This is what happens when you listen to way too much of Vangelis' 1492: Conquest of Paradise soundtrack and you work on art. Urag and The Winter bear wil be finished probably tomorrow or the weekend at the latest. I want to get this WiP up because, well, I want it up. And then when I'm finished with her, I'm done with Skyrim for a while, but let's begin with a bang shall we? Or rather with a ball of light. Continuing on with Deebs' pure build series and inspired by his Flash Event: Twin Deities, I initially wanted to go the other direction from the Winter Bear and make an Imperial build that was Mara's love to the Winter Bear's anger. Though both care deeply about their causes, only they use different methods to accomplish their goals. One was awakened violence in his quest for justice for his people, the other is awakened divine light, through a series of blessings pertaining to the skill of restoration to the service of her people. This led to a completely different style of play from the in your face two-hander I had given you before, and at the same time more than just a simple support build. Because she shares a special bond with the person she is supporting. He is her love. Influenced by Shinjin's beautiful Mara's Might, with hints of the Slave Queen's trials, and an homage to Paw's exquisite presentation style, this the story of a young, frail Imperial woman who can no longer suppress the visions of the nine blessings of Mara that burn through her heart or the visions of the man she was meant to be with. These visions, these blessing are what will turn her into...
Backstory: Something about Mara sending visions to a young woman in Cyrodiil. The young woman who will be given the blood of the dragon so that she can bring peace to a bloodied province in Mara's name.
Mods: This build can be played on pure Vanilla if you want. If you want to enhance your experience with mods, I recommend Dawnguard arsenal, the Perfect Legionnaire, Imperial mage robes, Cloaks of Skyrim, Morrowloot, the patches, a breezehome mod of your choice, a difficulty mod of your choice. It doesn't matter.
Race: Imperial for Voice of the Emperor and the awesome boost to Restoration. Make her as young and thin as the game allows. I went with dark hair and eyes, but that's just me.
Stats: All magicka, yeah, only default health.
Skills: Restoration, all skills perked. Yeah, I even found a use for dual-casting, go figure.
Spells: Greater ward, Turn undead, sun fire, Stendar's Aura, repel undead, Heal Other, Close wounds, necromatic healing... Pretty much all restoration spells except the poison rune.
Shouts: Unrelenting force, Become Ethereal. Shouts were really used to make things easier for your followers, though I stayed away from shouts that would cause them harm as well. So she ended up not needing some of the Mora boons, which was nice.
Follower: Stenvar, stray dog or Meeko if you find him to represent mara's mercy for the down-trodden, Serana when forced by the Dawnguard questline.
Follower Gear: I left Serana to her default gear because she is really not the Blessing's follower, Stenvar is. For the Blessing's tower of strength, I went with the Ironhand gauntlets, a full set of steel armor, whatever enchantment you can find, the bonds of matremony, the gauldur amulet or the locket of St. Jiub.
Blessings and Powers: Voice of the Emperor, Imperial Luck, Agent of Mara, Mother's Love, Sailor's Repose, Blessing of Mara, Agent of Dibella. (so, lol, there's a wee bit of Dibella in there too)
Stone: Atronach in early levels if you feel squishy though Apprentice or Lord are also great options. I played with Apprentice because she had more than enough magicka and it added to her frailty. That she would go through what she goes through despite her weaknesses. You can also for the ritual stone based on this discussion Mara and the Ritual Stone
Gear: Amulet of Mara, The Bond of Matremony, Apprentice Robes of Restoration, any light armor boot, Adept hood (or circlet of restoration or magicka), mantle of the greybeards (if you have cloaks installed), Nakriin late game. Staff of the Storm Atronach for Alduin, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Wabbajack for dragon killing when she's alone in Skuldafn, other staffs.
Quests: Restoration is one of the slowest levelers, so you have a ton of opportunity to do questing and the great thing is that early level spells, once you get them, especially the turn spells for once have a lot of milage because you're not leveling other skills. Dawnguard, Mainquest (yes, I'm going there, with only one skill, yes), finding all the Restoration skill books, Book of Love (for the Amulet of Mara), Spreading the word of Mara, Marriage (for the bonds of matremony), Adoption (for the boost to restoration), Blessings of Nature (because she is in full trinity with the other hearth goddesses), The Sybille of Dibella (same reasons as doing Kyne's quest), Rescue Florentius (Mara is sometimes connected to Arkay), help Runil find his journal, fail Taste of Death by killing Eola, Mind of Madness for the Wabbajack, helping quests, the Impatience of a Saint, Civil War (Imperial side). Route out necromancers for disrupting the cycle of life and death. If you read the linked discussion, the Marion connection between Mara is rather strong. I myself need to reread it and make sure I've got my facts strait.
To do: Art is suprisingly nearly done. These mini builds sometimes write themselves really, but I need to organize the quest route, her journey, you know? The ideas are there, they just need fleshing out. Really, I just need to make sure I can kill Nakhriin and Alduin and that's it. I think I can. I mean if I did it with Mr. Buttons, I can do it with anyone. I will not finish this until the playtest is done, so it may qualify for the event, it may not. I'm hoping it does.
Thanks for looking.
This is what happens when you listen to way too much of Vangelis' 1492: Conquest of Paradise soundtrack and you work on art. Urag and The Winter bear wil be finished probably tomorrow or the weekend at the latest. I want to get this WiP up because, well, I want it up. And then when I'm finished with her, I'm done with Skyrim for a while, but let's begin with a bang shall we? Or rather with a ball of light. Continuing on with Deebs' pure build series and inspired by his Flash Event: Twin Deities, I initially wanted to go the other direction from the Winter Bear and make an Imperial build that was Mara's love to the Winter Bear's anger. Though both care deeply about their causes, only they use different methods to accomplish their goals. One was awakened violence in his quest for justice for his people, the other is awakened divine light, through a series of blessings pertaining to the skill of restoration to the service of her people. This led to a completely different style of play from the in your face two-hander I had given you before, and at the same time more than just a simple support build. Because she shares a special bond with the person she is supporting. He is her love. Influenced by Shinjin's beautiful Mara's Might, with hints of the Slave Queen's trials, and an homage to Paw's exquisite presentation style, this the story of a young, frail Imperial woman who can no longer suppress the visions of the nine blessings of Mara that burn through her heart or the visions of the man she was meant to be with. These visions, these blessing are what will turn her into...
Backstory: Something about Mara sending visions to a young woman in Cyrodiil. The young woman who will be given the blood of the dragon so that she can bring peace to a bloodied province in Mara's name.
Mods: This build can be played on pure Vanilla if you want. If you want to enhance your experience with mods, I recommend Dawnguard arsenal, the Perfect Legionnaire, Imperial mage robes, Cloaks of Skyrim, Morrowloot, the patches, a breezehome mod of your choice, a difficulty mod of your choice. It doesn't matter.
Race: Imperial for Voice of the Emperor and the awesome boost to Restoration. Make her as young and thin as the game allows. I went with dark hair and eyes, but that's just me.
Stats: All magicka, yeah, only default health.
Skills: Restoration, all skills perked. Yeah, I even found a use for dual-casting, go figure.
Spells: Greater ward, Turn undead, sun fire, Stendar's Aura, repel undead, Heal Other, Close wounds, necromatic healing... Pretty much all restoration spells except the poison rune.
Shouts: Unrelenting force, Become Ethereal. Shouts were really used to make things easier for your followers, though I stayed away from shouts that would cause them harm as well. So she ended up not needing some of the Mora boons, which was nice.
Follower: Stenvar, stray dog or Meeko if you find him to represent mara's mercy for the down-trodden, Serana when forced by the Dawnguard questline.
Follower Gear: I left Serana to her default gear because she is really not the Blessing's follower, Stenvar is. For the Blessing's tower of strength, I went with the Ironhand gauntlets, a full set of steel armor, whatever enchantment you can find, the bonds of matremony, the gauldur amulet or the locket of St. Jiub.
Blessings and Powers: Voice of the Emperor, Imperial Luck, Agent of Mara, Mother's Love, Sailor's Repose, Blessing of Mara, Agent of Dibella. (so, lol, there's a wee bit of Dibella in there too)
Stone: Atronach in early levels if you feel squishy though Apprentice or Lord are also great options. I played with Apprentice because she had more than enough magicka and it added to her frailty. That she would go through what she goes through despite her weaknesses. You can also for the ritual stone based on this discussion Mara and the Ritual Stone
Gear: Amulet of Mara, The Bond of Matremony, Apprentice Robes of Restoration, any light armor boot, Adept hood (or circlet of restoration or magicka), mantle of the greybeards (if you have cloaks installed), Nakriin late game. Staff of the Storm Atronach for Alduin, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Wabbajack for dragon killing when she's alone in Skuldafn, other staffs.
Quests: Restoration is one of the slowest levelers, so you have a ton of opportunity to do questing and the great thing is that early level spells, once you get them, especially the turn spells for once have a lot of milage because you're not leveling other skills. Dawnguard, Mainquest (yes, I'm going there, with only one skill, yes), finding all the Restoration skill books, Book of Love (for the Amulet of Mara), Spreading the word of Mara, Marriage (for the bonds of matremony), Adoption (for the boost to restoration), Blessings of Nature (because she is in full trinity with the other hearth goddesses), The Sybille of Dibella (same reasons as doing Kyne's quest), Rescue Florentius (Mara is sometimes connected to Arkay), help Runil find his journal, fail Taste of Death by killing Eola, Mind of Madness for the Wabbajack, helping quests, the Impatience of a Saint, Civil War (Imperial side). Route out necromancers for disrupting the cycle of life and death. If you read the linked discussion, the Marion connection between Mara is rather strong. I myself need to reread it and make sure I've got my facts strait.
To do: Art is suprisingly nearly done. These mini builds sometimes write themselves really, but I need to organize the quest route, her journey, you know? The ideas are there, they just need fleshing out. Really, I just need to make sure I can kill Nakhriin and Alduin and that's it. I think I can. I mean if I did it with Mr. Buttons, I can do it with anyone. I will not finish this until the playtest is done, so it may qualify for the event, it may not. I'm hoping it does.
Thanks for looking.
