Interesting Character Guide?

[Noxatrox]

Just downloaded this mod and am very eager to start my first campaign! But while I've played several of the Elder Scrolls games, I don't know the lore nearly as well as some others might.

Vanilla CK2 and some mods have an "interesting character guide" as to why you should play any particular character. Does such a guide exist for this mod? If not, does anyone have any suggestions on who to play as for a good first game?

I'm thinking about starting as a "smallish" character in Cyrodiil, Skyrim, or Daggerfell and eventually going on to create the empire of Cyrodiil. Which start date would be best (I'm guessing the earliest or latest has the most content)? And who should I play as?

 

[Makesin]

There are many of course.

In Cyrodill there are the Tharn family in the duchy of Cheydin, with Abnur Tharn being an important character in TESO and then later his distant descendant Jagar Tharn being the main antagonist of TES1 Arena. Then there's the duchy of Colovian Highlands, being ruled by the last remnants of house Of Cyrodiil, the former Imperial Dynasty.

In Skyrim I can't think of anyone particularly interesting, though the Flame-Hair Queen of Eastmarch ruling from Windhelm could be considered as the rightful High Queen of Skyrim, as her father was the last High King before Skyrim broke apart.

As High Rock is quite divided, picking anyone works well, although I always somewhat preferred Daggerfall simply due to TES2 Daggerfall starting there. There's also Wayrest which I believe starts as a merchant republic.

For somewhat different playstyles, there's castle Volkihar in northern Skyrim, being ruled by lord Harkon known from Skyrim Dawnguard, a family of Molag Bal worshipping vampires. And then there's house Direnni, ruling from the Adamantine Tower near the coast of Wayrest in High Rock, an Altmer dynasty that once ruled almost all of Iliac Bay between High Rock and Hammerfell. And of course Orsinium, the small Orcish land in northern High Rock.

 

[Dakilla TM]

Here's what I know based on the Interregnum start date:

Like Makesin said, Cyrodiil has many characters with unique shields, like the Tharn, of Cyrodiil, Tor, and Larich families for example. All of these are great for forming the Empire of Cyrodiil. Take your pick! I personally like the Tharn dynasty, since they're involved with some evil Daedric stuff.

For Skyrim, try any of the major Jarls, like Solitude and Whiterun. If you look to the north, you can also see Lord Harkon who rules over the Duchy of Volkhiar, with Serana there too. Don't forget the Reachmen, as it can be a very daunting but fun game to try to become the Reachmen Emperors of Cyrodiil.

That's just for the the first start date, the others have their own characters, like the Black Drake Emperor, the immortal Abner Tharn of Nibenay, the Molag Bal worshiping Empress, and so on.

 

[DeathLawlie]

If you want a more divided and dynamic world, it's better to go with the earliest date, because the more late you go the more you have strong kingdom and history related events.

- And for the Reachmen, the bloodline of Faolan the red eagle is still well alive in northern Reach (the Scarhammer duchy).
- In Skyrim it's easy, a lot of dynasties have Companions bloodline.
- For Elsweyr, you have the Mane (the Caliph-like leader of the Khajiit), and his biggest opponents to the reunification is the Big Merchant Republic of Senchal, the trade hub of the Khajiiti caravans. but some dukes are also interesting: in the earliest bookmarks you have a descendant of the Last Queen and King of the two kingdom of Elsweyr who made the unification of the region. I think there is also a duchess who is the daughter of the Mane, but she canno't directly inherit the kingdom title because of the special Mane inheritance.
- In Valenwood, the Falinesti Kingdom is ruled by the Camoran dynasty, a very (in)famous dynasty of Tamriel (Like a guy named Mankar ). And you have also the last remnant of the Ayleids in this region.
- In Argonia, any local tribe is fine but you have also a Nibenean warlord around Stormhold who could try to "civilised" those lizards.
- For Morrowind, it's either any of the great houses, or the barbarians ashlander following the messianic faith around the Nerevarine.
- For Hammerfell, the high kingdom already exist even if it's not in his greatest glory. You have also a ducal descendant of the Hunding next to the frontier with Colovia (the Hunding is basically a Messianic overpowered figure in the Redguard religion who come time to time to help his people).

