I'm all for the idea of three different factions, it's certainly a good idea, but could it have been arranged differently? Most are in agreement that the Ebonheart Pact is going to be the largest by a longshot.

So do you think any other way of arranging the factions?

I love my Dark Elves, just as much as anyone else, but I don't think it could have been orgnaized anywhay else. Hamerfell and Dagerfall go hand-in-hand, and I think Orsinium is landed somewhere in the middle. Because of this obvious alliance, Skyrim, Morrowind, and Black Marsh are smooshed together, with no way of being arranged any other way, at least if factions had to have provinces right next to each other.

Assuming that provinces didn't need to be next to each other to have an alliance, I think there'd be a couple ways to actually make it viable. 1. there could be port cities with ships to take you to your allied province. 2. You could travel there through Cyrodiil and risk getting ambushed. 3. there could be portals. I think it could work, but nothing says home sweet home like the friendly border guards between neighbouring provinces.

So what do you think? Would there be a better way of organizing them? I'm not asking for a change, just playing with my imagination. What about the lore screams certain alliances couldn't be together, and which ones make sense to you?

My take on this is they needed to offer one of each to players: one beast race/furry; one "pretty" race; one alternative choice race. So each faction needed one each of those.

And that's why we got what we got.

Could have arranged it with one Mer (elf) race in each group too... I'm a lill worried that my faction of choice is overall too pointy-eared I like the Bosmer, but dislike the Altmer.

But yeah, agreed that geographical adjacency is probably the deciding factor and for good reason.

In the future . . . what if argonians broke off to become freelance? Would defeat the purpose of tri-faction gamepolay but still a cool idea.

I think it was somethink like:
Hmm Nord are badass and every one want to play one after skyrim..., dark elfs (sry never played an TES part so i don't know the race name dunmer or so?(ok skyrim for 10min)) hmm alle the people want to look at their (insert word here) and beasts => EP

and this for the other 2 faction as well...

I'd be open to 9 different factions with each race having a leader that was fighting for the ruby throne. During the war (depending on imbalances) they could call a truce between each other to take out the more populated side.

Pretty sure it comes down to borders. They wanted a connected PVE zone, so they put the closest factions together and made up some lore to get it to work. You could rearrange it slightly, but overall I think this is the best compromise between lore and the map situation.

Those considerations came as part of the splitting up process no doubt. But you always have to have a beast/furry race, a pretty race, and an alternative choice race in each faction

Where would the orcs hide then? They don't have much land...

Also fail on my part for the title, clearly I need to get some sleep.


Aren't Orcs "Orismer" making them elves? Or does mer just mean folk, and have nothing to do with elves. Think they have pointy ears too.. I guess if they're technically elves + most people perceive them as a beast race, everyone has an elf race + a beast race. I like that logic though, to be even with the race choices, despite the population getting thrown off.

Yep Orcs are definitely their faction's beast race.

LOL, I didn't say 9 factions would be a great idea but if done properly it would've been neat. There would be out numbered factions but if there was some way for players to join together into 3-4 smaller factions it may work out better. It would be really dynamic and require a lot of programming and effort that may not be justified.

Yes, orcs are elfs. They were social outcasts and didn't trust anyone.

The Orsimer are a pariah race but ARE mer/elves, make no mistake. It's just that their patron god got eaten by one of the Daedra, and when he came out the other end he was a Daedra himself, and in the process all of the Orsimer changed with him. Trinimac is dead, long live Malacath and all that. So yeah, they're just mer cursed by mythic association.

Also, obviously for out-of-universe reasons, connected PvE zones was a major factor, but if you consider that the times are desparate, a new war is starting only a short time after an enormously destructive one... It actually makes geographic sense for even old enemies to put aside differences for the sake of survival. Vvardenfell allying with, say, Alinor (stay with me here, it's an illustrative hypothetical and not intended to be realistic) and Hammerfell would be untenable because they'd be separated completely from each other and unable to assist. It makes more sense to ally with your neighbours in times of crisis.

I couldn't tell. I thought they locked themselves in their forts because they loved each other so much *sarcasm*
I agree, through blood and sweat you know your closer enemies more than the newer ones. Thanks for the clarification on orcs too, oops almost put a l at the end of too, silly me, you aren't a tool .