Umm... as another post pointed out, have you checked real life demographics?

Some of the characters in the game answer this question for you. For example, the Redguard in Whiterun (Amren, I think) who has retired from the soldier's life and asks you to find his father's sword that has been stolen by bandits also tells you that his family is from Cyrodiil. His ethnicity is Redguard, but his family's origin is Cyrodiil.

I play Bretons, pure mages (actually, nature spirits, but I need my custom race mod... we'll see). My characters do not look too kindly on the Empire's use (i.e, exploitation) of their kindred during the Great War and other times. They wanted to leave High Rock and go someplace less likely to be found.

If you read the books in the game, you can see that the Empire has become corrupt and it's highly questionable if it is worth supporting anymore, at least as far as any type of divine providence is concerned. Obviously, Beth wanted to play us in an era unlike prior TES games, an era that is very dark and anologous to certain other times in Imperial history. However, at least then there was some type of bloodline. That isn't really the case anymore after Oblivion, of course.


Not all characters go around clearing dungeons, of course. Some are just looking to live their lives, do research, etc.

Eh. Some of them do, and some of them don't.

From what I remember about the Altmer background:

Hadvar: "What are you, a Thalmor Agent?"

*looks player up and down*

*notices homely, disheveled appearance*

Hadvar: "Nope."

Because circumstances lead different people to different places? Kinda one of those "duh" questions...

This was the backstory for the Dead Is Dead orc I played.


Basically: Prophetic tribal leaders of Morrowind recognized me as one with dragon blood, so they helped train me and prepare me for my future before sending me off to Skyrim.

Too bad you can't actually be a Thalmor agent.

Obviously the default background suggestion isn't there for every race, but at least it gives you some examples to go on. And I believe examples are what the OP is after here, no?

My Dunmer crossed over the border (of Cyrodiil) because of his overbearing parents trying to force him into the school of magic and mage-hood, and most all of his closest friends had gone the mercenary/adventurer route and gone their separate. Feeling no real connection to his remaining family, he set out to Skyrim to (sort of) start a new life.

And he raids Draugr-infested dungeons because he's cocky, and hungers for knowledge.

My Redguard's in Skyrim after his father told him about the injustice of the treaty of Stros' M'Kai and how the Empire should have helped Hammerfell crush the Altmer. he came so he could enact some revenge by turning the tide of the Civil War and unifying the Empire against the Altmer.

You can basically use the same kind of excuse for all the non-Nord humans, the Bretons, Redguards, and Imperials. Or for the Altmer or Bosmer, that they want to help the Stormcloaks rip the Empire in 2.

The Dunmer could be fleeing from the chaos of the Red Year.

As for the beast races, an Orc could be a sellsword. The Argonian could have been chasing a Dunmer across the border from Morrowind and strayed into Skyrim. And the Khajits, on a skooma run maybe?

As for the motives of each to be fighting in dungeons, think of your own reasons. Maybe seeing the destruction of the town in the beginning made your character have a thirst for the power to not be so helpless before such great foes? Something like that.

My Argonian was there vacationing, but after not being able to present an ID to buy duty free Liquor has be held in Skyrim indefinitely. See its easy to come up with a reason. (seriously though that is my rp currently).

There is a large Dunmer refugee population in Skyrim (they wen't everywhere in the Empire, including Skyrim). They do, or try to do, what they would have done back in Morrowind.

Races that came there working for the Empire - it is quite culturally diverse. Maybe your contract ended and you were planning on setting up shop in Skyrim when the trouble kicked off. Works for Imperials, Beast Races, Elves.

Members of races that just saw an opportunity and moved there (no different to immigrant populations IRL).

There was always a significant ork population in the region. If I remember rightly there was a small ork nation on the Skyrim border.

Altmer and Bosmer are in the area because of the Thalmor and Dominion.

Altmer come to study etc.

The wilder Bosmer might find the savage, harsh lands of Skyrim to their liking.

These are fairly basic, the only ones I can't think of one for are Redguard.

I guess "adventure" for why they get involved is the main go to - Mage characters came to study at the college, warrior types find the warrior culture appealing, paladin like characters just seek out wrong doing in dungeons ETC. You are an explorer, or a naturalist or archaeologist - in the vein of Indiana Jones or pulp scholars, you swing a sword, you find the artifact etc. You're a mercenary or idealist or dreamed of serving in the Legion so you join the Legion or Stormcloaks.

Because you're the Dragonborn.

Besides, why not? There's a civil war going on, everyone knows war is great business for mercenaries and adventurers, not to mention all the ancient treasures in Skyrim. And seeing as you're Dragonborn and you find out about this very early, it'd be stupid not to develop such an amazing power. I can't think of a reason for any of my characters to leave Skyrim really, only one that comes close is my Dunmer Battlemage. He'd retur to Morrowind, but this Thu'um thing is too powerfull to ignore.

Would you like to proverbially one-up everyone here? Roleplay a dunmer stormcloak.

At least in New Vegas we had some restrictions based on our race/gender.

Increasing one's knowledge of the Way of the Voice. Every character you create is a Dragonborn, so every character has a reason to dive into dungeons.

Already did, but thanks anyway.

It's really not all that absurd.

Well, not if you're a Bosmer or (I think) Redguard.

Orc. They look like gorillas.

Cheers

The alchemical ingredients.

Cataloging local Fauna.

The college of Winterhold.

A Dwemer scholar.

My High Elf was looking for some Elven tail to bang up and all of a sudden these legionaries started talking [censored] about my mother and accusing me of being a stormcloak. So I joined the Stormcloaks for some payback.

wanderlust

Oil, what else?

My Altmer began to question the subjugation of native culture by the Thalmor, and saw an opportunity to fight against them in Skyrim. In addition, he was lured by the College of Magic in Winterhold, as he was born with natural affinity for conjuration and restorative magicks. In order to accomplish his goals of fighting the Thalmor and becoming an expert conjurer, he entered Skyrim, where he was immediately met with distrust by the Stormcloak faction. During this altercation, the Imperial Legion showed up and arrested everyone involved, believing him to be a Stormcloak and a traitor. After the incident at Helgen, he expanded his goal to also include improving the plight of his people in Skyrim, as the Thalmor have tarnished the Altmer race there, and perhaps beyond.

Good enough?

Take Saadia for example. Granted she may be lying, but she's been ran off her homeland for speaking out against the Dominion. You are the same and you seek to build allies and take the fight to them while rebuilding yourself in Skyrim.

I guess when you find out you're Dragonborn, wouldn't you want to know what that is? Dungeons seem to be a good source of information, considering most of them are crypts and contain information from centuries ago, so I would delve into them looking for information about my past. Your character arrives in Skyrim because you were caught up in "something" and were near the border? You're in Skyrim for a reason, and you find out your "destiny." Also, you enter in dungeons on a regular basis if you choose to help the people of Skyrim. If you don't want to do that, then don't. If you don't want information about yourself, then don't look for it. But if you're choosing to not go to into dungeons because you're a Breton and can't see a reason to do so, I believe your gaming experience will be lacking quite a bit, but to each their own, I suppose.

Still trying to figure that one out...Closest I got is that my wood elf is fleeing Cyrodiil since the Thalmor took over valenwood and everyone is starting to hate elves in general. He's never really been interested in the war, but when everyone hates you, it's time to move. Still trying to explain how I end up in rags, though. I guess he gets caught and sent to jail, and escapes or something...?

I found it easier to RP a non nord if you do not pursue the MQ

I'm coming a bit late to this thread, but I'm going to approach your question from a different angle. Remember, just because the majority of the natives are Nords, that doesn't mean that other races weren't born in Skyrim. Take a look at the Jarl of Whiterun. His top housecarl is a Dunmer. His steward is an Imperial. That Imperial's daughter? Runs the blacksmith shop near the city gates, and she married a Nord whom (I think) is the guy behind the counter in that shop. The fletcher shop across the street has a Dunmer mercenary. She seems to have been born in Morrowind, but as a merc she probably also qualifies as an adventurer of sort, so right there is a motivation. Money.

To approach it from the way you probably wish people to answer, here's some reasons:

Dunmer: Daedric worshipper, but favors Meridia. Meridia despises undead. Thus said Dunmer wants to clear any dungeon filled with undead since they are an abomination in his eyes. Necromancers might seem just as bad. Also, remember there's Dunmer in Cyrodiil whom maybe have never set foot in Morrowind, and think of themselves as Imperial citizens first, Dunmer second. That sort of Dunmer may have followed north to Skyrim to help put down the civil war, how dare that Stormcloak faction try to split from an empire that is already weakened.

Imperial: The dungeons and ruins often contain undead. If those undead got the bright idea to leave the ruins and invade the surface, it would be just as bad if not worse then the civil war. Thus the Imperial wishes to clear dungeons to prevent that. There's also bandits about, possibly due to the civil war making it harder to patrol the roads. The Imperial wishes to clear out the ruins of bandits so that the roads in an Imperial province are safe. Or maybe so that his fellow Imperial legion soldiers can travel without having to worry about ambush from said bandits, worrying about ambush from Stormcloak rebel soldiers is bad enough. Again, someone of the Imperial RACE might have been born in Skyrim though, and thus may just in his eyes be wandering his native land, even if his race is a minority in said land.

Khajit: We already see them in tents outside of many of the cities as what seems to be nomadic traders and merchants. Thus a bit of wanderlust is apparent in the race. One may have a bit more wanderlust and want to do more then just be a nomadic trader. Or maybe he's sent by his clan to gain odd artifacts from a distant land like Skyrim. Or maybe he's out to seek his fortune so he can form the nomadic tent caravan of his dreams, so he travels to Skyrim to explore it's tombs and ruins to gain his fortune, so he can come back home wealthy.

I'm pretty tired, had insomnia and was up much of the night, going to finally try to sleep now. So I'll stop with those three races. But really, just take a look at how each race seems to act, and go from there. I actually don't know a lot of Elder Scrolls lore, so I'm sure someone with much more lore knowledge can possibly come up with better ideas.

(As an aside, I do know that the idea is that the character was captured after crossing the border into Skyrim, and that if one isn't a Nord, the Imperial officer says "Oh, I'll return your remains to ". But maybe he's just assuming about the province..he might be thinking "Oh, Dunmer..Morrowind" and never bothers to ask if the guy is from a different province, or was even born in Skyrim. And maybe you were crossing the border after a long trip to get back HOME to Skyrim. Or maybe you were just caught near, and they assume you were crossing into it since you're a minority race in Skyrim)