Why would any human join the Aldmeri Dominion?

Highlor3

I made a reachman (nord in-game) that joined AD because he wants to fight for a Reach independent of Breton and Nord rule, and he thinks through Queen Ayerenn that can be achieved.

Dark_Lord_Kuro

Karm1cOne wrote: »

Too many people look at this from a perspective of 4th Era Nirn. The aldmeri dominion hasn't been corrupted fully by the bigots in this time. The AD seems the most stable of the 3 factions at this moment. In fact, the dominion lasts until talos brings the numidium to defeat it.

Wasnt that the second dominion and the third in skyrim?

Dark_Lord_Kuro

Well if 2 half human/half altmer with exacty 50%of each gene pool mary, their child will be 50%of each but then that child mary a nord their child would be 25% altmer and 75% human. Multiply that by 3000 years and most breton will mosty be human

BloodLegions

I dont think you guys understand the significance of the brettons elven blood. They only exist as a race due the the mixing of the direnni and ayleids and the nedic population there. There are by all means a half elven race. Look.at their ears next time.you make one. Regardless of inter breeding of other more nedic based races they are by all accounts half elven as it doesn't matter if they bread more with each other as the created race from elven and nedic breeding was the brettons. Meaning that they always have and always will have elven blood and it will always be strong. Unless they dilute it with the alessians. Who also have elven blood due to their treatment at the hands of the ayleids. The most untainted blood lies only in the nords or the red guards.

PrayingSeraph

BloodLegions wrote: »

I dont think you guys understand the significance of the brettons elven blood. They only exist as a race due the the mixing of the direnni and ayleids and the nedic population there. There are by all means a half elven race. Look.at their ears next time.you make one. Regardless of inter breeding of other more nedic based races they are by all accounts half elven as it doesn't matter if they bread more with each other as the created race from elven and nedic breeding was the brettons. Meaning that they always have and always will have elven blood and it will always be strong. Unless they dilute it with the alessians. Who also have elven blood due to their treatment at the hands of the ayleids. The most untainted blood lies only in the nords or the red guards.

Breeding with the other human raves DO matter over time, and Bretons are not half elven. Just as the very Breton race was a product of generations of mer and man interbreeding, generations of breton and man breeding will dilute the elven blood.

ghastley

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

karthrag_inak

This one thinks the more relevant question is why get game of epic fantasy, with many amazing races, just to play a human? Perhaps such a person would also like to have gameplay where they would ...erm...get a job? Have a mortgage, or perhaps homework? Perhaps one would be yearning for the "Housing : Weekly Chores" expansion, yes?

Seems very mundane and boring to this one, but then again, he enjoys living on the edge, this one does

VaranisArano

karthrag_inak wrote: »

This one thinks the more relevant question is why get game of epic fantasy, with many amazing races, just to play a human? Perhaps such a person would also like to have gameplay where they would ...erm...get a job? Have a mortgage, or perhaps homework? Perhaps one would be yearning for the "Housing : Weekly Chores" expansion, yes?

Seems very mundane and boring to this one, but then again, he enjoys living on the edge, this one does

You make it sound like we're playing Muggles in a game of Harry Potter, as opposed to humans with their own interesting cultures quite distinct from each other and the non-human options. I tend to delve into the lore and look for interesting cultural 'hooks' for my characters.

For example, my main Imperial is driven by the loss of the Empire and her desertion of the Legion during the fall of the Imperial City. She does a lot of questionable work for Abnur Tharn to make up for it.

Humans don't have to be boring. I mean, they can be boring, but so can elves, orcs, and beast-folk if the player doesn't put in the effort to make them interesting. Pointed ears, scales, or fur don't automatically make a character more interesting.

PrayingSeraph

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

That's just it. The 100% of their mother idea flat out contradicts the creation of the Breton race. Blood had to mix, there had to be dilution of blood.

Aigym_Hlervu

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

What sources support your idea and make you that confident? The opposite research results are published by the Council of Healers of the Imperial University and Agronak gro-Malog, Aeliah Renmus, Lyris Titanborn, Tobias are it's a practical evidence.

The_Drop_Bear

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

No it states that they most likely take the race of the mother but will have some traits if the father. Now combine that with hundreds of years of the dirreni mating with their slaves and you will get a new race

VaranisArano

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

What sources support your idea and make you that confident? The opposite research results are published by the Council of Healers of the Imperial University and Agronak gro-Malog, Aeliah Renmus, Lyris Titanborn, Tobias are it's a practical evidence.

