You know how it is; you have this great idea for an NPC character but you know next to nothing about coding. I suppose this is as good a place as any to start, so basically I'm asking if there's any NPC mod creators out there crazy enough to code a Mekrath romance for both SoA and ToB. I can guarantee something suberbly unique to the BGII mod world. If this doesn't work, I suppose I'll eventually end up doing this from scratch, which won't be pretty. And while I'm at it, I of course would love help from prospective writers, sound dialogue people, whatever. I totally think this would be better AS a collaborative effort, but we'll see what comes of it.
And yes, I am talking about that strange wizard in the sewers who stole Haer'Dalis' planar gem and made the bard his plaything.
I really don't even know how to begin the insanity that is this character, or how this idea came about. All I can say is to give an idea on what kind of writer I am my favorite characters from BG are: Xzar, Weimer's Solaufein, Jaheira, Faldorn, Edwin, Weimer's Valen and Sarevok, and this is going to be a hell of a long post to pitch this thing. Bear with me.
Emphasis on the Xzar. What a loopy, erratic, nutjob of a necromancer; there's so many things you could do with a mage like this. A guy who works for the Zhentarim, yet flamoyantly flashes his craft around Athkatla like nobody's business. I myself have resolved to work on my very first NPC not too long from now as a direct result from playing through The Darkest Day mod. (I downloaded and played through the whole thing, ToB and all, just to HAVE him) One of the more interesting aspects was bringing Xzar back as one of the available NPCs...in fact, several BGI npcs return. But here's the thing...aside from small quests; they have no dialogue with NPCS (something that is a MUST...I love character interaction), and no ToB endings. (something I may end up rectifying). Erm. That aside; I didn't like how they re-brought in Xzar )they say the one the Harper assassin killed was a 'clone' of himself) and just 'ressurect' Montaron so you'd have him...but I did like the idea that perhaps he was a clone of some sort. What if you said per say he's always been a clone (or from a long line of them); some sort of 'standard' issue necromancer the Zhentarim keeps on hand for their machinations in far away lands. The reason he's so nuts is that he's been copied so many times; copies of copies perhaps. Perhaps Montaron was just an agent who traveled with the 'Xzar' clone or such to make it look convincing. What if the new 'Xzar' you got was a clone the Zhents send to replace the old one...one who has no memory of Montaron. This is the type of thing I'd love to put together in an NPC mod.
Now you know how I think.
That being said, I'd love to get my feet wet in the modding bus with something like this; learn the ropes, hopefully get some coding knowledge; but that aside, this project in particular screams good finished result.
So, without further ado, here's the lowdown of the initial proposed Mekrath Romance NPC mod idea, complete with shameless monikers. Hell, this entire thing is shaped like a promo, so just go with me, here:
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Mekrath, "The Mage of the Sewers", or "THE STRANGEST ROMANCE OF ALL TIME!" (a romance...not sure on the genders, yet)
Yes, yet another mage. Yeah, right.
This definately traces much back to my Xzar roots, but definately one I thought you might appreciate and want to take a look at. I have nothing to say except absolute FUN on this one. This is the kind of guy who belongs on the outer limits.
Yes, that mysterious wizard you find under the sewers who has Haer'Dalis captive and subjected him to mind control; the guy who stole the planar gem.
I had an absolute field day with this one; wondering WHY a wizard would make his home in the sewers, why he would want a planar gem, why he has such advanced methods of mind control, and this crazy thing began to come together. What he thinks, what he works
He's lawful evil, and somewhere in rationality between Xzar and Edwin. Erractic, eccentric, somewhat evil and yet somewhat likable; strange as hell. This is a definate spin from any mage out there, but the added humor in the fact is this is all ABOUT a romance mod.
If you've ever played the Solaufein mod, take into account the deep brooding, take away the poetry, and add crack, and you'll get Mekrath.
There's a lot of text that would be involved in this, as Mekrath is a very long-winded individual when he thinks. But on the outset, it seems like he doesn't talk much at all. The interesting concept of this mod is that Mekrath, as envisioned, is SO many different things. He's a cold-hearted beast and a nerd, yet a eccentric genius and a misguided patriot of humankind.
I took all the scant evidence from the game and came to my own bizarre conclusion: planar gem, mind controlling device, mage who lives in sewers. To form all this, I believe Mekrath would have an extremely powerful mage. But why is he so close to the layer of the mind flayers, and why does he want the planar gem, and what device did he use to control Haer'Dalis? How does a guy like this think? That's just it. I think he overthinks.
On the outset, he is a very dark, cold, mysterious wizard who demands to join you after you rescue Haer'Dalis as 'payment' for stealing his planar gem. I believe he is so powerful, and so arrogant, that he only an 'aspect' of himself, ie, a spell that sort of resembles an avatar of a god; a lesser version of himself that is part of the whole, to adventure with you in the search for another planar gem as he surmises an adventurer of your calibur might come across one. This lesser version is the equivalent, of course, to your average mage joining the PC's party.
Mekrath has some bizarre association with Mind Flayers, and talks about experimenting with Mind Flayer flesh on more than one occassion; often including ingestion and other strange experiments. He quotes on how he has experimented with it and is convinced it is linked to 'control'. (more on this, later).
