Immediately, Hammerfell comes to mind.

Region #1 - the mountains north of dragonstar all the way to the sea of ghosts. Better yet: draw a rectangle with dragonstar, evermor, farrun and jehanna. That entire region is bound to have wierdness in it of a high order. It's a rocky, icy, mountainous wasteland. We already know that to the north and west, south of the farrun-jehanna line, there are betrayed falmer. South of that - who knows? Maybe some bands of original falmer hiding out. Maybe some left-handed elves in an isolated valley. Rebel Orcs. Unusually crazy Reachmen. Undiscovered and extraordinarily dangerous/unpleasant/bizarre dwemer ruins. Nords who are such outcasts that they are not accepted in Skyrim. Necromancers. Or maybe something we haven't seen yet.

Region #2 - what's left of Yokuda. Bet it's reminiscent of the Glowing Sea in FO4, but worse.

Region #3 - the Sload coral homeland of Thras way out in the Abacean, not all that far from the remnant Yokudan isles.

I think either the Cyrodiil-Elsweyr border, the Valenwood-Elsweyr, or the Cyrodiil-Hammerfell border offers the most visually varied options, though if we're counting story as well, you can probably include Cyrodiil-Valenwood.


Both Cyrodiil-Blackmarsh and Morrowind-Blackmarsh are likely to be very similar throughout, and don't really offer the ability tk delve into the more peculiar environs of Blackmarsh or Morrowind. Similarly, the Hammerfell-Highrock border is either coastal shores, or the Eastern Reach, limiting what you can do visually.


Visually, the Valenwood-Elsweyr border probably offers the most contrast, but that contrast comes at a price. The huge cultural divide means losing out one both societies, and there's very little mythic or thematic overlap.


Story wise, Cyrodiil-Hammerfell or Cyrodiil-Elsweyr probably offers the greatest potential, focusing on reclamation of territory to the second Great War.

Also consider a Valenwood-Hammerfell/Elsweyr border would also offer more variety in game assets modders can use.

Valenwood doesn't share a border with Hammerfell though, unless you cut across the bay. And doing so would open up Cyrodiil and Summerset as well, which would cause numerous problems with lost cultural depth, weird border restrictions, and muddied thematic concepts.

If Hammerfell were the setting of TES VI, the newest iteration of Orsinium is a likely DLC location. The Valley of Scars in Craglorn, ancient home of the Iron Orcs is a likely candidate for the location of Orsinium, as it is isolated, easily fortifiable and fits the bill of being situated in the mountains between Skyrim and Hammerfell. The Iron Orc civilisation is somewhat likely to either have died out, or have been radically altered in the time since the events of ESO, especially with the Nordic invasion of Craglorn during the War of the Bend'r-Mahk. The DLC could introduce a Tribunal-style wordspace containing the city and its associate locations, inaccessible to the outside world aside from one easily defendable and secluded mountain path.

As for the city itself, I don't think we could expect something as grand as the iteration of Orsinium we saw in ESO. Something akin to a combination of Morkul Stronghold and Fharun Stronghold in Wrothgar - a large, well fortified stronghold, not lacking hewn stone walls and guard towers, and of course a grand keep. Cliffside longhouse districts, connected by precarious bridges, and of course vast mines and quarries. Beyond's Skyrim's take on Orsinium is a good example of Orsinium as a growing mountain city, while not reaching the same architectural heights as its past incarnations in High Rock. I think Orsinium could take some inspiration from the ancient fortress of Masada, a truly awe-inspiring Judean mountaintop stronghold.

It'd also mean that instead of having a completely separate worldspace like the last few Bethesda expansions/dlcs (like the Shivering Isles, Point Lookout, Solstheim, Far Harbor, et cetera), they could simply remove the world borders in part of the vanilla map. I have to say I like that prospect.

I love 90% of this.

I would be inclined, however, to not use Masada as anything more than a 'spiritual' example. In other words, seeing Orsinium Nova on a desert plateau would feel out of place geographically. I would prefer to see it in a valley where there is a city that is dynamic and clearly growing, surrounded by fields being tilled and grazed. At the end of the valley could be the heavily fortified gated entrance, with further redoubts climbing up the cliffs on either side to provide an overwatch should an enemy army try to overcome the gate with siege towers.

