LE Civil War: The Third Way

[basilblade7]

This mod idea is based heavily on two existing mods: Become High King of Skyrim as well as the Civil War Overhaul. It was also inspired by the quest No Gods, No Masters from Fallout New Vegas.

 

 

One of my biggest trifles with Skyrim is that by all rights, The Dovahkiin is the legitimate successor of the Empire and yet he cannot become Emperor. After all, in order to wear the amulet of Kings and reignite the Dragonfires to receive Akatosh's blessing, the individual must be Dragonborn. What if the Dragonborn wanted to rightfully claim his inheritance and take his place as Emperor? In order to do so he would have to overthrow the current Imperial regime as well as unite Skyrim under his banner. The Dragonborn would have to raise his own army to combat both the Stormcloaks and the Imperials. Here's how this mod would operate:

 

After the main quest is completed, a new quest would begin which would revolve around the Dragonborn collecting allies under his banner to combat the two factions in the civil war. These potential allies could include:

 

1) The Blades (After killing Paarthunax)

2) The Mage's Guild (After becoming leader)

3) The Companions (After becoming Harbinger)

4) The Tribal Orcs (after becoming Bloodkin)

5) The Thieves Guild (After becoming the leader)

6) The Dark Brotherhood (After becoming leader)

7) Whiterun

 

(Reasoning will be explained in a following paragraph)

 

After these allies are recruited under the Dragonborn's banner and Whiterun is the only city held under his control he would have to defend it from an Imperial siege, since Whiterun previously belonged to them. From there the following quests would revolve around claiming the remaining forts (either the quest is given automatically or the Dragonborn can choose which faction to attack next) as well as their respective cities (assuming that the code could be reclaimed similar to the Civil War Overhaul mod) until Solitude and Windhelm are reclaimed. Since this will be conflicting with both civil war questlines, the Dragonborn will be able to choose which Jarl they want to rule the hold with the exception of Solitude, Windhelm, and Whiterun. In order to stabilize Skyrim, Jarl Eilisif will be crowned High Queen.

 

After the Civil War a new quest will begin which will tell the Dragonbor to travel south to Cyrodiil to relight the Dragonfires. Upon crossing the border the game will load the Temple of the One where the Dragonborn will receive the blessing of Akatosh as well as the Amulet of Kings.

 

Optional: Once this quest is complete the Aldmeri Dominion (Thalmor) will become hostile and a repeating quest will continue in which the Dragonborn must eliminate bands of them across Skyrim. Possibly (Although realistically unlikely) defend their territory from Aldmeri invasion (Which would include Khajiit and Bosmeri soldiers)

 

Rationalization: 1) The Blades serve the Dragonborn as his protectors and wish to reclaim their lost status. 2) Mages are a powerful asset to any army, and as Arch-Mage its only fitting that they follow your direction. 3) Despite the companions stating that they do not follow the petty squabbling of Kings for lack of honor, after becoming Harbinger you can attempt to persuade Farkas. Saying something along the lines of "There is honor to fight to restore an Empire weakened by false Kings." in which, if you agree he will accept and persuade the others to join. 4) The Orcs are renown across history as Imperial soldiers and their battle prowess would only strengthen the Dragonborn's numbers. They seek honor and glory in battle and would undoubtedly fight for such, but only with those they trust. 5) While this is a bit of a stretch, the Thieves Guild has an opportunity to be hired as mercenaries and spies under the Dragonborn, using their skills in stealth and subterfuge all while making gold in the process. After you've restored them to glory, its obvious that they feel indebted to their new leader. 6)The Dark Brotherhood operates in a similar fashion as the Thieves Guild, although obviously assassination is their primary usage. Furthermore their questline involves the murder of an Emperor which would be highly beneficial to an aspiring usurper. 7) Jarl Balgruff is hesitant with his allegiance to the Imperials since he still worships Talos in secret, however he despises Ulfric. During the main questline however he highly favors the Dragonborn for all of his help and aid. As rightful ruler of the Empire, the Dragonborn would repeal the White-Gold Concordat to reestablish Talos as a Divine, which along with the many other favors he performed for the Jarl, would guarantee his support after some persuasion.

 

Alongside these factions, perhaps the Dragonborn could also have hired warriors and volunteers fighting under his banner. Once the questline is over however, they could either stay as mercenaries or be wearing Imperial Heavy Armor with the full-face helm. Also, another possibility is the Dragonborn being able to select followers to become Jarls.

 

While I know that this is a daunting task, there are already several mods who appeal to similar themes so, in a sense, the groundwork has already been laid out.

 

Any questions, comments, or complaints are welcomed.

[tnu]

I quite like this idea myself it has a New Vegas feel to it the way you ahve to influence various other groups to aid your cause and we've still never seen a good Civil War THird Option.

[WickedClover]

I think it would be awesome!!!!! It would be one of those mods I couldn't play without. I have a few ideas though, but they are just my opinion as to what would make it better for me soooo basically I am just rambling about crap I would want lol.

I almost always play as a female character due to I am a female and I think before a major battle commences Jarl Ulfric, Balgruf and Eilisif give the option of a political marriage that would bring your allies and their's together to avoid damage to more places and more death, or because you believe in the Imperials or the Stormcloaks, Balgruf would be an execellant choice for someone (like me) who hates both because they are just both equally awful lol, there could even be an option to make him a female in an MCM menu at the beginning of the game (even though there are mods out there for that but they might mess with this one) for those that prefer marriage to females. Or you have the option as you normally do any follower can be married so they in turn would rule with you but you would not get the add bonus of allies, the Jarl's home as your home etc.

