Elder Scrolls/Skyrim Roleplay - Discussion

[Tailon]

So, after much (not at all nefarious) plotting in the chat, baratron and I have a vague plot for an Elder Scrolls RP. Set within Skyrim not long after the events of The Elder Scrolls V, the RPers' characters are contracted by the new High King or Queen to work toward removing the Thalmor from Skyrim by finding evidence of their involvement in instigating the Civil War between the Stormcloaks and the Empire.

If possible, I'd like to make use of Elder Stats to create profiles for our characters as it is very good for getting a basic understanding of their combat abilites, and includes a section for a biography.

 

[baratron]

A few important points to add:

1) NONE of the players are going to be the Dragonborn. We're all random other adventurers who are currently in Skyrim. This is to avoid one player having special abilities that are denied to the others.

2) ALL of the players may have the ability to Shout, but as we're ordinary people not the Dragonborn, none of us will know more than one or two Shouts. (As is usual for ordinary people who aren't blessed with the ability to absorb knowledge from dragons and have to study the Shouts over many years.)

3) We're supposed to be a secret strike force who are going in to find evidence, rather than Famous Adventurers. So players should probably not be The Archmage/The Head of the Thieves Guild/The Harbinger, etc!

4) Remember we can choose options that aren't available in the game. e.g. I don't care *who* won the Civil War as long as Balgruuf is still Jarl of Whiterun, because he's awesome. In the game, he always begrudgingly takes the Imperial side when pushed. But there's no reason this has to have happened in the backstory of our RP.

5) Also, the attitude I have towards this is that everything is optional bar the roleplay itself. If you want to use chat RP for battles, rather than having to wait for the other person to reply to your post, that's fine as long as the log is posted in the roleplay thread afterwards so everyone knows what happened. If you want to use Elder Stats to plan your character, that's fine too, as long as you don't expect everyone to.

Rough Idea of what Character Sign-Up Sheets might look like:

Spoiler

Name:

Gender:

Race - PICK ONE: Altmer (High Elf) / Bosmer (Wood Elf) / Dunmer (Dark Elf) / Orsimer (Orc) / Breton / Imperial / Nord / Redguard / Argonian / Khajiit
(I will put in some stuff about the special abilities of each race when the RP is ready.)

ALSO: Normal / Vampire / Werewolf

Hometown (within Skyrim) or Home Province (if not Skyrim):

Age:

Build: Given that we're dealing with a world that is approximately Medieval or Middle Ages in terms of science, it's probably rather meaningless to give a numerical height or weight. Instead, describe yourself as Skinny / Slim / Average / Muscular / Very Muscular. Since Height is mostly determined by Race, it's only relevant if you're particularly tall or short for a member of your race.

Hair: Colour and Style

Eyes: Colour, anything weird e.g. blind in one eye.

Clothing: Light Armor / Heavy Armor / Mage clothing. Mention if you wear a special armour e.g. Thieves Guild Armor / Nightingale Armor. Also any Enchanted items.

Identifying Marks: Scars etc

Personality:

Affiliations - PICK NO MORE THAN TWO: Bards College / Companions / Dark Brotherhood / College of Winterhold / Thieves Guild

Civil War Affiliation: Imperial / Stormcloak / Neither

Preferred Weapon - PICK NO MORE THAN TWO: One-handed / Two-handed / Bow & Arrows / Magic

Magic Abilities - PICK NO MORE THAN TWO UNLESS YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT USE A WEAPON: Alteration / Conjuration / Destruction / Illusion / Restoration

Additional Spells known - NO MORE THAN TWO: We figured that everyone should have the right to know a couple of basic spells, even if you don't choose Magic as a Preferred Weapon, e.g. Healing or Soul Trap. These can be from any School of Magic (and in fact, SHOULD be from a different School if you do choose Magic Abilities).

