The TES Roleplayer's Thread

Dohva. · **Posted:** Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:22 am

See, I think children are inevitable in a place like Skyrim (unless the character is celibate or sterile). Which is why all of my characters have kids. No birth control around. Except that Lieth and her husband Vilkas adopted theirs. She loves children and, well, far as I know they can't have biological children together unless she's older.

Although someone with more lore experience can correct me here (psst CBR).

Snail's Pace · **Posted:** Sun Sep 07, 2014 6:28 am

Witchery wrote:

After Helgen she disguises herself and finds her way to Riften and ends up murdering Grelod for being vile?

Considering that Grelod is programmed with only 1 point of health, it would be easy to "accidentally" kill Grelod. Maybe Macha just means to intimidate Grelod by aiming a spell at her and... oops! From the DB's perspective, it wouldn't matter if she intended to kill Grelod or not. Then all Macha would need is a reason for visiting the Aretino kid to complete the quest. If she's heard the rumor, she should be good to go. If she hasn't heard the rumor, maybe you could make use of Ulfric's history with the Forsworn as a pretext for sending her to Windhelm. While there, she breaks into the Aretino house looking for a place to sleep, and yadda yadda soon after realizes that her destiny is along a new path: a would-be shaman to a group of assassins.

Dohva. wrote:

OK, what about back story? How do you develop the background of your characters and how they end up in the game?

Starting with Oblivion, I create my characters' backstories before I start playing them. Actually, my Morrowind characters didn't even have backstories. They were basically the same: all of them Imperials, all of them putting their pasts behind them and seeking a new start.

Oblivion made me care about how my character fit into the world of the game, I guess because the tutorial quest drew me in when I played it with a practice character. I wanted a character that would feel compelled to do what Uriel VII had asked. So I spent several evenings just reading lore on the wiki and creating a backstory that would give that character the motivation to go to Weynon Priory. It was pretty interesting, because it was the first time I tried to learn any of the lore. I had already decided to play a Breton because of their magic resistance, so I focused on High Rock and the Bretons. The character that came from that was Delia Dalomax, and she still looms large in my version of TES, as important in my headcanon as someone like Tiber Septim is in the canonical lore.

So yeah, Finn, she's basically the TES equivalent of a "space warrior queen from the 30th century".

Skyrim has been similar, with each character's backstory set before I start playing. But I'm willing to change it if I later realize that something about it doesn't make sense. For example, I had to mentally change Jess's age after I started playing her because I realized that an event in her backstory didn't fit the timeline of canonical lore. So, Jess suddenly became 10 years younger. She seemed OK with that.

However, I don't let predetermined backstories, personalities, ethics, etc determine everything the characters do in the game, either. I don't presume to know everything about them, and I'm more than willing to let aspects of their lives and inner workings be mysterious to me. They are most interesting when they surprise me.

Dohva. wrote:

So...what about family life? Every Dovahkiin, despite being a killing machine, needs affection. Funny, I joked with my husband today that I see the Dragonborn being a basket case just like any Hollywood royalty. He starts out being a bad ass, gets super famous, and eventually retires to the quiet life and struggles with alcohol/skooma problems the rest of his life.

I thought that would happen to Jess, but she surprised me. Prior to starting the MQ, she had been battling alcoholism and sleeping tree sap addiction, occassionally sobering up, but always backsliding (that went on for, like, 800 hours of gameplay!). When she finally found out she is the Dovahkiin, I figured that the pressure of being the Dragonborn would cause her addictions to rage out of control. I also expected that as Dovahkiin, she would be an antihero - or a reluctant hero, at best. She surprised me by embracing the role of Dragonborn. I hadn't anticipated how influential the Greybeards and Paarthurnax would be, and how she would want to live up to their expectations. Being Dragonborn made her less self-centered. It was not all about her anymore, which helped her sober up.

I still don't have any of the DLC for X360, so my characters can't have family lives, yet. Maybe someday. For now, they hang out with who they can.