 

[Jakalak]

If you're interested in Daedric Cult play, I'm really enjoying a run as the Percy(sp?) dynasty, which starts as a single count in High Rock during the earliest start date. Leads to some pretty tense gameplay as you struggle against both the dominant Eight Divines faith and the Orsimer/Cult of Malacath people around you.

 

[Guthix]

If you're interested in Daedric Cult play, I'm really enjoying a run as the Percy(sp?) dynasty, which starts as a single count in High Rock during the earliest start date. Leads to some pretty tense gameplay as you struggle against both the dominant Eight Divines faith and the Orsimer/Cult of Malacath people around you.

What is with Percy, anyway?

Is he a sneaky sneaky insert of a EK dev?

 

[Jakalak]

What is with Percy, anyway?

Is he a sneaky sneaky insert of a EK dev?

I... do not know. It does seem very random. Makes for a great start, though. Also, and this is probably just me misreading the thing, but what's with the Daedric interaction screen and the condition "Undead or long-lived"? All my characters so far have had it be green asterisk'd?

 

[Dakilla TM]

I think he meant Peryite, the Daedric Prince of Disease and Affliction. He's considered the "weakest" of the Daedric princes but still is powerful. I did a game as the Cult of Sanguine, the Prince who promotes debauchery and hedonism to the extreme, and that was also fun.


An ultimate challenge would be to start as any character, and convert to the Cult of Molag Bal or Mehrunes Dagon. These two are the most "evil" of the Daedra and I can imagine a terrifying Empire of Cyrodiil, spreading the darkness

 

[Jakalak]

I think he meant Peryite, the Daedric Prince of Disease and Affliction. He's considered the "weakest" of the Daedric princes but still is powerful. I did a game as the Cult of Sanguine, the Prince who promotes debauchery and hedonism to the extreme, and that was also fun.


An ultimate challenge would be to start as any character, and convert to the Cult of Molag Bal or Mehrunes Dagon. These two are the most "evil" of the Daedra and I can imagine a terrifying Empire of Cyrodiil, spreading the darkness

No, sorry, I checked and I got it right with Percy. That's the dynasty name, and they worship the Cult of Sheogorath. In High Rock. For some reason.

For some reason Cult of Hircine is spreading pretty far into Cyrodiil in my current game.

 

[exin]

What is with Percy, anyway?

Is he a sneaky sneaky insert of a EK dev?

What? Noooooo.... There is no one by name Percy on the dev team.

Also, if you want another Daedra playthrough, you can try the Interregnum count Perras of Ubuntu, in Pyandonea. Certainly not a easter egg.

 

[Ictivion]

If you want to start small and build up, one thing you could try is a relatively small but at the same time powerful count in Skyrim called Throknolf Bloodsung, who is the duke of Greywinter. (Just east of Whiterun) He owns 3 counties which is a lot in this mod for a duke, and he starts with the Warlord trait, meaning you have an "easy" way to expand, provided you can muster the military to back up his ambitions.

Given his central location in Skyrim, and the fact that he's actually surrounded by a buffer of smaller realms, Riften being the biggest he borders, and that he comes with the always welcome Master Warrior trait I'd be willing to say he was specifically put in there as a way for new players to work their way up from count titles to the Kingdom of Skyrim and potentially Empire of Cyrodill/Tamriel as a mix of everything he comes equipped with is a powerful tool in a player's hands.

Only thing to look out with him is that since he starts as a Count, you'll probably want to save up money to create/usurp a duchy title as soon as you can, so you won't suffer too much from the low demesne limit and can have some nice landed vassals to send into the frontline of your many wars.

 

[Dakilla TM]

No, sorry, I checked and I got it right with Percy. That's the dynasty name, and they worship the Cult of Sheogorath. In High Rock. For some reason.

For some reason Cult of Hircine is spreading pretty far into Cyrodiil in my current game.

