Factions - Part II

One of my first posts in June was about the factions available to us in Skyrim - A number which has since grown and thus deserve a new, glorious post of awesomeness! Unfortunately I couldn't get Neil Patrick Harris to write a piece on it, so I have to do it instead.

A thing I noticed in August was how ahead I was, news wise, than some others - I've known since June that The Dark Brotherhood would be in the game (Todd let it slip one time, if I recall correctly,) but most people didn't find out until QuakeCon. Yet another reason to hang around, eh?

As last time, I will be writing a small section for each faction, covering what the heck they are all about (apart from being awesome,) but first I will mention some "overall" stuff, which shall be briefly covered as there is next to nothing to talk about on that end and therefore you should expect a lot of adjectives and synonyms, provided I can think of some.

Morrowinds faction-life was tedious, to say the least. It was anything but enjoyable if you ask me. They did remedy that in Oblivion, where they really got every factions quest-line to feel like a sort of epic story, not unlike that of the main quest, although, less influential. They all had one thing in common: They had some great endings with a welcome twists or two, making us go: "OMFG, what an epic adventure I embarked on!," be that whether you stole an Elder Scrolls from the heart of the Imperial City, Cleared Lucius LeChance's name and earned the title as The Listener in the process, or maimed that horrible excuse for The King of Worms (Okay, maybe that wasn't as epic as it could have been.)

Another thing they also had in common, was that you always ended up being the leader of said faction, but apart from being able to be a messenger boy for The Night Mother, there wasn't really anything to it. It was more dull than watching "Open Water." Nah, I don't mean that - Nothing is as boring as "Open Water."

Crappy movies aside, Pete Hines and Todd Howard have both mentioned that this time around, it wont' stop there: We will, much to our joy, be able to do stuff afterwards, but exactly what that entails, I have no idea of - the most important thing is the awesomeness and nirnroot (you know, for a random reason.)

As this post drags on, I become decreasingly aware of how much I am forgetting to write about the factions, so we better move to that part now, or the world will be forever lost. Probably.

The Companions

First up, we've got the companions! Skyrims alternative to The Fighters Guild, which we saw in Cyrodiil. A preview of the game has revealed to us that you can encounter a bunch of them fighting a giant, near some sort of farm if I recall correctly - should you help them out, the leader of the group (some woman,) suggests that you go join The Companions. Although centered around Whiterun, Skyrims former capital city (when they had a king,) The Companions will also be elsewhere to be found, as they have at least one known sub-division called "The Shield-Brothers" and possibly more.

The College of Winterhold

The College of Winterhold, which I will now abbreviate to CW, which amusingly enough is the opposite of WC, is the Mages' guild of Skyrim, which ensures that us spellweavers also have something to do. As they are centered around, you guessed it: Winterhold, I don't know how influential they'll be across the land, but hopefully it won't all be local play. Winterhold, which is a city rich on culture, knowledge and economy is the perfect setting for CW (teehee,) if you ask me.

The Dark Brotherhood

I'd expect to see a riot, should this not have been included - No wait! A full scale, bloody war!! You know, to make up for the lives we didn't get to take for our favorite guild: The Dark Brotherhood! Being a secretive organisation comprised of often maniacal and homicidal assassins with disregard for all human life, the brotherhood serves as a great stress relief for the scorned player. It is, as always, lead by The Black Hand, with a person to symbolize each of the human hands fingers, with the thumb, being the listener whom communes with The Night Mother, in order to find new potential and other random crap. The Speakers then go recruit the mentioned people and takes care of administrative stuff, as well as give contracts to their very own most trusted assassins, hand-picked due to skill and a befitting personality.

We haven't seen much to them so far, during the various hands-on previews we with eager have read through, raping word by word - However: In the demo video shown at QuakeCon, and as far as I know, also the HD video version of it, which will be released today, we see a folded note from the Brotherhood, in the inventory of our friendly neighborhood Dovahkiin. It shows a drawing of their symbol, a black hand, and the short, direct message: "We know," making me think that Todd may have murdered an innocent at some point, which he is in his full right to, being god and all.

The Thieves' Guild

I know squat apart from the fact that there is a Thieves Guild in Skyrim. Delighted as I am that it's a part of the game, I can't help but fear that we once again with be introduced to so few and unambitious quests as in Oblivion. Granted, the final quest was as awesome as can be and the one in Skingrad castle were quite entertaining as well, but the others were nothing but disappointment - Quests in this "Thiefy" theme should include more unforeseen plot twists and greater stakes. Huzzah!

Will the leader of the guild once again be the grey fox? Has the cowl passed on during the 200 years of hiatus we've been through? I guess we'll have to wait and see about that.

The Stormcloaks

Now here's something new: The Stormcloaks, which functions as sort of a rebel group in Skyrim. Now I know that there are 9 holds, which are like counties, and I bet they all have different ideals and goals, so I must admit, I don't quite see how The Stormcloaks fit into all of this, but they sure are welcome. If you ever played Gothic 3, you'll know that there is nothing better than liberating an entire city for the rebels, not that this is an option here, mind you, but still we can conclude: Rebels are fun! And they almost always have a stick up there ass! Some of the PAX and QC players came by a group of military-guards, transporting a Stormcloak captive, which they were able to either ignore, free, or give a weapon to. Some also ran into a guy, in Riverwood I think, offering the player to join the Stormcloaks. Glee!

The Imperial Legion

Rad it is, rad it is. Now the empire have been take over and are governed by Altmers, thanks to Tidus Mede, so I am not sure if the Imperial legion refers to the legion serving The Empire, or the legion serving the Imperials as a race - either way: Cool. I must admit, I am hoping for the first option, 'cause I really want the opportunity to meet Titus, but if not, it is still fine. They are 100% joinable and the more the merrier, I say.

The Blades

Finally we have The Blades. I assume that The Blades, like in Oblivion, will be a joinable faction with no quests and so minuscule benefits that even Danny DeVito is laughing at us, but I seriously hope I am WRONG. The Blades are thinning out, but are still as dedicated as always. Esbern, their current leader, is the one to rescue you from your execution and enlist your help as The Dragonborn. It is thus known that The Blades will be an important part of the storyline, as they always are for some reason, but whether you can actually officially join them, or if they have their own quest-line, is unknown.