Despite the fireball hurling, demon conjuring mages of Skyrim, real-life magicians are little more than illusionists who manipulate their surroundings and the way in which the human brain operates to their advantage. Since Skyrim does actually have an illusion skill tree, and it partners nicely with sneak which is something that I have yet to ever try properly within the game, I thought this would make for an enjoyable character premise. So, long story cut short, I want to build a stealth character who uses illusion magic.

• What are the best races for a stealth character, from both a lore and stats perspective? I tend to play as the human races all too often, so I'd prefer suggestions beside them.
  
• Does the world of Skyrim have circuses or, looking back upon history, travelling freak show or something similar, such as magicians? It'd make a nice background story for an illusion character, since illusion is used a lot in circuses.
  
• How can I combat the difficulty of stealth early within the game? Whilst it becomes extremely powerful later, I have trouble at the start. My dagger attacks are weak, so enemies aren't killed instantly from a stealth hit. I sneak up, stab, they turn around and then every enemy in the room/area is immediately alerted.
  
• I love both the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, of which both can be used in a stealth build. However, am I right in thinking that their views are in conflict? Like, the Thieves Guild don't believe in killing, right? Can I do both, from a lore perspective?
  
• What skills work well for stealth, besides sneaking and illusion? I'm open to all suggestions, even the more inventive ones that are a little crazy.
  
• Someone else told me that playing stealth in third person is easier, so is this true? I also heard that gameplay in third-person mode is faster, so, again, is this true?

I can only answer a few of these so here it goes:

1) In my opinion the best stealth races (not in any order are) Kahjit, Argonian and Wood Elf.
3) Thats the thing with sneaking, early in the game its very hard to do it. Once you start leveling your sneak and apply perks to it, my God, later on you'll be virtually unseen.
4) As far as the TG and DB from a RP'ing perspective, you could do something like you're making your living as a thief, you accidentally get roped into the DB and are forced to work for them or suffer the consequences. I dunno, there's alot of different ways you can pan that out so they both jive together.
5) One of the best skills that works great with sneak is Archery. Building that up along with sneak and the fight will be over before it even starts.
6) Thats a personal choice. When I started playing , I was always in first person. Then I built my first mage and liked the third person. But then by the time I did my first assassin/thief I found that using a bow is much easier in first person. Its all really up to you.

Hope this helped some.