BrettM

It depends on what we get to do there. I think I'm with daventry, though. Kodlak mentioned mustering a rescue expedition in Sovngarde to bail out the former Harbingers stuck in Hircine's realm, and it might be fun to get called in on that and do a little dirt to a Daedric Prince for a change.

The Thalmor win if the civil war continues. The last thing they want is a win by either side. The Thalmor are as much afraid of a Stormcloak win as they are of an Empire win. It's right there in Ulfric's dossier: "Ulfric's death would have dramatically increased the chance of an Imperial victory and thus harmed our overall position in Skyrim" and "A Stormcloak victory is also to be avoided, however ..."

Good one! Now I'm picturing a Dragonborn with a mouth full of pastry suddenly needing to Shout, spraying crumbs like shrapnel.

At one point Odahviing refers to Paarthurnax as "the old one." If dragons have always existed, how can they be different ages? Because they where created by Akatosh at different times, Alduin being the first and most powerful. You seem to have missed the "if" in my question, so perhaps I was being too subtle in trying to make my point. Your explanation of dragon age differences is the obvious one, but it is not consistent with dragons having always existed. If Paarthurnax is older, then Odahviing did not exist when Paarth was created. If there was a period when Odahviing did not exist, then he could not have always existed.

At one point Odahviing refers to Paarthurnax as "the old one." If dragons have always existed, how can they be different ages?

I, too, assumed they were Yngol's clansmen/crew based on the book. Maybe they just wanted to see me put Yngol to rest so they could rest themselves, since they disappear after you defeat him. But I did keep expecting them to DO something other than just follow me around. I don't care what: attack me, show me something, or communicate with me somehow.

All my mages wear light armor because defending yourself in cloth is such a pita (and I stink at it). Archery/stealth/conjurer in light armor is no problem, and I didn't have to give up anything. If you allocate points carefully, you can get all the perks you need in smithing, enchanting, and alchemy to raise light armor over the cap while still getting every perk you need in light armor, archery, stealth, and conjuring.

The syndrome doesn't require you to be unhappy with the way you've played a character. In my own case I just like to try doing things in different sequences, which may get me a few different quests from another sequence. And I like to try different armors and weapons, so I need characters with light armor and characters with heavy armor, sword-and-board guy, greatsword guy, dual-wield axe guy, hammer guy, destruction-magic guy ... I'm happy with all of them, but it's still an obsession to find and try all the different combinations.

Nice! Can I order the old fashioned kind that comes with cartoons in the morning? I really miss those.

Yet they do exactly that. Find the Talos shrine in the woods near Riverwood to learn of the actions of one such agent. Ondolemar in Markarth tries to recruit you to gather evidence against a suspected Talos worshipper. In one branch of the Civil War story you can blackmail Jarl Igmund's steward by finding evidence of his Talos worship and threatening to turn it over to the Thalmor. Nords have good reason to fear being denounced to the Thalmor inquisition for practicing the "heresy" of worshipping Talos. The Thalmor put a great deal of effort into hunting down the remnants of the Blades to the last individual, going far beyond eliminating them as an operational threat. Why? Because the organization was intimately associated with Tiber Septim, and they were Talos worshippers. Acilius Bolar, one of the last, fled to an ancient Blade's sanctuary (Bloated Man's Grotto), where he left his sword and his writ in front of a statue of Talos before going out to die to prevent the Thalmor from desecrating the shrine. I think it's pretty clear that ideology is at work here, not just crafty warmongering.

Your statement makes the ban sound like a new strategy the Thalmor came up with after losing the Battle of the Red Ring. However, the ban was part of the package of Thalmor demands presented to the Empire before the war even began. I think it's pretty clear that this is part of the Thalmor agenda for reasons other than weakening the Empire for a new invasion following their loss of a war they expected to win.

There are many aetherial beings, both greater (the gods) and lesser. Many escaped back to Aetherius when Mundus was created, tearing holes between Mundus and Aetherius that became the sun and stars. Many, however, did not escape and became trapped on Nirn as mortals. The Thalmor believe that these trapped beings are the ancestors of the mer. Thus, if Mundus is destroyed, the elves will all be freed from their imprisonment in mortal bodies to take their rightful existence as aetherial beings.

Step 1: Create new character ... :)

I've never tried the master-level spells on them. I do know that you can easily keep a dragon from shouting by having the Impact perk and dual-casting a lesser lightning spell, like Thunderbolt, because you can keep them stun-locked until they die.

The agent in Markarth was there to either buy or steal the deed to the mine for the Empire. I.e., it was a covert op, not an investigation. From Margret's Journal: "General Tullius is growing impatient, but I'll bring back the deed to Cidhna Mine." That would hardly jeopardize their supply chain, but would give them complete control over it. The fact that the agent was prepared to get the deed by any means necessary hardly spells "ethical integrity" to me. They didn't give a fig about "the most notorious criminals in the Reach" and their welfare, but just wanted the mine under imperial control rather than in the hands of a Stormcloak sympathizer. Why didn't they just replace Laila with her younger son, who was a very vocal supporter of the Empire, preserving a little continuity? Granted, the youngster probably has little experience, but the same could be said of Siddgeir and High King Torygg. If the Empire did not know about the reputation of the Black-Briar family, their intelligence service doesn't have the brains God promised the goose. If they did know, then the best spin you can put on it is that they did not care, which doesn't indicate imperial concern for the well-being of the citizens. The worst spin is that those who made the decision were corrupt.

What's your level in Sneak? I have characters that can walk up to a bandit in heavy armor, tap them on the shoulder, and all but slap them around for a while before they aggro. I've even started conversations with some. This starts happening around when a character reaches 100 in Sneak, has some Sneak perks, has Fortify Sneak on a couple of pieces of gear, and perhaps has Muffle on his boots. It seems like Sneak can be TOO effective sometimes.

