Blitzz
A Friendly Brit
In the three years since the end of the Skyrim Civil War, High King Ulfric Stormcloak has reigned over Skyrim with an iron fist. The Dragonborn never existed; nor did the Dragon Crisis. General Tullius was slain by Ulfric's own hand, and without his leadership the Empire's forces in Skyrim crumbled and faltered. Under his rule, the Nords of Skyrim have prospered while foreign races have been oppressed. None so much as the Imperials, however, who have suffered a great deal under Ulfric's tyranny. He started with his own city, purging the Grey Quarter and expelling the Argonian workers from the docks, but of course, he didn't stop there. The Stormcloaks that served under Ulfric in the war became Ulfric's strong right hand, carrying out his will without question. Those that did not, those with enough of a conscience to oppose Ulfric's barbaric commands met a swift end at the wrong end of the headsman's axe.
Many High Elves fled early to their homeland of the Summerset Isles, fearing Ulfric's wrath in the wake of the war ending. Ulfric closed his borders shortly after, trapping everyone in Skyrim within. Every dock along Skyrim's north coast has manned Stormcloak checkpoints, checking every arriving and departing vessel for smuggled refugees. The same can be said of every path in and out of Skyrim to its mainland neighbours, and at the main gates of all the major cities. Ulfric did not want those he looked down on to leave; he wanted them to suffer. He herded hundreds of men, women and children, like cattle towards camps and ghettos, squalid places little more than rows of tents, fenced in and guarded by Stormcloak soldiers. The conditions are appalling, with no clean water or bathing facilities. Food is available but rationed, and disease outbreaks claim dozens of lives. Those who aren't a Nord in Skyrim suffer on a daily basis.
Ulfric's reign has gone utterly unchallenged thus far, at least it had, until an attempt on his life a exactly three days ago. Three hooded men infiltrated Ulfric's palace, a feat unto itself, during a meeting of his generals. Three of Ulfric's closest friends and confidants were slain and one more injured, in exchange for the lives of two of the would-be assassins. The third was not so lucky, and was captured by Stormcloak soldiers while trying to escape following the failed attempt on the High King's life. Under 'interrogation', the man revealed excruciatingly little to Ulfric and his men. With every nail pulled, every cut of the knife, every burn of the brand, the man would simply repeat one harrowing line. "The Fire will claim you," he said. He was hung, drawn and quartered the next day on the steps of the Blue Palace, the pieces of his lifeless corpse dragged by horses through the streets of Windhelm so that all may bare witness.
Yesterday, an Imperial man was dragged before Ulfric by Stormcloak guards. He was a lowly ghetto worm, having been transported from a settlement near Whiterun, claiming to possess valuable information. He said that the assassins were hired by the Cult of Fire, an underground revolutionary movement that wanted to put an end Ulfric and his cruel regime. He claimed that the Cult has followers everywhere, in every town and every city, even within Ulfric's own palace and especially in the ghettos of Skyrim. Their leader is a ghost; a man who named himself Drake. Yet despite no one having seen him, he had amassed a substantial following, enough to make the High King worry. Ulfric granted the man freedom from the Ghetto as a reward for his information. This morning, his body was found on the bank of Lake Calenhad, with his eyes gouged out and his throat cut. Rumour has it the Stormcloaks did it, while others swear it was the Cult. No one knows for sure.
Skyrim has been gripped by paranoia and tensions are running high. Ulfric called an emergency meeting of his generals the same day, under double guard. Gripped by fear and haunted by the informant's claims that there are even Cult members in his own household, Ulfric turned to one of his most dependable officers to aid him in this time of strife. He has tasked this man with assembling a team of individuals from across Skyrim of his own choosing, putting out a call for all to answer. He would be a fool to refuse the High King.
✢✢✢
As you may have noticed from the intro, I don't shy away from gruesome details and for that reason I'll probably slap an 18+ rating on this. That doesn't mean I'm expecting you to write about how you buried your axe into your opponents throat and drank the warm spray of blood; if you're uncomfortable with that level of detail you don't have to include it and I'll try and tone my own down a bit. I want everyone to feel welcome and included in this story, there aren't many of us left on here so we should try and make the most of it and make everyone feel comfortable and happy. As such I'm more than open to improvement suggestions and ideas for plot points; I have a sort of start and end in mind but the rest is yet to be filled in.
Unfortunately we do need a few rules to keep things ticking over. Standard forum rules apply (be nice, no metagaming etc.) but I have a few more specifically for this RP that I want everyone to be aware of.
- Any playable character race from the Elder Scrolls games will be permitted, as long as you can justify it. In this situation Ulfric hates other races but my character does not and will have no problems in selecting an ex-Imperial soldier or former Thalmor Agent as long as they have the right skills and have a justifiable backstory.
- Please please please, don't argue on this thread. I understand that not everyone will see eye to eye on everything, but if you have an issue with another player or their post please message me directly so we can sort it without making a scene. No one else wants to see two guys arguing, it brings down the whole mood of the group.
- Swearing is fine in this RP as long as it's at least somewhat lore-friendly. I'm sure you can all come up with some witty Tamrielic cusses if you think hard enough. Same goes for racist remarks. Racial discrimination is a theme within this RP but calling an Argonian character a Lizard is a lot different to actually insulting another person. Don't do it.
- Characters will die during this RP. No one is invincible, it's highly likely my own character will snuff it at some point. Normally character deaths will be at my discretion, but don't worry, it'll be an option not a forced event. I'm not Ulfric, I'm not gonna kill you for no reason. This way it allows people who get bored of their characters to write them out in a blaze of glory or hilarious tragic end, and lets me remove players who become inactive quite easily. At times I might use a randomizer to decide who survives certain situations, if that random element is something people would be interested in.
- One character to start with, but I'll probably allow submission of a second character down the line. You are welcome to create NPCs to travel with or interact with the group but don't take liberties; NPCs should serve a purpose and be expendable, they aren't an excuse to pad out the group with 10 chummy dark elf warriors who've known each other for years.
- Spellcasting, potion crafting, enchanting etc, can all fail. Nothing is guaranteed. Keep this in mind along with your character's abilities. I'd like there to be a fun yet realistic and gritty feel to this RP.
- Your character will have a certain set of skills, like the skills in the Skyrim and ESO games. This includes all crafting and combat skills found in those games, plus any other skills you can conceive for your character as long as they are both realistic and justified. Skills like Thu'um, necromancy, Sword Singing etc. will not be permitted as they are unrealistic and/or overpowered. No character will have Master level skills. You may choose 1 expert skill, 2 adept skills, 3 apprentice skills, 3 novice skills. You may trade 2 skills of 1 tier for 1 of the tier above (e.g. trade 2 apprentice skills for an extra adept skill) and vice versa.
- Your characters are realistic people, and so they will have weaknesses. I don't mean weaknesses like a small fear of death or anything, I mean real weaknesses. Be that physical disability through missing or mangled limbs, crippling addictions, phobias, mental illnesses, allergies, illiteracy, clumsiness, whatever you can think of as long as it actually makes your character imperfect.
- Weapons aren't limited to what you find in game; spears, glaives, flails, morning stars, throwing knives etc are all welcome. Be sensible; no character will be able to fight with a warhammer in each hand. No guns, goes without saying.
- Materials - things like Daedric metal and dragon bone/scale are off limits. Things like ebony, glass, stalhrim are all possible but need a good justification. I don't want to see anyone walking around in a full suit of glass armor with twin ebony swords, lets keep it realistic.
- I'd like to see your character's inventory on your CS, showing me how much money they are carrying and what food, ingredients, weapons, armor, clothes etc they have. Again , no one will be carrying 100kg of stuff, the aim is not to loot horde. Keep it simple and keep it realistic.
Character Information
Name:Race:
Gender:
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Birthplace:
Birthsign:
Class (optional):
Religion (optional):
Appearance
An image is optional here, but a written description of at least one paragraph is mandatory.
Personality
What are your character's positive and negative traits? What do they like, what do they dislike, what do they love, what do they hate? What is your character scared of, and what motivates them? What does your character aspire to be or do? What is their outlook on life?
Background
This doesn't need to be massive, it's a background not a fanfic. Try to avoid the clichés and common tragic tales that have become so common but if you can put your own spin on it by all means do. I'm looking for quality over quantity, a few solid paragraphs is perfectly sufficient.
Skills and Capabilities
Divide this section up however you see fit. You need to detail your character's strongest and weakest attributes, their skills (the rules for skills are listed above). This includes crafting skills and any skills found in an Elder Scrolls game, as long as they aren't prohibited (Thu'um, necromancy, sword singing, Psijic magic etc.). What are your character's tactics? Do they know any spells? Arguably most importantly, what are your character's weaknesses? The rules for this can also be found above.
Inventory
How much money have you got? Keys? Lockpicks? Tools? Crafting materials? Clothing? Armor? Weapons? Ammo? Potions? Books? Scrolls? Documents? Jewellery, valuables, food, drinks, ingredients? How do they carry all of this? Remember to keep things realistic; the aim is not to horde loot and your character won't be carrying 5 swords and 2 sets of armor around with them.
Other
The last section, and optional. Include whatever you want to here that you haven't been able to fit in to the rest of your sheet. Personally I'll be putting a section for all my character's affiliations, relationships and opinions of other people, feel free to do the same with yours or whatever else you think you need to mention.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me directly or post here. Not every character has to be combat orientated; logistics, medics, priests, craftsmen, or anything else you can justify including are all welcome.An image is optional here, but a written description of at least one paragraph is mandatory.
Personality
What are your character's positive and negative traits? What do they like, what do they dislike, what do they love, what do they hate? What is your character scared of, and what motivates them? What does your character aspire to be or do? What is their outlook on life?
Background
This doesn't need to be massive, it's a background not a fanfic. Try to avoid the clichés and common tragic tales that have become so common but if you can put your own spin on it by all means do. I'm looking for quality over quantity, a few solid paragraphs is perfectly sufficient.
Skills and Capabilities
Divide this section up however you see fit. You need to detail your character's strongest and weakest attributes, their skills (the rules for skills are listed above). This includes crafting skills and any skills found in an Elder Scrolls game, as long as they aren't prohibited (Thu'um, necromancy, sword singing, Psijic magic etc.). What are your character's tactics? Do they know any spells? Arguably most importantly, what are your character's weaknesses? The rules for this can also be found above.
Inventory
How much money have you got? Keys? Lockpicks? Tools? Crafting materials? Clothing? Armor? Weapons? Ammo? Potions? Books? Scrolls? Documents? Jewellery, valuables, food, drinks, ingredients? How do they carry all of this? Remember to keep things realistic; the aim is not to horde loot and your character won't be carrying 5 swords and 2 sets of armor around with them.
Other
The last section, and optional. Include whatever you want to here that you haven't been able to fit in to the rest of your sheet. Personally I'll be putting a section for all my character's affiliations, relationships and opinions of other people, feel free to do the same with yours or whatever else you think you need to mention.
Characters
Blitzz as Yngvar Snow-Heart
Drahkma as Kaleg Greyhand
Blitzz as Yngvar Snow-Heart
Drahkma as Kaleg Greyhand
Last edited: