Name: Lavish Mage Tower of Alchemy Power
Version: 1.3
Date: 10/28/2008 (original version)
Category: Buildings
Requirements: Shivering Isles, Common Oblivion (COBL) (see below for link)
Recommended: Oblivion Mod Manager
Author: Tchos

**As always, if you enjoy this mod, I would love to see some screenshots of your character(s) using it!**

Details:
I believe something lacking in the standard Mages' Guild décor is a feeling of real power, a sense that you're doing something dangerous, as well as the wealth that should come with a person skilled in magic and alchemy. Especially alchemy, since potions can make a character a lot of money. If you love study, knowledge, and experimentation, but also enjoy the great pleasures in life, and don't want to spend all your time in a small cellar like Sinderion, or live like an ascetic monk wearing shabby woolen robes in a Mages' Guild that looks like a mundane poorhouse where no magic is happening, you may like this tower.

As for the title, I wanted it to rhyme, and describe the tower as being luxurious and designed for both mage and alchemist characters, as my fictional "previous owner" was a wealthy mage alchemist. You can get to know this character through his notes on various topics, found around the alchemy station.

My idea here is that this character is dissatisfied with the austerity and internal politics of the Mages' Guild, and the poor quality of the education at the so-called Arcane University, but has no desire to take it over, or destroy it (as seems to always be the case in fiction). This one believes the adage "The best revenge is to live well."

Includes:

• Static alchemy set, adjusts to your current alchemy level
• Large alchemy station, with ingredient sorter, gem/metal/bone grinder, and many containers for misc. storage (including red and tan covered bowls)
• Many exotic ingredients
• Dining table and cabinets full of my custom foods and custom foods from COBL
• Appropriately stocked bookshelves, especially around the alchemy station. No "Fundaments of Alchemy" in a master alchemist's library! That's like "Painting for Dummies" books in a master painter's loft.
• Several new books of advanced alchemy, with recipes
• Many new posters I made from scans of historical alchemy illustrations and ancient astronomy
• Some amusing rants and books written by the "previous owner" of the tower
• Combination spellcrafting and enchanting station, with a more powerful-looking design
• Map of Cyrodiil on the wall, which will teleport you to the city of your choice
• Spell to teleport you back to the tower
• Hot tub with wearable towels (for HGEC body), many seats available
• Comfortable sitting area
• Large guest quarters with room for 10 guests, with fireplace, bathroom, and all the usual amenities
• No display cases, which are annoying to me and always made the items slide down. A few pedestals and glass boxes instead.
• New landscaped area outside the tower, overlooking a multi-tiered waterfall and pond
• Attractive indoor gardens, both pretty and useful for alchemy
• Rooftop observation and sitting area
• Gated exterior, with path leading down to the water
• A "You are here" map by all the teleporters, showing the layout of the tower

The entire interior of the tower is in a single cell (except in optional patch), so there is no loading screen when traveling between floors. All containers in rooms above the guest quarters are safe for storage, and do not respawn, with the notable exception of the food and drink cabinets in the eating area, whose names include the word "Guest" to distinguish them. Do NOT trust any of the containers in the guest quarters, as their purpose is to allow your guests to eat, drink, and amuse themselves.

As this is a home designed for heavily magic-oriented characters, there aren't any special places for displaying weapons or armour, but of course you can use the cabinets and drawers in the bedroom to store them, which is what I do. (Much easier to find what I want that way.)

Some early plans for this mod I've scrapped (or at least postponed pending possible future updates) in the interest of getting this out in a timely fashion. Could have used some more landscaping in the exterior.

I can't think of any overpowered items in this mod, unless you count the garden, which contains some rare plants, or the small stock of rare ingredients, which are mainly there for aesthetics. The bottles of Telvanni Ale are a powerful buffing potion for a mage, but if you're using this mod you can surely make an equivalent potion yourself. There are also a few skill-up books.

Location:
Near the "Abandoned House" and Nenyond Twyll, between Skingrad and Bravil. If you have the KOTN plugin (which is not necessary), it's a short distance away from the Priory of the Nine. Image of map is on download page.

Requirements:
Requires both COBL and Shivering Isles. COBL is "Common Oblivion", a free set of useful standard extras for modders to include in their mods (including a great number that are very useful for alchemy), to avoid modders having to add the same modders' resources to each mod over and over, unnecessarily increasing the size. A sort of "download once, and use for all" mod, managed by Wrye, of Wrye Bash fame, and can be downloaded here: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=OblivionMods.Detail&id=3508

If you use the "COBL Main.esm" file only, there will be no changes to the vanilla game, for anyone who wants to avoid such changes.

This mod uses the following modders' resources:

• Antistar's Bathtub Resource (just the soap)
• Common Oblivion (COBL)
• Hel Borne's Alchemist Sink (Furniture) Resource
• Hel Borne's Filled Bookshelf Resource
• Hel Borne's Pedastel Set Resource
• More sofas and Chairsets by Zimnel
• Static Alchemy Apparatus by Academician Nwahs
• Tea Set by Jannix Quinn
• Tile Set 01 by Oblivimonk
• Tollingbrook Hollow by Oblivimonk (bathroom meshes)
• Town House by Oblivimonk (telescope, retextured by me)
• Towels by Lera & Pizz

All resources used with the permission the authors gave in their readmes. Thank you for the quality work. All other materials and textures are my work. You don't need to separately install these resources, as they're included in this mod's BSA.

Install
This archive is distributed in what LHammonds calls OMOD-Ready format. It allows you to manually extract and install like most other mods but it also allows you to use Oblivion Mod Manager and import this archive with all the settings pre-configured for an OMOD file.

Manual Install
1. Extract this archive to any folder and then copy the contents to Oblivion's Data folder. You can ignore or delete the "omod conversion data" folder.
2. Start Oblivion Launcher, click Data Files, and enable the .esp file(s).

OBMM Install
Create the OMOD (Do this section only once)
1. Copy archive to (install folder)\Oblivion\obmm\omod\
2. Start Oblivion Mod Manager.
3. Click the Create button.
4. Click the Add Archive button, find and select the archive, then click Yes.
5. Click the Create omod button, then click OK when it finishes.

Install the mod using OBMM
1. Start Oblivion Mod Manager.
2. Double-click the name of the mod in the right-hand side of the OBMM screen. (icon should turn blue)

Uninstall
=========

Manual Uninstall
1. Start Oblivion Launcher, click Data Files, uncheck the .esp file(s).
2. Delete the files/folders associated with the mod.

Oblivion\Data\Tchos Alchemy Tower.bsa
Oblivion\Data\Tchos Alchemy Tower.esp
Oblivion\Data\Lavish Mage Tower of Alchemy Power readme.txt

OBMM Uninstall
1. Start Oblivion Mod Manager.
2. Double-click the name of the mod in the right-hand side of the OBMM screen, click Yes. (icon should turn green)

Known Issues or Bugs
None known. Please inform me if you find any.

History
1.3 compatibility patch: 2010/12/29 - This patch made by user Gruftikus edits the landscape around the tower for compatibility with Iliana's Elsweyr Anequina mod. Use this .esp together with the main mod's .esp (in other words, don't replace the original .esp with this one).
1.3 patches: 2009/04/01 - Two 3rd party patches added thanks to Sauron256. One puts the rooms into separate cells for slower computers, and the other moves the tower so as not to have any land tearing from the addition of Shadowcrest Vineyard.

1.3: 2008/11/02 -
• Removed the scripts on the gates so you don't need to be a Mages' Guild member to open them.
• Removed the script on the enchanter/spellmaker that causes it to only exist if you're a Mages' Guild member
• Corrected a slightly floating chest
• The teleport spell is now a Lesser Power so it won't train mysticism
• Added optional patch that removes the ambient sound of the sigil stone from the enchanter/spellmaker, as an option for anyone who found the sound annoying. I keep it on, myself, as I think it adds to the feeling of danger and power.

1.2: 2008/10/28 - Added missing towel data, small adjustment to a wall to prevent flickering
1.1: 2008/10/27 - Added missing food data files, slightly lowered water level to prevent foot splashing
1.0: 2008/10/27 - Initial release.

Contact:
You can find me on TESNexus as 'Tchos'

Tools Used
BSA Commander - http://letalka.sourceforge.net/morr/index.htm
Blender - http://blender.org
NIFSkope - http://www.niftools.org/
Oblivion Mod Manager - http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097
Photoshop - http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/
TES Construction Set - http://www.elderscrolls.com/downloads/updates_utilities.htm

Licensing/Legal
You can do whatever you want with this mod but all I ask in return is that
you give me credit if you distribute any part of this mod. I would also like to know what mods are including my work.

Well, I think that's it. Hope I didn't forget anything.