The Restless Dead - Design Choices Explained

Introduction:

“The Restless Dead” is the bigger, better version of my first major enemy mod, “Draugr Upgrades and Improvements”. A fairly common criticism I encountered for D.U.I. was that it’s not realistic for ancient undead enemies to have “modern” equipment. I agree to a certain extent, but there is a lot more to that argument, and eventually I decided to create an improved version of D.U.I. based on these three premisses:

• Nordic Tombs were used for centuries after the destruction of the Dragon Cult.
• Many of the draugr encountered in the game were not affiliated with the Dragon Cult in life.
• There are different forms of undeath.
  

I did a lot of research on UESP.net and the TESLore subreddit in preparation for this mod. I was not always satisfied with the amount of information I found regarding certain subjects, and I had to resort to extrapolation (both from Elder Scrolls lore and real life counterparts) in certain situations. However, I am confident that “The Restless Dead” is built on solid arguments, which I will explain in detail here.


Argument 1: Nordic Tombs were used for centuries after the destruction of the Dragon Cult.

The Dragon Cult emerged out of Atmoran animal worship during the Merethic Era. It grew into an oppressive regime, then lost most of its power in the uprising known as the Dragon War before being quashed early in the First Era. The key events pertaining to the Dragon Cult’s history are described below:

• Late Merethic Era - Atmoran settlers migrate to northern Tamriel and build Saarthal. Elves drive them away and destroy the city. Ysgramor returns with the Five Hundred Companions and establishes human dominance in what will become modern-day Skyrim.
• Dragon worship becomes the dominant form of religion in Skyrim. Temples are built to honor and appease dragons. Their servants, the Dragon Priests, rise to power and rule over Skyrim with an iron fist.
• Nords rebel against the Dragon Priests and their dragon overlords. Some dragons turn against their own kind and help the Nords. Paarthurnax teaches humans to use the Thu’um.
• Hakon One-Eye, Felldir the Old and Gormlaith Golden-Hilt defeat Alduin and banish him. The Dragon Priests are overthrown and the remaining dragons scatter and go into hiding. The Dragon Cult is severely diminished, but not eradicated.
• 1E 140 – Lord Harald’s forces attack Forelhost, the last stronghold of the Dragon Cult. The cultists commit suicide, and the Dragon Cult is extinguished.
  

But if we look at the named draugr encountered in the game we find that several were born, lived and died after the Dragon Cult was destroyed:

• (Sometime between 1E 143 and 1E 221) – Jyrik, Mikrul and Sigdis Gauldurson are hunted down and brought to justice by Arch-Mage Geirmund. Their bodies are sealed away in Saarthal, Folgunthur and Geirmund’s Hall respectively.
• 1E 369 – King Borgas is killed in Valenwood. His body is returned to Skyrim in secret and interred in Korvanjund, together with the Jagged Crown.
• 1E 452 – King Olaf One-Eye dies and is buried in Dead Men’s Respite.
• 1E 1030 – Red Eagle is defeated by Empress Hestra’s soldiers and buried in Rebel’s Cairn.
  

Furthermore, during the “Ancestral Worship” quest Golldir states that as a child he was locked in Hillgrund’s Tomb for three days. He had to subsist on offerings left for the dead, implying that some tombs are still tended to by modern day Nords. It is quite possible that some families still bury their dead in these ancient tombs.


Conclusion – Many draugr we fight are the reanimated corpses of people that lived and died centuries after the destruction of the Dragon Cult. It makes sense for their equipment to be different and more “modern” that that of the undead Dragon Cultists.


Argument 2: Many of the draugr encountered in the game were not affiliated with the Dragon Cult in life.

Some of the undead enemies encountered in the game are famous historical figures whose lives are well documented. Others are more obscure and almost nothing is known about them. A quick analysis of the lore surrounding named draugr reveals that many of them were not Dragon Cultists.


Enemies with ties to the Dragon Cult:

• Dragon Priests.
• Yngol – Yngol died crossing the Sea of Ghosts during the Return of the Five-Hundred Companions. He actually predates the Dragon Cult’s rise to power, but he is a prime representative of the Atmoran culture out of which dragon worship originated.
• Guardian Saerek and Guardian Torsten – Two warriors who rose up against Otar the Mad, a once fair and noble chieftain (and later, Dragon Priest) who was corrupted by “dark voices” whispering in his mind. Otar was defeated and sealed in a sarcophagus inside Ragnvald, where Torsten and Saerek are buried as well.
• Fjori and Holgeir – A huntress and a warlord from rival clans who fell in love and died a tragic death. The book “Of Fjori and Holgeir” mentions the Eagle, Snake and Whale, which are all part of Atmoran animal worship. This implies that the tale of the star-crossed lovers took place during the Dragon Cult’s time, though it does not necessarily mean that Fjori and Holgeir were dragon worshippers.
• The Gatekeeper – A draugr that carries the key to the Temple of Miraak, and therefore one of Miraak’s followers and an enemy of the Dragon Cult.
  

Enemies with no ties to the Dragon Cult:

• Jyrik, Mikrul and Sigdis Gauldurson – Three brothers who murdered their father, Arch-Mage Gauldur, in order to steal his power. They were brought to justice by Arch-Mage Geirmund on the orders of King Harald.
• King Borgas – High King of the Nords and descendant of King Harald.
• King Olaf One-Eye – Jarl of Whiterun, and later High King of Skyrim. Purportedly battled and imprisoned a dragon.
• Red Eagle – A king of the Reachmen who rebelled against the Cyrodiilic Empire of the First Era.
  

