I'd like to see a faction based of the ruggedness of the terrain of Skyrim, and the natural wilderness and the creatures within. The rangers faction, I propose, would be a kind of hunter - explorer group based of the dunadain rangers of lotr. It doesn't have a full questline like the fighters guild, but does have a storyline. The rangers are separitist faction, who are rivaling Imperial legion (remanants?) or whatever faction represents the splintered empires intrest.

They are based off the natural terrain. Unlike the other guilds, none of their bases can be found in towns or settlements. Instead, their bases are found in the most remote forests, mountains, or craggy adobes in the game, far from civilization. They have a patron daedric lord of Hircine, Prince of the hunt. Their early and randomly generated quests focus on such hunts. Taking down legendary game (maybe some particulary grizzled giant or dragon) or contracts to get rid of ogres from a village might be included. Quests will reward patitience and ranged combat, and stalking, following prey with the game usually placing options of trapping or concealment.

Later in their questline, their independence movement becomes more pronounced, and while not often coming into contact with legionairres, a sample questline maybe "cut off supply routes- discover and track enemy supply caravans, stay concealed, and attack from nowhere, relocate. Play sniper. Force them to split up to look for you. Use natural hazards, anger animal life up ahead to provoke them to attack caravan". All quests will have hunter elements, yet is seperate from the thieves or assasins guild due to gameplay while still rewarding ranged and stealth.

A really cool quest might be something along the lines of 'The most dangerous game" (A short story). A small island off the coast, a corrupt legionairre general, the island his hunting ground, his prisoners his prey. Riddled with traps and dense foliage, a climix quest that should incorporate everything about the hunt. Since it has an entire island, this should be a finale quest. Grants you the island as a personal fortress like the wizards spire or dunbarrow, that you can upgrade and stock with game.
Bottom Line; this is a wilderness faction. The quests routinely take you to the most breathtaking spots in skyrim, intended to let you take in every amazing piece of scenery while offering a diverse and radically new form of gameplay.

Excellent idea! Some missions could be like the challenges in RDR.

Brilliant! Love it!

Thought you might be interested in this Oblivion quest while you wait for Skyrim . . . http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Caught_in_the_Hunt

Ehh, it was just a dungeon crawl. Go in, kill the targets, go back out. Not really a free wilderness hunt.

I agree. this is actually a kind of faction i was hoping there would be.

yes, this would be the natural counter part to the assassins. This would be amazing. I WANT SKYRIM TO HAVE 2x+ guilds/factions.

Great idea, but being pro-Imperial I wouldn't join

I'd still like it to be, since it's excellent in idea, but I'd also like a pro-Imperial parallel faction. Ideally, something like Legion scouts, which camp out in the wilderness and spy on rebel forces, sabotage rebel towns, capture hated individuals and bring them back alive for bounties (wild west style?), etc. The finale could be retaking a rebel town back into the fold of the Empire, or something like that

Anyhoo yeah, fantastic concept and I hope something resembling this gets implemented!

Yes, I mentioned Imperial legion, or remanants. 2 minor factions that are flip sides of the coin; maybe your alliance with one could affect the civil war?

Sounds cool

sounds perfect for skyrim :celebration:

with things like the randomly generated quests there should be simple jobs to keep the small bases/forts supplied, like stock up on lumber (since wood cutting stuff was added) and things like that, or send you out to hunt a specific type of animal, but since you are a hunter, they should give you zero direction. just the objective. I dont want a quest marker saying hey theres deer over here you should go here to get the venison... I just want the chef of the base to tell me he needs more venison, and that I should go find some. This in its self would be a huge step up from the sometimes pathetic hand holding which can occur with some quests.

awesome idea.

I like it, I like it alot.

*Cough* Knights of the White Stallion *Cough*

I like this idea very much. I admit that the "caught in the hunt" quest from Oblivion entered my mind briefly, but that was a dungeon dive (and not a particularly interesting one at that!) but a similar idea in the wilderness could be far better.

But yes to your idea, I often like to play a ranger/herbalist type of character, and a faction that is based away from the urban areas would suit me very well, I'd be delighted to see a guild or faction like this implemented in the vanilla game.

The idea seems to be well thought. This concept is precisely the type I was hoping to see in some of the factions, or tribes.

I would like the idea of a hunter/explorer/anti-government type faction, it would be so awesome. It would also suit my style of play which is a mixture of melee and bow combat.

This is an awesome idea. lotr is my perfect vision of fantasy and i hope skyrim is more like it than oblivion, everything about this would work great.

That would be the first faction I join

Hunter is a character I have RP'd in both Morrowind and Oblivion. Using a campsite in the wilderness as a base of operations and collecting herbs, creating poisons and potions and selling meat and skins in town. Otherwise keeping to myself in the wilderness. To be able to do this as part of a faction would be excellent.

I think there should be the option of actually building a tent or something similar in the forest, for example between two huge trees and a mountain side. That would be a perfect place for a hidden camp. To actually be able to shape the place so that it looks like a camp would be great, I loved building camps with branches or various sizes when I was younger, it would be great to do it in Skyrim.

I would probably never join the faction, as I don't ever make those types of characters, but seeing something like that in game would definitely be a good addition. I'd be for it. As far as I'm concerned, the more guilds / factions, the better. As long as they aren't completely stupid. And this, this is not completely stupid.

An amazingly well thought out concept. Well done :clap:

I hope that this is something that will be in the game. Or if not, then a modder will take up the idea. I suggest that, if it doesn't appear in the game, you either look to make it into a mod, or if you aren't a modder then re-post the idea in the (inevitable) Skyrim mod forum.

thumbs up for this one

I think 1st you should be congratulated on a great idea, then for thinking it out and describing it so well. But most of all I think you should be congratulated for creating what at least so far is an idea that everyone likes! I think its the first time I've seen that on the forum! :thumbsup:

I remember reading a book that had rangers.

I believe it was called The Ranger's Apprentice. It takes place somewhere in the snowy lands of some nord-like people. Skandians is what I think they were called. But anyhow, it was an epic book series. :mohawk: