Children of the Sky is a collection of separate mods that are intended to improve the dismal state of the setting, particularly Nordic culture and religion, within Skyrim. The Nords depicted in Skyrim are rarely more than the bland, retconned Imperials presented in Oblivion with a bit of Norse flavor plus some dragons; although many other mods are stated to be lore friendly with Skyrim, the game itself is incompatible with and inferior to the lore that came before it in both content and theme. Compare this unfortunate situation to Morrowind’s more unique and imaginative setting with mods for it like Skyrim: Home of the Nords that develop the setting based on the ideals and lore contained in books such as the 1st Edition Pocket Guide. These mods have been created to take steps, however minor, towards fixing this issue. These include using the concept art in places that Bethesda rejected it, differentiating the would-be ice-vampires of the Volkihar bloodline (at least physically) from the boring and stereotypical presentation offered by Skyrim and Dawnguard, and including books and shrines throughout the province that develop the religion and culture of the Nords even though the rest of the game neglects them.

Sharing its name with the collection of mods containing it, Children of the Sky focuses on presenting some of the many aspects of Nordic culture and religion that were not included by Bethesda. Shrines to the Nordic goddess Kyne can be found throughout the province of Skyrim. Worshiping at one of Kyne’s shrines confers a blessing that increases the damage dealt by shouts for a time. Dozens of different books, both from Skyrim’s development that were imprudently cut out of the game and Project Tamriel's Skyrim: Home of the Nords, have been placed across Skyrim in suitable locations. These books elaborate on Nordic stories, history, and beliefs in hopes of partially making up for the dearth of attention that Bethesda gave to the Nords as a people. A few texts that help establish the commonly accepted basics of Nordic religion have a unique model that was created specifically for them.

Volkihar of Skyrim gives most vampires in Skyrim different skin tones and postures to bring them more in line with their description in the book Immortal Blood. A Volkihar vampire possesses an emaciated and hunched over body with cold, washed out skin like that of a sickly individual who drowned in freezing water. If you are infected by a Volkihar vampire and succumb to the disease, then you will take on the physical appearance of one. In addition to the altered appearance of vampires, the selection of spells available to Volkihar NPCs have been modified to focus more on frost magic than shock spells, as befits a bloodline of ice-vampires. The armor for Vampire Lords has received a more fitting presentation as well, with the clichéd cape removed, the ruby-like gemstones changed in color to match stalhrim, and the garish golden metal transformed into dark steel.

Ald, Son of Ald adds particle effects along Alduin's horns and behind his wings like those shown in some of the concept art detailing him, granting him a presence that helps him to stand out from mundane dragons as a god should.

Windcaller’s Draconic Sarcophagus fixes the lettering on the sarcophagus of Jurgen Windcaller within Ustengrav. Instead of strangely using Daedric letters to spell out the name of a prominent Tongue and Greybeard, characters from the Dragon Alphabet are inscribed on the sarcophagus as seen in the concept art for it. The new textures for the sarcophagus were created using the upscaled textures from Project Clarity, so a choice between visual fidelity and accuracy is not required.

A FOMOD installer allowing for each mod to be installed independently of the others by a mod manager is included in the download, it can run like that of almost any other mod. Manual installation via extraction of each mod to your Data folder is possible as always, but why are you not using something like Mod Organizer 2? Installation of any of these mods after a playthrough begins should not cause any problems whatsoever. As per usual, uninstalling mods with scripts (i.e. all of these besides Windcaller’s Draconic Sarcophagus) is ill advised.

The plugin file for Children of the Sky should be loaded before mods that make changes to the lighting of interiors, such as ELE and ELFX. It does not make any significant edits to cities and towns, where it is limited only to replacing and adding books to some interiors. The only significant changes to the landscape are made around cells southwest of Froki's Shack and and a ways northwest of Eldersblood peak. Shrines of Kyne are found in the aforementioned areas, as well as High Hrothgar, Eldergleam Sanctuary, Skyborn Altar, a peak in Eastmarch southwest of Mzulft, and a peak just northwest of Raven Rock.

Volkihar of Skyrim’s skin tones might look different from the intended effect depending on the skin textures installed; the mod was created for use with skin textures that have colors like those of vanilla or those of Skysight Skins and Mature Skins. Volkihar of Skyrim may result in incompatibilities related to animations and visuals when used with mods that make extensive changes to the body mesh (e.g. CBBE, UNP, SOS) or character skeletons (e.g. XP32). If you are of a modded race, then your appearance will not change to be that of a Volkihar vampire if you are infected by one, but no problems should occur. Lastly, mods that edit the appearance of vampires (and their meshes/textures) should either be removed or loaded before Volkihar of Skyrim if they have other desired features.

Other mods that directly edit Alduin (e.g. The Need Of Voice) will cause minor conflicts with Ald, Son of Ald, which will either do nothing or will overwrite the changes made by the conflicting mod(s). Mods that change Alduin’s model or his textures but nothing else about him should be entirely compatible.

To have an effect, Windcaller’s Draconic Sarcophagus must be installed or loaded (if you are using a manager like Mod Organizer 2) after other textures for the sarcophagus.

Fixes made by USSEP have been forwarded where appropriate.

Lastly, an archive available under the optional files category contains patches for Snow Whale Bones and Shrine to Kyne, which replace the shrines of Kynareth placed by those mods with the Shrine of Kyne from Children of the Sky.