Province: Cyrodiil Yearly Progress Update 2022

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Denis418
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Province: Cyrodiil Yearly Progress Update 2022

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It has been a long time since the last weekly progress update on Cyrodiil development. But it does not mean there was nothing made! Our project steadily moves forward in its goal to recreate Cyrodiil as a part of the TES III: Morrowind game world according to the lore presented within. Not only that, but the scale of the world allows us to make Cyrodiil more expansive and detailed as it ever has been in any other game. And our nearest objective is the Abacean Shores release, which includes the entirety of the Gold Coast and an update to Stirk:
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Cyr_Main and PC_Anvil are the areas of future releases. You can see the full version of the map here.

The workflow is split into five departments that function as development stages. Let us take a look at everything that has happened in each of these departments since December 12th of 2020. Of course, everything you will see in the screenshots is subject to change before the release.

Concept art
Sketches, pictures, images, and photos create a foundation for what is to come and give other departments a much-needed sense of direction. It is easier for a 3D modeler or exterior developer to do their work when someone outlines the preliminary shapes and colors of what needs to be created.

That said, a lot of work was done by Infragris and others who contributed to the Cyrodiil Regions & Geography Document – a compilation of stock images and text describing the architecture, climate, nature, and cultural inspirations for all regions planned for our Cyrodiil. But there were also plenty of great individual designs made throughout the year too: Image
Imperial Battlemage by Ateiggaer Image
Colo-Nordic armor concept by hans_xeno Image
Hierophant spire-fortress by Saint_Jiub
  • The redeemed servant is a semi-undead creature you will encounter in Ayleid ruins. Ateiggaer, hans_xeno, infragris and Aldergo fleshed it out with their concepts.
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Redeemed servant by Infragris
  • In Summer, MammaHyenna joined the team and contributed lots of great concepts of clothing, clutter and creatures.
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Colovian robe by MammaHyenna
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Holc by MammaHyenna
  • Steppenwolf has made beautiful concepts for the cities of Kvatch and Sancre Tor. The latter:
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  • Carnelian Snail – this giant creature lives in the Niben and is used for harvesting ink. A concept by Nirvayn:
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Of course, this list is not exhaustive and likely omits a lot of the great concept art that gets posted in our Discord channels almost daily.

Assets
One of the biggest challenges of Project Tamriel is that we need to create almost every asset anew. You can't build Cyrodiil out of Morrowind assets. And our 3D department is working hard indeed. Here are some examples of what has been made throughout this year and a half:
Equipment is a major element of any RPG. And TES III allows you to collect and combine its pieces with a lot of freedom. Project armorers have created a highly desired variety for all of these pieces. Many of them are based on official Morrowind artwork and look beautiful in-game:
  • Bendu Olo’s Helmet — an artifact of the famed sload slayer by Leyawinn.
  • Colovian Iron armor set – a big number of new armor pieces were created by the joint force of Joanasc and Worsas based on Ateiggaer’s concepts.
  • Colovian Steel set — another batch of beautiful armor by Worsas. This includes also the famed Oloman helmet from M. Kirkbride’s concept arts (middle right):
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Steel set
  • Umbranox Sabre – the unique sword of Commodore Umbranox made by Lorkh.
    Redscale Imperial shield – created by Shadow_Mimicry by the concept of Nirvayn, this shield may serve as a piece of equipment for Imperial City guards.
Creature assets are my personal favorite in general. And Cyrodiil needs many of them:
  • Tantha nests – in addition to creating these adorable parrot-lemurs, Joanasc also developed their nest where they raise their young.
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Tantha
  • Farm pigs – basing his work on the tropical variants of these chonky animals, Joanasc successfully created a first batch of Cyrodiilian pigs.
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  • Ayleid Sorceror-King – an avian lich-like creature that would haunt elven ruins, created by Joanasc and textured by Worsas.
  • Auroran – daedric servants of Meridia are another feature of the Abecean Shores release. The work on this asset was hard, but it is near completion thanks to Ateiggaer, Ali3ster and Worsas:
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Auroran
  • Redesigned Imperial playing card back – Hemaris gracefully devoted his time to remaking textures of all cards with more Cyrodilic motifs.
Clutter items diversify the game world and make you want to check every shelf and stash in the game for new interesting trinkets:
  • A lot of Bosmeri goods were made by Steppenwolf. Valenwood is very close to the Anvil area and wood elves bring a lot of items from their homeland.
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  • Second Empire Tapestries – a set of three new tapestries created by Ateiggaer and Worsas to embellish the Reman forts.
  • Drugs: Quaesto Vil – a new type of drug by Kynesifnar based on Ateiggaer’s concept. Infragris’ idea behind it is that this bottle with an eyedropper contains a serpentine daedra who bites a consumer in the eye. A questionable but popular pass time in Cyrodiil. Another set of drugs, Indulcet, is in the works by the same author.
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Quaesto Vil
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Indulcet spoon, drug and a vessel

Environment:
  • Rock and Mold Cavern set for Colovian caves with mineral containers by Chef.
  • Aqueducts set – a marvelous piece of architecture that will dominate the countryside and cityscapes, created by Joanasc:
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Aqueducts
  • Colovian Urban set – a lot of new buildings for cities to come. Specifically, for Kvatch. WIP by Spineinside:
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Colovian Architecture
  • New Ayleid set stuff – a lot of new architecture pieces for the eponymous elven ruins of Cyrod brought to us by c0dacan0n. Ali3ster also worked hard to adjust many of them.
  • Additionally, Ali3ster and Hemaris spent a lot of effort to fix many of the old flora assets in Tamriel Data that used to cause performance losses. But thanks to Aly and Hemaris, the wilderness of Colovia will be smoother than ever.
  • Worsas also created new textures for Anvil city walls and bridges to make them look darker and less clean.
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New bridge texture. This shot is so picturesque it almost looks like a painting.
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New city walls

Literature serves as a perfect means to develop and introduce the culture and lore of the province to the player. All of these books but one are written by our lead designer Infragris. Most of the descriptions belong to him too. You can read the texts by following the links below. A total of 14 literature assets have been written during this time:
The Image and the Divine — a religious text to flesh out the Great Faiths. This gives some insight into the mentality of the Faiths, and explains how they see the sub-cults and provincial pantheons. Awaits feedback.
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Red Dome Temple near Sutch
Iniquities of the Current Era — a socio-political pamphlet decrying the moral decay of the modern Empire, the debased nature of the new generation, and other such evergreens. Awaiting feedback.
First of Firsts — a religious liturgical text about Akatosh. Waiting for a proper review.
Guide to the Guild Guides — part of a larger effort to define and contextualize teleportation magic within Tamrielic culture. This explains why teleportation is not more commonplace and why it hasn't had a massive effect on the way the Empire functions (yet). Reviewed by Taniquetil.
De Sphaera Nirni - an antiquated scholarly text on cosmology. Reviewed by Taniquetil.
Artificial Diseases - two volumes by a Redguard scholar who is part of the Council of Healers, an institution in the Imperial City responsible for various initiatives such as hospitals and insane asylums. Reviewed by Taniquetil.
Weir Gate Memorandum — a higher echelon document that explains how the Weir Gate, a powerful imperial teleportation device, works. Reviewed by Taniquetil.
Teleportation: Premise and Praxis — Another book in the "what's teleportation all about" series. Meant to contextualize the history of teleportation, showing that it's quite a difficult branch of magic with lots of caveats. Reviewed by Taniquetil.
Arcturianism For Beginners — This book is intended to frame the discourse around the Arcturian Heresy for our purposes. A rather dry and informative text with only a bit of bias. This is aimed at players who may not be super-knowledgeable about the background lore of Arctus and the Numidium. Awaits a review.
The Screaming Lord of Sutch — a “two books, one story” semi-rare biography of an obscure Sutch Count written by Svartalfar. Waiting for a review.
Temple Zero - A Warning — a pamphlet that criticizes the Temple Zero society. In practice, it gives us an introduction to it. A work in progress.
The Secret Throne of Vampires — a text about Cyrodiilic vampires. Will be elaborated later.
Hymns of Morachellis — flavor texts for the Lute of Morachellis present in Anvil. Morachellis is mentioned in vanilla as a notable poet of the Empire.
Black Horse Courier — a famous Imperial City newspaper. The files and scripts were made by Why at Tamriel Rebuilt for Old Ebonheart’s Bellman. The actual news, written by Infragris, still has to be implemented in the game.
Other:
P:C Heads & Hair redo – all of the project’s imperial faces redone to be on par with vanilla thanks to the joint work of Spineinside and Rats.
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P:C Heads, West Colovian Male
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Countess Milona Umbranox by Rats

