One thing that slightly bothers me about Skyrim is that hardly any of the races fit in with the province and are hard to role-play. I made a wood-elf and made his backstory so he was born in Skyrim and stuff but it got hard because Hadvar at the beginning is like "We'll return your remains to Valenwood" when I'm not even from Valenwood. And a bunch of other NPC's kept going on about how I must be from Valenwood and stuff. It broke the immersion and made it hard to role-play an exotic race in Skyrim. I bet Khajiit must be even harder. It seems that all races except for the human races don't fit in Skyrim. My main character is a Breton and it's a little easier since High Rock is right beside Skyrim. In Oblivion, Cyrodil was a very multi-cultural place with lots of different races and it was bordered by many other provinces while Skyrim seems to be almost all Nords and the game seems to favour them since it is Skyrim afterall and home to the Nords.

This is a small gripe I have about the game and it doesn't really affect me to much. It just would've been nice if Bethesda gave some love to other races besides Nord.

Bump. I'd like to know people's opinion on this. Do you guys find it difficult to play as exotic races?

You could take it as people being prejudiced.

The Nords of Skyrim seem like a very closed in sort of people, and merely assume any other race must not be from there. That's how my Argonian feels. It doubles because he is a Mage. On top of that, he is a Conjurer and frequently uses Necromancy to his advantage. He is also a good guy. He's basically the Anti-Nord

I feel the same way. I really feel out of place playing a foreign race, but the Nord +10 to 2h is wasted on every char I am interested in. Just not interested in rolling one for anything other than RPing.

I think one of the nice things about being a Breton is that you seem to run into this problem.... practically never.


I would play it off as 'well-meaning idiot makes bad assumptions'. People do it all the time.

I felt the same way playing a Breton in Morrowind...

Considering the cold and harsh climate that we found Skyrim to be, do you really think many Wood Elves, Argonians, and Khajiiti would enjoy living there anyway? To me, this is the most logical reason for the absence of other races in Skyrim (other than the developers deciding not to include them in the game). In addition, if you think about the opening of the game, how many locals are really going to know that your character was born in Skyrim? If I was meeting you for the first time, and you looked like a Wood Elf, I might assume you came from Valenwood as well.

It also makes sense (at least to me) that Cyrodill, being in the heart of Tamriel, would have a diverse racial demography just by being the center province. In my humble opinion ...

well its kinda difficutl...its a bit like that in most tes games on the other hand, mixing races to much would maybe take away from an authentic feeling for the region (altough it is kinda funny that enemies are much more diverse in races)...i am thinking about rerolling an orc character but thats kinda the same...i felt displaced with every non human character, except maybe woodelf cause they look like humans and you meet one in the first town...

He doesn't know that. You're just some wood elf.

I'm playing an Argonian and I love it. I especially like when people refer to my guy as "lizard." When the Imperial at the beginning said he'd return my guy's remains to Blackmarsh and the female captain said "Next, the lizard!" I had a chill go up my spine. The only things I don't like about playing an Argonian are 1.) His voice sounds like that of a normal human and 2.) He gasps for breath when he surfaces from water, which is funny, because he shouldn't be out of breath at all.

You don't like their voices? I personally much prefer my Argonian (Who is a Wizard) to sound more human and articulate. I think the raspy lizard-like voice from Oblivion is more suited to those straight outta' Blackmarsh or on the underbelly of society.

Well, how is he supposed to know?
Most wood elves are from Valenwood, so they're simply making an assumption. It's not like everyone in the game knows all about your made up backstory.

I think that your character is usually assumed to be a foreigner in Elder Scrolls games. Even if you played a dark elf in Morrowind, you were told you were an outlander because of your west empire accent and customs. I think that this has to be the case because if you were from the province where the game takes place, upon starting the game, you would already have friends, maybe a home, and have some general familiarity with the environment, which isn’t really possible.

Of course, you can just ignore all that and role-play the experience to whatever is most fun for you.

yea some mercs said to my face "your kind shouldnt be here" and i'm like "well if it wernt for us, where would you get all your skooma??"

It's kind of funny really. I would see it the same as me (An American) assuming where someone is from based on their accent. If someone came up to me speaking in a heavy French accent and I assumed they were from France, how am I to know they're from Canada? It's possible, and I know people that would have that sort of heritage are also -from- Canada, but it's not some great crime on my part, or ignorance beyond not knowing the person. See what I mean?

Basically even if your Wood Elf had the most hilarious Nord accent (Which I think would sound awesome) they may still assume you're from Valenwood just by looking at you.

I think the personality and gruffness of the Nords is perfectly suited to the terrain. Cyrodiil was much more cosmopolitan as it was the seat of imperial power and thus it made sense to have more encounters with all the races and it was eay to RP a bck story for your character being there. That and the fact that it shared a border with all the other provinces. Morrowind was the same as Skyrim. I used to love the way the Dunmer used to insult my Imperial exlegionnaire with a derisve and throaty 'outlander'! Adds to the immersion and the game IMHO

Yea, my current character's a Nord, and when i was talking to the Stormcloaks they totally cursed the elves like crazy makes me wonder if they'll say that when im playing a high elf.

I don't see this as a problem. Skyrim is mostly populated by Nords, and the Nords are, shall we say, big on steel and short on brains. They say stupid things because most don't know better. "Oh, you must be from Valenwood" is the same as saying "Oh, you must be from Japan" to anybody who looks eastern.

As for why you would want to live in Skyrim when the locals are kind of backward and the climate is kind of hostile... Well, think about real life reasons why you would live somewhere that you don't want to. Maybe it's because you're working as a caravan guard. Maybe you came for the College of Winterhold. Maybe you're an ivory poacher. Maybe you're a miner. Maybe you're an agent for your government. Maybe you're a criminal fleeing from your home province to escape justice?

There's a zillion possibilities. If nothing else works, just go insane and believe that Sheogorath told you to.

I do wish there weren't as many Nords.

I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective.
Even if your Bosmer was born in Skyrim, he likely has relatives in Valenwood and would want his body to be delivered to the native land of his Race/culture/beliefs/family.
Or, just ignore what people say. If you really want to roleplay, just create it in your head and ignore the few small details that don't fit with your ideas.
Roleplaying is more about you, than about the game.

In Morrowind everyone hates you and calls you Outlander, no matter what Race you pick. But that never stopped me from role-playing a Dunmer that was "Born on Vvardenfell, was the nephew of Vedam Dren, and hated foreigners for trying to change the culture of my people."


I'm playing a Khajiit in Skyrim, and I find it works great. Being a lone adventurer in a foreign land is fun.
If you don't like that, play a Nord.

No company can program the dialogues so as to include the possibility of checking a custom backstory to address this or that particular case. If you choose race, it is understood you were born in that land.

This probably came with Morrowind, I remember you were greeted often with negative attitude by many NPC's. Some lines were tto funny, specially in that harsh voice of Dark Elves.

I assume that Argonians have a harder time speaking Cyrodilic, with them being reptiles and all and having different mouths and vocal cords, so I prefer the raspy voice.

One does seem to draw quite a lot of attention....
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/attention.jpg

I just wanted to bask next to the fire and everybody is staring at me. A little unsettling.

As others have said, how would the NPCs know this? At the start of the game, the Imperials who are about to execute you don't even know your name, so how do you expect them to know that you're one of the minority of bosmer who aren't from Valenwood?



Sadly, no. This one has many hours in-game and the only comments on his heritage have been an occasional "Is that fur coming out of your ears?" as he passed by.

No, I like the Argonian NPC voices. But the PC's voice (as in, YOUR voice) as an Argonian sounds /completely/ human when the NPC Argonians' don't.

THIS!
Other than in the beginning and people sometimes saying "what do you want lizard?" everyone loves me and treats me with respect.