A fully voiced Nord necromancer follower for Skyrim Special Edition
"People assume Necromancy is about controlling the dead. It isn't, mostly. It is about listening to them." - Ambellina
Backstory
Ambellina was born in the city of Windhelm during one of the coldest winters in living memory, the daughter of a court steward who served the Palace of the Kings and a mother who sold herbs and poultices in the Gray Quarter markets. Her coloring set her apart from birth, that deep violet in her hair and eyes arriving not from any magical tampering but simply as a gift, or perhaps a curse, from bloodlines no one in her family could fully trace. Her father told her she was descended from a line of women who had walked too close to the edges of Aetherius in their dreams. Her mother told her to stop repeating such nonsense to the neighbors. She grew up between those two poles, drawn toward the arcane and quietly aware that the world around her seemed to hold its breath whenever she entered a room, though she could never understand precisely why.
The crucible came when she was nineteen. A fever swept through Windhelm and took both her parents within the same fortnight, leaving her alone in a city where she had never quite belonged. Grief sent her wandering into the vaults beneath the old city, places she had been forbidden as a child, and it was there among burial urns and crumbling stone that a spirit first spoke to her without being asked. An old court mage, long dead and name forgotten, drifted out of the cold dark and offered her something that living teachers never had: patience, and answers. She did not seek Necromancy so much as it recognized her, pressing itself into her hands like a book fallen open to exactly the right page. She studied in those vaults for two years, learning the language of the dead, growing pale as fresh snow from the absence of sunlight, and slowly becoming someone the living Windhelm residents would cross the street to avoid, though whenever she tried to speak to any of them she noticed only their wide eyes and assumed she had frightened them.
Her wandering years took her from Eastmarch into the Rift, then westward through Whiterun Hold and north again along the coast. She traveled with the dead more comfortably than the living, raising spirits to ask them questions about roads, about lost history, about the nature of things beyond the veil. Innkeepers would sometimes seat her in corners and bring her food without being asked, watching her from across the room. She took this as hostility and tipped generously to compensate for the trouble she assumed her presence caused. A traveling merchant once rode beside her for three days before confessing he had been following her for two weeks simply to hear her speak again, and she spent the rest of that night deeply puzzled, unable to imagine what anyone would find interesting in the voice of a woman who spent most of her time talking to people who were already dead.
She has settled now, at least temporarily, in Riverwood, staying at the Sleeping Giant. The civil war and the rumors of dragons have stirred the dead in ways she finds genuinely fascinating, and the information she has gathered from restless spirits has begun to suggest that something old and enormous is waking beneath the bones of Skyrim itself. She does not think of herself as brave or particularly remarkable, only thorough. She would welcome a living companion, someone willing to walk beside her without flinching, though she expects no one will volunteer. She has, after all, already frightened away everyone she has ever met, or so she believes.
Fully Voiced, Start to Finish
Every line Ambellina speaks is custom voiced with high quality audio. Her recruitment, her combat banter, her romance, her reactions to your victories and your defeats are all performed with her own unique personality.
Over 500 custom-voiced lines
Lots of Romantasy-specific lines
Voiced reactions woven through her combat, romance, and quality of life systems
A Necromancer Who Actually Fights Like One
Ambellina carries an enormous Magicka pool, scales to your level so she stays relevant, and is flagged Essential so a bad fight will never cost you your companion for good.
She commands the dead. Ambellina raises undead allies in battle, complete with a custom portal emergence effect as they claw their way up to serve.
Master of her schools. She comes loaded with high end Conjuration and Alteration perks, including Twin Souls for two minions at once and dual casting for heavier spells.
Three combat styles, your call. Ask her to fight as a ranged caster, a melee fighter, or a spellsword, and switch whenever the situation changes.
Unshakable while casting. A custom stagger immunity keeps her on her feet so her spells actually land instead of getting interrupted.
Power from death. She draws strength back when her minions or her marked targets fall, turning every kill on the field into fuel.
Signature weapons. When you want her in the thick of it, she can wield the Death Scythe with its Soul Reaper enchantment, or a Ghostblade that cuts straight through armor. You choose her loadout in conversation.
Romance Through Romantasy
Ambellina is fully integrated with the Romantasy relationship framework, so courting her is a journey rather than a switch you flip. Your relationship grows through the things you do together, and she notices.
Custom voiced reactions when your bond rises to a new tier
Voiced moments when you gain ground with her
Distinct voiced responses when your choices match her preferences, and when they very much do not
Marry her and the union is more than sentiment. Ambellina grants you the Soul Taker ability, a quiet aura that reaches out and traps the souls of nearby enemies as you fight, so your gems are never empty again.
A Companion Who Fits Your Game
Beneath the personality and the spellwork sits a deep layer of quality of life features meant to keep her smooth to live with.
Summon Ambellina. Recruit her once and you are granted a summon spell that recalls her to your side with a portal effect. You keep it for good, even after dismissing her, so she is never truly lost across the map.
Voiced bleedout recovery. When she goes down she patches herself up and speaks through it, rather than lying there in silence.
She reacts when you fall. Take a fatal blow and Ambellina has something to say about it.
Paced ambient chatter. Her idle lines are throttled so she comments now and then instead of repeating herself into the ground.
Compatible. Ambellina works with Horde and will import into the Horde follower system when asked to follow. When using other follower systems, she has her own custom follower system. Don't import her into other follower systems than Horde.
ESL-Flagged to save you load order slots
Requirements
The Romantasy framework (required for romance and her relationship systems)
The Visions Asset Pack (V3 or above)
Optional:
Horde, for streamlined follower management
Where to Find Her
Ambellina waits at the Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood. Walk in, talk to her, and see whether the two of you have something to discuss. The dead certainly think so.
A Final Note
Ambellina is the result of a great deal of writing, AI voicing, scripting, and testing, and your support is what makes this kind of work possible.
Thank you for being here, and for giving a necromancer a chance.