CBR JGWRR · **Posted:** Sun Sep 07, 2014 7:41 am

Dohva. wrote:

See, I think children are inevitable in a place like Skyrim (unless the character is celibate or sterile). Which is why all of my characters have kids. No birth control around. Except that Lieth and her husband Vilkas adopted theirs. She loves children and, well, far as I know they can't have biological children together unless she's older.

Although someone with more lore experience can correct me here (psst CBR).

Well, we know more about the surface of Masser and Secunda than we do about Tamrielic birth control - What would be far more certain is that a relatively young elven woman desiring children and a quite old Nord wouldn't want to use it.

It is possible for an elf and a man to have a child at an age that a human would define as young (young is of course a relative concept - to elves young, would consist of being up to around one to two normal human lifespan) - see Barenziah and Tiber - but it is next to unheard of. In Jennifere and Ulfric's case, he would most likely die of old age before they actually had a child...

Witchery · **Posted:** Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:11 pm

@Zephyr: Agreed! I like the family-seeking angle as well, combined with religious reasons.

@Dov: I think they have forms, though they're certainly morally questionable. Tansy, for instance, was used in the Middle Ages to induce abortions, so I don't think it is too far-fetched to assume certain members of Tamriel's society have methods to terminate/prevent pregnancy... (*cough* witches *cough* .. probably alchemists, too. I don't imagine priests would be too keen on the subject, though.) Lilija will only adopt because even if she does marry she won't be able to have children.

Unionhack · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:28 am

Typically with backstories, I make a character from a concept and then apply a backstory to it. Makes it a lot easier for me to be creative.

Once I have a general backstory laid out, I apply characters to the major points of the story. Could be existing NPCs or people only mentioned. The actual progressive story will follow after that in gameplay!

Varyag · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:32 am

SM-Dreamer wrote:

Varyag - I thought I recognized the name from The Three Musketeers! I just wasn't absolutely sure, lol.

.

Cookie points to SM-dreamer! They've made zillion of movies, tv-series, cartoons and even Barbie-movie (shudders, that was horrible) out of "Three Musketeers" and nobody recongnize one the main villains, Milady de Winter?

Back to subject of names, I got mine from various sources...literature (Milady Winter, Mânwe etc), real names (Tero, Kyra, Firyal) from diffent cultures, real names twisted to be more fantasy-like (Nelly ->Nelya) or they just pop up to my mind from somewhere. I also recycle names between different fantasy settings/roleplays. Not all my names are totally lore-friendly but I do try to keep them "themed" to the race. So, anglo-franco names for bretons (Marietta Pelerin, Adara Del'Cour), old scandinavian/viking names for nords (Kyra, Thorgeir, Runa etc), ancient Roman/south european names for Imperials (Licinia Selvanus, Corinne Atticus, Aloyse Navarro), fantasy names for elves (Malandor), arabic names (or arabic sounding) for redguards (Firyal, Ahriman, Myriah). Internet is really good source for names.

Of Backgrounds. I usually have some idea what I'm going to do when I create character. Sometimes it's just vague idea or certain build-type or fully fleshed out background story. I've also greated few random characters from scratch, without any idea, but those don't usually last long. Most of the time the background just "grows" or gets more fleshed out while I play. And most of the roleplay happens in my head. My characters have far more interesting conversations than the game mechanics allow.

@families. Most of my characters seems to end up married or at least adopt. (I just can't pass Sofia and Lucia without giving them home). Their motives for it varies depending of characters. Malandor, for instance, married and adopted children to keep his honourable front. He picked up Viola Giordino, because she a) old and b) obviously wealthy.
Milady Winter isn't married, nor has she adopted, she's been too busy massing wealth, power and liberating Skyrim.

Dohva. · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:34 pm

Speaking of family, Sylmirie is glad to be back at home with Aicantar and their girls after the events at COW. She doesn't even feel like leaving her house right now so its a good thing she has plenty of alchemy ingredients to play with in her study. Just one slight problem though. Onmund came back home with her.