Other Abilities - NO MORE THAN THREE: Alchemy / Enchanting / Lockpicking / Pickpocket / Smithing / Speechcraft / Stealth

Religion: Eight Divines (without Talos) / Nine Divines / Worshipper of a Daedric Prince (which one?)

Past: Anything relevant, e.g. why they came to Skyrim if not born there, past history with any of the Guilds that they no longer belong to (e.g. reformed assassin, ex-Thalmor...)

Let me know if I forgot anything important!

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

If I may interject with a slight suggestion - I do believe that if a battle of any sort is resolved on IRC - for the love of all things fuzzy, whoever posts it should stylize the damn thing to fit the rest of the RP. There is nothing more hideous than a wall of IRC Log Text in the middle of an otherwise well-written (more or less) story!

 

[Coreysawrus]

Well I have to say this has piqued my interest, I'm going to see how much time I'll have in the forthcoming weeks/months before deciding whether to submit and application

 

[Luckii]

I am indeed very interested in this. The Elder Stats looks like the perfect place to model a character too, so I should have no problem with that.

 

[Coreysawrus]

Name: Steffan Aurellius

Gender: Male

Race: Imperial

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Dragon Bridge

Current Living Condition: Camping in the hills between Mor Khazgur and Deepwood Redoubt

Age: 24

Build: Average

Hair: Dark brown hair that is thick and medium length in a messy, slightly wavy hairstyle

Eyes: Sea Green

Clothing: Light Armor

Identifying Marks: None

Personality: Jovial, Carefree, Clumsy normally. Sly, Sneaky, Serious and a little clumsy in battle

Affiliations: Bards College
Civil War Affiliation: Neither

Preferred Weapon: Bow & Arrows / Magic

Magic Abilities: Alteration / Restoration

Additional Spells known: Muffle and Soul Trap

Other Abilities: Alchemy / Enchanting / Stealth

Religion: 8 Divines but focuses worship to Kynareth and Dibella

Past: His father died at an early age after he fell to a case of Ataxia and he was raised by his mother. Growing up he enjoyed music and began singing and playing the drum. Several years later he was trained at the Bard College and assumed role of bard of the Four Winds Tavern. Growing tired of his job he studied magic and fine-tuned his hunting capabilities in his spare time before departing the town after his mother died of natural causes to pursue a career he prefers and to increase his magic and hunting skills.

http://www.elderstats.com/character/3099/#!/

 

[Luckii]

Name: Denego

Gender: Male

Race - Bosmer (Wood Elf)

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Riften, born and raised in Valenwood.

Age: 42

Build: Whilst of regular height for a Wood Elf, Denego is muscular, with thick, toned arms, and broad shoulders, from many hours restlessly honing his skills in the forests surrounding Riften, and from clambering the trees and battling through the difficult terrain of Valenwood in his early years.

Hair: Denego has styled his hair into a medium-length, brown mohawk. Whilst also cool and suitable, it keeps out of his face during battle.

Eyes: Green

Clothing: Light Armor. Wears regular Thieves Guild armor, as it provided suitable protection and flexibility. During relaxation time, he wears a simple tunic.

Identifying Marks: Nothing in particular, aside from a few scars here and there from living in the woods for many years.

Personality: Although quiet during regular conversation, Denego is an efficient hunter and is skillful in battle. His natural awareness of the surrounding environment often gives him an advantage during battle, as he knows how to use his surroundings to his advantage. Whilst quiet, he has a short temper, a sharp tounge and is quick to judge. Proud of his Bosmer roots, he will fight tooth and nail to protect his kind. He became significantly more staunchly and disciplined after joining the Thieves Guild. Whilst becoming a significantly better combatant, he lost a great deal of his friends, who thought he had become dull and boring, or distrusted him for being a member of the Thieves Guild. He has since become rather socially inept. During his spare time, he enjoys having a drink at the Bee & Barb Inn in Riften. He also likes apples.

