Then post the whole thing! Haha I'd read it. I went pretty all out as well with my backstory.

Bowgart vonrotten
A name contrived by the necessity of anonymity.One of many such names in his past .Is a dunmer with a dark secret .Growing up running skooma he developed a hatred for the scaley inhabitants under whos roof he slept and worked for .To the point he found pleasure in driving daggers into them as they slept .Over the years he has killed many a water breathing foul smelling snake as many as he could get away with .He has learned to walk softly and carry a poisoned dagger .He always leaves the initals of his true name on thier bodies but as far as he knows not one living soul knows his true name.

To be put to death was always a possibilty one he had hoped to avoid his reason for coming north but for what crime has he been charged .How could they know his tracks were well covered .He has moved quite often .He had hoped the cold weather would keep out the refuse he feels compelled to stalk that he may live in peace and not feel the need to climb into there windows at night .He felt he might be safe in this place .Yet here he is .Just as well i suppose all he has ever been good at is killing things and not getting caught well i guess he wasnt as good as he supposed he was even at that.

Wow, some diverse and interesting backstories and RP methods posted here, thanks all for sharing.

Heres a small personality profile for Brajik. I have waaay too much time on my hands sometimes but [censored] it! I put it to good use.

Brajik, a native Nord of Cyrodil, raised in Bruma had never seen Skyrim before he was posted there. He doesn't like Mer races (especially Altmer) nor those who rely too much on magic (sorry Bretons). He has a particular dislike for Battlemages who he feels are just magic users muscling in on the use of martial prowess. His commander (who he kills before the game starts) is an arrogant Imperial who's upper class family is seen as social climbers more than nobles and Brajik feels he didn't earn his command through skill but by kissing the right arses so to speak (who likes a brownnoser?). In turn, his commander see's Brajik as a threat to his own position. Brajik is well respected by his fellow soldiers within his platoon (a mix of Redguards, less arrogant Imperials and fellow Nords) and he also seems to get on well with beast races.
He also likes women, and shows respect and courtesy to them and feels that his first priority should be to protecting children (hence why he killed his CO before the game starts). Any threat to civillians under his charge is dealt with swiftly and brutally. He has a quick temper and isn't afraid to use it.
Once he finds out he is Dovakhin, he will relish the task at hand.

Merchant Dunmer crosses border illegally to peddle also somewhat illegal wares, gets arrested, discovers he is Dovahkhiin.

Backstories don't have to be complicated.

First name: Cyrus

Last name: Dralas (family name of the adoptive father)

race: Nord (a more tanned skin than the average nord due to dilluted redguard heritage)


personality:

A calm and intelligent mind contrast with his big stature and imposing demeanor. he learned from his adoptive dunmer father everything from combat to blacksmithing, although his father wanted to teach him more in the ways of fencing he found that Cyrus was attuned to use 2 handed blades and so he often sent him on specific hunts in order for his son to improve himself.


Parentage:

Cyrus's adoptive father was in his youth a wandering fencer and scholar, he often visited cities in order to visit their libraries and challenge passing warriors. approaching his 100 years of life he was sent to morrowind in chains as a slave and worked his way up until he was allowed by the argonians limited freedom to keep researching for them.


Brief Biography:

found as a baby on the shores of Morrowind in the arms of a dead nord captain. A dunmer passing by noticed this morbid scene and came near to take a better look, as he investigates the captain's body he finds an ancient medallion that seems to have been crafted in skyrim, in the back he finds an inscription with the name Cyrus. "Curious" -the dunmer thought to himself- though the medallion is from skyrim the inscription is written in the old redguard's language, he then takes a look at the infant and sees that he is on the brink of death. Unphased by its cries the dunmer turns back and starts to walk away... as he distances himself from the shores he is struck by a powerful force in the back, making him lose his footing and look back, he looks to the baby surprised to see a torn trail of ground rock with the unconscious infant at the end, "I can use him to leave this wretched place" - the dunmer though to himself - and brought the infant with him to the small town of Gnaar Mok.


