How did your character become a necromancer?

Aigym_Hlervu

Ilsabet wrote: »

Okay I'll take some bites.

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

I do not advocate slavery personally, so being a Dunmer there I will not get one even if the game permits me. But I will advocate and protect the right to own slaves there because I am a Dunmer there.

I think you've found your own little paradox there. Would you as a person advocate for the right of human traffickers to ply their trade? Do you support the rights of slave owners in parts of the world where that's still a thing? If not, then your Dunmer is acting contrary to how you as a person act - because it makes sense for him in the fictional society in which he lives. That aspect of how you play your character is closer to what we're talking about than the principles you're arguing for.

No paradox here. Personally I won't neither advocate nor accuse them. It is the business of the people of those parts of the world. Regarding the game - please read those lines I've written again. Thanks for the rest of your message, I understand what you mean and the difference of our approaches - @VaranisArano has explained it ultimately.

VaranisArano wrote: »

Crime and Punishment, yeah?

Yes ! My hat is off to you, @VaranisArano. Always a pleasure to talk to an educated man. I guess we could have lots of subjects to discuss. Thanks! Thank you for sharing your point of view too, it made everything clear to me regarding the matter we've been discussing. I recalled my play sessions in Diablo 3 (sorry for such a reference here) - I've always played it Hard mode. Every death is permanent there, so I do understand what you mean. Video games are not the thing I switch on my imagination the way you do. I see it pointless to write a backstory for my character there while I cannot include it inside the game itself. If I only could do it!..

VaranisArano

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

Okay I'll take some bites.

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

I do not advocate slavery personally, so being a Dunmer there I will not get one even if the game permits me. But I will advocate and protect the right to own slaves there because I am a Dunmer there.

I think you've found your own little paradox there. Would you as a person advocate for the right of human traffickers to ply their trade? Do you support the rights of slave owners in parts of the world where that's still a thing? If not, then your Dunmer is acting contrary to how you as a person act - because it makes sense for him in the fictional society in which he lives. That aspect of how you play your character is closer to what we're talking about than the principles you're arguing for.

No paradox here. Personally I won't neither advocate nor accuse them. It is the business of the people of those parts of the world. Regarding the game - please read those lines I've written again. Thanks for the rest of your message, I understand what you mean and the difference of our approaches - VaranisArano has explained it ultimately.

VaranisArano wrote: »

Crime and Punishment, yeah?

Yes ! My hat is off to you, VaranisArano. Always a pleasure to talk to an educated man. I guess we could have lots of subjects to discuss. Thanks! Thank you for sharing your point of view too, it made everything clear to me regarding the matter we've been discussing. I recalled my play sessions in Diablo 3 (sorry for such a reference here) - I've always played it Hard mode. Every death is permanent there, so I do understand what you mean. Video games are not the thing I switch on my imagination the way you do. I see it pointless to write a backstory for my character there while I cannot include it inside the game itself. If I only could do it!..

That's entirely fair! Everyone has an approach that works for them.

Starlock

I've certainly been introduced to some very different understandings of what roleplaying means in this thread. I too come from a tabletop RPG background, so to not make distinctions between in-character and out-of-character is pretty foreign to me. Granted, this is something those new to tabletop RPGs sometimes have trouble with so I'm not totally unfamiliar. We sometimes have to help new players understand that roleplaying is basically like cooperative storytelling/acting with the game master as the primary facilitator of the narrative. But there's more to it than that. Anyone ever seen The Gamers: Dorkness Rising? Great indie film that teaches people about the social dynamics of tabletop RPG groups.

Luthid

Gwynne was a hedge mage with a daddy kink. In her travels she became involved with a man who claimed to be Abnur Tharn.

She never could bring herself for believe that the actual Tharn from the books she read would have been randomly hanging out in Elsweyr, but she supposed that the total breakdown of Cyrodiil society had afforded those displaced to recreate themselves however they chose, and she couldn’t deny his powerful magnetism.

Her Tharn loved to teach, mostly because it fed his ego and sense of self-importance, and so he was a great mentor to her both in the ways of magick and...er...let’s call it “intimacy”.

He had many fanciful stories that she was sure were utter BS and he had a habit of writing himself into well known events as if he had been there. But through his tales she came to see Mannimarco as a sympathetic character. With that much power within reach who could blame him for wanting to harness and leverage it for himself.

As Gwynne’s interests turned to blood magick and darker arts, her Tharn became increasingly uncomfortable. He would often belittle her, calling her a foolish child too weak to handle what she was getting into. She tired of his self indulgent flights of imagination and moved on.

She quickly found a group of people dedicated to the Worm King. Some in Tamriel consider them a cult...

Benzux

Character creation - both mechanically (class, skills, weapons, armour etc.) and personality/background-wise - is easily my favourite part of any RPG, be it a video game like the Elder Scrolls series, or tabletop like D&D. Every single one of my ESO characters has a fleshed-out backstory (some more than others), and my Argonian Necromancer, Raises-The-Dead, is no different. I won't go too deep into his backstory, as OP's question was specifically about how they became a Necromancer, but here's a little bit.