Affiliations - Thieves Guild

Civil War Affiliation: Neither

Preferred Weapon - One-handed, Bow & Arrows.

Enchanted Items - "Fortify One-Handed" Silver Ring, "Fire" Ebony Sword, "Resist Magic" Silver Necklace.

Magic Abilities - Whilst not formally trained in any of the Arcane arts, he dabbles in a little bit of Enchantment, to enhance his already impressive sword skills, and Restoration, to quickly heal wounds in the heat of battle.

Additional Spells known - Healing, Firebolt

Other Abilities - Smithing, Stealth

Religion: Has no religious beliefs, although he protects and worships nature as if it were a God.

Past: After moving to Riften, Skyrim at age 31, Denego lived a troubled existence. Living in a tiny, two-roomed shack on Plankside, he made his earnings competing in illegal street fights at night for years. He used this money to fuel his Skooma addiction. One night, whilst jacking up on Skooma, Denego overdosed. If not saved by a Thieves Guild mage, he would have probably died. Hailing his saviour a miracle, Denego pledged allegance to the Theives Guild. He got back in touch with his "wild side", which he had lost since moving to Skyrim from Valenwood, and quit using Skooma.

http://www.elderstats.com/character/3100/

 

[Tailon]

Name: Sulinus Rulician

Gender: Male

Race - Imperial

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Born and raised in Cyrodiil in the Imperial Capital, currently living in a large manor in Falkreath Hold

Age: 37

Build: Sulinus is tall, and has become quite muscular in his years of training.

Hair: Deep black hair, usually held in a ponytail that reaches the bottom of his shoulderblades.

Eyes: Brown

Clothing: When at home, Sulinus wears fine Nordic clothing. For general exploration he wears Leather Armor, and when going into a specific combat situation he dons his old Imperial Armor and Closed Helm.

Identifying Marks: Is rather large for an Imperial, and has several minor scars from years of combat and adventuring.

Personality: Normally a fairly jovial man, in a crisis Sulinus is a soldier through and through, stern, strong and ready to give or take orders.

Affiliations - None

Civil War Affiliation: Formerly Imperial Legion, currently Neither

Preferred Weapon - Favors wielding an axe or sword and a multi-purpose spear.

Magic Abilities - has an inherent skill in Illusion, though he isn't aware of it, he instinctively uses it to enhance his speechcraft

Additional Spells known - Calm, Rally

Other Abilities - NO MORE THAN THREE: Is a skilled Speaker and tactician from years of military service as both soldier and commander.

Religion: Nine Divines

Past: Sulinus was born and raised in the Imperial City in Cyrodiil. In adolescence he began fighting in the Arena, and later decided to join up with the Imperial Legion. Over the years he climbed to the rank of Legate and gained his skills, but after dealing with too much Thalmor pressure, Sulinus decided to leave his homeland for the lanf of Skyrim, where he knew Talos worship would stand stronger. Taking his inherited riches with him, Sulinus set up his new life in Skyrim, and began working those jobs that interested him in exchange for some coin or other small reward.

Elder Stats profile: Can be found here

(Note: if you choose to use Elder Stats for your character, please include a link like this one)

 

[Shocari]

Name: Aitahea(Pronounced "Aye-tay-uh" or "Aye-tay-ee-uh")

Gender: Female

Race: Nord

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Markarth, Skyrim. Currently resides here, as well.

Age: 24

Build: Between Average and Muscular

Hair: White-blonde, falls down around her shoulders, worn loose

Eyes: Light grey

Clothing: Nordic Carved Armor(Helmet is only worn when going into combat); in lazy environments, a simple belted tunic.

Identifying Marks: None

Personality: Aitahea is a very kind and caring person but is outwardly very quiet with an even sad look to her. She treats those who are close like family, and will be quick to defend them. Is also very fond of stormy weather.

