Elva Pure-Spring (Apprentice priestess NPC and follower)
 
Update (V1.1): My christmas present for you: another update with some new features. :) Elva got unique new jewelery (a ring and a matching amulet, see screenshots.) I also tweaked her spells a bit and there is now an option for a unique voice (see Misc. Files Section). However, SOS Voice Pack is needed for this to work. She also got a place to sleep, which was missing in the previous versions (a patch is necessary for some Temple of Kynareth mods, see Misc. Files Section). Enjoy her and have peaceful holidays. 

A nice HQ replacer can be found here: MW Elva Pure-Spring - Follower Replacer - ESL


"Greetings, traveler. I am Elva, a humble apprentice priestess in the sacred temple of Kynareth here in Whiterun. I find my purpose in nurturing both the delicate flowers of our sacred garden and the spirits of those who seek comfort within these hallowed halls. Yet, within my heart lies a question that remains unanswered – the identity of my father. I often imagine him as a valiant Breton soldier, his spirit shaped by the battles he fought, and perhaps that vision is what ignites the magic within me. Under the kind guidance of Arcadia, the temple’s alchemist, I delve into the fascinating art of potion-making. I nurture the flowers in our garden, each petal serving a purpose in the remedies we create for those in need. In my free moments, I wander into the wild, collecting herbs and ingredients, driven by an insatiable curiosity for the world around me.
To ensure I am well-prepared for my adventures, my mother has insisted I train regularly with Farkas, a fearsome warrior from the Companions. His lessons extend beyond the blade; he has taught me the language of animals, especially the wolves who roam the forests. I find solace in their company, a silent understanding that binds us.
One day, I dream of traveling across Tamriel, helping those I meet along the way. With each potion brewed and every herb harvested, I feel closer to fulfilling that dream. With the blessings of Kynareth and the strength of my heritage, I am determined to make my mark on the world."
:)


Elva is a project of mine I've been working on for months. It was actually my very first modding project, but two years ago I put it aside since I didn't have the knowledge to give her the abilities I wanted her to have.
The idea was to create a pure restoration mage as a follower. Since she shouldn't be too powerful I wanted her to start at (very) low level as an apprentice healer who completely levels with you. So I made her a young girl, and why not the daughter of Danica... as a healer she should also have knowledge of Alchemy. And some limited fighting skills with a dagger or sword should also be of help in her adventures. That was the idea. It took me many hours to build and tweak her NPC packages to reflect all these things. She actually has her duty in the temple, she has her regular trainings with Ria, Aela and Farkas and she attends the alchemy lectures at Arcadia's. On the weekends she takes care for the gardens around the temple and travels to the Whiterun plains to collect some more rare ingredients. And all these things (finally) really work if you just use her as an additional Whiterun NPC. :) She really collects flowers. I had the hope that she could also really create potions, but this is not possible (yet). So, I gave her a more or less random set of leveled potions that she can use in combat. She also has a unique knife (a Khukri to be precise) which is light, sharp and always poisoned. She will get new perks as she levels up, one every five levels (see below). The perks are strictly taken from her main abilities/class which actually resemble her mixed nord/breton anchestry. I'm aware that some abilities, e.g. in the speechcraft skill tree make no sense for an NPC, but who knows what other mod makes them useful... (and too many fighting perks would make her overpowered). By the way, the Green Thumb perk really works on her. So, if she is at level 35, let  her  pick the rare ingredients. She will pick double the amount... To compensate for the useless speechcraft perks, I made a (leveled) unique ring and amulet (V1.1) for her. The items boost the spreechcraft/magica and alchemy a bit, respectively. So you can use it to benefit from your charming new follower and get better prices (if you take the ring from her). The jewelery is supposed to be made of steel and amber, nothing fancy. So, I made it somewhat dull and not as shiny as silver. The amulet is currently only for girls (no mesh for male characters).
Last but not least she also got some new unique spells beside most vanilla restoration spells. "Sun Halo" is a comparably weak 'cloak' spell, slowing and damaging undead around her. "Calm Animals" is a novice illusion spell, doing what it says. And "Sun Fire" and "Vampire's Bane" were modified to also affect living targets, however, they do less damage to living than the comparable destruction spells but have the advantage of much higher damage to undead. The new spells can be added to the spell vendors' leveled list by a small add-on (Misc. Files Section).
I did some testing and I confirmed all things to work properly (at least on my setup). However, I've never seen her calming animals or using the "Sun Halo" spell, although these spells are quite strong in early stages of the game.
Version 1.1 offers an additional add-on which gives her a unique voice from Simply Open Source Voice Pack. Just download and install SOS Voice Pack and the add-on (Misc. Files Section).


