I have just completed one of my character's games, and decided I'd open up a thread for those whose stories have come to an end. Feel free to add your own.

Lord Haaf-Mersey

Final Playthrough Date: 7:52 AM, 12th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 202

Total Gametime: 400 hours, 38 minutes, and 4 seconds

Class: Crusader
Factions: Dawnguard, Thane of Falkreath


Days Passed: 452
Hours Slept: 3,455
Hours Waited: 2,228

Final Gold: 22,333 (this is what is stored in a safe in LHM's house)
Gold Found: 225,882

Chests Looted: 1,451
Skill Increases: 628

Dawnguard Quests Completed: 13
Quests Completed: 37
Misc Objts Completed: 114
Main Quests Completed: 1
Side Quests Completed: 13

Locations Discovered: 186
Dungeons Cleared: 109

Homes: Lakeview Manor
Children: 1 (Lucia)
Spouse: Mjoll the Lioness
Main Followers: Mjoll the Lioness (Motormouth Mjoll), Serana, Rayya the Overkiller

Lord Haaf-Mersey is also known as the Crusader from Cyrodiil, and is supposed to be a Breton/Nord (but mostly Breton). He grew up in a good home somewhere in (or near) Bruma. His family was well-to-do and he had a strong education, but he was raised to speakth in a tongue long-lost to the majority of Tamrielites.

He had some sort of military training, and may have spent some time working as a guard. Sometime in the 4th Era/Year 199 a crude Nord Warrior named Thor a'Zaene (also from Cyrodiil, Thor was my second Skyrim character) became the first to discover loot and wealth in some of Skyrim's draugr barrows. Since all of Cyrodiil's forts, ruins, caves (etc.) had long been plundered, Thor's discovery created a rush to Skyrim; many folks wanting to become wealthy. Lord Haaf-Mersey moved to Skyrim not to become rich, but because rumors were that a civil war was about to erupt there, and he had also heard some sort of 'calling'.

Being a devout follower of The Nine and also somewhat of a historian, Haaf-Mersey researched all he could find about the great adventurers of the latter Third Era. He became rather obsessed about Dyan phor a'Cauz, a Paladin who managed to save Tamriel from the wretches of Umaril the Unfeathered. He eventually began having a series of visions in which Dyan would speak to Haaf-Mersey directly.

When Haaf-Mersey moved to Skyrim he initially looked into assisting the Nords on their side of the Civil War, but it did not take long before he decided not to do this. After moseying a bit in Whiterun Hold (mostly keeping the land free of bandits and other baddies), Haaf-Mersey eventually found his calling when vampires began invading the holds of Skyrim. He joined an uprising of fighters known as the Dawnguard, and eventually rose to defeat Lord Harkon, saving Skyrim from a sunless world (among other things).

Lord Haaf-Mersey can be found living at his home in Falkreath Hold with his adopted daughter (Lucia), his wife (Mjoll the Lioness), and his Steward (Rayya).

LHM sound like an interesting character, he must have been fun I like letting my characters retire, although only two have made it that far into the playthrough. I'll have to dig out their savefiles later to write something up, so you're not alone on this thread.

So your first Skyrim character is now retired Interesting fella, I like him. But how many hours did he get?

Good question. Hold on.... gotta get the Xbox running. Ha! 400 hours, 38 minutes, and 4 minutes.

Good that you put that in the OP, but I think you want 4 seconds there unless you want two kinds of minutes

So he did the MQ, right? Sided with the Imperials? And he was a vampire hunter to boot!

Picky picky.


He did not choose a side in the Civil War and never joined either side, but yes he was a vamp hunter.

May LHM go gently into that good night, and enjoy the rest of his days sipping mint juleps on his deck.


400 hours! I have never had a single character go anywhere near that long. That is probably 2 A-Bombs in Oblivion right?

One I�d say. It comes around sometime every 250-300 hours iirc.

I never played a character long enough to get to one A-Bomb...

What's an A-Bomb? In context, I mean.

The A-Bomb in Oblivion stands for Animation Bomb and, although subject to a fair amount of randomness, tends to occur when a single character has been playing about 300 or so hours. What happens is that all the animations slow down. Very noticeable are spell animations; instead of taking a second or two, they slow to minutes. The typical actual game killer is that the door animations also slow down, eventually to the point that they never complete when you try to pass through a loading screen door.

The fix for PS3 / Xbox is to say goodbye to that character and start a new one.

Fortunately for PC users, there are at least a couple utilities available to quickly and easily fix the A-bomb and �reset� its counter. I use Wrye Bash for this and it takes about 30 seconds to repair.

Buffy has every bit of a full twelve pack of A-bomb fixes that we have completed for her long running (~3200 hours of play) games.

I don't think I've ever hit an A-bomb with Julian, either, though her story suggests we should have . . .

It's at least one if we're talkin' PS3. I had two games get the A-bomb somewhere between 350 to 360 hours on PS3. I have heard the Xbox can go longer (@ 500 hours) before the bomb strikes that system.

Here's one of my retired characters:

Dengar

Final Playthrough Date: Morndas, 9th of Sun's Dusk, 4e 201.

Total Gametime: 77 hours, 53 minutes and 23 seconds.. (Not quite as much as LHM )

Factions: Harbinger of the Companions, Thane of the Pale

Days Passed: 88
Hours Slept: 503
Hours Waiting: 211

Chests Looted: 587
Skill Increases: 485

Final Gold: 13965
Gold Found: 213011

Quests Completed: 35
Main Quests Completed: 1
Companions Quests Completed: 7
Side Quests Completed: 12
Misc Objectives Completed: 120

Locations Discovered: 199
Dungeons Cleared: 87
People Killed: 739

Homes: Mainly Jorrvaskr, Heljarchen Hall as a retreat.
Spouse: None, he is a solitary soul and will probably never find love.
Followers: Any companions member, but only when he needs them. He prefers to travel alone.

Dengar grew up in Bruma, where he was raised by his parents under traditional nordic values. From a young age he dreamt of honour and glory, but struggled socially, preferring the company of a blade to that of another person. Training with an old warrior with an obscure past he quickly became proficient in the ancient technique of Sword 'N' Board and started work as a mercenary. Hanging around taverns waiting for folk from all walks of life, that may need a sword at their side.

With business slow in Bruma and news of strife north in Skyrim. Dengar decided to pack up and head to his ancestral homeland, having no friends and little family this was easy for him. Initially looking for mercenary work fighting for the side that payed best and gave him the chance for honour. Dengar soon found that there was no honour to be had in the war and discovered the honour, and profit to be made hunting bandits and helping the small folk was far greater, while still sustaining his need for violence.

Eventually he joined the companions and *SPOILER ALERT* welcomed the gift of lycanthropy, after some consideration. Continuing his freelance work alongside his jobs for the companion and his adventuring, Dengar soon became a fierce and skilled warrior. Over the years (real life hours ) he rose through the ranks of the companion and eventually rose to the rank of harbinger, after restoring Wuuthrad and curing Kodlak's lycanthropy. As harbinger he vowed to eliminate the curse of lycanthropy from the circle, curing himself and all the other members of the circle, except Aela, who he allowed to maintain her 'gift'.

Now Dengar spends his days drinking and mentoring in Jorrvaskr. Occasionally he travels around skyrim or spends time in Heljarchen Hall. He lives a life of solitude and has no family and few friends. He doesn't mind though, he knows Sovngarde awaits and will happily spend the rest of his life training other warriors, until the time comes.

What do you guys mean with Main Quests completed = 1

Oblivion only has one MQ

The amount of quests completed in the main quest. The tutorial counts a quest from the main quest so thats why it says one, without mods it's impossible not to complete that quest.

I actually suspected that much but thought I�d be a little funny....

Though it did puzzle me, like if there really were more than one MQ somehow...

This is a great idea, Renee. My characters who died are memorialized in Senor Cinco�s threads on the Beth forums, but the retirees never got their parties.

This thread is in the non-spoilers section, but since we�re talking about characters who have finished things there might be spoilers despite my best efforts. If anyone thinks they might complain about that, they should probably move along and just skip my posts.

Here�s a little write-up for my very first Skyrim character on the PS3. She was also my first character in Oblivion, so I know her very well. If memory serves she had 330-something hours played over about two years, and the last time I mentioned her level it was 50. I don�t really keep track of stats and her saves are gone, but I remember the �Bunnies Slaughtered� and �Wings Plucked� stats made me laugh. Rowan was never a good enough archer to slaughter bunnies, but she was cold-hearted enough to pluck a lot of wings. Better them then her, she would say.



Celebrating the Retirement of

Rowan Varrus

Dragonborn, dual-wielding savior of the world.

Rowan Varrus, single Imperial woman in her mid-thirties, drifted to Skyrim with no clear purpose. She had been a spellsword in Cyrodiil, but in this new land everyone seemed to start off on equal footing.

