The War of Succession: An RP Idea

Attention: SKYRIM IS NOT ALL COLD, FROSTY MOUNTAINS.

Intro:

Hello,
I have been dying to make an RP that has to do with Skyrim, and make use of the lore that has been made for it. It has history, but not the fine detail that you get with Cyrodiil or Morrowind. I wish to use that "hole" for imagination; for example, there is only one clan ever mentioned by name, Ysgramor, and so we can make up clans to fill in the gaps. All we get in Skyrim's "War of Succession" is:

"?.in 1E415 with the death of king Borgas, the last of the Ysgramor line. When the ruling council or Moot was unable to choose the capable Jarl Hanse of Winterhold as the new king of Skyrim, the ensuing civil war tore the Empire apart. The Empire lost all of its holdings in High Rock and Morrowind, and Skyrim was divided into several independent kingdoms. It wasn't until the second era and the Second Empire of Man under the Reman dynasty that one man effectively ruled the whole of Skyrim," (UESPWiki).

There is so much room for people to expand their imaginations and make their own "Skyrim", through this RP.


Synopsis:

In "The War of Succession," an heirless king and last of a line of kings, King Borgas, dies (in 1E415), probably assassinated by the other clans, and Skyrim's clans break up into several kingdoms in a civil war. This lasts until the Reman Dynasty of Cyrodiil conquers them in the next era, the Second Era.
I'm guessing in this time that there was plenty of mercenaries and adventurers going to Skyrim for plunder or money; seems like the perfect chance to make money to me.
This way, there can be a vast variation in the races of the characters, but our opening shall be war meetings.

----Factions:

READ: There should be only about 5 characters at the most for each faction (High Rock, Hammerfell, All the Clans, Morrowind, and Cyrodiil), and in the factions that have guilds allied to them should have one character from that group. There should also be some form of leader for each faction, as in a general or official (experienced RPers only if you can ; not me in other words... lol ).


----Clans (Un-Allied) --
---Bjold ---- The Bjold Clan controls the cities of Solitude and Dawnstar, and have the most financial strength. They have the allegiance of the Alduin Jyr-Tal, which gives them the strength of debtful cutthroats. The Bjold have plans to get back with their old rivals, the Ysgramor.
-- Alduin Jyr-Tal--- An organization that has been formed as a substitute for prison or death for criminals; they keep loyal to Bjold because they gave them an escape. They have enormous strength.

---Fafnir---- The Fafnir clan of Skyrim, who control Markarth Side, Falkreath, and the areas around them, are the most powerful of the clans when it comes to military strength.
They have the allegiance of the Knights of Ysmir.
--Knights of Ysmir--- The knights of Ysmir, who reside at Falkreath, are rivals of the Shor Jold, and fight in the name of the great dragon, Ysmir. They are your basic, ambitious crusaders.


---Ragnar---- The Skyrim clan of Ragnar controls Whiterun, Riften, and the land around them.
They have medium strength, medium finances, but they have the strongest moral, and will not break easily. They have the allegiance of the Shor Jold, a religious group of crusader-monks who fight in the name of Shor.
-- Shor Jold--- The warrior monks from Riften are no pious weaklings; they are crusader-monks who pack a punch in the name of Shor.


----Bruma Alliance--
---Cyrodiil---- The inhabitants of northern Cyrodiil have ambitions to take advantage of brutal Skyrim's
vulnerability. They strategically ally themselves to the impatient expansionists of northern Morrowind, and make use the recently disgraced clan of Ysgramor, using them as a force from the inside. This alliance is very ambitious, but they will also have to deal with the ready-for-vengeance people of High Rock and Hammerfell.

---Morrowind---- Northern Morrowind is very impatient to enter Skyrim; not only have they been under the rule of their recent empire, but they also want to get away from the warring clans of Morrowind and find a new "homeland". These expansionists link up with the ambitious Imperials of northern Cyrodiil, making a pact to split the land they conquer, and use the Ysgramor of Skyrim as a tool to make way for their conquest.
On the other side of Skyrim, however, High Rock and Hammerfell have plans of their own.

---Ysgramor Clan---- Remnants of the former ruling clan Ysgramor, this faction is desperate for some form of redemption and military strength. Immediately after the civilwar began, they attach themselves to Morrowind expansionists and the legions of northern Cyrodiil.
However, Morrowind and Cyrodiil have really no interest in reviving the Ysgramor rule;
they really just want some form of "inside the enemy" strength.
This alliance is also hostile to the Daggerfall Pact.
They control the former-capital of Winterhold and Windhelm. They may have powerful cities, but they lost the power of king's bodyguard, the Ysgramor Jfald, which was a draft of men all around Skyrim; they split back to their clans.


----Daggerfall Pact--
---Hammerfall---- Both High Rock and Hammerfell want vengeance on their recent brutal occupiers.
They have pushed them from their lands, but they want more; they want Skyrim.
They want to kill and plunder their way through to the border of Morrowind.
Who knows from there? These are enraged vengeful men, and they are on a warpath.
However, Cyrodiil and Morrowind want some of the cake too, but the Bretons and Orcs of northern Tamriel will not accept Imperials and Dunmers taking what they deserve.

---High Rock---- Both High Rock and Hammerfell want vengeance on their recent brutal occupiers.
They have pushed them from their lands, but they want more; they want Skyrim.
They want to kill and plunder their way through to the border of Morrowind.
Who knows from there? These are enraged vengeful men, and they are on a warpath.
However, Cyrodiil and Morrowind want some of the cake too, but the Bretons and Orcs of northern Tamriel will not accept Imperials and Dunmers taking what they deserve.






What we Need:

- Clan Ideas: their Locations, Backgrounds, Rivalries, etc.
- Character Sheets, of course.
- Places, cities, castles/fortresses? etc. (other than whats alrady there)
- Factions, as in guilds, organizations, and other groups besides clans.






Your Character:

Well, your character can be a mercenary, an adventurer, a Nord warrior, a high-ranking official of one of the clans; whatever you want, as long as it makes sense, it's not UBER, and its not ridiculous, obviously. I also want you to choose something you know you can accomplish; don't be a leader if you know you can't deep in you heart. Try to be modest with the characters.



Rules:

1) No multiple characters in one RP at one time.
2) No ubering, controlling other characters, etc.
3) All concerns or discussion over what should happen should be kept in PM's.
4) Don't make drastic events that would change the war and the way it ended.
5) The war's end must be something to do with the Reman Imperials entering Skyrim.
6) At the beginning of each player entry post, state where the character etc. to avoid confusion.
7) This is not pure fighting; just because it's a war doesn't mean there're endless fights; I'm hoping there can be some drama in this, kind of like how they did HBO's Rome??. Think people, think.




How it will begin:

At this moment, I plan to have seperate war meetings for each alliance and the clans, besides the Ysgramor, that will introduce characters, and set a political and set the rivalries up.

--- Bjold, Fafnir, and Ragnar moot---- All characters having to do with these clans will meet here for a meeting on who should be king, but end up arguing and pretty much start the warring clan dispute. This meeting must happen first!!

---Bruma Alliance: Morrowind, Cyrodiil, and Ysgramor War Council---- Anyone affiliated with these factions will meet here, and agree on a pact splitting the land they conquer. These three factions will work together.

---Daggerfall Pact: Hammerfell and High Rock Pact---- These factions will meet in Daggerfall for a pact, and agree on a group-attack on Skyrim, splitting the territories.
They will work together.


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Character Sheet Layout:

Name:
Race:
Gender:
Age:
Birth Sign: (One of the Elder Scrolls birth signs.)
Factions/Clan siding: (Or ex-factions)

Class: (A name, and the description if you want!)
Skills: (Some skills your character knows!)

Physical Appearance: (How your character looks.)

Mental: (The state of your character's mind.)

Armor: (Your character's armor at the start of the RP. I may even update this regularly!)
Weapons: (Your character's weapons at the start of the RP. I may even update this regularly!)
Clothing: (Your character's clothes at the start of the RP. I may even update this regularly!)
Miscellaneous: (Random objects of interest your character has. I may even update this regularly!)

Brief History: (A little bit about your character's background.)

Character's entrance into the story: (Mercenary etc. on boat, or some other part of the story) (I myself will be part of a clan)


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Closing:

Well that's all we have for now; I will update this at a moment's notice.
I also will be posting character sheets, to show who is approved and to get us going?

I will let the participators of this RP know when I post the actual thread for the RP, and when they can start RPing?.
Please feel free to leave comments, ideas, thoughts, etc.

Especially ideas? lol.

PLEASE PM ME YOUR CHARACTER SHEETS!!!!!!


Approved Characters:

Just a bit of advice anyone, everyone will say: Be in a few Rps before you start one.

