are there any elite groups like alma's hand in other provinces?

i heard something about nord thu'um or tongues? whats up with them?

also redgaurd ansei or something like that?

or anything i dont know of?

if theres info, do share!

http://www.imperial-library.info/mwbooks/orsinium.shtml mentions the Cursed Legion of High Rock:

"Unknown to Berylith but known to him now, his servant had once ridden with the legendary Cursed Legion of High Rock. He not only knew how to fight in Orcish armor himself, but he had acted as trainer to other Orcs before retiring into domestic service."

Seeing your avatar, makes me think of Dagoth Ur's Ash Vampires. Even though the Nerevarine did away with all of them, it's still one of your 'elite groups'.

There's some information found about them in the Morrowind game.

Ash Vampires.

Bouyant Armigers.

Ordinators.

Psijics.

Commona Tong.

Morag Tong.

Any Grand Council you can think of.

Blades.

Sorry I didn't elaborate, I just a feel as if I'm in a list making mode tonight.

In the various Sixth House bases you can find the corpses of a group of well equipped adventurers. Who they were is unknown but it seems they were scouting out the various bases and got picked off one by one.

Some of those inside the Ghostfence would be Bouyant Armigers, along with some individials i suppose.

I don't think those are elite...

I think so.

Maybe not the Commona Tong, but you couldn't join them ingame, so they MUST be elite.

The Blades are.

Only a select few though, since most seem to be spies in other Provinces.

I hate to keep bringing up RL anologies, but the Blades are more like the CIA, whereas Her Hands are more like the Secret Service, or Delta Force. Skilled and influential, sure, but they're not required to defeat numerous foes single-handedly or protect an individual with their life. The Blades are more likely to take a swig of poison to avoid giving up state secrets than taking an arrow intended for the emperor (though I'm sure they would if in the position to do so).

They were his bodyguards. They fought off scores of assassins, failing to save him simply because an assassin snuck around from a secret passage while they were fighting others. Some act as spies, others act as his personal guard. Jauffre mentioned that he was once the head of the Emperor's bodyguards. And the loading screen says they're elite.

Maybe youre right, but Oblivion hasn't proven to be very trustworthy when it comes to lore.

Anything fictional can be retconned. Even lore.

LET'S HOPE

Oblivion's Blades are not the Empire's Finest, more like a ceremonial home-guard. Jauffre doesn't know the first thing a princeling brat should about the Empire and its defenses. Brother Piner is a farm boy who writes letters to his mother and bunks with a bunch of priests. They're Akavirophile LARPERs. You don't see Caroline and Cyrus tracking down pieces of Numidium, that's a job for the more functional wing of the order.

Dead give-away? (They're all human!)

Brother Piner isn't even a member of the Blades, and you shouldn't judge the entire organization by it's standing during Oblivion. It was severely weakened and stressed during that time. And both Cyrus, Caroline and all of the Cloud Ruler Temple Blades for that matter were not on any mission because they were ordered to stand guard for the Emperors protection by Jauffre.

The CoC is the Blade that gets all the action.

Besides, an elite organization isn't determined individualy by it's members, it is done so by it's accomplishments and purpose.

I these aren't elite in the same meanings as Almalexias Hands. They're just very well trained an equipped.


Some of the Morag Tong might be extremely good assassins, but they're not some kind of elite group of them. They have assassins that aren't as good aren't "the best of the best" too.

Any Grand Council you can think of.
Politicians? Hardly an elite force. Unless you're counting their skills in Speechcraft.



The Cammona Tong is elitist, not an elite force of anything. They're just thugs, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats. A bunch of low-life brutes with extremist views. They had a good leader, but that does not quite cut it.


That we only saw "militaristic" Blades in Oblivion does not change that the majority of them still are spies.

The Buoyant Armigers and the Ordinators are elites, since they were the praetorian guards/samurai of Vivec and Almalexia respectively.

The Argonians have Shadowscales, an assassin elite trained from childhood.

The Psijiics count as elite mages. I think the PGE 3rd says they're starting to take on more apprentices at the end of the Third Era, but they were always a small and powerful guild.

There are probably few Tongues by the beginning of the Fourth Era, but they count as elite; they're the best of the Nords in using the Thu'Um, able to shatter walls with their voice.

Like I said in my response above, I don't think a groups standing is measured by the individual strength of it's members. Doing so is poor practice in the long run. If you however, would have said that Morag Tong isn't an elite group because seeing as how some of it's members are poor assassins and sometimes fail, the groups standing is diminished. Then, I'd agree with you



Who said anything about a force? The question was regarding an elite group. Force implies physical or magical prowess. I'd say a group of highly skilled politicians can be a fierce group to be reconned with. Politicans can do more damage than a sword before a conflict has even begun, or even start it.



I agree. However, I do think, that even such a group can do some great things and be considered as elite, IF, they are able to accomplish great goals, or have guidance from some great leader for the same reason.



I think the Blades adapt to whatever situation the Emperor requires. There's far too much focus on them being spies simply because people don't want to let go of their Morrowind "vision" of them.

At least, that's what I've come to think. But that is my personal oppinion.

That was what I implied.


You misunderstood me, when I used the word "elite force" I meant exactly the same as an "elite group", or rather, the power that such a group has. It is basically the same thing. You're taking my words to litterary, and you must also consider that English isn't my first language, so I might not know of all the nuances it contains, or I might have misunderstood words or made up my own context between them.

Anyway, as I said, politicians aren't an elite group, unless you count their (in game terms, of course) Speechcraft skill, the thing that makes them politicians. You're basically arguing with me by agreeing with me. :foodndrink:



Of course, but does a great leader make up for the "lowliness" of the rest? Most of the members seemed to me to be nothing else than bitter racists, sitting in bars drinking sujamma and complaining, beating up the occasional argonian in a dark alley somewhere. There probably existed an elite layer of people somewhere in the "organisation", which were the ones that directed what were supposed to happen, and the ones that got things done. But all organisations have that. Almalexia's Hands are the "elite layer" of their "organisation", an elite group of Ordinators. I do not believe there is such a group known within the Camonna Tong.



I do too. I don't see why the Blades wouldn't be able to be both the Emperor's intelligence, both at home and abroad, and at the same time be his bodyguards. I only reacted to the "Anything fictional can be retconned. Even lore." statement, which I interpreted as saying "now all Blades are warriors".
It's just to different branches of the same tree.

Daggerfall: Blades raid http://www.imperial-library.info/tsod/totem.shtml.

Morrowind; Blades spy for the Emperor.

Oblivion: Blades gaurd the Emperor, and investigate the hide out of Mankar Camoran.

Conclusion: The Blades serve both as the Emperors private military as well as his intelligence service.

just wondering if Almalexia has Almalexia hands
and vivec has the Ordinators
what about sotha sil has he got his own eliat group :spotted owl:

He got his robots, that's about it. His main defense was isolation.

you mean the fabricants?