Years have passed, and young Cyrus grew amongst the dunmer slaves and argonians learning everything he could from his adoptive father who often sent him on hunts and odd mercenary jobs and while Cyrus was a formidable fighter, he never saw him recreate that shockwave from all those years ago. the rest of the village shunned Cyrus due to his heritage and often warned the father to abandon or even kill him in fear of a possible betrayal, the father knew that in time the villagers would lose their patience and drive Cyrus, if not them both, out from the village in slavery or worse...
one night, the father called the young nord to their home saying he had something important to show him, he showed Cyrus all the books and scrolls he had collected over the years, all of them describing Nord and redguard history as well as culture, he told Cyrus that the time to leave the village was coming near and that they would have to prepare for the inevitable outcome.


after a few weeks, it was time to leave morrowind and head towards skyrim, in search of knowledge and a better life away from the slavery of the argonians.
weeks, maybe months later at sea, the father and his son reached the shores of skyrim disguised as a nord slaver and his dunmer slave. the ploy worked well enough for them and they managed to travel the roads fairly safely, until cyrus was ambushed by dunmer rebels who took his father and slashed Cyrus's face cutting out his right eye, the attack left Cyrus unconscious and the rebels disappeared as fast as they came leaving him with nothing but rags on his back. Cyrus then wakes up in a prison, apparently the guards recognized him when he came into shore and after a bit of investigation they learned that Cyrus was not a slaver but rather a mer sympathizer and was awaiting execution for it, this accusation left Cyrus laughing at the irony of it all.
what happens next is yet to be told...

I have, ideas. I can't really come up with anything until I have the character created, sitting in front of me and there for me to play around with. It'll be interesting to see what sort of story people can come up with come release/ soon after.

My character is an argonian who cleaned the sewers beneath the Imperial City and found a secret underground passage to Skyrim. There, he will realize his true potential as Dovahkiin, and uses his powers to clean more sewers.

This. I'll probably have a back-story made up in my head five minutes into the game, but not earlier. I have a little bit, however. Imperial archer and amateur alchemist Patali Aurius was heading north over the border to Skyrim, when suddenly...

I have some rough ideas for three potential characters in Skyrim. I couldn't really say much more at the moment. One character I'm thinking about role-playing however, would be a breton necromancer, but before we discover the state of necromancy in Skyrim (game), I wouldn't want to go that far into it just yet.

Name: Ahjiad, though he goes by many, this is his current one.
Age: about 900
Race: Breton
Occupation: basically any decent work he can find.
Personality: he was a very rash and hot-headed apprentice to his mage tutor, located somewhere in the blackmarsh, after his accident, he changed alot, and became a belevolant mage, learning to risk everything so others may live in peace.
History: Through an accident in the Blackmarsh with his master and brother, there was an enormous blast of magical energy which transfered it's power to him and his brother, vaporising his brother, and making him immortal. he tried to live out his life in peace with this enormous magical power he possesed, but for some reason he felt drawn to the imperial city during the imperial simulacrum. He had absolutely no idea why though, so he saved cyrrodil and found out that his master was now going by the name Jagar Tharn, the enemy he just defeated. Ahjiad always thought that this was why he was drawn to the imperial city. he later finds out that his brother, Gaius, has been continually drawn to such events that threaten tamriel, so Ahjiad, realising that this would be the only chance to find his brother again he follows the various crisis' that threaten tamriel, and in doing so hopes to find his brother, and find out what the hell happened all those years ago. The closest he got to his brother is during the Oblivion crisis, when he was in Mankar Camorans paradise, and he found a clue which made no sense at first but then he realised, that it was simply pointing him to his anscestors home, skyrim, so he sets off to skyrim 200 years after the oblivion crisis when he felt skyrims need for a hero, which would also come with his brothers reapperance, was dire.
Fighting style: a combination of melee and magic, namely swords, though he's willing to use whatever weapon he needs.