My nords got nice dimples...oh you were talking about the face?

Well, I picked a Breton as my first toon, but thought that I should play a Nord for the Stormcloak faction... BECAUSE I thought that Ulfric would be more open to a Nord joining his ranks. Yet I still got treated like an outsider, a foreigner.

So yea, it doesn't matter which race you choose LOL Althought, since I roleplay my toons, I did make an Imperial to play through the Imperial story line.

And yesterday I finally chose my fav race again: Breton (played through Morrowind and Oblivion as a Breton!). She is my bad ass Killer/Thief now hahaha Went straight from Helgen to join up with the DB and the TG hahaha

It's all in YOUR imagination! Skyrim is what you make of it, since there are no real consequences to your actions.

I've never felt there was only one "right" race to play Skyrim with. I only just made my first Nord in Skyrim, my third playthrough. The beginning tells you you are not from Skyrim, as you are crossing the border into Skyrim (though you could be a Nord from another province). A Dragonborn is not selected by race, it's all up to Akatosh, and who's to say he won't infuse a Dark Elf, High Elf, or Khajiit with the soul of a dragon (Maybe he's got a sense of humor ).

I wouldn't label the Voice a Nord Art, they were taught it by Dragons who could've taught it to any mortals. The Dragonborn Come might cite it as such, but thats because it's a song of the bards of Skyrim and it's lyrics may not be accurate.

The Voice is not exclusive to Nords. One can learn the Voice over many years of training but they will no where near as powerful as a dragonborn. It also takes them less time to master the Thu'um.

I think Tiber Septim ie a Nord and the Nordic people think he is as well so that might influence why some may think it might be a Nord exclusive ability. That is not the case a dragonborn is anybody that is born with the blood of a dragon anybody could very well be dragonborn.

Well OP, honestly I had the same issues with MW and OB (not with dimples, that's your own problem). In MW it just felt weird not to be a Dunmer, and in OB an Imperial. But I played every race in both games (except Altmer, which I hate) and never had a problem.

One thing I did do a lot of the time is not do the MQ with the 'odd' character. The MQ isn't required.

You know you can play other characters. I generally retire characters around level thirty. Note I only do two or three factions or MQ per character as I just find it a better role-play to have a more focused character. So far:

Female Nord Warrior (S&S) - Stormcloaks & MQ
Male Imperial Warrior (DW) - Empire & Companions
Male Khajiit Rogue (DW) - Thieves Guild
Male Orc Warrior (2H) - Orc Strongholds, MQ, Blades
Female Breton Mage (pure mage) - College of Winterhold and Bards Guild
Male Dunmer Rogue (Bow) - Dark Brotherhood, Daedric Quests -- (CURRENT CHARACTER)

This lets me play a good guy, a bad guy, a Rebel, a rogue, etc. and have it all fit into their role-play perfectly.

Don't be afraid to play what you want. There theoretically should be issues in become the hero of Skyrim as something other than a Nord, but there aren't. I play an imperial and haven't had any problems. You end up looking like a Nord anyway once you're in heavy armor with horned helmets

If you're going mainly warrior, Nords are a good choice because of their cold protection (lots of frost dragons). I had to build up my cold protection with enchanting and I never use the emperor's voice power.

Of course you can play anything you like, but so far I've only been interested in Imperial, Breton and Nord. There's enough movement, proximity (shared borders) and mixing of blood between those three human races over the years that I could justify it. I had no issue especially playing the Imperial with the Septim bloodline in that province for generations. I could also role play the Nord as being from Cyrodiil (with no direct Skyrim ties) and coming across the border - there's a huge Nord community in both Bruma and Anvil. For me personally playing the other races as "Dragonborn" seems a bit of a stretch and I doubt I'll ever do it. Oblivion made an easy case for any race being the Champion of Cyrodiil. Uriel Septim during the tutorial did that telling your character he was a citizen of Tamriel and the Empire and had a role to play in the coming crisis. There's no such inclusion in Skyrim.

Why do you say that?

Even if he were born in High Rock, that doesn't mean he was a Breton. Hjalti sounds like a Nordic name.

I don`t

I don`t see it as a `Right` race to play, i just see it that bethesda never really dealt with the issue in a meaningful way.

If we`re talking about Humans then I have no trouble playing a Redguard in a Nord land. If the gods are as far-seeing as they are, colour and creed is a minor and even non issue. Perhaps this will send a message that ALL Humans are valid as Heros.

In fact the Nord gods might even see it as time to give the people a bit of a shake up by making a different race the Dragonborne. Why can`t a Breton or Imperial as well as Redguard be this?

It could apply to the beast races with a little more difficulty.

One thing i find interesting is while Race is freely expressed here, why is the issue of six and women not. In traditional stories it is the men that are consider the brave heroes sacrificing all for the many.

Or is it politically correct to speak of Race in this way but not of Females?

People tend to forget that TES lore is not as certain and set in stone as other fictional lore.
Just because there's a song in one of the games that states one thing, doesn't mean it is factual, there has been plenty and still are plenty of contradictory accounts of TES history around, it's designed to be that way, they're legends and stories, not historically accurate accounts.

And who says dragons only hung around Skyrim? The Akiviri dragonhunters came to Tamriel specifically to hunt dragons and seek out and protect dragonborn, I'm sure they didn't sail all that way without knowing what a dragon is.

