either the ayleids (an elf race that i might actually play) or the akavari who i dont know anything about. supposedly they are reptilian or something but they used human models in oblivion so im a bit confused on them.

i second the dwemer. it would be awesome to play a steam punk character who relied on dwemer technology instead of magic............magic is really overrated and frankly not much fun at least in the TES games.

The Dwemer weren't dwarves. They're also all dead.

The Ayleids also died out long ago.

Akavir is an island with like 3-4 different races who are constantly at war with each other, they include snake people with arms and ape-like beings, if I remember correctly. I don't recall the other races.

No way Jose! The current playable races are fine!

Well of course they are- every single one of them maxes every attribute and skill at exactly the same number, making them pretty much all identical aside from appearance. It just don't get more balanced than everyone being exactly the same.

Maybe they should work on making there be 10 different races in the game rather than 10 different looks, then consider adding more races once we actually have more than one to begin with?

But high elves have nothing in common with orcs... The races differ, in small subtle ways.

It would be great if there is a new playable race, but I wouldn't mind at all, if there was no new one.

The orcs don't even have a province, Orsinium is a kingdom in High Rock and wasn't recognized as a legitimate political body at all until halfway through Uriel VII's reign. Of the orcs seen in Morrowind and Oblivion, all but the youngest would likely have been killed on sight as monsters when they were born. So any general argument that they'd "ruin lore" by adding another race had better come from someone who thinks orcs ruin the lore.

That said: I'm voting no on this one due to setting and timing. It seems to be very soon after Oblivion. Orcs ranged well into Skyrim before their recognition by the Empire, and there was enough time between Daggerfall and Morrowind that a few making their way to Vvardenfell was reasonable. Naturally, immigration to the hub of the Empire makes sense as well. But during the Oblivion Crisis, I wouldn't have expected to find any significant orcish representation in the southern provinces.

What races might be on the brink of legitimacy in the eyes of the Empire, and are in close enough proximity to Skyrim that it's reasonable for them to show up? Honestly, I can't think of any. If the Falmer do show up, I could see Skyrim's events leading to their recognition in TES6. Hell, I could even say that about goblins/reiklings. But playable right now? There'd have to be one hell of an intro sequence to yield plausible continuity. Lore supports more races just fine, but the immediate plot doesn't.

the races are kinda set it stone, I mean I guess you could be a different mer, but there all dead and that wouldn't work quite right

But we don't know how the world has changed between Oblivion and Skyrim. At least not in that part of Tamriel. And I don't think a lot of people are saying that they'd ruin the lore, there just isn't a whole lot of room in the lore for another playable race. Some, but not much. That said,


The argument has been made (I was skeptical at first, but now it seems more likely) that Skyrim takes place about 200 years after the events in Oblivion. This comes from a blurb on Amazon's page for The Burning City that was quickly taken down. The novels are supposed to "bridge the gap" between Oblivion and Skyrim, and The Burning City alone takes place 45 years or so after the Oblivion crisis. The next novel's time frame? We have no idea. This is, of course, purely speculation, but I'm not so sure that Skyrim takes place shortly after Oblivion anymore.



I both agree and disagree. If the above is true, then new races could have moved across Tamriel and inhabited some of the cities, making the plot able to fit in a new race, but I honestly don't see it happening in TESV. You'd need some sort of introduction in-game to really pull it off. In a novel, maybe, if they really wanted to.

But in all reality, I just don't see Bethesda making it happen this time around. It'd be too sudden between Oblivion and Skyrim.

I wouldn't mind seeing mut races. Maybe a mix between a wood elf and a Khajiit for a super ninja. That would certainly add more depth to the characters without adding new ones or more complications.

I'd honestly rather they work on differentiating each race, and then taking each race and adding options to make them far more different between themselves. Adding body types, breeds, stuff like that.

Time to educate you guys.

First off, in the world of Nirn, every race is pretty xenophobic for the most part, especially if the race looks ugly. In fact, the only reason why we saw other races together is something you can thank Tiber Septim and imperials for, generally, being the least xenophobic group (which isn't much to begin with).

If a new race were to sail over, there would be no "hey, newcomer," it would be "KILL IT WITH FIRE!" instead. Hell, the orsimer were subjected to numerous genocidal wars against them by the redguards and bretons, and only received recognition when they received the Numidium (think a giant, invulnerable golem, able to wipe of places in the blink of an eye and is not subjected to time), and proved they were a force to be recognized and respected. Even if the falmer were to come back, the nords would surely seek to finish the job.

Now, the only race I could think of that could be added would be the Tsaesci. However, for them to make an appearance (and playable), they would HAVE to be refugees fleeing Akavir, due to the kitties winning the genocidal war against them.

As for me, I say don't add a new race, and improve what we have now. Also, there can't be mixed races, as that would require centuries of breeding in a population. The only successful half-race is the bretons. Read http://www.imperial-library.info/content/oblivion-racial-phylogeny-and-biology. It's pretty much Beth putting its foot down and saying "there will be no half-races."

Ummmm..... I think we know the significance of 11 now... :drool:

In all honestest, I would think the good people of High Rock would really not like the fact that they have to print out a map with part of their province gone, thinking of bad memories of having their asses stomp by Megatron that the Orc magical obtain during The Warp in the West. By the time thing get messy from the conflict between the Oblivion Crisis and many years later, I would bet that Orsinium would be a legit province by than. The only thing that would a bit iffy is combining 2 Human race into one by the time we hit Morrowind.

