I agree, the Great Houses of Morrowind and the huge re-playability factor, are what make Morrowind my favourite game ever, even though I was introduced to the series by Oblivion. I hope that Skyrim has it's own Clans like the Great Houses. We know there are 9 holds, but maybe there are a few clans that encompass multiple holds e.g. Haafinheim (Solitude) and Northshore (Dawnstar). From looking at http://i1126.photobucket.com/albums/l615/Duruza/Skyrim-map.png, which seems fairly official, I would think The Rift and Eastmarch; The Pale and Winter Hold; The Reach and Falkreath Hold; and Whiterun; as the five Clan alliances.


This is very similar to an idea I had for an organisation called "The Brothers of Skyrim". Basically I had them as "An heroic group of Nords and some other residents of Skyrim, that have banded together to fight for the people of Skyrim. Heroes of the Oblivion Crisis in Skyrim, now they are divided and there is open conflict in the ranks over the future of the Empire. All of Skyrim watch keenly for the resolution of their internal dispute as it may foreshadow the future of Skyrim and it's place in Tamriel." Basically, the faction is splintering into three different factions, the traditional Brothers of Skyrim - who only want to see the best for Skyrim and, while they are truely noble, will not act on the new issues in the faction; the New Brotherhood - a fanatical group of freedom fighters; and a final new group of near-fanatical Imperialists who will stop at nothing to ensure that 'the new brotherhood doesn't kill Skyrim by making it the target of it's neighbours'. Basically there are several endings to the main questline, you can side with one of the fanatical sides, stay true to the old ways and take a corse of action either way, stay true and do nothing seeing the faction actually split and leaving you with the remnants (semi-failure I guess), or finally you may crack down on both sides and let the Clans and politicians decide the future of Skyrim - nothing really would happen then in-game unless the mainquest let you chose a particular side.

It's pretty much a guarantee that the Dark Brotherhood still exists. Assassins will be required. The time after the Empire fell was probably chaotic, with competing nobles all over. I bet Ocato was assassinated.
The Fighters Guild probably still exists too. Nobody will be funding the Legion, unpaid soldiers become marauders and need to be stopped.

I think the College of Whisperers focuses on conjuration (pure speculation really, though the name somewhat implies it).

I'd like an Treasure Hunters Guild or something similar. They're hired by scholars or nobles to recover artifacts/family heirlooms from ruins. Though their quests would probably become boring. Still, there's a lot that can be done with a guild like that. Lord's Mail, the Septim's jewelry or even stuff that were brought from the Shivering Isles or the Deadlands can be recovered and will probably be expensive.

In Oblivion you couldn't join the Mythic Dawn because they were the enemy. Although there attempts failed and their leader, Mankar Camoran, was killed the cult itself wasn't destroyed in the conclusion of the game. While I might believe the Empire could have hunted them to extinction had it continued to thrive, there is no way the Mythic Dawn might have been wiped out due to the chaotic times following the Oblivion Crisis. I'd like to be able to join them. Besides, their main base is/was in the mountains north of Cheydinhal, which is not far from Skyrim. I like to think that they escaped north to Skyrim.



They are mercinaries, not hunters. Personally, I don't think the Fighters Guild should be hunting animals. Leave that to real hunters.



If that is true then it's pretty easy to see which is which. A college is a school, so the College of Whispers is dedicated to reasoning and science.



That's not how the Dark Brotherhood is supposed to work. As others have pointed out the DB in Oblivion was a joke. They are not sadists. They don't murder because it gives them pleasure. It's just a job. Actually, these kinds of assassin's guilds are supposed to be a political arm that some nobles can use to get rid of rivals. They don't accept contracts to kill a neighbour who some commoner happens to dislike. Actually, given that most contracts are bought by nobles, I don't think a mere commoner could afford it.