The SheoDovah · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:37 pm

It's been a while and instead of the usual character then story bit. I'm doing the story before the character part.

Here is:

Spoiler:

My skills are rusty so please forgive me if it's not as good as my previous stories.

Finn Wolfshorn · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:54 pm

^Well done conveying the teeming chaos of battle in a few sentences. If you don't mind me nitpicking a bit, the phrase "liberated a hand from its elven master" grates a bit in my ear, somehow I can't help seeing the cut-off hand dancing on its fingers to celebrate its liberty like a house-elf with a sock (yes, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point); I think I'd use a more direct, physical verb, say, hew or chop or something. On the positive side, I like how your Dunmer is able to see the Altmer he's killing as a "poor sod", that's the mark of a good mer.

As for family life, my married characters tend to be too busy adventuring for that. I toyed with the idea of having Sylvaine adopt Sofia the Stormcloak orphan and raise her to be a witch for poetic irony (giving her briar hearts and taproots for presents), but it never happened, mostly because Sylvaine and hubby Cosnach never bought or build a house, they used Hag Rock Redoubt as their home base. As for having biological children, well... Cosnach had an annoying tendency to get too drunk to fulfill his marital duties (I imagine one of the first things Sylvaine did after marrying him was ask Bothela to teach her how to brew that Stallion's Potion), and Sylvaine being a witch I'm sure she knew the right herbs to deal with any potential consequences when he did.

Marilyn has always fancied her own sex, so having biological children is pretty much out of the question for her. Mari (I) adopted, um, I think Lucia and Runa (the latter because she was the closest thing to Aventus that was available) but turned out a lousy mother because she very rarely came home to Breezehome, and since Lydia had been sacrificed to Boethiah earlier the two girls were pretty much left to themselves... which was perhaps just as well, as Mari (I) had already turned vampire by then. Mari (II) values her alchemy lab in Honeyside too highly to have it converted into a room for children, and [meta] going through the tedium of building a Hearthfire house once was once too much for me [/meta]. She has, however, sort of adopted Aventus Aretino unofficially, leaving generous sums of money for his education with Constance whenever she visits Riften.

Comes-Up-Last was very much a family lizard, justifying his banditry and thieving as providing for his wife Shahvee and their future children and joining the Dawnguard to protect them against the rising vampire threat. I had installed a mod that lets you adopt a little Argonian hatchling who I was going to pretend was their own child; IIRC they moved from Honeyside to Breezehome because Shahvee was pregnant at the time and with vampire attacks on Fort Dawnguard increasing C-U-L felt Riften wasn't safe enough anymore. I never got around to roleplaying their family life though because I abandoned this playthrough before little Ram-Ku was hatched.

I currently have a character in mind (to start after completing Dawnguard with Marilyn and updating Requiem) who will have an (offscreen) family to begin with - a married middle-aged man with a wife and children back in Cyrodiil, and maybe write his journal as letters to his family; we'll see.

VirtualWeasel · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:01 pm

VirtualWeasel wrote:

So I got to the battle of Windhelm with my Imperial character, and because my in-game journal mod is being temperamental, I figured I'd write it here instead.

Hidden:

So, I posted this a while ago, and I've recently gotten back into Skyrim and decided to continue this guy's story.
Problem is, I had a whole set of journals of his from before the pinnacle moment right here, so, my idea is to post one a day in this thread until I get current, and then continue with the journals as they regularly come.
Would that be something you guys would like to see?

Witchery · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:11 pm

Great story, TLD! Very interesting and leaves me wanting more.

Finn, that sounds like a great idea for a character. Do you know much else about him? Race? Class? etc.? I'm interested.

VirtualWeasel: If you're willing to share I'm willing to read! Also, have you heard of The Elder Stats? They have a journal function that you can use, and then link it here/WYDIST thread whenever you want to share a new journal.

