The premise of this build is a unique one (hopefully the one and only) where it glorifies your companion as the main player while you are a follower. (A lot of imagination, not like, lore proper and more imaginative role-play, so bear with me and read on)
The Story begins:
(The dull hum of a centurion dynamo core drifts through the vast caverns... Charging complete...Powering up..)
The familiar sight of a Dwemer ceiling comes into view. Familiar, not because you have seen it somewhere before, but because it has been imbued in your memory banks with technology and magic.) Ah yes, I was supposed to be the first of a new kind… (Two lidless pale lights for eyes, gleam on a metal face.) I have slept for a long time, after the last apocalypse, made repairs, and lay down here while my makers fled their cities. How long have I slumbered, waiting for the dynamo core to recharge completely from the ambient energies in the air? And more importantly, what happened after I powered down?
(Looking around…)
An empty chamber… Revisiting memory banks, to retrieve last visual data… The halls are not brightly lit now as they were back then. (You get up to walk around; the metal feet make a loud noise that echo through the cavern.) Oh I had forgotten how heavy my feet were against the stone floors, how noisy! (You adjust your gears while small vents in your feet release a small jet of air and stream which act as a cushion against your feet and the stone floor. The noise is now reduced to a dull thud along the floor) Yes, that is better.
(While you go about all this, you suddenly look around to see a silhouette across the room and in surprise you swing about your right hand, not knowing that you are clutching a huge dwarwen warhammer. The figure is equally surprised and swings about a sword, but the force of your swing catches the sword and wrenches it out of the hand of the opponent figure sending it flying across the room, and the figure itself flies a few feet with the impact and lands hard on the cold stone floor. Your eye lenses finally complete the necessary adjustments to enhance your vision in the now, very dimly lit hall.) It is a female, and from the databanks, a nord female at that. Dressed in an iron and fur armor and a handsome face with a dark patch on it though. She seems to be in pain. (You look down to see the warhammer in your hands and the fallen sword a few meters away) Did I do that? (you walk to pick up the sword and head towards the strange female fallen on the floor, but she takes a look at the sword in one hand and the hammer in the other and with a look of surprise and fear, collects herself up and runs away, limping with blood dripping from her body.) My speech units have not calibrated yet. I have to go after her. (You set after the stranger in intent to return the sword, but with every advance she seems to become more afraid and strains herself more to get away. You halt after a few steps and look down at the sword and feel an echo of magic from it.) This is an enchanted blade!
(You enter an adjacent hall…) some Dwemer constructs, older models, broken down. Did she do that? What was her purpose? More importantly, what had become of the world, what was the date? Are the Dwemer still around? (Many questions wander into your head) No matter, this place seems to be long abandoned. I will go to the surface, and make my way from there. Maybe I can return this sword to its owner too.
So there’s the back story. You are a Mach 2 Dwemer Automaton Centurion. Magically imbued with a personality learning profile. You have thoughts; you watch, do, learn and build a personality as you go on. The first of your tasks on coming out being researching on where the swords owner is now, with no little difficulty from the people you encounter who mostly run away in fear that a huge metal monster is coming their way. So there it is. Mjoll the Lioness is the player, you seek her out, convince her of your intentions and return her sword, and from there on your role-play game begins. Since she was the first person you saw after centuries of being dormant, you develop a sense of allegiance towards her and accompany her in all her adventures. (So in all quests, make believe that Mjoll is the one that accepts and goes on and you aid her in her tasks)
Race: Altmer (for two things, one, the magicka boost and highborn, and two, the height, if you can make a heavily built Altmer male and clad him in full dwarwen armor, it’s closest to the centurion’s looks)
Stats: 1:2:2 every five levels in M:H:S respectively till stamina is around 250 – 300 and then go for health or magicka as per preference) as an Altmer you start with 150 magicka which is an advantage. I prefer investment in health in later levels.
Standing stone: Warrior first, then Atronach (mainly for the magicka boost and protection)
With 150 base + 50 you do not have to heavily invest in magicka which will be used to boost health and stamina instead.
