As yet Bethesda haven't said anything about the future of the Elder Scrolls series, but one of the most common topics of speculation is where the next game should be set. Rather than trying to keep this in the official suggestion/discussion thread we've decided to give this an official home.

This discussion doesn't need to be tied entirely to geography, other setting details are also appropriate. However let's please keep this focused on the game world and leave other matters, like gameplay mechanics or NPCs, in the other thread.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1455380-official-tes-vi-location-and-setting-speculation/

I personally want either of the following:

1. Elsweyr; plot- imperials and others flee to the nation after their hometowns are being seiged. The main plot revolves around uncovering a hidden skooma trade and finally putting the skooma business under but things go horribly wrong. Other plots might include more information on the Aldmeri war, A special Khajiit dark brotherhood,

2. Summerset isles; main plot- putting an end to the civil war. Other plots might include a plot about the psyjic order.

Unfortunately, I think we are going to Hammerfell to deal with the Thalmor, and one of the DLCs will be going back to Cyrodiil to stop the Thalmor there.

WHY unfortunately? Just wondering as I wouldn't know.

Thinking it's going to be Hammerfell. Wanting Summerset Isles.

I hope it will be Black Marsh. A lot of mystery to unveil there. Elsweyr would be so exotic in a laid back way that I like, something like the beaches in Tanaris

Because some people would be annoyed that we would have had 3 Human Provinces in a row.

There are much more exotic places to go than there, people want the Alien feeling back like Morrowind gave

Hope the next game is in BlackMarsh! Have always wanted to travel there- to see how well the Hero would fare in a swampy, poisonous location =) Although, I think the next game may be dealing with the Thalmore...

Hammerfell! I imagine it like the lands seen in Conan (which, in turn, are inspired by the central asian regions... The mountains and rocky deserts which were home to the Mongols, Tartars nomadic tribes)

It's probably going to be Hammerfell, though I'd prefer Summerset Isles myself. Reason being that I almost always play a "science-mage" orientated character, in morrowind making small enchanted trinkets by myself and then giving them as rewards to companions before dismissing them gave a very powerful feeling, as if I actually deserved my title in house telvanni and wasn't just 'useful but not that bright'.

In skyrim I think the anti-magic culture was a rather recent development, but if I'm not mistaken the redguards looked down on magic long before the nords did, and overall a game set in a province of 'famous warriors' doesn't feel that appealing right after skyrim. I'm sure it might have some interesting quests for mage-like characters and even some cool spells and mechanics, but probably not the same magic-science feel you get when Divayth Fyr talked about growing his cloned daughters in jars. Make no mistake though I'm not against a game set in hammerfell or anywhere else, it just feels to me that it might focus too much on melee combat and mundane issues. I hope I'm not doing any injustice to the redguards, I probably am since I never really got much into the lore about them or hammerfell.

So that's why I'd personally pefer summerset... I'm hoping for the alien feel of the oldest elven civilization on tamriel...

Though Elsweyr is also good, I'd love to see those ancient cities burried in sand...

A khajiit is fine too...

Elsweyr, and whom ever does the soundtrack should blatantly plagiarize "The Encounter" from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to use as battle music.

Two entries with traditional western fantasy is enough, time for more exotic settings like Morrowind.

I have a sinking feeling Hammerfell is next. Next most likely is Valenwood or Elseweyr are tied for second most likely. Finally there is some peripheral evidence to suggest Black Marsh, but it's not much.

Edit
Hmm... I have been inside my chamber of understanding and I think I have narrowed down the candidates for next game.

Game Development Reasoning:
They will want to save some human provinces to space the series out a little.
They also Need something significantly different from Skyrim's cold climates and... for good measure Oblivion (let the feelings fade a little).
Hammerfell is very different, but it's also way too obvious. We had some very obvious candidates in the past and they have never made it.
Summerset Isle is not quite different from Oblivion in climate and it's still just a little too soon to go back to an environment like that. So in this regard it is a bad candidate.
Summerset is a good candidate because it offers us new architecture/elves to break up the pace. It might not have a radically different climate, but hey it's new and exotic while still being tiny bit familiar.
Summerset is also kind of obvious a next step. So I think we can reasonably expect to not have this next.
Summerset is a fan favourite.
Elsewyr is also significantly different different, very different compared to what we are used to.
Valenwood is also radically different from our usual. It also has familiar elves as oppose dot beast races.
Black Marsh is again very different, perhaps a little too different at this time.
Black Marsh is a fan favourite.
High Rock could be seen as a little too familiar with the whole mountain thing going on, and we've kinda sorta been there. Not really. I think it is really unlikely.