Affiliations: Companions

Civil War Affiliation: Neither, but is more sympathetic towards the Stormcloaks

Preferred Weapon: One-handed + Destruction Magic. Typically uses a Nordic Sword, but she has Dawnbreaker as well.

Magic Abilities: Destruction(only slightly proficient)

Additional Spells: Sparks

Other Abilities: Smithing

Religion: Worships the Daedric Prince Meridia

Past: Growing up in Markarth, Aitahea was exposed early-on to violence, almost exclusively shown by the Forsworn. After losing her mother to a Forsworn attack at the age of 12, she took up the way of the sword from her father, one of the Markarth Guard. Around 18, she found her way into the Companions, attracted by the kinship they offered. Not long after, she discovered a tiny bit of talent in Destruction magic, eventually reaching her limit at the Adept level. She utilizes Sparks alongside her sword, realizing the potential of attacking form both sides of the spectrum, although her skill with a blade far outshines that of her magical ability. After a bit of a falling out with the Companions, she found her way to a statue devoted to Meridia on Mt. Kilkreath. Being a Nord, Aitahea, like Meridia, was not comfortable with the idea of the rest of the dead being disturbed.

 

[baratron]

By the way, Tailon says he's interested in current living situations as well as hometown, so please add that to your posts if not already in there. I also forgot to mention that you may have enchantments on rings, amulets/necklaces, armour, or weapons. The exact list of which enchantment can go where is complicated in Skyrim - here's a table. Although I don't think we'll bother with percentages because we're not playing a numbers game, just the effect.

We have to agree how many enchantments per person is reasonable. For now, I'm saying "two or three".

Also, I know this totally goes against what I said in the rough character sheet, but I'm setting my character up as a "pure" mage with no weapon ability - since it makes him more useful as a member of the party. Thus I'm choosing three Schools of Magic.

Name: Dariel de Feu

Gender: Male

Race: Breton, "normal".

Hometown (within Skyrim) or Home Province (if not Skyrim): Was brought up in High Rock. Moved to Skyrim to study at the College of Winterhold, though doesn't really consider it "home".

Age: 25

Build: Average height for a Breton, slim. Has muscles mostly from lifting books . Reasonably fit since he's used to dodging hostile spells - a fast sprinter over short distances, otherwise can jog over longer distances or ride a horse if necessary.

Hair: Bright red/orange, wavy, cut in a bob.

Eyes: Green.

Clothing: Wears thick Mage robes with many layers and a hood against what he perceives as the cold in Skyrim. Has an enchanted ring to boost his Alchemy skill. His robes are enchanted with Health Regeneration, and his boots with Muffle.

Identifying Marks: Freckles on his face and shoulders. Slightly pointed ears.

Personality: A quick learner, rather clever. Able to read both Daedric and Dragon runes, and can translate them with the appropriate dictionaries. Good at breaking codes and ciphers. More reckless than he lets on. Still young enough to think of himself as able to survive anything, especially because of his strong Restoration skills; though not sure if he'll survive the cold of Skyrim! Very gay, but no more feminine than "usual for Breton mages". Loves his family but feels utterly stifled by them, so wanted to escape High Rock. He moved to Skyrim because of the province's equal marriage laws, but hasn't found anyone he wants to be with long-term.

Affiliations College of Winterhold.

Civil War Affiliation: Neither. His family history dictates that he is both a staunch supporter of the Empire and a believer in Talos. He thinks the whole war is ridiculous, and the two sides should be uniting against the Thalmor, who are spreading lies about many things (including who actually ended the Oblivion Crisis, see below).

Preferred Weapon: Magic only.

Magic Abilities: Primarily a Destruction mage with the strong affinity for fire that runs in his family. Also uses Illusion spells e.g. Muffle, Invisibility; and Restoration spells e.g. Wards in lieu of armour.

Additional Spells known: Soul Trap and Magelight.

Other Abilities: Alchemy, Enchanting, and Stealth. Very good alchemist, excellent stealth abilities, moderate enchanter.

