Seon - An Inari Race Follower 1.1F

GENERAL INFORMATION

This mod adds a follower in a new cabin across Pinewatch Cottage (check screenshots) based on the Inari Race created by Kogane to Oblivion. Isn't lore friendly and I am aware of that. If you think this mod isn't for you, just forget it exists - it is pointless to discuss this MOD based on personal tastes/preferences and mod bashing comments will be deleted.

If you like the concept and want to add your opinion or help improve it, please leave a comment.

Also Available on Steam.

Versions 1.1: Add wearable Inari Ears and Tails, look for a knapsack inside Seon's Cabin.

SEON ID:
Melee combat: None
Ranged combat: custom Bow.
Spells & Shouts: Relies hugely on magic combat/defense; uses drain health, restoration, alteration and illusion spells.
Armor: Custom UNP Savior Hide Armor.
Main Perks: Archery

Some lore background to support her appearance: she was blessed by Hircine as Champion for completing the Wild Hunt, but Sheogorath cursed her to have an animal hybrid aspect, a way to mock Wild Hunt ritual and an attempt to drive her crazy. Luckily Seon's strong will and discipline prevent her from madness; her hunting/patrol duty grants the respect from the Falkreath hold, keeping the road clean from bandits and predators.

It is a good idea to save your game away from Pinewatch Cottage or inside an interior cell (house/cave/city) before installing this mod to avoid CTD.

DESCRIPTION:

This follower mod is the mash-up of 3 personal mods: a race mod, a follower based on a player character and an house mod.

The Race:
This follower concept started after a fellow user from another Skyrim related forum requested the port of Kogane's Oblivion Inari assets (ear and tail) to Skyrim. For compatibility reasons, the NPC uses a vanilla Nord race instead of a custom race, so anyone can use the mod without dependencies.

Inari Race skills:
High alteration/archery/illusion skills, low melee/physical defense habilities. The biggest challenge was to give her a close combat option, since unarmed combat, the use of swords/daggers/axes or strong destruction spells were out of the question. I ended up giving her the absorb health spell, similar to the one vampires use, even if this is not technically melee combat. The Oblivion Mod also gives conjuration a nice boost, but this version doesn't make it relevant.

The Follower:
A former character of mine, created with ECE. She levels with the character from level 1 to 100, flagged as essential. Marriage option is locked for now, so you have to use a console command workaround. She uses custom enchanted armor/bow (not playable by the character); her body is UNP and the armor is a custom modification from Exeter UNP vanilla remodeled armors.

If you have a melee-style character, she fits well as she likes to fight from distance. For low-level character, there is a good chance that she could be too powerful, but I have no feedback to support this assumption.

She has her own schedule (sleep/eat/patrol & hunt), high magika skills developed and a specific skill to absorb the vitality from her foes. As a matter of personal preference, I like to have a follower that can pick those high-level locks, and she is one of that kind, having a good stock of lockpicks.

The House:
This was part of my learning process of house/cell creation following DarkFox127 (and others) tutorials. I like the concept of followers own a place to live (instead of living in inns), but that increases the mod incompatibility, so I rather pick up abandoned camps or small caves as meeting locations for releases and keep the follower with houses concept for personal use. This is one of the exceptions.

House/Cabin concept:
An hunter cabin using Stroti's wonderful resources. You can find it fast traveling to Pinewatch cottage, then get on the road and head to your left; the cabin is just a couple of steps ahead. There is an unenchanted Seon's Bow for you in the top of the dresser.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- please use a follower manager
- don't use more than 2 followers at once when exploring a dungeon, things can be crowded easily;
- changing her outfit can lead to weird results since she use her own custom body/textures, specially if you use other body than 7B/UNP/Vanilla.
- use Follower Commentary Overhaul - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52019/? - to improve follower interactivity.

COMPATIBILITY:
Should be compatible with anything except mods who affect the cell where the Cabin is set.

TROUBLESHOOTING & QUESTIONS:

Problem: She won't follow me.
Answer: install a follower manager; if you don't have it, probably you already have one follower with you (remember that the game limits the number of regular followers).

Problem: She don't use her custom bow, she is using a normal hunting bow.
Answer: This is a know issue with some followers and happened to me; the workaround is to talk to her and remove the hunting bow from her inventory.

Problem: I can't assign her as a steward.
Answer: That is related with the voice type assigned. To enable her for housecarl/steward jobs, you must use the console, please read this workaround from wiki Hbxn: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:403592

Problem: When I change her armor, the body textures mismatch or I get gaps on the head/hands/feet.
Answer: She use custom textures/body and your armor is linked to your body/textures type. I can't help you here.

Problem: Her armor looks different on my game.
Answer: I use aMidianBorn textures by CaBaL(http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24909/?), that can't be shared outside Nexus. The Mod will use your Hide armor textures installed, so if you don't have any texture replacer for it, you'll get vanilla textures.

CREDITS:

I can't thank enough to them, without their permissions, resources, information and work I simply could't do anything. Kudos to all of them.

- Ear, Tail and Original Race concept: Inari Race by Hidemaro http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/43047/?
- Base Body: Dimon's UNP; http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6709/?
- Face and Body Textures: FrankSunday Pretty girl like SuzumiyaHaruhi CV Aya. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8232/?
- Face _msn texture: No More Blocky Faces: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30/?
- Eyes: JimtownIrish's for True Eyes http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49963/?
- Hair: HelloSanta's SG Hairs;(google search);
- Brows: SG Female Eyebrows by Hello Santa http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35327/
- Armor: UNP Female Armors by Exeter http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/7305/?
- Bow: Black Bonemold Bow from Halofarm http://mod.dysintropi.me/
- Cabin: Strotis old cabin resource by Stroti and Tamira http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24271/?

Also thanks to:
tktk1 for Enhanced Character Edit by ECE team http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12951/?
Mikanoshi for SMCO http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12951/?
natilde for her Standalone Follower tutorial http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25673/?
DARKF0X127 for the Buid House, Navmesh and AI Package tutorials
Bethesda for the Creation Kit, Oblivion and Skyrim Games;
Nifskope, 3DSMax, Bethesda, Paint.NET teams.