Astrid and Karliah
Version: 1.0
By c_striker


UPDATE: I have now released a new mod, "ESP - Expanded Skyrim Presets", which makes these characters (along with 300+ other NPCs) available to play as presets in the character creation menu. If you'd prefer the preset version, which allows you to customize the character or to convert your existing character via the showracemenu console command, you can find the new mod here.


Description
===========
Based on a request, this file includes level one save games of precise clones of the female NPCs Astrid (of the Dark Brotherhood) and Karliah (of the Nightingales), for those who wish to play as one of them or as a character who looks like one of them.

These player characters are exact replicas of the NPCs upon which they are based. The only discrepancy is Karliah's eye color. The NPC Karliah has a unique eye color that is not available when creating a player (without a more complicated mod), so I have given her the closest shade that is available. Their chargen settings are the same as the vanilla NPC settings, so no matter which face mods you use, if any, when you pull them up in the save game they will look exactly like the NPC looks in your game (unless you previously used an NPC editor to change the NPC, in which case all bets are off).

Each lady is saved just outside the cave after escaping Helgen Keep.

As noted above, regardless of what mods you use, these saved characters should look exactly like their NPC counterparts currently look in your game. However, if you want them (and their NPC counterpart) to look like they do in the screenshots, then you would need to use the same mods I do, as noted below.

If you like my work, please feel free to check out my other mods:
* "Diverse Female Housecarls": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=49520
* "Hroki and Jordis": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=50842
* "Lisette and Muiri": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=51033
* "Val - Twin Sister of Vex": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=39781


Mods used in the screenshots
============================
Face:
* "Better Females by Bella": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=9747 ("No make up just improved textures" version)
* "Beauty Faces by NecKros": http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=6226 (specular map only)
* "No More Blocky Faces" by Xenius: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=13714 (I use version 1.3)
I use a blend of these three mods. Install No More Blocky Faces first, then Bella's mod, then take only the specular map (femalehead_s.dds) from the NecKros mod and use it to replace the one from Bella.
The specular map is located in the following folder: textures\actors\character\female
Eyes:
* "Natural Eyes" by nevenbridge: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=11110 (human eyes only)
* "High Quality Eyes" by Xenius: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=1385 (elf eyes only)
Hair:
* "Straight hair retexture" by navetsea: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=13007


Installation (manual)
=====================
1. Extract the files of this mod to a temporary location (you can use 7zip: http://www.7-zip.org, to unzip them) and check the folder structure.
2. Copy the .ess files to your saved games folder, typically: \My Games\Skyrim\Saves
3. Launch Skyrim and load your saved game of choice.


Incompatibility
===============
None.


Contact
=======
If you wish to contact me, please do so by leaving a comment at the mod's thread.


Credits
=======
Thanks to Bethesda for the Elder Scrolls Series of games.
Thanks to LHammonds for the Readme Generator this file was based on: http://hammondslegacy.com/obmm/tools_readme_generator1.asp
Thanks to the modders mentioned above for their efforts and improvements to the game.
Thanks to Nexus and the modding community for the access, tools and resources.


Tools Used
==========
Bethesda's Skyrim and related Creation Kit
7zip - http://www.7-zip.org/