1-5 my odds of these being in based on this evidence. 1 meaning almost no chance in hell, and 5 meaning you can bet your life on it.
Hammerfell 1
Summerset 3
Elsewyr 2
Valenwood 3
Black Marsh 3
High Rock 1

Lore Reasons:
Hammerfell has lots of reasons too, tons of reasons. So many reasons you can make a book out of them. The whole fighting to keep both parties out is one aspect. Them fighting the AD. The registered DLC thing. It's even more obvious of a plot hook than anything. Unfortunately obvious bets have proven to be usually wrong in these sorts of things. I'll be surprised if we get this in our next game. Not to mention from a lore perspective as to the big chess game being played, I can't see this being a big location.
Summerset Isle has tons of connection to this place, and it involves an ancient plot to destroy the towers because they do not like gods or something. My lore is a little rusty, my point is they have a big part in the plot, but it's too early in the play to be here. It's got tons and tons of prominence and connection, and I feel it's too obvious with the Aldmeri Dominion. Tower Destroyed.
Elsewyr has some pretty good connections with the AD starting to throw their influence in here. Unfortunately this "influence" doesn't seem to be all that much. We haven't seen all that much of their effect here and it doesn't really seem like there is all that much going on here yet. They did trick the locals with that whole moon business. Ultimately it seems to have ended uneventfully. No tower. There is the possibility of a "New Mane" to remake a tower there.
Valenwood seems to be another fairly likely candidate form a lore perspective. They joined the AD and now might regret it with that whole cleansing business. Has a tower... dun dun dun..... it's quite specifically stated we don't know if it is active or not. It "rooted" itself. Most mysterious. We would need to see the state of this tower for sure. Also given what we know of the war. It's a very strong candidate in this aspect.
Black Marsh might have one of the strongest, but most subtle lore connections. It is hypothesized by me and a few people that there is another of "The Towers" hidden deep within the swamps being protected by the Hist/Argonian. The way they reacted during the Oblivion crisis was too well timed, and with such ferocity and skill to simply be protecting themselves. It almost seemed to be a divine mandate to them. We have to wonder how the hell Argonians can do this (hist gives them powers). With the Red Mountain explosion it could have triggered the Hist unintentionally to attack the country in self defense mode. If we don't go here next game it will still be a little ways off. It's all coming down to Bethesda and how they want to do the order of the towers.
High Rock also has a tower near it. Not much other current lore to go there though. However, if something were to happen to the hypothesized tower in Black Marsh then we would be setting up for a return to here. What could be the last of these towers. Depending on how Bethesda goes at this, we could see a return here, perhaps not now.

1-5 same scoring system. 1 = Almost no supporting lore/plot to go here. 5 = Tons of supporting plot to go here, or lots of lore.
Hammerfell 1
Summerset 2

Elsewyr 3
Valenwood 4
Black Marsh 3
High Rock 2

Averaging out.
Hammerfell 1
Summerset 2.5

Elsewyr 2.5
Valenwood 3.5
Black Marsh 3
High Rock 1.5

Most likely candidate is Valenwood followed by Black Marsh and then Summerset Isle.

Take your bets. Long odds welcome folks.

Whereever the originating provence, gear it for ADD-ON/DLC expansion to inlude other areas, as with Solsdine (?) in Skyrim. overtime.

Wow... that seems almost scientific! What is so important about this tower?

I'll take the tower bait and ask: how many towers have we seen / interfered with?

I'll start from the most recent: there's the Throat of the World where the PC in Skyrim closed the time wound and probably also took away some unmelting snow. Then, there's White Gold Tower. It was as briefly under control of the Dominion when they sacked Imperial City; where's now the amulet of Kings (its gem is supposed to be linked to the tower)?. Red Mountain: the removal of the heart of Lorkan led to a quite dramatic aftermath; no need to add anything more. Direnni Tower: been there, done what? According to rumor, the real tower is underground, not the circular metal structure rising above. Also in Daggerfall, another rumored tower, the Numidium, was seen briefly. Supposely, during the events of Daggerfall, this tower already outlived the original purpose and it was more a sort of powerful magical artifact than anything else.

Towers still to be seen: one in Alinor, the Crystal Tower, but it was destroyed by the Daedra. Is it true? Orichalc, originally located in Yokuda and said to be the reason of its collapse when a mage tried to do something stupid with it. Truth or legend? The last (known) is the Green Sap, the giant free-roaming tree upon which the Bosmer capital city of Falinesti had been built. In the Fourth Era it is said that the tree has stopped roaming around.

