverlight Armor would be good for that too.

Actually, the Silverlight Armor is the only one like that that's actually in use in my game - on Jana the Nord goddess paladin. She's the only character I've played who could actually get away with wearing something like that.

For Elenin, I'm thinking of things more along the lines of Daedric actually (and for simplicity, that's likely where I'll start) - not just over-the-top, but overtly sinister and threatening.

I'm still not sure if that's the idea, but I'll look into it some more this evening. I would think it shouldn't be any particular problem to combine all of the basic bound effects into a single lesser power and give that to her, just to try it out, and that wouldn't require editing the spell effects. If it fits, then I can work out some more details.

Jana looks like a goddess to me!

I used the Silverlight Armor for Astarte - The Last Queen of the Ayleids. I wanted something exotic and unique, because she is a person out of her own time - by 4,000 years. The Silverlight gave her a wonderful otherworldly look.

@gippster - She looks awesome! Like a Valkyrie but with a shield!



..And no helmet or spear/sword... whatev... You get my point



@Rosa - Astarte look equally awesome Though I actually didn´t remember her name..

I haven't forgotten about my druid idea from the OP. Matter of fact, for some reason I am wanting him to be created deep into springtime, when all the flowers start blooming in a few weeks. Seems appropriate for a character who will be a very outdoorsy type of person.

Oh, and gpster, welcome here. I used the word 'toon' in this thread's title as a sort of tongue-in-cheek joke. It's a word which makes me cringe, but also it makes me laugh.

Anyways, check this out. My druid guy will be well-educated. His backstory will include some sort of friction between himself, and the Nine-worshipping priests of Cyrodiil. In other words, at some point my druid will have wanted to begin worshiping some sort of nature spirits (or maybe even something more theoretical than the Nine), and will have wanted to include this sort of worship along with worshipping the Nine. One of the Brothers did not like this. He cried heresy, and blasphemy, on this subject. My druid was not entirely opposed to the Nine, but this Brother (whoever he is) was opposed to including any other form of worship.

The two had some sort of argument, which brewed over time, and eventually escalated into a fight. My druid gets a bounty, somehow. Maybe he even killed somebody by accident. However it happens, when his game starts, I'm going to use an alternate start mod to hopefully place him in some random, wilderness location, maybe with a certain set of console-added spells, since he will have been studying some magic not officially added by the vanilla game from Day 1. He will also have a bounty somewhere over 500, since he is wanted by the Law, big-time, for whatever it was he did.

She does to me too - that's why I made her one. She's one of those characters that started with a face that I just happened on and grew from there.

The problem I ran into though is that she's just really not a goddess - she's a person who just has the grace and manner and some of the power of a goddess. So she just sort of languished until I happened on Pimpskinny's Paladin Mod, and that just fit her perfectly. It plays off of her grace and dignity and power, and actually adds to it over time, and believably, so she's actually in the process of becoming sort of goddess-like for real, beyond just looking like one.

More to the topic: I tried out a quick all-in-one bound armor and weapon mod on a quick sketch of an Elenin-like character (none of the ones I've come up with yet have been so good that I bothered to save them, so I just threw together a quick "innocuous-looking Altmer" for the test). It worked fine. I figured it would - I've played around a bit with magic effects and such, but just hadn't done anything with bound items before. And I noticed that there are a bunch of extra entries for bound items, so it'll be easy enough to add more stuff. For now though, I'm going to just let it percolate a bit - browse some over-the-top armors and weapons (I'm considering one of those gigantic swords I never bother to look at normally or something like that) and maybe poke around in the character creator and see if I find a face that speaks to me. She's close enough that I'm starting to figure her out, but this is the point at which I have to be careful - if I rush into it now, there's too much chance I'll end up taking her in the wrong direction. And it's not like I don't have other characters to play...


I like this idea.

I've always wanted to play a druid, but haven't found the right character for one yet. That was one of Hanna's failed paths. It seemed appropriate to her, since she was already conjuring wildlife and didn't have much use for people. I found though that she didn't have much use for being a druid either. She doesn't summon wildlife because of some profound respect for nature - it's just convenient and fits her temperament better than daedra or undead (especially undead).

So yeah - a druid needs to be more than just someone who prefers nature. There has to be a deep and abiding love for it, and a desire to serve it and even to worship it. Hanna didn't have that, but it sounds like this character will.

You know... I was just thinking...

Part of the reason that I tried Hanna as a druid is that I envisioned the little elves as relatively nature-oriented. And when I made Belladonna (my third female little elf) I was reminded that I still haven't played a male of the race at all. And a male little elf would likely make a good druid...

As if I didn't already have enough characters...

If you are using my Witchcraft mod then the nature spirits you are looking for are described in one of the books I included in the mod, The Witches of Cyrodiil:

Awesome thanks SR! Yes, his game will have Witchcraft for sure. In fact, I'm thinking that my druid might already know (or know of) your NPC.

gpster: initially I didn't know anything about druids (real druids who lived long ago), so my original herpy assumption was stuff I knew about them from DnD, which is they derive their powers from nature. It was only while creating and participating in this thread that I learned druids were highly-revered people (sort of like shamans) who we know little about.

But just the fact that they are supposed to be some of the most intelligent people of their culture got my brain going. And so I thought: I want my druid to be very much in-tune with nature, but how does he wind up this way? ... And so that's where all the rest of his backstory started to fill in, especially with the religious stuff.

Hanna just needs time. I've had plenty of ideas which have gone on the backburner for awhile, and then one day *boom* there it is. But yeah, it's not like we don't have enough characters / things to do as it is.

@Renee - actually, after three failed attempts spread out over a few years, Hanna did go on to have a nice adventure, when she sort of backed into going into the Shivering Isles. It fit her well and finally gave me some good insight into her personality. I originally saw her as sort of wary of people - a bit wild and a bit awkward with civilized ways and so on, and that was a lot of the reason I tried her as a druid. But then she just didn't really click with the whole reverence for nature thing. When she went to the Isles, I figured out that her aversion to people wasn't so much a preference for nature or anything like that - she just doesn't like them all that much. I actually wrote quite a bit about her adventures in the Isles on Bethsoft. She's currently parked in her Enchanted Druid Treehome (which isn't really all that druid-ish, but suits her well, and gives her quick access to the Isles, which is the whole reason she went in the first place).

And to the meat of the post - I spent a bit of time this morning riffling through random faces, looking for an Elenin, and found this one. I'm not sure if that angle really does her justice, but I like it a lot. She's just a bit haughty, but not to any really notable degree (by Altmer standards). Her eyes are tremendous - clear and deep and just a little bit sad. There's just a bit of a neck seam, but I already use a custom tinted highelf texture sheet, so if it bothers me too much, I can just shift it a bit to match better. Oh and... in case anyone's wondering, a while back I got smart and added a little mod that bumps up the ambient light at the sewer exit - it makes doing faces there MUCH better.

So Elenin's just about there...

gpster: That treehome ... can you share that? Wow, I really like the sound of that.

I agree. Elenin does look just about haughty.

gpstr, welcome to Chorrol! Great to see you here.

I love that idea! Elenin’s face is great. Her eyes look amazing. I’m looking forward to hearing about her adventures.

Renee, it sounds as if your druid is coming along nicely. What a great idea to bring him to life during a warm spring rain.

Enchanted Druid Treehome

I downloaded it for Hanna just on a whim - I wanted to give her some place out in a forest to live, but it didn't necessarily have to be "druid-ish" since she'd already tried the druid path and it hadn't worked out right. But I thought it looked interesting, so I gave it a shot.

It's awesome. It's a bit too fancy for an actual druid (in spite of being inside a tree), but it fits Hanna perfectly. And it led to the next phase in her career because it includes a portal to the Shivering Isles, and she hadn't been yet. So I took her there, just because she had easy access, and it turned out that she did well in the Isles.

@Grits - thanks. Actually, that shot doesn't really do Elenin justice. I'll get some more - I'm still surprised by how nice her face is. I'm still sorting out her direction though. I took her out of the sewer and up to the IC, but she hasn't really done anything yet. I've been fiddling with armor and weapons and bound stuff and just pondering, trying to get some insight into who she is.

More shots of Elenin.

I've already lost control of this character, and she hasn't even made it out of the sewer exit yet. I took her to the testinghall so I could put her in some clothes and just ponder a bit and take some pictures, but... I dunno.

Something about her face just breaks my heart. I don't know yet what her story is, but there's definitely one there. I see an enormous weight of sorrow in her eyes.

I don't know if she's going to work with the bound items idea at all. Maybe, but it seems a little flashy for what she appears to be. I can't even work out a way that she's going to fight. I honestly don't think she looks like she would fight. If anything, she looks like she's done fighting, and I'm thinking maybe that's a hook to her character, but I can't work out how to play that in Oblivion's "go here and kill this" world.

I just don't know. I think I've got the makings of an extraordinary character here, but I'm having a really hard time working out what that character is. And I can't just pick something and try to force it on her - there's too much personality in her face. She's going to be whoever she's going to be, but I have no idea who that is...

My first thought when I looked at her was that she seemed to be very sad too. You could try doing a non-violent walkthrough with her, using command and fear spells. I know other people have done it. There are some places and quests that you cannot do though. Unless you bring along a follower to do the dirty work.

*taps foot waiting for the announcement of Renee´s new character*

I will probably create her Wednesday or Thursday. It's supposed to rain one of those days. For now, I have switched to Snaat Rayag's game, my long-forgotten skooma dealer. I installed Gweden Brothel into his gameworld, and so right now he's headed to Anvil, which I'm pretty psyched about.