A Long Way From Home - A Skyrim AAR [updated 20th May 2018]

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

This is a Skyrim AAR that doesn't start in Skyrim. This is a Skyrim AAR that doesn't even start in the same world as Skyrim. This is the story of a man who doesn't know where he is, doesn't know why he's there, and hasn't the first idea what to do about it. And then the dragons arrive...



This AAR takes the form of a journal written by the protagonist. He's writing it as he goes along, whenever he gets the chance to, which means he's writing down what he thought at the time. He might be wrong, or he might have misunderstood something he was told. In those cases, the journal entry will reflect his error. If he discovers it was an error, a later entry will probably correct it.


Potentially useful stuff:

Links to Maps

Tamriel map Cyrodiil map Skyrim map If you find those particular maps unhelpful, I recommend this page: UESP map page which has links to others.

Links to Chapters

Prologue Chapter One: The Library Chapter Two: The Tavern Chapter Three: Bruma Chapter Four: The Shortsword Chapter Five: Ma'Jhan Chapter Six: The Bear Chapter Seven: Skyrim Chapter Eight: Escape Chapter Nine: A Real Bed Chapter Ten: The Stones Chapter Eleven: The Gate Chapter Twelve: The Jarl Chapter Thirteen: Riverwood Chapter Fourteen: The Ruin Chapter Fifteen: The Elf Chapter Sixteen: The Golden Claw Chapter Seventeen: The Dead Chapter Eighteen: Dragonstone Chapter Nineteen: Dragonborn Chapter Twenty: The Greybeards' Summons Chapter Twenty-One: Magic Lessons Chapter Twenty-Two: The Spider Chapter Twenty-Three: Lost Chapter Twenty-Four: Shulgak Chapter Twenty-Five: Windhelm Chapter Twenty-Six: Forming a Plan Chapter Twenty-Seven: Cold-Weather Farming Chapter Twenty-Eight: Leaving Windhelm Chapter Twenty-Nine: Training Chapter Thirty: The Companions Chapter Thirty-One: Aela's Test Chapter Thirty-Two: A Dead Hunter Chapter Thirty-Three: Lydia Chapter Thirty-Four: Breezehome Chapter Thirty-Five: Bandits Chapter Thirty-Six: A Powerful Voice Chapter Thirty-Seven: Companionship Chapter Thirty-Eight: Shimmermist Cave Chapter Thirty-Nine: North-West by West (ish) Chapter Forty: Rorik's Stead and Dragon Bridge Chapter Forty-One: Northwatch Keep Chapter Forty-Two: The Prisoner

Character List - possible spoilers

Part One: In Cyrodiil (Chapters 1 to 6) our protagonist Ma'Jhan – a khajiit (a big-cat-like humanoid); the first person our protagonist meets Part Two Yannick Morgan – our protagonist, now with added name! Ralof – a Stormcloak, who escapes Helgen with Yannick Gerdur – Ralof's sister, who lives in Riverwood Balgruuf – Jarl of Whiterun Irileth – Balgruuf's housecarl and general of his troops Farengar – court wizard in Whiterun Lydia – Yannick's housecarl (whatever one of those is...) Shulgak – an orc living near Windhelm

List of Mods - and (sometimes) reasons for using them

Not mods, as such, but I have Dawnguard, Hearthfires and Dragonborn as well as Skyrim itself. Actual mods: SKSE SkyUI Because some of the other mods require one or both of them – and because I rather like SkyUI. A Quality World Map - With Roads by IcePenguin I get hopelessly lost trying to find places if the roads aren't on the map. This mod puts the roads on the map, so now I just get ordinarily lost. Weapon and Armor Fixes by kryptopyr Complete Crafting Overhaul by kryptopyr Smithing Perks Overhaul by kryptopyr Mostly because it seemed handy to be able to break down armour for its components, and then the other bits just kind of seemed logical additions to that. Gemling Queen Jewelry by Saerileth This one's just because it's pretty. Winter is Coming by Nivea It's Skyrim. It's cold. It stands to reason we're going to need a furry cloak sooner or later. Timing is Everything by kryptopyr To stop NPCs who are important to the plot dying in a random vampire attack our protagonist can't handle yet. Pure Weather (Brighter Nights) by Laast Really gorgeous weather – but dark nights... Moon Phase Affects Brightness at Night by qqqbbb ...so this one makes the nights slightly lighter, at least sometimes... Wearable Lanterns by Chesko ...and this one's for when our protagonist can't avoid the darkness. Pure Waters by Laast Goes with Pure Weather, and makes the water look better. Skyfalls and Skymills by SjoertJansen Having the distant waterfalls move makes for nicer screenshots even though you can't see the movement in a still picture. Final Younger Characters by Toshiki Because our protagonist thinks he might be a student. Without this, that would be less plausible. Amazing Follower Tweaks by Dheuster A handy way to control a follower's outfit (otherwise, if you give them things to carry, they have a tendency to wear them). And if the plot ever requires Yannick to have more than one person travelling with him, this solves that problem too!

Special thanks are due to Alwyn, who provided the spark of inspiration that set this whole thing going.