Factions of Skyrim: Unofficial Guide
Confirmed Information and Discussion Thread

This thread is a repository for gathering and discussing confirmed faction-related information as well as speculating on the various possible factions of Skyrim and how the player will interact with them.

Q: What exactly is a "faction"?

A: A faction is simply a group of allied actors, which can consist of NPCs, animals, monsters, Daedric Princes, and/or the player. Each faction can contain as little as one member or as many as hundreds.

Some Skyrim factions have already been confirmed, and there a number of additional factions we can deduce from information revealed in previous interviews, videos, concept art and Skryim lore.


I. Guild Factions
The kind of faction many of us are most interested in are the guild-type factions, which the player can join and advance through a set of ranks, receiving quests and new spells along the way. For purposes of discussion in this thread, we will refer to these factions as "Guild Factions," merely as a way to differentiate them from the other categories.

1-1. Confirmed Skyrim Guild Factions

• The College of Winterhold
  
• The Companions
  
• The Thieves' Guild
  
• The Dark Brotherhood

1-2. Possible Skyrim Guild Factions

• Necromancers
  
• The Horme
  
• Whiterun Witches' Coven
  
• Arena Teams

1-3. Necromancers
Todd Howard and Craig Lafferty have both mentioned Necromancers in various interviews. According to Todd there is an exterior POI scene with an altar and "some necromancers." Quite possibly, they are not a faction the player can join; however, we do not yet know.

1-4. The Horme
According to the lore, there is an important bandit faction in Skyrim that has played a role in politics, supporting secession from the Empire. Hopefully they are still around as of the year 4E 200s

"The Horme, also known as the Horme Bandits, was a powerful quasi-miltarial bandit and maurauder organization that existed during the Third and Fourth Eras. The Horme was originally founded as a way for Potema Septim, the Wolf Queen of Solitude, to increase her military strength by recruiting bandits, marauders, and mercenaries. The Horme fought in the War of the Red Diamond where it was defeated, but not destroyed, by the Imperial Legion. Potema and Uriel Septim III did not survive this conflict and the Horme scattered into the Jerall, Valus, and Velothi Mountains. Eventually, they were reforged by a high ranking member of the Horme, and set about raiding and destroying Imperial interests in the provinces of High Rock, Skyrim, Morrowind, and northern Cyrodiil. After being united again, the Horme gained members and eventually became one of the major organizations rebelling against the Septim Empire, and later the Republic of Tamriel."


1-5. Whiterun Witches' Coven
According to the lore, there is a Witches' Coven in Whiterun, that may or may not still exist as of 4E 200s.

"Whiterun has not been as fortunate as its coastal northern cousins. A dynastic feud, attacks by Horme bandits and frost trolls, and a series of annihilating winters of alternating floods, droughts, and fires have crippled the area that was once considered the Imperial City of Skyrim. The population blamed and then curiously exalted the leader of the local witches' coven, Jsashe, a self proclaimed priestess of Lorkhan. The Witch Queen of Whiterun, as she is called, now wields effective control of the county, though her magic has not brought it prosperity as of yet."

1-6. Arena Factions
The http://www.imperial-library.info/content/go-blades and http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Skyrim#Notable_Places both mention numerous Arena teams that once existed in each Skyrim city.

List of historical Arena teams

• Whiterun: Devastators
  
• Snowhawk/Markath: Frost Demons
  
• Rifton/Riften: Furies
  
• Windhelm: Paladins
  
• Winterhold: Annihilators
  
• Haafingar/Solitude: Ravagers
  
• Dawnstar: Avengers
  
• Falcrenth: Dark Shadows

1-7. Volkihar Clan
One of the lore books, Immortal Blood, mentions a tribe of so-called "Ice Vampires" known as the Volkihar Clan, based in the Eastern part of Skyrim. Considering their long lifespan, as well as http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4lrm97dBqNo/TUFlxQiW7CI/AAAAAAAAAZM/n_xn6TWnSA8/s1600/artofskyrim_013_femmonster.jpg?__sf=1303445029 it is quite possible they are still around in 4E 200s. Whether they are a joinable faction, or associated with any quests is anyone's guess.

"He wanted to know about the vampires of eastern Skyrim. I told him about the most powerful tribe, the Volkihar Clan, paranoid and cruel, whose very breath could freeze their victims' blood in the veins. I explained to him how they lived beneath the ice of remote and haunted lakes, never venturing into the world of men except to feed.

... but you should know that the Volkihar have an additional ability you didn't mention. They can reach through the ice of their lakes without breaking it. It was quite a nasty surprise, being grabbed from below without any warning."


II. Location Factions

Each Hold will comprise a separate faction, with a distinct way to track the player's bounty and reputation within that hold. According to Todd, you can be a wanted criminal in one hold and "who's that?" in another.

If previous Bethesda open world sandbox games are any indication, there will also be separate factions for each city and perhaps even smaller location-specific factions to define the NPCs in these areas, such as waterfront area, castle area, skooma den, etc.

Whether these various Location Factions will be used as a means to determine rules for player disposition and things like helping out the player or other NPCs during combat (as was the case in Oblivion), or whether they will be more dynamic, with a reputation system that has a greater impact on gameplay (as was the case in Fallout New Vegas), we do not yet know.

Confirmed Location Factions
(9 holds - some of the names TBC)

• Haafinheim (?) Hold
  
• The Reach
  
• Solitude Hold
  
• Whiterun Hold
  
• Falkreath Hold
  
• Winterhold
  
• The Pale
  
• Eastmarch Hold
  
• Rift Hold

Cities, Villages and Settlements (TBC)

• Whiterun
  
• Markarth Side
  
• Karthwasten
  
• Winterhold
  
• Kynesgrove
  
• Falkreath
  
• Riverwood
  
• Riften
  
• solitude
  
• Dragon Bridge
  
• Greenwood
  
• Dawnstar

III. Quest-Related Factions
This framegrab of a http://www.scharesoft.de/joomla/almanach/images/1/1f/Artwork_-_Art_of_Skyrim_-_Himmelsrand-Karte.jpg strongly suggests distinct EMPIRE and REBEL factions controlling different parts of Skyrim.

Since the game is set against the backdrop of a civil war, this is not surprising. Hopefully, the player will be able to play an active role in this central inter-faction conflict, for example choosing to support one side or the other.

Also related to the main quest, there will almost certainly separate factions for the Greybeards and the intelligent, speaking dragons.

Certainly there will be a number of side quests involving various smaller factions. Todd Howard mentioned that a few quests will involve a racial conflict between a group of racist Nords and a group of Elves.


Possible Quest Factions

• Rebels
  
• Empire
  
• Greybeards
  
• Speaking Dragons
  
• Racist Nords
  
• Elven Enemies of Racist Nords

IV. Creature Factions
The purpose of various creature factions is to make sure certain groups of creatures are friendly to each other.

Keep in mind, every creature in the game needs to belong to one or more factions in order to govern its disposition toward any other actors it encounters.

It is interesting to note that Todd Howard mentioned that certain species will hunt other species (for example, a pack of wolves will hunt mammoths, and foxes will hunt rabbits, etc.). This suggests a greater number of creature factions compared with Oblivion, this behavior did not take place in previous TES games.

V. Inter-Faction Conflict
There will be a great deal of inter-faction conflicts, as in previous TES games. In Skyrim, as a result of the civil war, hopefully this conflict will manifest in more meaningful conflict between NPC factions and perhaps between a number of factions in which the player can participate, such as the Empire vs. Rebels, since certain Holds will likely be allied with one of the sides in the war.

It is interesting to note that any individual NPC can belong to numerous factions simultaneously.

For example, an NPC who is a member of the Companions might belong to

• Whiterun Hold Faction
  
• Whiterun City Faction
  
• Companions
  
• Rebels

This raises questions, such as how would a situation be resolved where a particular faction, such as the Companions, sides with the Rebels in the civil war, but the city, or Whiterun Hold, were to side with the Empire? How does this impact an NPC who is a member of Companions and a member of Whiterun Hold?

VI. Logistics Factions
There has always been a need in Bethesda's open world sandbox games to make use of certain factions to solve very specific problems, such as to resolve ownership problems for certain objects, or to ensure that one or two specific NPCs don't attack each other, etc.

VII. How Many Factions?
If Oblivion is any indication, there will most likely be several hundred factions in Skyrim.

For reference, see below a list of the factions in Oblivion.

Complete Listing of Oblivion Factions (331 total)


VIII. Discussion Questions
I would love to know your thoughts regarding the possible factions of Skyrim and how you think the player will interact with them.

Also, please let me know if I have listed any information above incorrectly. I'm particularly unsure about the names of the nine Holds and the various Cities, Towns, Villages and Settlements.

Epic OP

All I have to say: PLEASE LET DERE BE A NECOMANCER GUILD TOOOOODD.

The Dark Brotherhood faction was confirmed? I wasn't aware.
I just want some recognition for being of the faction, people seeing me as a master assassin or pickpocket. Necromancer seems interesting.
Well done on the OP, I must say.

Did you read the list of factions from Oblivion? I'd say only few dozen are genuine factions.

The DB was confirmed by Todd back in January, then mentioned again in a few other interviews.

Then at E3, Todd described College of Winterhold, Companions and Thieves' Guild as the three "major" factions, which made a lot of people worried, naturally. However, in a subsequent E3 interview, Ashley Cheng indicated something to the effect that there are three "major" factions and "a fourth is hinted at in the demo," referring to a section of the demo where a letter mentioning the Dark Brotherhood is found on a corpse.

Seems 99% likely that Dark Brotherhood is in. There is a very slight possibility that they would not be joinable, but given that Ashley Cheng brought them up when describing the three other Guild Factions, it seems most likely to be one of the Guild Factions. (Especially considering how popular it was in Oblivion, they must realize there would be a lot of angry fans if there is a non-joinable Dark Brotherhood). But let's see whether they mention this in the fan Q&A responses.

What about the Volk'har?

It was confirmed to be in the game whether or not it's joinable is debatable though.

I would love to know more about them - can you elaborate?

I think that there will only be the 4 Guild Factions that the player can join. The other factions will probably follow a FO: NV style reputation system, so if you do quests for the Empire faction, the Rebel faction will like you less, making it more difficult or impossible to get quests from the Rebels.

I also think that Skyrim should use a FO: NV style reputation system, but I'm not confident that they will. I would also be more than happy if they just made up something completely new.

Edit* I think that there should be an option to vote "none" in some of the poll options.

Double Edit* I would just like to say, I'm impressed by the OP. It's very well thought out, and organized in a way that makes all the information easy to understand. Good job! :thumbsup:

I think the history is advanced now to a civil war between the pro-Empire faction based at Solitude and Windhelm as the rebel faction. I assume that this means that the Nords of Windhelm are what some people were calling the racist Nords.

Most are factions in the sense of they have unique set rules of who they will attack and who they won't. It makes sense if you play InFamous 2 and figure out how to get their mission creator working (Beams with Pride). Others while being part of the same group have different ideas which make them a different faction vs a different group. Same group different factions inside a group. Like Take Any political group for example. While being members of the same group many have different factions or ideas based on differing ideas but they still associate with the group as a whole and will still vote for their candidate.

Interesting, yes, that would make a lot of sense, since the Empire has been more welcoming of different races or more of a "melting pot." Perhaps this is a somewhat complex factor in the civil war.

Was there some idea about which part of Skyrim will have more Dunmer immigrants?

wow, big faction topic. i like.
hoping for morrowind levels of faction interaction, or greater. and most importantly LONGER.

There is supposed to be town, I believe it was said to be just inside the eastern border.

Fascinating...

If the Rebels are more xenophobic and less tolerant of the Mer, it is very interesting to note that the largest Dunmer population is located within the area controlled by the Rebels.

maybe this presents opportunities for political intrigue, or perhaps the Rebel side is more tolerant?

Or maybe the Bethesda devs were just screwing with our heads and they switched the REBEL and EMPIRE on the map the day that the video was filmed? :rofl: