Then again, the dunmer, their culture, and land have been described as being weird when it comes to everyone else.

True.


Well put.

However, I do prefer the elven races. They are more exotic and I like that.

I.. didn't realize I was disagreeing with you; it was more of a compliment to what you were saying (as I was effectively referring to the Dunmer as being another unique blend of cultural elements and creative-insanity.) Sorry for not being clear, there.

The Dunmer are considered inherently strange, even in the game world, so its hard to gauge exactly how odd the other Mer measure up in the strange scale. I'd expect the Altmer of Summerset to be off their kilter in comparison to the rest of Tamriel just going by how isolated they are in terms of both location and ideology, but I'd wager that there would be this poshness about them that would seem all to familiar with how the cultural elite would act, still paling in comparison to the Dunmers mannerisms. The Bosmer are a bit hard to gauge, and I'd bet the Imga would steal the show if they were to make a appearance in Valenwood. The only ones that may be able to reach the same level of weird as the Dunmer would probably be the Khajit, but even then that might be stretching it.

Oh, sorry! I misread your post, for some reason I thought it was a reference to Cyrodiil's presentation in-game as a Mediterranean/European climate rather than a jungle. I guess seeing the "eastern" in your post would have helped somewhat... It's completely my fault, no worries!

The reachmen, akaviri, kothringi, yokudans, atmorans. None of those are boring or unexotic. Just go and say hello to one of them.
To those whom are saying that the kothringi are extinct, I don't believe that's correct. Have a read of what happened to the crimson ship.

The reachmen look interesting on the surface but there's really nothing about them that I would call unique.

We literally don't know anything about the men of akavir to say whether or not they're unique or not.

The kothringi could be pretty interesting, but like the akaviri we don't know quite enough about them to really appreciate them as a race. Although admittedly the kothringi would be hard-pressed to be anything but interesting seeing as they come from Black Marsh, land of the awesome.

Yokudans = redguards. And while they are pretty unique their culture doesn't have quite as many interesting details as, say, the Bosmer to be really interesting.

Finally, if the atmorans still exist they're probably nothing more than primitive inuit-esque tribes, eking out shadows of life in the white wastelands only they could call home. And I couldn't care less about that.

Nords and Imperials have pretty awesome lore.

Bretons and Redguards.. yeah. Boring.

The Redguards are actually pretty flippin badass, and the supposedly bland Bretons have a bunch of whacky political deucebaggery going on 24/7. Really, I don't think we can say with a straight face that any of the races are just flat out bland. Just some are more out there then others.

Aren't humans supposed to be boring because they're supposed to represent what we'd be like if we existed in the ES universe?

Eh. The way you put it made it sound as if the races of the TES are easily represented IRL, which isn't exactly the case.

Disagree. Egyptian-norseman-hindu-dragon-worshipper-warriors are pretty cool to my mind. so are aztec-roman-chinese-dragon-worshipping-snakeoil-salesmen, feudal-magocratic-backstabbers and reverse-imperialist-walking-nuke-swordsmen.

Akaviri men can go svck the boredom shaft, though, while the Tsaesci eat their language (which is why they're boring, they can't speak).

This. Particularly the part about social conflict and moral complexity. I remember really looking forward to exploring Cyrodiil despite the generic Mediaeval look until I actually played Oblivion. The problem wasn't that there weren't giant mushroom/crab houses everywhere, it was that Cyrodiil, like most generic fantasy societies and unlike every single real one, was inexplicably at peace with itself and lacked any real social compexity. Sure, there were hints of social tensions with the Thieves Guild/docks and Leyawiin (sp?), and some nice details like the moth priests, but nothing was fleshed out and interconnected like it was in Morrowind. Are the counts hereditary aristocrats, or more like governers? Where does their wealth come from? Who pays for the legion, and how? Does this lead to conflicts? Morrowind provided answers to these sorts of questions, and usually threw in a quest and some intrigue for good measure; Oblivion gave us the fantasy equivalent of white picket fences.

I think this is also true of Skyrim to some extent. Take the civil war: while leaders like Tullius and Ulfric were well fleshed out and had clear motivations, I never had much sense of the common people's commitment to one side or another beyond '(x) has the right of it', or bland loyalty or prejudice. That goes for some of the Jarls, too, come to think of it.

Humans in TES don't have less interesting cultures than the elves; according to lore, they have very interesting cultures. The problem is that *in the games* these cultures are virtually nonexistent.

As opposed to Morrowind, where virtually every unimportant NPC Dunmer had the exact same opinion on everything. And half the important ones. Morrowind was cool because the political parities had a lot of people, who gave quests. The commoners may have well not existed. At least I can here a Nord give an impassioned, if naive sounding, speech about Ulfric (or the Empire.)

Fair point. I suppose I tend to remember Morrowind through rose-tinted glasses, and I really should have thought that point through a bit better. That said, I still feel that Vvardenfell was a richer and more detailed world.

I'd say it feels that way because it feels more active, due to the Great Houses, the Ashlanders and the like. Their is more than one culture, which adds conflict and makes it feel more alive. Skyrim sort of does this, with Eastern Nords killing Ice Wraiths, but it's not mentioned enough for it to really feel noticeable or actually matter. In Skyrim, most lore references appear to be almost hidden. If you know the lore, you'll notice it. If you don't, it's meaningless.

While time constraints probably limited a lot, had they had more Nords worshiping older gods, it would have went a long way. Rather than create a dungeon with the same "Fetch Bla bla bla"" over and over, they could have you ask rural Nords about Alduin and how to defeat him. Rural Nords sing songs about Alduin, with most city Nords not caring about him. It would have made a nice contrast. Have Froki's quest be part of the main quest. For going on the hunt, he gives you information about World Eating.

A big mistake was having the Greybeards worship Imperial gods. Without this being mentioned or otherwise be a plot point.

That's boring. If I decide to make a big burly character I'd rather be an Altmer or a Bosmer.

Every race can be viewed as wierd through the right persception, and every race can be viewed as normalish within the realm of Elder Scrolls.

They all eat, sleep, work, farm crops, have families, make a living, travel, go on vacations, have hopes and dreams, pray to their god of choice for favorable weather and healthy children. They buy homes, and horses, open buisnesses, they deal with hardships, and lost loved ones. That all seems pretty normal to me and just the grand scheme of life. Aside from everything that is normal about all of them each has something really wierd about them that people seem way to hung up on.

Bosmer eat people... thats part of their religion. they are like the normal hippy family down the corner except they are cannibals.

The Orcs live ina pride mentality where young male orcs are usually casted out of their home when they hit puberty and the strongest male orc takes every female in his stronghold as his wife.

Dunmer society is fractured in 100 places, some live in crab shells, some live in organic spires and some live in houses and they all seem to think the other people are crazy, They also worship their dead and talk to them, and that enslaving people is a good idea, even though it never turns out well in the long run.

Khajit much like real cats have wild orgies even with their own family, not to mention in every reference we have suggests that more then half of all khajits are most likely hooked on skooma or straight moon sugar, which would make them a culture of junkies and [censored]s.

Argonians... well what isn't wierd about argonians?

Altmer's are the most racist, snobby self rightious people in Elder Scrolls. They Litterly think they are better then you, and you are a lesser being because you are not an Altmer, this is the same mentality that gave birth to pretty much every hate group thats ever existed and it is no suprise the Thalmor rose to power out lies and misdirection when the Altmer where alreday in that mentality.

Nords.. Whats really wierd about the Nords? They do have a long history of genocide and hate crimes against anyone with ears that are a little too pointy and have a different skin color then themselves. They are widely known for irrational decisions, where they might be your best friend on moment and then you tell a bad joke about someones mom and that same best friend is now chopping at your throat with a handaxe. Might seem normal in their society but outside it, that is pretty weird considering they do that stuff while sober.

Bretons, now lets talk about how a half-mer half-man can be any weirder already. They virtually live for politics, every kingdom has a court and high rock has hundreds of courts, hundreds of schemes per day, thousands of schemes a week, millions of schemes a year against other kingdoms, against other families, against themselves.
Any non Breton looking in would think they are utterly mad. Assassinations, Political Scandals, Full blown war over the twisted schemes of one really good schemer keeping all of High Rock in a constant state of "Who Dun It" that it is no real suprise to see Breton's leaving High Rock to take a break from it, the Emperors and Empresses grow up in High Rock more or less to train them in politics so they can atleast survive on the throne for a few years and you seen the chaos the throne brings, imagine 100's of thrones 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Who have I forgotton? Imperials? well I guess they would be kind of the most boring, they were just the nedic people who stayed in Crydoil after being freed and decided this is as good a place as any so I guess in histories sense they are just squatters who took over the forts and kingdoms of the elves who had enslaved them.
but since then... yeah I can't think of much.. They really are just kind of there. Their armies are not as glorious and boastful as the Nords, their wizards are not as historically significant nor as insane and rememberable as the Altmer, Breton, and Dunmers. Their politics are second hand compared to the Breton's ploting. They don't seem to have any really weird ritualistic beliefs like the Bosmer, they are not as free spirited as the Khajit or as savage yet honorable as the Orcs.
I guess what makes Imperials weird, is the fact they are the most resonablly sane one, in a room full of anarchy chaos and madness, which makes them a minority and yet they don't really change to fit in, and not changing is a bit weird no matter how many times they are enslaved, or have their empire torn down by man or god they just keep rebuiding it like busy little worker ants trying to hold all the insanity that is Tamriel together. I suppose they are the big brother or big sister of Tamriel, picking up the mess their siblings made and that too can be pretty weird at times.

Amedeus, you forgot the Redguards.

Just to let you guys know, redguard aren't technically human, they are something entirely different. How are they different? No clue but some consider redguards to be not human, personally I see them as humans and they are pretty much the most badass human race.

How are they not technically human?

dont know, forget where I read it but they are for some reason considered a different race.

They are a different race, as bretons and nords and imperials are to each other. They are as much man as any of those.

I think that it's the lore and history behind the human races taht makes them interesting, not the culture around them.
Well the culture is great, but it's not really all that interesting to me after a few games.

No, Redguards are just as human as the other three. People see them as different because they come from Yokuda, but that doesn't mean much because everyone came from Tamriel. They also see them as different because they don't like Lorkhan, which doesn't make them less human. People seem to have no problem calling Dunmer elves, and they like Lorkhan.

So, yeah. Redguards are humans.