Dohva. · **Posted:** Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:40 pm

I welcome stories back into this thread, but I would like to remind everyone that it isn't a necessity for your participation either. Pictures, discussions, etc are also a great way to express your roleplay characters. And also, if you make a post, its nice to respond to others and be involved as a member of the community and keep the momentum going. I just don't want the thread going stale again because people think they have to write something, or anymore drama because stories are being ignored or whatnot.

Dov, glad to see you back in here. Is this a new character?

And Weasel, yes I would be interested in reading your journals. Witchery's suggestion is a good one as well for Elder Stats.

SM-Dreamer · **Posted:** Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:11 am

Families - Ayla isn't likely to settle down, though she is enjoying time spent with Kharjo, and has a crush on J'zargo. Blade, the last time I played her, was in denial about being Dragonborn (and Listener, and why the hell does Brynjolf and that lot think she's worthy of being Guildmaster?! She can barely keep Vigilance alive!). So she's busy rushing off to prove everyone wrong and live alone in the wilderness. She does have a thing for orphans, since she is one, and donates whenever she runs across one (3 guesses why she was more than willing to kill Grelod the King), and while she would love to help them, she has neither a home (what, settle down in one place?) nor the temperament to rear children. The idea of herself as a mother boggles her mind.

The other characters I've started/intend to start... Kiro isn't ready for another family (tragedy as part of his backstory) and Vaelyn is a determined bachelor - though I'll have to bring him crashing to his knees eventually

VirtualWeasel · **Posted:** Tue Sep 09, 2014 2:58 am

Well, here's the first one I ever wrote. Enjoy:

Last Seed 27th, 4E 201

Hidden:

A little note, these journals are pretty uneventful in the beginning, but bear with me, it'll definitely get more interesting as they go on.

Zephyr · **Posted:** Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:15 am

TLD: I agree with what Finn pointed out about the wording, especially since the rest is fairly visceral. Nice piece, though. I especially like this part.

Thelastdovah wrote:

Smoke rose from the city of voices, coins and scrolls.

It gives a crowded feeling, and a feeling for what's at stake. The mention of voices also adds that sound to the scene.

VirtualWeasel: I'm interested to see more, too. Two very (fittingly) different-sounding entries so far. The piece you reposted reads well, the flow especially good at the beginning of the third paragraph. I also like how the first three lines increase in length -- nice way to establish tension. I noticed a couple places where the wording is a little off, but I don't know how much feedback you're looking for.

SM-Dreamer · **Posted:** Tue Sep 09, 2014 5:35 am

TLD - Very much agree with Finn; will add that up until that point, you had nice tension building, then that phrase kind of threw out the pacing. Do like the way it begins, and I will further add to Zephyr's bit in that not only did I like that sentence, but I like the parallel in the next one

[quote=Thelastdovah]Smoke rose from the city of voices, coins and scrolls. The sky was blackened and the ground was littered with blood, limbs and bodies.[/quote]

Three and three. Just something I noticed, which I liked; good description overall. I like the Dunmer's sense of valor and determination, as well as the piece of sympathy for his enemy.

VirtualWeasel - I think I read that before. I don't recall if I commented on it before or not, but I will say that it is beautifully written. Like Zephyr, I like that the first three sentences are varied in length, and I like how the last of the first three is built up. I also like the difference between this entry and the first, the difference between an eager new soldier and a jaded war veteran. Am very interested in reading more, and I can't say it enough, but the aftermath entry is just a gorgeous read.

The SheoDovah · **Posted:** Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:22 pm

Dohva, he is a new character although i have yet to create him in game due to not being in the mood for Skyrim.

Witchery,Dreamer,Finn, Zephry. Thank you for the feedback and i am very surprised at how well my short description of the state of the Imperial City was recieved. Will try to have more tension in these stories and Finn, you have just gave me an idea for a story with Sheogorath.

But that won't happen for a while.

All the stories that i am doing is the background of Eréparl as i feel it will help you to understand the character as i have an idea of the man he will become. He is 19 during the time of the Great War and i am headcannoning that all Dunmer can live up to 250 but mature at the same rate as humans because it is easier for me.

