Why Is Your Dovahkin In Skyrim?

[StayFrosty05]

What back story have you given your Dovahkin? What led him/her to the chopping block? Why is your Dovahkin in Skyrim? Where does your Dovahkin come from? What motivates him/her?...etc...

 

I play a male Nord Barbarian/Warrior...Ro'aan...As Bethesda gives us a clean slate it is made clear my Nord is not from Skyrim, nor does he start off caught up in events, so this got me thinking, who is he, where is he from and why is he in Skyrim at all....

 

Thus Ro'aan's back story.....Ro'aan comes from a tribal group of small scattered bands living in the "inaccessible" mountain regions bordering a stretch between Skyrim and Cyrodiil/Morrowind....This Tribal Nation, the 'Taleis', are insular, having very little contact with the outside world aside from some trading and accidental encounters and are followers of the old Nord Gods....eg. Ro'aan knows who 'Kyne' is, but 'Kynareth' is still a bit of a mystery to him....The politics of the larger populace has been a new experience for him also....No, he didn't know who Ulfric is.....The 'Taleis' all in all have more in common with the 'Forsworn' life style than the general Nord population.

 

As for the chopping block...it was simply a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time for Ro'aan...He was hunting and wandered too far out of his own territory and straight into the Imperial ambush, he had just done bathing and was making his way back to his camp.....explaining the prisoner rags and no possessions.

 

His motivation: The 'Taleis' place a great deal of stock in the code of 'Honor' and so as such this is the quality driving Ro'aan in the decisions he makes, this includes his feeling honor bound to stay and take his place as the Dragon Born instead of returning home....Makes him quite a helpful soul too, though he is not pristine (more of a pale grey moral code)....he is smart enough to realize he needs to work with the currency mode of the culture he finds himself within and knows he has skills people are willing to pay or trade for and thus exploits it....won't do something for nothing when it comes to favors, etc...Will have nothing to do with the Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood, he doesn't have criminal leanings.

 

So what's your Dovahkin's story?

Edited April 30, 2012 by StayFrosty05

[vertex23]

She's just a lone girl who was looking for a place to settle down in order to make some gold. Even if she had to steal and assassinate for it. She got caught up with some rebels and ended up not dying because of a random coincidence. I consider this the start of her journey in Skyrim:

 

"Dova...kiin? That some kind of wizard or something?" Cherry asked the Court Wizard after returning from the depths of the crypt.

Farengar looked at the girl strangely, as if surprised by her ignorance. "It's a person with the soul of a dragon in them said to use their voice to call upon the pow--"

"Okay okay, sorry I asked. Here's your stone, now--"

"FARENGAR! A DRAGON! AT THE WEST TOWER" A voice called out from the great hall. The familiar Jarl looked at the young girl, "friend, I - no, Whiterun requires your aid once more."

"Will I get paid?" She asked in a voice that seemed to ignore the status of the Jarl.

"Of course, I shall grant you a weapon from my personal armoury as well as--"

"A weapon fit for a Jarl? Good enough for me; west Tower right?"

 

*After the fiasco at the tower*

 

"Give me the weapon now. I'm going to need something if there's dragons flying around."

"Here you are." replied the Jarl, happily giving up one of his blades.

"IT'S A TWO HANDED AXE?! SON OF A...YOU RIPPED ME OFF! Well, maybe that Belethor guy will like it..."

 

(I use the "You are not the Dragonborn" mod, because I hate being forced into the main quest like that.

[StayFrosty05]

She's just a lone girl who was looking for a place to settle down in order to make some gold. Even if she had to steal and assassinate for it. She got caught up with some rebels and ended up not dying because of a random coincidence. I consider this the start of her journey in Skyrim:

 

"Dova...kiin? That some kind of wizard or something?" Cherry asked the Court Wizard after returning from the depths of the crypt.

Farengar looked at the girl strangely, as if surprised by her ignorance. "It's a person with the soul of a dragon in them said to use their voice to call upon the pow--"

"Okay okay, sorry I asked. Here's your stone, now--"

"FARENGAR! A DRAGON! AT THE WEST TOWER" A voice called out from the great hall. The familiar Jarl looked at the young girl, "friend, I - no, Whiterun requires your aid once more."

"Will I get paid?" She asked in a voice that seemed to ignore the status of the Jarl.

"Of course, I shall grant you a weapon from my personal armoury as well as--"

"A weapon fit for a Jarl? Good enough for me; west Tower right?"

 

*After the fiasco at the tower*

 

"Give me the weapon now. I'm going to need something if there's dragons flying around."

"Here you are." replied the Jarl, happily giving up one of his blades.

"IT'S A TWO HANDED AXE?! SON OF A...YOU RIPPED ME OFF! Well, maybe that Belethor guy will like it..."

(I use the "You are not the Dragonborn" mod, because I hate being forced into the main quest like that.

LOL....My Dovahkin can relate to that... :happy: ....He'll stick to his swords thanks, Jaysus is a boon.

 

I have thought about those 'alternate beginnings' mods...but recently downloaded the alternate choices mod in regards to killing Paarthurnax and am looking froward to telling Delphine where to get off..... :dance:

[trukittn]

Oooh this is a fun topic. I wonder how many people actually make criminal pasts for their prisoners...

 

Not me!

 

I've probably put way too much thought into this. Oh well, maybe someone will find it entertaining.

 

"Kitty" was a slave child freed from some mines in Morrowind by a mostly good adventurer. Sure, slavery is illegal and there ain't much in Morrowind left to sneeze at but the black market lives on as it always does, crisis or no. Alas, the adventurer didn't have the foresight to see to the kid's wellbeing afterward and left to her own devices, she took to the ancestral tombs for refuge and somehow managed to survive on food offerings left there and foraging at night, that sort of thing. She grew up this way, and got very good at pretending not to exist. Even escaping the notice of the undead things and the visitors to the various tombs that she made her home in, she knew her only real chance at freedom would be to flee Morrowind itself.

 

So she did. Found herself a rumor or two of old tunnels that refugees had once used to get to neighboring Skyrim. Made her way through Tovald's Crossing, picking up a bow and some strange arrows from a creepy looking dead white elf. Even ended up using it a few times against more of those things and found out she was a pretty good shot for never having had any training. Or maybe its just 'cause the things were stone blind and couldn't dodge so well.

 

Either way, she eventually emerges into beautiful, scenic Skyrim and promptly freezes her furry arse off in the slave garb she'd long ago outgrown. Nevertheless, she makes her way through the wilderness willy-nilly, reveling in the sight of the crystal clear night sky above and the feel of the icy cold grass between her toes. Her first real taste of freedom short lived of course, as her warmth-seeking feet eventually find the soothing steam pools of Eastmarch where she fatefully crosses paths with one Ulfric Stormcloak and his uniformed bruisers near Darkwater Crossing just as an Imperial ambush is sprung on them. And because she can think of nothing better to do than shoot at people who seem to be shooting at her, she fires the last of her falmer arrows into the face of the nearest Imperial before attempting to run away in a panic.

 

At which point she brilliantly slams straight into a tree, knocking herself out cold. She wakes up bound in a wagon, and the rest is Skyrim history.

 

Her past explains her odd desire to mine even though she isn't a smith, and her weird habit of hoarding food away (especially cheese!) even though she is free to buy and eat whenever she is hungry now. She still seems to spend more time wandering and sleeping in tombs than enjoying the freedom she's regained, but old habits die hard as they say. Of course she's joined the Stormcloaks, since she's not keen on becoming a slave to the Thalmor or seeing her new home remain Cyrodiil's ransom to the Dominion. She doesn't really care about politics of it. All she ever cared about was being free, so Ulfric's cause resonates with hers. Also, sharing a prisoner's wagon destined for the same chopping block with him and his boys kinda endeared her to them, but she'll never admit it. Out loud anyway.

[Zazoomah]

Jason Costilla, my character, is an Assassin for The Dark Brotherhood.

 

He was born to unsuspecting parents, and was shipped to morrowind when he turned 20 by order of Uriel Septim. It was in Morrowind where he found out he was Nerevar. Jason fulfilled his prophecy, and stopped Dagoth Ur. In Morrowind, he became a freelance Assassin. On one of his contracts for an Associate, his target was a witch. She cursed Jason before she died. The curse makes him age slower than normal humans. So at the moment in skyrim, his 226 and still looks like a 26 year old.

 

6 years later, he was put into the Imperial Prison during the oblivion crisis because he assassinated a begger for one of his "associates". It was there where he met Uriel who recognized him as Nerevar and the one who will help his Son, Martin, stop the future oblivion crisis.

After escaping the prison with the amulet of kings, he was visited by Lucien Lachance the following night who was fond of his "talents". Lucien Lachance gave him an Invitation to join the dark brotherhood, and so Jason joined. Later on, he became Listener after stopping a conspiracy by Mathieu bellamont, and a few months later, he stopped the Oblivion crisis with Martin, Uriel's son. Long after that, Jason met a women by the name of Claudia. Jason, the cold hearted assassin once in his life, fell in love. Claudia made him feel like she was the one he would put down his weapons to spend the rest of his life with. But all that was taken away. A hypocritic order of knights who were looking for Claudia's family treasure, killed her in cold blood. Jason went into a rage. He wiped out the order of knights in revenge. He didn't just kill them, but their families. Jason was unstoppable.

 

Jason retrieved Claudia's family treasure, and so, he had to figure out how to move on seeing as he couldn't kill himself because the witch's curse also stops him from committing suicide. How convenient.

