I've always wondered what kind of characters the lore buffs play in Skyrim.

Do you guys name them whatever strikes your fancy, or do you stick to a name that would make sense within the context of their culture?
And what kind of class you do u usually pick? Oh and what kind of armors do you guys/girls favor for your PCs?


Here are some of mine.

Yanniss- Altmer He's a mage and sticks with light elven and glass armor.... or robes. For the record I don't like the way robes were handled in Skyrim.... Oh and sometimes Daedric. Makes sense to me since he's a master summoner.

Wilhelm the Wolf Runner- Lycan and a pure warrior nord. Heavy armor. You won't catch him out of his dragon plate armor.

Kain the Unending- Vampire Nord battlemage Loves everything human made when it comes to armor and weapons but he favors steel plate armor and favor sky-forge steel for his weapons, though he uses other types too

Falicia-Bosmer. Elven and glass bows for weapons. Dark brotherhood armor most of the time. Elven and Glass from time to time

Else-Nord Light armor battlemage

Velyn Telvanni- cliché name I know but I like it lol. Battlemage who uses Dwarven equipment.

Duma gro-Nagrom- Named after Gortwog gro-Nagorm and his father. Wears only Orcish armor and uses only Orcish weapons save for Volendrung given to him by his lord and the Mace of Molga Bal. He likes to stick to blunt weapons.

Oh and I know this topic might sound kinda out of place here, but I'm really interested in how you guys craft you characters in regards to the lore of their culture, so I hope that's enough to keep it in this section.

Me? Nothing all that lore correct, just whatever sounds right for that character. Got two Wulfriks (Daggerfall and Skyrim), a Hellmouth (Morrowind), Tsarnak (breton in Oblivion), Sathax (stealing from Iksar EQ names for Skyrim), and that's all I remember off hand.

In Skyrim? I have a demigod Khajiit Illusion/Destruction Assassin called Nightrunner (that's my username!), an Altmer conjurer Warlock (Bound weapons and heavy armour) called Nightcaller, and a pure Imperial Thief (who wears DB Armour) called Karz (one of my nicknames).

I'm not one for lore-accurate names

Amaraz Indobar. A Dunmer raised in High Rock by his father, a lost Hand of Almalexia. Born a decade or so after the Red Year. http://albinodunmer.deviantart.com/gallery/32447818#/d494svh

Vehk-Sul Al-Muatra basically inspired by the 36 lessons of Vivec and a very devout member of the old Tribunal Temple. Deeply believes that Vivec will return one day. Is a Dunmer.

Gamial Stormsinger. Nord born in Valenwood but raised in Hammerfell just after the end of the Great War. His father was an Imperial diplomat and ambassador to the Thalmor. His mother used to be a Companion and is a pro-Skyrim Nord. The conflict between his mothers and fathers views is a deeply felt connection in regards to the Civil war as well as his upbringing which left him with non traditional Nordoiv views towards elves.

Working on an idea for a Altmer but got nothing good so far.

Skyrim: There's just Elfreda (a good Germanic name* for a good pseudo-Germanic culture). Hard-drinking, hard-fighting... you know, the worst stereotypes of Nords as spoken in the Niben valley or (in the days before the Red Year) the hills of Vvardenfell. No, she's not exactly a credit to her kind, but she gets the job done.

I don't tend to do more than a handful of characters per game, and I haven't gotten around to any more for Skyrim yet (I have a Bosmer archer waiting on deck, but haven't figured out a name for her yet), so that's it there. Plenty more from the other games, though.
__________
*Ironically, it means "elf-counsel", despite the fact that she hates the Thalmor with a passion. Make of that what you will.

My dunmer warrior characters are usually (blank) Sarethi. First names used include Aeneas, Poeas, and Sufjan. I also have an Altmer Warrior named Indoril Nerevar.

Four Imperials:

Kraven Desselius: Werewolf warrior. Uses shield and sword. Decent with arrows.

Vera Darksky(Or Vera the Huntress): Werewolf warrior/Bounty Hunter, expert with the bow and two handed.

Raven Meridius Vladmirius: Female Vampire, uses destruction magic(Lightning and vampiric drain) and dual wields.

Draken Decumus Vladmirius: Male vampire, uses the blade's sword, uses fire as primary destruction magic.

Kas-Ril-Ja is the lore-compliant name of my Argonian. Some people may think that it has one two many syllables, but whatever. It's just a long name.

Wow I thought for sure you'd have a Nord or two. lol

An Altmer with the Name Indoril Nerevar... Interesting. Is there a back story there? Was his father a Dunmer?

I like choosing a name that I think is just pretty. Like my beautiful Nord girl in Skyrim is named Crystal, but she majors in like one-handed/light armor/archery/sneaking/speech. Even though one could use the name for a mage charater, I have just never fancied magic as much as using acctual weapons. But for this I thought Crystal was a pretty name.
Then in my High Elf in Oblivian was named Railah, after my DnD mage.

I usually look up a lore correct name, or make up one that sounds about right. My Khajiit thief is Jo'Vassa (Jo meaning scholar or master or something like that, as before going back into adventuring he'd settled down and become a scholar and merchant).

I play Morrowind the most, followed by Oblivion.
I usually will play only Dunmer and usually name him Garan, but on occasion I will actually role-play a character. Right now a Dunmer named Talin who was the son of a noble in Cyrodil who was a kleptomaniac, and now is in Morrowind. He learnt magic from a Telvanni wizard that was in the Imperial Prison, and was reccommended to join that house on arrival. However, the Telvanni wizard also recommended staying off of Vvardenfell because of the recent blight, so Talin is running around within Tamriel Rebuilt.

I usually play a heavy armor/shield and sword Dunmer with lots and lots of magic.

Something I like to do is name spells I research after myself, and then remake those for other characters with the same spell name e.g. Garan's Immolate (2 damage for 30 seconds on Target)

The other character I really roleplayed was a juggernaut mage in Oblivion, who was an Orc with heavy armor, blunt weapon, and various magic (he was almost impossible to do major damage to).

I role-play him as the Ruling King of Resdaynia, transported 4300 years into the future by Vivec right in the middle of his 'kill the moons' phase.

Breton: Howard H. Humphrey
Imperial: Sergio Attius
Nord: Agmarr Olafson
Redguard: Ras Al-Omar
Dunmer: Arvel Theldras
Argonian: Hedj-Yal
Khajiit: Elshaajazyo
Orc: Vorgos gro-Tull
Altmer: Calheldim Relmos
Bosmer: Delemoth Gray-Wake

The first one is my favorite.

One of mine too. Possibly the favorite Breton I've made since Claude Tussaud, my non-magic thief. He's also my first character I designed to be realistically ugly: under bite, large hawk-like nose, frizzy red hair and mutton chops, sallow eyes, gaunt face. A true scholarly sort. No fine tea or wine in Skyrim though, and repugnant doesn't even to begin to describe what these Nords pass off as cheese.

SELF INDULGENCE O'CLOCK

I tend to give my first PC in each game (who for ME are the canon protagonists, ofc) simple names that make no real sense. For instance the Nerevarine was called Jango (Altmer), the CoC Davia (Imperial) and the Dragonbum Galatea (Altmer again, granddaughter of Neravarine).

It's my second or third characters that get lorey.

I'm most proud of my Skyrim gang. They go like this:

Dras Aryoni: Dunmer Thief Assassin from Tel Vos, a bitter immigrant who claims to be of the household of Telvanni magelords who founded his home-town (how many people went with Telvanni Dunmer in Skyrim? Hahaha..)

Svetlana Milk-Eyed: Nord female, inspired heavily by the (wonderful) music of Joanna Newsom and a certain romance a woman might feel toward her homeland. Svetlana is a name that appears in one of Newsom's songs, on the album "The Milk-Eyed Mender" so there you go. She was created to be a character that had a reason to join the Stormcloaks.

Lucius Titan: Imperial ex-legion great-grandson of my Imperial Dragon character from Morrowind, Prometheus Titan. Many of my characters are related whether they know it or not. The name itself is a reference to Rome. Lucius is mid 2nd Season Pullo, bandit leader who reminiscent of all that valour he showed against the Thalmor.

In short, I twist pop-culture references in order to explore the bits of lore I like the best. Most of my characters are crafted so as to fit best with a guild my main PC hasn't joined, but I want to play through the story of.

Rethan Isu: Roguish Dunmer scholar (read: thief of books).
Anawulf: Crusader with a Nord father and Altmer mother. The name is Anglo-Saxon for 'single (lone) wolf', which is a bit cheesy, but I've had a Sir Bors type tragic Nord 'Viking Errant' with that name since Morrowind, and this is his spiritual (actual?) successor.
Zeromoon: Abandoned kitten raised by Falmer. Some social problems. Haven't really played this one.

[edit 'cos I am bracketially challenged- and again, 'cos it don't like my html]

My Nord main for Skyrim is Erik, and my Altmer spell guy is Mapheus. I had a Kahjiit and Dunmer but mixed and matched the first/last names from NPCs in previous games.

My Hero of Daggerfall: J'Ashrii, Khajiit
My Hero of the Battlespire: Grinnen, Redguard
My Nerevarine: Isaba Llaveyn, Dunmer
My Champion of Cyrodiil: Nona Sintalius, Imperial
My Dragonborn: Vannora Shale-Fist (later Ysmir Vannora) Nord

Others:
Velia, Redguard
Gladriel, Altmer
Aurinth-i, Redguard
Zoey Tarellond, Breton
Ariane, Bosmer
Luca Vespillo, Imperial
Gwendaline Balois, Breton
Andreil Riztezze, Breton
Mildrea the Lost, Nord
Dhalomine, Redguard

I have a lot of characters.

Khajiit Warrior uses scimitars- Dro-Jasharsh (Dro means warrior)
Dunmer Battlemage and CoC carry over- Friseth Hlaalu
Altmer anti-Thalmor pure mage- Kaladian
Argonian Thief- Face-Cracks-Eggs

Well, my primary character has been around since Daggerfall, when comparatively few people had noticed there was such a thing as lore. How long has it been? Sixteen years?

Allerleirauh is a nymic, not a name. Her personal name - well, she doesn't know you that well. The name "Allerleirauh" originally comes from a German fairy tale about a princess who flees from forced marriage to her royal father while wearing a fur cloak which (depending on the version of the tale) enables her to transform into a strange hairy creature made up of parts from many different beasts. You can read more about welwas in the new pocket-guide. And, it turns out, Alleir was one of the tear-wives of the sons of Ysgramor. Which just goes to show that in Tamriel, time crowns the errors of the past with new truths.

Tristayn (Tris) Gaerington is my Breton. I got his name in a simple way - I generated random townspeople names in Daggerfall until I got one I liked. But I like this one in particular because you can break it down for its history. The High Rock coast was invaded, long ago, by Nordic pirates. One such, named Gaer, founded a village, where his descendants were known as the Gaerings, and in time, the village became known as Gaerington. That village no longer exists, having since been absorbed into a larger city, but people who bear the name still live there.

Oh, I almost forgot the second part of the question. Allie likes big hammers and big stompy armor when she's not being a welwa. I really like the look of the Orc armor in this game. Shame steel looks terrible. The proportions are just bizarre and the Barbie boobs are over-the-top. Dwemer looks pretty nifty minus the helmet. I like open-faced helms, so right now I'm wearing Ebony plus dragonplate helm, which also conveniently is getting me the occasional point in light armor.

Tris is a light armor or robes sort of guy. I had him in a combo of glass and robes last game, haven't really played him much in Skyrim.

Back in Oblivion, I named my imperial Kallistrate, which is a go-to name for me when i can't think of anything new. My breton was called Delanaisa, which has since become another go-to name. I think I called my dunmer Trixie nerende, yet another go-to name.

In Skyrim, I only have two characters so far. Kala is my nord, she hits things. My dunmer is Rassani Naarinel, who is trying to gather power (Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, College of Winterhold) in order to give the Empire a leg up against the Thalmor - and once the Empire is done with all this warring and is at peace once again, she will be ready to have her newfound criminal empire sink its claws into the underbellies of all the provinces.