Description

Useful as housecarls are, I've always had mixed feelings about them. Sure, they'll carry your burdens all day long. Sure, they'll fight for you and they'll do it well. But as far as personalities go... they're just a bit generic, aren't they? They're plopped into the world without any quest, or personal history, or likes and dislikes, or anything really, apart from a few lines of dialogue that they all share. So, I thought I could maybe improve on that.

In this mod, I've given Argis the Bulwark new voiced dialogue, including idle dialogues, comments on some places and people that you may encounter, and a personal quest that starts after you've travelled with him for a while. I've tried my best to stay lore-friendly and true to the character, so Argis is still your loyal housecarl, protector, and burden-carrier, but now you can get the sense that he has lived in Markarth and the Reach for a while, has a personality, history, likes and dislikes... Basically, I wanted to round him out while keeping everything canon-compliant.


Features

- Over 200 lines of fully-voiced new dialogue, created by carefully splicing original game lines as well as by using the amazing SKVA Synth tool
- A quest with a fun little weapon as a reward
- Argis has many new things to say, especially about the Reach and Markarth, but also other places in Skyrim and even Solstheim
- He can give you occasional free training in Block. Note: this option occasionally disappeared in previous versions of the mod, so ver. 1.2 adds an experimental debug feature to fix it
- If you're using a mod that allows you to take multiple followers, you can ask Argis his opinion about several vanilla followers (specifically, other housecarls like Lydia, and followers that live in Markarth or the Reach, like Cosnach)
- Compatible with almost everything, see Compatibility Notes for details
- Xbox port now available, thanks to Snipey360!


Sample dialogues




How to start

After you've been made Thane of the Reach, talk to Argis. There's a new line of dialogue where you can ask to learn more about him. Keep talking to him about his past every few days, and eventually the personal quest will start.


Install

Install with a mod manager. Generally speaking, I recommend installing on a new playthrough, but it should work on existing saves as well, as long as they aren't too old and busted. But new saves are always better.


Upgrade

If you've already downloaded version 1.1, and would like to update to 1.2, it should work, but it's always safer not to update mods in mid-playthrough, especially if it's a playthrough you care about.


Uninstall

Uninstall with a mod manager. For safety, do not uninstall in mid-playthrough, it may cause issues.


Compatibility notes

Compatible with most things, as far as I'm aware. This includes appearance and perk overhauls (see the screenshots for some examples), follower management mods, Relationship Dialogue Overhaul and similar mods, outfit management mods, and so on.

Not compatible with mods that change Argis to a woman. I haven't tested, but my best guess is that the new dialogue will either be unavailable, or it will show up but will be unvoiced.


History

1.2, 2021-08-14 - Fixed an idle dialogue that wasn't showing up. Added conditions to prevent some dialogues from repeating. Added a debug option for the training dialogues
1.1, 2021-04-06 - Tightened up dialogue conditions to preserve some USSEP keyword fixes
1.0, 2021-04-06 - Initial release


Credits - Assets

Stupid Lemon Eater for the dagger mesh


Credits - Screenshots

Housecarls Companion Refine by Dylan James
TM Housecarls by Aisaka aka Tevinter Mage
Beautiful Argis Replacer by Raxys
Rudy ENB
Comix Loud font
Badaboom font


Tools Used

Lazy Voice Finder
7-Zip
Audacity
Creation Kit
Readme Generator
SSEEdit
Yakitori Audio Converter
SKVA Synth


Permissions

Do whatever you like with my full blessing.