 

200 years after the oblivion crisis, a few hours before the dragons returned, Jason was in Cyrodiil, where he had settled down for the past 200 years, fulfilling a contract. Although he killed his target, he failed the contract because he was caught by one of the city guards slitting the target's throat in an alleyway.

He was chased throughout the city by the guards and escaped by hijacking a merchant's horse and fleeing towards Skyrim.

The guard sent word to the Legion in skyrim (Who had already caught Ulfric Stormcloak), to keep on a lookout for Jason.

 

Jason managed to get to Skyrim's borders, and escaped the legion for good. Or so he thought.

 

He took an arrow to the knee shoulder by a legion archer escorting General Tullius and Ulfric. While heavily wounded, the legion put him in the back of a wagon with Ulfric and his stormcloaks to be delivered to the headblock in helgen.

 

In helgen, Jason thought he would die. But Jason was a survivor, he had always been a survivor. Alduin stopped the execution before his head was lopped off and he got away with his heavily wounded shoulder from the arrow he recently took. He decided to escape helgen with Ralof, one of the stormcloaks. Even though he was wounded from the arrow he recently took, he was strong enough to fight the Legion as a result of his strong willpower as he was escaping with Ralof.

 

A few days later, he got his shoulder fixed up and found out he was Dragonborn (Took 200 years to figure that out xD), and thats when he joined the Brotherhood in Skyrim. However, the dark brotherhood in Skyrim were completely unaware that he was the listener in Cyrodiil. They found out when Cicero found out and told the others.

 

Months later after assassinating the Emperor of Tamriel and driving the empire out of skyrim after joining the stormcloaks, Jason fulfilled his "Second" destiny as a dragonborn and destroyed Alduin.

 

That is how far Jason's story has gone so far, for now.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Zazoomah

[kellerkat]

Elissa's family were travelling 'snake oil'' merchants when in small village in Cryodill she met and fell in love with the local blacksmith. She was young to get married by modern standards 15 or so but she got married with her parents' blessing and that's pretty much the last she heard from them except for the occasional letter or package.

 

Elissa developed uncontrollable bursts of mana and being a nord she struggled to accept her magic talent, her husband had even more difficulty especially when it lead to the village to consider her dangerous and shun her. Everything came to a head when he discovered she was using magic to prevent pregnancy. He beat her bloody and kicked her out. Emotions out of control, trying to heal herself and reason with her husband, she magically torched several houses. Furious and scared the villagers drove her out of town.

 

Desperately needing money she sold her jewellery for much less than it was worth to a khajiit merchant caravan. Knowing she needed to learn how to control her magic and wanting to get far away she decided to go to the College of Winterhold. She begged the khajiits and they agreed to drop her off near the Skyrim boarder where she got caught up in Ulfric's mess.

 

I have a mod that makes Tolfdir archmage so in my head canon Elissa is like a journeyman of the college freeing her up for the dragonborn quests and supporting the Stormcloak cause even though she has reservations about the man himself.

 

I'm doing a bit of world building with my toons so while Elissa is the dragonborn I also have a dark elf vampire in the brotherhood and a khajiit in the thieves guild but as average joes thanks to another mod.

Edited April 30, 2012 by kellerkat

[RagnarTheBlue]

I'm roleplaying as an Imperial Ranger at the moment.

 

My character's backstory is that he was journeying back to Cyrodiil from Elsweyr after dealing with a major a Khajiit skooma cartel which he had been tracing for several years, when he somehow got tangled up with Ulfric's band who were returning from Cyrodiil after some negotiations (obviously unsuccesfully) about the civil war (which the ranger was not aware of due to his long abscence). Not being told the entire story he pieced it together and was about to bring Ulfric to justice when his true identity was discovered and he was imprisoned by the Stormcloaks (hence the rags at the beginning and lack of all his cool ranger items).

He had just manadged to escape when the band was ambushed by General Tullius's strike force and all of them were captured. His fellow Imperials saw no reason to believe his frantic explanations and the Stormcloacks certainly didn't vouch for him (even though they knew the truth).

 

Just to clarify a minor point, I support the stormcloaks all the way, its just that I was playing as an Imperial for this character just to see both sides of the story.

 

ps. My char's name is strider, hurr hurr LOTR reference.

Edited April 30, 2012 by RagnarTheBlue

[shuriken88]

Well, I would say, the main reason my Dovahkin is in skyrim, is because after I installed the game, I pressed this button that said "New Game", and suddenly, there I was. It was pretty astounding. He's been there ever since.

[dayglo98]

My character was putting Skooma in apples at Halloween

[StayFrosty05]

I have been loving theses back stories, a good back story makes a Dovahkin much more interesting and what they say about the implications of the role playing in game....gives the Skyrim story body and soul....Am hoping this topic hasn't died yet, would love to read more peoples stories.