Whoops, there is a Percy dynasty. I thought you were talking about the Daedric prince for some reason

 

[Arakhor]

There may be more than one dev-related Easter egg in the game.

 

[Soulbourne]

If you play in skyrim you can have some interesting gameplay, it's also a rather large and powerful province to begin pushing south for cyridol with. However, one thing to be careful of is the winter attrition. Skyrim can get quite cold-in my riften playthrough I actually had a dunmer of house black-briar as my elite general for 3 gens who helped me conquer the northern jarldoms with winter soldier special. Got him a wife from house indoril, then his children became eight divine worshipping rebels who identified with the ashlander culture, and one of them led the riften band in rebellion against me swearing my death as I pushed against a massive orc kingdom in high rock. Then CK2 updated, so never got to see the elderly father go toe to toe with his son in service of the orcs. Just was thinking about how his zealot mother who was my court physician must of been so ashamed of her kids for forsaking everything she and her great house stood for

Kinda went on a tangent, but I've found sometimes the least expected side characters get the most interesting histories if your not careful. Definitely more fantastic than my high kings of skyrim during that time

 

[killtor]

There are many of course.

In Cyrodill there are the Tharn family in the duchy of Cheydin, with Abnur Tharn being an important character in TESO and then later his distant descendant Jagar Tharn being the main antagonist of TES1 Arena. Then there's the duchy of Colovian Highlands, being ruled by the last remnants of house Of Cyrodiil, the former Imperial Dynasty.

In Skyrim I can't think of anyone particularly interesting, though the Flame-Hair Queen of Eastmarch ruling from Windhelm could be considered as the rightful High Queen of Skyrim, as her father was the last High King before Skyrim broke apart.

As High Rock is quite divided, picking anyone works well, although I always somewhat preferred Daggerfall simply due to TES2 Daggerfall starting there. There's also Wayrest which I believe starts as a merchant republic.

For somewhat different playstyles, there's castle Volkihar in northern Skyrim, being ruled by lord Harkon known from Skyrim Dawnguard, a family of Molag Bal worshipping vampires. And then there's house Direnni, ruling from the Adamantine Tower near the coast of Wayrest in High Rock, an Altmer dynasty that once ruled almost all of Iliac Bay between High Rock and Hammerfell. And of course Orsinium, the small Orcish land in northern High Rock.

Direnni have potential, but it's not exactly an easy start. I've noticed there are often Breton/Eight Divines rebellions in Direnni-controlled territory within weeks or months of starting the game, and without mercenaries (or the money to hire them), an army of at most around 800 men versus nearly 2,000 rebels isn't exactly a fair fight. Since these rebels are spawning in a province, they're also blocking you from raising some of those 800 men, and sometimes multiple rebellions happen (all the while all your neighbours appear to be waiting for a chance to jump in). In short, you need to be either really lucky, or to use cheats.

Edit: On another note, for some reason Merandil Aundan has a weird thin white line around his mouth. I was also looking at an AAR from last year and the character's mouth had that same line, so it's not just me.

 

[Milite Ignoto911]

The Brethren of the Coast has a very... "interesting" gameplay. They are a merchant republic with powerful neighbours (Alinor,Anvil and Hammerfell) with claims on their provinces. It's really hard!

 

[KlinkerFyren]

There are the two Olo brothers of Crowhaven next to Anvil in Cyrodiil. Their ancestor Bendu Olo lead a Tamrielic navy to exterminate the Sloads of Thras and sunk their kingdom beneath the sea. Their father was killed by an invading warlord who now holds the kingdom of Anvil, they start with claims on it. They have the Olo bloodline trait and a unique CoA. However this is a hard start since your only holding is bad and your brother's is equally worthless.

In High Rock you have the Direnni of Ada-Mantia who a unique CoA and bloodline trait. Their capital of Ada-Mantia also have unique buildings for you to build in it. They once ruled all of High Rock before their Breton subjects rebelled. They also have a bunch of Ayleids in their courts in case to want to land some to preserve the Ayleid culture.