One aspect of Breton culture has always kinda confused me...

Shgon_Dunstan

That being the fact that Bretons are one of the main magically gifted races, yet... Magic is treated as almost an afterthought in their culture. Rather it is the knightly orders that seem to take center stage.

... IDK, it just always kinda struck me as weird. Even back in Daggerfall.

Nightfall12

If i recall from previous TES games the magic strengths of Breton were in summoning and restoration types of magic, and a resistance from magics as well, That kind of lends itself to templars which is kind of the knight-like set up, so i can see that working, now as far as summoning...deadra and necromancy are frowned upon so I can see why that isnt a huge part of the visible culture.

notimetocare

Shgon_Dunstan wrote: »

That being the fact that Bretons are one of the main magically gifted races, yet... Magic is treated as almost an afterthought in their culture. Rather it is the knightly orders that seem to take center stage.

... IDK, it just always kinda struck me as weird. Even back in Daggerfall.

Breton's largely resemble your standard midevil culture (to make it very oversimplified). Knightly orders are Paramount to kings. But keep in mind, being a knight does not mean you use no magic. Knightly orders are a structure, not a weapon

Bruccius

There are rumors that the Bretons were treated as second-class citizens by the Direnni, and the Direnni were powerful wizards.

Perhaps the Bretons weren't allowed to practice wizardry for a long time, while the Direnni ruled, and in that time, established a strong Knightly culture?

Ghanima_Atreides

Bruccius wrote: »

There are rumors that the Bretons were treated as second-class citizens by the Direnni, and the Direnni were powerful wizards.

Perhaps the Bretons weren't allowed to practice wizardry for a long time, while the Direnni ruled, and in that time, established a strong Knightly culture?

They were definitely treated as second-class citizens by the Direnni, and worse. For example, much of that intermingling that took place between them and the original human settlers of High Rock which lead to the creation of the Breton race wasn't, shall we say, consensual.

Them establishing a knightly culture as a result of not being able to practise magic for a long time does make sense. There are many mages among the Bretons, but they tend to be more of the individual scholar type, or court mages and advisers to noblemen.

Pepper8Jack

IIRC, they originate from a race of humans enslaved by the ayleids during the height of that empire. Centuries of interbreeding with their elven captors eventually led to the inheritance of magical proficiency, though this dark period of their ancestry isn't remembered fondly by the Breton, which may be why their magical heritage isn't very celebrated.

Ghanima_Atreides

Pepper8Jack wrote: »

IIRC, they originate from a race of humans enslaved by the ayleids during the height of that empire. Centuries of interbreeding with their elven captors eventually led to the inheritance of magical proficiency, though this dark period of their ancestry isn't remembered fondly by the Breton, which may be why their magical heritage isn't very celebrated.

The Direnni weren't Ayleids, they were a clan of Altmer who settled in High Rock. The Ayleids enslaved the future Imperials of Cyrodiil (yeah there's a lot of bad blood between elves and humans...)

Pepper8Jack

Ghanima_Atreides wrote: »

Pepper8Jack wrote: »

IIRC, they originate from a race of humans enslaved by the ayleids during the height of that empire. Centuries of interbreeding with their elven captors eventually led to the inheritance of magical proficiency, though this dark period of their ancestry isn't remembered fondly by the Breton, which may be why their magical heritage isn't very celebrated.

The Direnni weren't Ayleids, they were a clan of Altmer who settled in High Rock. The Ayleids enslaved the future Imperials of Cyrodiil (yeah there's a lot of bad blood between elves and humans...)

Yup you got me there, got my ancient elves mixed up

Lexxypwns

Bretons and culture don’t belong in the same sentence.

Argonian master race

TelvanniWizard

I´d be more worried about all those french names they have

Minno

Lexxypwns wrote: »

Bretons and culture don’t belong in the same sentence.

Argonian master race

Hush, Hand-bag!

GimpyPorcupine

Nightfall12 wrote: »

If i recall from previous TES games the magic strengths of Breton were in summoning and restoration types of magic, and a resistance from magics as well, That kind of lends itself to templars which is kind of the knight-like set up, so i can see that working, now as far as summoning...deadra and necromancy are frowned upon so I can see why that isnt a huge part of the visible culture.

And Mysticism, which is sadly missing.

Even among their knights, I always imagined Bretons in the Battlemage paradigm, wearing heavy armor, using Bound Weapons or summons for offense, reflecting, healing, or dispelling attacks.

MythicEmperor

TelvanniWizard wrote: »

I´d be more worried about all those french names they have

Yeah, whenever I see them I can’t help but think of Die Wacht am Rhein

psychotrip

Zenimax just wanted to make them generic medieval europeans with absolutely nothing else on top of that. So...they kinda forgot about the entire core of their playstyle...whoops.

It’s a theme with the series though, not just Zenimax. When you’re far away from a province and its people, you hear all sorts of stuff in game about how interesting and unique and skilled they are in different things.

Then you actually go there and find out it was all just exaggerations and transcription errors.

Chief example here is with the Imperials, but the same can be said for basically every race in the game except the dunmer and maybe the bosmer.

Shraar

psychotrip wrote: »

Zenimax just wanted to make them generic medieval europeans with absolutely nothing else on top of that. So...they kinda forgot about the entire core of their playstyle...whoops.

It’s a theme with the series though, not just Zenimax. When you’re far away from a province and its people, you hear all sorts of stuff in game about how interesting and unique and skilled they are in different things.

Then you actually go there and find out it was all just exaggerations and transcription errors.

Chief example here is with the Imperials, but the same can be said for basically every race in the game except the dunmer and maybe the bosmer.

Oh you're so gross!!!

I actually really like Bretons in this game.

In Skyrim they all looked the same.

In this game they are unique with their culture and optional half-elf ears.

It's so unique! If they had pointed ears in Skyrim, I would be able to differentiate them from Imperials.

They're unique in ESO, and that is something we like, everyone does.

psychotrip

Shraar wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Zenimax just wanted to make them generic medieval europeans with absolutely nothing else on top of that. So...they kinda forgot about the entire core of their playstyle...whoops.

It’s a theme with the series though, not just Zenimax. When you’re far away from a province and its people, you hear all sorts of stuff in game about how interesting and unique and skilled they are in different things.

Then you actually go there and find out it was all just exaggerations and transcription errors.

Chief example here is with the Imperials, but the same can be said for basically every race in the game except the dunmer and maybe the bosmer.

Oh you're so gross!!!

I actually really like Bretons in this game.

In Skyrim they all looked the same.

In this game they are unique with their culture and optional half-elf ears.

It's so unique! If they had pointed ears in Skyrim, I would be able to differentiate them from Imperials.

They're unique in ESO, and that is something we like, everyone does.

I mean compared to Skyrim of course they’re unique. We didn’t even seen high rock in that game, and most of the human races looked identical.

I’m not talking about the way they look anyway. I’m talking about how they’re literally just generic fantasy humans in terms of their culture, environment, architecture, and behavior.

It’s a little immature to call me “gross” because I disagree with you, don’t you think? Or to assume that “everyone” agrees with you?

Shraar

psychotrip wrote: »

Shraar wrote: »

psychotrip wrote: »

Zenimax just wanted to make them generic medieval europeans with absolutely nothing else on top of that. So...they kinda forgot about the entire core of their playstyle...whoops.

It’s a theme with the series though, not just Zenimax. When you’re far away from a province and its people, you hear all sorts of stuff in game about how interesting and unique and skilled they are in different things.

Then you actually go there and find out it was all just exaggerations and transcription errors.

Chief example here is with the Imperials, but the same can be said for basically every race in the game except the dunmer and maybe the bosmer.

Oh you're so gross!!!

I actually really like Bretons in this game.

In Skyrim they all looked the same.

In this game they are unique with their culture and optional half-elf ears.

It's so unique! If they had pointed ears in Skyrim, I would be able to differentiate them from Imperials.

They're unique in ESO, and that is something we like, everyone does.

I mean compared to Skyrim of course they’re unique. We didn’t even seen high rock in that game, and most of the human races looked identical in that game.

I’m not talking about the way they look anyway. I’m talking about how they’re literally just generic fantasy humans in terms of their culture, environment, architecture, and behavior.

It’s a little immature to call me “gross” because I disagree with you, don’t you think? Or to assume that “everyone” agrees with you?

Gross was not the right word to use, sorry.

crashen17b14_ESO

I think of it like this: Bretons have an average baseline for magic, roughly the same as imperials, bosmer, khajiit, or argonians, but they have an extremely high ceiling for it. As in, most Bretons are average in magic, but if they actively pursue it there is little they cant accomplish, and they can rival the most magically gifted mer races.

So like, an altmer starts out gifted and just gets better, but leans on their inherent talent and thus does not make as much of an effort to innovate or try new things. A breton starts out average, but learns quickly and more over, innovates and tries new techniques and ideas.

Or you could think of it as breton culture being really big on "household magic" like Mrs. Weasley in Harry Potter. Not shown because it doesnt involve hurling fireballs and raining lightning.