He begins speeches in the party very seldomly; speaking quietly and talking to others only when he must; he acts very pragmatic, dark, and serious (often threatening horrific things to the PC and other characters...he would be the type that would creep the hell out of anyone)...only through lots of dialogue with the PC does he become, per say, more open.
Mekrath is very hard nut to crack, but when opened the results are quite unexpected. With time, he might relent to add more of his actual power to help the party, which might give him additional spells or 'special spells'; I dunno.
One really cool thing about wizards in any fantasy setting is each one is different; each one specializes in different spells; from battlemages to enchanters; even two necromancers can be very different; take Xzar and Lavok, the guy in the planar sphere, for instance. Every wizard who comes out of Faerun develops different and gains their own kind of 'power'. This entire paragraph is the basis and an example of Mekrath's core belief system.
What I came to a conclusion on through the data in the game is, 'control'. Mekrath is a wizard absolutely obssessed with power through control. Thus, he is a wizard heavily specialized in the 5th level spell 'Domination.' In fact, as an amusing afterthought, he would even make mention through his talks he is of the top four wizards in all of Faerun regarding being specialized this particular spell. Mekrath, when talked to in a romance, would even go into detail as to say what he finds so fascinating is that he met one of the other wizards who specialized in 'domination', and how he turned out very differently and has very different goals than Mekrath does.
As you can see, Mekrath is fascinated with the development of mankind and the utter endless possibilities of studying magic, and loves ranting on about specialization. To this end, I'm finally getting to his ultimate goals. Like I said, he is obsessed with control. On the offset, it seems selfish. But he is actually interested in control in regards to the human species; he sees it as the next step in their evolution. At heart he believes he is helping his own species. He sees 'control' as a means to power to give man dominion over the numerously more-power species on Faerun. He actually hates psionics; he experiments so frequently on Mind Flayer flesh because he's eccentricly convinced it acts as a conduit that would allow humans to control others more easily. Yes, he loves control, but he HATES the idea of using alien mind powers to control. No, he believes it must be done by humans; they must either develop it by magic or perhaps, through forced evolution. He wants a planar gem because he has a need to study Mind Flayers more, and wishes to travel to their home plane. He didn't really only send part of himself with the PC because he's arrogant; he did it because he believes his work to be the most important thing in the world.
(this sounds WAY more complicated than I actually intended it to be. o_O)
It's sort of an interesting trippy experience, a wizard who seems so dark and twisted at first but then on the outset turns out to be more or less just a strange idealist. His views are certainly warped, and for what he does, he is no DOUBT evil, but he believes what he does will benefit mankind in the long run. Perhaps he could be changed.
Personality wise, he's actually a very introverted, erratic, oft-times unintentionally humorous individual. He lives in a sewer for god's sake; in some ways he's admirable because he doesn't give a damn what the world thinks about him. I would imagine a picture of a dirtied, possibly unexpectedly decent-looking individual always half-hidden under a messy, smelly robe.
Of course, it would be the PC's job to wade through all this psycho-babble and try to find a person beneath this madman. And perhaps, in doing so, teach him a few things. (certainly there'd be an option occasionally through his rants, for like, "No offense, Mek, but shut up!")
NPC talks would be hilarious, as would be some of his in-game dialogue. He would actually probably like Edwin (for his specialization fetish), but tell the conjurer he holds himself down because of his arrogance. He would creep the hell out of Anomen (and WHAT'S not fun about that?
), he absolutely hates Haer'Dalis (and vice versa) and the resulting backlash would probably end up having Mekrath with his own little private 'tiefling zombie servant' (just imagine dialogue between the witty bard and the perturbed sewer freak), and would probably get along fabulously with Jan. Talking with Mekrath as you see would be very taxing on the nerves, strange, and yet amusing. He would actually pity the death of people like Prebek (Xzar's apprentice), because they were never able to develop and realize their potential. This would certainly be a different mod, but it's open to all sorts of ideas; perhaps it could be toned down to not be SO complex; I dunno. But between talks of Mind Flayer flesh, controlling other individuals, and such erratic behavior, I certainly think this isn't your run of the mill romance. He certainly isn't a knight in shining armor.
Currently, I don't know what his special quests would be, but I know they would revolve around getting a new planar gem. I think he would actually -know- the goings on of Mind Flayers in the city, and actually might make cracks about 'that stupid Alhoon next door and his plans for world domination' and probably is in contact with 'The Hidden'; the Mind Flayer from Jan's quest.
The Mekrath character mod romance could be for girls or guys; I'm not sure a wizard who lives in the sewers would be SO picky.
Certainly it's for a change of pace to your average character mod.----------------
Keep in mind, these are just the base concepts TOTALLY subjective to any sort of revision. I know they're a bit on the wild side, but I thought these particular projects might sell on you and your guys just because they're so tantalizingly different and open to all sorts of possibilities.
Suggestions, ideas, complete revision; whatever. I'm looking for anyone who might be willing to help. That is all. For the record, even though I'm still basically reading the 'WeiDU coding for dummies' .txt document, I'd be very willing to help with what limited skills I do have. o_O