In a weird sense, it's both.

Specifically, your source says "Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."

So in gameplay terms, the player character is 100% their mother's race. If someone wants to play an Imperial, then their mother was an Imperial and they have the racial traits (and powers) of an Imperial. 100%. There's no gameplay ability to say "Well, my character's father was a Nord, so my character has some Nordic frost resistance even though they're Imperial." At most, the character can have some physical characteristics, like maybe the Imperial is on the taller or bulkier side of the Imperial sliders to represent their heritage. But even there, we can't use another race's sliders.

In short, we can roleplay a character who's half-[insert father's race here], but in terms of gameplay, we're 100% the mother's race.

Now, NPCs, on the other hand, can have a little more freedom in terms of appearances, simply because the game artists can do whatever they like. For example, Lyris Titanborn is huge, which reflects her part-giant heritage. Now, I could say that my character is likewise part-giant, as its clearly possible, yet I cannot have access to the same appearance sliders to represent that heritage in the same way as Lyris.


But Bretons?
IDK, its that weird intersection of two aspects of the lore. It doesn't make sense that Bretons are a mix of elven and human traits in a franchise that fairly specifically says that character traits follow the mother. Unless we speculate that Bretons are from generations of elf father/human mother such that "traces of the father" built up enough to produce what's effectively a "part-even" race. Then as long as most Bretons marry other Bretons, you'd still see those traits breeding true through generations.

The_Drop_Bear

VaranisArano wrote: »

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

What sources support your idea and make you that confident? The opposite research results are published by the Council of Healers of the Imperial University and Agronak gro-Malog, Aeliah Renmus, Lyris Titanborn, Tobias are it's a practical evidence.

In a weird sense, it's both.

Specifically, your source says "Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."

So in gameplay terms, the player character is 100% their mother's race. If someone wants to play an Imperial, then their mother was an Imperial and they have the racial traits (and powers) of an Imperial. 100%. There's no gameplay ability to say "Well, my character's father was a Nord, so my character has some Nordic frost resistance even though they're Imperial." At most, the character can have some physical characteristics, like maybe the Imperial is on the taller or bulkier side of the Imperial sliders to represent their heritage. But even there, we can't use another race's sliders.

In short, we can roleplay a character who's half-[insert father's race here], but in terms of gameplay, we're 100% the mother's race.

Now, NPCs, on the other hand, can have a little more freedom in terms of appearances, simply because the game artists can do whatever they like. For example, Lyris Titanborn is huge, which reflects her part-giant heritage. Now, I could say that my character is likewise part-giant, as its clearly possible, yet I cannot have access to the same appearance sliders to represent that heritage in the same way as Lyris.


But Bretons?
IDK, its that weird intersection of two aspects of the lore. It doesn't make sense that Bretons are a mix of elven and human traits in a franchise that fairly specifically says that character traits follow the mother. Unless we speculate that Bretons are from generations of elf father/human mother such that "traces of the father" built up enough to produce what's effectively a "part-even" race. Then as long as most Bretons marry other Bretons, you'd still see those traits breeding true through generations.

That's exactly how it happened, the nedic people of high rock were enslaved and ruled over by the dirreni for 100's of years

redgreensunset

The_Drop_Bear wrote: »

vestahls wrote: »

The_Drop_Bear wrote: »

Bruccius wrote: »

The_Drop_Bear wrote: »

vestahls wrote: »

The_Drop_Bear wrote: »

vestahls wrote: »

Being in an era before social media, it's entirely possible the average human doesn't know exactly what AD's stance is on everything - and even if they hear it, they might not believe it.
Also, AD in ESO is not the same as the AD in the future. They're practically snowflakes now by comparison, I miss Skyrim's Thalmor.

Also regarding Bretons specifically: they are, technically, half-altmer. So they could feel as much of a belonging in AD as they would in High Rock, even if the Altmer might not necessarily see it that way.

The lore is filled with peculiar alliances like that. Like, it might seem strange that the divine-worshiping Ayleids joined the Alessian empire, with our retrospective knowledge of what the Alessians do to the Ayleids, but for them it was probably a good idea at the time.

Bretons aren't half altmer at all, the elf blood in them is quite small

They aren't called Manmer for nothing.

They aren't called manmer, other than as a slur. The elf blood in them came from 1000's of years ago, it's very weak now

Based on? Their affinity to magic is a very strong indicator of the elven influence in their blood.

Based on the fact that most bretons have Breton parents, bretons are humans so every generation has less elf blood. The elf blood came from the nedic people of high rock were ruled over and enslaved by the dirreni clan. Which ended in 1E 500. That was 3002 years before ESO.

There originally were no such thing as bretons. Bretons came about from Nedes mixing with elves. One parent from here, one parent from there. This makes them as much humans as they are elves, and mixing among each other doesn't change that.

Sure, from the game's mechanical standpoint, Bretons are human. But from a lore standpoint, they literally came about from 50% human 50% elf and then carried on from there.

Originally yes, but every generation the elf blood in them shrinks as their parents are human. And they have had 3002 years. Think about it what happens when you times 1/2 by 1/2 you get 1/4.

That-- that's literally not how genetics or heredity (or inherited traits) works. Like just, no. And I mean, this also entirely sets apart that we have magic in this world that no one knows exactly how works not to mention meddling deadric princes no one has any control over. But even assuming "works like on planet Earth" approach to genetics and heredity, this ain't it chief.

VaranisArano

The_Drop_Bear wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

Cygemai_Hlervu wrote: »

ghastley wrote: »

The TES rules of racial inheritance make the child 100% the race of its mother. There is no "dilution" possible.

If your mother was Breton, you're 100% Breton. If she's a Nord, and your father was the Breton, then you're 0% Breton.

All of which contradicts the Bretons being a mixture, but I can't help that.

What sources support your idea and make you that confident? The opposite research results are published by the Council of Healers of the Imperial University and Agronak gro-Malog, Aeliah Renmus, Lyris Titanborn, Tobias are it's a practical evidence.

In a weird sense, it's both.

Specifically, your source says "Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."

So in gameplay terms, the player character is 100% their mother's race. If someone wants to play an Imperial, then their mother was an Imperial and they have the racial traits (and powers) of an Imperial. 100%. There's no gameplay ability to say "Well, my character's father was a Nord, so my character has some Nordic frost resistance even though they're Imperial." At most, the character can have some physical characteristics, like maybe the Imperial is on the taller or bulkier side of the Imperial sliders to represent their heritage. But even there, we can't use another race's sliders.

In short, we can roleplay a character who's half-[insert father's race here], but in terms of gameplay, we're 100% the mother's race.

Now, NPCs, on the other hand, can have a little more freedom in terms of appearances, simply because the game artists can do whatever they like. For example, Lyris Titanborn is huge, which reflects her part-giant heritage. Now, I could say that my character is likewise part-giant, as its clearly possible, yet I cannot have access to the same appearance sliders to represent that heritage in the same way as Lyris.


But Bretons?
IDK, its that weird intersection of two aspects of the lore. It doesn't make sense that Bretons are a mix of elven and human traits in a franchise that fairly specifically says that character traits follow the mother. Unless we speculate that Bretons are from generations of elf father/human mother such that "traces of the father" built up enough to produce what's effectively a "part-even" race. Then as long as most Bretons marry other Bretons, you'd still see those traits breeding true through generations.

That's exactly how it happened, the nedic people of high rock were enslaved and ruled over by the dirreni for 100's of years

The speculation portion is that the "traces of the father", whether human male/elf woman or elf father/human mother can actually build up over generations to produce a new race that breeds those traits true.

Its implied in the lore, and it makes a certain logical sense, but I don't recall it ever being confirmed.

On the other hand, a strict interpretation of the lore on racial traits seems to indicate that Direnni/Nedic relations should have ended up with a population of elves with slightly human traits and humans with slightly elven traits, which doesn't quite account for the Bretons.

I tend to lean towards the idea that gameplay trumps a strict interpretation of the lore. Bretons clearly are what they are, so I go with that.

The_Drop_Bear

BloodLegions wrote: »

I dont think you guys understand the significance of the brettons elven blood. They only exist as a race due the the mixing of the direnni and ayleids and the nedic population there. There are by all means a half elven race. Look.at their ears next time.you make one. Regardless of inter breeding of other more nedic based races they are by all accounts half elven as it doesn't matter if they bread more with each other as the created race from elven and nedic breeding was the brettons. Meaning that they always have and always will have elven blood and it will always be strong. Unless they dilute it with the alessians. Who also have elven blood due to their treatment at the hands of the ayleids. The most untainted blood lies only in the nords or the red guards.

