Found this quote on the UESP; it's attributed to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Garothmuk_gro-Muzgub and is in reference to the topic "Nordic":

"These massive steel weapons are forged according to the secret metalcrafts of the Nord smiths, and engraved with runes in the manner of the legendary witch-warriors of Skyrim."

I've never found the quote in-game, but it occurred to me that this has great potential for a character concept. It's suitably evocative and vague enough to leave plenty of room for interpretation.

So, what would a "witch-warrior of Skyrim" look like in Morrowind terms?

A spellsword playstyle suggests itself. I'm thinking something like the following skills:

-Long Blade and Axe, since Nordic weapons include the broadsword, claymore, and battleaxe

-Armorer and Enchant, given the references to metalcraft and graven runes

-Block is pretty reasonable, since the broadsword allows the carrying of a shield. Maybe a minor.

-Some armor would be good. We've got 5(!) choices: light, medium, heavy, unarmored, and Alteration. (It always gets me how many options MW gives us.) Light and Medium both seem pretty fitting, given the Nord-specific types available. I also like Unarmored for aesthetics... Honestly not sure which way to go here.

-We need to put the "witch" into "witch-warrior". So what magic skills? I'm thinking Destruction (focusing on frost and shock, possibly also debuffs as a kind of curse), Restoration (remove curse, fortify attack/attributes, obviously healing), and a little Mysticism (utility stuff like Soul Trap, and Detect as a sort of shamanic intuition). The idea is to think of some of this magic as 'native Nordic magic', or related to the thu'um.

So how about the following:

Major: Long Blade, Armorer, Destruction, Restoration, [Alteration or armor skill]

Minor: Axe, Enchant, Block, Mysticism, [Alteration or armor skill]

Specialization: Magic

Favored Attributes: Intelligence, Agility?

Race would be Nord, obviously.

Birthsign would have to be a Magicka-focused one. I'm thinking Atronach.

Backstory/RP

With the opening of Vvardenfell to outsiders, Nord adventurers have begun to flock to the island. While no longer organized and bent on conquest as their ancestors were in the first era, this generation was nevertheless reared on stories of the Heart of Shor. So I'd imagine Red Mountain retains something of a sacred mystique to the sons of Skyrim.

Perhaps some of the "witch-warriors" (likely warriors trained to some extent in use of the thu'um and other shamanic Nordic magics) have begun to undertake pilgrimages to the island, with the aim of visiting Red Mountain itself, site of one of their peoples' most notable battles.

I'd like to run this guy through the main quest, but honestly have no idea how he'd approach the whole thing. It seems ripe for some interesting RP, though. From a very tradtionalist Nordic upbringing to the prophesied Nerevarine, hero of the Dunmer... and then, confronted with the Heart?

Ditto for Bloodmoon and Tribunal. Never completed either of those, but I'd like to think it would make some sense for this character to do those.

Any advice/thoughts welcome!

Sounds interesting. I play Nords characters a lot and I never tried a "melee-magic" class like that.

I think any armor type would go well.

As for attributes, Intelligence of course, but I'm not sure which other one would work well. Strength or Agility ?

What starting stats does this build gives in game ?

I went with Intelligence and Willpower as the favored attributes. I knew I wanted Intelligence, but I was torn between Willpower, Agility, and Endurance for the other. Endurance lost out because Nords start with a decent amount (probably 40 or 50). In the end, I chose Willpower to help with casting chance. With the Atronach sign, I didn't want to waste Magicka on a failed spell.

Character creation in MW really is a game in itself, though. Right now I'm feeling that lack of Agility, since my to-hit and dodge chances are pretty low compared to other lvl 1 characters I've played. Well, eventually it'll all even out.

For armor, I ended up choosing Medium as a major skill, and putting Alteration in as a minor.

So far so good. lvl 1 currently (5/10 progress I believe) and I've made the usual rounds of Addisamartus(sp), Balmora, Ebonheart (found an amazing new quest that I've never done - and more to my surprise, neither has my wife, a 13-year MW veteran!). Magicka management isn't really a concern when I've got melee as well. If I need it, those Ancestor Ghosts in tombs are good for a refill; ditto shrines.

Can't remember the exact stat loadout... lemme call up Inventive Gamer.

Looks like a challenging character, especially with 35 in Longblade and low agility. But I guess you can compensate with the magic skills,

And I had never realized that Willpower increased casting chances...I thought it just helped resist Paralyze spells.

Yeah, according to UESP it affects casting chances and resistance to paralysis and silence. (It also, like pretty much every other stat, affects starting Fatigue.)

I am noticing a harder time in melee than I would have thought, but that may just mean it takes me a little longer to work up those combat skills (and/or buy training, something I have usually avoided). In a way, my concern was that the character could become overpowered too quickly. That's why I put Axe and Enchant as minors rather than majors - apparently Axe levels up very quickly, and Enchant can be gamebreaking.