TES Classes in the Lore. : The Elder Scrolls Series Discussion

» Tue May 08, 2012 2:37 am

Can any of you TES veterans recall if any classes are prominent in the lore? For example, the battlemage features heavily in TES 1's main quest. But what about others like the Bard, Nightblade and Spellsword? Do they have any lore at all behind them?

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:08 pm

Not really, they are more jobs than classes. a Battlemage is just a soldier who uses magic.

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:01 pm

The lore doesn't know classes.

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:13 am

The lore doesn't know classes.

For example, the battlemage features heavily in TES 1's main quest.

There are also NPCs with battlemage in their names.

» Mon May 07, 2012 8:00 pm

The Lore doesnt know classes?, but in Books you are told about Thieves, Healers, Battle-mages(disaster at Ionith to name one off of nowhere) acrobacts, assassins etc etc, I could go on, but I don't know the point of the thread kinda sorta.

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:28 pm

The Lore doesnt know classes?, but in Books you are told about Thieves, Healers, Battle-mages(disaster at Ionith to name one off of nowhere) acrobacts, assassins etc etc, I could go on, but I don't know the point of the thread kinda sorta.

It still doesnt have to do with the lore, that just describes the type of combat/abilities you can expect them to have

» Mon May 07, 2012 7:11 pm

Like I said, a class is just a job. A battlemage is an soldier who uses magic instead of a sword. A Bard is a musician. A Thief is a thief. Class is just a general term for what they do so you could call any [censored] in real life who walks around with a guitar a bard.

So they are featured in the lore, but only because they are meaningless titles, a way to describe someone.

» Mon May 07, 2012 12:31 pm

I would say it does

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Shadowscales

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:51 pm

Well I know in one book on history it talks about a mistake where a scout mistook some alteration mages as battle mages allowing a heavily armored force to move underneath a lake to assault a castle/keep that had used the lake as part of their defensive scheme.

» Mon May 07, 2012 1:59 pm

Guys, I mean that classes are an ingame term.
Jagar Tharn for example changed his "class" multiple times.

It's more like a description of certain abitlites. Character can always study in a complete different profesion and change it's class.

» Tue May 08, 2012 1:09 am

The Lore doesnt know classes?, but in Books you are told about Thieves, Healers, Battle-mages(disaster at Ionith to name one off of nowhere) acrobacts, assassins etc etc, I could go on, but I don't know the point of the thread kinda sorta.

I'll check out that book, thanks!

As for the point of the thread, I just want ideas for background stories. For example, if I made a warrior, I could roleplay him as a former Blade (just an example, it wouldn't actually work in Skyrim for spoilerish reasons).

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:05 pm

Battlemages are just mages in the Imperial Legion as the lore goes, which doesn't necessarily include all Battlemages, but is just the title for such Legionaries.

» Mon May 07, 2012 4:06 pm

That's like saying there are classes IRL or in almost everything. I don't consider a IRL thief has a "class", or that Melissandre's class in aSoIaF is "priest". It's just a way of describing someone, there could be an undefined ammount of classes.

» Tue May 08, 2012 12:04 am

I don't see why you couldn't role

I'll check out that book, thanks!

As for the point of the thread, I just want ideas for background stories. For example, if I made a warrior, I could roleplay him as a former Blade (just an example, it wouldn't actually work in Skyrim for spoilerish reasons).

I don't see why you couldn't role play your character this way. Mine is a former thief who has decided to take a turn in life and learn a little about magic and the more "honorable" combat forms from the companions. That doesn't mean he doesn't still make use of his previously learned talents however....

He is therefore a thief, an assassin, a battle mage, a warrior, a night blade and all of those things in one. His "class" happens to be whichever one describes him best when I play him a particular way

» Mon May 07, 2012 4:29 pm

Spellswords are battlemages. Except, the background paints spellswords more like mercenaries than rank-and-file soldiers. Funny how I never realized "spell"sword was just a play off of "sell"sword until recently :smile:

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:16 pm

A Breton Nightblade is the one that assassinated Emperor Cuhlecain and slit Tiber Septim's throat. Jagar Tharn used to masquerade as a bard. There are tons of knights in High Rock. Plenty of assassins and thieves show up, too. The classes are all over the lore.

» Mon May 07, 2012 8:15 pm

Also, there are battlemages, Battlemages, and The Battlemage.

Overall, classes do permeate the lore, it's just that they aren't absolute categories, just specialized modes of being or getting-things-done.

» Mon May 07, 2012 10:20 pm

There's also Winterhold's Bard's College. Not to mention the Knightly Orders that promote and train Crusaders (the Vigil of Stendarr just the latest example).

You could also conceive that Justiciar is a new profession promoting the study of certain abilities (related to a Battlemage though).

» Mon May 07, 2012 8:20 pm

Bards of course factor into Skyrim, and Nightblades are the assassins of High Rock.

» Mon May 07, 2012 8:07 pm

Classes are in lore. Ask any Morrowind NPC about "my trade".

» Mon May 07, 2012 11:13 am

Classes are in lore. Ask any Morrowind NPC about "my trade".

Which just shows classes are nothing more then a job description.