INTRODUCTION

During the creation of Heritage, I had ideas for NPCs or creatures that while interesting in some way, didn't fit in with Skyrim's existing enemy factions. SRE is intended to be a way to implement the most promising of these ideas in a non-intrusive way that should not ruin the player's suspension of disbelief. Rather than add these NPCs to a vanilla levelled list alongside bandits or vampires, these enemies are exclusively encountered in the wilderness via Skyrim's  random wilderness encounter system.

The main file contains 2 new types of enemy: Animated Statues and Metal Skeletons. More will be added in time as optional modules.

Animated Statues
These beings were once regular stone sculptures of Nordic, Imperial, Orcish figures that have been magically compelled to move on their own. Animated statues have appeared previously in Elder Scrolls games, such as in ESO and Blades in varying capacities. They can be animated by a soul or be enchanted to serve the will of a mage. The statues of this mod are designed on the latter premise and are the servants of hostile warlocks. You will encounter them alongside these mages or sent by them to achieve some goal.

Statues gameplay-wise were based on a cross between a bandit and a dwarven sphere in terms of perks and strength. Like spheres, they have 3 tiers of strength beginning at level 16 and capping at level 30. Like hostile NPCs, they will receive level appropriate perks. While hostile to the player, they will only attack them if they get too close, as they serve as guards primarily.

They possess sturdy stone weapons of several designs. Know that the stats of a stone weapon based on an iron weapon will be the same as the stats of one designed like a dragonbone or ebony weapon. In general they possess the damage of dwarven weapons, the weight of their ebony counterparts, the high stagger of their stalhrim versions, but also the poor value and critical damage of their iron variants. They can be tempered with quarried stone, which thankfully the statues drop on defeat.

Metal Skeletons 
There is no lore precedent for metal skeletons, these creatures were based on the steel skeleton from the game 'Lost Kingdoms', one of my favourite gamecube games. It is implied that the 4th era is something of a dark age for Necromancy in Tamriel, as some necromantic spells from 'Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion' have been lost. This is a plot point in the 'Plague of the Dead' creation from the creation club, where a necromancer makes the discovery of the lost art of summoning zombies. Metal skeletons are supposed to be a response to this, as skeletons are continue to be a popular choice for Necromancers in Skyrim to reanimate. What if they made them physically stronger by forging/transmuting their bones?

These Skeletons are boss level encounters in the same vein as the Draugr Deathlord enemies. They possess 4 tiers of strength, furthermore they receive a more potent damage boosting perk with each successive progression. Like their draugr counterparts they can be encountered  with shields, bows and with magic. The threat a metal skeleton poses varies wildly based on the metal it is derived from, as well as its respective level of strength. For example, variants of the Iron Skeleton can be encountered at any level and will only ever wield iron weapons, however the Ebony Skeletons are much rarer and appear only at the highest levels, because they only wield ebony weapons.

• Iron Skeletons: Wield Iron weapons, encountered at all tiers.
• Steel Skeletons: Wield Steel weapons, encountered at all tiers.
• Silver Skeletons: Wield Silver weapons, encountered at all tiers.
• Brass Skeletons: Wield Dwarven weapons, encountered level 21+.
• Orichalcum Skeletons: Wield Orcish weapons, encountered level 21+.
• Glass Skeletons: Wield Glass weapons, encountered level 30+.
• Ebony Skeletons: Wield Ebony weapons, encountered level 40+.
• Stalhrim Skeletons: Wield Stalhrim weapons, not implemented in to levelled lists. Encountered level 40+ (Version 1.1)
• Golden Skeletons: Wield Golden Steel/Draugr/Iron/Imperial weapons, encountered at all tiers. (Version 1.1)
  

They use a similar naming pattern that I use in my 'Peaked Enemies' mod.

• Tier 2: Skeleton Warrior/Archer/Wizard
• Tier 3: Skeleton Guardian
• Tier 4: Skeleton Hero
• Tier 5: Skeleton Champion
  

 
I designed the look of the metal skeletons keeping them consistent with the Amidianborn retextures in mind. I use the Amidianborn: Book of Silence mod in the screenshots, which you can find for SE here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/35382 . Not a prerequisite, whatsoever as the colours of the skeletons still hopefully make sense regardless. 

Alongside the unimplemented Stalhrim Skeletons there are Bronze and Golden Skeletons. Golden Skeletons in particular were intended to wield golden weapons, which you can also summon by console commands if you wish. They all possess the stats of steel weapons, but are much more valuable. I intend to release them properly in a more lore-friendly way as wares sold by a transmutation mage.
 

ENCOUNTERS

The new implemented encounter quests are based exactly upon the vanilla counterparts, so much so that no new scripts needed to be compiled.
I needed to reupload the main file, because I didn't notice the creation kit generated scripts in my overwrite folder in MO2. Download 1.1 so my new encounters actually work!

• Enchanters Fighting Bandits - Triggers randomly at encounter points.
• Necromancers Fighting Bandits - Triggers randomly at encounter points at night.
• Travelling Necromancers - Triggers randomly at encounter points at night.
• Travelling Enchanters - Triggers randomly at encounter points in Skyrim or Solstheim.
• Mage Fails to Bind Statue - Triggers randomly at encounter points.
• Mage Fails to Bind Skeleton - Triggers randomly at encounter points at night.
• Vigilants Fight Statue - Triggers randomly at encounter points.
• Vigilant Duels Skeleton - Triggers randomly at encounter points at night.
• Statue Assassin - Triggers randomly at encounter points with the Black Star in your possession
• Skeleton Assassin  - Triggers randomly at encounter points with the Necromancer's Amulet in your possession.
  

I have tested most of these quests personally, except for the assassin and travelling encounters.

COMPATIBILITY

My most compatible mod to date. The only mods that may conflict are mods that also add random world encounters. If an SSE Edit patch can fix the issue, then I can easily create compatibility fixes if necessary.

Oddly enough, 'Immersive World Encounters' doesn't seem to conflict with SRE at all. Perhaps there is something I am not seeing, but it looks like there won't be any trouble when both mods are active. Check out that mod here: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/18330

The mod adds no custom textures and is therefore compatible with any texture overhaul.

THANKS

Rougeshot - For allowing me permission to use the Smilodon skeletons that I have modified for senche cats. There are no tigers or leopards in this iteration of SRE, but I do plan to include them in a later module in some form.

Ousnius - For Bodyslide and Outfit Studio. Vertex colours would be impractical to work with without Outfit Studio to quickly paint the colours directly upon the mesh. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/201

Bethesda - For Skyrim and the Creation Kit.