She blundered into a group of Stormcloaks near Darkwater Crossing. They seemed intent on treating her very badly, but she was soon rescued by the Imperial Legion. Who then assumed she was a Stormcloak spy and planned to cut off her head.

Then there were dragons.

Rowan embraced her unlikely role as the latest Ysmir, Dragon of the North, though her fragile person was frequently not up for the tasks given her. One of her first actions was to take the blessing of the Lord Stone to supplement her light armor and lack of native spell resistance. She focused her education (perks) on one-handed, though she also used Daedric summons and healing spells in battle. She never really embraced Destruction magic in Skyrim. Probably because as a dual-wielder it was far too cumbersome to fiddle around swapping swords and spells while getting hammered in light armor.

She kept a follower with her most of the time. First Lydia who started off strong but got weaker and weaker as Rowan�s skills increased. (Remember that bug?) Then Sven, who amused her by occasionally whipping out his flute for a little music when she took too long to make up her mind in dungeons. Then she hired Stenvar when Sven started spending too much time on his knees. She accidentally caused Stenvar�s death when her flame atronach exploded right next to him in a corridor.

And then she met Vorstag.

Rowan and Vorstag had a bumpy relationship. She liked him right away, but he was a complete maniac which sometimes caused problems. For example in Falmer dungeons Rowan liked to sneak in for a look and then snipe at least one before the action started, but Vorstag would often come charging in yelling battle taunts from where she left him waiting way back by the door. They may be blind, but they can still HEAR YOU, Vorstag. Also they killed a few guards over the years when Vorstag got out of control over small issues. Rowan was not a criminal, but she did develop something of a criminal record. I became familiar with the �Last Witness Killed� message. Also she learned that she had to make Vorstag wait somewhere far away when she had a bounty (from his reckless killing) so that he wouldn�t take on the whole town while she tried to surrender.

Anyway one time in a dungeon he jumped or fell down into a pit of draugr where he was getting his butt kicked and using up healing potions, and Rowan couldn�t get a clean shot. So she jumped in after him. At the end of the dungeon she dismissed him, realizing that she would not live long if she continued that kind of selfless behavior. After all, he was supposed to watch her considerably smaller back. Then she ran after him and hired him back before he even got out of sight.

She fired and re-hired him that way several times over the course of their adventures, each time feeling more of a sense of something inevitable. Then standing on the street in Whiterun in the rain, he asked her to marry him. She had forgotten she had the Amulet of Mara on and was just going to give him some healing potions. But she immediately said yes.

By then Rowan had found a set of Orcish armor with a very good health enchantment, so she had taken the blessing of the Steed Stone and switched to heavy armor. Eventually she became Thane of Haafingar Hold and bought Proudspire Manor in Solitude. Lydia joined the Blades, so Rowan and Vorstag enjoyed privacy whenever they returned for short visits to Breezehome.

Rowan defeated Alduin, solved the problems of the College of Winterhold, became Thane of most of the Holds, joined the Legion and saw the war through to its end, acquired several Daedric artifacts of varied uselessness, and slaughtered Skyrim�s Dark Brotherhood. As she and Vorstag neared retirement they adopted Samuel and Francois Beaufort from the Honorhall Orphanage.

The family lives in Solitude. Rowan takes her role as Thane of Haafingar very seriously, especially as her Jarl is kind of a dimwit and will probably soon be High Queen of Skyrim. Also some of the other Thanes are crooks. Vorstag runs a successful business out of Proudspire Manor. Although Rowan insists on a Cyrodiil education for her boys (they�re home schooled), they can usually be found at play in Solitude�s market district.

Here are some pictures of my TV:

Rowan and Vorstag in the Reach

Vorstag getting crazy eyes while talking to the priest about their wedding

Post-wedding photo: Rowan saying WTF as Vorstag bolts for the door

Very good pictures from the tellie, Grits

I'm not sure if I consider any of my Skyrim characters as retired yet.

Galen Vhoth (150 hours) is probably the closest, being married, two adopted kids, and with a steward and adventuring follower living in Windstad Manor, all of them Dunmer. If he could recruit Dunmers as bard, or carriage driver, then he'd likely have done that too.

He's achieved his goal of personally killing Ulfric Stormcloak for the way he treated the Dunmer in Windhelm, and he's sorted out the Dark Brotherhood's issues, and can let them continue in their new sanctuary near Dawnstar. They really don't need his help any more. He's not so happy about Maven Black-briar taking over as Jarl in Riften, but there doesn't seem to be much he can do about that, and he wasn't fond of the original, either.

But he's still got that nagging feeling that he should try and do something about the Dragons. He couldn't avoid getting involved with the one outside Whiterun, or he'd never had got the Civil War sorted. So he most likely won't get the quiet life with his extended family that he'd prefer. And the wife and girlfriends are hankering for outfits that you can apparently only get over on Solstheim, so he may have to do a trip over there, too. The kids would look better in something with less of an Imperial style, too.

Fleur, the Orc, has had the most extensive career (220 hours), but even though the Dragon thing has been resolved as far as she could, there are still rogue dragons popping up for her to deal with. She's not the sort that just relaxes at home, either. She's always looking for more to do, and has become Arch-mage, as well as sorting out the vampires for the Dawnguard, and dealing with that Miraak guy over on Solstheim. She'd most likely do something about the Civil War next, as those Companions don't appeal to her, and she wishes there was an Orc equivalent she could join instead. The Bear Riders would be just the thing, if they'd just get their act together! She joined, and she's very attached to her bear, Thor, but not much has happened since.

All the others have things they still want to do. They don't all have all the DLC's in their games, so there are adventures some of them don't even know about yet. And the Bosmer archer is still wondering why she can't adopt any kids, or find a husband, of her own race. Patience, Silwen, I'm working on it.

Thanks for adding your characters Grits and ghastley.

And I just realized that people have been asking about the A-bomb and I gave my Oblivion answer (350-360 hrs). I've never had the A-bomb strike in Skyrim though, I'm not even sure it ever does. Fingers crossed.



Exactly. Why should the dead be memorialized but not the living?

That time has come for my Dunmer Conjuror

Nephiah Sarys.

Neph still carries out her duties as Listener in her world but she�s retired from the Grits ensemble of characters.

Neph began as a refugee in Raven Rock with no armor and an iron sword. She scavenged ingredients from inside the walls for potions to sell until there was nothing left but rocks and ash. Then she ventured outside the Bulwark where she was constantly in mortal danger. It wasn�t long before she picked up an Elven bow from a dead Redoran guard. Without it her story would have been very short, as the events on Solstheim had her waking up somewhere strange every morning and running for her life.

When she finally got enough gold to hire Teldryn Sero things got easier. Teldryn�s game comments steered her course for a while. He was tired of Raven Rock so they went to Skyrim. They stayed in Windhelm�s Grey Quarter until he complained about it. Eventually they moved to a modded home in Riverwood. As Teldryn remarked, �Riverwood looks peaceful. If I had to settle in Skyrim, this might be the place I�d choose.� And so that�s what she chose.

While they were in Windhelm Neph made a few important finds. One was the Necromancer Amulet which she wore for the rest of her game unless she was in disguise. The other was the Dark Brotherhood.

Nephiah�s approach to conflict was bound weapons and a zombie. She liked to strip down bandits and have them totter along behind moaning until they had to fight some critter with their fists. She did not like being attacked in broad daylight out in the open. It just seemed rude. Most of her murders were accomplished with a bound bow and poison. She liked to keep it neat and orderly.

About mid-way through her game (though we didn�t know it at the time) her religion put her on a different path. She had always venerated Azura, Mephala, and Boethiah. She felt compelled to complete their quests as soon as she heard about them. Azura and Mephala didn�t ask anything that Neph wasn�t prepared to do. But things went wrong with Boethiah.

Neph knew that she should bring Teldryn to the Pillar since he was the center of her life. That�s why it�s called a sacrifice. But she chose someone else. Boethiah didn�t seem to mind, but Neph knew better.

She turned away from the Night Mother and her duties with the Brotherhood. Teldryn liked Markarth so they went there. It wasn�t long before she found her way into Molag Bal�s clutches. In becoming his Champion she punished herself for her loss of faith. And her dark side really liked it.

I�m usually not a fan of mwa-ha-ha Evil characters, so Neph was a lot of fun. When she turned �bad� she actually stopped murdering people. For a while. Instead she did a lot of dungeoneering with summoned daedra from Coldharbor at her back.

Eventually Neph came back into the fold and returned to the Night Mother. She never finished the game�s Dark Brotherhood content, but she did return the organization to its true path. There was also a Morag Tong element to her game that was an interesting side-note but not the main event.

She and Teldryn moved to Breezehome which they shared with roommates Jenassa and Aranea Ienith. I used a mod so there were plenty of bedrooms. Funnily enough though just like in the Riverwood place Teldryn always slept in Nephiah�s bed. They had no use for a Temple of Mara wedding but because of whatever game quirk made him do that they were always a couple.

Once Nephiah returned to the stable life of an assassin I felt she could continue on her own. Her way is shadow and silence so even though she could rampage around with two zombie thralls she�s good enough at her job not to need them. I think she can take it from here.

Wow, that's interesting. I'm actually not familiar with Nephiah.





It's interesting Meph never finished DB; for a moment there I thought Mycharonna might also not finish DB, and that she's show up in this thread, eternally haunting Anise's Cabin and the Riverwood area. I like the fact that Neph eschewed the idea of a Chapel wedding. Very nice.

The White Wizard, aka Isaac the White



Final Playthrough Date: 2/21/2016, 12:56 PM

Actually he is semi-retired, I'll probably still game with Isaac occasionally. But as he just became Arch Mage, I feel like his story is pretty much concluded

Total Gametime: 82 hours, 3 minutes, 50 seconds

Class: Mage
Factions: College of Winterhold


Days Passed: 69
Hours Slept: 709
Hours Waited: 351

Final Gold: 239 (he just bought the expensive white robes seen in that pic)
Gold Found: 14,563

Chests Looted: 163
Skill Increases: 231
Spells Learned: 20
Favorite School: Destruction

Mage Guild Quests Completed: 10
Quests Completed: 15
Misc Objts Completed: 14
Main Quests Completed: 3
Side Quests Completed: 2

Locations Discovered: 59
Dungeons Cleared: 20

Homes: Arch Mage's Tower, Winterhold
Children: None
Spouse: None
Main Followers: Crystal Beth (mage), Hugh Mann (warrior)

Story: Isaac the White came to Skyrim from Cyrodiil with a band of others, all of whom were beggars. They took a ship somehow to Windhelm, and came to Cyrodiil because they all possessed some meager magical talents, and decided to see if they could further their magical education at the Mage's College of Winterhold.

But, a problem. After they left Windhelm to journey to Winterhold, Isaac somehow lost consciousness. When he awoke, he found himself on a snowy plains area, and could see the College in the distance. His beggar friends were nowhere to be seen, and I suspect they either got killed, or decided to head back to Cyrodiil.

Isaac walked to the College, did some begging to earn some quick gold, but eventually gave up this aspect of his life as his magical career began. Over time, he excelled mostly in Destruction and Conjuration, somewhat in Alteration and Restoration, but not at all in Illusion. Long story short, he began training at the College, but soon found circumstances which put him in the ultimate position of Arch Mage. The end.

*his white robes come from a mod called Playable Greybeard Robes.

RIP to WW.

It's kind of sad to see characters go, but it is nice to record their highlights here.

I've no doubt that there's plenty more characters with stories to be told lurking in your imagination.

I'm still going to game with him, but his story is concluded. Mage's College questline is short, but to be honest right now I don't care. It feels good to finally finish something!

Congrats to Whitey! I hope he enjoys his well deserved Happily Ever After.

Congratulations to Arch-Mage Isaac on his (semi) retirement! Those robes are lovely. And just think, he used to have ragged white beggar�s robes. What a journey! It�s nice to know he�ll still be puttering around the college in case you ever want to take him out on an adventure.

Thanks for sharing Isaac's story with us, I enjoyed it, especially his rise from a common beggar to the position of Arch-Mage.

I'm actually hoping to soon retire all of my "true" Heroes from all of the games (still a long ways to go in ESO though). I'm going to start with my Dragonborn since he has seen the most adventures and Skyrim was what started me with the Elder Scrolls. I still have a few things to do with him though. I want to find Taron Dreth and fight the Ebony Warrior, first and foremost. I have had trouble triggering the Dreth encounter, but haven't gotten to try again recently. I don't want to use the console to fight the Ebony Warrior, but at the same time I don't want to take too much time to achieve level 81 so I will probably try to find quick ways to level up.

I hope to add my Dragonborn to this thread soon.

At long last, I have retired my first ever legitimate Elder Scrolls character I ever created. It is also the first time I have actually retired one. I plan for my other Heroes in TES (who in my headcanon are all related) to soon follow.

Since this character has existed for at least 3.5 real-life years at this point, I have forgotten some things that happened along the way. I hadn't really come up with a detailed backstory either, so I will try to give what I can here. I am also "retconning" a few things here and there, such as what I had actually named my character, as I didn't place as much emphasis on role-playing earlier on in my playthrough.