In short, Raises is an exile. Due to the influence of Vaermina - who had chosen the Saxhleel to be her champion from even before he hatched - he committed multiple atrocities during his youth, and was eventually caught as he was attempting to kill his tribe's Hist Tree. His tribe saw him as a madman and exiled him, threatening to punish him with death should he ever return. His name was forgotten and never spoken again, and even Raises doesn't remember his hatching name any longer. After his exile, he fully and completely devoted himself to his Daedric Mistress, learning magic from Vaermina and becoming a Dreamstrider. His Necromancy comes from a different source, though - the Worm Cult. As Raises felt no empathy for other living beings, and Vaermina's whispers of him being stronger than anyone else out in Tamriel having long since been ingrained into his mind, he was fascinated with Necromancy, the idea of manipulating the souls of "lesser mortals" for his own gain - as well as helping his Mistress achieve her goals - seeming almost natural to him. Thus, he joined the Worm Cult to learn more about the Dark art of Necromancy, taking on the name Raises-The-Dead.
Raises is probably my only character who is 100% evil. As I mentioned, he feels no empathy towards others (which is similar to myself IRL, as I also lack the ability to feel empathy or sympathy for other people) and sees them as simply souls he can manipulate and corpses he can raise as undead. His deep fascination with Necromancy is only eclipsed by his devotion to Vaermina.

MythicEmperor

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

Ilsabet wrote: »

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

I didn't. Moreover I can't understand those who did it after all that sacrifice to Molag Bal. After all the evil the Necromancers have done. We all are supposed to fight those abominations and destroy them entirely, not join them! Since the Devs made that class playable I avoid or murder any Necromancer I meet in the game. No cooperation with those s'wits. I wonder what makes you all join them? It's a pure insanity. They must be sentenced to a penalty of death, followed by Rites of Forgetting and disposal of remains in the Pyres of Purification - at least as a retaliation act. Behold the price of blasphemy.

Well...

Both of my necromancers developed their crafts before they were sacrificed to Molag Bal. One of them was recruited by the Worm Cult, and when she turned them down they sacrificed her instead. She has no love for them or really any evildoers, but that doesn't mean she's going to stop using the powers she's developed just because that's what the baddies use. Frankly she kind of enjoys the idea of using their own dark arts against them, because those guys were jerks.

You probably have a point with the other one, but she doesn't much care what you or anybody else thinks.

Necromancy is a crime almost everywhere unless you are a Telvanni mage practicing those beasts and tailless apes . The game and its lore have already given us all the possible roles - we just have to choose which one to play. There's no way to join the Worm Cult and I cannot recall even a single dialogue line mentioning us to join their ranks. Also there's no way to join House Telvanni. So how are you supposed to be the one you say you are, the way different from just fantasizing it?

As a Telvanni necromancer, I must say that there is a distinction between the mechanics and quests of the game and a character in roleplay. For me, none of my characters are the vestige or whatnot in-character. Why? Because there is only one, so it wouldn’t make sense for everyone to run around as the vestige. It would be as if there were countless Nerevarines (who didn’t fail) all running around in Morrowind.

Yes, it is “fantasizing,” but that is the entire purpose of RP. Your character exists in a massive world and it is entirely unlikely every possible action can be undertaken in a game bound by graphics, quests, and mechanics. Nirn is a world, so any feasible action can be roleplayed as happening. It is feasible for someone to become a necromancer as evidenced by the existence of countless necromancers. Most RPers, not acting as the vestige, have every reason to want to become a necromancer. The same goes for House Telvanni, as it is explicitly stated in The Affairs of Wizards that all races are accepted into the house, therefore making membership feasible.

I went back and read some of the previous comments and I must say it reminds me of the debates I’d have with another individual years ago in these same forums. I can’t believe the idea still exists that one is mental for acting as different characters.

Roleplaying is like authoring a book. The author can create good or evil characters who act on different, often contrary, motives. These characters are entirely of the author’s design, yet they are not the author. Would the author be to blame if the evil villain committed a heinous act? Would the author be praised for the righteous actions of the hero in stopping the villain? No, that is foolery. The same can be said for players creating characters in roleplay. The only difference is that roleplayers create a collective story pieced together by many players who share authorship.

Aigym_Hlervu

MythicEmperor wrote: »

Yes, it is “fantasizing,” but that is the entire purpose of RP ... Roleplaying is like authoring a book.

Yeah, but the book has already been written by another author (a developer team) and your daydreams are not included. I won't discuss it yet another time. Just know, that "fantasizing" is the entire purpose of your RP - not mine. I've said multiple times here role-playing to me is just picking up an existing role and playing it. I'm a Hand of Almalexia in ESO, a fighters guild member, a Psijic mage, whatever - but I cannot play a role of a Telvanni retainer because I had to promote that filthy slave Sun-in-Shadow to become the one instead of me! The ZOS team has not given me that option, they even haven't given any explanation of why should I help that Argonian s'wit instead of becoming a Telvanni mage myself! Why the dickens?! It was a rhetorical question - I just know how some people like to answer them here..

A single dialogue line said by someone of a House Magister rank "Muthsera Hlervu, we name you House Telvanni Oathman" or something would be more than enough! But we have what we have and I don't complain - I just don't pretend to be whom I cannot be there! Whom would I be considered if I wear that Telvanni motif armor and tell everyone I had joined the House? A thief, a guiser and a liar.

That's my RP. I've already brawled with too many forum members exactly on this matter - I thought all the players played the way I do, but I was shocked when it turned out I'm the only one here. I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm really tired to read all those wall of texts explaining me how wrong am I in my approach and all the fine points of true RP. I'd better stay with my "untrue" one you don't even consider role-playing. Sorry, if you consider this reply some sort of offending - there was no even an intent. I think we have nothing to discuss regarding this topic cause we're way too different in our views.

wolfbone

cos he knows it'll *** meridia off. he really really hates that old crone.