I always play as Dunmer since Arena, but when I first played Morrowind I started as Breton... Never played Oblivion, but I would start it as Dunmer.

My Dumer character was in his 80's at least back when Morrowind took place, so he'll be about 300 at this point, not really a problem for an elf as long as he can afford to live relatively well so as to not die of disease and such. And obviously he's pretty good at what he does since the Mercenary job isn't the safest.

EDIT: I'm going to have an Orc backup character, i need to see how the races lok in game, even if my Dunmer merc has a detailed backstory I will probably put him on hold if another race just looks too damn awesome, or they somehow manage to make the Dunmer look terrible (Seriously doubt that). Probably your standard big Orc warrior with a big axe or two and light to medium type armor. I'm not a fan of full plate, I like to see the character I'm playing as rather than a humanoid tin can.

As terrible as it sounds, I always do the same thing with Elder Scrolls games:


First playthrough: Male, Dark Elf, Sneaky/Magic Hybrid.

Second playthrough: Male, Argonian, Assassin.

Third Playthrough: (Modded) Male, Dremora, Combat/Magic Hybrid.

Fourth playthrough: (Modded) Male, Custom Race, Magic.