Imperial Geographical Society?

[Tes96]

Where will the Imperial Geographical Society fit in? They were never mentioned in TESIV nor did I see their logo anywhere. I'm assuming they reside in the Imperial City somewhere.

And will there actually be editions of the Pocket Guides for people to buy? From my understanding, these pocket guides are written in the game world but you never see them in the game data. What's going on here? I'm confused.

[jazzon]

Trivial preceding Notes

Spoiler: show

OK, this took me five minutes to think up and almost 8 hours at the keyboard to get into what I consider acceptable shape for posting. I am going to reserve the next four post positions for continuing this if there is any interest. In those reservations I will post summaries of each phase explaining how this moves forward, and eventually ties into the IGS.

By the way, for those who don't know it already, you CAN do this kind of dialog in Morrowind; and it is even possible to keep track of this "failing the handler" thing without globals (thus making the mod easily removed), but that method is almost never worth the complexity of it's use.

So without further adieu, My Take on The Imperial Geographic Society ...
(You will rue the day you gave me a carte-blanche on "necroing" and posting my opinions....)
(beware falling bricks from the wall...)

The Imperial Geographic Society (IGS)
This is probably the most well known, most widely accepted, most commonly seen group of travelers in Tamriel! They go everywhere. They write about everything. Everyone accepts them (meh...just another scholar). Most even welcome them (Free publicity anyone?)!

Can you say "Spies"?
Background

Spoiler: show

What very few not among the top levels of the empire knew, was that this "society" is in fact one of the best military intelligence gathering agencies ever seen!

Wars do not happen over night. Political tensions change, racial views are altered. Uriel Septim, well before the the time of the mod's period, was already seeing the faintest of rumbles about the major wars to come (see lore from Skyrim books at uesp.net or the imperial library [whose url I do not recall]). In an effort to ensure that his people were ready in terms of knowing your enemy, and having excellent intelligence to work from, he commissioned The Blades some years ago, to set up and run a top secret intel gathering unit. Even within the blades the truth of the IGS is known only near the top. In fact most of the common IGS agents don't even know of the IGS's secret purpose. But when they turn in their manuscripts and notes to their superiors (the ones in the know), those reports get carefully reviewed, and re-written with military intel in mind.

Since then the IGS has spread throughout Tamriel. As a part of maintaining their cover, they actually write and publish guide books for travelers. Their secret reports are seen only by their Blades masters, the emperor, and his generals, although only the blades, and the top people at IGS know the true source of the reports. Per the Emperor's own request, neither He nore his generals are aware of the source of their information. Only that it is always "spot on".

Quest Line

One of Our Agents is Missing

Spoiler: show
Notes:

The player, after having been a member of the Blades for some time, thus proving his metal/worth/and loyalty, is offered a new assignment from his handler.

prereqs faction rank of [to be determined]
Dialogue

Senior Agent: Hello %PCNAME. Your just the %PCGENDER I was looking for.
PC: You sound serious. Trouble?
Senior Agent: A courier bearing some valuable information never arrived. He set out from [insert_town_name_here] 3 days ago and that's the last anyone has heard of him. He was traveling here by some secret route known only to him, so finding out what happened to him won't be easy. Think you can handle it. or should I find someone else?
PC: I think I can manage this.
Senior Agent: You should probably start out in [insert_town_name_here] where he was last seen, and the surrounding areas. Ask around about "hidden routes" and "local lore"Time matters here. We need to know what become of [insert_ISG_agent_name_here], and if possible find what he was carrying. Report only to me on this matter, no other. Got it?
PC: I get it.
Senior Agent: I mean it! Only to me!
PC: Yes Sir!
Goodbye.

Dialogue Notes: I believe in quests which can fail. At each stage of the quest other blades agents, and some people, notable IGS agents, will have dialogue options about this (missing reports and missing courier). If the PC uses one of them the quest fails due to the secrecy having been violated. This should also incur penalties with the Blades, but not knowing what you have going on I hesitate to speculate. If the quest fails, the chain is done. No further way of engaging any part is possible.
If this should happen failure dialogue below should occur if the PC tries to report in.
Secrecy Failure Dialogue:

Handler: You bumbling dolt! The Blades are a secret organization! So why am I hearing reports about a Blades agent looking for missing documents carried by a missing Blades agent?
PC: Um ... I ...
Handler: This whole operation is wasted! You've blown the secrecy of it!
PC: But Sir ...
Handler: Get out of my sight!
[Blades Faction Disposition drops [amt_TBD]]
[Handler Disposition drops -10]
[Blades Rank drops [TBD](?)]
Goodbye.

Hidden Routes and Local Lore are dialogue topics available in the region. Eventually, a young shepherd (guarherd etc) (child) should be found and from his Hidden Routes should come the following.
Dialogue Topic: Hidden Routes

Shepherd Boy: Actually i do know of one %PCGENDER. It sort of goes from [insert_town_name_here] to [insert_town_name_of_Blades_HQ_here]. Well, not exactly. But sort of! But no one ever uses it. Well, only that old guy from the Geo..., Geologic..., those old guys who write the travel books! [Sheepishly] I'm sorry I cant remember the word.
PC: That's the one I'm looking for, can you tell me how to find it?
Shepherd Boy: Whats it worth to ya?
PC: Options List:

A piece of candy.

Shepherd Boy: I'll tell for five. (accepts at 5)

A teddy bear.

Shepherd Boy: Awe... that's a girls toy. (refusal)

A toy Guar.

Shepherd Boy: Realy! Cool! (Acceptance)

A wooden sword.

Shepherd Boy: I have one already. How about a real one?
PC: Options List:

Like this one?

[Opens trade window for pc to give a sword.]
Shepherd Boy: Yeah! My own sword!
PC:Just don't tell your father where you got it!

How about a dagger instead?

Shepherd Boy: (After a short pause for consideration) OK, as long as its not Iron.
[Trade window opens and trade a dagger. Cannot be iron.]
Shepherd Boy: [If its iron] That wasn't the deal.
[dagger returns to inventory of pc, this option list re displays in dialogue window.]
Shepherd Boy: [If its acceptable] Yeah! My own Dagger!

PC: Be very careful with that thing, you can hurt yourself.
Shepherd Boy: I will! I promise!

Not On Your Life!

[Boys disposition drops by 1-5 pts. First option list re-displays.]

Back

[Re-display previous option list.]


A septim.

Shepherd Boy: (He looks at you appraisingly) ... How about 10.
PC: How about 2.
Shepherd Boy: 7. You came all this way it must be worth that much.
PC: How about 5 and I don't tell your father you are practicing to be a bandit!
Shepherd Boy: [Smiling] Done! (Accept)

Five Septims.

Shepherd Boy: (He looks at you appraisingly) ... Yeah, you look to poor to have more than that. (Acceptance)

Shepherd Boy [After Acceptance]: You go out of [insert_town_name_here] facing [N/S/E/W] and turn [Left/Right]. Follow the road keeping [Left/Right] at the [#] forks. Climb over the [#] hill on your [Left/Right], and the other side is a narrow valley. It goes up and down alot, but it's easy climbs. You just have to stay out of the caves. Bad things live in there! After awhile you get pretty close to [insert_town_name_of_Blades_HQ_here]. You will know when you are in the right place, it just gets open and flat again!
PC: Thank you.
Goodbye.

Puts the PC onto the next quest.

Dialogue Notes:

Obviously the shepherd boy is a little scamp (non-daedric variety)(I think). The "Hidden Route" could also be a very long underground cave system which is relatively safe, but with some bad areas if a wrong turn is taken; or much as what the youth is describing. Obviously the N/S/E/W and Right/Left and insert_XX_here need to be flushed out, but I lack the details needed to do so.

The candy/toy guar/teddy bear/ wooden sword all come from the Children of Morrowind mod (see my other thread on that issue [as of now not written yet])

The dialog has some obvious misspellings for the boy. He's a boy, he talks like that. He says alot rather than a lot, etc.


Traveling the Hidden Road

Spoiler: show
Quest Notes:

Getting onto and following the hidden road will cause no updates in and of itself. The goal here is for the PC to eventually find the body of [insert_name_of _IGS_agent_here], and locate some rather general evidence about how he died. Once the body is discovered the quest will update to the follow up quest.


Find Some Evidence or Report to [insert_name_of_Blades_handler_here]

Spoiler: show
Quest Notes:

This quest's journal entry is deliberately wrong. It should simply be find some evidence, since those were the orders of the Blades handler. If the PC returns without the evidence, a quick dialogue should ensue along the lines of:

Options based on how this was blown:

[Simply returning without evidence]

Blades Handler: Weren't my instructions clear enough %PCGENDER!?
PC: I uh...um...
Blades Handler: You were told to find the material He was carrying, or some evidence to explain what happened to him. Finding a body tells us nothing except he's dead! By Oblivion we had already guessed that much!
PC: ...
Blades Handler: Well? Why are you still here? Go find me something that explains this!
Goodbye
[Blades disposition drops, blades handler disposition drops, blades rank level drops(?)]

[Shot hi mouth off and blew the secrecy.]

See the previous section "Secrecy Failure Dialogue".]

The evidence in question is very vague. The body has nothing on it, probably even decaying after days in a cave or open country. But the clue is nearby. A pile (referring to the visual concept here) of gold coins is able to be seen with some searching very near the body. Like they were dropped in the struggle that killed him. These would require a new dds file to attach to the basic septim nif (obviously a new CS entry) to make them look of elven origin. When these are picked up (a 5 stack)(the stack of coins nif is a little easier to see than the single coin, but the short stack is just small enough to require some searching by the player) the quest updates again (even if the player was smart enough not to have gone back yet) and the next quest begins.


Return With The Evidence

Spoiler: show
Quest Notes:

This portion of the quest is a true quickie. (Get Your Mind Out Of The Gutter!) The player simply has to return to his handler, and report in ... again possibly ...

Dialogue:

Handler: [Options based on previous performance-]

[Previously returned with no evidence.]

So ... did you actually bring me some evidence this time?
PC: Yes sir. And I'm sorry about last time. No excuses.
Handler: Hmmmph ... So, what have ya got.
PC: The body was completely empty, but I found these nearby. I think their Altmeri.
[Altmeri coins removed from PC. Added to Handlers inventory.]
[PC gets back 25% of the points previously lost.]
Handler: I think you may be right. I need to consult some reports and think on this a bit. Come see me tomorrow around noon.
PC: Yes sir.
Goodbye.

[Hasn't returned previously.]

Well, you're back. What did you find?
PC: [insert_name_of_ISG_agent_here] was dead. Obviously killed in a fight.
Handler: And ...
PC: I found these nearby. (Give the strange coins to [insert_handler_name_here].) I think there Altmeri.
Altmeri coins removed from PC inventory.
Altmeri coins added to Handler inventory.
Handler: I think you may be right. I need to consult some reports and think on this a bit. Come see me tomorrow around noon.
PC: Yes sir.
Goodbye.

[Shot his mouth off during the quest and blew it.]

See the previous section on "Secrecy Failure Dialogue"
Note that the Altmeri coins are still in PC inventory. He gets to keep them as a reminder of the possibility of failures.

Dialogue Notes:

Any success section should also include the following things:

• Handler Disposition increase [TBD]
  
• Blades Disposition increase [TBD]
  
• Blades Level Increase [TBD] (?)
  
• The Topics missing reports and missing courier are invalidated and will no longer appear anywhere.
  Note that the level increase should only occur during major successes.
  

Return to [Insert_handler_name_here].

Spoiler: show
General Quest Notes:

This quest is another quickie (I Told You Not To Go There!). The PC simply has to leave the Handlers office, and return somewhere between 1100 and 1300 the next day. Early gets the PC thrown out, late gets the PC chewed out.

Dialogue:

Options based on time of arrival:

[Timming is way to early]

Handler: Hmmm? Yes?
PC: I'm back as you requested.
[Handler disposition drop [TBD]]
[Blades Disposition Drop [TBD]]
[Player returned without evidence previously]

Handler: You seem to have a very serious problem with following directions! I said "around Noon"! Now Get Out!
Goodbye.
[Additional disposition drop for Handler only.]

[Player didn't fail in this quest line previously]

[b[Handler:[/b] The directions I gave you were to come back "around Noon". I haven't finished reviewing the information yet.
PC: Sorry sir. I'll be back a little alter then.
Goodbye.
[Small disposition drop for Handler only.]

[Timming is late (after 1300)]

Handler: Where on Nirn hae you been?
PC: I'm back as you requested.
Handler: No your not. I said "around noon"! What timne is it now?
PC: It's ...
[Handler disposition drop [TBD]]
[Blades Disposition Drop [TBD]]
[Player returned without evidence previously]

Handler: You seem to have a very serious problem with following directions! But I still need you, so I guess you'll just have to learn as we go ...
PC: Yes sir. Soryy sir.

Player didn't fail in this quest line previously]

Handler: Just try to follow the directions next time huh?
PC: Yes sir, I will. And sorry sir.
Dialogue picks up with section "Normal Results"

[Timming is OK (between 1100 and 1300)]

Handler: Good, your here. I was just about to send someone for you.
PC: No need for that sir. SO what did you learn? Did the reports have anything usefull in them?
Dialogue picks up with section "Normal Results"

Normal Results:

Handler: Usefull yes, but worrying. As you know we are partially tasked with gathering information for The Emperor. The reporst I've been reading are from those sources.
PC: I am aware of that. Worrying how?
Handler: The Altmeri have never been happy with us. We spy on them, they spy on us. It's a basic war without deaths and fighting. A war that hasn't heated up yet.
PC: So a "Cold War" then.
Handler: Hmmm ... Thats good description of it. I think I'll start using that phrase, it'll make the reports easier. Anyway, there usually aren't any deaths involved, at least not among the high ranking agents. Oh we both lose the occasional courier, or snoop, but not the higher ups.
PC: Excuse me sir, I thought you said [insert_dead IGS_agents_name_here] was simply a courier?
Handler: (Chuckles) You caught that eh? Well just you forget you heard it. Any how, that they have acted so directly means two things. The first is that they are more aware of our operations than we had previously thought. And the second is that they have something they are willing to kill to hide.
PC: (Nodding) I see ...
Handler: Those missing reports just became vital reports, and we need that information back. But [dead_IGS_agent_name] died well within our borders, which means there is an Altmeri cell in operation within Cyrodil! That is a huge problem, since we know about three, but none of them was unaccounted for recently, or look like they've been in a fight.
PC: SO you want me to find the missing reports then?
Handler: No. Those reports have probably already left Cyrodil. I have other agents I can send after them. I want you to find this Altmeri cell. We expect them to have operatives here, just as they expect us to have operatives there. The winner is the side who can find the opposition and manipulate their information most effectively. And as of now they're one up on us, and I don't like that at all!
PC: Any suggestions on how I should start?
Handler: Well, [dead_IGS_agent_name] died between [town_where_hidden_road_started_near] and [this_town_name]. So he was found out before [town_where_hidden_road_started_near], or shortly after.
PC: I found his body on a hidden route between those towns. (You describe the route to [handler_name]). He couldn't have been found out after [town_where_hidden_road_started_near], so it must have been in the town, or before it.
Handler So you should start there then. Remember, discuss this with no one but me! Not even other Blades agents. Got it!?
PC: Yes sir! I'll start out at once.
Goodbye.

Dialogue Notes:
As you can see I like to remember past failures and haunt the PC with them. And as before there are new topics which would cook the PC's goose with this quest. Altmeri Agents, dead Blades agent, and vital reports. This time the two "agents" topics will get the PC chewed out and disposition losses. The vital reports (since they should be secret) will kill the quest. That topic will only be rarely seen however.

The two "agents" topics will be available everywhere around the town in question, but the topic he should be asking about is mysterious elves which will yield various possible answers.

It should be noted that any elven race will be offended by this question, and their should be disposition drops between the PC and the person being questioned.


Find The Cell

Spoiler: show
Quest Notes:

The PC will at least find this quest annoying. Hopefully quite frustrating. No matter who he talks to in the town, no one seems to know anything. Five people give him answers which are definite "No" answers (we'll come back to this bunch), and one or two otherwise not used NPC's will give him answers which indicate they have some weird suspicions.

The I have doubts group must be completely inconsequential NPCs as they will all die. Each time the PC encounters one of these, they will suggest a more clandestine meeting. They want to meet at midnight, in a location which can view the center of town, but not be seen easily from it. They will actually name this place, I am being vague due to lack of knowledge.

The cell actually is based in this town. Each night between 0100 and 0130 four members of the group (separately) cross town to visit the fifth member. Their scripts are similar to the "Fargoth Walk" script. Additionally town sentries in the area will be scripted to "be elsewhere" at certain key points, so the travel does go unnoticed. However, each time the PC gets to one of these meetings he finds a corpse instead.

With the discovery of each contact, and the following corpse find, the quest will update.

• Journal Entry I met a(n) [informant_race] who thinks [he_she] might now something. [he_she] wants to meet tonight at midnight at [meeting_place] to tell me more.
  
• [End Quest Find The Cell] [Begin Quest Meet [informants_name]]
  
• Journal Entry I found [informants_name] dead at our meeting place. [he_she] really must have known something, but I don't know what. I will have to keep looking.
  
• [End Quest Meet [informants_name]] [Begin Quest Find The Cell]
  
• Journal Entry Found a second informant who wants a secret meeting. I advised a more public place but [he_she] is adamant. Says there is something I must be able to see. This time I will arrive early and hide so as to safeguard the meeting.
  
• [End Quest Find The Cell] [Begin Quest Meet The Informant]
  
• Journal Entry I arrived early to the meeting, but to no avail. My informant was killed right before my eyes. I attacked his assailant but he drank a potion, shot straight up and vanished. He must have drank an invisibility potion. By the time I got my wits about me He was gone. Tall, kinda thin, kinda elf like, but I never saw his face or got a good look at his form. His cloak had a hood and was quite concealing. Back to square one I guess.
  
