General Lore Discussion

Being able to harvest moon sugar, and create Skooma would be a great addition to Elsweyr. And if the Sugar is considered "holy" then that could make for some very interesting quests.

I had certainly wanted to have the ability to harvest moon sugar. That would be a terrible thing to exclude. There would have to be an item needed to extract it that only clan-mothers can give you. (They are the only ones who know how to extract it after all.)

We can do something like that: if you have the tool used by the clan mothers, you can harvest moon sugar from sugar canes. If not, you harvest something else. So the player couldn't know how to find moon sugar until the clan mother give him the tool.

And don't forget the possibility to make skooma from moon sugar!
That would be cool to have this sort of shader working for MGE when you take skooma:
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expanding alchemy will be an excellent new thing.

In Morrowind there are smugglers, so I suggest that in Elsweyr there are [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] who made drinks (skooma?) from moon sugar. ( There is even the word "moon"! ) The most of them will probably be independants but it could have a faction of drug dealers too, ruled by Ya'Tirrje, the Gold Cat, from his luxurious villa in Senchal.

That is excellent. That would be great. Should they be hostile (the ones outside of the villa) or tolerant towards the player?

Maybe they could be hostile due to their illegal nature.

I think they should be as hostile as the smugglers of Morrowind are. They have spend a lot of time and energy to make their skooma. They don't want the first stranger steals it. I think they could have a huge alembic in their hideout.

For the faction ruled by Ya'Tirrje, it could have bases in other cities (at least Torval, Rimmen and Corinthe which are mentionned in lore) and factories hidden in the land. It could look like the Camonna Tong and its ennemy could be the Imperial Legion who whant to stop them to export in the whole Empire.
It is written the Gold Cat is paying for the security in Senchal. The local militia could be part of his faction too.

True.

Just found an article:
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Some interesting lore about the 2nd Era, Elsweyr (but not only) and the meaning of the alliances.

I've just have an idea about a new sort of character: the narcomancer. It's a new type of mage related to drugs, moon-sugar and dreams. It could be an unique character or a common enemy because the narcomancer could be used as spiritual guide but also as something like a dream-stealer or shaman. He could go and help the player to go into dreams or steal them, sell them and he could bring nightmares or visions. He could also be influenced by Dagoth Ur during the main quest of Morrowind (if the player come to Elsweyr before ending it).
In game, he could have illusion skills and summon creatures that could be considered as hallucinations. He could loot drugs and other special alchemical ingredients.

It's not very lore-breaker and could fit the Elsweyr background but I'm hesitating to add something so new even if we could explain it's specific to Elsweyr.

I think the narcomancer could use the moon-sugar (or other drugs) to go into a trance and distort the reality to make the dream comes true. The narcomancer's lair could have a dark and thick atmosphere with incenses and smoking braseros. You could also find a shrine of Vaermina or Sheggorath. In some place, there could be also "false" NPCs. You can speak to them but when you hit them, they disappear. It could be dreaming characters that the narcomancer have trapped or illusions created to confuse you. A quest could be to find a "dreaming" character and free him from the narcomancer so he could wake up.

Yes to Damage Willpower. Hallucinations could also drain Fatigue (like the 6th House) or Magicka and inflict weaknesses and/or diseases (because when the mind is weak, the body become weak too).
They could have a capacity of dissipation (instead of reflection as the creatures in Tribunal and Bloodmoon have) and a Sanctuary effect so it is as if the player could miss them because they don't exist.

Variety is good so I think Narcomancers could summon different creatures:
Shadow is the weakest,
Hallucination comes after,
And finally the Nightmare.
But I have no idea what they could look like...

Because the limitations of the engine, special summons have to be scripted so every narcomancer should have to be scripted if we do temporary summons. If the creatures are permanents, they shouldn't be impossible to kill (the sanctuary effect was just an idea) but they should be also scripted to disappear at death to simulate the banishment. It won't be logic the player could loot them! Unless we suppose they become real by the narcomancer's magic.

Shadow could look like a floating ball of particles. Like an evil smoke or a dark will-o-the-wisp.
Hallucination could look like a translucent and twisted human form. Something very disturbing like in Silent Hill. With no face!
And the Nightmare could be something a la Lovecraft. A sort of squid with many eyes and tentacles.

If the creatures are permanents, player could have to deal with them to reach the narcomancer. Shadows could be weak but fast, hallucination could be slow but stronger and the nightmare could be stuck and come out from the ground when the player is near, like a living trap. Narcomancers'lair will have a very creepy atmosphere!

I think they should have normal health. It won't be interesting if the player doesn't have a challenge when beating them. Sadly, creatures can't disappear at death without scripting.
But, in fact, it's not really a problem. Remember about the standard daedras. They don't disappear when they are killed. So the anomalies could loot something, like a dream salt.

I don't like the idea of demonic beings. They are too similar to daedras. And the nightmare should have a shape that explain why it don't move.
Not really a squid but something slimy and elastic with many eyes and tentacles or which can change of shape. I could even used billboard sphere for eyes so it always look at the player.
With correct animations, the creature could look like a sort of mushroom stuck in the ground and sprouts suddenly when the player approaches. It could have a paralyze spell so it will use it at the first strike. The player will have to be careful, even more if we do mushrooms that look like a nightmare.

So it's a sort of psychological fear, like in F.E.A.R, always wondering. That would be new to Morrowind, and a welcome new.

Elsweyr isn't only dangerous for the body but also for the mind!

Looking at the official forum, I've just realized that the part concerning the Pocket Guide 2nd Edition wasn't wrote by Kirkbride.
The writer is Temple Zero and I don't know who is he. His only posts are concerning the PGE 2nd.
I found a site where there are lore buffs and it is maybe connected:
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That means that the text could be lore-correct (for what we know of Elsweyr) but shouldn't be considered as canon.

However the text is very interesting and Elsweyr is mysterious enough for we could do anything we want while remaining in the lore.

Being as lacking in lore as it is, we do have a good bit of freedom with these things.

As for TESO, I think we can safely...ignore a couple of minor things if they are against us. Lore always changes ever so slightly...

It's always a transcription error...