That was over 3000 years ago, if you had some ancestors who were Chinese but had moved to Europe 3000 years ago, and mixed with the local population so you were European would you call yourself half Chinese.

Eporem

Jacarranda wrote: »

I'm asking this after questin in Summerset

where you enconter Elise Mallon, a breton, whos also eye of the queen, spying for Ayreen.

which makes me question why would any human would serve Ayreen and the Dominion if their goal is to end human rule across Tamriel.

if she is a spy for Ayreen, then she could be a spy for the Bretons as well? a double agent:)

SpaceElf

It is not outside the realm of possibility that human communities had been established within the Dominion territories long before Queen Ayreen was even born.

NewbieOKS

In addition, please don’t forget Frontarius Ambustus, an Imperial human resided in Elden Root who said

“I wear my armor proudly, for it is a symbol of the Legion with which I once served. Not the one that exists today. Help the Dominion retake Cyrodiil. Help us make the Empire right."

"Never ignore what occurs in your homeland. This is how I lost sight of the corruption in my own men."

OtarTheMad

Overall the Aldmeri Dominion of this era isn't like the ones we meet in Skyrim in the 4E. My theory is somehow after the fall of The Veiled Heritance they stayed hidden and worked in secret. Eventually, the Veiled Hertiance worked their way up the Altmer chain of royalty and we finally saw their end game in the Fourth Era. The College in Auridon pretty much confirms this theory for me because how the disguised Veiled Hertiance feels about the Khajiit and Bosmer races are fairly similar to how they feel about them in the fourth era.

This era's Dominion isn't that bad. I have a Nord Dragonknight who is AD and the reason he picked Aldmeri Dominion is not only because he likes Queen Ayrenn's vision but also because he feels like the other alliances are giving up on magic. He feels with the elves he can advance his knowledge of the arcane arts, like his Atmoran ancestors, and not be looked down upon.

Deathlord92

You can always make up a story my bosmer was born in high rock and live there all his life and now fights for the covenant he wants nothing to do with the high elf’s rule.

Zodiarkslayer

I understand tge OP's Question as to why would a man overcome his racial prejudice?
Every individual has to find some reason to fight for anything or anyone.

And in the case of the first Aldmeri Dominion that reason could be the fact that it is strifing to overcome racial prejudice. To utilized diversity rather than spurn it. Or simply Queen Ayrenn, who lived among the other races, knows their values and now lives these values as an example.

On a personal note: For me The Elder Scrolls as a franchise was always about overcoming the strong racial setup, rather than embracing it.

Valamist

I think sometimes people are too strict when it comes to lore. To me, lore is most interesting when its rules are bent or broken. It allows more questions to be explored. The answer should not be 'No, this is not right!' it should more be 'Wait this breaks lore, why is that?' it's there that lore can be expanded and fleshed out in greater detail.

I think there are countless reasons that can be made for one race to join a different Alliance. For example, my Necromancer alt is a Dunmer who was originally an ardent follower of the Tribunal and the people of the Pact, but she found her methods caused only hate and backlash from the people of Vvardenfell, the people she had fought so hard to defend, so she has defected to the Dominion. She was uneasy at first, but she has come to see the benefit the Aldmari ideals, and admires how Ayrenn plans to do it through unity over blind prejudice.

And no, this backstory did not come about simply because I chose the wrong Alliance during character creation...

Athan1

Good question, OP. I guess only elven races should theoretically align with the AD. Bretons are indeed half-elves. But I guess that any person of any race growing up in Summerset would classify as an AD citizen, so they'd be safe.

Phanex

I have a female Breton that came from a small island that was part of the direnni controlled area. Once the other bretons moved the direnni out of high rock these bretons, on the small island, continued the direnni tradition and look down on High Rock Bretons. They prefer elven style armor and pointy ears.

She joined the AD cause it's the high elves and the other races/alliances must be wrong. She's a little misguided.

Scion_of_Yggdrasil

Ironic that all this Breton talk came about because I recently changed alliances on my Breton Warden to AD. My characters "backstory" is that he had a Breton father and an Altmer mother. So he moved back to Summerset, after having lived in Glenumbra until his "death," to reconnect with his mothers heritage.