• [End Quest Meet The Informant] [Begin Quest Find The Cell]
  
• Journal Entry Met a woman named [informant_name]. She says she thinks she knows something, and explained the others were right, I have to see it. Said something about people walking town at night and vanishing into thin air. Her description matches the shadowy guy I fought at my last meeting. She wants to meet me at her home at 1100 tonight, and we will venture out from there.
  
• [End Quest Find The Cell] [Begin Quest Meet With [informants_name]]
  
• Journal Entry [if previous murders were reported] Damn it to Oblivion and back! When i got to her home tonight [informants_name] was dead on the floor! Not a mark on her! No trace of a fight, or poison, or anything. I fled before the authorities could find me "over the body" as it were.
  
• Journal Entry [if previous murders were NOT reported] Damn it to Oblivion and back! When i got to her home tonight [informants_name] was dead on the floor! Not a mark on her! No trace of a fight, or poison, or anything.
  
• [End Quest Meet With [informant_name]] [Begin Quest Find The Cell]
  
• Journal Entry I found another informant, a Bosmer. I told him about what happened to the others and that we should not meet but talk now. To my surprise he agreed. He to spoke of people simply vanishing into thin air while walking the streets. He also said He was on night duty at the [name_of_an_inn_or_tavern] so he had never seen it. So tonight I am going to watch the square. The meeting places were all able to see the square discreetly, so I assume the vanishings are from there.
  
• [End Quest Find The Cell] [Begin Quest Observe The Vanishings]
  
• Journal Entry [Occurs after 4 hours of observation] I've been here four hours and found nothing. The Bosmer said he worked nights at [name_of_the_inn_or_tavern] so I am going to find him and make further inquiries.
  
• [End Quest Observe The Vanishings] [Start Quest Find The Bosmer]
  
• Journal Entry [Triggered by talking to the inkeeper-barkeep about the bosmer] The Bosmer's employer said he never showed up tonight. Guy sounded mad. My informant probably just lost his job, if He's still alive. Guy said He was probably still at home.
  
• Journal Entry [Triggered finding the Bosmer's body][if previous deaths were reported] That's it! I'm asking for reinforcements! I went to the Bosmer's house and He's gone. The place is trashed, helluva fight must have happened, but I didn't see any blood. I left in hurry.
  
• Journal Entry [Triggered finding the Bosmer's body][if previous deaths went un-reported] That's it! I'm asking for reinforcements! I went to the Bosmer's house and He's gone. The place is trashed, helluva fight must have happened, but I didn't see any blood.
  
• [End Quest Find The Bosmer] [Start Quest Get Some Help!
  
  OK, this part is slight stretch. In Skyrim's DLC (Dragonborn) a new character was added to the thieves guild. A flesh sculptor (plastic surgeon) who implied that she had learned her skill in the Altmeri lands. I take that as cannon for the existence of advanced plastic surgery ability in the Altmeri lands. (The NPC was able to completely redo the Players features. I never tried but it was implied a race change was also possible.) The rest of this is based on that knowledge.
  
  The five people who gave vehement answers of "Nope, not around here." are in fact the spies. A tall thin NIF of a Cyrodilan would be used for them, as they are all Altmer who have had their features changed by this "flesh sculpting" procedure.
  
  IF the PC HAPPENS to notice this meeting walking script in action, and follows any of the members to the meeting; AND manages to snoop unobserved; then he will become aware through their conversation that they are the Altmeri spies. They will not however speak about the "flesh sculpting" process. At this point the player will still be unaware of the IGS's real purpose, or the flesh sculpting thing. A totally unrelated (at least by appearances) quest will lead the PC down that path. If the PC finds the spies this way He will get a Journal update telling him to report his find to his Handler. This will effectively skip everything (or most of it) in the next post by me in this thread.
  
  At each stage of this there will exist an option for him to report the murders to the town guards. Since He is the sole reporter, after report two he will find he always has a guard shadowing him. And if he is seen by a guard entering a house where a body is later found, or he reports the body there, they will openly accuse him. They will assign him the bounty for all murders so far, and arrest him as per their normal script. To do this the doors on these homes must have scripts added to them which will check for line of sight between the tailing guard and the PC. This function is known to take a bit to process so is rarely used in Morrowind. If it is attached to the doors though, the slight delay will appear to the player as the load screen taking a moment.
  
  There is no benefit to reporting the murders.

[jazzon]

Reservation 1

In this phase the PC will:
[*] Be denied his help
[*] Be pulled from the assignment
[*] Learn about the "flesh sculptors" (In a quest in way related to IGS or blades)
[*] Eventually (I hope) discuss that discovery with his handler who puts two and two together and sends him back to what ever town you guys chose.
[*] Discover who the ring is, but they flee before he can catch them.
[*] Catch up with the ring in an underground "safe house" where they are holding (torturing for information he doesn't have) the Bosmer from town. By coincidence the Bosmer IS an IGS agent who IS NOT "in the know", but the elves suspect. And here the player will overhear part of that conversation.
[*] Be unable to save the Bosmer's life, but able to kill the agents, and find evidence of another cell. This evidence includes a meeting instruction (happened weeks ago) which names another "sculpted" altmeri.
[*] Report to his handler, who recognizes the name on the note as an "up -and-coming" Bosmer in the IGS being considered for making into an agent. The handler refuses to acknowledge IGS related questions at this point, but the player will have figured it out partially.

[jazzon]

Reservation 2
During this phase the player will:
[*] Be sent to monitor the IGS spy, but not be officially told about IGS activity.
[*] Discover this guy really is a spy, and have to follow him around for a while to determine who his ring members are
[*] Identify two other ring members, and determine that are part of a fledgling Altmeri intelligence gathering and political espionage organization known as the Thallmor
[*] Report to Handler who sends him back with orders to try to infiltrate the ring
[*] begin having anti-imperial conversations with the Thallmor
[*] Be approached about "doing some observing" for the Thallmor.
[*] Do a couple of small intel gathering quests for the Thallmor.
[*] The Thallmor like his work, but he is not one of them, so they never confirm who the really are. The PC only knows through his observation. The eventually discretely suggest the PC join the Blades, and report to them what he does.
[*] Report to his handler frequently by means of a courier, and pick up responses at a pre arranged dead drop.
[*] The Handler agrees to "accept him into the blades" and sends him on a couple BS assignments.
[*] Pass off intel about these assignments to the Thallmor.
[*] The Handler has other agents begin interfering with the Thallmor's couriers, putting pressure on them to act more openly and slip up.
[*] The Thallmor mis-identify the source of this action as the IGS supervisor.
[*] The IGS supervisor knows all about the PC being planted, but has never admitted it to the PC. Suspecting his life might be in danger, and with no IGS personnel available, he asks that the PC meet him one night at his home.
[*] PC Arrives to see the Thallmor attempting to kill the IGS leader, and tries to rescue the IGS leader (blowing his cover). He kills two Thallmor agents, but the third escapes in the fracas.
[*] The IGS leader tells the PC to hurry back to his Handler (revealing for the first time that he knows whats going on) and report what just happened in person. Then he dies.
[*] The Handler finally comes clean about the IGS, promotes some personnel within the IGS, and tells the PC to make sure that the Thallmor can never reveal what they know. Hunt down and kill the remaining leader.

During all of this the PC learned that the Thallmor had never reported their theories home, fearing ridicule at being afraid of "little old scholars". He also learned that this Thallmor cell is the "director cell" for all operations in Cyrodil. Stopping this last guy before he reveals his info is critical.

[jazzon]

Reservation 3

This phase is really simple. The PC will hunt down the Thallmor, who is fleeing from cell to cell. His Handler will give him a list of cells in advance which he must not interfere with, as they are being used in a disinformation campaign. Any other cells he discovers, He is free to either wipe out, or report them in to his Handler for disinformation utilization. The PC can then do either of these things as he tries to catch this last leader. This should end in a very epic fight. Lots of chances to earn disposition jumps with blades during this.

During this phase IGS agents will randomly encounter the PC and also give him some small "deliver this" type quests. These will involve delivering intel to his Handler, or the new IGS leader. Since the Thallmor who is fleeing suspects the IGS of being intel workers, he is discretely steering the cells into hunting them down to see if there is an impact on Cyrodils intelligence. Because of his obsession, the PC would encounter several IGS types in the process of being killed.

Ultimately this phase will have lots of tiny quests.


These sections will be filled out only if approved. Each of these takes me quite a while to actually write.

[Infragris]

Alright, a couple of things:
First, try to refrain from double-, triple- or quadruple posting: if all your information fits into one post, keep 'em that way. If we go through with your proposed questline, detail planning would receive its own claim in the Quests & NPC's subforum, where you can go into all kinds of detail.

