Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-96.252.245.207-20130116060134/@comment-180.111.9.114-20150330143054

Long winded wishlist:

Background:

TES6 begins a generation after the events of Skyrim. The Dragonborn has departed. A hero prophesized to be the reincarnation of Talos has put Skyrim back in the Imperial camp and together, allied with Hammerfell, have driven out the Thalmor from the north. This hero serves a role similar to Martin Septim's in that he is not player controlled.

The setting of TES6 will be threefold and in the south: Summerset Isles, Valenwood and Elsewyr; the Aldmeri Dominion .With the three provinces, TES series breaks away from the tradition of the last three games. Thus, race-specific starting points is how the epic tale would begin, enhancing replay value infintely.

Starting points:

Race-specific starting points will correspond with the race chosen among the three provinces (Altmer, Bosmer and Kajit). If another race is chosen, the hero will have the classic beginning, a prisoner ensnared by the Thalmor in Valenwood. If you chose a native race to the AD, you will also be given various choices in terms of class (noble, merchant, adventurer, soldier, etc.) and a family background. You could choose to be kin to a local leader (or the king) or choose to be an orphaned beggar.

Main quest:

The main quest would center around anticipation and execution of the Second Great War. Factions will be revolutionized. In essence, the loyalty of the player could go three ways: loyalty to the reconstituted Cyrodlic Empire with the reincarnation of Talos as the aspiring emperor, loyalty to the Thalmar and the Dominion, or to create an indpendent faction that you build from the ground up. The war will be long and drawn out. Throughout the game (and not just in the main quest), your character earns a reputation and renown (or fear) and is given many opporunites to acquare and/or consolidate power for him/herself, the Empire or the Dominion. Either by rising in rank in a local military, by adventuring or other means, the player would gain nobility status. You can either buy (or take) property within a province that you wield enough influence to first build a house and as you level up, to turn it into a homestead, a mansion, a castle, a town then a city. Enemy factions, local lords or foreign invaders will invade. You recruit soldiers to your cause. If you are playing as a foreiger, such a Nord, your reputation will spread to your country and your kinsmen will come down to join your army. This is theoretically possible for any faction, but unique instances (such as the contradiction of Nords joining the Thalmar) would reduce the benefits of this particular scenerio. If, for example, you are a Nordic lord who has gained title and wealth in Valenwood but fights for the Dominion, very few Nords will heed your cause and fewer recruitable NPCs will arrive out of the north. If you fight with Talos reincarnated and the Empire, or create your own faction, fellow Nords would flock to your banner (as well as NPCs of other races in lesser number and faction dependent). The ultimate goal of the main quest would be the unification of the three provinces under whichever banner you choose. This would happen first at the local level, where you initiallty become noble, then spread your influence either military, diplomatically or monetarily to recruit the local equivialent of Jarls/Counts to your cause. You control holds and cities in each province until you hold them all. You have one Hearthfire style property that can evolve into a city in each province and once you are king of a province have the choice of where to locate the capital, and once you have unified all three provinces you can choose the capital of the new empire, unless you are in service to the Dominion or the Empire, in which case you will still have a superior whom you serve. By forming your own faction you would be eventally presented with the challenge of subduing the leaders of both the Empire and the Dominion.

Factions:

Local politics: Each province will have the local equivilant of Jarls/Counts with their own personal allegiances, though all will initially be under the yoke of the Dominion. There should be one Altmer lord with secret sympathies against the Dominion while the other provinces have a mixed bag of pro-Thalmar, pro-Imperial and pro-independent factions whose allegiances will be revealed as the plot is moved forward.

Guilds: There will be one Dark Brotherhood sancutary located in Elsywer whose quests sprawl the three provinces. Fighters/Mage/Theives guilds will have their own local chapters, and your guild loyalties along with your skills will determine your elegibility to join. Futher, local chapters will have conflicts with other guilds, whether local or in another province. The Dark Brotherhood can be desrtoyed if you so choose or if you are ineligible to join. After achieving title, your character will be the target of several assassination attempts. To expand on Hearthfire, marriage and family will be more intimate and will also be suscepitable to kidnapping at the hands of your enemies.

