Greetings, fellow players and lore-adepts,

In this thread I shall talk about the racial passives and propose changes based on lore, roleplaying and gameplay. Very minor spoiler warning ahead.

Why even bother to create yet another thread about this topic? Well, with the increasing viability of hybrid builds, racial passives should receive another overhaul to reflect the various types of builds and playstyles that are possible now. As I said, I shall try to approach this not just from the gameplay side, but from a lore and role-playing perspective, too. Hear me out:

There are extremely capable Imperial sorcerers (mages in general) in lore. While the race itself does not have much Elven blood, this is made up for by a disciplined and nigh-on religious study of the practical applications of magic, which is why there are no finer battlemages in Tamriel than the ones trained at the Imperial Battlespire. And yet, the racial passives do not reflect this in the slightest: They are exclusively Stamina and Health-focused, as far as attributes go.
Bretons get the same treatment, just the other way around: There are many gallant knight-types roaming High Rock, and those use heavy armor, sword and shield or a greatsword. In fact, a Breton knight wielding a claymore currently adorns the login screen wallpaper, and will most likely continue to do so throughout the year. This would ideally imply a health and stamina focus (a tank focus, in fact), but the opposite is the case: The racial passives are purely magic-related, save for a decent buff to spell resistance.
And the list goes on: Orcs do have powerful shamanic wizards, High Elves have rugged, steel-clad warriors, Nords have Clever Men and Women, Argonians have Shadowscales, Bosmer have the spinners, and so on. In fact, the Khajiit are the only race whose passives I would consider to reflect their martial propensities the best, with buffs to base magicka, stamina and health points as well as regeneration, and they also have buffs to critical damage and a reduced stealth detection radius (covering the basic Mage, Warrior, Paladin and Rogue build directions - or Sorcerer, Dragonknight, Templar and Nightblade respectively).

What is the ultimate point of this rant? A proposition. One that I am sure has been made before, but as Silvenar Edhelorn said shortly before his untimely demise: "A chorus of requests may succeed in carrying the tune."

Character backgrounds. How about it? Instead of being tied to one set of passives for the chosen character, how about allowing the player to choose from a selection of different, lore-based passive sets for each race? Let me paint you a picture of how this might work in the game.

In the Character Creator, there would simply be another option, or perhaps even an entirely new menu. For each race, there would be several possible sets of racial passives - "backgrounds" - to select. Let's say - about six. Each background represents a slightly different approach to gameplay, each with different buffs and debuffs. Considering how detailed these new proposed mechanics are in comparison to what we have in the game, these passives should also be a bit stronger.
So, you want to create a Nord: You'd have 6 lore-based and accordingly named backgrounds available to you. Their descriptions should be kept vague in order to not compromise the roleplaying background players may have thought up for their character:

- Frostborn Berserker: "Your boiling blood grants you bonuses to Health Regeneration, Stamina regeneration and Weapon Damage at the cost of your vitality": +15% Health and Stamina regen, +10% Weapon Damage, -15% Maximum Health

- Nightingale: "Your alignment with darker forces allows you to hide in the shadows more effectively, move faster and strike precisely, but you are spurned by your fellow Nords: - 4 m stealth detection radius, +15% movement speed when sprinting, +10% weapon critical chance, +100% higher bounties placed on you if you are caught in Skyrim (no real idea how to word this more elegantly)

- Snowhawk Mage: "Your mastery of the frost surrounding you and your keen senses grant you higher Spell Damage, Magicka Regeneration and Frost Damage": +10% Spell Damage, +10% Magicka Regeneration, +15% Damage with Frost Spells

- Clever Man / Woman: "Blessed with wisdom and spiritual insight, you have more Magicka, Magicka Regeneration and Spell Resistance": +15% Max Magicka, + 10% Magicka Regeneration, + 5000 Spell Resistance

- Kynareth's/Kyne's disciple: "Your kind-hearted nature grants you increased Healing Done, Maximum Magicka and Critical Healing": +10% Healing Done, + 10% Max Magicka, +15% Critical Healing

- Warrior of the Wild: "Your connection to the very land grants you more Stamina, Health, Stamina and Health Regeneration and Resistances. Animals are less likely to flee from or attack you": +5% Max Stamina, +10% Max Health, +5% Stamina Regeneration, +20% Health Regeneration +2500 Physical and Spell Resistance, aggression radius of hostile non-humanoid entities reduced by 25% as long as you are on Nirn (that last part might be a bit too specific)

I would like to stress that what I just described is merely one way to go about it, and that perhaps there are other, better ways to diversify racial passives to fit different builds and play styles. As I announced, I placed particular focus on the role-playing aspect, for it is an MMORPG after all, and these are your own characters with backstories you personally thought up for each and every one of them. With my proposition, however, you would be free - or freer - from the "racial bias" towards a certain playstyle that the game imposes on you. With the Nightingale background, for example, you could easily create a Nord Nightblade with fitting passives, potentially inspired by characters such as Brynjolf or Astrid (from Elder Scrolls: Skyrim). Or, perhaps you felt inspired by Shalidor and wanted to create a Nord Sorcerer build with the passives to boot.

I sincerely hope I could give you some food for thought, and furthermore that I could inspire a few comments, perhaps even a discussion. If not, disregard this.