4E 175 marked the blow that pretty much ended the reign of the Empire. The rise of the Third Aldmeri Dominion was cemented and led all watchers to wonder where they would march to next. But what if Titus Mede II mustered a greater force and stopped the Mer from sacking the Imperial City? What if the Emporer was less daft in preparing for this threat?

The Great War: A RP

The Great War: A RP is an alternate-history, political-focused & war-focused hybrid RP that begins circa 4E 170. The main focus of the RP will be the build-up to, the fighting of, and the aftermath of the Great War. This a wide-scale RP encompassing factions across Tamriel but, due to it's wide scale, there is a loss in detali.

The RP will be played out in three phases: The Prelude, The Great War, and The Aftermath. In each phase each faction will play different parts and have different goals that will be as dynamic as the characters that lead these factions. There will be two main factions (The Empire and the Thalmor) that will be attempting to accumulate as much forces for the war as they can before it happens. Much of the focus of the RP will be on the first phase which will be completely politically-focused. This will encompass drawing alliances, treaties, and pacts that will help turn the tide of the war. Each faction will have a leader that will have to pick a side/abstan from/watch the war based upon the interactions they have with the Empire or the Thalmor. The second phase will be completely war-focused with the Thalmor invading. How they invade and how they are defended against is up to the leaders of each faction. The Third Phase will be a mix of politlca and war as the vaccum of power will surely draw vultures and the breaking of promises and alliances will lead to further conflicts.

The following factions I'm thinking of will be:

The Empire - Obvious. The leader will be Titus Mede II but the man and the personality is up for grabs. He can be a tyrant or a philosopher, it's whoever he is made to be.

The Thalmor/Third Aldmeri Dominion - The enigmatic Mer from the South that is intent on conquering men.

Hammerfell - Hamerfell will be divided into two factions: the Crowns and the Forbearers who will be at ends. Whether they can be united against a common enemy or whether their hatred is used as a negotiating tool is up to how they're played.

Elseweyr - Elsweyr will most likely already start by leaning towards the Thalmor. They will only make up one faction and will be led by the Mane.

High Rock - Made up of 1-3 factions depending on how many people join. They're really made up of much more factions but for the sake of this RP, 1-3 factions will be much easier to deal with. Daggerfall and Wayrest will probably be the two main factions with a third, perhaps Orsinium, in the mix if neccesary.

Morrowind - Made up of 0-3 factions depending. 0 would be easily justifiable because the eruption crippled the country but the Great Houses could still be coerced to fight if we have the people.

Black Marsh - Made up of 1-4 factions. Although I don't like the idea of Argoians under a single banner because they're made up of warring tribes, it's understandable that they'd begin to get along after the Oblivion Crisis. However, for there to be 16 different Argonian factions would be extremely hard to deal with.

Each faction will be at ends with a rival faction for the most part. The leader of each faction will be responsible for the lore there but, for the most part, try to stick to what Bethesda made and just add on to it.

This is just in the idea stage for right now. There's only a few RPs going on right now, and only one other Political that I know of, but the thing that makes this unique is that it is historical and the fact that the coming war is the main aspect. The vision I have with this is that the Empire knows that it can't fight against the Thalmor alone and it begins to reach out to other provinces, asking their help and making deals in the process. For example, the Empire might promise the Forbearers Sentinel if they fight against the Thalmor. But when they are crippled by the War and they cannot fufill their promise, they end up going to war with the Empire.

To really get this off the ground, this RP will need positions filled and another GM because of the wide-scaled politics in play. Tell me what you think.

Damn Elite Birthday, I'm more than willing to be in this, heck, if we're allowed to grab positions now, I'd take the Aldmeri Dominion, but I'm split between the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire.

You know what, I'll take the Aldmeri Dominion, I've already got a character, political description and army in mind, if we're allowed to have armies that is.

If you need a co-GM, I suppose I'll offer my services, not sure if I'm GM-material though, but it is courtesy to extend an offer of help, so an offer of help I extend.

I'd be interested in snagging Titus Mede II. However, I'm not sure how big of an issue this would be for you, but this would be my first RP. I'm well-versed in TES lore as well as a writer of speculative fiction, so creativity isn't really my problem. Its formatting, rules, etc that go into forum RPs that I'd need to have worked out before I agree to do it.

This definitely sounds right up my alley though, in terms of being interesting and the unique possibilities.

@Magus: Great to see your support. Sure, if you're wanting the Dominion they're all yours. The Lore might be a bit tricky because so litle is known about the Summerset Isles so it's going to be quite an undertaking if you decide to do it. Also, there are a few things that I haven't decided on but involve the Dominion. One: I'm thinking about erasing the Void Nights from history so that the Elsweyr coup never happened and their support will be up for grabs. Two: Even though you'll be leading the Dominion, there should be a Valenwood leader to supplement your own rule so that way you don't have to take care of Valenwood AND Alinor.

@Aquilinus: It's great to see that you're interested in RPing. However, seeing as this is your first RP, I reccomend you don't take a large role. Because the Empire is one of the main two factions, it will be an extremely difficult undertaking for someone who is new to RPing and Character Interaction. I suggest taking a smaller faction and then, when you're more comfortable, perhaps taking a larger role in later events.

Elite Birthday, I think you and someone else should be GMs and take the Empire and the Dominion respectively as they'll be the main components of the story. Also, if we're rewriting history, who says everyone even supports the Elves because of the void nights? Regardless of whether they might be crapping bricks for them giving their beloved moon back, Khajiit have always despised Bosmer and mer in general, and a large group could think that it was all a plan by the Dominion anyways, (i myself assume the Aldmer caused both the dissappearance and reappearance to gain the favor of Elswyr, just like how they split Hammerfell from the Empire. Id even venture to say the entire cause of the Stormcloak rebellion is another plot of theirs.)

@Mercenary: How about the Nights did happen, but instead of overthrowing the Mane, they're just a revolutionary group that supports the Thalmor? That will give Elsweyr a schism and make it a little more interesting to play with, As for being the Empire, I'm not sure. There are plenty of other RPers that are better than I who would be a better fit. I think I'll wait before taking Titus for myself.

You are a great roleplayer, i remember you from a lonngg time ago. I just think if you wish to exert any form of control over the RP you and another gm need to be working closely as head haunchos of the Empire and Dominion. I just hate the Empire so much i can't be the leader, and likewise i hate the elves so much i'd have to take a Hammerfell or High Rock faction out for their own gains regardless of who i support.

Can anyone point me at a similar RP that I can read over to get used to the style and format. I am used to single player RP, and this sounds more like factions. I'm not certain how this works.

Aww shucks. But one doesn't need to be a main faction AND a GM. That would, in my opinion, be like the GMs are running the RP and everyone is really auxillary. I would rather have GMs have a smaller role as a smaller faction and to guide the RP along then for them to Guide the RP AND have the main factions. However, I DO want a GM to RP the Thalmor just because the Thalmor initiate the War and I want that to be running as smoothly as possible.

Take a look at OPaP. Political-driven RP lies within character interaction and lore. It's not that dissimliar to RPs like Valton where the main focus is talking with other people and fitting into a Role. However, you do need to know a little about your people historically and culturally so that the lore fits in. For instance, the Crowns of Hammerfell will not make the same decisions as the Forbearers because they're culturally different and they have different ideals. Mainly, if you choose to take a faction, you'll be trying to achieve the goals of your faction while the Imperials or Thalmor try to make a deal with you. Then you'll be commanding your forces alongside, or against, one of the two forces in battle. (For that, read Duval's battle guide but that won't be for a while)