This is a theory:
The next elder scrolls game will be on the next generation of gaming systems. However, the whole of Tamriel is out of the question. Playing on the theme of the "calm between storms" posed by a certain thalmor agent, I believe that the next elder scrolls game will take place 200-300 years after skyrim. Long enough for drastic change, but short enough for (at least elves, who live for centuries) people to remember. The title will be Elder Scrolls VI: Dominion, and it will take place in the three provinces owned by the Aldmeri Dominion, Summerset Isle, Valenwood, and Elsweyr.I will now explain a fictitious back-story:
The planes of oblivion, annihilated. Gods are being slaughtered, and most of the Princes are thought to have suffered the same fate. The elder Dragon, Akatosh, believes that his beloved mortal realm may be next, and so chooses four gods: Vaermina, the mad divine; Meridia, the prince of cleansing light; Baan Dar, the Khajiit pariah; and his own aspect, Martin Septim, to the mortal realm. He gives them his final task: appoint new gods, and use them to save the world from this mysterious threat. But this ancient threat from beyond Oblivion has plans of its own. At random, they chose a mortal, and in that mortal, they instilled a dormant power, one that would aid them in overthrowing the gods and draining the life from the mortal realm. Unfortunately, this random mortal is on his/her way to the chopping block, aboard a flying Aldmeri prison ship.
Aright, so now I'll explain a few things: You are the one chosen by the unnamed threat, you are on a flying prison fortress/ship/thingy used to transport criminals from one place to another, and you are going to be executed when you arrive wherever you are supposed to be. The fortress is a foreshadowing of what will be many "technological" (far more magical) advancements innovated by the Psiijic Order (because, lets face it, who else but the mildly insane hyper magical elf monks would cause an industrial/magicka revolution). Ye there are firearms, but they are EXTREMELY basic, and would probably have a very dwemer-esque ascetic to them. The combat would also probably be more like Oblivion and Morrowind combat, although with many more "action" mechanics, such as a role, perhaps even moves for individual weapons. I even thought of a gimmicky shout mechanic, which I will explain along with how you get out of prison: The gods don't know what you are, but they think you can help them because they see that you have mighty dormant power, so they decide to "beta test" you. Martin Septim bestows upon you his Mark, which will be a game mechanic, not a power or spell, that allows you to do time or dragon related things (of course it'll start off weak, and NO TIME TRAVEL) You'll use his mark to blow up to melt the very flimsy (prob apprentice) lock,however to no avail. Then some khajiit (a key character) will break you and a very inner city type high elf (also key char) out. You'll receive more marks from the other three throughout the game, all of which will have skill trees that allow you to strengthen them. And definitely the good ol' skills will come back, grouped into stealth, magic and combat. Another thing that I think should make a comeback are the attributes (Strength, Willpower, etc.) because they offered another very well thought-out level of depth to character customization.
Please tell me your thoughts.
Edit: I also think that it would be nice if your character should be voiced, with at least two voice options per gender per race archetype. Race archetypes being Humans, Elves, Khajiit, and Argonians. Nords would probably have there own voices, while elves would each share one and get one to themselves. Argonians and Khajiit would each have their own voice options, because they sound distinctly different.
