Veerya is a minions mod from The Elder Scrolls: Annihilation. She is a Nord alchemist from Sostand. Her swordplay is not very good, and her magic is not very good, but Vilja is humorous and funny, and there are all kinds of heartwarming dialogues and other interactions with players, as well as a good quality voiceover, making her the best companion for many Elder Scrolls players.
Among these players was the late Sir Terry Pratchett, author of the Saucer World series.
Discworld is a well-known fantasy/sci-fi series. Over the course of more than thirty years, the series has produced more than forty books, constructing a colorful world that encompasses everything from ancient knight magic to modern industrial civilization. For many fantasy and science fiction fans, the status of "Disc World" is as important as that of first-line works.
Recently, an interview with foreign media Outlet revealed a lesser-known story between Sir Pratchett and his entourage, Verya.
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According to the interview, in 2010, not long after Veerya was posted on the Mod website, Sir Pratchett sent a passionate e-mail to Emma, the mod author. In the letter, Sir Pratchett said that she was deeply in love with the character, especially when she responded when she gave Villea a small gift, which made Pratchett very happy.
Veerya: It's great to have your company
Although Emma, the author of the mod, was not quite sure who Sir Pratchett really was, Emma was glad that her work would receive such recognition and wrote back to Sir Pratchett. The correspondence between the two became more and more frequent, and Sir Pratchett began to give Emma some suggestions for mod design.
One of the results of their collaboration was to make a special pet donkey for Villea. The donkey in Sir Pratchett's game would often steal carrots from the city and provoke guards to arrest his character and Viljaer in prison, which made Sir Pratchett particularly interesting. In addition, Sir Pratchett wrote dialogue for many of Vilja's missions.
Veerya: One day when I have money, I'll buy you a necklace with a seductive effect
For a time, Sir Pratchett indulged in the underground labyrinth to observe the ecology of the goblins, but the goblins were very uncooperative and would always come around and beat him. As a last resort, Sir Pratchett turned to Emma for help. Emma made him a prop called the Goblin Peace Necklace, which he could wear to make peace with the goblins.
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Sir Pratchett's immersion in the World of the Elder Scrolls coincided with the toughest decision of his life.
In 2007, Sir Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. For the rest of his life, his memories and thoughts will slowly disappear until he degenerates into a shell that cannot take care of himself.
Sir Pratchett has always been a man of sharpness and humor. He has always insisted on having an open mind to everything and encourages his readers to see the world with a broader mind. He also once said that the most important quality of human beings is not wisdom, but imagination. For such a person, Alzheimer's disease may be one of the most painful and cruel tortures.
Sir Pratchett's Disc World
Under such torture, Sir Pratchett even thought about euthanasia. He interviewed dying patients suffering from various serious illnesses, asked them about their views on life and death, and accompanied two of them through the euthanasia process. He made the experience into a documentary called Choosing Life and Death, which was broadcast by the BBC in 2011.
This documentary has caused great repercussions at home and abroad. It is from this film that many people begin to realize the problem of hospice care and life choices. For some time before and after that, Sir Pratchett also spoke everywhere to draw attention to Alzheimer's disease, trying to make a final contribution to society before the disease knocked itself down.
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The game played a very important role in Sir Pratchett's life. In fact, Snuff, a 2011 work in the Discworld series, is said to have been inspired by Sir Pratchett's experience of spying on goblins in the Elder Scrolls. Sir Pratchett also hid a number of Snuff-related Easter eggs when he designed the gift to his entourage, Villea.
But Sir Pratchett's roots in the game go far beyond that. In fact, as early as 1986, a game based on his work The Colors of Magic came out.
1995's "Disc World" is a classic adventure puzzle game. The game's voice cast is luxurious, with even members of the famous British comedy group Monty Python appearing.
"Disc World" is a classic click-to-play puzzle game, and the final screen is famous for having a small Easter egg that is not suitable for children
Pratchett is a veteran player and a perfect party, and usually likes games like Half-Life that is full of ideas and without losing its black humor.
In an interview with the famous game media "PC Gamer" magazine in 1993, he also half-jokingly mocked the trick of over-promoting the cover of the game that year, saying that when he bought the game, he looked at the cassette with robot vs. Iron King Kong printed on it, and entered the game and found that it was all ACSII text pictures. This interview is the cover story of the inaugural issue of PC Gamer.
The cover story of the inaugural issue of PC Gamer in 1993 was sir Terry Pratchett
Perhaps influenced by her father, Sir Pratchett's daughter Rihanna Pratchett eventually threw herself into the game industry. She worked as a game media editor for a while, then became a game writer, creating a wonderful screenplay for BioShock Infinity and the rebooted Tomb Raider series.
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After 2011, as Sir Pratchett's condition deteriorated, he also faded from public view. Emma and a friend put a lot of effort into adding a directional function to her retinue, Ville, because Sir Pratchett could no longer remember how to get out after entering the underground labyrinth.
Later, this guiding function was upgraded to a guide function. As soon as the player asks Vilja a question, she will take the player into a random maze. Later, the mod also launched the Elder Scrolls: Skyrim version, where players can venture with Verya's granddaughter in Skyline Province.
Sir Pratchett left this world in 2015. His assistant tweeted the final chapter of his life written by the fantasy guru and veteran veteran player:
- "Finally waiting for you, Sir Terry, let's go together."
- Terry grabs Death's hand and follows him through the door to the black desert under the endless night.
- Drama ending.