Anyways

[url=https://www.dropbox.com/s/pyzkjjbm230g57f/20171005202542_1.jpg?dl=0]Cincinnatus
[/url]

Race: Argonian
Final playthrough date: 10/4/17, 11:15 PM EST
Total playthrough time: not sure
End time: 8:25 PM, 3rd of Evening Star, 4E 202

Class: whatever Cincinnatus damn well pleases, as he is not beholden to class
Favored skills: One-handed, Heavy Armor, Destruction, Restoration
Factions: College of Winterhold, Companions, Dawnguard, Imperials (begrudgingly)

Days passed: 473
Hours slept: 1198 (didn't make a concerted effort to sleep earlier on in my playthrough)
Hours waited: 175

Final gold: 90880
Gold found: 670832

Chests looted: 1577
Skill increases: 1123

Quests completed: 148
All factions I listed I finished the whole questlines for
Side quests completed: 40
Misc. objectives completed: 338

Locations discovered: 400
Dungeons cleared: 242

Companions: Lydia, Serana

Homes: Cincinnatus is planning to use a bunch of the houses he has for helping down-on-their-luck people to get back on their feet, but the ones he actually made significant use of personally are Lakeview Manor, Honeyside, and predominantly Breezehome (where his family lives).
Children: Sissel and Sofie
Spouse: Lydia

Story: Cincinnatus was born and lived his early life in the Lilmoth area of Black Marsh. Long after Umbriel ravaged the areas, tribes of Argonians started to rebuild around the area. For the most part, his ancestors lived in Lilmoth, which had significant Imperial influences on it prior to its destruction. Because of that, some of his family and ancestors--though not all--took on Imperial-naming conventions. (It is also a bit of an homage to the fact that Argonians in Arena were the ones that had Roman naming conventions, and the real-life historical figure Cincinnatus is interesting and has a cool name).

A confluence of factors led to a dark past for Cincinnatus, one that he desperately wanted to atone for. But even during the events of Skyrim he had some issues here and there, which further added to his immense guilt complex. But he would strive to lead a good life, trying to make amends for his wrongdoings and be at peace with himself.

Early on in his life, Cincinnatus realized he had a thrill for exploration and adventure. He wanted to see what the world outside the marsh had to offer. So he struck out for Cyrodiil, where he lived for a number of years. After some undisclosed occurrences (which I actually haven't thought of yet), he set out for Skyrim, where he was eventually captured by the Imperials. He didn't have much love for them in the first place, and the fact that they readily were about to cut his head off only set him further against them. But he wasn't ready to jump in with the Stormcloaks yet, and later on he would find he was dissatisfied with them too.

When Cincinnatus found out he was the Dragonborn, he felt he had finally found his calling: to be the Hero. At last, he found some true meaning in life and was going to go to whatever lengths he could to make up for all the wrongs he committed. Along the way, he would find himself getting pulled in multiple other directions through both a yearning for adventure and a sense of duty. He would come to help the College of Winterhold, the Companions, and the Dawnguard with their respective antagonists. And of course, he defeated Alduin and Miraak.

In the case of the Companions, Cincinnatus desperately searched for the way to cure himself of lycanthropy, a life he wanted no part of. It would take him a long time before he finally rid himself of it.

So how did he come to the Imperials' aid? He joined them begrudgingly, upon finding the Thalmor dossier on Ulfric. Whatever grievances he had with both the Imperials and Stormcloaks, the Thalmor were a far, far worse threat. He realized a war of attrition was exactly what the Thalmor wanted, and he knew that he needed to join the fray for the best chance at tearing those [censored] down. Reluctantly, he joined the Imperials. But Cincinnatus knew that there were good people fighting on both sides, which made the choice even harder on him.

Anyways--since I have probably gone on long enough--eventually Cincinnatus grew weary of the adventuring life. A lot of this had to do with the fact that he came to marry his primary companion, Lydia, and they adopted two daughters, Sissel and Sofie. Even after that Cincinnatus had gone of on adventuring, partly to wrap up his duties that needed to be attended to but also because he couldn't quite let go of his hunger for adventure.

But now that he was finally ready to call it quits in regards to his adventuring life, Cincinnatus decided to go on a farewell tour. He got to see all the great work he had done in the province. At long last, Cincinnatus finally found the inner peace he had been looking for.

When he returned to his family, Cincinnatus and Lydia offered a place to stay for Serana, since cured of her vampirism, should she want to stay with them.

And thus ends the story of Cincinnatus.

Wow! Well I'm sorry to have missed Cinncinatus's tales up to now! That's going to be tough eh? Are you making a new character or is this it for you in Skyrim for awhile, Raider?

Why does he have a guilt complex though? And wow, a lizard with lycanthropy. Dang.... did I spell that right? Lycanthropy. Red squiggly line under that word. Oh well.

Oh, this week has been the only time I detailed his story, lol. I hadn't played Skyrim since before I joined these forums. Same for Oblivion and Morrowind, for that matter.

Like I said before, I never completely worked out the backstory. But the guilt complex is because he had done some horrible things earlier on in life. (I was thinking of maybe even making him a Shadowscale previously, until he "saw the light.") But basically, he had done some pretty nasty things in the past and even during Skyrim where he felt pangs of guilt.

Sometimes those wrongdoings have been lesser crimes like stealing. But there has even been times where he has killed people for...not necessarily justified reasons. Sometimes they have been terrible people, but not necessarily worthy of being killed. For example, he has slain people that were abusive, but had never killed anyone themselves. I like to play more vigilante-type characters, who take the law into their own hands. Cincinnatus has never straight-up murdered anyone for sport or money, but it has been in some cases extrajudicial. He gets angered pretty easily. If that makes sense.

Like I said, when I first made the character and for a long time afterward I never made a well-rounded backstory. Just a somewhat detailed but never fully fleshed-out concept.

And yes, that is how you spell lycanthropy. The spellchecker here (and at bethesda.net, for that matter) is just weird or dumb sometimes.

Oddly, the spellchecker on my laptop (which is Windows 10) accepts 'pwned' as a valid word. Lycanthropy? It does not like this word. I am at home now, on my office computer (which is Windows 8 so it's older) and it's doing the opposite. Pwned is NOT a word, yet lycanthropy is. *shrugs* I know it's really the spellchecker programs, which change as time goes on. All my computers are HPs though, so it's weird how they go back and forth with what is right, and what is wrong.


Yes it does make sense. A lot of things our characters do aren't things we'd necessarily agree with. Anyway, thanks for explaining more about your lycanthropic lizard.

That was interesting to read and I like a little backstory behind his name, at first I had no idea why would an Argonian be named like an Imperial.

I retired only a few characters that lasted really long but at the end the feeling is always somehow special, even nostalgic as we recall what had this particular character been through. It was a nice touch that Cincinnatus went on a farewell tour to see his contribution to Tamriel.

Thanks! Glad you liked it. It was something I established way after the fact because the name I actually have for him is...not exactly roleplaying. I didn't know anything about the lore then and just came up with a name I thought was funny and clever at the time (which it's not...at all). I played around with some other reasons for having the name "Cincinnatus" but I couldn't really get any to reasonably stick.

I wanted to take a trip around Skyrim personally since I hadn't played the game in so long and wanted to see how things were, and I was able to come up with a roleplaying reason for it. Any other characters I have for Skyrim from here on out won't even come close to the amount of playtime I had for Cincinnatus.

So during the 3 weeks my PC was out of commission I ended up playing a bit of Skyrim on the 360 because I had lost my Oblivion GOTY disc (still had the game disc, though, but I couldn't play without it even if i probably wasn't going to touch either DLC).

Vanilla Skyrim honestly makes me itch, but at the same time I ended up appreciating it after years of playing completely modded. Less distractions. Less clutter. Less impressive, of course, but still.

Anyways, during that time I decided to take my old Dragonborn for a spin (almost) the way he was meant to be played, after a few failed attempts with Requiem and other mods on the PC. It was great getting him back to his less aggressive playstyle, and for the first time I gladly played through past Diplomatic Immunity.

When I got my PC back I saw his adventures through to the end the real way he was meant to, with only the bare minimum mods needed for his ideal playthrough. I ended up making a Mod Organizer profile titled "Old World Memories" in case I ever wanted to play any of my original "pre-cosmic retcon" characters with as little mod interference possible.

So finally getting to the point, today I ended up hovering over his original, finished save file from before PC times as I imported more save files to this profile. The preview image felt...lonely? Poignant? Then I somehow ended up here and thought, why not make a little memorial? To FINALLY put him to rest.