Religion: Brought up to worship the Nine Divines, including Talos. Like all his family, particularly affiliated with Akatosh the dragon god, protector of the Septim emperors. Also affiliated with Julianos, the god of knowledge.

Past: Is a member of a large family of mages, mostly red-haired. His great-great-great-great-great-uncle was Alix de Feu - the Champion of Cyrodiil, lover of Emperor Martin Septim, and last Arch-Mage of the Mages Guild - which is quite a thing to have hanging over you. As a result, half his family members live contented, entirely unambitious lives, knowing they could never outdo their legendary relative; while the other half want to try to exceed him. Dariel hasn't decided which group he falls into yet...

 

[baratron]

MOAR PLOT!

We have decided that the Empire won the Civil War, since this is marginally more positive. Although General Tullius is an asshole and Emperor Titus Mede II is off in Cyrodiil not paying much attention to Skyrim (and/or has been murdered by the Dark Brotherhood), the Imperials would want to make peace with the Stormcloaks as quickly as possible. This gives them the time to regroup and fight the Thalmor from the inside.

We considered the question of who would be the new High King or Queen. We are assuming that our RP takes place after the Moot where all of the Jarls get together to elect one:

• The Jarl of the Pale (Dawnstar), Brina Merilis; the Jarl of Eastmarch (Windhelm), Brunwulf Free-Winter; and the Jarl of Winterhold, Kraldar, are unlikely to be chosen as they are all new to Jarl-ing. They receive their positions when the Imperials take their holds.
• The Jarl of The Rift (Riften), Maven Black-Briar, is also new to Jarl-ing, but is scheming and well-known because of her businesses. However, Riften is corrupt as hell and she would be an unpopular choice.
• The Jarl of The Reach (Markarth), Igmund, is barely any better than Maven. He let the Silver-Blood family operate their mine/prison under the city.
• The Jarl of Falkreath, Siddgeir, is lazy and gets his steward and housecarl to do all the actual work. He is also personally corrupt, allowing bandits to flourish in the hold in exchange for cash.
• The Jarl of Hjaalmarch (Morthal), Idgrod Ravencrone, is nice but considered crazy because of her visions.

This actually only leaves two possibilities:

• The Jarl of Haafingar (Solitude), Elisif the Fair. She was married to High King Torygg and seems to assume that she'll be the new High Queen. However, she only became Jarl because she was married to Torygg, and is inexperienced at ruling.
• The Jarl of Whiterun, Balgruuf the Greater. He is epic and made of win. Or more seriously, he's experienced, and he puts his people before his allegiances. He only chooses the Imperial side begrudgingly, meaning that only the staunchest Stormcloak would dislike him. The city is run well, and even the poorest people in Whiterun have more than a lot of people in other holds. The only actual beggar appears to be so by choice (and still gets to sit in the pub every night).
  
  Also, when you talk to Balgruuf's son Nelkir during The Whispering Door, he states that his father hates the Thalmor and worships Talos .

Therefore, Balgruuf Is Winnar, and he is the High King who sends us on our Mysterious Mission against the Thalmor .

I shall write more about our Mission after sleep, since I'm too tired now.

 

[Dwayna DragonFire]

Name: Nakuma

Gender: Female

Race: Argonian

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Black Marsh, recently arrived in Skyrim, currently in Falkreath.

Age: 25

Build: Average.

“Hair”: Scale colour is a deep green. Has two horns which are swept back and curved.

Eyes: Light green.

Clothing: Steel Plate Armor, no helmet. In more casual settings, a set of fine clothes, green with silver and black detailing.

Identifying Marks: Dark red war paint around eyes, siphoning down her face and ending at the sides of her neck.

Personality: Typically very reserved and mistrustful, especially towards Khajiit and Dunmer, less so with her own kind. The friends she does have are treated with the utmost respect and loyalty. More than willing to get into a fight if given the right reasons to, but otherwise prefers simply traveling to see new places and experience new things.

