Skyrim Special Edition

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Mihail

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Bipedal reptilians native to the provinces of Morrowind and Black Marsh, Guars are the primary domesticated herd animal of the Dunmer, and are generally considered calm creatures not prone to aggressive behavior. Characterized by their toughness and docility, Guars are mainly used as beasts of burden and mounts.

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"Bipedal reptilians native to the provinces of Morrowind and Black Marsh, Guars are the primary domesticated herd animal of the Dunmer, and are generally considered calm creatures not prone to aggressive behavior. Characterized by their toughness and docility, Guars are mainly used as beasts of burden and mounts. Particularly in Morrowind, Guars can be seen everywhere, fully integrated into the Dark Elves' culture and being an essential part of their society, not only for the aforementioned functions, but also for the production of leather, milk and even meat, replacing not only the traditional roles of donkeys and horses, but also serving as livestock for the Dark Elves.

Guars are cousins to the Alits, Kagoutis and Wormmouths, distinguishing themselves from them by their greater docility, friendlier temperament and having 4 limbs, although the upper limbs are very small in relation to the rest of the body. Like all members of this family, they have short tails, stout, stocky bodies, and large heads with a huge mouth. Despite sharing the name, the Guars and the Bantam Guars are not related, the latter belonging to another family, which also includes the Scuttlers, which is closer to the Cliff Racers than to the Guars themselves.

Outside of Morrowind and Black March, they can usually be seen serving Dunmers or Argonians residing in other provinces, but there are also cases where other races, such as Nords or Imperials, acquire Guars when they notice their convincing attributes, but it is still a rare occurrence, and most elves and humans still arguably prefer the use of other types of more traditional mounts, beasts of burden, and sources of leather, meat, and milk.

Guars are divided into numerous known subspecies, some rarer than others, also differing in size and docility.
Several others are believed to exist, but 12 subspecies of Guar are the most widely documented:

The most widespread variant, yellow in color, and known simply as Guar, is the most commonly found and domesticated, as it is of good size and very docile. Some fugitive Guars have gone feral and can be found in the nature living as wild Guars again, but most of the original wild population was domesticaded in past eras, nevertheless, e
ven wild individuals tend to attack only if you get too close to them. In Solstheim they are used by Redoran guards as mounts during city patrols. They are considered one of the most loyal and intelligent subspecies;

A larger, fiercer variant, almost of legendary status, is known as the Tiger Guar, with the pattern of a tiger on its skin. Very difficult to tame, probably the recent reports of sightings of wild Tiger Guars in Solstheim were caused by failed attempts to tame Tiger Guars imported from Morrowind, usually done clandestinely by the Reavers who live on the island;

Guars can also be found in the Banded Guar Charger variant, a tough war mount and a subspecies closely related to the Tiger Guar, and bred exclusively for cavalry use, capable of fearlessly carrying an armored warrior into battle. Dunmers believe that this variant's bravery comes from the blood of the Tiger Guar that runs through its veins. They are considered one of the least intelligent types of Guar;

It is worth mentioning also the Freckled Guar, a spotted subspecies slightly smaller in size than a common Guar, and known for its docility and intelligence superior to other Guars, and widely used as a pet. This same personality, however, makes them averse to heavy work, not being good mounts, and even worse beasts of burden, dropping what they carry without any ceremony, showing dissatisfaction with the function to which they are being forced;

The Golden Eye Guar is a very popular hybrid, the result of a cross between a Banded Guar Charger and a regular Guar, being similar in appearance to a Banded Guar Charger, but with distinctive golden eyes, and are known to be difficult to tame and of strong personality and great bravery, they are also known for their courage, loyalty and intelligence when tamed, a mixture of the qualities of both subspecies that gave rise to them. They are highly prized among Dunmer military wings, and sold for high prices;

The Pale Velothi Guars, a breed that hails from the ash-covered volcanic lands of the Velothi Mountains, pale blue in color and covered in spots, are viewed with awe as they are adapted to the harsh conditions of the Stonefalls region, and their simple existence symbolizes the perseverance of life in the face of an inhospitable and dangerous volcanic land, like the Dunmer race that arrived in Morrowind guided by Saint Veloth, who names the mountains where this Guar lives, and who to this day fight for their survival in an inhospitable volcanic land. Because of this symbolism, when rarely seen outside their region, they are used as mounts and beasts of burden exclusively by the temples of the House of Reclamations. It is generally considered taboo, or at least frowned upon, the possession of this variant by non-priests;

Two subspecies are particularly popular with Dunmer children, as pets, both known as Pony Guars. Small, barely larger than a large cat, and often used as companion animals, they are more active than most other subspecies, and are also more mischievous and playful. Their meat is said to be not good, and they are obviously of no use as beasts of burden. Some Dunmer use them to hunt small pests;

