So I'm making a new character whose mother was a Dark Elf, and whose father was a Breton. My question is, would the baby be a Breton or a Dark Elf? This has me stumped, or should I just choose one of the races and be fine with it? I dunno... your thoughts? :mellow:

Generally half breeds take after their mother, if I recall correctly.

Yes, per TES lore, a baby is the race of its mother. There are a couple of obscure exceptions but it is unclear whether those reflect oversight by Bethesda or some sort of TES miracle.

I think is is perfectly reasonable to assume that the child might possess a mixture of racial abilities from its parents. That is what I do when creating crossbreeds. I make them of the mother's race, but give them an abilities and attributes mix reflective of both parents.

Where is this bit of lore found?

Heh. Sorry, don't have a link readily available. If you want confirmation and/or a reference, I know the smart folks on our 'Elder Scrolls Lore' fourm here can quickly provide it. I'm afraid I haven't dug into that again since I did the research to create my own current half breed a couple years ago.

Thanks you guys,
This kind of screws up the back story I've been working on, but I can easily change my character's race. I don't don't want to change the fact that his mother was a Dark Elf, and I want to stick to the lore, so..
:biggrin:

So I have another question..
Would my now Dunmer character retain his father's last name, or his mother's? (His Father's last name is Jastal.) Or should I give him no last name?

Nothing says a character has to have a last name. A great many of the mer and beast folk do not have last names.

My character was born of a Bosmeri mother named Terry Ann and a Breton father named Superior. They named my character Buffy. Many years later, Buffy combined the names of her parents to call her black mare Superian. The lesson here is that I am a poor example to follow in sticking to TES lore when naming characters. :tongue:

I came up with a solution that coincides with my character's back story. Velyen choose to keep his mother's last name, (which was Hlaano) becuase of a violent fallout with his father, which I will mention in the Fan Fic I will be posting. I love your character Acadian, Buffy is just splendid. :thumbsup:

Velyen Hlaano. Well met! :foodndrink:

Aww, thanks for those kind words 'bout Buffy. :twirl:

It's in the book http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Notes_on_Racial_Phylogeny.

Thanks Vyper.

Yes, Vyper. Thanks for finding that! :goodjob:

I'm sure someone will find a reference for the naming rules, too, but I recall that Dunmer use house names as much as family ones, i.e the servants and retainers would use the same name as their masters, even though they are not related. Bretons would have a family name, so strictly relatives with the same name.

Angelie (Blakely) in the IC may be a good example. Redguard mother, Breton Father. Sometimes uses a last name in Breton style, and sometimes not, in Redguard style.

Interesting thanks.

I remember finding that book in an High Elf's house in Morrowind... :whistling:

You're welcome.



You're welcome. I actually came across that link in http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1175009-whats-your-favourite-book/page__view__findpost__p__17359339 just two days ago. Who'd have thought that would come in handy this fast? :laugh: