I'm sure these sorts of questions have been asked innumerable times, but my efforts to find a few concise threads to answer them have proven to be in vain. I have played Skyrim a lot, but have never really advanced too far in any of the main quest lines, and have never got past about level 20. Now that the game and modding community are fully 'mature' and I've played enough to feel quite confident that I have the right mod mix (see below) I feel I'm ready to do some complete playthroughs (or until the toon dies) with some of my characters.

1. Diche Bach: Nord Ranger, married Lydia recently and has Faendal and Erik as followers too. Presently about level 20. Has killed about 6 dragons. Definitely not pro-Stormcloak. Diche was Erik the Slayer's childhood friend and the two resolved to begin the adventurer lifestyle together. A fan of fur armor (still looking for some Einherjar armor from Hothtroopers). Uses a lot of stealth, bow use, thieving skills, alchemy. Uses Alteration and a bit of restoration but no other spell schools. More at home in his tent with a dozen animal carcases littered around the campfire than sitting next to the fire in Breezehome. I imagine he will follow the thieves guild quest line and maybe Dawnguard. He had started up to Ivarstead to talk to the Grey beards but the army of Cave Bears, Sabre Cats and Bandits, combined with getting diseased got him distracted and he wound up in Riften getting hitched to Lydia (something about the realization of the fragility of life promoting a carpe diem philosophy . . .)

2. Katrina Breen: Breton Conjurer. Been a while since I played this save so the details are bit fuzzy. Katrina started in Rorikstead as a patron of the Frostfruit Inn. I have a vague idea that she was an apprentice to a wizard who was on his/her way to Winterhold as an envoy from High Rock. The Envoy's party was attacked on its way from Solitude to Winterhold and Katrina was the only one who survived. She fled to the Frostfruit Inn, and that is where she started her adventures. I intended her to be a pure mage, but starting in Rorikstead with Another Life (LAL) (and with Perkus Maximus, Frostfall + Wet and Cold) made it very difficult to survive the early levels wtihout donning armor and sword (PerMa you start with no spells). So she has sort of become a light armor wearing Battlemage / Ranger hybrid of sorts. Specializes in Conjuring of course but uses all schools of magic and light armor (leveling up to get the "Clear Mind" perk in PerMa, which I presume means that the penalty on magicka regen while wearing armor is eliminated).

3. Bragul Drang: Orc, chose the "I am at a Stronghold" option in LAL and you just cannot beat starting up with Orc heavy plate, shield and weapons! He is my tank heavy toon. When I last played this save he was taking care of some business in Markarth, probably about level 9 or so. May never use a single spell in his whole career. Undecided whether he will do potions, so far he has been selling the ingredients. Will definitely do a lot of smithing and enchanting. An orc through and through, will follow an ethos of "Death or Glory." Follower of Malacath and did Molag Bal's bidding with little regret or hesitation. Should be a fun toon for when I just feel lile juggernauting

4. Lilonha R'on: Dunmer Spellsword or Battlemage or whatever you call it. Had never played a Dunmer before, fun toon For this toon, I selected the "I am a Refugee from Morrowind" option and chose Windhelm. Playing from the perspective of an impoverished Dunmer refugee really but Ulfric's anti-Dunmer (and Nordic racism in general) into perspective for me. She very quickly resolved to rob the residents of Windhelm of all they own and wound up in the jail. She progressively built up enough coin and Wayfarer ability that she was able to venture outside the city but most of her career so far has been thieving and fighting thugs in Windhelm. Had a couple very close calls fighting thugs! Eventually something kind of glitched and the Windhelm guards got aggro on her; I don't know if it was legit or a glitch but I decided to go with the flow and let her loathing of Stormcloaks and racist Nords take over. She barely managed to escape the city and has a 2000 bounty in Windhelm. Last I left off with her, she was about level 15 I guess and had a couple followers (Jenassa for sure and maybe Stenvar, though I have found those two have a tendency to come to blows if you drop stuff in their midst, they seem to use it as an excuse to fight over it!?!). She has killed a couple dragons and wears all steel plate. Pretty heavy into Destruction, and Enchanting. Tempted to have her join the Imperials so I can follow that out but fear that doing that too early may make it nearly impossible to go anywhere without constant Stormcloak party battles.

