Ladies and Gentlemen,
I'm proud to present the new and optimized "Imperial Nobility"-mod, re-worked to bring some more into our beloved old Oblivion  ;)

Cyrodiil is the heartland of the mighty Empire, which has subjugated every single people on his continent, controlling many huge provinces. The core province is ruled by the Elder Council and run by a legion of clerks and nobles which govern.....Wait a moment: An empire as huge as this one must have thousands of noble families, with their own histories and their own political and economical ambitions. But the only nobles you'll encounter are the counts of the great cities. If you always wondered where those other, lesser nobles were hiding, search no more!
This mod aims, in a modest scale, to give Cyrodiil and the Empire the nobility they deserve.

But what does this mod do?

As stated in the introduction this mod adds a nobility to Cyrodiil. This means that most of the villages now have an own noble dynasty ruling them, with an own castle or manor and an own history (more or less at least). 
Up to now the concerned villages are: Bleaker Way, Aleswell, Borderwatch, Hackdirt, Water's Edge and Brindle Home. More are probably coming....

Bleaker Way is now owned by House Faran and is protected by palisades.

Aleswell is controlled by House Celran. The lord lives in a moderate manor next to the village.

Borderwatch is now ruled by House Scinia, residing in Castle Stormgate, located on the mountain above the village.

Hackdirt is now the fief of House Vieron and has it's own castle, Castle Goldrock. The village is protected by walls. Also the Legion presence is augmented, because of the vilages revolutionary past. 

In Water's Edge you can now find a manor possessed by a branch of count Caro's family.

Brindle Home now has its own Castle (Castle Targost) and is ruled by House Targost. 

The Imperial Senate, an assembly of all nobles or their missives has been founded, to give the nobles a voice (cause not everybody has a seat on the Elder Council) It's entrance can be found at the Talos-Plaza, in the eastern backyard (this is most likely subject to changes).

Also included: a retextured sword (Hint: If you want to find it, visit the Brindle Home watchhouse and read the note on the table. And take a silver weapon with you ;) )

So, if I succeeded to get your interest, proceed with downloading the mod and having fun ;)
If you have questions, remarks or ideas what to do better or to add feel free to leave a comment in the discussion section.
And if you like it, please endorse "Imperial Nobility" ^^

INSTALLATION

Just extract the files to your Oblivion/Data-folder. If you are asked to overwrite the files say yes 

REQUIREMENTS & COMPATIBILITY

To run "Imperial Nobility" you need:

The newest patch of Oblivion
Shivering Isles

I recommend you to download also "Silverholm Manor", which adds a player-owned manor in Bleaker's Way (it's the lord's residence) http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/42862/

It's perhaps incompatible with:

MTCExpandedVillages
Every mod changing the villages

There is also a slight incompatibility with Unique Landscapes: Ancient Redwoods. Nothing gamebreaking, there are just some trees at bad places (like castle walls etc...)

CREDITSI would also like to express my thanks to those modders whose ressources made my mod possible. Thanks to:

Strotis for:
Ravenhorst Manor Modder Resource
Strotis Static Weapon and Shield ResourceStrotis new house resource

Meos for:
Meos Castle Keep - Resource
Meos Settlement - Resource
Meos Series Booksets - Resource

Davehoekst for:
Daves FFXI Banners

To Disturbed and Dragoblade for:
Rohan flags

To xxfmanxx for:
Gondorian Knight Armor (which I could'nt find anymore :( )

All of those are great works and I was happy to be allowed to use them for my mod.

Least but not last: Thanks to you dear Oblivion-player, who has had the patience to read through all of this and hopefully wants to give "Imperial Nobility" a try. After all Modding would'nt make sense without YOU the mod-user^^ have fun playing Oblivion ;)