We've all seen the degenerate Falmer in Skyrim, the goblin-like race that hides in the deepest underground caverns. But what have we *really* seen?

Let's be honest; the Snow Elves actually have a hell of a lot more in common with the "Drow" of Forgotten Realms than even the actual Dark Elves in the Elder Scrolls universe. All over Skyrim, it's constantly alluded that they're this incredibly badass race, yet thus far, we've seen little more than unintelligent savages. In Dawnguard, however, we get out first real glimpse of something bigger...

What if there were a greater, underground society, unbeknownst to anybody? Not just a band of survivors, but a glorious, sprawling city, stretched out as far as the eye (or draw-distance) can see? A place where, instead of fighting trolls and dragons, you face deadly assassins, bandits, and corrupt guards within the city itself?

We know damned little of the Snow Elves, but we do know they were a proper "beautiful" race, once. After their enslavement by the Dwemer, they became unimaginably cruel, but once they eventually rebelled, it's entirely possible that they could've gathered, en masse, to build a massive underground city. Like the Drow/Dark Elves of the Forgotten Realms, though, this society would be even more secretive and brutal than the Falmer we've already encountered.

By thinking is that, in contrast to the rest of Skyrim, you would eschew traditional Fantasy in favor of more "political intrigue". Instead of a city-hub with various "wilderness" segments, I'd like to see it made up of one massive city, but with varying sections. Certain, low-class sections would be rife with thieves who might randomly steal gold or non-worn items from you, or common thugs might follow you and attempt to attack you when you enter a particularly shadowy area. In the higher-class sections, you might even get crooked guards who try to extort money, beat you randomly (and charging you for a crime if you fight back), or even make demands for Weapons and Armor you're currently wearing.

While that might sound crappy, it would be off-set by the gorgeous underground caverns, which we've already seen can be quite beautiful. Perhaps taking it a step further, however, maybe they would utilize intricate designs throughout their architecture, something wholly new and unique, with several of the important families within the city each having their own keep, lavishly decorated and brightly lit. Maybe they would even utilize lots of stained-glass and glowing flora in their architecture, with immaculately decorates Balls and social-gatherings (something similar, perhaps, to the Mistborn Trilogy, if you've read them).

In addition to a whole new set of Quests, I would also make the Snow Elves a fully-playable Race. For their Racial abilities, I'm not really sure where you would go; I suppose it depends on how you choose to develop their culture. Since the Khajiit already have both Night-eye and Clawed-fists, perhaps they could get a built-in Detect Life, or even a Power which makes everyone nearby immediately made blind. I quite like the thought of them being more powerful at night and less powerful during the day (which would make them *AWESOME* Vampires), but that might be a little too nuanced for a Race. Either way, definitely make it something more "practical magic" moreso than "arcane magic".

Beyond that, I would love to see the Morag Tong given a presence, perhaps allowing you to advance more quickly if you've proven yourself in the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild. In addition, I could see them having their own "Mage Guild" of sorts, perhaps as practitioners of Conjuration and Illusion, maybe even allowing you to summon full-fleshed Daedra beings? And for the honorable Warrior or Fighter types, perhaps they have their own Colosseum? If so, *PLEASE* disable the Save option while participating, and allow us to lose matches without dying.

In terms of factions, beyond my personal interest in the Morag Tong, you could absolutely bring back the idea of Great Houses, with perhaps some sort of "Council" type of organization at the helm. In line with the character in Dawnguard, perhaps there are different Fighter organizations, ranging from Archer-types (ie. "Stalkers"), Dark Knight-types (ie. "Spellswords" or "Nightblades"), and the "rogue" faction that seeks to do good, the Paladins (for those unaware, the Snow Elf NPC in Dawnguard is references as a "Knight-Paladin"). As well, maybe even House/Family has its own sort of Faction aligns with it, obviously restricting you to only aiding one or two in a single player-through. In doing so, however, perhaps you could be awarded the Keep of a rival House, depending which family you aid?

In terms of Gameplay functionality, I ***REALLY*** want to see Archery and Dual-Wielding amped-up a bit. For Dual-Wielding, some ideas would include being able to Roll or Dodge in combat, instead of a basic Sprint, and also the ability to attack several people around you. Also, if you stand still and press the Sprint button, maybe your character does a brief "Parry" animation. If an enemy hits you during the brief animation, you counterattacking for greater damage, but if you Parry too soon, *their* physical attack will gain the bonus (would not affect Spell damage). In terms of Archery, let us affix different attributes to our arrows, not only to increase damage via Poisons or Flaming-arrows, but also other more nuanced things, such as Flares or even "Weighted Arrows" which cause nearby enemies to walk SPECIFICALLY to our arrow to "investigate the noise".

Also, among other Pekrs, I'd like to suggest something specifically; "Whisper". Basically, let us Cast spells and Shouts whilst Sneaking, without nearby targets immediately being notified of our presence. This mostly applies to Self-buffs, but it could be extremely useful with the "Become Ethereal" Shout, as well as the aforementioned Arrow-augments which would likely be done via Spell-casting.

And finally, the good stuff; Weapons and Armor. In terms of weapons, I would absolutely add Scimitars, however I would also add a myriad of gaudy, expensive/priceless looking items. Maybe the Daggers' hilts are made from solid gold, with radiant jewels adorning them, and bright, gleaming platinum blades? For Robes and Clothes, maybe they lean towards the like of Cleopatra with lots of exposed skin, while Light Armor would all be tight-fitting leather with more "deadly" looking designs. For Heavy Armor, there's really no precedent, though personally I would love some over-the-top, "Death Knight" styled armor, perhaps also incorporating long, regal capes. Conversely, the Paladin Order (whatever its name may be) might offer slightly more "Divine" styled armor, also playing up the Polished-Gold aesthetic, but making those Armor and Weapon types more of a minority in this expansion.

The idea is simply to offer something wholly unique from Skyrim proper. The fact is, even though Riften is home to the Thieves' Guild, it feels like a game about big manly-men doing big manly-men things. By delving into the Snow Elves and a society that places more emphasis on politics than honor or physical-might, it creates a haven for those who enjoy playing Thief and Assassin-type characters, while at the same time providing something for Mage and Warrior types, as well. We've already got an amazing game that lets us play the Noble Hero, so what about casting us in an underground world where the city-streets are your battlefield?

Only if they're midst a magic related quest. I want DLC that focuses on magic, and only magic.

"In the grim darkness of the third century of the fourth era..."

It sounds neat, but too large for a DLC and too alien for a separate game. Of course, Shivering Isles was virtually an entire extra game, so things like that aren't TOTALLY out of the question.

Some of what you said reminds me heavily of Daggerfall. Ever played it?

Eh, not necessarily my first choice, but I suppose given how little we know of the Snow Elves, who knows what kind of society they might hold?

My mind immediately lept to the Drow of Forgotten Realms, which are largely Assassin/Ranger types, but even they had a high value places on the casters ("Priestess", if I remember right), which could play into Conjuration and Illusion users really well, not to mention Alchemy/

I haven't, is it any good?

Anyways, the Shivering Isles was absolutely amazing, and definitely a true show of how big DLC can be. Obviously, the bigger, the better, but I don't think it would have to be quite that ambitious. Instead, play up the "House War" aspect, and assuming there's something like Five Houses (because it's always five, for some arbitrary reason, lol), you could have one house as the "most powerful" (hence, the most evil), another could be shady but still not evil, and then a third "rebel" faction. The other three houses would simply serve as filler-content, either as enemies or as allies depending which faction you side with.

I mean, it's still not something they're going to put together overnight, but I think it's more about compelling storytelling and set-pieces moreso than actual additions, as opposed to Shivering Isles, in which almost every little thing was completely new; the biggest thing here would simply be Weapons and Armor, the actual Snow Elf race, and a new type of architecture, plus sound files to round it out. What that did with Dawnguard, from a technical standpoint, I think would be far more demanding.

Also, as a personal aside, just to make the Snow Elves feel a little more "interesting" (as opposed to just looking like High Elves with White skin and hair), what about getting them tattoos or markings over their bodies? I mean, it's kind of out-of-left-field, but it could definitely be a cool addition.

On another note entirely, it could also be a good time to incorporate an "Unarmed" Skill-Tree. I would have to branch in two different ways; the first, as truly Unarmed, perhaps automatically using "Calm" effects with your blows. The second path would focus on a new type of weapon; Fist-weapons. Whether it's Wolverine-like claws, Brass-knuckles, or even Katars (just google it), it would totally fit the theme of this kind of DLC-Expansion.

It's based largely on dungeon crawls in huge one-night-one-dungeon complexes, and otherwise on a story of political intrigue. If you've read The Warp In the West you already know all the alternate endings.

Additionally, it is the reason Orcs were added as a playable and NPC race and removed as a creature, drawing another potential parallel to your "still semi-cohesive civilisation of falmer" idea.

1+1+1+3 is six by the way.

I'm not into the skyrim modding scene yet, so don't quote me on this but I suspect a large amount of VA and a new large fully mapped area on top of set pieces and quests and equipment would be more technically demanding than the (relatively) small additions made by Dawnguard.

Most of the races already have race-specific warpaint, I believe the imperials and bretons share the same paints with one swap IIRC (the imperials get the Egyptian Eye of Horus kohl marking and the bretons get some kind of heavy eyeliner that I think they also have in common with Altmer), I know that's probably totally not what you mean. What about I don't know about unarmed. It seems like something Bethesda intentionally consolidated into other skills (enchanting and heavy armour), though I certainly like the idea of user mods that buff it. Sure, the maximum damage you can hit with it all told in Vanilla is 88, still roughly on par with a tempered glass weapon, and you can't deal enchantment or poison damage with it, but think of it this way- A master of hand to hand combat is simply not going to hit as hard as a master of swordsmanship using a sword. There's a reason warfare has gradually involved larger and larger weapons, after all. Plus unarmed has the only enjoyable non-dragon finishing moves.

Well, I was always under the impression that new animations and particle-effects was one of the most demanding parts of designing new content. Well, that and quality Voice-Acting, but Bethesda seems to have really nailed that since Fallout 3. Even with new "Unarmed" weapons, they would utilize the exact same animations that exist currently with bare-handed attacks, so it's really just adding the weapon-models themselves. Still, though, I could be wrong, and designing an entire underground city is certainly no simple task

Truth be told, I've not really read that much into the Elder Scrolls lore. In fact, I know almost nothing of it beyond the Loading Screen tips... but the history of the Snow Elves just really stood out to me, for some reason. I absolutely despise the Falmer that we fight in the game (which isn't that surprising, since they look like Goblins), but the idea that there could be these survivors, who are battle-hardened but haven't devolved into the goblin-like creatures we've already seen, just sounds really exciting. Plus, as stereotypical as it may be, there's just something really compelling about the idea of "warmongering elves".

Also -- and again, this is just getting into personal preference -- I think it would be cool if they all had really strange personalities and speech-patterns. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7EmL55jUk8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b30YXoqu_Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPsWiTUaD0