It makes sense that Argonians and Khajiits would end up mostly as criminals, in a racist society like Skyrim, where minority races are distrusted and marginalized, they wouldn't have any opportunity for bettering themselves.

You've read http://www.imperial-library.info/content/skyrim-argonian-account right?

Most of the argonians wanted to kill that guy and only held back because they had been paid not to. The ones working for the argonian he came to visit try to kill him(And nearly succeed). Many of the traders deal in moon sugar/skooma. The ones that stumble upon his body don't like him and only help him because he says he wants to leave black marsh. Half of them work at enslaving the other half so they can sell them. Not to mention the Hist can mind control them at any time to perform their bidding.(They did it when they forced the argonians to assault Morrowind)

They're just all really good at breaking into things. . .

You know, for non thief stuff.

1. No reptile has slimy skin

2. Nothing in lore states that their bodies act as our reptiles do(ie, needing to bask in the sun or needing heat) for all we know, their body temperature function just like all the other races.

You do know that reptiles aren't slimy right?

That was before the Oblivion Crisis.

Argonia supposedly became more unified after it happened.

Source please.

Well...didn't they unite under one political faction called An-Saxhleel in order to push back the Daedric invasion?
The wikis state the unified Argonia was so powerful,that they were able to scare the Daedra off their province.

After that, they finally had their revenge on the Dunmer.

But that was it, Beth didn't say anything further about Black Marsh in Skyrim...maybe that's why Guard said "supposedly", since there's no way to know how they're faring off at the moment.

Have to agree, almost all NPCs from the beast race I have met. Were either low-lives or criminals.

Don't have the two books so I can only go off what I heard about them. Unfortunately the wiki and other sources don't state if their views on other races have changed at all.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/lord-souls-lore-notes
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/infernal-city-lore-notes

Looks like skooma trade is still big. Not much for anything else. Also Umbriel kind of messed them up at some point. No further info past that point.

Just because Argonia is unified doesn't mean they approve of outsiders.

I can see why my egg-brothers and sisters aren't common around here.

Everywhere I go people call me a filthy lizard. Even the guards.

"Stay out of trouble, lizard."

they're social outcasts, it makes sense
at the risk of sounding racist (which I am not), crime rates are often higher among certain ethnicities with less opportunities in society
it's quite sad and IMO every1 is equally to blame (both the people doing the crimes as the ones not giving them equal opportunities in life) ]
but it makes sense

if you can't make a decent living within the rules and boundaries of society you're forced to go outside of them

You'll get the same reaction in pretty much any province you go to.

You don't find many non argonians in black marsh because the argonians hate outsiders too.

Many races in TES are extremely prejudiced against other races.

Altmer think all other races are inferior to them
Dunmer think all other races are inferior to them
Nords think mankind > elves with nords being the obvious best mannish race
Redguards are about the same way and really despise the orcs with the added bonus of deeply despising the altmer now.
The Bretons despise the orcs.
The khajiit I wouldn't say are particularly racist, but newcomers to their land have a very difficult time due to the khajiit's view on ownership of material possessions.
Bosmer tend to splinter into several factions that all hate each other.
Imperials seem to care less about the empire members and more about cyrodiil itself.

That's true. Well, I at least hope they're nicer to their own kind.

I wish I had the chance to read those books myself. sigh

I think for the most part, the slavery trade was wiped out. The hist seem to be taking more of an active role with their children, so I'd think most are alright with each other now.

Another point for the cat-people!

Seriously, the same applies to kahjiit too, even more so, i'd say. Apart from the caravaners every khajiit attacks you (eventually).

Oh well, it's up to my spellsword to show their prejudices wrong Or my assassin to prove them right

The beast-races are really sidelined in Skyrim, they are not really present in most of the cities as shop-keepers, guild-leaders and so on like they were in Oblivion or Morrowind. I get the feeling that the developers included them reluctantly just to keep with the series and so placed them only in out of the way spots like the khajiit caravans and argonian dock-workers in Windhelm. You don't really see them much anywhere else.

Hmmmm, i realised that in 7 years of playing the elder Scrolls series, i havent played any of the beast-races... not a single time

Wow that sounds incredibly boring
They're fun to play.


@Jevel
Nah, I do think Bethesda cares for their beasts... they all got unique voices for their shouts,for instance. Unlike men or mer.

at least the argonians are within the walls of holds....the Khajit are squating along the roads and outskirts of holds. No love for the Khajit!

seems the cities trust the wrong beast race

Tell me about it. Most of the Argonians hate you, but the Khajiit are pretty nice.

I always thought khajiits hated argonians, they for sure made racist jokes about each other in oblivion. They were at war with each other once were they not?

Their racial power is not used very much. Some modder should make a dungeon which is nearly totally underwater for this race. Other races can play it but with much difficulty

Well considering the humanoid dominated Tamriel frowns on the beast races just as much as the developers, they don't really have good chances at becoming merchants or other honorable professions, so a life of crime is the only choice...well unless they wanna do crap jobs like working on the docks.