Please report any issues or ideas to improve her. I'm very open for comments. For now she is a work in progress and I hope you get a unique and interesting NPC and follower. As you might have seen from the description I didn't take too much care about her appearance, I rather tried to push the NPC packages to the limit of the game engine and tried some things with the new spells.
Although I tried to give her a pretty face the vanilla game has 'some' restrictions. If you want to make replacers for her go ahead. :) Maybe in the future she will also get a quest, but for now she is just a (not so) standard follower. If you like her and would like to help me expanding her, contact me. I have some ideas... :)
Ok that's all for now, I hope you enjoy her.

In the following the 'technical' information:

Race:  Nord/Breton
Class: Spellsword/Priestess/Healer  (One-Handed (1), Light Armor (1), Block (1), Restoration (3), Alchemy (2), Speechcraft (2))
Alignment: Neutral Good
Voice: FemaleYoungEager (we need more standard voices :) )
Perks:

Level 1: Restoration Novice
Level 5: Agile Defender (20%)
Level 10: Alchemist (20%)
Level 15: Armsman (25%) (increases damage of all one-handed weapons by 25%)
Level 20: Shieldwall (10%)
Level 25: Haggling (10%)
Level 30: Restoration Apprentice
Level 35: Green Thumb
Level 40: Allure (10%)
Level 45: Restoration Adept
Level 50: Custom Fit
Level 55: Swordsmaiden (50%) (increases damage of daggers and swords by 50%)
Level 60: Recovery (30%)
Level 65: Concentrated Poison
Level 70: Shieldwall (20%)
Level 75: Haggling (20%)
Level 80: Matching Set
Level 85: Snakeblood
Level 90: Avoid Death
Level 95: Allure (20%)
Level 100: Swordsmaiden (100%) (doubles damage of daggers and swords)

Spells:  
Lesser Ward / Steadfast Ward / Greater Ward
Sun Halo (NEW! see below)
Calm Animals (NEW! see below)
Turn Lesser Undead / Turn Undead / Turn Greater Undead / Bane of the Undead
Fast Healing / Healing Hands / Close Wounds / Heal Other / Grand Healing
Sun Fire / Vampire's Bane (edited to affect living targets, see below)
Stendarr's Aura
        Circle of Protection
Guardian Circle

Level: 2-100
can be married, doesn't affect stealth

New Spells

Sun Halo (Restoration Apprentice):
The spell creates a small sun floating above the caster. Its light blinds the undead, slows them down and burns them. The damage increases the closer they get.

Calm Animals (Illusion Novice)
Fills the low end gap of the calm spell series. It calms only animals up to level 7 (variable with the ODIN mod). Would actually be a nice potential starting spell for illusion mage characters.

Sun Fire / Vampire's Bane (Restoration Apprentice/Adept)
These two spells are edited to also affect living targets (to give Elva some offensive spells; only she has the edited version of the spells). They do 50/17 and 80/30 points of sun damage to undead/living targets, respectively. Elva's Vampire's Bane is an area spell and should only affect enemy targets (no friendly fire).


Future Plans

add blood textures to her Khukri (added in V1.0)
give her a more unique outfit (added in V1.1)
give her a unique voice (added in V1.1)
give her a high-poly face (look here)
give her a quest and more unique interaction with the player
...


Installation

Copy all files to the data folder. Activate the mod.
Or better use a mod manager to do this.


Compatibility

The mod should be compatible with most mods. She may look somewhat different if you use different skins and so on.
Problems may arrise with mods that alter the Temple of Kynareth or the Jorrvaskr area in Whiterun. However, if Elva doesn't find her package locations, she will just revert to her temple duty.


Thanks

Thanks go to Oaristys for providing his Modder's Resource Packs. The Khukri mesh is taken from there, but converted to an useable weapon with upsclaed and altered textures. Actually, his Ressource pack just gave me the idea to give Elva this unique weapon.
Thanks also go to Bethesda for creating Skyrim, to all modders who keep Skyrim alive and to the guys who created SSEEdit.


My Mods

Dawnstar Farms
Elva Pure-Spring (Apprentice priestess NPC and follower)
Medresi Dran Follower
Glass Making & Recycling
Complete Belrand Overhaul
A Deck Of Playing Cards
Skeevers Drop Skeever Hide
Fluffy Skeever Tail
Rabbits Drop Rabbit Fur
Harvest Ivy
Skyrim's got Balls
Simple Leather Tanning Fix
Even More Vanilla Rings
Even More Vanilla Rings for Beyond Skyrim - Bruma