Sload: Great Race, or THE GREATEST Race?

[Piffinatour]

I love the Sload. I love their slug-like bodies, their plague-spreading ways (allegedly), their Kingdom of Thras, comprised mostly of Coral. The Sload are one of my favorite TES races, mainly because, well, they're really obscure.

No one really knows much about the Sload, and there has been little contact with the entire race for hundreds of years. It is said (mostly in the Lore section of the UESP website) that the Sload are fairly large, grotesque slug-like beings, with little or no distinction between others of their race. The Sload don't even technically have hands; They have the ability to move/morph their arm-like limbs to form hand-like 'Graspers' with which the pick things up, or carry things around. Sload are known to be adept Mages, and often consulted with Daedra. The Sload are also known to have a very low understanding of what we call 'Emotions', meaning they have a more universal view, compared to a personal view. They never take on a task without extensive consultation with Sload Elders; There is no word for 'adventure' in the Sload tongue, only their 'close-equivalent', "Tragic Disaster".

I think the formless, non-emotive, somewhat 'Slow-and-Steady' personality, and Magical Skill are a recipe for success. Think about it: It's like having a Companion that is part HK-47 (from the 'Knights of the Old Republic' series), part Fawkes (from 'Fallout 3'), and part Morrigan (from the 'Dragon Age' series).

How awesome would that be? Very awesome. Very.

So, what do you say, O people of the UESP Forums? Are the Sload a Great Race, or The Greatest Race?

Take your pick, and let it be known that any other decision is (obviously) incorrect.

[Mr.Argonian]

I love the sload. It would be so awesome if they made an appearance in TES:VI, even better if there was a sload companion, raising corpses to fight for you. I'm so excited about them appearing In TES:O, marking the first time we see them in game.

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

They're too fat.

[HatofMadness]

Sload.


LOL

[Witchery]

I'm going to go with "great race" but I'm more inclined to "meh race." I find them interesting, but they're not the greatest race and I would pick any other race (including the extinct ones) over them. Except the Dwemer. How I loathe them. And tbh, just because something is obscure, doesn't make it automatically awesome. Interesting, curious, fascinating . . but not "great."

[Br3admax]

Anything called a "sload" was not meant to sound interesting in the slightest, no matter there history. Also they have almost no point, in my eyes. I'm inclined to say they are the worst race concept, since I'm not going to make a statement of judging a race.

[Xarnac the Conqueror]

Sload are awesome.

Adult Sloads so fat they have to use Mysticism to carry their weight=awesome. Baron Harkonnen anyone?

Sload adventurers taking years to prepare even for the smallest journey=awesome. Pierson's Puppeteers anyone?

The Pillar of Thras would be quite an epic sight in a game. A Coral structure taller than White Gold Tower? Yes, please.

[Lynx]

GREATEST.
Playable races in TES are mostly lame. I want to be able to play as a huge goddamn slime in the next TES. I too love their whole lore!

[Avron the S'wit]

Well I, for one, welcome our sload overlords.

They're definitely interesting and I find it entertaining how they will meditate and deviate on things for so long, simply to weigh them in their minds. Sounds legit to me.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

They're too fat.

Who needs to be agile when you can spam teleportation constantly? I've never had the pleasure of playing Redguard but in the let's plays of it I watched N'gasta seemed like a tough boss.

[Xarnac the Conqueror]

He's pretty easy as long as you keep facing him. All of his spells reflect off of you as long as you have some vial or flask in your inventory. He teleports around a lot though.

[philfredobob]

yeah, they are pretty interesting, i would rather they include them over more Dunmer stuff or Dwemer stuff. but i cant see how they could fit them into any game other than ones set near Hammerfell or Summerset Isles (maybe ..)

[CBR JGWRR]

They aren't that great, they lost their homeland to the aldmer for a start. Then they got smashed up again after causing a plaugue. They are basically glorified magical slugs who use their children to make soap, who aren't able to avoid crushing themselves under their own weight without the use of magic, or floating in water.

It's also amusing to note that the developers treated them as a bit of a joke - sload soap for instance has fortify and restore agility effects. Something fully grown Sload don't really have a use for, since as previously mentioned, they can't do anything without magical assistance. In fact, if you can block teleporting, they can't really do anything.

They have no real concept of morals or law, and would do anything if they felt they would benefit from it. Which is not good.