Skills:
Level 30 Build
Archery (Get a crossbow as soon as possible and advance to dwarwen cross bow and bolts)
Heavy armor (Dwarwen obviously – to look like a centurion)
Two handed (for the warhammer)
Smithing (steel, dwarwen, arcane blacksmith)
Illusion (muffle will act as the cushioning effect advanced technology to remove walking running noise described in back story, and fear spells, of course everyone will run and later courage/rally – for Mjoll, cause she sure is going to be braver with a huge metal monster as a friend)
Destruction (Novice, augmented flames and intense flames – that is all. The role play is that the flames spell acts as the centurion’s steam attack)
Restoration (Your advanced type of self-repair coupled with tempering at forges. No healing other cause this is for role-play it is not restoration magic but a self-repair)
Enchanting (you are a fusion of magic and technology and your databanks have and store knowledge of making similar magic and technology imbued weapons and armor)
Level 50 Build
Equipment:
All Dwarwen Equipment including the weapons (Crossbow and Warhammer). Get here as quickly as it is possible and this is the look you retain throughout the game.
All Dwarwen for Mjoll too expect for the helmet, make her a nice Gold circlet with flawless sapphires so you can look at her face. (You want her to look like you but not hide her face, the first face you saw after centuries)
Shouts:
You are not dragonborn (obviously, you are a mecha-magical droid)
But in the spirit of role-play you can look into these shouts
Unrelenting Force: you can draw in air from flaps in your back and expel it forcefully from an aperture that would look as a mouth (you certainly don’t need it to eat) to push enemies away.
Dismay: The very look of you inspires fear in all except the strongest enemies (and of course the senseless undead)
Disarm: Your enemies throw down their weapons in despair on facing a walking wall of metallic death.
Fire Breath: you can also blow out the hot, scalding steam from your oral aperture.
Ice Form: in the most extreme case where an enemy can withstand the brunt of your attacks or especially when Mjoll’s life is threatened, you vent a bit of the coolant from the flaps in your body to freeze the enemy so Mjoll can get some respite while you shatter them to pieces. This attack, although powerful will also drain the much needed coolant in your body without which your mechanisms will get over heated, so you do not use this unless it is that or Mjoll’s life!
Whirlwind Sprint: The same technology that deploys steam and air to muffle your sounds also can be used with flaps throughout the back of your legs to give you a tremendous but short-lived burst of speed, to rend through Mjoll’s foes and save her!
Enchants:
Head - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Magicka or Magicka Regen
Body - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Illusion
Arms - Fortify Archery/Fortify Two Handed
Ring - Fortify Two handed/Fortify Archery
Feet - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Carry weight
Necklace - Fortify Magicka/Fortify Destruction
War Hammer - Absorb Stamina/Absorb Magicka (to add to the role-play a bit since enemies hit hard with a warhammer must not be able to get up easily and cast spells or power attack you or Mjoll)
Crossbow - fire/fire damage + exploding fire bolts/normal dwarwen bolts (heating the bolts with your steam mechanism makes for a very scalding shot also very useful in taking down undead)
For Mjoll:
On her Armor: Fortify Heavy Armor/Fortify Health
Arms and Ring/Circlet: Fortify Two handed/Fortify Heavy Armor/Fortify Health or Stamina
Weapon: She likes a sword so give her a great Dwarwen Two Handed Sword with Absorb Heath and Absorb Stamina so she can swing away as she pleases.
Gameplay:
"You Shall Not Pass!"
You are an AI Automaton, the first and also the last of your kind. The game role-play is that you develop a growing allegiance to Mjoll (so she is essentially the only companion you will have so for the love of Kynareth, please keep her alive)
Join Dawnguard at level 10 and get Mjoll at level 15 and by this time get all decked up in full Dwarwen armor. (With Mjoll at your side or rather in front of you, get the dwarven crossbow as quickly as possible to complete the look)
Interestingly, Mjoll can also join the blades so you can also do the main quest.