Aza-jo final pic

Final Playthrough Date (game): 11:53 AM, 17th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 201 (in-universe time, it's at least 4E 203)
Final Playthrough Date (irl): 5/21/2014 (this is the date transferred to PC, might be earlier)

Total Gametime: 70 Hours

Class: Warlock (?)
Primary Skills: Illusion, Conjuration (focus on Necromancy), Speechcraft (focus on Bartering)
Secondary Skills: Destruction (focus on Shock), Enchanting (bare minimum), Sneak


Factions: Winterhold Mage (no outstanding rank), Bard


Days Passed: 92
Hours Slept: 597
Hours Waited: 62

Final Gold: 65700 (possibly more in storage)
Gold Found: 1070633

Chests Looted: 806
Skill Increases: 609

Quests Completed: 60
Misc Objts Completed: 60
Main Quests Completed: 18
Side Quests Completed: 21

Locations Discovered: 150
Dungeons Cleared: 67

Homes: Breezehome [sold], Proudspire Manor [sold]
Children: nope
Spouse: no thank you
Main Followers: what

Assaults: 127
Murders: 115
Favorite Shout: Become Ethereal
Favorite Spell: Thunderbolt
Favorite Weapon: Pickaxe (?)

Background:


His time in Skyrim:
To say that Aza-jo was unfit for the role of Dragonborn is an understatement. Of course, some might say the complete opposite: that he fit the role a little too well. His past experiences, the clash between his goals in relation to his world view and the implications of being a prophesied Hero, and a rather unfortunate combination of traits led to him becoming an awful, self-loathing monster that simultaneously saw himself as being above all other mortals.

At first it seemed like things could have turned out okay, in spite of the encroaching despair. In his travels he befriended a group of people--other adventurers--"beautiful" like he was. He found a loyal companion, a peer, a valuable asset, and a potential mentor.

Then, not long after he decided to embrace his nature as Dragonborn, Miraak appeared to challenge him. In his rush to eliminate him, he gained knowledge of the world that he was better off without--further increasing his doubts on whether he'd ever be able to change the way his life turned out.

Then he began to doubt the loyalty of those close to him. Deep down he knew most of them didn't like him and barely trusted him, but having the faith he had in his closest ally shaken didn't do him any favors.

So he did the reasonable thing and threw himself at the whole Dragonborn business, all the while abusing his developing magic. Partly motivated by what little hope he had left, and partly out of malice and spite and just a bit of morbid curiosity, he began to toy with the worlds and lives of alternate versions of himself to see just how far he could go before facing divine retribution. When it was clear he could get away with it, he started picking fights with Daedra and Divines, all so he could become stronger, and succeed where Miraak had failed.

To end this already long post, he succeeded against all odds, but not without a heavy price, and not without changing the goalposts a little. He ended up as a disembodied demi-lich, while his companions received the absolute best outcome possible without absolutely borking reality. His happiness relying entirely on their success, and in his mind being set on the path to atonement for all the atrocities he committed against the people of Skyrim in his world and his hapless counterparts and their worlds, he felt he could finally be at peace.

Not in death, seeing as it's virtually impossible for him now, but comfortably watching the rest of Nirn's story and never forgetting those that made it possible.

==

And with that, I lay this asshole to rest. He was honestly a very fun playstyle, one more geared toward careful and creative gameplay over brute force (again, without Requiem). My favorite part was hiding in the back of the room and casting Frenzy on a group of enemies, then watching as they tore each other apart. I also thought the theme of manipulation and domination that Illusion and Conjuration bring was perfect for a Dragonborn, but I also didn't want to do a "typical" Dragonborn character akin to what we see in the trailers/promotion. I wanted someone who was weak and a coward. Someone who would only act if they were guaranteed success, or if their pride was at stake. I also love how he seemed to fit the role of a "Cat Sith" of Scottish folklore, being a soul-stealing ghoul-cat, both dragon and mortal souls.

Dunno how well I did as far as building a believable character goes, but i gotta say, even though it sort of hurt to play--and still does--this is 100% what I want my "canon" to be. I enjoyed it. Good night, Lich Kitty. He might get a "redemption arc" in TES VI, but for now, I'm happy with where he is. They say a nice couple bought his house in Solitude for a very generous price the day he disappeared.

When Khajiit looks back at his time in Elderscrolls games his mind’s eye veiws a vast graveyard of characters, founded all the way back to when TES3 was released. Some characters were great heros (or villains), while others’ times came to an end shortly after they stepped into the great wide world. None of them will get a formal individual write up, so let these few words serve as their collective epitaphs. Rest in peace, o brave souls.