Roleplayer's Off Topic Thread #37

[TheCzarsHussar]

What's the justification for Elsweyr of all places having dragons now? Or at least in the second era.

[BigBossBalrog]

As a preview for the main mod, the Skyrim extended cut team are releasing an overhaul of the Saints and Seducers Creation Club DLC, with full voice acting and proper quests 

[BigBossBalrog]

Oh shit it's out now and on Xbox! 

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/72772

[The Good Doctor]

3 hours ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

What's the justification for Elsweyr of all places having dragons now? Or at least in the second era.

A dragon who wanted to be like Alduin took a bunch of dragons and led them south so he could try and do his own thing. They got locked in the same mega dungeon that the Numidium would end up in. 

[TheCzarsHussar]

Seen any elves? Hahahaha

[ColonelKillaBee]

7 hours ago, The Good Doctor said:

Here’s a question for y’all. Now that dragons are back in TES, how would you like to see them handled in the next mainline game?

Still be rare and only have like one or two interactions

[Centurion]

On 11/13/2022 at 11:16 PM, The Good Doctor said:

Here’s a question for y’all. Now that dragons are back in TES, how would you like to see them handled in the next mainline game?

One dragon. Named, not easy to find and tied to a quest. Hopefully as a fully voice acted npc that you can converse with or fight depending on the story surrounding it. Either out in the middle of the Alikar Desert or high in the dragontails around jehanna or dragonstar. I’d also include on or two barrows in those locations but no more

[Centurion]

But more importantly, cause I could give a fuck less about dragons, I want world news. I want to here about things happening in Morrowind. I want to know how Skyrim is rebuilding after the civil war. I want to know how the Empire is buckling under its own weight after the Mede assassination, etc.

[The Good Doctor]

3 minutes ago, Centurion said:

One dragon. Named, not easy to find and tied to a quest. Hopefully as a fully voice acted npc that you can converse with or fight depending on the story surrounding it. Either out in the middle of the Alikar Desert or high in the dragontails around jehanna or dragonstar. I’d also include on or two barrows in those locations but no more

I’d be very impressed if Bethesda had the restraint to fully build, animate, and script a dragon and only use it once in the game.

[The Good Doctor]

Just now, Centurion said:

But more importantly, cause I could give a fuck less about dragons, I want world news. I want to here about things happening in Morrowind. I want to know how Skyrim is rebuilding after the civil war. I want to know how the Empire is buckling under its own weight after the Mede assassination, etc.

Absolutely. Skyrim did a decent job of laying out the broad state of the world after its enormous time jump (chaos after Red Year and Great War, Thalmor everywhere, Empire struggling). But it did a piss poor job of going into detail on anything not directly about those high level events. We know virtually nothing about High Rock in the 4th Era, very little about Hammerfell, and the only rulers who even have names are Titus Mede and Ulfric Stormcloak. Does the Dominion have a monarch like before? Do Valenwood and Elsewyr? How many kingdoms are in High Rock? What’s the deal with House Sadras?

Back in the 3rd Era, we knew all this stuff. All the kings and queens had names and a distant presence in the world even when we couldn’t see them. I hope we can get that back for the 4th.

Now that Skyrim has laid a foundation, I hope the next game leans way more into this sort of worldbuilding. We could really use a new Pocket Guide. 

[The Good Doctor]

Moving on from dragons, are there any characters who y’all would like to see again who appeared in previous lore or games?

[TheCzarsHussar]

1 minute ago, The Good Doctor said:

Absolutely. Skyrim did a decent job of laying out the broad state of the world after its enormous time jump (chaos after Red Year and Great War, Thalmor everywhere, Empire struggling). But it did a piss poor job of going into detail on anything not directly about those high level events. We know virtually nothing about High Rock in the 4th Era, very little about Hammerfell, and the only rulers who even have names are Titus Mede and Ulfric Stormcloak. Does the Dominion have a monarch like before? Do Valenwood and Elsewyr? How many kingdoms are in High Rock? What’s the deal with House Sadras?