The Shadowghost Guar, a mottled black and white race of Guar, is the only known nocturnal race of the species, and due to the subspecies nocturnal habits, and the fact that its patterned hide blend in with the shifting gray ash clouds on the slopes of Red Mountain, the Shadowghost Guar is rarely seen even by the native Dunmer. When domesticated they are considered to be of high value;

The Tessellated Guar, a speckled green subspecies, primarily present in Black Marsh, and generally used by the Argonians as mounts, and the Green Narsis Guar, similar to the previous one, but with a less vibrant color and without spots, usually found in the Narsis region of Morrowind, are cataloged among the least intelligent variants of Guar, being difficult to train and having little interaction with their owners, serving mostly only for simple functions.
 Narsis' proximity to Black Marsh may indicate a closeness, and even a direct connection, between the two variants;

Finally, the rarest of them all is naturally the albino variant, also known as White Guar. White in color and red-eyed, this albino version, usually of the common Guar subspecies, is part of the religious culture of the Ashlanders, and their stomach bezoars are believed to have ritualistic healing properties against diseases such as the Blight. In legends, Saint Jiub is described as having one as a mount: the saint would have received this valuable beast from the hands of the Tribunal itself, as a reward for his selfless and courageous work in extinguishing the Cliff Racers in Vvardenfell.

In addition to these, as mentioned before, there are possibly many other subspecies,
most of them, when not unknown, at least very little documented."

by Beastmaster Mihail *
(*Who is Beastmaster Mihail? He is my avatar/persona within the universe composed of all my mods. He is the ingame author who writes the texts that are usually presented as descriptions for my mods. A former monster hunter, now a dedicated scholar, he is planned to be released as an NPC in late 2022/early 2023, doing the same job in-game as my descriptions do on Nexus.)


Technical info: Guars are now widely spread across Solstheim, mostly tamed and used as pack beasts or mounts by NPCs. Some Pony Guars are also kept as pets. In Skyrim, some Dunmer and Argonians also have Guars for the same functions. Wild guars can be found in Solstheim, though rarely. The mod adds some new NPCs, as the owners of some of these Guars. It is possible to steal some Guar mounts and use them in this stolen condition, however it is not possible to buy and/or have your own mount, or even pack guar, using this mod, as it is content for other mods in my portfolio. Saint Jiub now has the only White Guar (in ghostly form) added by the mod. The saint also had his appearance modified to be more similar to the character we saw in Tes 3: Morrowind.




. 12 new creatures- (common) Guar (also appearing in the feral variant Wild Guar), Tiger Guar, Pale Velothi Guar, Green Narsis Guar, 2 subspecies of Pony Guar, Tessellated Guar, Freckled Guar, Shadowghost Guar, Banded Guar Charger, Golden Eye Guar, White Guar. Each variant can appear in different styles, adapted to its functions, these being: pet (so not saddled or carrying goods), mount (resting in stables or being used by their owners as mounts) and beast of burden (carrying goods, usually for merchants). Naturally, many of them appear in only one style, while others can appear in 2, or even 3 possible variants. The only supspecies that can be found in the wild variant are the common Guars and the Tiger Guars;

. 2 new misc items- Guard Hide and Tiger Guar Hide;

. This mod adds several Npcs riding some of the guars, mostly Redoran Guards, and also an Argonian treasure hunter;

. Saint Jiub's appearance in Soul Cairn has been modified to match his appearance in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.




As this mod modifies Jiub's appearance, it causes incompatibility with any other mod that does this as well, with the mod placed lower in the load order being the modification that will prevail in Jiub. This is irrelevant, so you just need to choose which Jiub modification you prefer to keep, and put that mod below any other mod that also changes that NPC.

(OBS- If by chance when installing several of Mihail's mods at the same time you are asked about files overwriting those of other Mihail mods or other authors mods, don't worry because they are just the same files shared between mods. I recommend that on these occasions always give preference to the files contained in my mods, and among mine always give preference to the mod you are installing last.)



As with any other mods that adds creature mounts that are not users of the same horse animation set as the vanilla horses, for which all the vanilla mount mechanics were designed by Bethesda, the use of these mounts by the player or NPCs will sometimes produce bugs, such as for a brief moment the mounted character will appear standing on the creature, instead of properly seated. The mount and unmount animation is also problematic, not fitting perfectly to the new creature's form. It's a vanilla bug and nothing can be done about it.



The Mihail Monsters and Animals series aims to create and make available to the community the most complete set of creatures for TES 5: Skyrim, implemented in an immersive and unique way, with respect to the pillars of lore. Instead of pathetically just throwing models and textures in the game reusing 100% vanilla mechanics, the creatures made by Mihail have uniqueness and extreme zeal in their idealization and implementation, which will provide you with an experience that you have never had before in this area.




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Mihail- models, textures, sounds, animations, loot, game implementation