So I know there are a lot of people on this forum who take the roleplaying aspect of this game seriously. I thought I would make a thread to share the story of my main three characters. There are small spoilers in here but I don't think I am giving anything away to anyone who's played the game. If you haven't started playing Skyrim and know nothing about the story, you should not continue reading any further.

Of course I encourage everyone to share their stories with me as well.

1) Soh-Lindh: My first and favorite character is a Dunmer battlemage. He came to Skyrim with his wife and children after the eruption of Red Mountain and the destruction of his home in Morrowind. Like many Dunmer, he ended up in Windhelm mostly because it was the closest city from the Dunmeth Pass. Soh-Lindh soon realized that the Nords of Windhelm would not be gracious hosts. Still, his family was to weary from travel to continue on much further. More importantly, most of the rest of the Dunmer had settled in Windhelm and he wanted his children to grow up among their own people.

Unfortunately, the resentment of the Nords only grew with time and they soon began to badly mistreat the Dunmer. They didn't seem to be able to tell the difference between an Dunmer and an Altmer and they blamed all elves for the banishment of Talos worship. Soh-Lindh's wife Bevene, ever a free spirit, refused to take her lumps lying down. She regularly stood up for her children and all Dunmer. As a result of her defiance to the Nords, a racial conflict erupted one night. In the midst of the chaos Bevene, her children, and two male Dunmer that came to her defense were beaten and killed.

Soh-Lindh, who had been working at the docks when the riot erupted, rushed home at the sound of fighting to find his family slaughtered at the hands of a band of xenophobic Nords. To the credit of Jarl Ulfric, the men responsible for the murders were captured and summarily put to justice. But even their deaths could not even begin to fill the hole in Soh-Lindhs heart.

Soh-Lindh soon fell into a spiral of rage and sorrow. He left his job at the Windhelm docks and went off into the wilderness alone. The only thing on his mind was revenge, not against the men who killed his family, but against all Stormcloak supporters. He started with petty ambushes and murder. He would wait in the mountains above a road for a supply caravan or small troop of Stormcloaks. When the tell tail sounds of boots and creaking wagon wheels was heard, he would descend in a hail of fireballs, slaughtering beast and man indiscriminately. Soon, however, the caravans started travelling with more guards. Soh-Lindh realized that what he was doing was getting him no where; he needed to think bigger. But first, in order to deal the most damage to the effort of the rebellion, Soh-Lindh needed power, and lots of it.

The Dunmer turned North to Winterhold, his rage burning a whole through the harsh blizzards of Northern Skyrim and speeding him on his way. He joined the College of Winterhold and began to amass power in the form of new spells and greater knowledge of the arcane. The other mages were astounded by his quick learning. Soh-Lindh became a master in the arts of destruction and conjuration and before too much longer he became the Archmage. Unfortunately, there were limits on how much he could learn from the College. Once he had surpassed the other mages, his progress plateaued. He would need to find a new source of power.

His first trip was to the nearby statue of Azura. After completing a task for the benevolent Deadric lord, and being handsomely rewarded, Soh-Lindh knew what his new source of power would be. He traveled the land of Skyrim, jumping at every rumor, searching for any way to contact the other realms. Over the span of a few years he accomplished tasks for each of the daedric lords, amassing powerful artifacts and knowledge as he went. During this time, however, his hunger for power became increasingly dissociated with it's original reason. The murder of his wife and children were pushed to the back of his mind as the insatiable desire for more strength and his hatred of the Stormcloaks overrode his every thought.

Finally, Soh-Lindh felt powerful enough to act against the Stormcloaks. He joined the Imperial Legion where his skill in battle and his passion for killing rebels quickly vaulted him up the ranks. The Dunmer battle mage would rain fire down upon enemy and summon legions of powerful Daedra during battle; most credit him as the tide that turned the war.

With the rebels put down Soh-Lindh had lost his initial purpose but not his lust for power. When Lord Harkon offered him the blood of the ancient vampire, he couldn't resist the chance to increase his strength once again.

Today Soh-Lindh is nearly as powerful as the gods themselves. He is immortal because of the Blood and he is as powerful as any mage in living memory....but he scarcely resembles the man that Bevene knew and loved.

2) Reingar: My second character is a Nord warrior who fought in the Great War (this guy is the most generic but I find him interesting still.). As a devout follower of Talos, he was dissapointed in the terms of the White Gold Concordat. After doing some mercenary work in Cyrodill he headed back to his homeland of Skyrim. Unfortunately, he somehow got mixed up with Ulfric Stormcloak and a horse thief. You guys know what happens next. After helping save Whiterun from a dragon attack he was startled when guards and jarls alike started theorizing that he might be dragonborn. He got even more freaked out when he heard the voices of the mysterious Greybeards calling him to their mountain. He resisted his destiny initially. He did not believe that he could be a mystical hero; the whole thing sounded like a fairy tail.

Reingar did see, howeve,r that Skyrim was in turmoil. The land he loved was beset by dragons and ravaged by civil war. His history as a mercenary and a warrior made him believe that he could do some good for Skyrim and her people; it also wouldn't hurt to earn some fame and gold. He joined the Companions and started doing mercenary work for citizens and jarls alike. He gained renown in several major cities and even earned the title of thane in multiple holds.

Things were going well until he learned that the noble Companions had been tainted by the curse of the Daedric Lord Hircine. No true follower of the nine would abide the influence of Daedra on such an eminent group. Knowing that he must cleanse the organization but fearing that he would be left unable to do so from outside the Circle, Reingar accepted the curse as his own. As soon as possible he cured Kodlak Whiteman, himself, and all other members of the circle that would allow it. Cleansing this Nordic cultural treasure from the filth of a demon lord is one of his proudest accomplishments to date.

During his work for the jarls and the Companions Reingar killed several dragons and grew his ability with the Thu'um. He eventually accepted his role as Dovahkiin and completed the main quest. With the world eater dead he moved to the other major source of strife in Skyrim: the Civil War.

As any true son of Skyrim would have, Reingar joined the Stormcloak Rebellion. His skill in battle and the power of the Thu'um helped turn the tide of the war and Skyrim was finally freed from the Empire.

With the land at peace once more, Reingar settled down and took a wife. Through the wealth from his adventures he was able to purchase multiple homes across Skyrim. Life was peaceful....until the vampires came.

3) Al-Askur: Dunmer theif/assasin. I'll write this one later.