As far as genetics go... yes, a long time has passed, but lets remember how genetics work. It is still highly possible that the "elven blood" in Bretons has carried over, a significant amount, over the generations. What if elven blood is dominant, and human blood is more recessive. Based on the quoted studies, it sounds like aesthetic traits are carried over, but there is no mention of their ability (racial passives). Unless I missed something. It also does not speak to what further studies were conducted on the children, if at all. Based on game mechanics, bretons have retained a key feature from the elves: their magical affinity.

Regardless of the fact that other individuals, of other races, have notably become more powerful mages... Those are outliers, and speak to the individuals potential, not their race. Race is just the starting point (nature vs nurture). And prodigies are just that, an anomaly, not influenced by anything other than the fact that they just somehow were born special.

Further on the concept of dominant vs recessive traits... elven blood had to be dominant in order to eventually influence the creation of a new hyrbid race. Would that dominant trait not carry over through generations? Would that make Breton blood dominant, while literally any other race would take a recessive seat?

Its also evident that Bretons inherited the aesthetic features of men, while retaining the magical ability of elves. So their affinity for magic is the dominant trait, and any elven appearance is recessive, if present at all. This tells me that throughout generations, their affinity for magic would have a much greater chance at carrying over.

Until the alliances were formed, do we know just how much the races would leave their homeland? Enough to influence the dilution of their DNA? Or can we assume that most Bretons have retained their balance of elven/human genetics, and regardless of the quantities... the dominance of their magical ability is what matters most, further preserving their "elven blood" throughout the generations.

Of course, this is all theory based on earth human genetics, and the races of nirn can be entirely different.

Aendruu

OtarTheMad wrote: »

Overall the Aldmeri Dominion of this era isn't like the ones we meet in Skyrim in the 4E. My theory is somehow after the fall of The Veiled Heritance they stayed hidden and worked in secret. Eventually, the Veiled Hertiance worked their way up the Altmer chain of royalty and we finally saw their end game in the Fourth Era. The College in Auridon pretty much confirms this theory for me because how the disguised Veiled Hertiance feels about the Khajiit and Bosmer races are fairly similar to how they feel about them in the fourth era.

This era's Dominion isn't that bad. I have a Nord Dragonknight who is AD and the reason he picked Aldmeri Dominion is not only because he likes Queen Ayrenn's vision but also because he feels like the other alliances are giving up on magic. He feels with the elves he can advance his knowledge of the arcane arts, like his Atmoran ancestors, and not be looked down upon.

Bear in mind that the Thalmor's influence only increased after the Oblivion Crisis and the fall of the Crystal Tower, when they were given greater authority to deal with the deadric invasion of Summerset Isle. Following their success, the Thalmor were hailed as the saviours of Summerset and they subsequently overthrew the Altmeri monarchy and took control.

Athan1

All human races but the Bretons have affinity for physical combat, hence their passives raise stamina and health. The Bretons on the other hand have the same passives as the high elves. So yeah, their elven blood has carried over, even if they look like imperials now.

Sallymen

This is how I would see other races wanting to join the Dominion:

Imperials: Noticing that EP and DC are unstable alliances. Or they believe AD is more suitable in making a powerful empire (I.E Ambustus in Elden Root who believes AD will make the Empire right.)

Argonians: I truly believe argonians are more likely to be on the dominion side due to past slavery under the Dunmer. I mean why fight alongside your former slave master?

Bretons: Orcs were constantly invading their homeland so why form an alliance with them. It would make sense for AD to recognize Bretons because of their history of magic and elven anscestory.

Dunmer: Well Dunmer are still elves but it is the same question with Argonians, why would you want to fight alongside your former slave? But it would be kind of ironic for a Dunmer and an Argonian to fight alongside each other under the Dominion

Other than that I don't see why any other race would choose the dominion unless their family lived in Valenwood, Elseweyr, or Summerset for generations.

There is that one Redguard in Summerset that claims that her family lived on the island for generations.

Athan1

I agree with previous post. Basically beasts world join the AD. Perhaps not the other elven races apart from wood elves, because of past conflicts. However it wouldn't make sense for humans to join the AD, which is anti-human by default, except for elf-loving Bretons.