I think it would be great to make it DLC compatible since so many have the DLCs (but maybe have an option that is slightly smaller that doesn't require them?), mostly because at the end of the Dragonborn quest it would be awesome if you could call the dragons and lead them to battle, the Dawnguard would be awesome soldiers (although that might break lore due to they really only fight vampires), or the vampires that were in the castle could be rallied if you chose the vampire side (which the vampires fighting would sort of make more sense and not really break lore if you are their leader as well.).

Whiterun should in my opinion be the easiest city to get under the Dragonborn's banner, but I think it would be great if you had the option to get other towns, cities, villages by doing a series of quests related to them and the war, some should be easier to convince to come to your aid and others should be damn near impossible, add in a slight chance that they can refuse even after you do what they ask.

Ok those are just some of my ideas, I know some are a little far fetched but I figured they might sound better in a mod lol.

[Boredfan1]

1: The Blades have used Dragons in the past and their reason for wanting Paarthunax dead is bullshit, that needs to be modded out. It's either they are fully loyal to you regardless of your stance with the Dragons because your the true heir to the throne or they can die by your hand. Yes, this absolute is very Sith-like but damnit! They started it! If I could figure out how to get the stupid console command to work to make them not essential, I would kill them but I have to settle with using the follower tweak mod to force them to be my followers. The reason I believe it should be this way is because you need followers who are by default loyal such as Lydia.

2: Being friends with Paarthunax, you should be able to use the Dragons as well as part of your army and if they don't want to, you can always threaten to kill them and absorb their soul to make them more cooperative. Leaving out the Dragons as possible allies is fairly foolish, no insult intended.

3: Being the leader of the College of Winterhold should ensure loyalty however, there should also be a way to earn their loyalty without becoming their leader as not everyone wants to go through the entire quest line to get their allegiance and anyways, it would help greatly for replayability.

4: Like with the mages of Winterhold college, you should be able to earn their loyalty without even joining the guild by earning the respect and loyalty of The Circle because after the first one or two times, the story line loses it's charm.

5: Again, earn their trust without becoming their leader, maybe by donating a great deal of gold to them or contracting them to get stuff that you want often so that they feel like your someone valuable to them. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to employ them as spies however, I think since you have them as allies, their spies, the beggers would be your true source of information delivered to you by the Thieve's Guild.

6: This one I don't believe you should be able to earn the trust of as they are very different from the other guilds instead, you can perform the Black Sacrament to hire them to kill annoying enemies that you can't just kill in battle. Of course, if you are The Listener, then you automatically have their loyalty but should still have to talk to the Night Mother first before using them to gain the throne as to not invoke the wrath of Sithis.

That's about it. Maybe somehow be able to convince imperial soldiers and Stormcloaks to join you but I'm not sure how to go about doing that.

[tnu]

I think ther eare three good options for locations to start as your first hold ot make your base in.

 

 

Whiterun: Balgruf's neutrality makes it a good candidate for a start of a new revolution

 

 

The RIft: just because the Jarls are the worst in the game and beign able to remove either of them form power and imprison/kill/exile them b oth would be a great option to start The RIFT belongs tot he people! N ot some Jarl or corrupt mead baron!

 

 

Solitude and Windhelm: fairly self explanitory. starting here would mean only having one enemy to d3eal with for the rest y ou either remove the Empire and the Thalmor's foothold right off the bat or you remove Ulfric in one swift blow (for added poetry you could have the option to challenge him to a duel like he did Torygg)

[Ascalibur5]

It's a great idea for a mod, I would though go a step further with the Beyond Skyrim updates. Battles throughout Tamriel, the Dragonborn gathering supporters, facing murder atempts, politics machinations and even matrimony agreements. A real Game of Thrones level stuff, of course that would be quite impossible, but a man can dream right?

[BunnyAng97]

Would be nice too if you could persuade Ulfric or Tullius to join your cause, needing a high speech check, their disposition towards you, your rank in their army, and the guarantee of their position (Ulfric only) as High King while you become the true Emperor of Tamriel.

[DrCthulhu66]

Is it out yet? I would love to be sort of a Revan to Skyrim, making it under a new rule. What would be awesome if you added a scene where you walk up to Ulfric and challenge him to a duel; the winner rules all of Skyrim.

[Swordsguy2010]

Would require redubbing nearly all the voices of anyone who's in any way involved in the civil war quest. even verbally. especially if you plan on making a female balgruuf character. The head of the greybeards, Balgruuf, his brother, his steward, Ireleth, Queen Elisif, General Tullius, his female commander, thats with him when you first meet Tullius, in Solitude for the first time, Ulfric Stormcloak, His Commander, random guard/soldier dialog mentioning the war or any of the previous characters, and a whole lot more, basically recasting nearly all the voice actors with new ones to properly mention this third faction you want to create. OR you could just half ass it and ruin immersion by not adding any new voice lines and have the character gormlessly stare at you while text appears at the bottom of the screen. but that wouldn't be very cool though. :/

[tnu]

Would require redubbing nearly all the voices of anyone who's in any way involved in the civil war quest. even verbally. especially if you plan on making a female balgruuf character. The head of the greybeards, Balgruuf, his brother, his steward, Ireleth, Queen Elisif, General Tullius, his female commander, thats with him when you first meet Tullius, in Solitude for the first time, Ulfric Stormcloak, His Commander, random guard/soldier dialog mentioning the war or any of the previous characters, and a whole lot more, basically recasting nearly all the voice actors with new ones to properly mention this third faction you want to create. OR you could just half ass it and ruin immersion by not adding any new voice lines and have the character gormlessly stare at you while text appears at the bottom of the screen. but that wouldn't be very cool though. :/

 

 

Some of us are fine with unvoiced dialogue.

Edited February 13, 2020 by tnu