Why Is Your Dovahkin In Skyrim?

[Moredhel]

One of my old char's backgrounds: My new spellsword

 

:)

Edited May 1, 2012 by Moredhel

[eltucu]

He tried to travel to Elsewyr from Morrowind, but in Morrowind there are no compasses around, just a tiny, tiny map, so he ended up going north west by mistake. When he arrived he was almost executed by the Imperials and almost burn to death by a fire breathing dragon. He doesnt likes to travel much now.

[Niborino9409]

:thumbsup: Edited May 27, 2012 by Niborino9409

[RedRavyn]

I've been thoroughly exploring a particular character I created way back in my early days of playing Oblivion. I use the same basic personality, but with each new game I change background details, role-play them to the hilt, and see where it takes her.

 

She's a Khajiit named Tsarra. In this playthrough she is a refugee from the now-divided Elsweyr, and hates what the Thalmor did to her country. She "escaped" to Cyrodiil, only to find that they hold just as much sway, there, even though Cyrodiil is not their country. Seeking to flee the Dominion tyranny, she fled into Skyrim and fell upon bad times, finding that her kind is not appreciated, or even accepted, there.

 

Eventually, after living off the land for a few months, she became involved in certain illicit activities that got her arrested for drug trafficking. Managing to escape while she was being escorted to the nearest city to face sentencing (with the help of a couple of wild bears), she made a beeline back toward Cyrodiil and was caught by the troops who had Ulfric in their custody.

 

With no official report on the record (all the original guards involved in her arrest are dead), she was a blank slate, but that didn't make any difference to her new captors. After a second escape, aided by a nice Stormcloak soldier named Ralof and a not-so-nice dragon that she later found out was named Alduin, she is now finding herself in the position of being a hero to the very people who reject her own people.

 

What's more, she hates the weather, at least most of it, and dreads those missions that take her into the colder and more rugged parts of Skyrim. Still, she's driven to help people wherever she can, possibly stemming from the fact that she never got help when she needed it, either in Elsweyr or Skyrim -- perhaps a bit of the Wounded Healer archetype that is part of her personality.

 

Everywhere she goes she finds more ambiguity. While she won't hesitate to try to lure Thalmor into attacking her, or luring wild beasts to attack them, she has mixed feelings about the Vigilants of Stendarr. She doesn't believe in their religion, and having "cavorted" with Daedra, herself, she knows that not all the Daedric Princes are bad. Even so, she sees that the Vigilants believe that what they're doing is "good", and they've helped her with cures on a number of occasions.

 

She doesn't have a clue how to reconcile all this, since she really doesn't like either side in the civil war, and thinks that humans are silly for getting distracted from the real danger -- which is dragons. She hates the prejudice she sees against the Khajiit people, and is sympathetic to the plights of other non-Nords, even seeing a certain kinship with the Foresworn (even though she doesn't like their tactics, either). It's a confusing, bewildering, but "interesting" world, in the sense of the (falsely-attributed) Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times."

[StayFrosty05]

@ trukittn and RedRavyn: I notice a certain softness in these two Khajiit females (pretty kitties... :happy: )....has me curious now if female Khajiit's have that feel about them....I love the depth in these stories, thank you for sharing them.

 

@Zazoomah: I love the carry over from Morrowind and Oblivion, the eternal hero...hopefully Bethesda will give you more opportunities to take his adventures further in the years to come.

 

@RagnartheBlue: My first Dovahkin was an Imperial Ranger also, in time swapping him out to a Nord Ranger from Cyrodiil and yes, I thought about calling them Strider... :happy: ....it suits...though eventually settling on a name with a more Celtic feel myself....Ro'aan (have stuck with that name since, though I did have a Kane floating around for a while, he was very Conan).

 

@Moredhel: I really like the twist to your story....the Thalmor connection, that would make for some very interesting thoughts behind your Dovahkins motivations....would be a very fertile RP perspective.

 

@Kelerkat: Very much the Fisher King (Wounded healer)....I have noted a few Fisher King back stories and they fit beautifully with where our Dovahkins begin...it gives your Dovahkin a solid base too for the Skyrim story...Thank you for taking the time to write her story down for us, I love your spin.

 

@Niborino: That's very cool....I would never have thought of a prodigy spin on the game and that's perfect mod work for Eireen, very nicely done species cross...I am surprised you didn't reload the battle in which Lydia died though, your made of sterner stuff than I, I would reload if my fav companion (Kharjo) bit the big one... :sad:

Edited May 4, 2012 by StayFrosty05

[CalenEllefson]

I always figured that the blow to the head that the player must have suffered when the player was captured by the Imperials in that ambush, caused the player to have amnesia.

And, that Bethesda was saving that for the sequel: Skyrim 2: The Dovakiin Remembers.

[Niborino9409]

:dance: StayFrosty05: Is prodigy the right word? Because Eireen is not a child(I mean a child like Dorthe). She is 19, 20 years old in my mod. Because children are so irritating in Skyrim and I also play as her on a separate save. And I do not want to play as a child. I haven´t even thought of portraying her as a child.

 

If that was what you meant with prodigy.

 

And about Lydia´s death: the only thing I had in mind when she died was how I should resurrect her. I was afraid that there would be something wrong if I resurrected her through the console and when I had decided to do it I had already played so much that it would have been a huge step back. And I couldn´t spawn her next to me either.

 

And Kharjo is also my 2nd choice of follower after Eireen.

 

I have given him a makeover:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=16004

Edited May 4, 2012 by Niborino9409

[RedRavyn]

@ StayFrosty05: Well, depending upon your personality, a hard life can either make you "hard" or "soft", in the sense I think you're using the term. It can also make you both. Tsarra draws quite a bit from my own personality, although she is, by no means, "me". I was trained to be a professional killer in the military. I know the mentality that has to come with that, and Tsarra has that in her, as well, but like me she's a champion of the underdog -- assuming that dog doesn't bite her.

 

So, yes, she can be soft, caring, understanding, and likeable, ever ready to help out people in need, and she always plays with the kids when they ask her. The flip side of the coin is that if you get on her bad side the claws come out and she shows no mercy at all. She doesn't believe in "honor" (to her, the imposition of rules of behavior by an outside authority). She holds to her own personal set of beliefs regarding what's right and wrong and, to her, those are the only things that matter. In many ways she's an existentialist -- much more so than I am. She could also be considered very "libertarian" in her beliefs. It's why she can see Ulfric's side in the conflict, but she sees her own people barred from his own city, and then wonders just how "good" the man is for all the people of Skyrim, rather than just the Nords. She would kill Ulfric in an instant if he crossed her. She'd do the same to General Tullius.

 

How much of this is based upon the characters gender and race? I'm really not sure, although I'm sure both of those have some bearing. As a Khajiit she feels very much out of place in Skyrim, which is one reason that doesn't side with anybody unless it suits her own agenda. In fact, she often accompanies the Khajiit caravans on their journeys between cities, just because these are the only people in Skyrim to which she can truly feel any "kinship". As a female, her feelings tend to be based upon her natural instincts, which are to nurture and not to destroy, although she is quick to defend anyone and anything which she feels comes under her protection. She'll give people the benefit of the doubt but once they prove themselves to be her enemy she will deal with them ruthlessly and without remorse.

[trukittn]

Most of the time I start my characters out with a smidge of background and an open slate. Even so, they generally end up firmly in the neutral or chaotic good territory as that's what I like to play the most. I seem to have to go out of my way to play a scallywag and its not very enjoyable when I do, since my own moral compass won't allow me to cross certain lines, even in video games. :P

 

That said, I dunno if you'd call my Kitty soft, especially on full moons or when she happens upon a prisoner escort, but she does leave presents and shiny things on the shrines of the Divines when she happens on them as well as pretty flowers around the bodies of slain innocents and soldiers when she wanders into a location that had just seen a scuffle. With very little knowledge of her own culture to cling to, she's being assimilated into the Nordic culture much faster than the members of the Khajiit caravans wandering the province. That doesn't stop her from spending time with these "strangers like her" though, which has resulted in her developing a sweet tooth for moon sugar that she experiments with in her cooking. She steers clear of skooma, though.

 

And even though her preferred method of dispatching bad guys is a well-placed arrow from the shadows, she's not a thief and she's not an assassin. And every now and then, she can't resist the urge to be a big damn hero when given the opportunity. It's neat how the WARZONES mod has brought that out in her. Caught up in the moment, she'll charge across the battlefield howling (mewling?) just like them Nord boys beside her, or rush to their rescue when they are overwhelmed - even though that usually ends up with me watching a dead Kitty roll across the ground in that rub-it-in-your-face GameOver slow mo. But sometimes it works out!

 

Anyways, I think its fun to assign these kinda feelings and thoughts to my characters as I play. It's refreshing to see that I'm not the only one. Eltucu's made me grin. :3

[RedRavyn]

@ trukittn: I think we're cut out of the same mold as far as role-playing goes, although I can actually play a "scallywag" if I want to. I just generally choose not to do so. So I'm not the only one who leaves "offerings" at shrines? I even do that at some of the Daedric shrines (at least the ones my character views as "Good People"). This, even though she doesn't actually worship any of them. She just believes in giving fealty to the local deities, and makes no distinction between the Aedra and Daedra. They're all "gods" in her eyes.

 

Moon sugar. Yummy! I buy all the moon sugar I can can. I'm sure the caravans start digging for it as soon as I come within scent range. I also collect Ale and Eider Cheese Wheels. Guess why? I'll also role-play out using a little of that moon sugar for ... ahem, recreational purposes, and just chill out and watch the Northern Lights for awhile. After all, it's a little bit of Elsweyr in Skyrim. The moon sugar -- not the aurora.

 

I haven't tried Warzones, yet, although I've been thinking about it. I'll probably have to uninstall Immersive Patrols if I do. There's already far too many soldiers wandering the roads. A group of Imperial Soldiers killed the guards Jarl Balgruuf dispatched to Riverwood. I just stood and watched with my jaw hanging down, since I knew if I intervened in any way I'd have a hefty bounty placed on my head. Then I resurrected them with the console and escorted them all the way to Riverwood, since I wasn't sure whether or not the game was smart enough to realize later on that there are no guards stationed in that town. Somehow I sort of doubt it it would.