July 13, 2014 7:08 AM EDT
Hey everyone, how's it going? It's been a little while since I last showed up here but I could use help. I've been very indecisive about my a Mage Character Race choice - bouncing from various ideas and finding myself losing interest in the concepts or, more commonly, find myself unable to create proper names or have any luck finding names I like or were untouched by NPCs of any game if I did like them. But now, I'm trying to decide between four races for a Mage Character - who would act as part of a "lineage" concept of mine, linking a Skyrim Mage, Oblivion Mage, and Online Mage of the same race together through a bloodline/ancestry storyline-wise. I'm torn between Breton, Imperial, Dunmer, and Orsimer (yes, you're reading that last option right - I said Orc). Each option has their pros and cons to me though. If any of you could give your input on this situation, it might help my indecisive self make a choice. Thank you all, by the way. :)
And sorry in advance for the amount of text to come. X.X
Reasons for each race:
-Breton: A classic and obvious choice - a race of magically gifted Men with Elven ancestry seem like a pretty ideal although too obvious a choice. Their lore's interesting, they have natural magicka resistance, and bonuses to their skills can be handy gameplay-wise but these can be overlooked with proper enchantments and leveling in general. In all honesty - long ago I played a Breton Mage character but became uncertain of him after a rather petty yet nerve-wracking (to me) discovery that a Elder Scrolls Online character had a extremely similar last name - which made my very picky character-creating nature gnarl away at me as I grew unsure about a Breton character. If I go Breton, I'd need to find lore-friendly names for one besides what I originally went with. The problem is that a good number of French origin names are either unappealing to me, or some of the ones I actually like the look of are already used in different TES games. I also read on another site someone saying Breton names are regional - so I need to ask if someone says Bretons, are they?
-Imperial: A diverse people, another of Man, and a race full of potential. A Necromancer character for Skyrim that comes from Cyrodiil (for people like me that enjoy creating a backstory for one's characters) is easier to see with the legal nature of Necromancy, the dissolution of the Mages Guild, and according to "Corpse Preparation" from Morrowind, some Necromancers can purchase criminal and traitor corpses legally - and could give them a reason to go to Skyrim with the political nature of the Synod and College of Whispers (who needs politics if you just want to learn arcane secrets?). Just like Bretons though, naming could pose a problem. I'm not sure if I should stick with the traditional Latin naming conventions for an Imperial, or go with names of Italian-origin, seeing as Skyrim brought about these style of names compared to Oblivion and Morrowind. I would also need to read a bit more into the Imperials themselves - including the whole Colovian vs. Nibenean thing.
-Dunmer: Dark Elves are a rather popular race and I'm sure a lot of people may mention House Telvanni and their amazing nature - and I respect that, but please take into consideration the other three races before posting a reply. :P Now that that's out of the way, a Dark Elf Mage could be enjoyable as well - seeing as they excel at both magic and martial combat and abilities as a race. Having a Dark Elf that breaks the traditions of their people regarding the use of necromancy (using it on Dunmer and non-Dunmer alike) could prove interesting for an evil character, or even a true neutral character that serves himself. And of course they have a rather fascinating lore and culture among their Houses and as a whole. However...I attempted time and time again before I even joined the site to create a Dunmer name - and even if I had a name I rolled with briefly, it just didn't feel right to me in the end. Thankfully, Dunmer names aren't as painful to create as Altmer names (I've given up trying to create an Altmer name unless someone can teach me :P ), or Bosmer names, but even then they're just real tricky to me.
-Orc/Orsimer: Yes, an Orc Mage/Necromancer/Conjurer... Why, you ask? Well, they're not respected by any of the races - they're looked down upon typically, seeing as barbaric beasts rather than the tragic, cursed Mer they are - victims of Boethiah and the Daedric Prince's influence in creating Malacath out of Trinimac. And yet this race endures hardship head-on - they strive to achieve perfection in whatever path they seek out - be it smithing or combat. Perhaps the same could be said of an Orc that wanted to learn the ways of stealth, or in this case, magic? They have potential in terms of story creation - they could hail from a place like Daggerfall or the Imperial City, be a civilized type of Orc that grew up outside of tradition - or could be the odd Orc out in their Stronghold for being uninterested in training his body and instead was fascinated by books, scrolls, and maybe adventuring Mages/other Magic users that might be wandering outside their Stronghold. Names for Orcs aren't a problem for me - but unlike the other three races I have a slight sense of uncertainty in the idea of playing an Orc Mage in Skyrim, Oblivion, or Online. It's a cool idea (like the rest of the options) but I also have a feeling that it might seem -too- bizarre. Maybe that's just the Orc stereotype trying to rear its ugly head?