I've been in a few, but not Elder Scrolls ones.
I know I'm obviously inexperienced, but it's hard when no one is doing what you've been looking for.

Well, first off the ideas should be yours. Idea threads are only made once you have the idea sketched out

But getting to actually useful help, I have a few suggestions:

Get rid of the boat opening. Mercenaries might be prevalent, and they can be fun to RP, but you'd spread your characters too thin to have a decent political RP. What you should do is make a few clans (around 3-4) and give them as the only faction options. You can only be in these clans, period. It might seem like stifling, but it will group your players closer and get more done, trust me.

Which means they will all start out somewhere already. I would advise starting out at some kind of clan meeting (this moot; which I hope is like an Ent Moot) so everyone sees each other and can interact. Then they can go their seperate ways and turn it into a war/political RP, which are ever so much fun. Even then the players can still choose their rank (experienced RPers for leadership roles only, please) and political agenda, which seems like enough creativity room for me.

I love that you're taking the historical lore approach; there are far too few nowadays. Finally an RP that doesn't start with "It's been twenty years since the Oblivion Crisis"


Now, into actual ideas: I think it would be good to not only give Skyrim clans as factions, but also the unified body of Morrowind (no individual Houses, please) and the unified body of High Rock. So I would say the factions should be: High Rock, Morrowind, Ysgramor, Skyrim House 2, and Skyrim House 3 (sorry, no good with names). Then have them meet somewhere like White Gold Tower to discuss a treaty to the already going on war, only to disagree and continue warring. Or perhaps start with more factions, but then have them ally into those five main groups, so the individual Houses and Knightly Orders can still exist.

So, with that said, each faction should have anywhere between three and five people. Enough for decent RPing, but not so many that each is reiterating the others' posts. Have one person to represent each Great House, and have them all be on a team in the same general location, and the same with the Orders (perhaps only the major orders though). Then have the clans be multiple city states in three or four big alliance blocks. Just what I think would have the best prospects of suceeding as a political RP. If you wanted an adventure RP, you could do the boat, but mercenaries don't have much sway in politics.

Before I go into anything else, I'd like to hear your thoughts on my proposals. Looks good, I love historical RPs :goodjob:



EDIT: What about the Timeline? Aren't they doing a roughly similar thing? Or Dren's new RP. Both seem right up the political alley

Thank you for your input. :goodjob:
That's what I need.

I agree with almost every part of your post. I'll incorporate these into it right now. :vaultboy:
One thing is that I'm not sure if many guilds would be around yet, since its so early in Tamriel history; I'll look into that.
I'm sure there's knight orders though, or some form of organizations.

I love your idea of the moots of clans, and the meetings of the foreigners taking advantage of Skyrim's civilwar.
Now mercenaries should still be in this kind of war setting, but they probably should stay to background story.

Yes, I love historical stuff too! :mohawk:

Timeline? Well, I'll have to look that up...

The Fighter's guild was created either under the Akaviri Potentates (2E320), the Mage's guild was a bit earlier (2E230) - which is quite later than your RP. The Dark brotherhood is also unheard of before the Second Era.

Skrym probably has some sort of religious orders (possibly with a military branch daggerfall-like), but they would be centered on the nordic gods rather than the Eight Divines as found in cyrodill.

Ah, yes, I do recall now that the various guilds were all around then. Although the Nine were already around, I think. This is happening after the Alessian Rebellion, right? And the Nordic Pantheon is very similar to the Eight. But this isn't the lore forum

Glad to help, I'll put together my own character sheet soon

PS Mind if I take a semi-leadership role? I'm not the most seasoned RPer, but I think I could handle some responsibility now that football's over. Thanks

It would be the Eight Divines - Talos is the divinised Tiber Septim, which means the Talos cult didn't exist before the fourth era. Thats something mor than one thousand years later...

And the Eight Divine were an adaptation of the elven cults by the Alessians to avoid offending their Skyrim allies, I don't think they had much presence in Skyrim at the RP's date.

The timeline isn't doing a thing in Skyrim. It has it's own thing going.

It basically has two main plots though, one of which is political.

EDIT:

It is pretty obvious this guy has some experienced. I mean, the OP is pretty decent, so he has at least some.

Manu, that's why I made two religious cults for the Nordic Pantheon, and one cutthroat organization.

Darkom, of course you can, I'm sure you can make a good character for that.