I had a thread on here a week or so ago explaining that apart from using invisibility in Oblivion, I had never touched magic in any way or form even though I've played TES series since Dagerfall, so decided to give it a bash as i was getting a bit bored continuously rolling with an sneak type character. Melee wasn't also an option due to issues with motion sickness.

Anyhoo, RPing with a sneak type character and doing the likes of the DB and TG was easy from an RPing stand point as it allowed you to assume a role in which you led a double life and so on. At a push, the companions were a viable option too, yet with an archmage i am who i am and have no real desire to do illegal or evil acts as i would have done with previous characters.

I'm currently lvl 35, not touched the MQ, no other guild memberships so to speak and have little inspiration on where to go from here. Being a goody type archmage just seems very restricted compared to other player types. Other than that and no pun intended, it's actually been a blast and I've enjoyed playing a new type of playstyle.

If a mod feels this should eventually go to the spoilers section, then feel free to move.

Play a more sadistic type of Archmage... Remember you can experiment in any way you want according to the associates you have at the college you just need to be careful about testing with live subjects as you should probably do it outside of the college itself...

Not saying you have to do this but nothing says the Archmage has to be a good person... You'd probably have more fun if you played a bit less restrictive of a play style... You could join the Dark Brotherhood this way and have a bit more fun...

As Arch-Mage of the College, my main character makes sure his students are ready to face the perils of Skyrim by taking them with him on adventures. J'zargo has shown much potential, so he's being groomed to succeed Rajir as the next Arch-Mage. At least one other student can be a follower. Can't remember her name, though. Rajir also was determined to hunt down the Dragon Priests, in order to make sure their masks could not fall in to evil hands. He's finally achieved that goal and has all the masks locked in a secure location.

Dress like a Mexican bandito.

You could just seek knowledge. That's a pragmatic attitude that fits both good and evil characters. The rest could unfold by accident, so to speak. Go with the flow. Considering your previous char specialize in Illusion maybe? Conjuration looks fun too. Have a look at the different schools at the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Spells.

this is the reason i posted this, so i would get suggestions along the lines of this. Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. Thanks for all the suggestions thus far people!

There's still plenty to do in that case. Your mage can certainly take a sabbatical to complete the MQs (arguments could be made either way for sides in the civil war). I don't see a goody (pure mage) archmage joining other guilds, though. Good news is, you can easily hit the soft cap anyway. Bad news is, play through on that character will be a little shorter. My orc is stuck in a Hadvar imperial quest, waitin for maybe a patch fix. He did mage, companions, and was working on civil war at level 52 or so.