Ultimately, the Aldmer kicking them off Summerset Isle, and then the All Flags Navy's destruction of Thras was a good thing.

Did I mention their name is a mixture of slug and toad?


I'm out of things to say....

[philfredobob]

all the races of TES have had defeats and victories, even the Daedra and Aedra.

if we were going to judge the ''greatness'' of a race based on how many times it had won or lost, they would all end up being exactly equal, which is usually the case.

[VirtualWeasel]

I love when you love something you have almost no information on.
It's great.
Really.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

We have as much or more information on them than the Akaviri races, and those races are much more loved by the TES community overall. I mean, at least we've seen a Sload in the flesh before...not that it was a fun experience.

[Mr.Argonian]

Yeah, while we don't as much about the Sload as the Dunmer or Nords or other playable races, what we do know about them is interesting enough that people like them.

Seriously, a race of hermaphrodite slug toads that are so fat they have to teleport everywhere, with little to no emotions to get in their way, necromancy being practiced by nearly all of them, able to recall nearly everything they have heard, seen or read, hands that mold around anything and to top it off, them killed half of the population of Tamriel with a single plague.

I can honestly say out of all the "lesser" races in TES, like the Dwemer, Maormer, Kamal, Tsaesci, Tang Mo, Ayleid and Imga, I like the Sload the most. If only of these races could be included in a TES game, I would definetly choose the Sload. An expnasion on their history and culture could turn this unknown race into seriously interesting characters.

[Da_BossMaN69]

Wisdom

Could not agree with you any more. I mean sure the Dwemer are fascinating, but they need to be held back more, they need to be the final mystery if not the last.

The beauty of the Sloads, is they're high fantasy enough and have a unique setting that could easily lend an entire game. I mean think about it. In addition to them as a race, in order to interact with them fully, you'll have a game almost certainly nautical themed.

Imagine sailing from island to island facing off against these guys. Entire Islands could serve as dungeons, think on the scale of an oblivion world, but twice if not three times the size with each Island being filled with the undead.

Hell they could be the next supernatural enemy. I mean why not? They're supposedly master planers who far exceed that of the Altmer in terms of time, since they spend years planning a single adventure. Each Sload could be a boss character summoning hordes of undead and using high leveled destruction.

I can definitely see a Summerset Isle game involving them.

And I'd love to play as one, even if it came with restrictions. I'd be like playing as a tank, soak up damage, dealing out powerful spells, at the cost of speed, and melee combat, or at least restriction, I'd like to just slap a bandit with my huge slimy paw(?)

[philfredobob]

Hell they could be the next supernatural enemy. I mean why not? They're supposedly master planers who far exceed that of the Altmer in terms of time, since they spend years planning a single adventure. Each Sload could be a boss character summoning hordes of undead and using high leveled destruction.

im all for this. it would be a hundred times better than the Dragons

[the Savage Hippie]

Aren't Sloads in Redguard?

[CBR JGWRR]

There is one Sload in Redguard.

[Kerr]

I like to think they speak like Elcor. "Nostalgic melancholy: Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio."

They're okay but I don't think they are as good as some people make them out to be. We don't really know that much about them.

[Mr.Argonian]

I can definitely see a Summerset Isle game involving them.

If there was a Summerset Isles game and it did not involve the Sload, I would be very disappointed, seeing as that would be the perfect time to introduce them. While I doubt they will ever be playable, however fun that would be, maybe one could join us as a companion, slinging spells and raising our defeated enemies to serve us.

[VirtualWeasel]

[...]since they spend years planning a single adventure.

There's the problem right there. Sloads take way too long to plan things.
If a dragon attacked their city, they wouldn't send the adventurer that just got a stone tablet for them to kill it on the fly. Nope, they'd spend days in their castle silently calculating the best method of shoving a stick up its ass and roasting it over a bonfire, while the city is set aflame.

Sloads may seem interesting, but I think their mannerisms and problem solving skills would be far too intellectual for their own good. Frankly I think they'd be a bore story-wise if there was a game centered around them.

And if they do ever introduce them as a pro/antagonist, then it'd be somewhere around when the world starts to turn the [&@%!]... Sometime before the Landfall I'd imagine. If that is the case, they were most likely planning an attack or something that they execute for the entire time they've been relatively quiet.

[Avron the S'wit]

I doubt they would ever be a protagonist or an antagonist, but they sure are entertaining all the same. I would love to see them as comic relief.