Race & Relationship

It is foretold that... Ah, screw it! I was asked about racism, okay?! Nah, seriously - I was asked about the relationship between the different races, due to the fact that it can have a minor impact on peoples' disposition towards the player. But before you go any further, I need you to listen to this song whilst you are reading.

This is what I've come up with:

Vvardenfell totally fell apart due to the eruption of Red Mountain - Not many years later, The Argonians came from Black Marsh and pushed all of the Dunmer out of Morrowind. Evidently the Argonians don't favor their religion, nor their willingness to accept slavery.

That aside, the Dunmer fled primarily to Solstheim and Skyrim, so I guess they'll be common and I am also guessing:

Dunmer X Argonian

So that's one! But there is much more potential to be screwed over, 'cause we still have 8 races to go! And true enough, the Dunmers' weren't the only ones forced to bend over and take it from behind, no, the Orsimer also had to go for a ride.

It just so happens that they had a capital city named Orsinium and the Bretons and the Redguards got the brilliant idea to team up and take on the most awesome race in all of Tamriel - Ha! Like they could win against Orcs!

...

Okay, so they did win, but is that really relevant? The point is that Orsinium got ransacked and the remaining Orcs also fled to Skyrim, as well as that we should keep in mind that Orcs are awesome!

Redguard & Breton X Orsimer

Well, apart from that, I read somewhere that Nords don't like their Dunmer visitors, so I guess we'll see a little:

Nord X Dunmer

And this is not much, but it is seriously, all I know. But I guess that's part of the excitement, isn't it?

Biggest time-skip, ever! - part 2 (Wuz goin' on?)

As I said in my previous article, we are looking at a time skip covering 200 years. Also, the mere shock of the news that the Altmers had taken over the Empire, was enough to make me go Oh, Snap!!


But let us take a moment and delve into the world of The Elder Scrolls. What happened during our 200 years of absence? I can tell you that it'll have an influence on the game, 'cause not every race is as fond of each other as they were in Cyrodiil 200 years ago, which was just one big melting pot.

Right after the Oblivion Crisis, you all remember that there was no heir to the throne. Naturally this made every province see an opportunity to go in and get some real influence, by taking over the Empire (Through politics) and as you might've guessed, this gave birth to resentment and jealousy.

Not long after, the Empire begins to crumble and a lot of nations secede from it. The Mane of Elsweyr is assassinated, and the Imperial rule weakens in the provinces, and are being pushed out. Then, with less than a 1,000 men, Titus Mede marches in and takes the Imperial City by force and thus proclaims himself the new Emperor. A couple of years later, he fathers a son, whom he names Attrebus. Attrebus plays an important role in the book: "The Infernal City."

The Mages Guild (The Imperial guild from Oblivion) dissolves and splits into two different guild, the first called Synod and the other one called College of Whispers. Again--> Oh, snap!!

Red Mountain (The volcano in Morrowind) erupts and takes down most of the Island, which is of course, very, very sad.

If you read the book, you'll also learn something about Umbriel (not the moon,) a floating city with the incredible ability to turn anyone underneath it into undead! Can I get a hallelujah?!! No? .... Okay.

Anywho, I hope you enjoyed getting up to speed. I can also tell you that there have been a lot of fighting in-between nations, in spite of having the new Mede Empire established. A lot of hatred is out there, which we will definitely notice in Skyrim, as racism has its glorious return in this coming title.

Playable Races & Character Creation

So in Arena, we were able to choose between 8 races, which means that we were missing out on Imperials and Orcs. In Daggerfall they added the option of becoming a Vampire or a Lycanthrope, which in this case were either a werewolf or a wereboar, which, I am sorry, is just silly.

So did they add the remaining two in Morrowind? Yes, yes they did, and we love it! Indeed, these 10 races were also available in Oblivion. So will there be added any new races to the roster, in the upcoming title? No, there won't. The races remain Imperial, Orc, Redguard, Altmer, Dunmer, Bosmer, Breton, Imperial, Khajit, Nord and Argonian.

Disappointing as that may be for some, remember that 10 races is already a huge roster with many possibilities!

The team has already stated that they've worked hard on making each race a lot more unique, yet not more powerful than each other. They really want to give it a different feel when you play as an orc, as opposed to an Altmer, but still without any change in the gameplay. I am not totally sure of what they mean, but they really emphasize that there is a difference. They also mention that your race and gender, you be male and female, has an influence on how some people respond to you. In Morrowind we saw some heavy racism, especially from the Dunmers, but that kinda disappeared in Oblivion, since Cyrodiil is such a melting pot. Nonetheless, racism will return in Skyrim, especially given the turmoil after the collapse of the Septim Empire. As far as I've heard, Nords aren't too crazy about Dunmers and Altmers.

But lets take some time to talk about character creation. So far we've been allowed complete access to alter our characters face, and we will still be able to. Some Oblivion players will agree with me that the faces of Oblivion (I just popped a vein, whilst writing this,) eventually grew, well, ugly. We've been assured that making a cool character face will be A LOT easier. Besides, if you've seen the pictures, which you have 'cause they are in this post, you'll know that the faces looks absolutely gorgeous!

We'll have more options. By that I mean that we know can give our characters scars and a beard. That's right, we can finally create Chuck Norris, as we've always dreamed! The picture of an Orc and the one of a Redguard also shows a scar over each of their left eyes, killing the color of the pupil, turning it white. Awesome? Without a doubt! Have a look for yourselves!

Personally, I am set on creating an Orc! How about you?