Nice. I was trying to come up with something involving phase-shifted gravitons focused through a re-polarized sensor array, but I couldn't make it work. ;)

According to Paarthurnax, there were lots of dragons around until the Akaviri came along, so it would seem that there were more than a few survivors of the war against Alduin. It has been my impression that the Nords were not all that interested in exterminating the dragons after Alduin was defeated. They relentlessly hunted the Dragon Priests and their remaining human followers afterwards, and then turned their attention to the remaining Snow Elves and possibly the Dwemer in Skyrim. See Skorm Snow-Strider's Journal from early in the First Era, just before Harald became the first historical High King. Later in the First Era, during the War of Succession after the death of Borgas, we know that Olaf One-Eye captured Numinex. However, this was an isolated incident rather than part of a Nordic pogrom against the dragons. I suspect the dragons and the Nords mostly left each other alone during the period between the defeat of Alduin and the arrival of the Akaviri, except when some Nord wanted to go make a name for himself (like Olaf) or some dragon made a pest of himself raiding farms. For additional evidence, think about Durnehviir's story. According to him, the dragons were battling each other for territory and dominance, which led to his predicament when he decided to study necromancy as a means of winning. He and Valerica have apparently been in the Soul Cairn since the late Merethic or early First Era, so this rivalry among the dragons probably started right after Alduin was no longer around to provide leadership and organization. If the Nords were presenting a serious threat of extermination, would the dragons have been stupid or insane enough to play dominance games with each other instead of fighting or running from the Nords? I think they were just going about their normal draconic business without any worry regarding the Nords.

Alduin is Real, and He Ent Akatosh

I have thought of several possible explanations for Vulthuryol's presence, including the idea that he fled there to hide from the Dragon War or the Akaviri purge (which was not exactly subsequent to the Dragon War, unless you consider a millenium or two in-between as "subsequent"). The problem is that any explanation must account for why he responds specifically to a Shout directed at a particular Dwemer artifact and nothing else. Dragons can hear the use of the Voice at tremendous distances, like whales hearing each other thousands of miles apart, and can even identify each other that way. (Paarth, for example, knew which dragons were around without ever leaving his mountain, and was able to suggest Odahviing as the best candidate to trap.) Yet you can Shout anywhere else in Blackreach without causing Vulthuryol to appear. Why? How is he tied to that artifact? Either he is unable to hear you otherwise, or he is not interested in responding to just any use of the Voice. Yet he is instantly hostile to anyone who does call him forth. Is it possible that Vulthuryol was captured by the Dwemer at some point, with the artifact being his prison and your Shout the key? Or perhaps he was persuaded (willingly or not) to serve the Dwemer and the artifact is an alarm system designed to detect the presence of Voice masters attacking the city. The Dwemer must have had good reason to fear conquering Nords back in the years when they were attacking Morrowind and the Reach.

With enough enchanting, alchemy, and smithing, you can enhance just about any armor in the game to be above the armor level cap. Even leather armor is as strong as the best heavy armor at that point, since any rating above the cap doesn't have any practical benefit. Light armor is perfectly fine even without going to extremes, though, and it definitely makes it easier to be stealthy when running in with your spells blazing and sword swinging is not the best idea.

In the second case, where the Empire made the promise, there is no real conflict with their considerations of letting the Forsworn keep the Reach. This all took place shortly after the Great War, when the Empire simply did not have the resources to enforce their will outside of Cyrodiil, so they had to bow to the inevitable. This is why they let a rebellious Hammerfell go. They did not want to do so, any more than they are willing to let a rebellious Skyrim go years later, but they had not yet recovered enough to do anything about it. The Empire knew it had no way to retake the Reach by force, so they began negotiations that would hopefully leave them with some control over a Forsworn-ruled area, or at least access to the resources there. Then they became aware of Ulfric and his militia, giving them another option. They might well have been happy to make promises to Ulfric if he could supply the force the Empire could not and give them a more desirable outcome: a Reach that remained part of a Skyrim province that was still fully loyal to the Empire. The fact that the Empire was negotiating with the Forsworn does not necessarily mean that they were committed to negotiation as the best option, only that it was the only option at the time the negotiations began. Whether or not the Empire made any promises to Ulfric beforehand, I think they were clearly happy that he took the Reach back.

After reading the article, I'd have to say the credibility is a little on the low side, especially with a developer brushing it off as half-truths and falsehoods. There's also the bit about modders being able to recreate both Morrowind and Oblivion after all the DLC is released, but I don't see how that would be possible unless they're going to release some large DLCs covering all the territory seen in those two games.

Hard to say. Continuing the Civil War storyline seems like a plausible DLC, but there are others that would be just as plausible. Exploring the beginnings of Norn culture is possible, I suppose, and could be done in a number of ways, including making further use of the Time Wound. We can't rule out either, but there is nothing that really proves them ruled in. The only one that's really suspicious to me is the suggested April 1 DLC. Is Beth in the habit of doing April Fools jokes in their TES games? (I've only played Skyrim.) I know ArenaNet does this every year in Guild Wars 1, and I expect them to do it in GW2, but those are MMOs and the content is easily removed after April 1.

Perhaps essentially the Forsworn are like the people of Afghanistan. The Afghans have been conquered many times in the course of history, but they make life so miserable for the "victors" over the long term that they eventually go away. They did that to the British, they did that to the Russians, and now they're doing it to the U.S. If Tamriel had a Churchill, he might say "The Reach is an unpleasant land, filled with unpleasant people, armed to the teeth, and eager to kill any foreigner."