Think of it as during medieval times. It's completely different from modern times.

Allow me to ask this question I'm oblivious to... But the Forsworn are all Bretons?

Forsworn are a Breton/Nord crossbreed. They are Bretons who took over the area and mingled with the local Nord population. Until they were kicked out when the Nords took the land back.

My Imperial is a paladin of sorts. A devout follower of the Eight, and especially Arkay, she is on a mission to destroy the undead of the land. Skyrim is full of old barrows that are crawling with draugr, so she's bringing a little light to the darkness. The light of holy, cleansing fire. She kills bandits as well because no matter what the Stormcloaks may think Skyrim is an Imperial province and as a soldier it is her duty to keep the citizenry safe.

My Breton mage came to visit the College of Whitehold and has got caught up in all the 'Dragonborn' business. To learn more of the dragon language she has to go crawling around in old tombs and the like.

My Bosmer is a hunter. She doesn't care what she hunts, and Skyrim is full of game. Elk, bear, human, undead. It's all the same to her. Well the undead doesn't make for a good meal. The meat is far to old and tough.

My Argonian is fleeing from her past. To many bounties in to many places in the Empire, so she headed north, as remote a place as she could go. She's kind of trying to keep her nose clean and restrict her thieving to places that won't get her in trouble with the local authorities... but old habits die hard.

I'm guessing my Orc was hoping to join one of the Strongholds. Or was simply insanely bored. No idea really.

A Breton is a magically inclined race.
He could have read in the stars, or any other method of scrying, that his destiny was in Skyrim.

Or, for a religious character, his patron deity could have come to him in a dream and told him he needed to head for Skyrim.

To persecute the blasphemous worshippers of Talos, of course. And to buy skooma.

Me Khajiit was a Thalmor agent.

As Arivanya, the Altmer stable-hand in Windhelm would say "Get creative people"

Teeba-Ei the Argonian miner backs this assertion.

My Redguard thinks of himself as a great thief and assassin, so he is in it for the fame. My Breton is interested in arcane knowledge and mysteries, so she is there for the exploration. My Orc doesn't care about anything except personal power and being pro-Orc, so he isn't even doing the main quest.

"Allow me to ask this question I'm oblivious to... But the Forsworn are all Bretons? "

Forsworn are "natives of the Reach", so they are a kind of sub-race as far as I can tell.

My Orc has been hunting the bandits that killed her family in Cyrodiil. Got a tipoff they might be across the border, so she headed thataway.

My Altmer woke up with amnesia and just started heading down the road.

I don't struggle with this question at all, oddly enough I find it harder to play a Nord. Assuming its your first play through, why would a Nord no nothing about the goings on and geography of his homeland

This is pretty much my Imperial Paladin of Stendarr's motivation too. He came to cleanse the land of evil undead, daedra, vampires or werewolves because he'd heard tales of the Volikhar, Dragur and other dark forces native to Skyrim. But he's also a Legionnaire, his family had many members in the Legion and he in the soldiery for a time before finding his calling with Stemdarr as part of the Legion (He learned the art of healing from a Legion chaplain of Stendarr, as Stendarr is patron of the Legion) and he agrees to fight for them in Skyrim as well.

My Dunmer Nightblade is traveling around looking for work as an assassin or pretty much any other job that pays. He has no qualms about doing whatever he needs to gain knowledge, power and wealth.

My Altmer Spellsword has a history of opposing his Thalmor brethren, and he had assisted the Valenwood resistance until they began actively hunting him. He has connections with the Psijics, the Valenwood Blades, and the Legion, and comes to Skyrim to fight the Thalmor Justicars covertly. He'll join the Legion as well because he believes in cosmopolitanism and unity in Tamriel.

Also, they all are discovered to be Dragonborn.

Stealing Nord jobs and taking Nord women?

Most of the NPC's and some of the books explain why Nords aren't the only people in Skyrim as far as immigration go's. As for why any non Nord would go the Stormcloak route? Well, if you look at any movement where one group of people want to expel another. The bad guys always find collaborators, so in essence you could RP as a Argonian Collaborator to the Stormcloak's.

Naive Dunmer here... Some drunken Nord thought it would be funny to send out ads for a fire starter job and I fell for it.

I'm a redguard that never met my dad. I was told my dad's name is alduin, so I'm trying to meet him. Then found out this Alduin dude is actually a dragon so I almost went back home thinking my dad is a different Alduin. BUT then I found out I'm some kind of dragonborn so now I'm really wondering if this Alduin character is my dad, and if he is, why is he trying to destroy everything. Bethesda makes some weird games.

*sheds tear*
such a touching story

My backstory stems back to Morrowind (in terms of games). As a wandering Orcish Ranger I look for adventure. I never mean to do anything major, but from time to time destiny finds me, and that small task snowballs into world changing stuff, so I became Nerevarine, defeated Hircine, and killed Almalexia. I got tired of the fame and just wanted to be left alone, so I started a rumour about going to Akavir, and shipped out to Cyrodiil (with the help of an alternate start mod). Of course that strange fate caught up with me again, which led me to defeat Mehrunes Dagon, fight for the Nine, and become Sheogoraths Champion.

After two hundred years in the Isles I decided that everyone would be dead who remembered me, so I passed on the Mantle of Madgod to Haskill, who now fervently believes he has done what I had (he's a bit confused between his life and mine). Feeling a pang to go home I headed for Orsinium via Skyrim, and then all this Alduin stuff kicks off. Of course an ageless adventurer never shakes his nature, so that random ruin is still very tempting.

I'm playing a Nord

My character is an Imperial. We're in every corner of the Empire for one reason or the other and are pretty well integrated into Skyrim.

money
glory
justice
a hate for all things undead
desire for power
testing their skills
for fun
etc.

who cares? load up the game and go kill stuff

My Bosmer is on a gap year. Booked himself a trip to Skyrim's slopes for a spot of skiing. Unfortunately for him he didn't have a valid passport and got stopped by the fascist imperial's at a checkpoint on the cyrodiil/skyrim border, but being a seasoned festival goer and animal activist he jumped the checkpoint and subsequently got arrested. Lucky for him though just as he was about to 'lose his head' Alduin "World Eater" came to the rescue and created a distraction for him to escape. He now owes Alduin his life and has promised he will Ski with him at least once per week.