Skyrim modders have already beaten Bethesda to Starfield even before its official gameplay reveal

Starfield, coming out this November, will be Bethesda's first foray into in-game space travel.

This is also Bethesda's first new IP in 25 years, and their effort to redeem their reputation to pre-Fallout 76 days is palpable. This includes an actual team visit to SpaceX to draw inspiration, as well as aligning the release date with that of Skyrim, their latest magnum opus.

Over a decade after its release, Skyrim continues to have a much larger following than Starfield. The largest possible factor behind its cultural immortality is its bustling modding scene.

The colossal Skyrim modding community accounts for the highest amount of traffic on Nexusmods, with the total tally between the two versions (Legendary Edition and Special Edition) exceeding a hundred thousand mods. For reference, this is twice as many as Fallout 4's tally of individual unique mods hosted on the same platform.

On-brand with the adage of Skyrim having a mod about everything under the sun, their influence reached outer space before Starfield was even announced.

Enter Aethernautics, a mod that introduces space travel to the world of Elder Scrolls.

---

The Skyrim space travel mod, Aethernautics, is the third part in a 'weird lore' mod heptade

As eccentric and anachronistic as it may sound, Aethernautics does not contradict the Elder Scrolls lore, other than the fact that it is non-canon. The 'outer space' featured in the mod is Aetherius, or the realm of the divines.

Unlike the sci-fi space of Starfield, though, Aetherius is set in a completely different realm or causality from the plane of the mortals, or Mundus. As the Imperial Geographical Society explains in their Pocket Guide to The Empire series of booklets,

"Visit to Aetherius occur even less frequently than to Oblivion, for the void is a long expanse and only the stars offer portal for aetherial travel, or the judicious use of magic."

The mod is from author Trainwiz, otherwise known for his compelling quest mods like Brhuce Hammar - Legacy and The Wheels of Lull. In fact, these mods are all chronologically connected, forming a seven-mod saga called the Trainwiz Chronoc0da.

Aethernautics - A Space Travel packs a great deal of diverse content. It comes with its own massive dungeon and hour-long quest to reactivate the Aether-ship. The quest takes Dragonborn back to the clockwork city of Sotha Sil, a staple place of interest in the Trainwiz saga.

The main point of attraction, however, is the ship itself, powered by dwemer-tech, and the perfect sequel to Blackreach Railroad's steampunk train. The ship comes with its own captain's quarters, which doubles as a player home visually reminiscent of The Sink from Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Old World Blues.

Unfortunately for Starfield enthusiasts, there is no actual manual space flight involved in the mod - due to the obvious technological limitations in Skyrim. The ship, however, can be used to call in orbital strikes anywhere in the Skyrim overworld once the quest is complete.

Additionally, the mod adds its own parcel of hi-tech dwemer equipment, including harquebuses (dwemer rifles) and a spacesuit-themed aethernaut helmet.