I would also love to see a small dwemer ruin in the valley against its eastern slope. This ruin would ideally lead under the dragontails and sprout somewhere that provides an entrance to the unexplored/unrestored dwemer ruins of western Markarth. This could lead to the DLC allowing us to enter Markarth from the mountains. The city gate could be closed because of........I don't know................a Forsworn siege or something. This would block the PC from attempting to re-explore the rest of Skyrim.

Ya know something? It should be ME who designs and develops ES6. Obviously the lazy bums at Bethesda don't think it's worth their time. Shirkers....

It does appear so at times, that Bethesda skip out or cut very interesting content. Regarding Masada, Indeed, it would be more of a spiritual inspiration, perhaps solely for the aforementioned grand keep. And seeing as how Orsinium is supposedly in the Dragontail Mountains, a desert plateau wouldn't do at all. Though, a large walled fortress located on an elevated plateau in the mountains, overlooking rest of the city could work, in my opinion. The new architectural style introduced in the Orsinium DLC of ESO I think would lend itself well to the rocky terrain, relying more on hewn stone instead of palisade walls. I like the idea of cliffside redoubts, as the city itself and a number of associated locations would be the main setting of the DLC (a faction-based DLC, like Tribunal or Dawnguard), the setting should be interesting to explore.

As for the Markarth idea, I like it. Markarth under siege would work, and it could even factor into the main quest of the DLC, dealing with Orsinium's defense and internal struggles between the more traditional Malacath-worshipers and the Trinimac worshiping and possibly Thalmor-backed Vosh Rakh. The Forsworn could be a suitable antagonistic force, besieging Markarth and assailing the Valley of Scars, providing a suitable test of Orsinium's defenses. The DLC could also re-introduce Giants, as they would likely be absent from Hammerfell in favor of more widespread potential enemies, such as Minotaurs in Eastern Hammerfell or the many beasts that prowl the Alik'r Desert, such as Dunerippers, Giant Scorpions, Assassins Beetles, Harpies along the northern coast, and perhaps a reimagined enemy from Shadowkey - the Spikeworm.

In any case, a somewhat reimagined Markarth could work, as they could recycle Dwarven architecture to construct at least part of the city. Perhaps in the time since the events of Skyrim, the Forsworn have retaken Markarth and reformed their independent kingdom, striking out at the fledgeling Orcish kingdom under the influence of Boethiah. A small series of quests would revolve around sneaking into Forsworn-occupied Markarth and sabotaging its defenses and weaken the Forsworn, potentially storming Understone Keep and eliminating the Despot of Markarth, leading to a Nordic victory and an end to the threat posed to Orsinium. All the while, tensions flare between Orsinium's two main factions, forcing the player character to support one or the other, to prevent further any division that could endanger the kingdom of the Orcs.

In terms of Orsinium... I'd like them to really play up the City Of Iron concept. Not necessarily by making it literally built of iron, but by making it feel very 'Ferrous'. For instance, many games have a tendency to rely on greys for stone, typically Granites or Basalts. Or, in desert regions, you get reds, tans and browns for variations in standstone...


But Orsinium should be the colour of rust. Deep, pitted and almost grotesque. Weathered slabs of iron-slates banded together with long iron strapping, riveted to the side of a mountain. Made all the more imposing, because the rust colour that flows down the walls would look like the stained blood of countless besiegers.

Visually that would be very striking indeed. And while the style established in the Orsinium DLC would lend itself well to the environment of the Dragontail Mountains, the overwhelming use of iron in the defenses, be they iron-capped walls and iron roofs, or even the iron-plated walls you suggested, could be easily justified due to the mineral abundance of the Dragontail Mountains. As stated before, Orsinium lends itself more to a faction-based DLC, such as Tribunal and Dawnguard, introducing a string of new locations, be it the new dungeons and faction strongholds or a large city with associated dungeons. Along with the city itself, a series of connected locations could be explored, such as vast mines, the Ashpit and perhaps a location such as a closed-off Markarth in Skyrim's Reach.

On a somewhat related note, one of Hammerfell's most famous dungeons and a premier dungeon in The Elder Scrolls: Arena was the Dwarven ruin of Fang Lair. Now, while that dungeons does not appear in ESO, a ruin that just might fit the bill does, and that city is Nchu Duabthar. This ruin is inaccessible in ESO due to the gates of the ruin defying all attempts to open them. Now, it seems to me that while it doesn't match the exact location of Fang Lair, this inaccessible ruin in the Dragontail Mountains could be a version of Fang Lair, updates with a Dwemeris name that loose translates to "The Fruit of our Bond". Furthermore, should this prove true, this new placement of Fang Lair somewhere in the mountains north of Ska'vyn wouldn't interfere with Orsinium's placement in its original location.

