Factions in Elder Scrolls.

Morgha_Kul

So, I've been thinking about this for a few years now.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the old original Morrowind game was that I could join one or more factions within the game. We have a little bit of that here, with the Mage's Guild, the Fighter's Guild and so on, but there's a whole bunch of other factions that could be added to the game. For starters, there are:

Great House Telvanni
Great House Hlaalu
Great House Redoran
Great House Dres
Great House Indoril
Great House Dagoth*

The Tribunal Temple

The Knights of the Flame
The Knights of the Dragon

Clan Aundae
Clan QUarra
Clan Berne
Clan Volikhar

The list goes on and on. Each faction would have its own particular set of skills. Most of these would be passive, but each would have TWO active skills, derived from the particular nature of the faction. For example, the Telvanni are known as wizards, living out on the islands of Vvardenfell's east coast, so their two active skills might include a water walking spell (who wants to get their robes wet walking from place to place), and a spell to summon a familiar or perhaps a slave.

There might also be limitations on the factions. For example, the Telvanni and Mage's Guild don't get along, so they might limit your max level in the Telvanni faction if you're already in the Guild.

In any case, I'm just putting this out there, to see if there's any interest. If there is, I'd be happy to start working up a skill list for each faction I can come up with, for submission to the devs.

Let me know what you think!

Sylvermynx

I think it would be fun, but I wonder when the devs could get around to that much work....

Ri_Khan

Seeing as how the main faction alliance choice doesn't even matter, adding more just seems redundant.

Aigym_Hlervu

Hello, OP! Here's what I think - we should make a distinction between the "faction" and "skill line" definitions. It's two different things: a character's class is a predefined complex of skills and knowledge, a result of a particular course of study which grants a character the ability to perform certain functions within the social division of labor in any system so that a character may specialize (specialization). In other words, game class is a type of education a character acquires. For example, characters with a Sorcerer education can have many professions: a healer, a tank, an enchanter, a soldier, a scholar, etc. It's only the matter of certain skills they use, their views, beliefs and.. some economic demands - the benefits of some educational programs may be changed from patch to a patch. That's it. So, I don't think it is correct to restrict those skill lines to factions - the Great Houses are not schools or academies. Most of them are feudal entities living by subsistence production with land as their general mean of production. It's a 15th matter what skill to use to keep those grounds under control - might, magic or both. The way, say, Redorans have a position of an Archmage, each House can have it's own warriors, mages, peasants, etc.

Here are some Dunmeri factions you might want to join today:
* A Guide to Join the Ordinators Faction in ESO;
* Complete the Morrowind DLC and you'll get your Champion of Vivec title. It's almost equal to being a Buoyant Armiger - those guarding his Palace will even salute you each time you approach.
* House Dres - just complete his quest and the Grandmaster names you the Hand of Dres.
Vampires?.. Well.. I don't like them and I'd wish they would have been unplayable at all. Killing a vampire in the street is impossible, to call a guard - impossible, and the most unheard of - to kill a vampire you have to ask it's permission!.. Unbelievable . I think it's enough they are made playable and walk in the streets freely.

And finally, regarding House Dagoth. I have to remind it here, that this period of history (2E 582) is the very beginning of the Sixth House Cult, it is either the time of it's foundation (it's story is depicted in the Forgotten Wastes public dungeon) or the time of the very first encounters of the Dunmeri authorities with this cult. No remnants of the Unmourned House are found yet except an Ancient Dagoth Brandy Snifter, an Ancient House Dagoth Goblet and a Banner of House Dagoth. The Tribunal Temple receives the very first ash statue for study as a result of excavations from a remote dig site, yet absolutely unaware of what it is and what threat it poses and how many of them are there. Nevena Nirith is among the first House Dagoth descendants to "wake from a dream". Mistress Dratha is the only person who received the vision of the events that will happen in 741 years ahead, however, it happened after our visit to the Andrano tomb and she seems to prefer to keep her visions a secret. In other words, 2E 582 is the date the Sixth House Cult made it's first steps out of the abyss it was sent to thousands of years ago. Though the cult is not defeated during our crusade in the Forgotten Wastes, the only reason it survived is it's high secrecy - you won't see any slightest cue of the cult's goal, no reference to what they are digging for, nobody even mentions Dagoth Ur - Dagoth Ur is still considered dead even by the Tribunal itself (I know you might point at those three questions of Vivec - I can talk much on that thing pointing at the fact he spoke of the Nerevarine, not Dagoth Ur. But it's a speculation for some other thread). The primary goals of the Cult at this moments of time are to retrieve the Ash statues and to wake the House's true descendants. So it's not even a House yet - just a group of diggers . The House will rise after 2E 882 . Anyway, I don't think anybody would join it after all we have seen in 3E 427 in TES III. House Dagoth should be destroyed, not joined.

Morgha_Kul

As pointed out, I'm not referring to these as factions, as the Aldmeri Dominion, Daggerfall Covenant and Ebonheart Pact are. These would be affiliations rather like the Guilds.

I included House Dagoth as something that might be implemented as a "secret" society. I envisioned the Vampire clans being the same. In any case, it's something that would need to be fleshed out.

vestahls

It would be very nice, but the devs will probably never go through with it - not because it would be too much work technically, imo, but because of all the new writing and voice acting that would be involved. When you do a House Telvanni quest or a Redoran, or even the one in Dagoth's Watch with Tanval - they always address you as not belonging to that particular house. Tanval even specifically says the only reason you're able to help him is because you don't belong to Indoril.

When you consider that about a third of their costs per chapter go to voice acting, it kind of implies added complexity in dialogue is the last thing they want. Even though it would be awesome, and more in line with the TES games that brought most people here.

I guess the closest thing we can get to this is just RP guilds and people making their own activities and their own quests. And the game doesn't really need even more skills at this point, not with the constant limit of 10+2 ulti.