Why does the main quest of any given game always have to have so much invested in the game's home province?

In Morrowind, I played the reincarnation of the Nerevar, the Chimer hero. Or not. But, whether or not you believe that you played the true Nerevarine, the main quest was still geared more towards Dunmer than any other race. Why would Nerevar reincarnate as a female Argonian? Why would Vvardenfell believe an Argonian (or, god forbid, an Imperial)? The fact was, you felt weird playing the main quest of Morrowind as anything other than a Dunmer (or at least an Altmer, for the closest physical resemblance to Nerevar).

In Oblivion, this aspect was slightly less prominent, but still there. The story sees you touring a number of Imperial sites supporting a distinctly Imperial cause. While it wouldn't be incredibly strange for a mer, Breton, or Nord to be the Champion of Cyrodiil, themain quest was obviously written with an Imperial player character in mind. Why would a Khajiit thief give two [censored] about the fate of the empire?

Now, we have Skyrim, where you are apparently the last in a long line of Nordic dragon slayers. Some of your line left to form the septim dynasty, while others died out. However...what would an Argonian be doing freezing his ass off in Skyrim with people thinking he's a Nordic dragon slayer?

I must admit, I would have preferred Fallout: New Vegas's style of starting you out as a complete nobody who isn't expected to fit a specific mold. Lately, TES has been making me feel as though I have to play a very specific type of character to fit into the verisimilitude of the world I'm playing in.

Dragonborns, contrary to what the name suggests, are not born with this ability, nor they are part of a bloodline like Septim's or a Nordic one. They are trained to be Dragon Hunters.

So no, it won't be an "ethno-centric" mainquest.

because he is the only one that can stop the portals to Oblivion

and it is liked that because, they are dominant in that region so of course their hero is what they believe it is, no place in the bible does it say god is a male (although it does say He) society is often patriarchal, so the males are in power and that is what God is to them

I'm not sure whether or not the line of dragon slayers you are born into is entirely Nordic, as far as I know, they are the blades, which is primarily imperial.
I don't see the problem with "having" to play a member of the race whose province you happen to be living in. I'm going to play a Dunmer no matter what, and while it may feel wierd, that's fine with me. I played an Imperial one time doing the MQ in OB, and it didn't feel much different than the time I did it on my Dunmer.

Absolutely correct. One of the main reasons I almost never play with Khajiit or Argonians is because of how generally awkard and out-of-place they feel in the game-world; to truly role-play I almost always play either a Mer or an Imperial (and the occasional redguard :thumbsup: )

I agree, OP. But then again, maybe the Main Quest will make it so that there is a reason for non-Nord characters to want to play through it. We don't know for sure yet.

Most games have to give some sort of generic protagonists to give the consumer a glimpse into the game. I think it's unfair to make any quick judgments about Skyrim since knowledge is still limited, but Bethesda will make it work. Obviously since certain races occupy certain provinces, it will feel as if the game is geared towards that race.

I can agree they do tend to start you off with a cetain mold wether they express it or not.

But luckily you can roleplay, and not even do the mainquest. Or you can just make up another reason fame, fortune, revenge, etc.

In Oblivion I figured it was just easier to save the world then move out of the province.

You don't have to be a dark elf to want to save morrowind, you don't have to be an imperial to want to save Cyrrodil and you don't have to be a nord to save Skyrim. I don't know about you but I haven't seen any nationalism, pride parades or flag waving in Elder Scrolls games (outside some of the dark elves but they can choke on Red mountain's rubble for all I care). What reason do you have to think that a Khajit wouldn't want to help Skyrim just because it isn't Elseweyr, are you calling them heartless, is that it? Because that's racism and you should feel bad for making baby Khajits cry.

I agree with you fully OP. I dont like being pigeon-holed either, but I think the trade off is that you allow for a much better main quest storyline which is ok by me.

Ya'll do realize that the Oblivion crisis wasn't localized to Cyrodiil, gates appeared all across the Empire. So heading over to the next province over wouldn't really be an option. Even if you were the most evil assassin or the most devote anti-Imperial Khajit, you would likely see that working with them would be the best course of action.

Morrowind is a bit tougher, but I never felt out of place playing as a Breton. Nor did I feel the need to play as Dark Elf, since I thought Maybe the Gods reincarnated me in this form to better accomplish what was needed to be done.

I never felt like characters that were of a different race than the provinces main culture were out of place in the quest lines.
Sure it might be weird for an argonian to be the Nerevarine, but it never felt out of place. Not for me at least.

Wait, why did the MQ of Morrowind feel strange if you weren't Dunmer? Did the Prophecies not say that the Neravarine would be born on a certain day, under certain stars, with uncertain parentage? That means the story leaves the race of Neravar's reincarnation completely open.

Morrowind was even better if you played as one of the "slave" races. Somehow, killing the Tribunal as an Argonian was more satisfying than if I'd done it as a Dunmer. The reason I didn't like either beast race in OB was because they were basically scaly or furry humans. I miss them being more beast-like.

I must have missed the rule that stated the Nerevarine could only be just a carbon-copy to the original.


If you could solve my problem I wouldn't care if you were a dang Bosmer.


Maybe because some people actually care about the area they live in or even crazier, not everyone's a [censored] bag.


WHo said they were Nordic?


Maybe he/she was run out of his original province or has family in Skyrim or was perhaps a prisoner brought to Skyrim. (I'd guess the last :biggrin: )

You just answered your own question by including the race property. By your theory a Khjiit would give a damn if it wasn't ethno-centric. However, provinces in the Elder Scrolls are ethno-centric as that is what we're used and it adds flavour. Can you imagine if all provinces were mixed? Then they'd all look the same and it'd be boring. Just as boring as if globalisation takes over and we see a McDonalds every 5klm no matter where we are on the Earth.

No one forces you to play the main race so use your imagination a little. Its just a game.

My favorite race has always been Argonian. I always thought that an Argonian Nerevarine made for the best plot. You get a lot of irony out of an ancient enemy of the Dunmer turning out to be their savior. A Dunmer hero just seems to obvious, but an Argonian Nerevarine works the best for me.

Frankly, I couldn't care less and I thought it pretty funny to play as an Argonian in MW. That would be the kind of practical joke a daedroth like Azura, specially her, would play on the Dunmer.

Love your statement, totally agree.

The Oblivion Crisis affected all of Tamriel, even Elseweyr.

i can sympathize with the OP about playing the goofy races but mostly its because.......they are goofy. i see argonians and khajit whenever i take my cat into the pet store to get her claws trimmed. as far as the mainquest is concerned ive never had an issue playing an orc which is one the nonhuman races that i actually love playing precisely because its kind of a guilty pleasure imagining that the empire was saved by a big stupid orc with a warhammer while their best and brightest didnt do anything.

as for starting off as some super character i actually agree. i hope we dont start as some prisoner again with some weird as destiny. it would be nice if no one gave two [censored] about you at the beginning of the game and you had to earn peoples respect and after you gain enough fame or infamy then and only then would someone approach you and ask for your help.

I'm really liking what I'm hearing about the main storyline so far. It reminds me of Morrowind's main story but yet it's different. From what I've heard your basically given a task by the gods (Probably Talos) to become the 4th Dragonborn and take on a Dragon (probably Akatosh). I'm gonna do a wait and see approach to this main story but as of right now I'm liking the main story so far. There's one thing though what the heck are they gonna fill the 200 year gap between Oblivion and Skyrim with besides the Infernal City.

I'm aware of the Nerevarine's "uncertain" parentage - however, that doesn't lessen the awkwardness of playing as a race that Nerevar probably would have despised.


Nor would I, but the Dunmer of Vvardenfell sure would. An Imperial walks in and proclaims himself the the Nerevarine? They'd view it as a ploy for the Imperials to gain more power. They'd be suspicious, whether he showed promise or not. It just felt odd having people totally accept you as a cultural hero when they'd usually be too busy hating you to give you a chance to prove yourself.


But, a chaotic-neutral thief? Why? TES would do well to observe New Vegas's model and allow the player the resolve the main quest, regardless of their character's commitment to the local government and its cause. No, not everyone is an axe-crazy munchkin, but the same could be said about dutiful paladins. TES gives us so many possibilities at character creation, but, so far, there's been only one "goal" to obtain as far as the MQ is concerned.