Back in the 3rd Era, we knew all this stuff. All the kings and queens had names and a distant presence in the world even when we couldn’t see them. I hope we can get that back for the 4th.

Now that Skyrim has laid a foundation, I hope the next game leans way more into this sort of worldbuilding. We could really use a new Pocket Guide. 

They did depose and execute the entire royal family, but I don't know if they installed a new monarchy.

[The Good Doctor]

4 minutes ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

They did depose and execute the entire royal family, but I don't know if they installed a new monarchy.

I knew that, but the Thalmor are supposed to be hardcore traditionalists, so it’s hard to imagine them completely removing the system that has been around for the entire run of their civilization. Even if they are the ones really pulling the strings, I could see them wanting to install either a puppet or one of their own to rule.

Something kinda sad (or funny) is that Queen Ayrenn from ESO was said to be of the same bloodline as the original royals of Alinor, able to trace their ancestry directly back to the Aldmer and the ancestor gods themselves. Their dynasty lasted thousands of years and was a fixture of Altmeri culture that survived literally everything, only to get wiped out by a group of radical traditionalists for the crime of surrendering to Tiber Septim after he stomped their asses with the Numidium. And because of their longevity, it’s likely that the murdered royals weren’t distant descendants of Ayrenn, but her children or grandchildren.

[TheCzarsHussar]

4 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

radical traditionalists

We know one thing for sure, they're back to killing nine out of ten babies if they aren't genetically perfect

[The Good Doctor]

1 hour ago, The Good Doctor said:

Moving on from dragons, are there any characters who y’all would like to see again who appeared in previous lore or games?

For me it’s these:

 

Ralof. I’d say he performed some larger-than-life feat after the events of Skyrim, to echo Jiub with the cliffracers. A fellow prisoner who woke our character at the start of the game then went on to have his own crazy adventure after we parted ways.

Elenwen. She can’t die in Skyrim, and she was a pretty solid villainous character, so they might as well reuse her as a rep for the Thalmor faction.

Mannimarco. He can’t die permanently and is basically a fixture of the series. I wouldn’t mind him showing up again or being alluded to in some capacity, not as a major villain since he’s already done that several times, but perhaps a more obscure role as a background figure or a wicked voice we hear in some necromancy related questline.

Medora Direnni, still alive thanks to her magic, and still a badass who has been playing the game for centuries. I’d really like to talk with her about the Warp in the West and find out what the hell that was like to experience in person.

Divayth Fyr. Not in person, but I’d like another book written by him just to confirm he’s still alive after the Red Year. Alternatively, one of his daughters could make an appearance.

Someone from the Motierre family. If not Amaund, then one of his siblings or children. I want info on his motivations for plotting to assassinate the Emperor.

Anyone from the Tharn or Camoran families, just to find out what became of these very old and prominent clans after members of them broke rank and went full supervillain against the world. Were they vilified and persecuted for the sins of Jagar and Mankar?

Razelan, that Redguard merchant we met at the Thalmor embassy. We know almost nothing about who he is or what he does, but he talked smack about the Thalmor to Elenwen’s face when everyone else from Jarls to General Tullius were quaking in their boots. Clearly, the guy must very rich and powerful, and I’d like to learn more about him.

Velehk Sain, the "Pirate King of the Abecean" who we have the ability to release from imprisonment in Skyrim. He would’ve no doubt returned to his old past time, and it would be cool to see a dremora in such an untraditional role. Maybe as the villain of some big questline.

[The Good Doctor]

24 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

Ralof. I’d say he performed some larger-than-life feat after the events of Skyrim, to echo Jiub with the cliffracers. A fellow prisoner who woke our character at the start of the game then went on to have his own crazy adventure after we parted ways.

I got it.

He brokered an alliance between the Stormcloaks and the giants, earning the name Ralof "Giant-Friend". Legend has it that he approached them with a barrel of juniper berry mead.

