Hello. Thank you, first of all, for reading this. Gore is a passion project for me, one that I work on by myself. He is coded, written, voiced, and worked into the game solely by me. Gore, including his add-ons such as Vigilant, has around 3 thousand lines. Line count is neither an indication of quality, nor is it something I really care about. He has a short intro quest, then becomes a follower. You can find him at Peaks Shade Tower, outside of Falkreath.
Gore is intended to be a companion, not a blind follower.
Story
His story is small-scale, low-stakes, believable, and fits within the lore, so as not to overshadow your own story and is completely optional. Gore is designed to boost immersion, but not steal the spotlight. Every exterior and interior cell in the game, aside from about half of Dawnguard and Dragonborn as I have not finished those, is covered. Every home, inn, or even shrine has an idle attached to it. I cut generic idles down and chose to lean on these, and though it was a ton of work, I think it makes him feel more "real." You needn't be worried if you are playing a darker character, Gore's allegiance is to you, not Skyrim's politics or power plays. He will react to your decisions sometimes with concern, however. All major faction quests and main quests are covered, as well as select side quests, which will be added to. He even comments on all of the dark brotherhood radiant contracts.
Here is a full list of quests I took a deep dive into, implementing multiple complex interactions, lines & packages:
Spoiler:
Show
- Before the Storm
- Bleak Falls Barrow
- Dragon Rising
- The Way Of The Voice
- The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller
- A Blade In The Dark
- Diplomatic Immunity
- A Cornered Rat
- Alduin's Wall
- The Throat Of The World
- Elder Knowledge
- Alduin's Bane
- The Fallen
- Paarthurnax
- Season Unending
- The World-Eater's Eyrie
- Sovngarde
- Dragonslayer
- Innocence Lost
- With Friends Like These...Sanctuary
- Contract: Kill Beitild
- Contract: Kill Narfi
- Contract: Kill Ennodius Papius
- Mourning Never Comes
- Whispers in the Dark
- Contract: Kill Lurbuk
- Contract: Kill Hern
- The Silence Has Been Broken
- Contract: Kill Deekus
- Contract: Kill Ma'randru-jo
- Contract: Kill Anoriath
- Bound Until Death
- Contract: Kill Agnis
- Contract: Kill Maluril
- Contract: Kill Helvard
- Contract: Kill Safia
- Breaching Security
- The Cure for Madness
- Recipe for Disaster
- To Kill an Empire
- Death Incarnate
- Hail Sithis!
- Where You Hang Your Enemy's Head
- The Dark Brotherhood Forever
- Honor Thy Family
- A Chance Arrangement
- Taking Care of Business
- Loud and Clear
- Dampened Spirits
- Scoundrel's Folly
- Speaking With Silence
- Hard Answers
- The Pursuit
- Under New Management
- Take Up Arms
- Proving Honor
- The Silver Hand
- Blood's Honor
- Purity of Revenge
- Glory of the Dead
- Sanguine
- Azura
- Hircine
- Boethiah
The depth of interactions ranges depending on the quest. some, i just added a timing specific bit of commentary. Some, i went all out. For example, during the quest to trap Odahviing, Gore maintains a position in the trap area, hurling taunts and drawing aggro. During the redwater den quest, he will rescue you from the cage. At the thalmor embassy, he breaks in after you move through the kitchen to help you. sometimes its quite simple, like during the peace meeting at high hrothgar, he will simply stand behind you with his arms crossed, silent. I made these decisions as I went, but rest assured, i was meticulous.
Gameplay
In technical terms, he uses a greatsword, heavy armor, and violent aggression to draw enemy attention. His stats and gear are balanced, as he starts with Iron-Tier equipment. You can have him use archery, or a blend of the two as well, just talk to him about planning, and he will be open to it. This is how you adjust his follow distance and turn on and off his catch-up teleport feature. I designed him with lore adherence in mind, and I believe I struck a good level of believability for someone not formally educated like Gore. His personality may surprise you, given his name, appearance, etc. but always remember that things are not quite as they seem. Gore is also friendly to nonbinary identities, all you have to do is let him know, and he will not use gendered language with you anymore. I didn't do this lazily, I recorded new lines for this specifically. If there are other changes or features I can implement for inclusivity, don't be afraid to dm me, comment, or join the discord to let me know.
Gore uses a survival-lite optional system I have built. It is compatible with any survival mods you use by design. It does not punish you for not participating. At the end of your day, you can ask Gore to take you to camp, and he will offer to hunt an animal based on your current region. When you get to camp, he will give you a meal he made and any spare parts from said creature. The meals offer very slight 24 hour buffs to attributes. Rest in camp, craft, harvest alchemy ingredients, and let him know you are ready to leave, and you will be transported right back to where you left.
Don't uninstall mid-playthrough because I use global variables. My mod is open perms aside from the assets included that i have credited their author for, and gotten permission to use. This means you can make patches, replacers, edits to scripts, etc. Whatever your heart desires, I am okay with. I took inspiration from a great many authors, I have borrowed assets from talented artists, commissioned when I could, and had greats like Kukielle, from the mod
Daegon and Flint from the mod
Flint the Minotaur provide voicing for NPCs. Far too many people have contributed to this project in some ways small, others large, for me to consider it all mine. I created and shared this with you because I don't want to keep it to myself, so if you want to build on or improve it in some way, feel free. I have always had this open permissions outlook on modding and always will.
RECOMMENDED MODS
Spoiler:
Show
Remiel
Gore has around 320 lines with her. Remis author is one of only two authors I consistently bother for lines, not just because they're a delight to work with, but because the character is so interesting and fun to discover. Auri
Gore has a few idles with Auri, which came not even a week after posting Gore in his fledgling mod state. Auris author was so kind and so available which was honestly amazing as someone who barely had a mod at the time. Simple Outfit System I know followers have issues equipping what you'd like them to, and despite nerfing Gore's equipment down to Iron-Tier quality, you may still have issues with getting him to equip what you'd like. This is a vanilla bug, I apologize I can't fix it.
SNIFF - Simple No Internal Friendly Fire
Don't often recommend these, but quite frankly this is just a good mod to have. I can deconflict things on my end, but I cannot fix the base game. Came pretty close with his horse though.
Do not integrate Gore into any follower frameworks. He has his own. Doing so may not have him function as intended.
You can, of course, use him with mods like NFF installed, just do not use the dialogue option to integrate him into them. Many followers have theirs on the vanilla framework, which I admire and envy in a lot of ways, but it just wasn't possible to do with Gore.
Spoiler:
Show
khisartin from
dds workshop for the updates facial hair and scar textures. thank you!
frequiaaa for the updated catch-up spell.
WillOhTheWisp for porting Gore over to the Xbox! Thank you!
Cheming for the weapon idle animations.
swefrida, for the eyes, teeth, and skin. thank you. do not use these outside of this mod, period.
Naxmaardur, for the burned skin marks.
xavbio, for the armor textures.
DomainWolf, for the body paint.
billyro, for the sword.
gearshout, for the armor.
Kyoe, for the brows.
DomainWolf, for the body paint.
sirius1503 for the amulet.
zzJay,
WillOhtheWisp for the horse model and textures.
kalilies for KS Hairdos.
Salt & Wind for the textures.
Underdog for the limping animations.
Dan Johnson for voicing Pate.
Flint the Minotaur for voicing Jo-Lee.
THANK YOU TO AUTHORS THAT LET ME USE THEIR ASSETS SO I CAN FOCUS ON ONE MONUMENTAL TASK AT A TIME. THIS SHIT IS EXHAUSTING.
Vigilant credits:
Dan Johnson, for once again working on Pate.
Kukielle, author of Daegon for her voice talent as J'hul.
Giamel, for the crib asset.
4thUnknown, for the dust jacket used in the armor.
swerifida, for BNP skins and allowing me to use it for Gore.
Mihail, for the bandage nifs.
Robby, author of Khajiit Will Follow for writing feedback, helping me deconflict this patch with his as much as possible, and for being a good friend to me.
Trinity, Kary, Foamimi, my most incredible beta testers, and all around great people.
Vicn, for Vigilant.
Translators and VAs, for the English patches.
Xtudo, for his numerous patches that make great additions.
You, for encouraging me.
Eden, none of this would be possible without your divine presence to motivate me. Rest in peace, my darling sister.
FAQ
"Where do I go in Gore's questline?"
Confused about his quests? Here, I'll guide you though them. I have tried to make the line as intuitive as possible, but it is a bit unorthodox.
1. Head to peaks shade tower outside of Falkreath, or talk to Bailee at the Dead Man's Drink to get the quest.
2. After meeting Gore, take him to any bar that isn't the one in Falkreath and let him know you've lost any potential pursuers.
3. Tell him to relax, then ask him about his name.
4. Once again following you, outside the bar, tell him you need a drink.
5. Head to the Drunken Huntsman, and say "alright here we are."
6. Let him relax, and exhaust his dialogue about his appearance and his staring.
7. Ask him about life in the ravens.
8. Take him to another bar sometime, and tell him to relax.
9. Tell him you're buying drinks.
Rest should be self-explanatory for Blood Ties.
After blood ties, depending on your choices, there are two interludes, one, "Where We Stand" which is marked, and "Nest Left Empty," also marked, followed up by a conversation whenever you tell him to relax afterward.
You can get his horse by asking him if he knows how to ride, after inquiring about life in the ravens.
You can get a spell to summon him by mentioning you lost sight of him.
"Will you do interactions with X?"
- If it makes sense to. Most of the other follower authors people use are no longer developing their mods, such as Inigo and Lucien, so don't ask or expect that to happen. If I ever do these again I'd prefer it to be a deep, somewhat character driven system like I did with Remi. I have some planned with Taliesin, and others I have not started on but will be getting around to eventually.
"What are your plans going forward?"
- I want a break. I've been throwing myself at this for six months to the point where I started allowing it to consume all of my life/free time, of which I get very little.
I don't accept donations directly. I enjoy this, I want to continue. Please, if you want to support, send donations to charity. trans rights. that is all. thank you.
general content warning below:
Spoiler:
Show
This mod touches on some personal subjects that may upset you. His personal quests are optional, and you can avoid any of this by not pursuing them. I'm not a writer, I'm blessed with the gift of drawing on my own experiences to shape his story, meaning it's a bit easier for me to make him believable. That being said, I am not Gore. Gore is not me. He is not a self-insert, but rather a vessel meant to convey a message that victims should not be expected to be perfect people. I drew inspiration from my experience as a veteran, a CSA survivor, and other shitty experiences that shaped my life, but I also drew from Eden's experiences as well as others. Despite the heavy themes, this is a story of healing, kinship, and blood. the metaphorical kind, specifically. Chosen family, and its validity. This mod is for trans people first and foremost. It's for people whose family has let them down. It's a story about finding that acceptance and love with your chosen kin, and it's a story about finding happiness.