Background story outline for a Skooma-related quest (adult!)

[Skullrattla]

Disclaimer: Skyrim is an adult-rated game. So all you kids can go play something else, ok?
Drugs are bad, mmkay?

ON to the business:

Ulfric bans Skooma in all Stormcloak territories. Wandering Khaijiits selling the stuff are robbed and killed. Anyone found using it is fined or imprisoned .
Non-nordic people in Skyrim , esp. Khaijiit and Argonians, begin to feel the bite as they become criminalised by the Stormcloaks, and constantly harassed over their fondness for Skooma .
Ulfric uses anti-Skooma rhetoric similar to our War on Drugs, on how Skooma users are destroying Skyrim's culture, to justify to the population what is in fact racist ethnic cleansing.

To exacerbate the situation, the Khaiijit begin smuggling in a new form of highly refined moon sugar, with powerful effects (colourful vision, sound effects, increased stamina/magicka, increased speed/elemental resistance, dancing animations, reduced control over character's movements and actions)

They use secret magical pathways only known to the Khaijiit race to travel to Elsweyr where the drugs are being produced, an easy way for the remaining populations to accumulate quick gold in times of upheaval, using their abundant resources of moon sugar.

Mai'q the Liar is actually a high level skooma and moon sugar dealer, and the main man in Skyrim. He controls al the Skooma and pure moon sugar coming into Skyrim. He meets his business partners in secret meetings out in the middle of nowhere, which is why you'll occasionally run into him standing around apparently doing nothing. And why he never has to work for a living.

The quest would involve investigating Skooma and Moon sugar illegal trade, either in the pay of the Thalmor, or Ulfric. The player would interrogate a few suspects and find certain evidence, to evenually track down the source to Mai'q. Upon confronting him the player would choose to either attempt to wipe him and his buiness out, or join him in business for fun and profit. Mai'q will of coure have several high level bodyguards and a bunch of sabrecat followers.

There should be a side quest involving spiking an entire town with moon sugar during a festival...

 

[Vagrant]

Why have the pathways be "magical"? Why not have them closely guarded or altogether secret roads marked by symbols akin to the thieves guild? Like, have them intersect the paths that are already in place but then have them branch off into dead ends with a hidden trapdoor or something leading to an underground portion of the path guarded by a high-level khaijiit/argonian warrior that attacks intruders on sight.

Also, why not have another questline oriented on the skooma trade from the Argonian/Khaijiit point of view? You could be a courier for them + their customers at first, and then eventually move on to being dealer, and then a supplier. You would be able to draw an income from Mai'q once you become the leader of the operation, and be able to get discounts w/ the Khaijiit Caravans and any shop run by a khaijiit or argonian. You could also receive a player house situated near the docks were the shipments come in, or somewhere else altogether. Mai'q's Lair? Mai'q in turn becomes your housecarl on certain days? Or someone different altogether? Just some ideas; I really like this idea for a mod.

 

[Skullrattla]

Sounds good, I wrote the story to tie in with Moonpath to southern tropical Elsweyr mod and a Skooma mod i have seen. The dancing animations have already been made by various modders.

The quest you describe could include the spiking mission to gain respect from Mai'q and create new customers, by exposing a bunch of people to the irresistible effects of the uncut moon sugar. Fun and profit.

Yes, the paths are not quite magical as described in the Moonpath mod, but if they were then they wouldn't actually have to be drawn out on the map, so new areas can be added with just a gateway and then loaded separately.

If you know any modders please forward.

 

[Vagrant]

You don't have to make the paths magical per say; basically really hard to find/get to doorways that are heavily guarded that open up into the passageway, the passageway itself is a completely different cell, etc. Like the Moonpath, yea, but instead of giving it a magical sense just say they are a bunch of hidden passages, etc. You could even put in one of the other variants of khaijiit as a pack mule, having one of the skyrim khaijiit ride it in a cart-like vehicle used to transport the player and the moon sugar/skooma. Just a thought, since I've never seen any other mod incorporate the other khaijiit species, save for the Deserts of Elyswer mod for Oblivion.

The tie-in would work well, and it'd be even better if you got the support of the fellow who made that mod. As for me, I know of no modders; I simply know a good idea when I see one.

 

[Skullrattla]

Same here, I can’t make this myself, just putting out ideas that hopefully fit into the game.

I could probably learn to use the Creation Kit but I know better than to invest so much time in a Bethesda-made tool. Bugthesda, more like it.

...Just looked at that khaijiit page in the wiki.. wow, who writes all this stuff? And it's all derived from books found in-game? That is some serious nerd fandom!

 

[MaiqTheLiar]

M'aiq's says he's never dealt skooma and moon sugar. M'aiq says he is not a liar - neither is true.

 

[Skullrattla]

THE EVIDENCE



ARE YOU GOING TO TELL US THAT ALL THAT SKOOMA IS FOR PERSONAL CONSUMPTION?

Nah, it's samples of the latest batch for his wholesale buyers!