If a game was made in Hammerfell, thet could also add Dragonstar if a dlc was set in Orsinium. Both a city states I believe.

Dragonstar is in Hammerfell though, in Upper Craglorn. Though, the meager excuse for a village we are presented with in ESO pales in comparison to the large walled city that it grew into. It could be interesting to explore Dragonstar and the relationship between the two districts, not too dissimilar to Markarth's Dryside and Riverside districts, through, which they still constituted a while city, Dragonstar functions more like two cities that share a dividing wall. If you look at http://www.uesp.net/w/images/2/21/ON-map-Craglorn.jpg, you can plainly see where Dragonstar would be in relation to where the optimal location for the latest iteration of Orsinium would be, namely the Valley of Scars. Dragonstar would grow to encompass most of the northwestern corner of the map, swallowing up the Dragonstar Arena ruins, as seen in http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/elderscrolls/images/5/53/Tsosk_dragonstar-annotated.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140214210758. While I'm not expecting Dragonstar to look accurate to its Shadowkey counterpart, it should at least be divided in half, possess a double-headed dragon fountain, possess Nordic architecture and have an arena. Skyrim: Home of the Nords' take on Dragonstar is one of the best attempts at recreating the city. It up the Redguard architecture, as their version of Dragonstar is in Skyrim, and adjust the number of buildings to a more manageable 40 or so, reaching the standards of a large Morrowind city. I wouldn't imagine Bethesda not including Dragonstar as a part of Hammerfell, even if to introduce is as a DLC location. Orsinium on the other hand, more than likely.

The geographical relationship between Orsinium and Dragonstar offers something of an interesting Expansion opportunity, allowing for the entire Craiglorn region to really serve as a foundation for expanded content away from a main Hammerfell game. It's mountainous location means it would be relatively easy to seperate from the main map with impeding terrain, limiting the need for pesky invisible walls, and the ability to highlight both Orsinium and a contrasting, often hostile 'Civilized' city and culture in one area offers great thematic and story opportunities. Not to mention the fact that Orsinium's population was protected by, and it was rebuilt under the protection of, the Empire and it's Legions. If the Orcs remained loyal, you could have some serious tensions between Nova Orsinium and

Dragonstar.


Handling the whole region more like a Dragonborn, Shivering Isles or Far Harbour style expansion would allow for development of the two cities in isolation, free from the spacing and scale issues of the main of Hammerfell, allowing for greater focus on the region it's self.

I'm always down for re-imagined TESI: Arena locations in newer games. I would love to see Stonekeep too, while we're at it. Would also be cool to see a location from a mobile game like Dragonstar in Shadowkey like you said. And if we were to ever get to the point where we were to see Redguards and Nords unite to fight the Thalmor, Dragonstar would definitely need to be fleshed out well considering the history between them over that city.

Stonekeep is certainly an interesting location, yes. I personally imagine it being a First Era Colovian fortress, or perhaps an ancient Nedic stronghold in the Corten Mountains, overlooking the mining village of Stonemoor. In a main quest mock-up I attempted a while back, the village of Stonemoor would be threatened by goblin raids from the fortress, supposedly due to a returned Golthog the Dark. A band of Colovian mercenaries would approach the village with an offer - they would clear out Stonekeep, in exchange for the village headman selling the property to the Baron of Sutch, a border town located on a river island on the Brena River. The player character could either help the mercenaries clear Stonekeep or help the villagers by clearing Stonekeep instead of the mercenaries, likely having to deal with the mercenaries afterwards. The Baron's reasons for wanting Stonemoor and Stonekeep would actually play into an overarching story in the Strident Coast region of Eastern Hammerfell, though, suffice it to say, both the village and ancient fortress, along with Sutch itself, used to be part of the Colovian Estates, prior to the Ra Gada invasion. As for Sutch, it is stated in Thief of Virtue that Sutch is indeed in Hammerfell.

