Madmen - A Forsworn Overhaul

Madmen - A Forsworn Overhaul

"You want to know who the Forsworn are? We are the people who must pillage our own land. Burn our own ground. We are the scourge of the Nords. The axe that falls in the dark. The scream before the gods claim your soul. We are the true sons and daughters of the Reach. The spirits and hags have lived here from the beginning, and they are on our side. Go back. Go back and tell your Empire that we will have our own kingdom again. And on that day, we will be the ones burying your dead in a land that is no longer yours."

- Cortoran, Forsworn warrior

Madmen is intended to be a complete overhaul of the Forsworn faction's enemies, including Hagravens and Witches. This mod introduces some much-needed identity to the Forsworn, featuring a large thematic shift away from "antler bandits", focusing instead on spiritual, shamanistic abilities for the Forsworn themselves, while the Hagravens and Witches practice darker, more sinister magics. Each new NPC added to the game has a completely unique appearance, all made by hand. With additional tiers of enemies, increased level caps, adjusted stats and perks, new spells, 4 new enemy types, and a greatly expanded loot pool of enchanted and magical items, Forsworn enemies will pose a significantly greater challenge in their own unique ways.

Forsworn Identity, Magic, and Skills:

Arguably the biggest issue with vanilla Forsworn is a lack of theme and identity to their enemies. We really only get to face archers, fighters, and typical mages, making it a difficult task to differentiate between bandits and Forsworn, despite massive lore differences. Forsworn are described as the ancestral inhabitants of the Reach and a branch of typical Bretons, practicing old magic, worshiping Daedra and communing with spirits, and performing horrifying magical rituals to gain power. We see some of this with the lore surrounding Briarhearts and Hagravens, but very little of this unique identity comes through in gameplay. Rectifying this was one of my primary goals when designing Madmen.

The Forsworn faction can effectively be broken down into multiple separate groups within that faction: Forsworn, Briarhearts, Witches, and Hagravens. The closer you get to Hagraven and Daedric influence, the darker the magic becomes. How this translates to gameplay is as follows:

Forsworn magic initially consists of Shock Destruction spells, Flesh Alteration spells, and Animal Familiar Conjuration spells. Briarheart magic incorporates Poison Restoration spells instead of Shock, but still maintains Flesh and Familiar spells. Witches use Poison, Alteration, and Necromancy, and finally Hagravens use Poison, Alteration, and can directly summon the Undead