While I am impressed with your industriousness and creativity, it would be more beneficial if you stated your idea in one, clear, concise proposition before going into its practical implication: these sort of ideas need to be vetted first for their feasibility, tone, and adherence to established lore. It's a pity if you put so much work into a detailed plan, only for it to fall through due to such an objection. People are also going to be less likely to offer criticism or praise when confronted with a text wall.
As things stand now, I'm afraid I'll have to make several objections already:

• Making the IGS a spy faction is not a decision to be taken lightly: they have obvious ties to the Imperial government, but until now only as a propaganda machine (which is, in itself, an interesting path to explore). Ultimately, I don't see why your proposal couldn't be a Blades questline instead of an IGS one.
• The Thalmor are a very minor faction during the Morrowind period. Lorewise, they only come to power in the period after the Oblivion Crisis and the fall of Crystal-Like-Law, when they abuse the chaos in Alinor to take over. They would not be capable of projecting power into Cyrodiil in our time period, nor would they have any reason to do so. I'm a little wary of making any reference to the Thalmor at all, as it is such a Skyrim thing that it comes close to pandering.
• Elven coins: the Summerset Isles do not have their own currency, they pay in Septims like the rest of the Empire.
• Flesh sculptors: there is actual mention of flesh sculpting among the Ayleid, though not in the way you would think: seems like it was a kind of creepy artform back then. Anyway, making a separate race of "Imperialized" Elves would be a lot of work for a minor questline, and would likely bump into all kinds of problems in terms of dialogue, texture replacers and scripted race detection. Adding new races as purely technical hacks is better avoided for the sake of compatablility and continuity with vanilla Morrowind. It also feels like an extremely un-Elvish thing to do, especially for the Thalmor, to assume the guise of the lesser races.

Please don't take this the wrong way: I think you have some good ideas here, but you can't just jump ahead and start deciding on large swathes of the mod or producing entire quests without consulting with anyone. P:C is a communal effort because each of us has capacities and expertise that can help determine what the mod will look like: not just as limitations, but also as new opportunities.

Lastly, it would be great if you could submit a modder showcase. It's a bit of a formality, but afterwards you will be accredited as a full member and get access to all sections of the forum.

[jazzon]

@infragris
1) This was meant as a suggestion...I put it here for comment and all are welcome.
2) Not trying to make big changes...You guys don't post much where your decisions can be clearly followed, so a newcomer like myself kinda has to wing it.
3) Not proposing a new race. Same race, just using a different nif (or same nif different dds would work to)
4) Never saw the sculpting lore your referring to, so was ignorant of it. Dito the coins.
5) Chose thallmor name more to imply the personality of the group than anything else. They arose far off in time anyway if I recall. And I did say they were fledgling, not yet the big force they are in Skyrim.
6) Believe it or not, the entire quest line existed in my head in under 5 minutes (including the many not written here). This type of detail is just a part of my natural way of doing things, not even a big effort as far as I'm concerned. But your point is well taken.
7) Yeah...I am a wall builder, and much of my writing goes unseen as a result. I just cant stand doing things by halves.
8) The multi post was because it was becoming difficult to track the nested blocks in the editor. One list not handled right made me spend three hours finding the glitch (linux uses/ for paths and I'm not used to hand writing tags which I was doing at the time)

Unfortunately modding is no longer an option for me with morrowind. Many years ago I removed all the Microsoft crap from my house and switched to Linux. This means that every once in while there is something I cannot do. While I can make the entire game run fun, the render window of the CS is a no go. I can pan it, and rotate it, but I cannot select anything on it, and when another window momentarily blocks it, that window remains as an artifact in the render window after it is closed. So I can edit and write anything for a mod, but I cannot place things for a mod. (Ihave the same issues with the Skyrim CK) So the best I can hope for is to provide ideas and help to others, and script editing (which I once was quite good at). (Or play-test/CS reviewing)

But as I said, all feedback welcome, as long as it's constructive. I hate flaming idiots (pun intended)

EDIT: Forgot one thing. The reason i thought of this for IGS was exactly the fact that there is not a lot of lore about them. Aside from their use for propaganda, little is said. And their obvious ties to the civilian part of the empire is what makes them a possible candidate. As I said most of them are just what they publicly claim to be. Their editors and superiors are the agents reviewing field notes and such of their authors with a more military approach. A gentle nudge to a field guy about "well I've heard that such and such a town is no longer nice to live in because of all the military activity" and then reporting the responses to the Blades, who in turn pass the info on as "from a reliable source".

[Infragris]

3) Not proposing a new race. Same race, just using a different nif (or same nif different dds would work to)

I don't know how this works for other TES games, but for Morrowind this can only be accomplished by creating a completely new race in the CS.

For your CS woes, have you tried OpenMW? Alongside the new engine, they are also working on a new CS. Not feature-complete, of course, but it is geared towards Linux users, so you may find it useful. In the long run, we are planning to move the whole project towards OpenMW, as the vanilla engine can't quite manage province mods.

We first have to ascertain what the IGS people do all day long, apart from making reports. We know they wrote the Pocket Guides, but that's three info booklets across several centuries - kind of a low output. Do they write travelogues? Maps? Geological surveys? Chorographical examinations? I like the idea of their reports serving as a source of information for the Blades, but we shouldn't forget that the Blades in Morrowind are already a very civilian-focused organization: most agents have commoner or even drug addict covers. There should definitely be a Blades mole in the IGS, but I'm not sold on making the whole society a front for them.

[jazzon]

Hmmmm ... I had forgotten the whole civilian cover thing. Your right there. Mole in IGS not IGS manager organization.

i was just thinking of them being "played" by the blades, with the blades having one or two people in key positions. The best cover after all would be if the IGS really was just the IGS. The blades "considers" IGS their personal toy. But in reality IGS is the IGS, the blades just have a man way up near the top handing out some assignments to IGS pawns.

Re reading my OP here, I see I failed (baddly) to show that. I didnt mean the IGS functioned knowingly as an intel agency, more that they were manipulated into one. Much like the American CIA once tried with National Geographic (according to my father any way. But he was no conspiracy nut so maybe he was right. It would make sense.)

[Tes96]

We first have to ascertain what the IGS people do all day long, apart from making reports. We know they wrote the Pocket Guides, but that's three info booklets across several centuries - kind of a low output. Do they write travelogues? Maps? Geological surveys? Chorographical examinations? I like the idea of their reports serving as a source of information for the Blades, but we shouldn't forget that the Blades in Morrowind are already a very civilian-focused organization: most agents have commoner or even drug addict covers. There should definitely be a Blades mole in the IGS, but I'm not sold on making the whole society a front for them.

Will we be making the Pocket Guide 1st edition book? It would be a large book but we could probably just structure it off of how the real one looks that was shipped with Redguard, like this.

So Cosades is just posing as a Skooma addict? I always thought he just let himself go and was depressed and fell into a drug addiction by being stuck in a shitty house in Balmora. I assume the guards all esoterically know his cover story and don't question any skooma they find in his possession. Thanks, Infragris, I never realized that, despite how obvious it is to most other people.

[Infragris]

The situation with Caius is a bit of both, I guess: his role as skooma addict helps hide his activities from the locals, but he did really let himself go (at the end of the game, he is recalled to Cyrodiil because his superiors are concerned about his sugar usage). It's never explicitly stated whether it's a front or a genuine addiction, but the lucid and rational way he acts during the game suggests that he's at least partially playing a role.

We should definitely add the PGE 1. It would be pretty old by now (printed during Tiber Septim's times), but there's no reason not to include it. I'd actually forgotten it's not an in-game book. As a matter of fact, why don't we have the player help out with production of the PGE 3? That could make for an interesting quest.

[Tes96]

The situation with Caius is a bit of both, I guess: his role as skooma addict helps hide his activities from the locals, but he did really let himself go (at the end of the game, he is recalled to Cyrodiil because his superiors are concerned about his sugar usage). It's never explicitly stated whether it's a front or a genuine addiction, but the lucid and rational way he acts during the game suggests that he's at least partially playing a role.

We should definitely add the PGE 1. It would be pretty old by now (printed during Tiber Septim's times), but there's no reason not to include it. I'd actually forgotten it's not an in-game book. As a matter of fact, why don't we have the player help out with production of the PGE 3? That could make for an interesting quest.

Poor guy, I always had a soft spot in my heart for him.
I'd like to see a mod that has him appear in the Imperial City after you defeat Dagoth Ur... once P:C version 1.0.0 is released... in 2030 A.D.

Well certainly reprints of PGE 1 have been made. And I'm totally for having the Player be a part in the PGE 3 production... not necessarily a major decision maker in how it's made but something minimal yet substantial.

[Saint_Jiub]

Proposed functions of the IGS:

Composing and printing the PGEs, obviously.
Museums and libraries built from artifacts and materials collected from around the provinces.
Caretakers of the now-defunct Mothships.
Drawing up maps and sea charts (including the illustrious Natalia Dravarol, Cartographer).
Funding/staffing research expeditions outside the provinces or in contested territories and Oblivion, and collecting these reports for posterity, including the logs from the the ill-fated Remanite ventures to Aetherius.

[TerrifyingDaedricFoe]

Dwemeri Airship quest idea - possibly linked to the Imperial Cartographic / Geographical Society
Peoples of the Reach by Antony Cestus, Imperial Cartographer

[Infragris]

Mothship maintenance would be more of a Mananaut thing, I think. Are we going to make a distinction between the Imperial Geographical Society and the Imperial Archaeological Society? The latter is also mentioned here and there, and features in TR's Kemel-Ze.