5. Methrydil Fernbrook: Bosmer huntress. Up to about level 15. Just bought Breezehome and adopted Lucia. Has Erik, Jenass and Lydia as followers. Does a bit of Restoration and Alteration but no Destruction or Conjuring. Maybe a tad bit of Illusion.

6. Alexia Velvus: Imperial, for lack of a better term I'd call her an "Adventurer." She dabbles in just about everything.

7. Saarulon Adaire: High Elf which I intend to make into a pure mage (no armor, very little use of weaponry). I chose the "I am a Thalmor Agent" option in LAL and he is just about back to Dragon Bridge after venturing across toward White Run on foot but then starting to get chilly. This actually raises a point for me that some of you may have encountered: I _really_ love what Frostfall + Wet and Cold + Hunterborn + Realistic Needs and Diseases does for the game. However, one slightly negative consequence of playing with these immersion mods: all toons have a tendency to become a bit 'samey.' You pretty much cannot venture out into the wilds without dying of exposure, and that I find tends to promote adoption of a "Mountain Man/Woman" track right at the start.

So as you can see: I have quite the range of roleplay varieties on the stove, and will in time play through each of these toons, doing the quests that seem most appropriate to each and enjoying them until they die, at which point I'll retire the save folder.

I am not a fan of the Stormcloak rebellion and I find that the Stormcloaks are, at best, xenophobic populists (and at worst racists); however in the interest of completeness I am interested in attempting a playthrough as a "Pure Nord" type toon: a non magic using, Nord warrior type. Someone who believes Ulfric is right, who despises Altmer and Dunmer and perhaps all non-Nords. Someone who is suspicious of magic and woudl never think to learn to cast a spell.

Given that the "Dragonborn" is a quintessentially "Nord" hero, I would think that this Stormcloak toon would make great sense for following the Dragon Rising and Way of the Voice quest lines, but I'm wondering: how or why would a toon which was already extremely Stormcloak oriented even consider going into White Run, much less becoming "Thane" of White Run? It is true that Baalgruf is technically still neutral at the start of game, but wouldn't a Stormcloak adherent be very critical of him and of White Run in general?

Some other questions: Would a "Pure Nord" type stormcloak like I describe above be opposed to doing alchemy? Thieving skills I think are an obvious, but what about weaponry? I've never played a dual wielder, would this toon be the ideal opportunity to explore that? Smithing is obviously something he would take up but what about enchanting? Seems it would be difficult to have a steady stream of charged soul gems without some spell craft, or the luck of getting hold of a soul trapping weapon?

One last question / set of questions: going back to the Altmer toon who started at the Thalmor Embassy: I have no real idea what initial path to set this guy on. I know I want him to be a "pure mage," i.e., no armor, no smithing, no warrior perks at all, no ranged weapons use, and as little melee use as he can get away with. Very strong focus on Destruction magic, Illusion, Conjuring but user of all the schools of magic and alchemy. Intend to use the PerMa speechcraft perks to have a few "meat shield" followers as well as possibly some named NPCs. But beyond that, any suggestions on this guys backstory? Should I try to play him as a loyal Thalmor (that would seem to be very awkward at best or impossible at worst) or at a sort of turncoat against the Thalmor?

ADDIT: Ah yes, I forgot my load order:

I have already received a suggestion from Leonardo that I consider replacing UFO with AFT, but I'm unsure how bad of an idea that would be with the toons that are well-advanced and have multiple followers.

I appreciate any thoughts, suggestions or answers to the multiple questions I've posed here. Sorry for mixing it all up so much, so let me summarize the main questions I'd like to hear back about:

1. How do you roleplay a Stormcloak Dragonborn, specifically, how do you rationalize a Stormcloak loyalist even going in White Run, much less serving Baalgruf?

2. Would a "Pure Nord" Stormcloak toon logically be opposed to doing alchemy or not? What about enchanting?

3. Any ideas on how to orient my brand new Thalmor agent Altmer toon?