Okay, my problem is this:

I've always played magic-oriented characters as long as I've played fantasy games. I love it.
From what I've seen and partially experienced, I'm pretty satisfied with the magic system in Skyrim aswell (exept spell making, but meh, not a biggie to me)

Anyways, the Nordic attitudes towards magic is way to negative for me to find a valuable RP-foundation to base my character pre-story on.
Even in the beginning when choosing a Guardian stone with either Hadvar or Ralof, they go all like "Mage, eh..? Well, I'm not the one to judge".
The whole warrior-aspect fits like a glove in every context of the game (except the college of Winterhold), mages don't.

This is not a complaint however; the question comes now.

Mages, how to you make your character fit into the game world?


OT:
(Also, speaking of RP, I'm really loving my character now. He's a warrior in light armor, one handed swords and alchemy, occationally shields. He wears the nightingale armor, companions' wolf boots and gloves, and at nighttime, apprentice hood. It looks very dark, but not light, due to the gloves and the boots who does and awesome job making him look like a proper warrior. Also, Skyforge steel sword. I was kind of heavily inspired by the Night watch (Game of thrones), except, I have no wall to watch. So I pretend he's done something horrible in the past (DB-business), now forced to patrol the northern coast in the dead of night for hideous abominations every now and then.)

I'm sorry for any case of poorly written english. Not my native language..

Nords distrust magic in general, but there are quite a few who practice it. Most court wizards are nords, and even some of the members of the College.

i dunno if you have ever done a mage play through, but there is one [a Nord mage] that goes into a little bit of detail what things are like and why he chose to become a mage.

Don't evoke daedra or mindcontrol people. --the redguard trayvond the redguard

i suppose that cuts out conjuration and illusion. Basically, the warrior cultures hate it when people go around pulling crazy voodoo jedi mindtricks. Shows evil and weakness

It's just that every quest reward is a sword. Every person is all like "BLOOD AND GLORY AND GUTS ALL OVER THE PLACE", no room for magic at all.
Maybe I was just disappointed over the shortness of the College-questline.

Maybe your nord would be one that isnt ignorant and racist like the others, And you realize that magic used correctly can be a very good thing? (Not dissing Nords, they are my favorite race, but they are ignorant)

^This.... Onmund, a potential follower, is a Nord and you can ask him about his being a Nord and magic user.

Basically he just deals with the fact he's outcast because he want's to be a mage.

nothing complex really.

^@ sig above my post.... I would play on PC... but I don't even have a gfx card... all I got is my work laptop and 256 shared VRAM on an integrated chipset just doesn't cut it for anything.

Just sell that junk they pass off on you as rewards and buy more spellbooks. Keeping that stuff isn't worth it anyways once you get your crafting skills to a suitible level. The College questline is pretty short, but there are plenty of misc. quests to do as well.

Not every quest. There are quite a few "special" staves in the game. From my POV, I wouldn't play a nord mage. They're shunned enough to be very rare characters (PC or NPC). Note that when confronting *enemy* mages, most are NOT nords. Unless, of course, you can think of an interesting story. My orc fighter/mage, for instance, was shunned by his people for his abilities. He was basically cast out of his hold by his father (leader). His fighting education was lax because he was a milk-drinking mage. At first, he sought to make his home in Winterhold, but never felt like he "fit in". He left during the Eye turmoil, not sure whether he wanted to ever go back. Months went by as he lived by his sword, not his magic. It was only once he demolished an entire orc stronghold that he realized he was formidable enough a warrior NOT to be ashamed of his studies. He became the Archmage, defeated Alduin, and stomped on his Stormcloak oppressors.

Yeah, I know. I just struggle to find a reason a skilled mage would go around adventuring and helping random people out. I find it easier to justify a warrior/assassin/thief as a skyrim adventurer, helping randoms out. Don't know why

Ah ok. Maybe your character has an interest in Nordic lore or archaeology and goes into old ruins seeking knowledge or magical power. Or maybe you're a wandering mage-for-hire (sellspell?), spellbooks don't come cheap of course.

As for helping others, you're making the practice of magic more respected throughout Skyrim by helping people with your magical talents. Maybe they'll start to realize that magic can be just as useful as any other combat style and that it is not an Art exclusive to elves.

Nord guards will tell you they respect the school of restoration; for obvious reasons. If that's any consolation.

