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     The Elder Scrolls IV
           Oblivion: 
  Moriarcis: City of the Dead
		
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Index:
1. Installation
2. Playing the Plugin
3. Description
4. Stuff You should Know / How Stuff Works
5. Known Issues
6. Quest Walkthrough
7. Change Log
8. Contact


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     1. INSTALLING THE PLUGIN

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To install the plugin, unzip the files into the Oblivion/Data
Files directory. Make sure you have OBSE v0014a or later as well.

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     2. PLAYING THE PLUGIN

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From the Oblivion Launcher, select Data Files and check the box 
next to the Moriarcis.esp file. Depending upon your particular
set up, you may need to adjust Moriarcis' position in your mod
load order as well. To play the mod you MUST launch the game
through the OBSE launcher.

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     3. Description

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What this mod does:

This mod adds a quest chain designed for players of the necromancer
persuasion. The quest chain takes place in an underground city 
called Moriarcis. Throughout the quest chain, the player will be
rewarded with various necromatic spells and abilities. Other
spells/items are available for purchase from the city's merchants.

All told, this mod adds:

- A brand new Ayleid Ruined City to explore

- "Friendly" undead skeletal citizens, each with their own daily 
  routines

- 2 Brand new Dungeons

- A new main quest chain with 2-4 hours of gameplay

- A side quest chain with 1-2 hours of gameplay

- 2 new sets of armor

- Several books filled with lore.

- The Ability to now play the game as a necromancer, complete with
  new spells, abilities, and playstyle-changing powers

- The ability to permanently summon skeletal minions, equip them
  with arms and armor, and issue commands through menus or spells.

- Skeletal Mannequins (Fully Posable) to display your armor and
  weapon collections


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     4. Stuff You Should Know / How Stuff Works

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GENERAL stuff:

- This mod REQUIRES OBSE v0014a or later! Get the latest version
  at: http://obse.silverlock.org/

- Shivering Isles is not required for this mod, and it should
  work whether you have SI or not.

- This mod has beed tested to be compatible with OOO, Francesco's,
  MMM, etc... in fact, the only mods that shoul conflict with
  Moriarcis are mods that alter the cells 22,34 and those
  immediately adjacent. 

- To begin the mod, you can either find the ruin yourself...
  ( the quest will begin automatically upon stumbling upon the
  ruin ) OR if you'd prefer to not have to search all of
  Cyrodiil, find necromancers, and kill them. Eventually, you
  may find some correspondence between necromancers that may
  lead you to the forgotten city.

- This mod is intended for players level 10-15, and DOES NOT
  scale. If you approach the city early, be prepared for a fight.

- There is a forum topic for this mod at:
  http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=846314
  please post any issues you are having there. Before you do
  however, please consult the Known Issues section of this
  document, look at the walkthrough, and make sure that you
  are running OBSE v0014a or later. If you're still stuck,
  feel free to post your problem.


THE CITY:

- Just because the city's inhabitants are dead, don't think they
  won't care if you steal their stuff - they will. Unless of
  course, you somehow became their master, then you would
  naturally be able to take whatever you want, or even beat them
  to death if you'd like ;-)

- To get some background on the city, find the book "The Legend
  of Moriarcis" which should be available at your local book
  store.


THE SPELLS:

- Bind Skeletal Minions:
  - Once the main quest chain is complete, the player will be
    granted the ability to permanently bind skeletal minions to
    his service. Unlike vanilla skeletons, however, these skeletons
    are NPCs. This means that not only can they be talked to, but
    they can be equipped and commanded as well. 
  - To bind a skeletal minion, the player will need at least 9 bones:
    8 bones of any type (I found that forcing the player to have
    two clavicles, a torso, a pelvis, etc, grew quite frustrating,
    so I changed it so that any bones will work) and a skull (the
    skull is required). The player will also need a filled black
    soul gem to imbue a soul into the minion.
  - The black soul gem required to bind a minion MUST be either
    found already full, or created with the Harvest Soul spell
    included with the mod, standard soul trapped black soul gems
    WILL NOT WORK.
  - Upon summoning the first minion, 2 things will happen: First,
    the player will be prompted if he wishes to roleplay an evil
    necromancer, if he chooses 'yes' then guards and citizens within
    the major cities will see the player and his minions as evil,
    and attack them on sight. If the player chooses no, there will
    be no reaction by NPCs to the player or his minions. Second,
    the player will receive several powers/spells related to his
    minions.
  - While in their 'follow' state, Minions will draw their weapons
    when the player draws his, and will sneak when the player sneaks.
  - Minion's levels are determined by a multiplier that is determined
    by the player's conjuration, intelligence, willpower, and luck.
    This percentage modifier is multiplied by the player's level to
    determine the minion's level when summoned. In other words,
    more powerful necromancers can summon minions up to and including
    their level.   
  - Minions are commandable two ways: first, one can simply
    activate them to bring up all of their stats and commands.
    However, since all those messageboxes disrupt gameplay, once you
    summon your first minion, you will be given a set of command spells:
    Attack, Follow, Wait, and Rampage. These spells cost no mana, have
    no visuals, but have the same effects as if the player had manually
    commanded all of the minions around him. These spells will only
    affect minions within a certain radius of the player, and will not
    affect minions that are far away, in another cell, etc.
  - Minions also have "set Base" and "return to base" commands. Set Base
    will set a location for ALL Minions to return to if so told. That
    is to say, all minions share the same base, and will go to the same
    place when told to return to base, not that all minions will return
    to base when one is told to.
  - Bound minions will never ever attack the player (no matter what
    he does to them), the will produce bonemeal on death, they cannot
    be soultrapped  and cannot be given healing potions (as they
    have no digestive system to process them) but they can receive
    poison potions to use on their weapons. Minions are also immune
    to healing spells. However, on summoning, the player will receive
    a spell called "Repair skeletal Minion" which is a touch based spell
    that repairs a minion based on the number of bones in the players
    inventory - ie, the player must use up bones to repair the minion.
  - Summoning minions is an exhausting process, for 60 seconds after
    binding, the player will have stunted health and fatigue. In
    addition, minions have a constant 50 magicka cost to keep them
    functioning. Each minion the player summons will increase the
    amount of magicka that he has to spend constantly in order to keep
    them alive. 
  - The maximum number of minions a player can sustain is determined
    by a formula combining his conjuration, willpower, intelligence,
    and luck. 
  - The maximum number of minions any player can sustain is 10.

- Harvest Soul
  - A version of the soul trap spell created specifically for this mod.
    Harvest soul is a 30-sec touch based soul trap that will trap an
    NPC's soul into an empty Black Soul Gem. These gems can now be
    used to create skeletal minions.
  - By process of this spell, NPCs slain while under its effects have
    a chance to spawn bones on them that can be used in the binding
    process.
  - This spell will not work on creatures or Daedra.

- Corpseflesh:
  - Corpseflesh makes the player's flesh tough and hard, like that of
    a cadaver, granting a shield ability as well as a resistance to
    normal weapons. 
  - The player becomes a living petulance, a walking disease, and
    gains immunity to diseases for the duration of the spell.
  - Because the player is now a walking infection, anyone he strikes
    with a hand to hand blow has a chance of contracting a random
    disease. The chance is tied directly to the player's hand to hand
    skill, so skilled players will be able to infect their targets with
    multiple diseases in a matter of seconds, making them much more
    susceptible to the sweet release of death.

