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About this mod
"What if we replaced Skyrim's music with young scrolls?" Now you can. A complete reimagining of the game's soundtrack with nearly 3 hours of lore-friendly and high quality original music for the base game, DLCs and Creation Club, as well as atmospheres, custom UI sound effects and more.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
LORKHAN is a soundtrack mod containing nearly 3 hours of lovingly crafted original music for exploration, atmospheres, combat, dungeons, scenes, and more. Evocative, high-octane, full of character and completely modular - you get to pick and choose which elements you want. Safe to install and uninstall anytime.
A Fresh Experience
LORKHAN is a deliberate departure from Jeremy Soule's style, with decidedly less ambient instrumentation that provides a different feel to Skyrim's gameplay. Bespoke pieces have been composed to enhance and recontextualise special or once-in-a-playthrough scenes in the game, such as the Helgen cart intro, Solstheim boat arrival, shooting Auriel's bow and the ascent to High Hrothgar, alongside minor stings for clearing out locations and discovering vistas. In addition, LORKHAN features a number of leitmotifs - recurring musical phrases - in order to make for a cohesive experience.
Sovngarde ambience is the only piece left untouched, as it is contextually relevant to the setting.
Sovngarde ambience is the only piece left untouched, as it is contextually relevant to the setting.
Defined Regional & Cultural Variance
Vanilla music, while iconic, is largely homogeneous. Much of the extra soundtrack for Dawnguard and Dragonborn is conservative in its instrumentation and the latter is not even done the courtesy of its own unique soundtrack in favour of Morrowind nostalgia. LORKHAN attempts to bring greater variety and distinct character to different regions of the game with respect to their cultures and inspirations while avoiding obvious anachronisms:
- Mainland Skyrim features the sounds of the tagelharpa, a Scandinavian staple, as well as the viola da gamba*, hoarse violins, fiddles and cellos, and rumbling male choirs. Whiterun wakes up to the sound of kulning, while throat singing can be heard in the corners of the Reach**. Music for the major cities is minimalistic, almost melding with the ambience. The music mirrors Skyrim's modern history, and Imperial influence is still audible within.
- The Forgotten Vale is flooded with solemn elven voices and distant bells - remnants of an extinct culture.
- The halls of Castle Volkihar echo with haunting organs and cellos.
- Solstheim is a far cry from civilisation, where nature reigns supreme. Its soundtrack is less melodic, focusing on drones, drums and chants. Southern Solstheim features a new soundtrack carefully crafted in an attempt to more accurately portray the despair and hope of the Dunmer people, loosely inspired by the music of the Middle East, Mesopotamia and East Asia and featuring the duduk, erhu and setar.
- The Soul Cairn is chaos of wailing horns, and Apocrypha (which had no unique music prior) takes on an otherworldly and synthy sound.
- Additional optional music for Creation Club dungeons drowns The Cause and Saints & Seducers in drones and reverberating harps, while Umbra receives unique music for its boss fight.
* While not a Nordic instrument per se, it lends itself well to Scandinavian-inspired settings, as seen in God of War (2018).
** Due to how atmospheres are implemented into the game, these soundscapes will be heard in the neighbouring holds as well.
UI
LORKHAN ships with complementary sound effects that are designed to fit both vanilla UI and popular overhauls such as Untarnished UI and Nordic UI. The sounds cover every element of the interface, from location discovery sounds and words of power to crafting, inventory and perk menus, with out-of-the-box compatibility and a custom sound for Wheeler, as well as a patch for Valhalla Combat.
The sound effects are designed in a way that does not overstay its welcome; the SFX for discovering locations, absorbing dragon souls and learning words of power are made to sync up with the information displayed on screen without droning long after its been communicated to the player, allowing the music to kick back in as soon as possible without leaving you waiting. Level up music is removed entirely to avoid irritating repetition when going up more than one level, and word walls whisper to the player when approached.
The plugin necessary for perk menu sounds is ESP-FE and won't take up a slot in your load order.
The sound effects are designed in a way that does not overstay its welcome; the SFX for discovering locations, absorbing dragon souls and learning words of power are made to sync up with the information displayed on screen without droning long after its been communicated to the player, allowing the music to kick back in as soon as possible without leaving you waiting. Level up music is removed entirely to avoid irritating repetition when going up more than one level, and word walls whisper to the player when approached.
The plugin necessary for perk menu sounds is ESP-FE and won't take up a slot in your load order.
Compatible
- Audio Overhaul for Skyrim SE - Recommended
- Immersive Sounds - Compendium - LORKHAN's UI sounds must be given priority if used
- Nordic UI - LORKHAN's UI sounds must be given priority if used
- Untarnished UI
- Edge UI
- Wheeler
- Any mod that adds ambient sound effects, such as Sounds of Skyrim and Whales Off The Coast
- Any mod that adds extra music to the game, at the cost of stylistic and volume inconsistencies
Partially or Fully Incompatible
- MEMOSPORE - UI Sound Effects - LORKHAN's UI sounds supercede my previous mod
- Any mod that replaces vanilla music - LORKHAN's modularity allows for partial compatibility at the cost of stylistic and volume inconsistencies
LORKHAN features guest appearances by both emerging and established voice talent in the Skyrim community. Chephren Parker (Citizens of Tamriel, Rigmor of Cyrodiil, SIRENROOT - Deluge of Deceit), an operatic baritone, provides vocals for daytime exploration and combat music, whereas Elizabeth Plant (The Forgotten City, Skyrim Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers, SIRENROOT - Deluge of Deceit) graces nighttime exploration. Violin performances in dungeon ambience courtesy of Willowy.