The master of enchantment in winterhold college will also tell you as much as Nords "dislike" magic, they still like the item enchantment services he provides.

That was some good ideas there!
Maybe I'll make an archeologist/cartographer having a much bigger part in history than forseen.
That will definetly be tried out, and I'll see if my motivation keeps intact.

I too struggled a bit with that until I recognized that mages simply approach problems from a different angle. If you read through a number of the IC books, there are numerous cases where adventurer parties consist of mages, warriors and thieves. Sure if you're some level 1000 sorceror like Divayth Fyr, you're likely not leaving your roost unless someone's given you the location of two Daedric artifacts in the same cave. But if you're a level 25 mage still learning your craft, you'll be out looking to make coin like everyone else to further fund your studies and lifestyle. You just happen to burn people down with destruction magic instead of chopping them down with an axe.

If you recall the beginning of the College quests, your fellow initiates are looking for something practical rather than theoretical to cut their teeth on. If someone in some town says they'll pay you to retrieve some object from some ruin, then off you go because you've got to eat. You'll just approach that ruin in a different manner than a warrior would, which a thief or stealth character would do as well.

Your Nord mage won't be the stereotypical Nord, which makes him or her unique. Enjoy it

Archeology and dungeon-crawling are best for a mage. Ironically, dungeon-crawling fits mages better than Warriors in Skyrim. Warriors are all Thud&Blunder trying to help people out. Mages... you get all sorts of artifacts.

And Nord mages aren't unheard of. Have you spoken to Farengar Secret-fire? He's a Nord, and pretty contemptuous toward the thick-skulled warriors (To the point of being insufferable).

There are a lot of nord mages. There is just a lot of cultural bias towards it.

You mean Onmund or someone else?

I have a few characters who are skilled in Alteration, I have never had an NPC say anything annoying about my characters proficiency in the school, but they will always comment when my characters cast ANY spell near them, even if they have just praised my characters skill as a healer .

Just say your Nord has always been interested in magic, despite it making them an outcast. They want to learn more, and become better at casting spells. There's nothing wrong with being rare or unique, and there are Nord mages about Skyrim, so it's not unheard of. If any other Nords have a problem with your Nord mage, just set them on fire.

getting dropped on the floor as a kid is a decent excuse for everything

A lot of those are necromancers and witches though

I'm playing a Nord Mage, she's originally from Anvil, Cyrodill. She helps all people in towns (unless they're asking her to steal something, just because they want it) and she came to Skyrim for two reasons: 1. She doesn't like the politics of Cyrodill's the Synod and College of Whispers, so she went to the College of Winterhold. 2. She's interested in her people's history and culture, as well as the newly discovered Dwemer ruins in Skyrim. (I wonder why Bethesda put Dwemer ruins in Skyrim when they never mentioned these ruins during Morrowind, which said the Dwemer were only in Morrowind, except for one group that migrated to Hammerfell. Other then the obvious "Retcon!" answer.)
Her father was a Breton, which contributed to her magical abilities, and despite the Thalmor invasion, her parents do not hate elves, all races of Tamriel are equal.

Yeah, plenty of nords alredy practise it, boom, solved
My Nord is as open minded as those, and understands that the Thu'um is magic and so I'm a filthy magic user wether I like it or not.

You could always RP as a Nord who has been brought up by non-Nords, or Nords who aren't from Skyrim and don't hold the same views.

I'm running Skyrim at 25 fps (playable) on a laptop with only an i3 and an intergrated chipset.

OP:

I guess the reasons nords don't like magic is because it seems like cowardice - illusion magic would be the worst of these, as you're making the strong warriors fight each other - showing no strength yourself. Conjuration you're hiding behind evil creatures that you have summoned. Destruction almost fits a nord - going crazy spewing large amounts of fire at them, and it doesn't manipulate your enemies, and you're not hiding behind then. So I guess enchanting, destruction, alteration and alchemy fits. If you're playing on the PC, get one of the destruction magic rebalancing mods, and you could use alchemy pots for destruction damage, alteration for increased armour, enchanting for lower spell costs and destruction for your damage dealer. You could even roleplay as an anti-mage type character, who learnt magic in the begining to try and combat enemy magicians - you can only fight them effectively with their own type of combat, he might believe, so he's on a mission to wipe out mages. Might screw up the college though

Anyway, good luck.