Exteriors
The main work in this department is already two releases ahead, in the Colovian Highlands. This is a harsh rocky region to the east of Sutch that stretches all the way to Sancre Tor and Chorrol, hugging the Hammerfellian border. Some of the most sturdy and hardworking Colovians live here. A total of 9 exterior claims in Colovian Highlands and Kvatch environs have received some progress during this period:
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Claims of the Colovian Highlands
  • Mothpot, whom you may know by his fascinating Heart of the Velothi project, is working on the CH_07 claim as his showcase. This is the easternmost part of the Gilded Hills region (Sutch area) that covers a section of the Brena river – a natural border with Hammerfell.
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Mothpot’s exterior work
  • Spineinside was working on CH_01, where Hal Verovar is located. This prideful Colovian community, governed by the paranoid Lord Wariel, lives a rough life of wood loggers and goat herders. The estate sits on the border of four regions just northeast of the Anvil release area.
  • The northernmost border claim between the Sutch area and the Colovian Highlands, CH_03, has seen significant progress from Phenoix12. It features a Legion border fort, Primotur Watchtower, that will become the first Legion player assignment in Cyrodiil. Only the south of the claim remains unfinished.
  • Meanwhile, Joanasc is doing his showcase with Kvetchi Pass 03, a small area south of Kvatch. It has a Reman fort, Dasek Moor, overlooking the mangroves of the Strid river that divides this land from Valenwood to the south. The region of Kvatch is still far away in the priority list, but the progress is exciting nevertheless.
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Part of Joanasc’s claim
  • To the north of Kvatch, Chef is working on the CH_04 claim that serves as a transition between the Highlands and Kvetchi Pass. Here is where the Black Hills Vineyard is located.
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Spineinside’s flora assets for the mangroves between Kvatch area and Valenwood.
  • To the west of this area, Roerich made breakthroughs with the CH_02 claim. Highlights include the town of Thyra, which is situated beside a marble quarry. This town is ruled by a prefect of the Curia who overlooks the Imperial Reserve around it to the irritation of local ancient Colovian families.
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Thyra
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A Colovian Tomb by Roerich
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A Remanite Fort ruin by Roerich
  • Selengor is working on CH_06, an Imperial Reserve territory formerly belonging to the Hastrel family. Their estate sits on the highest hill of the area.
  • Drathar’s claim is CH_09, located to the east of the previous sector. This place hosts a monastery of the Ardent Order of Akatosh, a rich but stern religious subfaction. Drathar patiently redid the claim from scratch after the file was damaged.
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Ardent Order Monastery
  • Chef has made a preliminary sketch on KP_05 area, starting from the moors and a small village. Eventually, this claim will feature the Richton family estate, known by their infamous ancestor who was the main villain in TESA: Redguard.
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Kvetchi Pass claims map
Aside from that, Taniquetil has updated the gridmap of the province regions, making it even more beautiful and detailed. Take a look at the full res version here. The updated version of the gridmap in the the article's head also was done by Taniquetil.
Chef and Taniquetil have also done regular touch-ups on Anvil city to make it more optimized and even more beautiful.

Interiors
These are the bread of the province mods, as Mojo says. A total of 53 interior claims have been worked on during this period.
Anvil is a big city that consists of over 60 buildings with two giant castles on each side, great temple halls in the middle, sprawling sewers underground, and a port full of ships. Most of its buildings were finished a long time ago, but some bottlenecks remained until recently.
  • The Mages Guild was made by Torlof, reviewed by Myxinidae, NPCed and polished by Taniquetil. You’ll meet old friends in this chapter, as both Carahil and Hannibal Traven are the members.
  • A big apartment building made by Kaiel, reviewed by Furst Thal and Mark.
  • Hadrach Manor – an impoverished noble family house made by Furst Thal and reviewed by Mark. You’ll get an opportunity to help them fix their finances during a quest.
  • High-Class Clothier by Torlof and Moyglass, reviewed by Myxinidae.
  • Expensive Smith, Orrin – provides equipment for the city guard. Made by Kaiel, reviewed by Mark.
  • Fort Telodrach Auxiliary Tower by Torlof and Vern, reviewed by Mark.
  • The Temple of Dibella is one of the biggest and most beautiful interiors of Province: Cyrodiil. Roerich sacrificed many nights to make sure it looks great. Reviewed by Cicero.
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Temple of Dibella
These interiors are finished but their review creates a current bottleneck:
  • Anvil Briricca Bank by Torlof. A local chapter of an establishment known from TR’s Old Ebonheart release, where you can receive banking services, as in TES II.
  • Fort Telodrach – the Western Navy HQ, the second biggest Anvil castle, was started by Torlof, Chef, Vern, PeterFargoth, Mark, and finished by Fran.
  • Reman Ruin Fort Eumaeus by Torlof, mid-review by Minerman. This ancient fort in the wilderness will be a medium for two quest adventures.
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Anvil Castle corridor
Castle Umbranox – home of Anvil countess Millona Umbranox, the biggest interior in the mod. It was built by many people at different times: the shell for all 14 interiors was created and partly cluttered by Infragris and Phenoix12, the Chapel Tower and Sewers were cluttered by Chef, the Court Wizard Tower and Vault by Roerich, the Gallery Tower and Servants’ Quarters by Mojo, the Garrison by Mark, the Great Hall and Lower Halls by Denis418, the Great Foyer by Denis418 and Roerich, the Library by Taniquetil, and the final interiors - Royal Apartments and Royal Chambers - were finished by Phenoix12 and Roerich, respectively. Taniquetil is now attempting to review this giant place, which will open the way for many Anvil questlines to start their development.
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Anvil Castle Library
Stirk was not excluded from developers’ attention either. Being the first piece of released content, the team strives to improve this island even more.
  • Stirk Guild of Mages by Taniquetil. This small chapter will replace the current apothecary in town and would provide the ever lacking magic services on Stirk.
  • Nagaiarelle – the undersea Ayleid ruin northeast of Stirk by c0dacan0n. Will be involved in a Stirk Mages Guild quest.
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Farosh, the innkeeper, is one of the many NPCs you might know from Oblivion.
Sutch release progress:
The city of Sutch was cut from TES IV but our mod brings it back as a full-fledged settlement in the Gilded Hills region under the rule of baron Nesor Fastillius. The Interior department is steadily going through the claims of this area and the lion’s share of them are already done!
  • These buildings are ready: Sutch Dock Workers’ Hut by Christixn and another one by Fremennik. Stables by Denis418. Shipmaster’s House by Christixn. A Pair of Fishermens’ Huts by Tombomb.
  • Talan’s Vineyard is a small town halfway between Anvil and Sutch. It was founded by a Redguard family from Goldmoor before the Usurper devastated the region. Today they produce Hammerfellian vine in Cyrodiil. Marcy and Grey have finished the town by creating the five remaining houses where the vineyard workers live.
  • Gosha Inn – a spacious inn that stands guard on the easternmost border of the release area, on the road to Kvatch. Refit by Chef and Denis418.
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Sutch Stables interior
  • The Harbormaster's Office in the docks below the city was recently started by Anneryl.
  • Low Class Tavern – an eating and drinking place for the docks visitors of Sutch. Saddboye has spent a lot of effort to create this interior but it kicks back.
  • Bleak Mine Eastern and Western Bunkhouses and a Storage Hut by Christixn. This mine is a salt enterprise operated by Thelius Ivrol and Statius Centho on the shores of Lake Oloman near Sutch.
  • The Merchant Gallery is the heart of Sutch commerce that is literally inside the cliff the city stands on. A marvel of Redguard engineering, the great elevator, connects the underground merchant halls with the city above. A work in progress by Roerich.
Farms:
  • Za’marr’s dwelling by Ataemus, Fauslav’s Farmhouse by Denis418, Kazhim's Shack by Marcy, Tulgren’s House by Fran, Mynialla's Hut by Furst Thal – these farms are scattered around the area and work to feed the region with their produce.
  • Two Abandoned Farmhouses in the Gilded Hills that used to grow Indureta – a rye-like crop that gets added in bread and is also used for making smoking pipes. By PeterFargoth.
  • Seppaki Garden Storage by Tombomb. The coastal village of Seppaki was founded by Redguard merchant cartels and serves as a sea port for Sutch.
  • Small Farmhouse by Christixn near Brena Crossing that grows ironrye, a Cyrodillian equivalent of wheat. Brena Crossing in the north is a trading outpost that stands guard over the crossing of the Brena river to and from Hammerfell.
Wilderness locations:
  • Hrota Cave, an old all-rocker claim, was redone by c0dacan0n and reviewed by Mark. Gula Cave with goblins was made by Chef, reviewed by Mark. Crow Hall Cave, a big natural cavern by Mojo187, reviewed by Myxinidae. Brinnan Hollow, a grotto with outlaws by Grey. Underwater Grotto by Ataemus. A Shipwreck north of the isle of Mischarstette by Marcy, reviewed by Myxinidae.
  • Barsing Barrow by Chef near Lake Oloman, partially flooded and salty.
  • Halanchek Barrow by c0dacan0n. This truly enormous dungeon is the biggest barrow in Cyrodiil so far.
  • Unnamed Ayleid ruin that once was a temple by Christixn.
  • Niryastare in the Gilded Hills by c0dacan0n, an ancient Ayleid crafting hall.
  • Fort of the Shore Kings – a ruin of the ancient capital that was destroyed by the Thrassian plague. By Kaiel and Chef.
  • Fort Olomachus by Chef sits on an island north west of Anvil. It was a prominent fort during the Free Estates period, guarding the Petty Strid navy traffic. Created by Chef, reviewed by Myxinidae.
  • Blood Dome Temple by Roerich. This religious edifice was presumably built on a place where Tiber Septim shed his blood in battle. The Red Templars are known for drinking his blood in the form of Incarnadine, which you can see in the pool below:
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Blood Dome Temple inside
In addition to the regular claims work, Taniquetil makes touch-ups of the existing interiors in Anvil and Brina Cross to bring them to the modern standards of quality.

Quests
This is the final stage of development, barring the polishing and bugfixing. Quests are the biggest roadblock for the Abacean Shores release because there is still much to be done. For instance, all four major factions are yet to be implemented. Notwithstanding that, we worked hard to fill the country with miscellaneous quests of all sorts. And there are plenty of these already done:
  • General dialogue for the Legion Fort Strand (Kaiel and Violet), northern Gold Coast farms (Nats482 and Violet), the Fighters Guild (Moyglass and Dev Shah), and the Painters Guild (hammered on sujammer and Dev Shah). Now the inhabitants of these locations exist and have plenty of topics to chat on with you.
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Guild of Painters NPC and a Nine Halls game set on the table to the right.
6 quests done and reviewed during this period:
  • Distilled Sabotage – a story of tensions between two rival businesses by Viol (reviewed by Violet).
  • Peacekeeping for Lady Sigorn – a mercenary work for a local aristocrat by Dev Shah (Violet).
  • Fortune of a Traveling Merchant – a small story about fake merchandise that is also a showcase of Denis418 (Dev Shah, Rakanishu).
  • Murder on the Crossroads – a detective adventure and a showcase by Moyglass (Dev Shah).
  • A Woman Named Petri – another investigation quest by AcrylicFrog (Dev Shah).
  • An Apprentice for Varel – an old blacksmith is looking for an apprentice. Quest by Abby (reviewed by Violet).
6 quests were done and submitted for review:
  • A Thief Inn The Night – a short tragic story about stolen wine by AcrylicFrog.
  • Manuscript Marauders – a University of Gwylim student is in distress about his lost manuscript. Quest by PhD In Sorcery.
  • Booze for Brickmasons – this quest will tell you about the hardships of Imperial road building. Work by our new quest developer, Spammer.
  • Portrait of a Mugging – another quest by Spammer where you need to help a young lady who has just arrived in Anvil to join the Painters Guild.
  • Denymil's Dilemma – this quest by Violet will introduce you to the Bosmeri tribal diaspora.
  • Heritage of the Hadrachs – an impoverished noble looks for a hero who could help her with financial trouble. By Spammer.
In progress:
  • Nine Holes Implementation – a tabletop game by our scripting genius Why. You could play it with NPCs in real time or possibly even with other people in multiplayer!
  • Stirk Main Questline – is a trident-shaped adventure where our Nerevarine gets hired by one of the three authority figures of Stirk and proceeds to deal with the impending pirate threat. One third of the questline (more than 6 consecutive quests) was diligently implemented by Miamian based on Sultan of Rum’s dialogue script.
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Stirk Exterior Grotto will be a prominent location in the main quest
  • Anvil Thieves Guild and the Abecette NPC and dialogue – this faction is based in a major casino, the Abecette. People from all around the region come here to say goodbye to their family’s fortune. Violet is working on implementing its friendly staff and creating the questline for thieves.
  • Anvil Mages Guild NPC and Dialogue – another of the main faction buildings is getting populated by Taniquetil. This questline will take you under the sea on multiple occasions.
  • In between the official claims, Violet was working hard to create general NPCs and dialogue for Anvil city.
  • Euratta's Recommendation, Curse of Strand, and A Mine of His Own – this series of quests take place in the Fort Strand where Legion oversees a valuable iron mine. Work in progress by Kaiel.
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Fort Strand
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Strand Iron Mine
Many of these quests were made by new developers, as you can see. You can join and contribute just as easily and no prior experience is needed. The process requires a small quest showcase that would teach you the basics of quest development.

Conclusions
That’s it for our yearly report. Thank you for reading this far! If you have time, consider joining the development of Province: Cyrodiil. Otherwise, stay tuned on future updates and the inevitable release of the Abacean Shores!

P. S. Work on Skyrim Home of the Nords was a lot more active and wouldn’t fit in one article. It was marked with breakthroughs in the development of the Falkreath area. And the Markarth/Beorinhal release is now almost interior-complete. Keep up-to-date with the latest progress on both projects in our Discord server!

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