As for Dragonstar, I think that it would be one of the more interesting locations to explore in Hammerfell, and tensions between West and East would have flared up again after Hammerfell's secession. The player character could complete quests benefiting either one side or another, while the "main quest" of Dragonstar would revolve around either stopping or supporting a plot by one of the Nordic clans to attack and capture Dragonstar West, potentially involving outside support. I think Dragonstar could present us with a view of pre-Imperialized Nordic culture, with the Nordic clans of Dragonstar East still worshiping the Nordic pantheon and being so distrusting and isolationist that they would make the Ulfric Stormcloak blush. As for the city itself, as stated previously, I quite like Skyrim: Home of the Nords' take on Dragonstar, though I also think that their take on Markarth could prove to be a good inspiration. Dragonstar could make us of watermills on the upper Karth River.

If Hammerfell is the setting, I'd like to see Nafaalilargus/Nahfahlaar make a return, once again looking to make a deal to keep the Blades off his tail.

Oh, most definitely. The last we've seen of him, he was dead in the treasury of Stros M'Kai Palace. Nahfahlaar was likely moved, perhaps buried somewhere on the island. In any case, Nahfahlaar being resurrected by Alduin is quite possible. Since Fang Lair/Nchu Duabthar was once inhabited by a dragon, perhaps Nahfahlaar could have been the dragon to drive out the Dwemer there and used it as a hideout, and may have returned there. As for the Blades, their presense in Hammerfell could range from various smaller cells combating the Thalmor's agents, or simply dragon hunters tracking Nahfahlaar. The player character, likely the HoonDing, could seek out Nahfahlaar's aid in combating whatever enemy threatens Hammerfell. Perhaps rogue Ansei trying to bring about the Time of Ending, as the Hiradirge had in Old Yokuda? In any case, I think that the Nedic Apex Stones/Nirncrux imbuing that brought about the creation of the Celestials, could play some part in the main quest.

I actually think Nahfahlaar would be unlikely to make an appearance as anything but a pile of bones. Based on what we see and are told in Skyrim, Alduin was moving out from the Throat of the World, resurrecting Dragons as he went. There's no indication of him ever leaving Skyrim, and making it to Hammerfell seems highly unlikely.

I bet dragons scattered from Skyrim, though. After all, when Alduin was beaten, there was a schism in the ranks - some following the peaceful way of Parthunaax, others 'going their own way' such as Ohdaviing.

True, but Alduin is the only one we've seen with the ability to bring them back. So, without Alduin, good old Nahfahlaar remains dead, even if a few Dragons may have moved into Hammerfell.

Perhaps, but that's boring. It's not impossible for Alduin to have flown to and from Hammerfell at some point (we know he flew to Solstheim, because there are two opened mounds there), and the prospect of meeting a dragon who is not only a returning character, but one of the few of his kind willing to deal with mortals instead of being just another boss fight, is worth any timeline snarls that might be brought up.

If he were to make an appearance, I'd rather it be somewhat involved and not just a cameo... Imagine a Questline with another faction of surviving Blades, who, instead of resuming their Dragon Hunting ways, adhere more to Septims pardon for Dragons who serve the Empire. Instead of hunting Dragons, they want to bring one BACK, one that once represented the pride if the Empire. It would mean you wouldn't have to change Alduin's whole arc, but also open up grounds for bringing back Dragons wherever they want in future.

I don't want just a cameo either. His past history of eluding the Dragonguard and his allegiance to Talos, and the Blades' possibly conflicting priorities of fulfilling their ancient duty of slaying dragons or their more recent duty of serving Talos opens some interesting story potential.

Those would be intriguing questlines. I have played very little of ESO, but I saw that Selene's Web and Selene herself are actually featured in the game, while Selene did not appear in Arena but Selene's Web did. So this would be a similar situation, which would be very neat. I have been wanting more stuff from Arena to reappear in newer games so it doesn't feel like so much of the game has been retconned, so actually seeing Golthog this time (and Stonekeep in the 4th era) would be fascinating. After playing Arena, I was kind of disappointed that the Fortress of Ice was not featured in Skyrim.

I second this. And if Hammerfell is the setting, I want to see and read some stuff about the adventures of Cyrus after the events of TESA: Redguard.

One thing about dragons in hammerfell:

If we do see any, I'd like it to be under the following conditions -

1. They need to be very, very few in number. 2 would be plenty. 4 is probably overkill.

2. They need to be TERRIFYING. Awesome and majestic as well.

3. They need to be interesting characters - not 'cannon fodder' for the PC so he can make himself some dragon armor and weapons, but important NPCs in questlines. To be honest, if we never kill a single dragon in Hammerfell, that's fine by me - been there, done that in Skyrim. Sure would be nice to learn a small amount of Thu'um, though - just for old times sake.