Enemies about whom little is known:

• Curalmil – A skilled alchemist (most likely an Altmer) who created the White Phial “in the days when Skyrim was just starting its turn to ice”, suggesting that Curalmil died and was buried around the time of the Atmoran migration to Tamriel.
• Halldir – A powerful undead mage who is trying to resurrect himself by draining the life force from anyone who strays into his tomb.
• Warlord Gathrik – A powerful undead warrior.
  

Who were the individuals we encounter as undead in life? The evidence suggests that the ancient tombs were used mainly for the burial and preservation of important persons. Dragon Priests were interred in temples dedicated to dragon worship, while tombs were built primarily for Nordic kings, chieftains and warlords. These individuals are usually set up as end-of-dungeon bosses.

The rest of the dead buried in Nordic tombs were probably related to or associated with the bosses - spouses, descendants, thanes, bodyguards, servants, courtiers, and so on. The layout of the final chamber in Dead Men’s Respite certainly seems to support this idea, with draugr seated in neat rows along the walls of the crypt, and four powerful draugr guarding the stairs that lead to King Olaf’s sarcophagus – the whole layout is reminiscent of a throne room.

It is also possible that certain tombs were used as burial grounds by specific families throughout the ages, so some the dead we fight may well have been of humble origins.


Conclusion – The people buried in Nordic tombs came from all walks of life, and their equipment as undead enemies should reflect that.


Argument 3: There are different forms of undeath.

The various Elder Scrolls games have given us many kinds of undead enemies to fight, and different explanations as to why they are undead. In Skyrim we can encounter three main types – draugr, skeletons and ghosts, with some variation within each category (I am excluding vampires since they are not affected by this mod).

• According to Skyrim lore, when a Dragon Priest died his followers were made undead and buried with him. The followers would rise periodically and worship at the Dragon Priest’s sarcophagus, transferring their life force to him. They would then return to their grave and regenerate their life force when sleeping. These dragon worshippers would also rise to protect their tomb from intruders.
• Morrowind lore offers a different explanation for the existence of draugr. According to the Skaal, draugr were once humans who feasted on the flesh of their own dead. The All-Maker saw this as a crime against nature, and doomed the cannibals to roam the land for all eternity as undead, in search of more human flesh to consume.
• The Dragonborn DLC modifies Bloodmoon’s lore somewhat, turning Solstheim into Miraak’s domain and adding Dragon Priests to Nordic tombs. This effectively turns Solstheim into Dragon Cult territory, at least prior to the Dragon War. However, the DLC also adds hulking draugr, whose appearance is very similar to Morrowind’s cannibal draugr. This implies that the draugr on Solstheim differ from the mainland draugr, and that Skaal beliefs about their origin may be correct.
• Necromancers are responsible for the creation of several varieties of undead – skeletons (various dungeons), zombies (Lu’Ah Al-Skaven’s army), ghosts (Yngvild, Halldir’s Cairn), and corrupted shades (Kilkreath Ruins).
• Ghosts seem to linger on in the world of the living for various reasons – unfinished business (Valdar, the Nightingale Sentinels in the Twilight Sepulcher), curses (Haknir Death-Brand’s crew), desire for revenge (Svaknir), and a violent or untimely death (Helgi, the little girl who dies in a fire in Morthal).
  

Conclusion – Different types of undead should have different skills and abilities depending on who/what they were in life, and how/why they were brought back from the dead.


The Restless Dead: Design choices explained.

One of the main purposes of “The Restless Dead” is to add variety between undead enemies while still keeping the mod lore friendly. This is not an easy task, as I am limited by the lack of appropriate assets available, and the lack of concept art focusing on early Nordic culture. Most of Skyrim’s tombs and temples appear to have been built in the late Merethic Era or early First Era, and the majority of the named undead encountered seem to be from that time period as well. However, we do not have much information about what armor, clothes and weapons looked like back then, barring the vanilla Draugr look. The previous Elder Scrolls titles, spinoffs, and Elder Scrolls Online are all set in the Second or Third Era. A look at the equipment from the other games would suggest that, in the Elder Scrolls universe, armor and weapons didn’t really evolve into better versions as much as simply change in style.

With this in mind, and using the arguments outlined earlier as guidelines, I sorted the undead in the game into different types based on these choices:

• Skyrim’s developers presented dragon worshippers as the main type of undead in this game, so it made sense to retain that look for Dragon Cultists. The new variants I added follow either the Atmoran or the Miraak aesthetic, and primarily use vanilla assets.
• I wanted the Solstheim draugr to be different from the mainland ones, so I made “cannibal” variants of all my Dragon Cultists using assets from OpusGlass’ “Cannibal Draugr on Solstheim” mod.
• The undead in “Ancient Tombs” are from a later time period than Dragon Cultists, and I wanted their appearance to reflect that. For these enemies I used a combination of vanilla models and assets from other mods. I chose only lore-friendly items that look appropriate to the game setting. I also added skeleton variants of some of the draugr and included them in enemy leveled lists.
• For bosses I made unique models that set them apart from regular enemies, but still give an indication of which undead category they fall under. Several bosses will have their models updated later.
  

Conclusion:

“The Restless Dead” is a work in progress. A lot is going to be added or modified in later updates, including corrections to stuff already in the mod if necessary. Hopefully my arguments have convinced you of the mod’s sound design, but if you have any criticisms, feedback is welcome.