- Resurrect Horse:
  - With this spell, the player can resurrect any slain horse as a
    skeletal equine for his own personal use.
  - The player can only have one skeletal horse at a time.
  - Special thanks to Z and his Skeleton Horse mod for the meshes
    on this one, the original Skeleton Horse mod can be downloaded here:
    http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=8823

- Possess Weapon:
  - Possess Weapon summons an invisible shade to the player's side,
    this shade will seek out the nearest melee weapon lying around the
    player and possess it, floating it into the air and bringing it to
    life. The weapon will now defend the player and attack his enemies.
    Any damage done to the shade is done to the weapon, so as the weapon
    is hit in combat, its durability (and therefore its effectiveness)
    decreases. Once the weapon is broken, (or the spell timer runs out)
    the shade dies, and the weapon falls helplessly to the ground.
  - The duration of the spell is dependant upon the player's mysticism,
    intelligence, and willpower.

- Siphon Soul:
  - This spell functions much like the standard 'Soul Trap' spell, but
    rather than trapping the target's soul in a soul gem upon death,
    the player channels the flesh and soul of the target into himself,
    slaying a character under the effects of Siphon Soul provides a
    1pt restore health and restore fatigue effect that lasts for
    ( 1/2 the player's Mysticism skill ) seconds. 
  - This spell only works on NPCs, it will not work on creatures.
  - This spell will not stack with Soul Trap, ie, you cannot have both
    affecting a target at once, you must choose whether you want the
    target's soul now, or stored for later.

- Soul Eater:
  - Soul Eater reduces the mage's dependence on potions by letting him
    consume black soulgems for health. 
  - The amount of health restored is directly related to the player's
    restoration skill. More skilled mages will heal themselves more. 
  - Consuming a soul is a draining process, and as such, this spell will
    drain the player's fatigue for a time.

- Soul Drinker:
  - This spell allows the user to consume a normal soul gem in order to
    regain magicka.
  - The amount of magicka regained is tied directly to the player's
    restoration skill and the level of the soul consumed.
  - The influx and transmuting of a soul to magical energy makes the
    mage unable to cast spells for a brief time after consumptions.

- Corrupt Soul Gem:
  - This spell allows the player to sacrifice a small magicka to
    convert a Grand Soul Gem to a Black Soul Gem.
  - This spell will only work outdoors under the moon or starlight
    of a clear night.


THE MANNEQUINS:

- Mannequins are objects that can be placed in the world and used
  to display the player's arms and armor collection.
- Skeletal mannequins appear in the player's inventory with a skull
  icon.
- To place a mannequin, stand in the place you wish the mannequin
  to be, facing the direction you wish it to face, and Shift+Click
  the mannequin icon in your inventory to drop it.
- To access the skeletal mannequin's menu, the player simply needs
  to activate it.
- Mannequins have standard poses, which include: Drawing/Sheathing
  their weapons, Toggling Sneaking, and Toggling Blocking.
- Mannequins also have special poses, which disregard their standard
  pose settings and animate into a special pose, then freeze.

  
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     5. Known Issues

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- This mod has been found to be INCOMPATIBLE with Midas Magic, as
  the two mods use the same external cells. For the moment at
  least, you will have to choose one or the other to run.

- Sometimes Myrk may dissappear after the final encounter, if
  this happens, you must reload a savegame from before you met
  him in his chambers and play through again.

THE MINIONS:

- Bind Skeletal Minions:
  - Due to the fact that NPCs no longer update their equipment
    after death, all skeletal NPCs in the mod (the citizens, the
    minions, and others) will unequip all of their items after
    the player activates them once. This will appear as if the
    player has clicked the "Take All" button, but rest assured,
    the items are still in the skeleton's inventory, it simply
    no longer has them equipped.
  - Minions are NPCs, NPCs have skin... any articles of armor
    or clothing that show skin (ie, most pants, the iron cuirass,
    etc) will show skin on the minions... this will appear
    strange, but there's nothing that can be done about it.
  - Binding a minion REQUIRES the soul gem to be found already
    full or created with the HARVEST SOUL spell, standard
    soul trapped black soul gems will not work. The best way to
    tell the difference is to download the Leviathon Soulgems
    mod here: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10403
    You will know if your soulgems are usable if their icons
    in your inventory point to the right and have a slight glow.

THE SPELLS

- Corpse Flesh:
  - Depending on your hardware, the Corpse Flesh spell shader may
    not take effect immediately upon casting. Cycling between
    first and third person views seems to help.

- Convert Soul Gem:
  - As stated, this spell will only work outdoors on a clear
    night. However, weather functions in Oblivion are a bit
    wonky, and what's clear programmatically may not look clear in
    the sky. Also, depending on weather mods you may have installed,
    "clear" may not look so clear, and visca versa.

- Possess Weapon:
  - Occasionally, the weapon holder will not drop its weapon when
    it dies, if this happens, it will spawn a brand new, full
    health copy of its weapon at the spot where it died. So, if
    you see that after combat, the weapon has full health, that's
    why.
  - There is a brief period between when the possessor picks the
    weapon up and when it equips the weapon. If the possessor dies
    during this period, the weapon will automatically be re-added
    to the player's inventory.
  - For some god-awful reason that I cannot fathom, there is an
    extremely rare chance that the script on the possessor will
    simply not process. I have no idea why... I have done my best
    to fix it, but it still may happen in rare circumstances.
    Normally, when a possessor picks up a weapon, it will spawn
    a particle effect around itself, to let you know that it's
    got a weapon. You will know that the script has stopped
    processing if weapons disappear, and this particle effect
    does not spawn. Unfortunately, every casting of the spell
    thereafter will result in the same outcome - weapons getting
    eaten. The only known fix is the shut down Oblivion entirely 
    and re-load, this seems to fix it.

THE MANNEQUINS

- The mannequins are real NPCs that will animate into the poses
  you tell them to... please try not to mess with them while
  they're animating. I haven't been able to mess them up, but
  that doesn't mean YOU couldn't.
- When told to block, the mannequins will spawn an invisible
  combat target to block. This was done because just telling
  the mannequin to play the block animation did not equip his
  weapon... which looked like crap. As such, you may want to
  avoid telling mannequins to block in crowded cities, as some
  might react to the block target.
- The mannequins special poses all work on timers, that is to say
  they freeze at certain times during their animations. This is
  time based, obviously, and as such, is somewhat contingent
  upon your framerate. Very fast or very slow framerates may
  result in the mannequins not freezing during the correct part
  of their animations. I wish I could do more to fix this, but
  until we get direct animation control functions... this is
  the best that can be done.


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     6. Quest Walkthrough

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- I include this not because I love spoilers, or that I don't 
  want you to figure things out on your own... I certainly do.
  However, if I don't include this, my inbox will be flooded for
  years to come with "where do I go from here?" and "how do I..."
  And I speak from experience on this one. Please, please try to
  experience the mod and story on your own, it took me a great
  deal of time to make it, and I think there are some genuinely
  great moments within. However, if you are absolutely stuck,
  here it is:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILER WARNING<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILER WARNING<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILER WARNING<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

- If, for whatever reason, you wish to skip the quest entirely,
  or the quest chain breaks, or you simply don't want to do it,
  but still want the spells, open up the console by hitting the
  ~ key, and type: set MCSMMinionQuest.GiveAll to 1
  this will give you all of the spells/items you would normally
  acquire during the course of the mod... you dirty cheater you.

- There are two ways to start the mod, you can either stumble
  across the ruin yourself (located east of the Ayleid Ruin of
  Sedor) or you can kill necromancers until you find a letter.

- Once you find the letter, a map marker will be added for
  Moriarcis, go there, and you will find a door sealed with a
  riddle.

- To solve the riddle, activate the door to be presented with a
  container, place bonemeal and mort flesh inside and cast a Turn
  Undead spell on the door. The ingredients can be found in a
  charred corpse hanging from one of the nearby pillars.

- Once inside, you will be told to go to the far side of the city,
  activate the sealed door and you will be given your first task:
  Kill the Paladin.

- Return to the outside of the ruin and kill the paladin, go back
  to the sealed door to be rewarded. Don't forget to use the spell
  it gives you on the Paladin's horse. Now you must fill 5 black
  soul gems.

- Go talk to the mage in the Arcanum Scelestus, you will be given
  a side quest to find out more about Rathran Myrk. While you're
  here, buy the Siphon Soul spell. Now, To find the mage's lost
  amulet, go find the skeletal farmer tending to the corpses. Note
  that some mods disable the visuals on Amulets, so you may not
  be able to see it on him, rest assured, he has it. Talk to him,
  and get the amulet. Return to the mage to get the first part of
  Myrks autobiography. Once that is done, go and find 5 NPCs to
  kill. Cast Siphon Soul on them just before they die, and you
  will harvest their souls for Myrk.

- Go talk to the Innkeeper in the Terra Somnu, he will ask you
  to find a reminder of his dead love. Go talk to the mage, who
  has recently acquired an ayleid bust, buy or steal it, and
  return it to the Innkeeper to get the second part of Myrk's
  autobiography.

- Go turn in the 5 souls you got at the door, you will be given
  your final task. Go talk to the blacksmith in the Pugna
  Venalicium, he will ask you to find his lost sword.

- Go to the Forgotten Crypts, fight your way until you find the
  Varla Stone Cage, from there go right until you reach a dead
  end and a sacrificial altar, the Blacksmith's sword is behind 
  the altar.

- Continue along until you find the Malum Vas, be prepared for
  a fight, the doors will lock once you pick it up. Slay the
  forgotten king, and return to the temple door to turn in your
  quest.

- Go inside and talk to Myrk, stock up, he will teleport you into
  his mind. Fight your way down the platforms to the Oblivion gate,
  don't go in just yet. Go around to the side with the Archway,
  activate the bone claws here, and free the memory. Then go
  through the gate.

- Proceed across the bridge, stop midway to go through one of the
  side doors, free Myrk's Inner Child, and then continue down the
  bridge until you get to the door at the end.

- Once you're in the Inner Sanctuary, you can take a break, there
  are no enemies here. Pick up Resolve and Inspiration to brew
  potions for the upcoming fight. Find a set of Imperial Columns
  with Ayleid blocks leading between them, follow the blocks and
  you will find Myrks' third and final repressed memory. Unlock
  her, and then proceed to what looks like a temple with a bloody
  door, this is the final encounter.

- Myrk will attack you, if you've unlocked his memories as
  instructed, they will come to aid you in this battle. Once Myrk
  is dead, you will be teleported back to his chambers.

- After returning, take Myrks robes and key, you are now the lord
  of Moriarcis. Guards and citizens will no longer attack you, no
  matter what you do. Go upstairs to Myrk's chambers to find the
  book on binding minions, read it to gain the spells. The city
  is now your own personal playground and house mod, enjoy. Be 
  sure to check out your statue in the Aula Mortus. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END OF SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END OF SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END OF SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

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     7. Change Log

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- V 1.0: Initial Release

- V 1.01: Replaced missing textures for skeletal horse.

- V 1.02: Fixed a potential CTD when selling mannequins.

- V 1.03: Changed the way the second quest from Myrk works, no
          longer requires Black Soul Gems.

          Added the Siphon Soul spell.

	  Fixed a potential CTD when storing mannequins in
          containers.

          Made mannequins no longer display the "Posing Complete"
          message when returning to a cell where they're posed.
          
	  Improved weather detection for Corrupt Soul Gem spell.

- V 1.04: Fixed an aggro issue between skeletal minions and the
          citizens of Moriarcis.

          Tweaked Siphon Soul so that it no longer effects any
          skeletal NPCs, and is not stackable with Soul Trap.

- V 1.05: Added the Harvest Soul spell to get around the black
          soul gem bug when binding minions.

          Hopefully fixed the 'Disappearing Myrk' bug.


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     8. Contact

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Please email me with any questions, comments, complaints or
compliments at exf_5981@hotmail.com, or PM me on the Elder
Scrolls Forums, and thanks for taking the time to download
my mod :-)
 
							-The M.C.
