Is it possible to change the text in the beginning cutscene so that it reads "...ignorant of the role she was to play in that nation's history..."? Changing "he" to "she"?

Is this the movie or the Splash Screen? If the former, then no, if the latter, then you would have to modify that Splash Screen somehow. You could download a Splash Screen Mod and see how they did it.

Just to note, and it has little to do with your exact question, you can change the text that is on the Level Up screens, those text snippets are in the INI file. But, I think that only applies to those dialog boxes, although you could look in that section and see if the Splash Screen text you want to change is in fact in there.

You can find the INI file in the root directory for this game.

The movie, the very first movie that plays when you start a new game. You can't use video editing software to change it?

Well, sure you could.

Maybe if you could get a hold of the source files used to make that HD replacer for the video...

If you can find a program that will let you edit BIK files, then maybe. You would have to create the frames, then insert or replace the ones that are in the video.

Sure you can do it. Bik is quite standard format and there are lots of free tools to modify it or convert to other formats. The main problem would be replacing the text itself. It is the same as if you would like to change someone's name in movie end titles. The only possible way I see is what Melchior suggested - try to get in touch with the guy who made HD version. Maybe he still has the cutscenes he used

You mean Chesko, the author of http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=9374?

I always wondered why Bethesda didn't use a gender neutral word in that line, such as "ignorant of the role they were to play in that nation's history".

I've wanted to do a dialogue/text overhaul of the game for a while and replace the hes with theys. There's some of the Nerevarine Prophecy texts that use he instead of they and playing a female character and reading that threw me off. I'd also love to see all ingame mentions of Vivec use they pronouns.

"They" is plural, though. Are you referring to the Nerevarine dialogue in the Construction Set? That's easy to change; it would just be tedious.

I emailed Chesko and he said he doesn't have the software anymore. But his efforts can obviously be duplicated again.

They isn't plural, that's a common misconception. People use they as a singular in theoretical reference to people all the time, lots of people also like if othersuse they instead of she or he.

There are a few things I'd change about the opening cutscene though, subtle things but I'd like them.

Do you know how to use Adobe Premiere Pro 5? That's what Chesko said he used for editing. I'm not savvy with those programs.

I don't like Premiere, it's poorly optimized and clunky imho. I prefer Sony Vegas. Not sure if I could import Premiere files into Vegas though, maybe if the source files were exported as xml.