Knights of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, seated in Rorikshire Castle; complete with historical people, armor, weapons, and custom heraldry.
Update!: New optional download available for those that wish to bypass the questline to gain access to the castle and gear.
Description
The castle of Rorikshire is located near the town of Rorikstead, on the western border of Whiterun Hold.
Strategically positioned atop the road from Solitude, Rorikshire commands the access to Whiterun’s western regions.
This keep houses many features, from barracks and storage to stables and smithing area. Acting as the seat of the
local Lord as well as the Order of the Garter, Rorikshire is only accessable by those acknowledged as peers.
Features
-Keep, Living Quarters, Barracks, Armory, Stable, Forge & Crafting Area, Dungeons, and Castle Guards.
-5 Knights of the Order of the Garter, 4 of which are potential followers
-A Master Armorer and specialized forge capable of producing powerful, authentic 14th century armor and weapons
-A Stable Master that sells war horses barded in heraldic splendor
-A Tailor that sells materials and authentic 14th century clothing
-2 designated, fully furnished suites with armor and item storage
-Plenty of room for companions and family members
-Investiture into the Order as a Knight
-Ascension to Lordship with inheritence and incomes
Custom Heraldry!
For those that wish to fight while proudly displaying their own arms, there are armors and horses that are fit for
customized heraldry.
-Three warhorses setup for custom heraldry
-5 total armors set up for custom heraldry
Download the ‘Custom Heraldry Templates’ file, listed under Miscellaneous, for pre-configured Photoshop files. These files have been setup with the goal of making it a relatively simple and user friendly process to create your own heraldic textures. Once the texture is finished and exported as a .DDS file, it can replace a placeholder file. Instructions for this are included in the ‘Template’ file.
HD Texture Pack
With permission from the authors of the mods ‘NobleSkyrimMod HD-2K by Shutt3r’ and ‘Osmodius Solitude and Windhelm Texture Packs by osmodius’, I have created an HD texture pack to bring a maintained, refined, and authentic appearance to Rorikshire. Each texture included has been hand picked for a complete and immersive medieval experience. This can be downloaded under the ‘Miscellaneous’ files.
FAQ
Q. Are these weapons compatible with Dual Sheath Redux?
A. Indeed they are, each necessary weapon and shield has been modified for use with DSR.
Q. How many weapons and armors are included?
A. This is going to be a long answer. I’ve included the heraldic arms for all 26 original founding members of the Order of the Garter, as well as a few members from slightly later. Also included are a the arms of a few notable figures and belligerant Kingdoms in the 100 Year’s war. As far as weapons go, the list is being ever expanded. Right now there are 4 Poleaxe variations, a dagger, a fully heraldic heater shield for each armor listed above, and 7 variations of swords (some of which include both 1H and 2H versions). This is not to mention the clothing. Included are also 16 variations of Chaperones (medieval headware), 7 variations of Crackowe shoes, and 10 variations on Pourpoints (a medieval jacket) with hose.
Q. How do I become a Knight of the Garter?!
A. Prove yourself by successfully joining either the Stormcloaks or the Imperials, and tales of your valor and prowess will undoubtedly circulate.
Q. How do I become the Lord of Rorikshire?!
A. Prove yourself a worthy mediator in the boiling conflict between the Stormcloaks and the Imperials, and your diplomatic and leadership skills will not escape notice.
Q. Becoming Knight/Lord are too easy!
A. I never intended it to be particularly difficult. I originally planned this to be an armor mod only… then weapons… and then I needed a medium to add them to the game in an interesting way… and then I got carried away and built an entire castle.
Q. My frame rate is obliterated inside of the castle!
A. Are you using the HD texture pack? Can your computer handle the HD texture pack? That being said, Rorikshire Keep is quite a large and busy cell, and it is not broken up by loading screens. Lower-end computers may not be able to handle it as well as higher-end ones. The Keep IS optimized by room cells and occlusion planes, but these can only do so much.
Q. How come the weight sliders aren’t working on the armors?
A. Because I never created working weight sliders for them. Creating weight sliders is an incredibly tedious, time consuming, and frustrating process. After hours of fiddling I simply wasn’t able to create a satisfactory _1 version, so I opted to go sliderless. If you’re a talented modeler and you feel equal to the challenge, please be my guest to do what I have failed to. I would be more than happy to add your work to this and give credit where it is due.
Q. Why can’t I access the mannequins or weapon racks in the armory?
A. No, it’s not a glitch; they have been disabled for player use. They were intended for display purposes for the blacksmith only. I tried to limit the amount of free things I provided to the player in the mod.
Q. Why won’t the quest-line function?
A. The most common causes seem to be either the Civil War quest-line being completed after the main quest-line, or before the mod is installed. One of these I can’t really work around without scraping the quest-line entirely, and the other I have not yet implemented a work-around for. In the future I will try to implement a fix that will allow the quest to complete if the Civil War is completed after the main quest-line.
Q. Why haven’t you fixed this yet?!
A. I have very little spare time to put towards modding; this is a hobby, not a profession. I will try to fix issues as I have motivation and time, things that aren’t always in the greatest supply.
Mod Conflicts
This mod will conflict with anything that modifies the cells (adds anything into the game) immediately surrounding Rorikstead, as well as the interior cells of the Palace of Kings in Windhelm, and Castle Dour in Solitude. It will also conflict with anything that changes the Perks Matching Set, and Matching Set Heavy, as I had to modify these to ensure they worked with new armors. Aside from that every resource the castle and mod use has been isolated to prevent further conflicts. If you are using any mods that modify any of these areas, load this mod after them so it overrides, or crucial parts of this mod will be missing.
Recommended Mods
-Two-Handed Weapons Sheath at the Hip by jomalley12211
A mod by me to allow 2H swords (and all other 2Hers) to sheath at the hip, and also modifies the primary dagger position; for a more historical feel.
-NobleSkyrimMod HD-2K by Shutt3r
An excellent texture mod that gives the cities in Skyrim have a really authentic period medieval feel.
-Osmodius Solitude Texture Pack by Osmodius
-Osmodius Windhelm Texture Pack by Osmodius
Awesome HD textures featuring parallax support, adding a lot of depth to these cities.
-True Medieval Tavern Music by Irikedownroading
Changes the music of taverns and inns (and Rorikshire) to great medieval style music that really sets the atmosphere.
Changelog
Version 1.002
-Fixed quest scripts (supposedly, they work fine for me)
-Fixed shadow striping on certain interior lights
-Changed Stormcloaks and Imperials to be neutral with the Rorikshire Faction.
Version 1.001
-Added a couple of forgotten textures
Version 1.0
-RELEASE!!
