Powerful people can get away with about anything they want. We had some good examples in the past games, like the countess of Leyawiin torturing people, or Therana killing servants with enchanted clothing, or the King of Daggerfall screwing the high elf count sorceress. They don't have to be secretive or menacing things either, the baron could just go hunting for a month and leave everything up to chance back at home.

Come up with some crazy abuses of power you'd like to see the rich people display. And then some abuses the player could commit when they become powerful. These could lead to a lot of cool quests.

A noble who has a maltreated harem of all races locked up somewhere.
You get to free them, but it shouldnt be overt, only if you stumble across the dungeon.

A merchant who appropriates funds meant for widows and orphans for himself.
Again, shouldnt be a log quest, just something you discover and decide to deal with, or ignore.

That kind of thing

it would be nice to have something similar to the Slavers from fallout's in the game that you can ally with or destroy

We have to have some jerk in the series say, "You can beat a wife, but you can't kill her. Not unless she really displeases you."

I want the ability to abduct children/people and hold them for ransom

Sure I strangled my brother. I wanted his wife and title.

You owe me 40k in funeral expenses. (dumps body in river)

I could see the Dunmer refugees being forced to uphold ridiculous laws. If they ever break one of these "laws", their punishment just so happens to be quite severe compared to a Nord charged with even worse offenses.

Perhaps this could lead to quests involving proving some of these Dunmer are innocent, or to help them escape. Maybe we could try and catch the ruler of the city commiting some of these crime himself and blackmailing him to remove these laws. On the other hand, it would be cool to also have the option of siding with the Nords, and giving false testimonies stated the particular Dunmer were guilty, or helping Nords that were obviously guilty frame innocent Dunmer, or if you try to blackmail the cities ruler, accept his bribe to shut your mouth and be on your way.

Corrupt nobles/rich people are the best. You can kill them, take their money/loot, and still feel like a good person. :thumbsup:

That's a different kind of nothing. That will cost you something. (quote from The Borgias)

I would have attempted to go on a nation-wide rampage and clear out every single city and settlement if it weren't for those meddling immortal kids.

Though I believe such things are off the table of possibilities.

"Fetch me my gloating stool!"

Local count, instead of killing the dragon that destroyed half of his country side, instead captures it and attempts to train it as a beast of war.

Noble of a town plays powerful local mage groups off of one another in order to ignite a county wide mage war, and then offers the protection of his guards to fearful local citizens, provided that they pay.

To add the that, the local nobles, exploiting these racist laws, could extort Dunmer into paying them, or else perhaps the noble's men might just "witness" them committing some of these crimes. Some nobles might choose to press gang these Dunmer into service, essentially becoming slaves.

Some nobles will instead shift the blame from their terrible policies onto local Dunmer refugees. Crime is their fault, the banks having no money is their fault, the civil war is their fault. Parts of Skyrim could basically devolve into early Nazi Germany, with Dunmer being blamed heavily and sent out of the country in bulk, or just outright killed, whether by law enforcement or by roving mobs who leave their brains at the door.

This could present the player would some interesting choices. Do you save a single Dunmer by fighting and killing several dozen citizens? They were driven to the edge by fear and lies, is it really all their fault that their lords are lying to them? With high enough speechcraft, players could convince them that they are being lied to, while warriors might fight their way out. Craft mages could simply make the Dunmer and themselves invisible and lead the Dunmer off to safety. However one attempts this, the greater problem will still be at hand (that nobles are lying and extorting) and the player may run into this scenario, or ones similar to it, until they fix the greater issue.

Maybe there could be criminal organizations that try to collect the portions of sales from different shops, such as gross pay and interest

The Camonna Tong too were scum in Morrowind and really tried to abuse their power.

Instead of the normal thief groups doing this, however, I think it would be more in place for the Figthers' Guild replacement (remember that the empire is in decline. The Fighters' Guild most likely no longer exists) to extort local shop owners. Its basically like the mob. They tell you that you need protection. Don't pay up and something might just happen to your pretty shop, get it? And that would be a shame.

That was just what I was thinking, and I got the idea from a movie scene I saw where the Yakuza guy tells the lady of the shop something like "we have come to collect gross pay and interest so you pay up or (pulls out little switch blade) we not play so nice!" It would be cool to witness scenes in action like that in the game too

Let's see...
(Pulls out paper labeled "To Do List")

• Public executions
  
• Outlaw a particular race
  
• Torture chambers
  
• Lethal obstacle courses for prisoners
  
• Poison food for certain guests
  
• Cannibalism
  
• Corrupt local government
  
• Depose local Government
  
• Create a holiday
  
• Pass a law saying that no headwear may be worn in the rain
  
• Keep slaves
  
• Graffiti the local chapel
  
• Make people play DodgeJavelin or Musical Electric Chairs or similar
  
• Impose severe punishments, cutting off hands for theft, removing of tongues for slander, gouging of eyes for staring etc.
  
• Summon ghosts to haunt random homes
  
• Sacrifice virgins to local dragon

And the rest gets a little graphic.

Some good ol' Imperial oppression is all I want to take part in. Stuff like robbing rebel villages, interrogating rebels, raiding rebel camps for prisoners.

sounds like someones been hanging around sheogorath too long!

You guys have some good ones. That cannibalism one can have some moral choice elements to it, because many might not think it's cannibalism to eat an argonian or orc. Rich people like to show other rich people that they have good taste, so they might sponsor painters, collect exotic weapons, or put on shows by foreign actors. Someone might hire people of every race to work for them, then sometimes a new servant of the beast races disappears and nobody asks why.

i would want one of the lords to have a private set of land that can only be accessed through a cave that he releases captives into and hunts.