No, we've got 10 distinct ones.

Pretty sure I saw that somewhere, yeah, and I was astonished to think that they'd let so much time go by between games; but it did seem like it might be interesting to play in what amounts to a post-apocalyptic Tamriel relative to Oblivion. And I'll agree that if that much time has passed, all bets are off and I'll have fun playing an Imga.

But then the Skyrim trailer came out and it's very obviously set before The Infernal City. No reference whatsoever to Umbriel, the passing of which is clearly a momentous event even if we don't know how it ends, but the speaker directly states "...the time after Oblivion opened, when the sons of Skyrim would spill their own blood..." as when things are happening. Important, immediate things. The civil war in Skyrim is already brewing in Oblivion's rumors, and there's just no way important, immediate things (on which "you should have acted") are going to wait decades or even centuries to actually happen. I'm fairly sure Skyrim is set no more than a few years after Oblivion.

What of the Amazon blurb? Well, easiest answer is that it was just plain wrong; someone in marketing made a bad assumption. But perhaps the books will lead us into TES6, or hell, maybe they'll end with Yet Another Dragon Break (which I might forgive if it's the 5th Era and someone happens to write a love letter) and time will loop around a bit to make Umbriel relevant to Skyrim. And hey, it just occurred to me that even without such a device there might be an argument for playable dremora in Skyrim. But anyway...


...we agree on the main thing.

Or it could be that the people in Skyrim didn't really care much about Umbriel or what is going on in Cyrodiil and Black Marsh, and that it was more of an isolated event occurring in Black Marsh and Cyrodiil with no empire to make it seem like it matters.

Because the rest of that sentence wasn't important at all.

Come on, if you're going to cherry-pick a straw man, at least respect punctuation borders.

It's referring to the Oblivion crisis as a major event that happened in-game, because I think the majority of players aren't going to read The Burning City (which I've just started-no more spoilers please.) It doesn't HAVE to mention all that stuff. In fact, it doesn't mention much at all. It is, in all honesty, very vague. I thought the exact same thing as you did, though. But then I was convinced otherwise. The discussion is in a thread about having a new map, I'll try to find the link.

But honestly, would you really expect the trailer to go through every significant event in the last 200 years? It's just a major point of reference, something that affected the whole of Tamriel.

Edit1: In any case, do you plan on bringing your modding skills do Skyrim, good sir? Assuming there is (and there better be, or else :toughninja: ) a CS?

Edit2: Here is the thread I was talking about: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1149554-can-we-get-new-maps-before-the-game-is-out/page__st__40__p__16846469__fromsearch__1#entry16846469 there are a couple pages that may be of interest regarding the time frame. But I think most of it is on page 2 and 3.

I still would have said the same thing. The Oblivion Crisis was an event that took place all over Tamriel. Umbriel, on the other hand, only seems to affect Black Marsh and (maybe) Cyrodiil. Why should the people of Skyrim really care about what is happening in the other provinces, when it doesn't affect them (especially with no empire to make it seem important)? Plus, Umbriel was pretty hush hush for the most part. Attrebus only took notice because it was adventure, while his dad didn't care for it, because it didn't affect the rebuilding Cyrodiil. As for everyone else, they'd likely think you were a babbling idiot or a loon. The other provinces most likely didn't give half a damn either (if they even knew about it), since it seemed to have affected Black Marsh only at this point.

Waste of time. Just focus on making the existing races distinct.

le mans 24........?

^^^

Though Skyrim would probably be a bit perturbed with the sudden migration of Dunmer. Not that the reference would make it into a game trailer.

lol i dont play most of the ones they have already. i dont do beast races. i dont do High Elf. i dont do Bosmer. I very, very rarely do Imperial. and very rarely Dunmer. oh, and never Orc... dont like their racial ability.

No. Beware the tiger-men.

"The Ka Po'Tun are a race of tiger people that live on Akavir. Their name means "Tiger-Dragon's Empire". When the Tsaesci supposedly tried to eat all the dragons in their Empire, the dragons fled to Po' Tun, as the empire of tiger people was called then. A great war raged across the land, leaving all the black dragons and all but a few red dragons dead. The remaining red dragons retreated to Tamriel, where they were supposedly given refuge in Cyrodiil. Ever since, the tiger people that remained have tried to somehow become dragons. Tosh Raka is the first one to succeed. Apparently he is the largest Dragon on Nirn, with orange and black coloring, and has built Ka Po' Tun into the largest empire of Akavir. He desires the destruction of Tsaesci, after which he intends to invade Tamriel. The first born-son of an Emperor is known as a Half-Breed, this is a title and rank."

I think the Ka Po' Tun may possibly figure into TES V. I think an invasion from them is likely, and their affection for dragons is a major indicator; hell, they've even attempted to become dragons. And one has succeeded. They have returned.
Think about this, which a guy I know said: "An invasion from the Ka' Po Tun would indicate that they have already wiped out the Tsaesci. Tosh Raka said they would only invade Tamriel if they had first defeated the Tsaesci. Considering the Tang Mo allied themselves with the Ka' Po Tun, I'd say its possible that the Tsaesci don't stand a chance against the Tiger-Dragon Empire. What if the Tsaesci were absorbed into the Tiger-Dragon Empire? And the Kamal? Imagine an entire Akaviri invasion."

Beware the tiger-men.