Welcome back, my old friends!
10 years have passed! Do you believe it? I released the first version of my mod The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal 10 years ago.
I've decided to make a fresh air for the mod so here we go!

* NO! DON'T UPDATE THE MOD FROM SSE VERSION! *

Even if the base is the same of the SSE version, please don't "update" from SSE if you are midplaying of the quest! Many things were modified, including the main quest and other stuffs. Causes can be vary from the classic CTD to being teleported to wrong location. Read the sticky post in the discussion tab for more details.


Here a list of the new stuff I added:
- Added new meshes and textures
- Added more details to the Alik'r desert
- Added more details to Ben Erai and other locations of the desert
- Added outer walls of Ben Erai
- Added more details to main gate of Ben Erai
- Added eastern gate of Ben Erai
- Added ancient and abandoned fortress northen Ben Erai
- Added magic merchant in the middle of the desert
- Added some details to Al Shedim exterior
- Added The Pit where you can bet or fight
- Added the background story of Ben Erai and the Forgotten City via journals and notes
- Added a new mindblowing area
- Added a new dungeon (a bit creepy)
- Added a new player home where you have to claim and furnish
- Added shrines scattered in the desert with unique blessings
- Added new fauna and enemies
- Added new items (some of them are hidden)
- Added shortcut exit at the end of dungeons Al Shedim, Hamunaptra and Sadraaka Tomb
- Added a way to leave and go back to Skyrim in the early dungeons before leading to the desert
- Added map view and markers to the Coldharbour island
- Added details to Coldharbour island
- Added a new easter egg
- Added loading screens for Coldharbour island and Alik'r desert
- Alik'r desert world map is no longer a square map
- The Oasis Cave has been completely reworked
- Better LOD textures
- Arenar NPC voice has been fully replaced with new one
- Many textures now have parallax support
- Reworked most textures and with high resolution
- Reworked cursed sandstorm of the Forgotten City
- Reworked weather lighting
- Reworked some light templates
- Reworked some imagespaces
- The 4th Caio's journal now can be found only in chests inside destroyed houses in Coldharbour
- Fixed bug of unreadable books (example: Caio's journals)
- Fixed other bugs
- Addon mod that makes the desert sunny weather a bit overbright
- Addon mod that triggers the quest by stealing and/or pickpocket only after completing "The Way of the Voice" quest; Player level 10 is still required
- Addon mod that triggers the quest only by touching the Gray Fox bust inside the House of the Thief
- Addon mod that replaces spiders with skeevers for who suffer of arachnophobia (does not replaces spiders in Skyrim)
- Addon mod that replaces the horse located in Ben Erai to camel
- Addon mod that replaces vanilla dungeon soundtracks with Oblivion dungeon soundtracks in certain dungeons including the early ones. Skyrim version 1.5.97.0 is the minimum requirement because Bethesda added the soundtracks since that version.

* DESCRIPTION *

For a long time no one claimed the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal. The last one was the Champion of Cyrodiil at the ending days of the Third Era. But what happened after the Oblivion Crisis? Where is the Gray Cowl now? You're a thief and during stealing and pickpocketing items around the world, a vision appears in front of you. The Gray Cowl is calling. The big journey has started... Where will you go now? Many places are awaiting you. Legendary places, mysterious places, ancient places that needs to be cleaned up from the sands of time. The Gray Cowl wants you.

* RECOMMENDED LEVEL AND SKILLS *

I recommend you to be at least level 15 (Level 10 is the minimum required to trigger the quest. Level 30-35 is perfect to play), and also to have good skill points and perks for sneaking (most important) and pickpocketing (this, can be "tweaked" during gameplay, if you have a good eye). Some bosses are tough, especially those who are related to side quests. The mod can be finished with a barbarian class too, if you want, but thieves/assassins will be fully satisfied at this mod.
There are also two addon mods where one let the trigger works only after completing "The Way of the Voice" quest and another one makes the trigger working by touching a bust in the House of the Thief addon (a house I added along the river between Riften and Ivarstead).

* HOW BIG IS THIS MOD? *

It's big enough, you can consider this mod as a DLC-sized one. Gameplay time will be between 8-15 and more hours, depending on your class, style of gameplay, etc. Again, i must say, the thieves/assassins will fully enjoy this mod. There are some famous places to visit, two lands, including an island in Coldharbour realm, and a hidden and isolated area of Hammerfell.

* HOW TO START THE QUEST? *

Just steal or pickpocket any item when you are at least level 10.
Also, there are some addons available to download for alternate methods to trigger the quest.

* TECHNICAL INFOS *

This mod contains many, many, many new assets like new meshes, new sounds, new textures and new voices. You'll see new dungeons, new houses and new landscapes. All of these 3D assets are made by myself, except for a few things that i will credit to the authors, in the next lines below.
This mod is released as ESM. I will appreciate (and i wish too) that other modders, would want to mod my mod, by adding new stuff, like new dungeons, new quests, etc.
The load order is not really important, just put it after your last Official DLC (after Dragonborn, for example), and the Unofficial Patches (not so necessary).
This mod does NOT require SKSE, SkyUI, neither any other. Although is compatible with them. Just needs an updated version of Skyrim Special Edition.

* UNINSTALLATION *

UNSUPPORTED. This mod is too big to be uninstalled without issues. You must begin a new gameplay without this mod if you want.



This mod should be compatible with everything, except with mods that edits the same cells at the Skyrim worldspace.
Please don't make the classic question "Is this mod compatible with... ?". Check the compatibility with your favourite mods by yourself. If some of your preferred mods requires patches, then ask to the authors of this mods. I'll not make any patches for any other mods.
IMPORTANT: If your Skyrim version is 1.5.97.0 then you must install this or otherwise won't works!

* CAN BE USED THIS VERSION AS AN UPDATE OF THE SSE VERSION? *

Please, read the sticky post in the discussion tab for details.

* CAN THE ALREADY EXISTING MOD PATCHES WORKING WITH THIS VERSION? *

Maybe yes, maybe no! The thing I'm pretty sure, you'll may have an istant CTD if patches are referencing to deleted elements like the Oasis Cave which is replaced with a tiny world space. This includes the translations mod too.
The modders who already made the patches have just to check with xEdit if everything and references are ok.
For example the Flora mod will have some trees and plants position issues with the new elements I added, expecially in Ben Erai city.
The translators have to rework some lines and add new ones.

* CREDITS *

- Kifarium
The new voice of Arenar Esdrecus
And also ScarletWillow about the project they made: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/87379

- Shinji72
He's a Youtube Videomaker and my good friend, he made the trailers for my mod. He's also another voice for an NPC of the main quest. If you need a good video review of your mod, then Shinji72 is the right choice.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shinji72skyrim
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/shinji72skyrim

- meowziVA
The voice of The Pit Keeper

- Purgey
The voice of the madgod Sheogorath. This guy is a very talented voice actor.

- Francesca Guidi
The voice of Seviana Umbranox. A fantastic woman with a talented English "speechcraft".

- tx12001
For helping me about the Lore.

- The Voice Acting Power Squad
A fantastic team of voice actors. They gave me the voices of:
Molag Bal: by @elijahlucian
Lady Syloria: by @kaelajo
Gordon: by @ithechad
Website: http://www.elijahlucian.ca/team

- Michael Morgan
The voice of Ilrav Baenius

- Mihail
For the permissions to use his fantastic mods!

- MurderWrath
For the english texts translation support

- Grensir
An awesome music maker. I've used many of his soundtracks under permission, and you'll listen them, in almost all the places that you'll visit in my mod.
Website: http://www.grensir.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grensirmusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GrensirOfficial

- Scott Buckley
For granting me permissions to use his awesome soundtracks under CC by 4.0 license (Additional Music).
Webiste: www.scottbuckley.com.au
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/musicbyscottb

- Some textures used in mod are downloaded from CGTextures.com
From the license page. Mandatory line to be added here:
"One or more textures on 3D models have been created with images from CGTextures.com. These images may not be redistributed by default (*), please visit www.cgtextures.com for more information."
* To avoid misleading, this means that you cannot get texture files directly from my mod and then use for your purposes. You have to download them from cgtextures.com for free.

- Oaristys and Tony67
For the outstanding modder resouce pack (used some of their assets)
Link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16525

- Tamira for the following resources (used some of his assets):
New Plants resource pack: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22018
Stroti's resource pack: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36969
Stroti's Cactus Resource: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53275

- Edhildil for his camel meshes:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66708

- ElminsterAU, Hlp, Zilav and Sharlikran
For the must-have tool for modders TES5Edit
Link: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/25859

- www182
For the 3DS MAX NIF Plugin
Link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40209

- Nifskope team
For their must-have tool
Link: http://niftools.sourceforge.net/wiki/NifTools

- skyfox
For his NifUtilsSuite tool
Link: http://niftools.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=4128