Video Game / Falskaar

"For hundreds of years Falskaar has been inhabited by the Nords, though most of its history from before then is unknown.
For the first time since the party's arrival in Falskaar almost 600 years ago a portal activates deep within the ruins of Mzubthand and the player steps through, arriving in Falskaar. They are denoted 'The Traveler', based on an old prophecy.
They who arrive through the shimmering wall mark the start of the worst."

— Official mod description on the mod's Nexus page

Falskaar is a popular new lands mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim designed by Alexander J. Velicky and released in 2013, set on a large island far from the coast of Tamriel. It adds roughly twenty to thirty hours of gameplay, a totally new region, a series of new spells and shouts, a large and fully-voiced cast plus several new dungeons and a new soundtrack suited to the area.

The main quest for the mod starts when the Dragonborn enters Riften and is approached by an old man named Jalamar, who complains about some mercenaries he's seen enter the Dwemer ruin of Mzubthand (newly added for the mod), followed by some horrified screaming. After explaining his attempts to alert the hold guards of the Rift have failed, he asks the Dragonborn to explore the dungeon out of concern that something may be about to attack the city. In doing so, they inadvertently walk through a gateway and find themselves on the unfamiliar island on Falskaar. Things initially appear to be more peaceful than in Skyrim, but it transpires that the settlements of Amber Creek and Staalgarde may be about to go to war, which risks throwing the entire island into chaos.

Falskaar has received mostly positive reviews from both the Skyrim community and even from official publications. The mod was written and designed by Velicky in an effort to land a job with Bethesda, but he ended up being offered a job at Bungie instead, which he accepted in November 2013. Since taking up his job, Falskaar is something of a side-project, and entered version 1.2.0 in October 2015. It is available on Steam and on Nexus^note SE version, although the versions on Nexus are typically more up to date.

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Tropes appearing in this game mod:

• Ambition Is Evil: Brother Arnand laments that Vernan's desire to learn magic eventually got out of hand, which resulted in his expulsion and his experimenting with the Dream Crystal. Yngvarr's ambition to conquer Falskaar is also motivated by his desire to become immortal.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: Jarl Agmar is the leader of Amber Creek and amongst its toughest warriors.
• Badass Preacher: Both Brother Arnand and Brother Thorlogh are monks at the Bailun Priory, and fully capable combatants despite Thorlogh's insistence to the contrary.
• Bash Brothers: Taken quite literally with Ulgar and Svegard, a pair of Nord brothers that live, hunt and fight together. They used to serve as Agmar's housecarls before retiring, and the Dragonborn has to bring them out of retirement.
• Big Bad: Yngvarr, the Jarl of Staalgarde, fills this role for most of the quests on the island, as most of the bad events that happen are his responsibility in some way; on top of that, many of the bandits in Falskaar work for him in some capacity. His ultimate goal is to steal the Heart of the Gods and become immortal.
• Biting-the-Hand Humour: While the mod was originally created as a job pitch to Bethesda, it notably takes a few jabs at the vanilla game, most prominently the infamous "arrow in the knee" comment.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Ulgar and Svegard both qualify, being much happier living in a small cabin in the forest and hunting than in their family's old mansion. They're much friendlier than most examples of this trope.
• Combat Pragmatist: Yngvarr may be petty for most of the game, but he shows that he can be surprisingly cunning towards the end. He agrees to duel the Dragonborn while fully aware that he will probably lose, but secretly has his mages paralyse the party and player while he buys them time.
• Contractual Boss Immunity:
  • Yngvarr shows up at Amber Creek, but cannot be killed as this would end the quest fairly early.
  • Kolgrim cannot be killed during the razing of Borvaldur, despite showing up, standing still and taunting you with a window to aim at him through.
• Cutscene Incompetence: One of the problems with the story is that despite Yngvarr not being that strong, relative to the player, the Dragonborn is rendered helpless to act in some cases and can only watch as he gets away.
• Dark Is Evil: Yngvarr is clad entirely in a unique variant of ebony armour, and is most certainly a bad guy.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Most of the dragons shown in Skyrim are Always Chaotic Evil. The only one seen here, Ahkrinviing, is an aspect of Shor and was responsible for terraforming Falskaar into a habitable place for the Nord migrants. His spirit also saves the day.
• Death World: Falskaar was supposedly like this when the Nord migrants arrived. A good number of them died due to the freezing cold, which was noted to be extreme even by the standards of Skyrim, and what life there was tried murdering them. Dragons were also reportedly on the island. This changed after the southern half of the island was terraformed, although the northern half is still off limits.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: In "Kind Blood", it turns out that Kalevi's biological mother gave up her own chance of escaping Pinevale so her daughter could escape to the safety of Amber Creek. She appears to have died before she could reunite with her daughter, though her fate isn't entirely clear.
• Deus ex Machina: At the end of the main quest, Yngvarr is unceremoniously killed by the spirit of Ahkrinviing and his guards are beaten offscreen. Bonus points for it being entirely literal: after all, trying to tamper with the affairs of a divine being is a bad idea.
• Doomed Hometown:
  • The major city of Borvald is razed to the ground by Kolgrim and a horde of bandits.
  • It turns out that the settlement of Pinevale was this for Kalevi, who was rescued later and seemingly one of the only survivors.
• The Dragon: Kolgrim is this to Yngvarr, being his top general.
• Driven by Envy: Yngvarr's motivation for starting war in a nutshell, aside from his own gain, is his hatred of Agmar and family for their being admired and respected while the Unnvaldrs are not.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: Vernan really starts to go off the rails after experimenting with magic beyond his comprehension. Yngvarr starts to behave this way but is killed before he can really embrace it.
• Drunk with Power: Vernan starts going off the deep end and claims that he is in total control. Arnand notes that he's entirely delusional.
• Elite Mook: Most of Yngvarr's forces are bandits, who are tougher than usual due to the levelling system but not unbearably so. The Staalgarde guards, on the other hand, are highly durable badasses equipped with skill-enhancing rings, which pose a more serious threat.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Played with. It's noted that many of the bandits in Falskaar are not Nords and have turned there because (they feel that) they have nowhere else to go. However, this doesn't stop the Nord bandits from shouting racial slurs at the Dragonborn when their non-Nord colleagues are less than five feet away. Similarly, while Yngvarr will willingly recruit non-Nords, he doesn't have all that much sympathy for them.
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  • The reason that Vernan was thrown out of Bailun Priory is because he kept dabbling in experiments that eventually nearly killed two people. Brother Arnand tries to talk him down towards the end of the "Dreams in Oblivion" questline, pointing out that he's nowhere near in control. Sure enough, the crystal sucks him into Oblivion.
  • To call The Heart of the Gods "evil" is a big stretch, but the principle still applies. Yngvarr's efforts to take it over result in him being killed by a giant dragon spirit.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • A good chunk of Yngvarr's actions can be chalked down to spite at best. A good chunk of his resentment towards Agmar is over his family not being followed by the Nords hundreds of years ago, instead choosing to follow the Borvaldurs to safety.
  • Kolgrim takes time to taunt the Dragonborn and Valfred over Borvald being razed.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Surprisingly averted by most of the Nords in Amber Creek, who are welcoming of foreigners and non-Nords. Two Wood Elves have managed to make themselves right at home, and one of the chief monks of the Priory is an Altmer.
  • The Nord bandits and those working for Yngvarr, on the other hand, are fairly xenophobic, although The Dragon, Kolgrim, is an Orc.
• Fate Worse than Death: At the end of "Dreams in Oblivion", Vernan is sucked into Oblivion.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Vernan was initially just a monk at the Priory, but his experiments got gradually out of control and he was eventually expelled when an experiment nearly killed two people (by accident). When the time comes to do the quest, he's tampering with the Dream Crystal and is the head of a large chain of necromancers.
• General Failure: While his fighting prowess is good and he is successful in razing Borvald to the ground, Yngvarr seems to regard Kolgrim as one. When Kolgrim is killed at Fort Urokk, Yngvarr merely comments that he supposedly couldn't get anything done.
• The Good King: Jarl Agmar is a Reasonable Authority Figure that cares for his people and does what he can to keep the peace. When it becomes clear war is inevitable and that Yngvarr's motivations go beyond simply taking over Falskaar, he acts quickly and orders everyone to positions they are best suited to. While not a revolutionary, he also believes that the people should decide who they wish to follow, rather than simply be beaten into submission as Yngvarr would try.
• Good Parents:
  • Both Jarl Agmar and Jalma are good parents to their son, who they raise properly and with love. They tell him that while he must eventually take his father's place, he should also enjoy being a child while he still can.
  • Kunnari is a caring father to his daughter, Kalevi. It turns out that he's her adopted father, but that doesn't detract from his parenting.
• Greater-Scope Villain: For the "Dreams in Oblivion" quest, it is suspected that Vaermina may be behind Vernan's attempts to use the Dream Crystal, or at least responsible for making it. Regardless, (s)he doesn't show up and Vernan is the main antagonist of that questline.
• Grim Up North: When the first Nord explorers arrived in Falskaar it was inhospitable and cold, with many of them freezing to death. Ahkrinviing, an aspect of Shor, cut out his heart and gave it to the Nord leader Olav, who used it to transform the southern end of Falskaar into a beautiful area, ripe with vegetation and trees. The northern end is still meant to be frozen, but is presently inaccessible.
• Happily Adopted: Played with. Kalevi didn't know that she was at first, just assuming that Kunnari was a single father she lived with. She eventually finds out the truth and while she plans to talk to him about it, she evidently still thinks of him as her father.
• Hate Sink:
  • Throughout the game, Yngvarr is abrasive, assholish and manipulative. This becomes apparent even before he orders a city razed, kidnaps relatives of his rivals and then sacrifices his own city to further his own goals.
  • To a lesser extent, Kolgrim, The Dragon to Yngvarr, is a sadistic Jerkass who rubs the deaths of innocents into the Dragonborn's face, also willingly partaking in the kidnapping of civilians including children.
• Here There Were Dragons: Dragons used to live on the island of Falskaar, but were driven away by Shor several hundred years ago. A few Word Walls can be found around the island, but are useless and have become lairs for bears and trolls. They do reactivate after the main quest is finished, but still no dragons.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • A case of this happens in the main quest. Both Valfred, the Jarl of Borvald and his Housecarl Goran stay behind at different points to give you time to escape the city and bring back the bad news - though the Jarl's sacrifice comes off as a bit of a Senseless Sacrifice, as he makes it after the pair of you have already escaped.
  • In the sidequest "Kind Blood", it turns out that Kalevi's biological mother forfeited any chance of escaping Pinevale in order to make sure that somebody could help her daughter get to the safety of Amber Creek. She hoped that she'd eventually be reunited, but had no way of knowing at the time and seems to have died.
• Hidden Depths: Olvar the guard spends most of his time as a Deadpan Snarker, but just before he follows Agmar and his army into war during the attack on Staalgarde, he notes that he's actually quite nervous.
• Immortality Immorality: Yngvarr's motivation is to become immortal by seizing the Heart of the Gods, which drives him to raze a city to the ground, kidnap Agmar's family and sacrifice his own city.
• Impoverished Patrician: An unusual case where this happens by choice. Ulgar and Svegard are descended from a well-off and long line of Nords that at one point owned a large mansion, but are happier making a simple living in their cabin in the woods. They also note that devoting their time to reclaiming and renovating the mansion feels a little pointless, since they have no family to inherit it after they die.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Olvar, a guard for Amber Creek. While he's a Deadpan Snarker and mocks the Dragonborn a bit, he does take his job seriously and thank those who help him.
• Klingon Scientists Get No Respect: Averted with magic. Unlike Nords from the mainland, characters will take time to praise you should you use particularly impressive magic. They'll still get cautious in some cases, but it's a far cry from the vanilla game. Yngvarr also recognises the value of using mages, which almost allows him to win when a trio of his paralyse the Dragonborn and Agmar's retinue.
• Mauve Shirt: After the first quest and the Dragonborn's arrival, Olvar doesn't have that much to do and just takes the role of a guard, with extra characterisation and dialogue.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot:
  • Played with. The Dragonborn ends up in Falskaar because they're investigating what they think is a major incident. It turns out, however, that it was just a ruin explanation gone wrong, which is standard fare.
  • One of the quests in Amber Creek involves the Dragonborn being asked to kill some wolves that are attacking a farmer's chickens, and follow the last wolf back so that its hideout can be cleared out. In doing so, a coven of necromancers are discovered, leading to the "Dreams In Oblivion" questline.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
  • In contrast to the xenophobic Nords of Skyrim, many of the Nords in Falskaar are kind and tolerant of non-Nords. They also compliment the player on their magical skill if they use most forms of magic, even if not that many of them do so themselves.
  • One of the chief priests at Bailun Priory, Brother Arnand, is a High Elf and one of the kindest characters in the mod.
• Neutral No Longer: Brother Thorlogh and the Priory initially vow to stay out of the war, but side with Agmar once Yngvarr and his men murder one of the monks for stopping their search of the main building. It turns out that this is because they had one of the keys to the Heart Of the Gods.
• Never My Fault: A large part of Yngvarr's characterisation is defined by his hatred of Agmar and his family for his own perceived lower standing. Ignoring the fact that his domain, Staalgarde, is a large city (by the standards of the island, at least), his ancestors were awful rulers and this caused most of the Nord migrants to abandon them, something he seems completely in denial about.
• Nice Guy:
  • Jarl Agmar, who willingly helps the Dragonborn many times and is an upstanding leader and family man.
  • Double subverted with Wulf. Initially he comes across as nervous and abrasive, but warms up very quickly to the Dragonborn and ends up giving them a very large discount if they help him out.
  • The Priory in general is staffed by nice people, but Arnand stands out, trying to redeem Vernan even when he's going deeper into dark magic territory.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yngvarr claims he's acting in the interests of his people and that's why he's doing the crimes he commits, up to and including attacking innocent settlements and abandoning most of his army to die as a distraction, but this is fairly transparent bullshit covering up his resentment of his rivals and desire to further his own gain. Agmar calls him out on it.
• Pragmatic Villainy: While Yngvarr is an Evil Overlord through and through and his underlings are fairly xenophobic, he's not against recruiting non-Nords to his cause, which is how Kolgrim became his right-hand man.
• Properly Paranoid: After hearing the news that a house was overrun by Falmer and its inhabitants slaughtered, Jalma immediately assigns a sizeable detachment of guards to that area, reasoning that the Dragonborn has probably not wiped out all those responsible. Given the cases of Frostfall Lighthouse and the Falmer just waiting to rush into Markarth through the Dwemer ruins from the main game, this is a really good idea.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Olvar, the guard that first meets the Dragonborn when they come through the portal, notes that he is meant to arrest anyone who arrives that way. However, he agrees to let the Dragonborn off if they help him rescue the blacksmith's apprentice.
  • Jarl Agmar and his wife Jalma are both reasonable to the citizens of their hold and make it clear that protecting them is their top priority. They're not flippant or stuck up either, and while they have their suspicions about Staalgarde's activities they wait for concrete proof before mobilising for war, keeping the peace for as long as it is feasible and sensible.
  • Jarl Valfred of Borvald agrees to help Agmar and the Dragonborn in their fight against Yngvarr. Unfortunately, his city then gets razed, but he is able to help the Dragonborn escape and does a Heroic Sacrifice to ensure they reach Amber Creek.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: There are three Jarls in the mod, and each is proactive in the running of their holds for better or worse.