So the following are the quest lines:
All radiant quests and morally sound side quests: (Mjoll is a good hearted nord and helps out all the innocent people of skyrim)
Main Quest: how deep you want to go into this is your call but since Mjoll is not dragonborn but is merely aligned with the blades, you may end up helping her kill Paarthurnax (I have started playing this build and not beyond the first dragon kill here)
Companions (only till they ask you to turn into a werewolf, Mjoll is disgusted and leaves)
Destroy the Dark brotherhood
Dawnguard: here you can do up to the quest where you need to go to soul cairn, at this juncture, you can imagine that since Mjoll is a human and cannot enter, she asks that you further the mission in her place.
Bards College is alright
Divine quests (but Mjoll will not do deadric quests)
All city Thane quests are good (except if it requires quests that Mjoll’s moral orientation does not allow (for ex: Mjoll would want nothing to do with the forsworn conspiracy – she is the main player here so think like her and choose to aid her in the quests)
Mjoll may later albeit reluctantly take the imperial legions side as she is good natured and sees it fit that all races may stay in skyrim.
"The main thing is the imaginative role-play that Mjoll is almost like your master and you go along with her, aiding in all her quests."
Not much for special attacks here… you have a Huge Warhammer, Flames bursting out of both hands (not to mention fire breath), an enhanced Dwarwen Crossbow…
Smash, Scald, Pierce all enemies!
Mjoll will engage her enemies, so cast fear if there are too many to thin the herd so she’s not in danger, and pick off the strongest ones with the crossbow
Cast courage or rally on her if necessary to make her stronger and be careful not to burn her with your flames. The entire imaginative role-play is to serve her so keep her alive at all costs as you go about your fabulous journey with your new friend. As you journey, you still keep searching for clues on the Dwemer in every Dwemer ruin you can remember, and Mjoll gladly will explore these ruins, as that's what she was doing in the first place!
The premise of this build is a unique one (hopefully the one and only) where it glorifies your companion as the main player while you are a follower. (A lot of imagination, not like, lore proper and more imaginative role-play, so bear with me and read on)
The Story begins:
(The dull hum of a centurion dynamo core drifts through the vast caverns... Charging complete...Powering up..)
The familiar sight of a Dwemer ceiling comes into view. Familiar, not because you have seen it somewhere before, but because it has been imbued in your memory banks with technology and magic.) Ah yes, I was supposed to be the first of a new kind… (Two lidless pale lights for eyes, gleam on a metal face.) I have slept for a long time, after the last apocalypse, made repairs, and lay down here while my makers fled their cities. How long have I slumbered, waiting for the dynamo core to recharge completely from the ambient energies in the air? And more importantly, what happened after I powered down?
(Looking around…)
An empty chamber… Revisiting memory banks, to retrieve last visual data… The halls are not brightly lit now as they were back then. (You get up to walk around; the metal feet make a loud noise that echo through the cavern.) Oh I had forgotten how heavy my feet were against the stone floors, how noisy! (You adjust your gears while small vents in your feet release a small jet of air and stream which act as a cushion against your feet and the stone floor. The noise is now reduced to a dull thud along the floor) Yes, that is better.
(While you go about all this, you suddenly look around to see a silhouette across the room and in surprise you swing about your right hand, not knowing that you are clutching a huge dwarwen warhammer. The figure is equally surprised and swings about a sword, but the force of your swing catches the sword and wrenches it out of the hand of the opponent figure sending it flying across the room, and the figure itself flies a few feet with the impact and lands hard on the cold stone floor. Your eye lenses finally complete the necessary adjustments to enhance your vision in the now, very dimly lit hall.) It is a female, and from the databanks, a nord female at that. Dressed in an iron and fur armor and a handsome face with a dark patch on it though. She seems to be in pain. (You look down to see the warhammer in your hands and the fallen sword a few meters away) Did I do that? (you walk to pick up the sword and head towards the strange female fallen on the floor, but she takes a look at the sword in one hand and the hammer in the other and with a look of surprise and fear, collects herself up and runs away, limping with blood dripping from her body.) My speech units have not calibrated yet. I have to go after her. (You set after the stranger in intent to return the sword, but with every advance she seems to become more afraid and strains herself more to get away. You halt after a few steps and look down at the sword and feel an echo of magic from it.) This is an enchanted blade!