I probably could've summarized this as "Lore says a lot of things, play whatever you want, it all fits."

I play an Argonian. He was captured by Nord bandits and force into labor, aiding in smuggling goods to the Stomcloaks. That's why he got picked up in the dragnet at the begining, and why he hates the Stromcloaks.

As for him being dragonborn, why does the dragonborn of Skyrim need to be related to Tiber Septum, at least on the human side? Couldn't the same (or some other) dragon have given blood to multiple races at various times? The Argonians have just won a major military victory, you think maybe they had a secret weapon, like say maybe their own dragonborn bloodline?

I'm not from Japan so I can't learn the arts of kenjutsu, ikebana, or japanese calligraphy?

Its a nord art because nords have been doing it for the longest, and not because it requires nord ancestry to perform.

Being dragonborn is the result of fate, divine interference, and/or a cosmic glitch, not a product of genetics. Its dovahkiin's 'soul' that allows him to be good at it, not his blood.

Who knows how many redguards/argonians/falmer/sloads/whatever have technically been "dragonborn" but never found out due to not having ever visited a dragon wall?

It makes sense to play as any race. As someone said before, being dragonborn is a blessing from Akatosh and can happen to any race. It's not a Nord random trait to be dragonborn. It's only a common myth or legend in Skyrim because Tiber Septim were from there and because the greybeards spend many many years alone in a mountain to learn it.

One thing I liked about Oblivion was that there was no 'prophecy' that suggested you would be 'the hero representing a certain race's homeland and fight for them and their values,' and only told you that the Emporer dreamed you'd appear to save the day.

You weren't leaned towards being 'the Imperial hero' as you may have been in Morrowind as 'the more-than-likely Dunmer reincarnation of the Dunmer hero of old' or in Skyrim as 'the more-than-likely Nordy Nord-Nord from the Nordy-Nord trailers featuring a Nord doing Nord shouts like a mayon.'

Me personally, I just try to make a character that looks like me as close as I can get it. I picked a white skinny Breton with long hair and a soul patch because that's basically me. But really, even being one of the non-human races shouldn't ruin it for you.

Although it would have been cool if they made trailers of live-actors dressed as different roles of Dragonborn, such as
'Bosmer archer shouting at dragon and THEY'RE the hero/heroin'

and then pan to 'Khajiit thief shouting at dragon and THEY'RE the hero/heroin'

'Argonian mage!'

'Redguard and Orc! Altmer and Dunmer!'

FUS RO DAH! *echo echo*

S K Y R I M ... 11-11-11...

Generally give that sort of 'who will you become' feel to it. Not forcing Nordy-Nordness down your throat.

I love the way my Breton looks. Especially in Scaled armour (nice balance between asphetic look and strength) and wielding a Glass Axe.
Here she is:

http://musicprogressive.com/skyrim/Annellen1.jpg
http://musicprogressive.com/skyrim/Annellen2.jpg

My primary is a Breton. I justify it by RPing him as a bastard from a line too poor to care about and long, long forgotten. Who knows where Martin was dipping his wick all those years ago?

As for character creation, a Breton was definitely harder. Oddly enough I finally got the look that I wanted by choosing the ugliest (the dude with mutton chops and the jutting chin - looks like something out of Deliverance) preset and then editing (heavily) from there.

the dragon born is a MORTAL with the soul of a dragon, it doesn't say that the Dragon Born has to be Nord.

My first Character is always the Home race who completes the main quest and one of the factions (Mage, Warrior or Thief.)

For Morrowind my first character was a Darkelf Battlemage as that was my impression of the Nerevar (sp)

For Oblivion an Imperial Warrior as that was my impression of the Hero

For Skyrim I had a Nord 2 handed Barbarian.

after these main Characters I will usually roleplay a pure mage, either Altmer or Breton.

I think that Skyrim more than any previous game made more sense to play the home race as the hero, but that does not stop me from mixing it up a little.

Yes exactly and the reason they know ur an outside is because you walk and talk differently. Which I always assumed you had an accent. but maybe im looking too deep into this.

Yeah, this guy is most definately right. Being the Dragonborn is a gift from Akatosh, not an inherited gene through a blood line or race. Granted being an orc is a little far fetched since they are akin to one of the daedra if I remember them mentioning in Oblivian, but still, some orc's honor Akatosh too, so they are most definately eligible for his blessing.

My Dragonborn is an Argonian. It makes the most sense actually. Argonians = overgrown humanoid lizards. Dragons = overgrown winged lizards. They probably have a common ancestor somewhere in that odd family tree. Makes sense that they share blood by birth.

You pretty much are treated as a Nord regardless of which race you select.

It's all about Argonians! Argonian in Oblivion and Skyrim, I know they are like lizards but I made mine look like a Dragon in Skyrim so he looks like a hybrid of man and dragon looool, so he really would be 'Dragonborn' loool, plus Water breathing always comes in sooo handy!

Tell me about it.

Guards chasing you? Just go underwater. They'll give up if they don't want to drown after a while.
Monsters chasing you? Just go underwater. Most will either avoid the water or get carried away by the stream.
Dragons chasing you? Just go underwater. Their fire breath won't reach you there and you can keep hiding as long as you want.
Everything chasing you? Just go underwater. While swimming you can only encounter the occasional weak slaughterfish and avoid everything else.

Seriously. Argonians were made for escaping.