• Sadistic Choice: Yngvarr offers one to Agmar towards the end of the questline- trade over the keys to the Heart of the Gods or have everyone there massacred by his guards. Unsurprisingly, he goes back on his word.
• Sequel Hook: Rather "extra exploration hook", but the Northern Pass is still inaccessible. Entering it and trying to go past the gates results in a message telling the player to come back at a later update.
• Sole Survivor:
  • The Bosmer settlement of Pinevale was razed by bandits (supposedly on Yngvarr's orders), with all inhabitants murdered bar one. Said inhabitant turns out to be Kalevi, who was only a baby at the time. The status of her mother is unknown, but she presumably died from sickness.
  • The Dragonborn is the only one to escape from Borvald alive.
• Take That!: Olvar makes a few barbed references to the infamous "arrow in the knee" comment, and a bandit tells the Dragonborn that they won't shoot him in the knee.
• Talking the Monster to Death:
  • Brother Arnand attempts this on Vernan, but fails.
  • Yngvarr refuses multiple attempts to sue for peace.
• Terraform: A divine version of this happened in the backstory, turning the freezing and inhospitable southern half of the island into a warmer habitat. The northern part of Falskaar was seemingly unaffected.
• Token Minority: Kolgrim is the only named Orc in the entire mod.
• Uncertain Doom: There's no proof that Kalevi's mother explicitly died from her sickness, but her odds don't look good either way, and her daughter assumes her dead.
• The Unfought: Despite building up to a big confrontation, Vernan ultimately isn't fought at any point and gets sucked into Oblivion.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Falskaar's legend speaks of "the Traveler", one who will emerge from the gate of Mzubthand and herald the worst times for the island. No guesses as to who turns up in Falskaar.
  • Jalamar, the old man who asks the Dragonborn to clear the dungeon qualifies as well, having assumed that it was a threat to the local city of Riften.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Vernan was formerly one of the monks at Bailun Priory and seemingly was a naive but well-meaning individual. Then he got a bit too ambitious, causing an experiment to go out of control and resulting in his expulsion. After that, he really went off the rails.
• Useless Useful Spell: The new shout, "Champion's Spirit", isn't very useful if you play as an Orc, given that its feature is identical to the Orc racial ability. It's slightly useful if you play as an Orc who specializes in magic^note given that the Orc Racial Ability, Berserker Rage, doesn't affect magic or if you constantly find yourself in situations where you'd need to use the power more than once, but otherwise, Orc Dragonborns are better off sticking with their racial ability.
• Video Game Caring Potential: One quest has you clear a beach of mudcrabs so that a Nord child can play there.
• Villainous Breakdown: Towards the end of "Dreams in Oblivion", it becomes apparent that Vernan is losing control of his newfound power, as well as his grip on his sanity. Arnand desperately tries to talk him down, but fails.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The entire city of Borvald is razed and all its inhabitants are slaughtered. This all happens less than ten minutes after the Dragonborn arrives.
• We Have Reserves: Yngvarr has few quarrels with sending his bandits as fodder, due to their numbers. He also sacrifices Staalgarde to buy himself more time to capture the Heart of the Gods.
• Would Hurt a Child: Yngvarr at one point has his bandits hold a seaside hamlet hostage, including a child. He later kidnaps Agmar's wife and son, ordering his men to kill them along with the rescue party.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Jalamar asks the Dragonborn to go to the Dwemer ruins because he fears there's a plot to attack the city of Riften. It turns out that an exploration of the ruins had just ended poorly.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: So the Dragonborn has secured help in the fight against Yngvarr? Too bad; the city of Borvald and all its inhabitants are slaughtered within minutes.
• You Shall Not Pass!: In the main quest, both Valfred, the Jarl of Borvald and his Housecarl Goran stay behind at different points to give you time to escape the city and bring back the bad news.