Affiliations - Companions (has worked with them, but is not an actual companion as of yet)

Civil War Affiliation: Neither.

Preferred Weapon - One-handed / Magic

Magic Abilities – Mainly Alteration, but also has knowledge in many Illusion spells.

Additional Spells known – Fast Healing and Bound Sword

Other Abilities - Alchemy, Lockpicking and Speechcraft

Religion: Nine Divines (Hist can also be applied)

Past: Born in the Black Marsh, Nakuma grew up around her own kind for the first part of her life. From an early age she held the desire to travel, which spurred on her interest to learn the ways of the sword as well as some magic to help protect herself. Once she felt she was ready, she left her native home and began traveling, sometimes hiring herself out as a mercenary. Hearing of the recent turmoil in Skyrim, she was intrigued to come to the country to see for herself what interesting things laid in store. She traveled up to Falkreath and took a job, where she first encountered members of the Companions. Being of similar goals, Nakuma joined the group for a short time to help them, gaining a few friends along the way. When they parted ways she was offered a place amongst their ranks, and though sorely tempted, said she needed time to consider it.

 

[baratron]

EVEN MOAR PLOT!

The story will begin with each player receiving his or her summons from High King Balgruuf ( ). We will assemble in Whiterun and meet each other for the first time at Dragonsreach. We will do some research from the High King's library, reading books such as Flight From The Thalmor. A few of us may get involved with the plight of Thorald Gray-Mane, which must be particularly urgent given the ending of the Civil War.

Then we will travel south to Sulinus Rulician (Tailon)'s manor in Falkreath, to train, assemble equipment and potions, and make plans.

King Balgruuf ( )'s key informant is Legate Fasendil, an Altmer soldier in the Imperial Legion. He "requested a position in Skyrim in order to keep an eye on the Thalmor, whom he suspected of having a role in fueling the civil war". We will visit him at Mistveil Keep in Riften (where he is probably quite thoroughly miserable due to being stuck around Maven Black-Briar all day, so he could possibly be acquired as a playable character).

Then we will travel around Skyrim visiting various Thalmor bases for information. The most important agents stationed in Skyrim are:

• Ancano at the College of Winterhold in Winterhold.
• Ondolemar at Understone Keep in Markarth.
• Elenwen at the Thalmor Embassy in Haafinger. (Vaguely north of Solitude).

Other important locations include Northwatch Keep in northern Haafinger, and the unused in the game but available for our roleplay Thalmor Headquarters in Solitude. (I particularly like the idea of an abandoned headquarters which may still be hiding secrets).

Other named Thalmor members are Estormo at Labyrinthian and Captain Valmir at Forelhost. We don't necessarily have to find them there, however. In particular, Estormo is only likely to be at Labyrinthian if the College of Winterhold have already found the Eye of Magnus. And Captain Valmir could ambush our party in his fake Imperial uniform just about anywhere.

I don't know whether we will all travel together all of the time, or whether we'll split into smaller parties some of the time. It depends on whether we gain any more players. (Please could the two other people I know are interested in this hurry up and decide if they're playing or not!). Someone needs to use this map of Skyrim to work out the most appropriate order to visit these places in. Fluorescent green = definite stops, Vile pink = possible stops. There's a big "1" by Whiterun because it's where we're starting. Sorry, the roads are super-pale even on the 99 MB version! Edit: I've drawn over some of them.

 

[Crunchy]

Name: Onzer

Gender: Male

Race: Khajiit

ALSO: Normal

Hometown: Born in Morrowind. Now makes his home in Winterhold as the College is one of the few places in Skyrim where Khajiit are allowed indoors.

Age: 26

Build: Muscular and tall for a Khajiit

Hair: Mottled brown, red and black fur. Dark brown mohawk. Rings in his ears.

Eyes: Gold.

Clothing: Light Armor (fur armour). Gloves of Fortify Unarmed. Circlet of magicka. Sabercat cloak and hood.

Identifying Marks: Ruffled fur marks a long scar down the side of his left cheek.

Personality: Onzer is cunning, proud and pragmatic. Not afraid to get his claws dirty, curious and interested in learning things, but only if it has a practical bent. Barely scrapes passes on his College examinations. Quick to smile and very slow to trust; tries to have a plan B or an escape route in mind. Minor sugar habit; steers clear of Skooma but isn’t above selling it to others. His philosophy is ‘Onzer is like the weather; sometimes it is good and kind and sometimes it is cruel.' Likes to keep things in balance, morally speaking. Has nothing against selling Skooma and robbing travellers, but has a soft spot for wandering bards and injured animals - once nursed a fox back to health after he’d defended it from some wolves.

Affiliations: College of Winterhold (student)/ Thieves Guild (courier/contact with the Khajiit caravans, occasional muscle; not deft or quiet enough for most Thieves Guild jobs.)

Civil War Affiliation: Neither - could not care less.

Preferred Weapon: Hand-to-hand / Magic

Magic Abilities: Conjuration / Destruction

Additional Spells known: Healing, Frenzy.

Other Abilities: Lockpicking / Speechcraft / Alchemy (sugar into Skooma, mostly, and a bit of practical first aid)

Religion: Khajiiti Pantheon : http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Khajiit#Religion

Past: Descendant of slaves, Onzer’s parents did their best to raise him in his own culture, but obviously they had forgotten their naming conventions. His parents were fishing folk, but Onzer preferred to catch wealthier, shinier prey. It’s not a good way to make friends, being a bandit, and Onzer left Morrowind to protect his parents and drifted, ending up as part of a bandit gang in the Reach.

He had a knack for magic, and enjoyed brawling and became reasonably proficient at both. The Forsworn made it hard to make a living in the wilds of the Reach, and one day, while Onzer had taken a day off to fish and lick sugar, they slaughtered his comrades. Easy come, easy go. Onzer didn’t take it personally. He hooked up with the Thieves’ Guild instead, and got himself a more permanent roof over his head at the College. He still has a bounty on his head in the Reach, however, and keeps intending to save enough gold to pay it.

 

[baratron]

A few clarifications:
1) If you wish to use Magic as a "weapon" choice, then your character may learn two Schools of Magic. The implication is that your character knows and can potentially use all of the spells within that School up to at least Adept level, and possibly a few spells at Expert level.

2) Everyone ALSO knows two spells of up to Adept level. If you are a Magic user, these should be from a School of Magic that you do not specialise in. This is in addition to any spell that you know because of your race.

3) You may use Unarmed/Hand-to-Hand as a "weapon" choice, even though it's not a skill in Skyrim. Why not, it's a roleplay . Khajiit have a significant boost to unarmed, Argonians have a minor boost.

4) If your character is a worshipper of a Daedric Prince, you may use the appropriate Daedric Artifact. Otherwise, you are limited to conventional weapons and armour only .

5) People who registered their characters early, feel free to go back and add no more than three Enchanted items. Armour, clothing, jewellery, or weapons.

The characters posted so far look great, but Luckii - you might want to make your Bosmer a bit older than 28, because in terms of elves' longer lifespan, that's basically a kid . Somewhere between 40 and 50 might be a better age?

Not a Clarification, but a Question:
Do we want to use Standing Stone blessings? The ones that involve learning of skills would be completely pointless in an RP context, but things such as the Steed Stone (your character can carry more loot) would be useful. Dariel would probably choose the Lord Stone to improve his armour rating and resistance to harmful magic. It depends how complicated we want to get. Remember, there are still racial bonuses to add (again, some more useful than others in an RP context).