Both Morrowind and Oblivion contained hints about where the series was headed. Does Skyrim contain some as well? Can those hints only be recognized only afterwards or is there a chance to recognize them early? The fundamental question is probably: does Bethesda still sees TES as a cohesive narration or will the future titles and settings be decided solely based on what makes more sense from a business point of view?

Both of course, though so far they seem to favor the narration side of the equation. Though I can also see a small choice of mixing and matching the games ot not all be too samey. We had standard fantasy with dagger fall, more of a small region than a game game, hot desert with Morrowind, Tolkien land, and ice and snow. So yes there also seems to be a bias towards doing something new for every game. Every TES game so far has had a tower in it to my knowledge. So now we need to assume that we will find another of these towers. I think the lore on the tower being destroyed is pretty clear on the matter. Though I have no way to know for absolute sure. Hence why I decided to exclude it as a place to go for a tower. It seems irrelevant at this point... but won't be forever. Yokuda most likely is destroyed since the Redguard are here, I think of their entire race set sail they would remember if the land was sunk or not. The last is the tree as you point out. I suspect it isn't destroyed yet (they can still live in place) but something is weakening it. The Thalmor "cleansing" perhaps has something to do with this? All I know is this makes it the most likely case. It's the most unambiguous one. There could be more unknown towers that's for sure. Though I think they will build up to these reveals over time as opposed to just whisking us away there.

Given what we thus know, we have to see that Valenwood makes the most sense for the next location. I wouldn't bet my life on it since none of the cases are all that strong, but it seems the most likely once you get into the hidden details. If we go for "obvious" sequels than I can see Hammerfell with all of the hints and build up, but it's just way to obvious. None of the obvious candidates have ever been right so far.

If these towers all fall there is nothing separating us from the plane of Oblivion or any other inhospitable realm. So the world most likely be destroyed or heavily altered into some sort of post apocalyptic world or mortals would outright be destroyed or enslaved. All you need to know is one possible "Big End" of everything. Many of these towers are now destroyed or dormant.

The Summerset Isles are tropical, I believe. Oblivion's Cyrodiil was temperate, with a swamp in the south.

What Happened to Elsweyr in the end? O.o

There's a decent amount of Lore that could support going there.

We've yet to see the Dro'jizad Prophecy (Mentioned in "The Hope of the Redoran"), The Assassination of the Mane, Thalmor Presence (I'm not really informed on this Tower Lore, in fact I can't find anything on it. But if the one in Elsweyr is gone by splitting it back into Anequina & Pellitine, is there anything against possibly restoring it by a New Mane reuniting it back into Elsweyr?)

Sorry about that, I was writing that at like... 4-5am. I'll edit in the score. Honestly it sounds like a one off plot hook to get us into Elseweyr if they decide to do a game in that direction. It just seems like a throw away point that could be used later. There is some Thalmor presence, but so what? It seems inconsequential. All we know is they tricked them into following it. I will admit compared to some other contenders I could easily see a game coming form this, the BIG downside? There is no tower located in Elsewyr. It has no connection to the larger meta plot that has been going on since the beginning of the series. None that we're aware of. I think the developers are honestly saving it for when they need it. It just doesn't "feel" like time for Elsewyr. Look at the lore expansions the Argonians got foreshadowing them having a larger roll (or soon to be). When the Khajit's time comes, there will be signs. They are starting to build, but not quit there yet. In my opinion. I will say it isn't a completely forgone conclusion, but the lack of a tower is what kills this idea. There "could" be a secret tower located there, but if so there has been no lore hints about it like the subtle ones from Black Marsh.

Suddenly late in the third era "Green-Sap" the tower in Valenwood stops moving. Then in the next game coincidentally we have Thalmor presence looking into "The Towers"? It's really well timed to me. The AD believes these "towers" to be the bars of their prison stopping them from attaining immortality where once they knew the secrets of how to use them. The Thalmor want these towers destroyed. It's still a bit too early to go back to High Rock to the Adamtine Tower. Not to mention its climate would be similar with the whole mountains thing to Skyrim.

That leaves us three known towers still maybe functional or not. We don't know if the events of Skyrim deactivated High Hrothgar as a tower. Many suspect it did melt some of the "unmelting snow". We were also just there. Next up we have the Adamtine Tower (which might actually be underground). It's still active. It is also a human location, so eventually there will be a lot of reason to go there. Or Hammerfell, it depends on where they want to place the island since it almost perfectly balances between High Rock and Hammerfell. So that leaves one known tower left. Green-Sap. I'm reasonably positive this will be the new location of the game.