(You enter an adjacent hall…) some Dwemer constructs, older models, broken down. Did she do that? What was her purpose? More importantly, what had become of the world, what was the date? Are the Dwemer still around? (Many questions wander into your head) No matter, this place seems to be long abandoned. I will go to the surface, and make my way from there. Maybe I can return this sword to its owner too.
So there’s the back story. You are a Mach 2 Dwemer Automaton Centurion. Magically imbued with a personality learning profile. You have thoughts; you watch, do, learn and build a personality as you go on. The first of your tasks on coming out being researching on where the swords owner is now, with no little difficulty from the people you encounter who mostly run away in fear that a huge metal monster is coming their way. So there it is. Mjoll the Lioness is the player, you seek her out, convince her of your intentions and return her sword, and from there on your role-play game begins. Since she was the first person you saw after centuries of being dormant, you develop a sense of allegiance towards her and accompany her in all her adventures. (So in all quests, make believe that Mjoll is the one that accepts and goes on and you aid her in her tasks)
Race: Altmer (for two things, one, the magicka boost and highborn, and two, the height, if you can make a heavily built Altmer male and clad him in full dwarwen armor, it’s closest to the centurion’s looks)
Stats: 1:2:2 every five levels in M:H:S respectively till stamina is around 250 – 300 and then go for health or magicka as per preference) as an Altmer you start with 150 magicka which is an advantage. I prefer investment in health in later levels.
Standing stone: Warrior first, then Atronach (mainly for the magicka boost and protection)
With 150 base + 50 you do not have to heavily invest in magicka which will be used to boost health and stamina instead.
Skills:
Level 30 Build
Archery (Get a crossbow as soon as possible and advance to dwarwen cross bow and bolts)
Heavy armor (Dwarwen obviously – to look like a centurion)
Two handed (for the warhammer)
Smithing (steel, dwarwen, arcane blacksmith)
Illusion (muffle will act as the cushioning effect advanced technology to remove walking running noise described in back story, and fear spells, of course everyone will run and later courage/rally – for Mjoll, cause she sure is going to be braver with a huge metal monster as a friend)
Destruction (Novice, augmented flames and intense flames – that is all. The role play is that the flames spell acts as the centurion’s steam attack)
Restoration (Your advanced type of self-repair coupled with tempering at forges. No healing other cause this is for role-play it is not restoration magic but a self-repair)
Enchanting (you are a fusion of magic and technology and your databanks have and store knowledge of making similar magic and technology imbued weapons and armor)
Level 50 Build
Equipment:
All Dwarwen Equipment including the weapons (Crossbow and Warhammer). Get here as quickly as it is possible and this is the look you retain throughout the game.
All Dwarwen for Mjoll too expect for the helmet, make her a nice Gold circlet with flawless sapphires so you can look at her face. (You want her to look like you but not hide her face, the first face you saw after centuries)
Shouts:
You are not dragonborn (obviously, you are a mecha-magical droid)
But in the spirit of role-play you can look into these shouts
Unrelenting Force: you can draw in air from flaps in your back and expel it forcefully from an aperture that would look as a mouth (you certainly don’t need it to eat) to push enemies away.
Dismay: The very look of you inspires fear in all except the strongest enemies (and of course the senseless undead)
Disarm: Your enemies throw down their weapons in despair on facing a walking wall of metallic death.
Fire Breath: you can also blow out the hot, scalding steam from your oral aperture.
Ice Form: in the most extreme case where an enemy can withstand the brunt of your attacks or especially when Mjoll’s life is threatened, you vent a bit of the coolant from the flaps in your body to freeze the enemy so Mjoll can get some respite while you shatter them to pieces. This attack, although powerful will also drain the much needed coolant in your body without which your mechanisms will get over heated, so you do not use this unless it is that or Mjoll’s life!
Whirlwind Sprint: The same technology that deploys steam and air to muffle your sounds also can be used with flaps throughout the back of your legs to give you a tremendous but short-lived burst of speed, to rend through Mjoll’s foes and save her!
Enchants:
Head - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Magicka or Magicka Regen
Body - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Illusion
Arms - Fortify Archery/Fortify Two Handed
Ring - Fortify Two handed/Fortify Archery
Feet - Fortify Heavy armor/Fortify Carry weight
Necklace - Fortify Magicka/Fortify Destruction
War Hammer - Absorb Stamina/Absorb Magicka (to add to the role-play a bit since enemies hit hard with a warhammer must not be able to get up easily and cast spells or power attack you or Mjoll)
Crossbow - fire/fire damage + exploding fire bolts/normal dwarwen bolts (heating the bolts with your steam mechanism makes for a very scalding shot also very useful in taking down undead)
For Mjoll:
On her Armor: Fortify Heavy Armor/Fortify Health
Arms and Ring/Circlet: Fortify Two handed/Fortify Heavy Armor/Fortify Health or Stamina
Weapon: She likes a sword so give her a great Dwarwen Two Handed Sword with Absorb Heath and Absorb Stamina so she can swing away as she pleases.
Gameplay:
"You Shall Not Pass!"
You are an AI Automaton, the first and also the last of your kind. The game role-play is that you develop a growing allegiance to Mjoll (so she is essentially the only companion you will have so for the love of Kynareth, please keep her alive)
Join Dawnguard at level 10 and get Mjoll at level 15 and by this time get all decked up in full Dwarwen armor. (With Mjoll at your side or rather in front of you, get the dwarven crossbow as quickly as possible to complete the look)
Interestingly, Mjoll can also join the blades so you can also do the main quest.
So the following are the quest lines:
All radiant quests and morally sound side quests: (Mjoll is a good hearted nord and helps out all the innocent people of skyrim)
Main Quest: how deep you want to go into this is your call but since Mjoll is not dragonborn but is merely aligned with the blades, you may end up helping her kill Paarthurnax (I have started playing this build and not beyond the first dragon kill here)
Companions (only till they ask you to turn into a werewolf, Mjoll is disgusted and leaves)
Destroy the Dark brotherhood
Dawnguard: here you can do up to the quest where you need to go to soul cairn, at this juncture, you can imagine that since Mjoll is a human and cannot enter, she asks that you further the mission in her place.
Bards College is alright
Divine quests (but Mjoll will not do deadric quests)
All city Thane quests are good (except if it requires quests that Mjoll’s moral orientation does not allow (for ex: Mjoll would want nothing to do with the forsworn conspiracy – she is the main player here so think like her and choose to aid her in the quests)
Mjoll may later albeit reluctantly take the imperial legions side as she is good natured and sees it fit that all races may stay in skyrim.
"The main thing is the imaginative role-play that Mjoll is almost like your master and you go along with her, aiding in all her quests."
Not much for special attacks here… you have a Huge Warhammer, Flames bursting out of both hands (not to mention fire breath), an enhanced Dwarwen Crossbow…
Smash, Scald, Pierce all enemies!
Mjoll will engage her enemies, so cast fear if there are too many to thin the herd so she’s not in danger, and pick off the strongest ones with the crossbow
Cast courage or rally on her if necessary to make her stronger and be careful not to burn her with your flames. The entire imaginative role-play is to serve her so keep her alive at all costs as you go about your fabulous journey with your new friend. As you journey, you still keep searching for clues on the Dwemer in every Dwemer ruin you can remember, and Mjoll gladly will explore these ruins, as that's what she was doing in the first place!
