Just something to get your creative blood flowing. You're given permission by Bethesda to design your very own city for a new DLC. All you have to do is fill in this form.

Name of the city -

Region within Skyrim -

Describe the architecture, nearby geography etc -

Jarl, townsfolk etc -

Lore? -

I'm just really interested to see peoples ideas, as I know there's a lot of creative people on the forum. Don't hate me if his thread is utter rubbish, my brain is..

Looking forward to seeing your ideas lol.

I'd love an autonomous port town / pirate haven. Nothing big enough to be a city state. More like a ramshackle village too remote and too dangerous to govern, where pirates, mercenaries, smugglers, courageous merchants, and enterprising rogues are guaranteed passport, since there's no solidified political affiliation. Think Riften, but without the pretense of official governance.

Region / Geography

- It would have to be along the northern coast as that's where the water is. North east is too frigid and the land is all icebergs. Northwest is too close to Solitude and Imperial attention. Perhaps the entire place is built in the yawning mouth of a huge cave so its easy to hide / defend.

Architecture

- Ramshackle, but cunning. The kind of useful chaos birthed when roguish ingenuity cavorts with pseudo-anarchistic freedom, but constrained by available materials & labor. Lots of shacks and lean-to's crammed together and some Jorvaskrr style longhouses fashioned from reclaimed boats.

- The fanciest buildings would be functional and adorned (like Jorvaskrr), but not grandiose, like Dragonsreach.

- Everything would be centered around the docks, with very little sprawl beyond that (especially if the port is inside of a giant cave).

Townsfolk

- Being a haven for outcasts and adventurers, there would be much more diversity. Nords would be drawn there by proximity alone, especially the criminal, outcast, and lawless. Redguards of nautical / piratical bent would naturally be drawn there. Khajit merchants would be a no-brainer too as the place is one giant black market. They would, ostensibly, bring along whatever mercenary muscle they needed as well. Imperial's with outcast political affiliations, or spies of the Empire seeking for trade in information. Perhaps some Bretons seeking adventurous mercenaries or black market magical artifacts. Orcs looking to win glory outside their holds seeking employment as pirate marines or sell swords. Basically the dregs of Tamriel, brave, dangerous, and unlucky.

- For giggles, perhaps there'd be a couple poor besotted missionaries from The Imperial Cult or The Temple, trying to "help" the wayward.

- Every merchant would be a fence, regardless of your thieves guild affiliation or speechcraft perks.

- Black soul gems, skooma, rare & heretical writings, and moon sugar would be readily available for those with the coin.

- There would be tons of follower enabled NPC's. Tons. (and it would be a great opportunity to get any race/gender/class combo you wanted, rather than Skyrim's already limited selection)

Leadership

- The port is in Skyrim territory, but there's no official jurisdiction, so there's no Jarl pressing claim. Indeed even if there were, that Jarl would be hard pressed to actually enforce the claim given the powerful entities that call it home (mercenary groups, pirate bands, reavers, and merchant princes).

- The actual leadership of the town would be composed of a small, ever shifting, council of the strongest interests, likely dictated by who's got the right combination of muscle, money, and connections. The politics would be cut throat, with blackmail, bribery, and assassination being commonplace. Leadership of the council would naturally fall on the most dominant personality... however long he or she lasted.

This should have been Morthal.

Don't know enough about the lore to verify. In my opinion, Morthal is too far inland, and therefore too exposed and vulnerable to other powers who want to push a claim. Also, being inland takes all the pirate flare out of the idea.

Morthal is located in the middle of a coastal wetland in Northern Skyrim. If that does not make it a maritime settlement, then surely you ought to say the same of Amsterdam and London, which despite not being situated directly on the ocean, have once served as major European seaports until the early 20th century.

I love this idea. Perhaps it's on an island between Solitude and Dawnstar and has sprung up overnight due to the influx of Privateers raiding Empire and Stormcloak shipping. A frozen Tortuga.

I need say no such thing, being unfamiliar with the geography of Amsterdam and London. Being mainland at all makes it ill suited for the kind of pirate / rogue haven I imagined, since it would be easy enough for local rule to dominate it politically.

EDIT: What I mean is Morthal is accessible to mainland armies, so Jarls can push claims by force of arms. An island haven could be hidden, but also difficult to land forces on, like a massive primordial rock with a yawning cave as the entrance.

EDIT^2: Re-read my original post and I notice I never specified "island", which is what I was imagining. I now see where the confusion was.

City Name - Dragonia (pronounced "Dru-go-nia")

Region within Skyrim - Falkreath

Architecture - Sandstone dragon themed architecture

Nearby Geography - The city would be situated on the southern shores of Lake Ilinalta, with a bridge leading to a dragon themed fortress in the centre of the lake. And at the very edges of Falkreath Hold will stand "The Frontier", a massive fortified wall which will be the first major hurdle any potential invader would have to breach before even getting anywhere near the actual city. The gates on the frontier wall will all be garrisoned by large contingents of Dragonian troops, some of which would be equipped with advanced Dwemer weapons and technology, as well as magical weapons.

Leadership - The Golden Dragon (i.e. Dragonborn), aided by the Dragon Lords and Gem Dragons.

- The Dragon Lords would be the military leaders, whilst the Gem Dragons would be the mages and priests, all associated with different breeds of dragon and their unique powers.

Townsfolk - Dragonia will be the beacon for which all who want freedom from the Aldmeri Dominion would seek out and congregate, no matter what their race.