On the subject of at home with the Dovahkiins, I have yet to have a single character take an arrow to the knee and raise their children. It's either due to laziness on my part or those damn dragons burning the priest alive. Or the dovahkiin is too busy killing dragons,bandits,draugr,Thalmor etc...

VirtualWeasel · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:06 am

Aaaaaand the second one! Still bear with me here, this beginning has almost zero momentum, just character reveal stuff.

Last Seed 31st, 4E 201

Hidden:

Finn Wolfshorn · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:46 am

Witchery wrote:

Finn, that sounds like a great idea for a character. Do you know much else about him? Race? Class? etc.? I'm interested.

Thanks! I may actually have mentioned him to you... He'll be a Breton Knight/Crusader amalgam - I suppose you could call him a Paladin except he's not affiliated to any religious orders, but he's a devout worshipper of the 8 (or 9? haven't decided yet where he stands re/ Talos) and has a Vigilant's daedra/witch/vampire/werewolf-hunting mentality, which will make it all the more fun to have him catch Sanies Lupinus and grow fur out of his ears... :Twisted Evil:

TLD, I'd love to read that Sheogorath story! :lol:

Weasel, your Dunmer is leading an interesting life, it seems. I'm curious how he got to join forces with the wandering bandits, and even more about the identity of the person addressed in the last sentence.

VirtualWeasel · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:20 pm

Finn Wolfshorn wrote:

Witchery wrote:

Weasel, your Dunmer is leading an interesting life, it seems. I'm curious how he got to join forces with the wandering bandits, and even more about the identity of the person addressed in the last sentence.

He's actually an Imperial, but whatevs. I don't even think I mentioned that.

Finn Wolfshorn · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 7:46 pm

Duh, I confused him with the guy from TLD's battle scene. My bad.

The SheoDovah · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:33 pm

Challenge, accepted Finn! I have no clue when it'll be up, but I, The incredibly ego manic with a keyboard and no grasp of sanity and sometimes bearded Dovah shall take up the challenge and write a story involving Sheogorath Lord of fine pants,cheese and beards of steel!

Ahem,...

I mean, I will write it one day. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.

Weasel, i have read your recent stories and i feel that they could use more description. The timeskip could have been used to show how your imperial reacts to being sent to deal with the bandits and your version of Tullius. But sometimes, having less works and it will be interesting to see what your imperial gets up to.

Witchery · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:50 pm

Finn, that sounds like my kind of character! I can't wait to hear more about him.

VirtualWeasel · **Posted:** Sat Sep 13, 2014 4:21 am

Thelastdovah wrote:

Weasel, i have read your recent stories and i feel that they could use more description. The timeskip could have been used to show how your imperial reacts to being sent to deal with the bandits and your version of Tullius. But sometimes, having less works and it will be interesting to see what your imperial gets up to.

Well, like I said, these are just journals, and the duller journals at that. I use plenty of description when I write legit stuff, but these journals I figured would be more straight to the point instead of full of a bunch of pointless description. After all, he's awfully yuppie and way too enthusiastic right now, so all he can do is gab about his exploits and how many rebels he's killed. It's not until he goes totally crazy that things actually start to happen. Think of these first ones as an extremely slow character reveal, like the first chapters of a book.

Okay, here's the whole compendium of journals. Figured it'd be best just to post them this way so I can catch up to the present:

Hidden:

EDIT: Updated with a pic of before he goes nuts and runs off into hiding.

Dohva. · **Posted:** Sat Sep 13, 2014 8:12 pm

I will need to catch up on your journals, Weasel. I read the earlier snippets but not this last one yet.

Instead of re-creating Felina as a bard, I'm thinking of going with someone completely different. Redguard female named Crimson, a dancer and performer from Hammerfell. Still marinating on her back story, but she would be a bard/illusionist and able to smooth talk her way out of situations. I haven't played a Redguard yet so that would be a nice experience to have. Not completely sure about anything else yet.

The TES Roleplayer's Thread
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