Race-specific guilds: Local races will have built-in guilds with the army of their local province. However, expatriots, traders, scholars, merchants and the like from foreign provinces will have their own community centers or guilds throughout the mainland south. There will be a small haven for Bretons, for example, intact with a leader who wields a small amount of influence similar to a guild master or an Arch Mage. They initially operate under the suspcious eyes of the Thalmar and do not make trouble, though utilizing race-specific guilds will play a part in unifying the land.

The Blades: Joining the blades would be a part of the pro-Imperial quest line, though betrayal and switching sides in the midst of the war ought to be possible, too. Other factions will have elite warrior equivalents to the Blades.

Clarification: To be clear, while race-specific starting points influnece the beginning of the game, any race and class of character would be able to join any given faction (Altmer rebels, for example).

3 Local Main Quests:

As this plan anticipates essentially a game three times the size of Skyrim, with the equivalent of the Civil War quest line as the main quest across three provinces, the equivilant of a  culture-specific local quest line will manifest in all three provinces. As with Skryim and Oblivion, the local quests will have to do with the religion and culture of the province it takes place in. This is another route to title and nobility to play the Second Great War quest line. Naturally, if you are an Altmer and start in Summerset Isles, you will have access to all the necessary locations to complete the local questline. It is only until your character has established a foothold in other provinces until you can complete local main quests, though making progress earns you favor with local people and lords in foreign provinces. Xenophobia will play a role like it never has before and present a challenge to outsiders.

Travel:

Travel between pronvinces will involve ships and new mounts. Further, citizens of the Dominion can pass freely throughout the pronvinces, but only Altmer are allowed inside the capital city of Summerset Isles, or some variation of that idea. The concept of customs houses in border and port cities will emerge. Players will carry passports and require visas in provinces where they do not wield influence or are not aligned with the ruling faction. It will still be possible to enter provinces without a visa. Sneaking through borders and customs houses could create the background for questing. This will incur a bounty. However, if you have raised an army and cross the border in strength, the bounty can be elimianted by subduing the lord in whose jurisdiction the bounty was given and taking the hold for your faction. A special visa will be required to enter the capital of the Shivering Isles for most factions, for example. Visa requirments will flucuate with who controls a given province or a hold.

Travel by boat will be made possible, as well as owning a boat (and eventually a fleet of three warships/frigates). Sea warfare will be introduced in earnest. Building your home on the coast would allow you to house ships and enhance trade.

Homestead:

As a final note on your own fiefdom, you can build a city from scratch anywhere. If you have nobility, you may be granted (or allowed to buy) land by the lord of the hold. If you don't and have confidence in your followers, you can start from scratch without the permission of the lord, though an attack is inevitable. The house becomes a mansion which becomes a castle which becomes a town which becomes a city (a hold) The hold will expand to hold shopkeepers of all types, inns, and customizable neighborhoods. If you become a guild master, it would become possible to open a headquarters in your hold. You can recruit soldiers and guards, hire a steward, a house-carl, a court mage, etc. Once you conquer other holds, you assign a steward to rule in your stead as you venture across the land. You may only have direct control of one hold at a time, whether it be yours or one conquered by your faction. The other holds under your control will be administered by your hand-selected stewards.

Shopkeepers can supply you with things needed for smithing, alchemy and enchanting. Economics should play a larger role. There will be many things to spend your coin on, including city defenses, upkeep and services. Taxes can be levied and the peoples' love for you will be determined by several factors. Fear can keep them in line or mercy/benevolence will win their hearts. If you are an ineffective leader, there will be a faction-aligned uprising against you.

The location of your property can be next to resources, such as mining ores or unique vegetation; and/or it can be placed on the coast which would allow boat access to the sea and the housing of warships under your banner. The economic viability of your property will flucuate with the value of its natural surroundings and resources.

I appreciate if anyone has read this. Game mechanical things from earlier posts I definitely agree with as well. This post is dedicated purely to story. Please leave feedback!