Bethesda seems to be adding tons of Argonian lore in the last few years compared to... ever... really. So it's clear they are subtly building it up. Now after Valenwood? I could see us going to High Rock or Hammerfell. Most likely Hammerfell. Eventually we will still need to go to Summerset and see what is happening with theirs and if its really broken.

What's the deal with all this tower speculatin? I think I missed something or maybe I'm just really tired.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Towers

I'm going to have to quote my friend here, She knows a lot about both Khajiit & Thalmor Lore

So, basing off of that. If there is a New Mane to unite Elsweyr, the Tower IS existent. Let's throw some stuff in for a interesting Plot

Dro'jizad Prophecy, let's say that it predicts a rise of a New Mane to Re-take and restore Elsweyr. You of course aren't the Mane (Don't want to force people to be a Khajiit), instead you Help the Mane like He's Martin Septim or something. The Thalmor learn of the new Mane, and of course want to kill him to prevent the Tower from being restored. neither you or the Mane Know why they're after him, you just see the Thalmor being their snobby selves. You could start with some Underground resistance, Who maybe was started from realizing the Thalmor's "Void Nights" Scandal. Maybe learn about the Towers and the Thalmor's purpose, blah blah blah, Do something with an Elder Scroll, Kill something/someone that wanted to destroy the world.

Sounds viable to me, IF we all decided that it's "Inevitable" that the next TES will completely focus on the Thalmor & Towers. Other than that, it's still all random to where we go.

Every game has had a tower in it so far, so it's a safe bet we're going to somewhere with one. It's also likely with the prophecy done with Skyrim we could be moving into some new prophecy. Time will tell. I mean there are small odds we can go to any province, even ones visited but it seems very unlikely for various reasons stated.

I will admit I did not consider that piece of lore. In that case... it's got a stronger case to go on than anticipated. Still from a game design perspective, I feel it's less likely to be featured at this point because people don't like too crazy weird of stuff apparently. That and in terms of popularity Khajit are only so so to on the unfavorable side of things.

Also if this "New Mane" was simple found now then how can we get all set up for that big game in Summerset Isle which I think will be one of the last towers to be visited for plot reasons, if it's setting them up as the big villain you don't go in there until the end. If we start fixing towers now it throws off this whole dramatic thing we got going on. Which is highly unlikely. So I still have to rank Valenwood higher. Now from a pure lore perspective... I think the Khajit could have a better claim to it, but for a game development reason and plot reason they have a very weak claim to the next game. Unfortunately we're not in an ideal world since we're going to Valenwood, perhaps the race I like the least. Oh well that's just how these things go. Or will likely go.

I've come up with another speculation. I tried to reason not like a TES fan but using the same logic applied in the development of the narration between the past few games.

Unlike past games there's little NPC chat about what's happening in the other provinces. So what do we have for sure as big major event? Somehow I think the death of the emperor Mede will serve as a starting point. I don't think it's essential that the dark brotherhood killed him as narrated in Skyrim by following a certain quest line. There are some big political machinations going on indipendently on how the ituation in Skyrim evolves. The assasionation of an emperor is such a dramatic happening that would probably dwarf whatever happens at the same time in the Civil War.

Then, the is THE Dragonborn. The coming of a dragonborn, foretold by the return of the dragons, is another big major event. So we have a vacant throne and news of a dragonborn up in the north. The last famous ones founded empires. Skyrim hero, however disappears, but not before rumors of a new dragonborn reach the elder council. Maybe the PC in the next installment will be sent looking for THE dragonborn, only to find ANOTHER dragonborn by chance. This unexpected person, probably unaware of his condition in the beinning, will be the one destined to found the new empire, the one forever remembered, while the hero will fade into obscurity, as it always happens in TES games. Cue in political plots, the Thalmors and whatever needs to done to make the PC life uneasy! Where these events will take place is anyone's guess. I tried to come up with a pretty plausible story that wouldn't deviate too much from the typical approach seen in past games.

.......

People have exclaimed they want a more Alien setting for awhile now, don't give me no crap about "People don't like too crazy weird stuff", and the most unfavorable races as seen by the Polls commonly are Orcs, Redguards, and Bosmer. Khajiit are casually in the low middle, sometimes up into 3rd place.

Although I still doubt that either of those statistics are Significant determinants on where the next setting "Couldn't" be.

The Tower thingy I do see Viable for a future plot setting for Alinor like you said, but not for awhile until only one Tower stands. Until then, I still don't see the dire need to only go to provinces that have standing Towers. The games are based on the Elder Scrolls and the Prophecies foretold, Let's not come to the conclusion that each game has to indirectly SHOW an existing Tower when the game's Main questline really has nothing to do with it. do we need to see the Towers for the Thalmor's plan to continue?