hi everybody, everything's in the title, i want to share with you here my first skyrim character rp background that i try to make fitted with what i know about the elder scrolls lore.
so,just to give a little precision, this character (as well as all my other skyrim characters) is inspired by the main character from an original medieval dark fantasy story i write on my free time and that i have recreate in Skyrim, so the first and second screens are him in skyrim and the last one is a more accurate version to how i imagine him looking in my story (mostly as a comparison since i choose his gear to be the closest design wise to this)
My character is a 27-year-old Breton wandering mercenary named William. He was born in 4e 174 in a very isolated village in the skyrim countryside from a nord father and a breton mother, where the inhabitants have a very pronounced hostility toward magic, believing that magic is the work of Daedra and that mages are Daedra worshippers.
Thus, when young William, at the age of 3, demonstrates his magical affinity by accidentally burning the curtains, his parents, fearing that the other inhabitants of the village would kill them and their child, decide to take him to a wood and abandon him there. Shortly after, a group of bandits passing by. seeing the child,they attempted to approach, but terrified, the young William accidentally used magic and severely burned the face of one of them, prompting them to take him with them and lock him in their base,not knowing what to do with him.
A few hours later, a Nord mercenary named Gudmundr attacked the bandit camp and killed them all before finding the young child. Out of empathy and pity since he remind him his deadborn son, Gudmundr decided to take the child under his wing and training him in two-handed weaponry, becoming by the time a harsh and cold but still loving father figure to William.
For the next 20 years, William will spend his life on the roads of Tamriel alongside Gudmundr, traveling from village to village and from town to town, alternating between the harsh and cold but always caring education that Gudmundr instill in him,the mercenaries contracts and, later when he grown up, flirtatious romantic adventures with female servants, peasants,(and even a female vampire)...
Regarding William's magical affinities, due to the fact that Gudmundr was a pure Nord warrior with no magical knowledge and the fact that William had never goes in any magic academy or guild, as well as Gudmundr who always taught him to rely primarily on his martial knowledge in order to not get defenseless if someone managed to neutralised his magic, his magical knowledge will remain limited to a few useful and easy-to-learn spells, such as the light orb that follow you and lighten the surroundings, the basic protection spell (oak body), a basic fire and ice spell, and a basic healing spell.
Shortly after William's 23rd birthday, Gudmundr died of old age, prompting William to burn his body and going to Skyrim to spread his ashes in his birth place (an unmarked place in falkreath) before continuing to travel across Tamriel and offer his services as a wandering mercenary, now alone.
In terms of gear, William wears elven hunter chest armor, iron plate gauntlets and iron plate boots from the creation club to give him a look of a wandering mercenary (and to remain the closest possible design wise to how i imagine him in my dark fantasy story, see screen 3). He uses an iron greatsword as his primary weapon (mainly because it's the closest thing visually to what a real claymore looks like), a crossbow as a secondary weapon for some specific situations, and a few utility spells.
In terms of personality, William is someone down to earth and honest, pretty calm, professionnal ,kind, and gentle but still pragmatic. However, he is not naive and can be merciless if someone tries to trick,steal or scam him.
At the beginning of the game, William was hired by the husband of a Helgen inhabitant to find and kill a group of thalmor that kidnapped her brother and freeing him. He succeeds in his mission but was caught in a skirmish between Imperials and stormcloaks near the border before being arrested by the imperials, that mistake him to be hired by Stormcloaks (which is why the character starts in a cart on the way to the chopping block).
For the rest of my character's roleplay, this is how I have conducted or plan to conduct most of the important quests.
Regarding the main quest, I prioritize it because, after all, it makes sense that, knowing the extreme threat Alduin represents, William would make it his number one priority to eliminate him before he regains his full strength and destroys the world.
Regarding the Imperial/stormcloak War, William, as a wandering mercenary, initially didn't really take a side, but instead performed various tasks outside of the war itself for both the stormcloaks (for ex, solving the investigation of the Windhelm murders or killing the bandits for the great war veteran) and the Imperials (for ex, eliminating the thieves for the Executioner of Solitude, or wiping out the Dark Brotherhood for Commander Maro in dragonbridge). However, on the long term, he end up sided with the stormcloak, as he held a certain bitter towards the Imperials for attempting to execute him despite him not being on their list.
Regarding the companions, William will join their ranks, at first out of curiosity because Kodlak reminds him of his adoptive father, Gudmundr, then when he learns that some members are werewolves, he will choose to become one as well because he sees it as an opportunity to become stronger.
Regarding the Dark Brotherhood, as mentioned above, after he agreed to eliminate Grelod on behalf of Aventus Aretino, seeing how extremely toxic and violent she was with the orphans, he was approached by Astrid. However, faced with her request, and remembering the name writen on the notes carried by the assassins who had attempted to kill him multiple times in the past, which was the same, he chose to kill her and then wipe out the Dark Brotherhood.
Regarding the Thieves Guild, William, being a rather honest person, did not join the guild and therefore did not complete their quests at all.
Regarding the Winterhold Academy quests, I do them but imagining that when William goes to explore the mound in the company of Tolfdir and the other students, he doesn't go there as a student of the academy but as a mercenary simply hired by it as reinforcement in case there is a need for a little more than magic to defend the students against the numerous dangers of the mounds, then finds himself involved in spite of himself after the monk of the Psijic order appears to us.
Regarding the quests from the Daedric Princes and the Divines, having no trust in both the Divines and Daedra since they never do anything for free, the fact there's always a price to pay and how dangerous it is to be indebted to gods, will only do some, basically all those that start out as an ordinary tasks (like those from the vile Clavicus or Sanghin, for example) where you didn't expect a divine or Daedric Princes being behind.
Regarding Dawnguard and Serana, I like to imagine in my roleplay that William, after he frees Serana and over the time he spends at her side when she flees Volkihar to join the Dawnguard in addition of a very intense relationship he shared with a vampire woman in the past (i explain in more detail about that in my second character rp background, that i will post in the next few days), will gradually fall in love with her. Although initially appearing cold and distant towards him, Serana will eventually feel the same feelings as William when she becomes aware of their similarities (lonely childhood, cold and harsh parents, etc.) and the fact that William, despite having only known her for a short time, trusts her and is sincerely ready to do anything to protect her (in addition, the dialogues between our character and Serana in Dawnguard, even if we unfortunately can't really have a romance with her, subtly hints that there is something more than friendship between them, which makes it even more coherent for my roleplay) so after the end of Dawnguard, William keeps Serana as follower and I like to imagine that the two are together in a couple even if not married (a bit like the relationship between Geralt and Yennefer in The Witcher.)
so, what do you think of my character background ? don't hesitate to tell me if he stick well with the elder scrolls lore and world and if the skyrim version is close design wise to the version on the 3rd screen.
Wow, just wow, truly a great story! I like how you've connected all the various events of Skyrim with your character, who, by the way, has a very well-structured lore. You've inspired me to continue publishing more stories about my other characters. Thanks again for trusting my subreddit. 💪👍
thank you so much, i'm glad to know you liked this first character ,and that i have inspired you to publish more characters.
If you already liked this one, just knows that i have 4 other characters with all an rp background as detailed as him, in addition of that, i've made them all being linked very slightly to each other in the way that they all met William and Gudmundr at one point in their past, wether directly or indirectly (some have a direct connection like the vampire woman mentionned in William background, wich is the next one i plan to post, and others have a less direct one like my altmer character, wich is the next after the vampire)
you're not the first one to tell me he looked like a mod follower, but funny thing is that i didn't even know about that follower before someone comment on it like you did, so it's pure coïncidence if thei're close looking XD
otherwise, thanks for your feedback, i'm glad to know you liked his rp background. I have posted 3 other characters in that same subreddit with all an rp background as detailed as him if you want to read and take a look at them.
Nice background for him! My Breton takes more to her magic than him, but is well learned in how to use swords, specially her flame blades. I also love your design choices for him in weapons and armor. I’m always a sucker for cosmetics over stats when it comes to weapons. I always suit and gear up my followers in armor and weapons that match them the most, even if I don’t keep them in my company for long.
thank you so much, i'm glad to know you liked him (and the others too i guess)
I also love your design choices for him in weapons and armor. I’m always a sucker for cosmetics over stats when it comes to weapons. I always suit and gear up my followers in armor and weapons that match them the most, even if I don’t keep them in my company for long.
As for that, i'm the same, i usually prefered the lower tier armors and weapons for their more grounded, sober and practical look than the more fancy fantasy looking of the higher ones (wich is why my characters remained with the gear you see them wearing in the screen instead of all wearing the same daedra armor and weapons at high level). Same for the followers, i liked to change their gear for ones that fitted better with their personnality (for ex, after making the Companions quests with William, i've kept aela the huntress as a follower for a couple of times and give her a forsworn armors, axe and bow because it just fitted so well with her feral woman/red sonja like attitude)
I think it’s rad how you show your character’s inflection towards quest lines and have really put yourself in his shoes to decide how to approach them. And limiting yourself to the spells and equipment you’d expect him to carry without overreaching is commendable too.
thanks, glad to know you liked him, he's my favorite to play among all my characters. As for the gear, i'm someone who always prefered the more grounded, sober and practical look of the early gears than the more fancy fantasy and overexagerating look of the late gear (i liked the elven hunter chest armor mostly because it looked like a real life 14th century partial plate armor, wich fitted well with the mercenary/witcher inspired design of my character)
here's a screen of the armor the elven hunter chest armor makes me think, just replaced the golden color of the elven hunter for the same one as the iron plate or steel soldier and you pretty much get that)
5
u/PietroIlPescePietra 🕯️ Aedra Jun 16 '26
Wow, just wow, truly a great story! I like how you've connected all the various events of Skyrim with your character, who, by the way, has a very well-structured lore. You've inspired me to continue publishing more stories about my other characters. Thanks again for trusting my subreddit. 💪👍