# Dynasty Mod - Design Document

**Concept:** A bridge mod connecting Acheron (death/defeat mechanics) and a fertility mod to create a generational dynasty system where your offspring become your "extra lives."

**Status:** Early ideation / Discovery phase

---

## Core Concept

When the player dies (via Acheron's defeat system), instead of normal respawn:
1. Check if heirs exist (from fertility mod's child registry)
2. If heirs > 0: transition to a new character (your adult heir)
3. If heirs == 0: true permadeath (or Acheron's default behavior)

**The children are your lives** - physically present in the world as a visible "lives remaining" indicator.

---

## The Hearthfire Limitation

Skyrim treats children and adults as **fundamentally different NPC types**:
- Different actor bases, different skeletons
- A child NPC cannot "grow up" into an adult NPC
- Hearthfire scripts are notoriously difficult to work with

**Our solution:** Abstraction
- Children from the fertility mod serve as **life tokens**, not literal future characters
- On death: despawn one child, spawn a **new adult** via RaceMenu
- The "real" heir is defined at death by the player

---

## Dynasty Flow

```
① DEFEAT/DEATH (Acheron hook)
        │
        ▼
② CHECK HEIRS (fertility mod registry)
        │
        ├──► heirs == 0 ──► TRUE DEATH (Acheron default)
        │
        ▼ heirs > 0
③ FREEZE WORLD (pause, fade to black?)
        │
        ▼
④ OPEN RACEMENU ◄─── "Your bloodline continues..."
        │              (player customizes adult heir)
        │
        ▼
⑤ RACEMENU CLOSES (OnRaceMenuClose event)
        │
        ▼
⑥ FINALIZE HEIR
        • Despawn one child NPC
        • heirs -= 1
        • Transfer inheritance (items/gold/property)
        • Optional: partial skill inheritance
        │
        ▼
⑦ RESUME WORLD (new character, new life)
```

---

## Genetic Inheritance System (MCM Options)

### Race Inheritance
- **Freeform mode:** Full RaceMenu freedom, any race
- **Bloodline mode:** Restricted to mama or papa's race

### MCM Settings (Proposed)
```
☑ Enable Genetic Inheritance

  Race Options:
  ○ Random (50/50 parent race)
  ○ Player chooses (mama or papa only)
  ○ Maternal line (always mama's race)
  ○ Paternal line (always papa's race)

☐ Inherit appearance traits
  (hair color, skin tone from parent presets)

☐ Inherit partial skills (50% of parent levels)
```

### Gene Distribution Formula
```
Heir Race = random(mama.race, papa.race)
```
Or: present player with choice of two buttons before RaceMenu:
- "Mother's Blood (Nord)"
- "Father's Blood (Breton)"

---

## Inheritance - What Carries Over?

| Category | Transfer? | Notes |
|----------|-----------|-------|
| Gold | ✅ Yes | Family wealth |
| Items (configurable) | ✅ Heirlooms | Maybe "inheritance chest" at home |
| Property/homes | ✅ Yes | Family estate |
| Faction standings | ⚠️ Partial? | "Child of the Dragonborn" reputation |
| Skills | ⚠️ Optional | 25-50% of parent levels? |
| Spouse relationships | ❌ No | New character, new relationships |
| Quest progress | ❓ TBD | Complex - probably not |

---

## Technical Integration Points

### Acheron
- **Need:** Hook into defeat/death event *before* respawn triggers
- **Question:** Does Acheron have a "death alternative provider" API?
- **Question:** Which specific hook allows us to intercept and redirect?

### RaceMenu
- **Events:** `OnRaceMenuOpen` / `OnRaceMenuClose`
- **Question:** Can we pre-set race and lock it (for bloodline mode)?
- **Question:** Preset loading for inherited appearance traits?

### Fertility Mod
- **Need:** Access to child registry (count, references)
- **Need:** Ability to cleanly remove/despawn a child
- **Question:** What data is stored per child?
  - Mother reference? ✅ Likely
  - Father reference? ⚠️ Maybe
  - Genetic data? ❓ Unknown
- **Question:** How is child data stored? (Papyrus arrays? FormLists? StorageUtil?)

### Bridge Mod (This Mod)
- Custom storage for inheritance data during RaceMenu transition
- MCM menu for configuration
- Event listeners for Acheron + RaceMenu

---

## Open Questions / Discovery Tasks

- [ ] Investigate Acheron's API - what hooks are available for death/defeat?
- [ ] Check fertility mod scripts - what parent data is tracked per child?
- [ ] Test RaceMenu - can race be pre-locked before opening?
- [ ] Determine storage mechanism for inheritance during transition
- [ ] Consider SkyrimNet integration - ancestral memories?
- [ ] **Save bloat reduction:** When consuming/despawning a child, can we properly delete associated records (spawned NPC data, AI packages, relationship data) to reduce save file size? Investigate what the fertility mod stores and whether clean deletion is possible vs. just disabling the actor.

---

## Major Technical Concern: Race Change Mid-Game

**Problem:** Changing race mid-save is a "big no-no" in Skyrim. Race is deeply wired into:
- Base stats (Health/Magicka/Stamina starting values)
- Racial abilities (Histskin, Berserker Rage, Dragonskin, etc.)
- Skill bonuses (+10 Sneak for Bosmer, +10 Two-Handed for Nord, etc.)
- Resistances (50% Fire resist Dunmer, 50% Frost resist Nord)
- Height/speed/reach calculations
- Voice type associations (some mods check this)

**When you change race via RaceMenu mid-save:**
- Old racial abilities may persist (stacking bugs)
- New racial abilities may not apply correctly
- Skill values don't recalculate to new racial bonuses
- Perks allocated based on old racial bonuses become misaligned
- Mods that cached race at game start → potentially broken

### Possible Solutions

| Option | Description | Complexity | Safety |
|--------|-------------|------------|--------|
| **A: Lock race** | Heir must be mama or papa's race, no change allowed | Low | Safest |
| **B: Stat reset** | Allow race change, but reset to fresh racial defaults (new character stats) | Medium | Medium |
| **C: Race framework** | Build/find framework to properly strip old racials, apply new, recalc stats | High | Risky |

**Recommendation:** Start with Option A (lock to parent race) for v1.0. Only appearance changes in RaceMenu, race itself is pre-set based on genetic inheritance settings. This avoids the entire class of race-change bugs.

### Re-evaluation: Option B May Be Feasible

Without Requiem or complex stat overhauls, the math is actually catchable:

```
Modern Skyrim perk formula (Ordinator, Adamant, Vanilla+):
- Perk points = Level (or Level + bonuses from skill mods)
- Skills = Base (15) + Racial Bonus (0-10) + Training

On heir transition:
1. Read: current level, perk points spent, skill levels
2. Reset: skills to new racial defaults
3. Grant: same number of perk points to redistribute
4. Optional: inherit % of parent's skill levels as head start
```

**The "lineage for the game" concept:**
At character creation, you're not just choosing YOUR race - you're establishing your **dynasty's founding bloodline**. Partner choice becomes strategically meaningful: a Nord who partners with a Dunmer opens the Dunmer bloodline for future heirs.

This could work as an MCM toggle:
- **Safe mode:** Race locked to parent (Option A)
- **Dynasty mode:** Race change allowed with stat reset (Option B)

---

## Balance Considerations

- **10 children limit** from fertility mod = 10 lives maximum
- Good baseline for a challenging but fair dynasty playthrough
- Could be configurable via MCM (allow more/fewer heirs)

---

## SkyrimNet Integration: The Context Problem

**The challenge:** With LLM-driven NPCs tracking memories and relationships, heir transition creates narrative chaos:

| NPC Role | Before Death | After Heir Transition | Challenge |
|----------|--------------|----------------------|-----------|
| Spouse | "My lover" | "My child who is now adult" | Very awkward / needs reframe |
| Follower | "My Thane" | "My Thane's heir" | Relationship reset |
| Friend | "We fought together" | "I fought with your parent" | Memory shift |
| Enemy | "I'll kill you" | "I killed your father, now you" | Actually works great |

### Possible Solutions

**Option 1: Context injection on heir transition**
- Broadcast event: "Previous player [Name] has died"
- Inject into all NPC contexts: "The player you knew is dead. This is their heir [NewName]."
- Reframe relationship memories: lover → parent, friend → elder acquaintance

**Option 2: Clean slate**
- Wipe player-related memories on transition
- Heir starts fresh, only inherits reputation (faction standing, bounties)
- Simpler but loses narrative potential

**Option 3: Ancestral memory injection (complex but cool)**
- NPCs remember the parent, speak of them in past tense
- Heir can ask NPCs "Tell me about my father/mother"
- Creates organic worldbuilding through gameplay

### The Spouse Problem

The most awkward case: your romantic partner is now your parent.

**Solutions:**
- On heir transition: spouse relationship → "parent" role
- Spouse no longer romance-able (they're your mother/father now)
- Could trigger unique dialogue: "I miss your father every day. You have his eyes."
- Or: spouse dies of grief (dark but narratively clean)
- Or: spouse becomes elder mentor figure

**This is where the mod gets either amazing or cursed.** Needs careful thought.

---

## Design Philosophy: Meaning Over Gratification

**The problem with NSFW Skyrim modding:**
Much of it is pure gratification - encounters happen, nothing changes. No consequences, no stakes, no narrative weight. The "gooner culture" is instinct-driven with no meaning attached.

**Dynasty mod as counter-culture:**
This mod makes those systems *matter*:

| Aspect | Without Dynasty | With Dynasty |
|--------|-----------------|--------------|
| Intimate encounters | Animation, nothing changes | Potential heir, future life |
| Partner choice | "Who's attractive" | Bloodline strategy, racial lineage |
| Children | Spawned objects, maybe cute | Your literal extra lives |
| Death | Reload save | Generational transition, story beat |
| Relationships | Disposable | Long-term investment |

**The pitch:** Transform the NSFW side of Skyrim from gratification to genuine narrative stakes. Not everyone will want this - but for those who do, it offers something rare: *meaning*.

Inspired by Crusader Kings: seduction and heirs exist, but they *matter* because the dynasty continues through those choices.

### Design Principle: Consent as Foundation

This mod assumes relationships are **chosen**, not forced:
- Heirs come from meaningful partnerships
- The "lives" you're protecting came from something you built
- Stakes emerge from care, not trauma

This is a deliberate counter to the non-consent defaults common in NSFW modding. Dynasty is about consequence flowing from choice - not drama extracted from violation. The mod pairs naturally with consent-respecting frameworks (OStim's negotiation, relationship-building mods, etc.).

---

## Nice-to-Have (Future Scope)

- **Ancestral memories:** SkyrimNet memory fragments from previous generations
- **Family tree visualization:** Track your dynasty's history
- **Heir traits:** Random bonuses/maluses based on childhood events
- **Rival dynasties:** NPCs with their own lineages

---

**Version:** 0.1 | **Created:** 2026-03-25 | **Updated:** 2026-03-25