We find him in High Rock or Hammerfell as the leader of a Nordic envoy, which contains a friendly giant or two.  

[BigBossBalrog]

@The Good Doctor Remeber in D1 when the only remaining presence of Dragons was behind THREE invisible walls you had to find behind a chest in an out of place tree that took you through a "great hollow" to the depths of the world into a secret area that leads to a secret covenant that 99 percent of the fanbase doesn't know about? 

They should do something like that  A great design philosophyhy is not to give a fuck if people see something they put alot of effort into. 

[The Good Doctor]

22 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

 A great design philosophyhy is not to give a fuck if people see something they put alot of effort into. 

I agree, but context matters a lot. Dragons have been very near-extinct for a very long time in the DS world. The same used to be true of TES, but their race has recently experienced a (literal) revival, so a greater presence in the world is called for.

I’d be disappointed if they were absent from TES 6 or there was only one hiding out in a cave somewhere. It would make their return -which should be an era defining event- feel like it had no impact on the world.

It would be realistic for the dragons to spread out and carve new places for themselves away from all the competition in Skyrim. I would like to see a little variety in this, with some choosing to live remote and secretive lives, some choosing to do the Smaug thing and using their power to subjugate mortals, and others leveraging their power like Nahfahlaar did to gain favorable positions with powerful factions.

Basically, I don’t think they should be common or easy to meet, but I also don’t think they should be too divorced from the world. I definitely don’t want them to be a major focus, though. Just some recognition that their return happened and was a big deal. 

[The Good Doctor]

1 hour ago, TheCzarsHussar said:

We know one thing for sure, they're back to killing nine out of ten babies if they aren't genetically perfect

Maybe with the fear of war, they’re instead shipping those "flawed" babies to facilities to be trained as soldiers. No chance they can win against the humans if they refuse to allow for population growth.

[TheCzarsHussar]

31 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

Maybe with the fear of war, they’re instead shipping those "flawed" babies to facilities to be trained as soldiers. No chance they can win against the humans if they refuse to allow for population growth.

That's a sinister but calculated thing I can see them do. Have them never deploy in the homeland, but in forts in Valenwood's coast.

[TheCzarsHussar]

Imagine if the oldschool lore was still in the forefront, with all Altmer looking nearly identical to one another... but they all look like extremely inbred Hapsburgs.

 

[BigBossBalrog]

BTW; Signalis came out after three years of waiting, I mentioned it here before.

Plays like a classic Resident Evil game with a low-PS1 pixel look (looks pretty striking though.) It's quite good, but I found it's premise to be terrifying; it's a "What if", in which Hitler and fucking honorable Chairman Mao made a "devil's pact" with each other and won WW2  (I literally can't think of a worst scenario). And humanity's ruled by this twisted combination of German and Chinese culture, the Empire of Eusan, and rules with an army of androids that they use as slave labour to explore the stars in what amounts to armored coffins.  

[The Good Doctor]

Just now, TheCzarsHussar said:

Imagine if the oldschool lore was still in the forefront, with all Altmer looking nearly identical to one another... but they all look like extremely inbred Hapsburgs.

That’s still kinda present, I feel. Those living outside Alinor would likely be a little more diverse than those in the homeland, but even then they’re probably the least diverse race we see in the games, appearance-wise. They’re all tall, goldenish, bright-eyed, etc. 

[The Good Doctor]

2 minutes ago, BigBossBalrog said:

BTW; Signalis came out after three years of waiting, I mentioned it here before.

I’ve already got it installed and will check it out at some point. Gotta finish Plague Tale first, and I’ve been back into Elden Ring lately too.

[BigBossBalrog]

5 minutes ago, The Good Doctor said:

I’ve already got it installed and will check it out at some point. Gotta finish Plague Tale first, and I’ve been back into Elden Ring lately too.

Weird sci-fi horror is where it's at