Updated Map:
I've drawn over the roads that we're likely to use. Unfortunately this map only includes major roads, not very obviously paved tracks which I know exist in the game, so I shall have to look for yet another map! It seems pretty obvious from the map that the only sensible way from Winterhold to Solitude would be either cart or boat.

 

[baratron]

We'll be starting very soon, so please start writing the post describing how your character gets from where they're starting to Whiterun . Check where everyone else is starting from - will your character be travelling with others?

 

[Crunchy]

Mine's starting at the college, so he might be travelling with yours, bara.

 

[baratron]

Yep, I thought we already agreed that, Crunchy? Hehe.

I recommend this as a useful guide to distance and time: Travel in Tamriel. I generally think of Skyrim as being the size of a small to medium European country. Otherwise we'll be spending the whole roleplay travelling rather than doing anything useful .

 

[baratron]

We're very nearly ready to start! I'll be posting the first post in a day or so.

Please confirm that you're definitely taking part if I haven't spoken to you recently. It's fine to drop out now before we begin, but it'll be annoying if people drop out later. Although if people do drop out halfway through, my vote is for their character to be unceremoniously slain in battle.

Your first post should be your character receiving their invitation to join the group from High King Balgruuf , and some description of their journey to Whiterun.

In terms of distances, we're thinking:

• 2-3 hours to ride on a horse from Riverwood to Whiterun, double that if walking.
  
• Carriages between major towns basically take the same amount of time as walking, they're just less tiring and/or allow you to carry more stuff.
  
• Multiply the time by two or three in areas with harsh weather conditions. So although the distance between Winterhold and Windhelm would only be 4-6 hours for a single rider on a horse, a carriage would take an entire day (~12+ hours), due to slower travel.
  
• My personal guess is that Solitude to Whiterun would be about 3 days if riding on your own horse, since all of those roads are clear and have reasonable weather conditions. 4 or 5 days by carriage, unless the carriage owner had spare horses at intermediate places like Rorikstead, allowing the first set of horses to rest.
  
• You don't have to go into great detail about your route. Talking about how your character deals with it is more useful to us as players. Feel free to stick bandits, Forsworn, necromancer, or Thalmor ambushes anywhere you like that's sensible (i.e. not an Imperial Fortress!).
  
• Characters who have camping equipment and are used to camping out don't have to worry about spending the night in towns.

Oh yes, and the meeting with Balgruuf is going to be on Turdas 27th Last Seed 4E 202. (Or Thursday 27th August, if you prefer). No prizes for guessing why I chose 27th Last Seed .

 

[Tailon]

So, I'm thinking it'd be interesting to open up the weapon selection to include weapons from the other Elder Scrolls games, including spears, throwing weapons, hammers with larger heads on both sides, halberds, and a much larger variety of designs for the standard weapons. I'd like to know what you guys think on the matter!

 

[baratron]

No one got round to replying to Tailon, but we decided that meant no one objected . I'm personally of the opinion that any weapon which is in accordance with the level of technology of the Elder Scrolls universe would be okay. So nothing that requires gunpowder or dynamite, because they have magic instead; but changing the shape of a hammer is absolutely fine in my book.

Also, remember the pink line over the Sea of Ghosts with "By cart... or boat?" written on it? Dawnguard adds a ferry service. This consists of a couple of fairly small boats (each would be large enough for all of our party and their equipment, but not horses as well).

For anyone who wants to stay in the dark about this aspect of Dawnguard (although it'll come up in our plot in a few months):

Spoiler

The ferries run between Windhelm, Dawnstar, Solitude, and Icewater Jetty. Just like the carriages, you can take the ferry from any of the cities to any of the other cities.

Icewater Jetty is a new location on the mainland, added to be close to the new vampire castle in Dawnguard, but it also happens to be right by Northwatch Keep. However, ferry owners require a fee of 500 septims per passenger to go there (as opposed to 50 septims for all the other locations). Also, they won't stick around to take you back. It might still be useful, though...