I'm embarking on my first "Evil" character in Skyrim. Why the quotation marks you might ask? I'm of the belief that such things are largely dependent on what side of the morality fence you sit on. The inspiration for this character is http://whfb.lexicanum.com/wiki/Nagash, of the Warhammer Fantasy-verse - any interest I have in necromancy in fantasy games is solely down to that character. Recreating his story wouldn't fit lore wise and mechanic wise his badassery couldn't be replicated, so the loosely inspired route I go.

Name: Nagash
Race: Imperial. It was either that or Nord/Breton. I have characters as those races already so I opted for Imperial, plus that gold bonus was bound to come in handy.
Primary Skills: Conjuration, Two-handed
Secondary skills: Heavy armour, enchanting, smithing
Playstyle: Necro-warrior. Unlike most Necromancers who sit back and rely on destruction magic to complement their conjuration skills (going by in-game representation), I will be in the thick of the action where possible. When initiating combat there isn't likely going to be any dead for me to raise, so atronachs/dremora will be the name of the game until one/some of the enemy have been slain, at which point I will sheath my two-handed to raise the dead, before wielding once more.

Backstory (How he came to be in Skyrim): For most of his early life, Nagash was a largely unremarkable man, albeit one with magical talent. To nurture that talent, he found himself joining the Synod to learn and practice. For a while, he was content in such a life. At least until he encountered tomes about the King of Worms, Mannimarco. Necromancy was hardly unknown to him, mentioned in whispers, but the tales of Mannimarco opened his eyes to a whole new world of possibilities.

In secrecy and most earnest, Nagash began to practice the art of necromancy. Not only did he want to be a Necromancer, but he wanted to be the greatest in existence, even to surpass Mannimarco himself in time as well as achieving immortality through the dark arts. He had barely formed a solid grasp of a basic raise dead spell before his research was uncovered. Nagash fled the Synod and hid for several months in the wilderness of Cyrodill, never staying in one place too long.

A grand opportunity to expand his knowledge and to do so in a relatively 'safe' environment arrived, as word of the civil war in Skyrim reached his ears. There would be plenty of dead to be found in Skyrim and with the Imperials and Stormcloaks pre-occupied with killing each other, his research would likely go unnoticed by those who would normally be the first to wield torch and pitchfork. So Nagash did travel to Skyrim, where he found himself caught up in an ambush and captured along with a bunch of Stormcloak rebels. Death by executioner's axe was not to be his fate though! (Thanks Alduin, buddy!)

-------
Now that Nagash is in Skyrim, the priority has been raising his conjuration skills as he seeks to master that art (Conjuration is currently at 92, at time of writing) - he lusts for power, to become the greatest of necromancers, surpassing even the King of Worms himself. He considers himself far too weak presently to survive what would happen should folks in Skyrim uncover his true identity/practices, thus has gone to great lengths to keep it hidden.

Despite his best efforts, Nagash's work has not gone unnoticed by his fellow practitioners. He has encountered several necromancers thus far and slain them. He can only account for keeping his own work hidden and would rather not take chances that others do so to similar levels. In his duels with these other necromancers, Nagash has observed that they all seem to rely heavily on destruction magic to compliment their other skills. While they've had a slight upper hand as far as magic is concerned, the robed necromancers are somewhat susceptible to a sword thrusted into their stomach provided the target could withstand the magical barrage.

What good is that powerful magic, if one can still be slain with mundane steel? In answering that question, the next step of Nagash's character development will be under way (soon, but not yet). He won't ever be a great warrior like those found in the halls of Jorvaskarr but he won't allow that to be a weakness. Essentially this is where I'll be attempting to recreate the artifacts of Nagash; a two-handed sword called Mortis with what will likely be a life drain or similar enchantment, the black armour - a full set of daedric with enchantments aimed toward survivability and a warpstone amulet to boost either magicka regen or the size of the mana pool. Throw in an enchanted ring into the mix, but that is largely undecided at this point.

Once his artifacts are completed, Nagash is likely to be in a position where he can reveal himself to Tamriel and it will be now that he makes his moves in a larger capacity (re: important quests).

Main quest: Gaining additional power is going to be Nagash's motivation for stopping Alduin. He really couldn't give a stuff about Skyrim and could feasibly ignore Alduin for a period of time, but a confrontation is inevitable. Thats more or less sorted.

Civil War: I'm not really sure where to go with this. Doing the above is going to force this in some capacity, but I'm undecided and would love some input on what people think would be the best side to 'temporarily' align with, based on the information I've provided about his character. By the time Nagash is to act on this, I am assuming that is somewhat desirable for him to force an end because he may well be in a position to challenge the victor. Also assuming that the civil war has dragged on long enough that one of the parties might be desperate enough to ally with a powerful necromancer to bring a swift end, but whom would be?

Dark Brotherhood: As time goes on, one can potentially foresee that the Dark Brotherhood might find themselves with a contract to assassinate Nagash before things get completely out of hand. And they could pull it off too. So, better to hit them first, no?

Companions: Won't be joining, or if I do the quest line will be largely incomplete as it'll only be to make use of Farkas and Vilkas as trainers.

Thieves Guild: There's not a scenario I can think of where this character would join the guild. They can keep to the ratway.

Winterhold College: Funnily enough, this is the only smaller faction that I'm not sure how I want to approach it rp-wise. That eye of magnus would make for an awesome prize, even if its not possible to well, win it. Can't see being the Archmage working, unless it involves twisting the students to the dark arts. Again, input welcome.

And Beyond! (Dawnguard): Vampire definitely. It ticks the 'achieve immortality' box like nothing else can in the game. It is a decision I'll be avoiding in-game for as long as possible though, exploring other methods via magic and alchemy.

Attribute Spread: Uncertain how I want to spread the attributes around, I will probably stop putting points in Magicka once it hits 300. I think that should be enough to meet my limited spell casting requirements when I'm taking the conjuration perks that reduce spell cost as well. So the rest will end up in health and stamina, I'm thinking a 3-1 ratio?

tl;dr: Stuff. Necromancer/Warrior hybrid go!

Apologies if my long winded post comes across as incoherent, I'm more than a little tired.

.

I didn't read all that...
But yeah, necro warrior seems cool

Oddly enough, my next character is going to be somewhat like that. Heavy armor (the Daedric is perfect for an evil warrior-mage) weapons and necromancy. The main differences will be that I'll choose single-handed over two handed (an evil war-sorcerer swinging a gigantic sword or warhammer looks cool, but I wanna be able to cast magic without changing weapons) and I plan to add Destruction magic (flame only) and a strong concentration on enchanting and smithing. Part of me is tempted to employ the smithing-enchanting-alchemy loop but also to jack the skill level up to compensate - although I admit that many people have said that employing the loop will make even Master difficulty too easy, so maybe I won't go that route. Smithing and Enchanting for sure, though.

The basic idea for me is to just go for the over-the-top "Evil Sword-Swinging Armored Fire-Ball-Throwing Necromancer" bit. E-VIL, DO YOU HEAR ME? ** E-VIL!!! **

So then, heavy concentration on Summoning/Necromancy, Destruction/Fire, Smithing and Enchanting, with somewhat moderate concentration on heavy armor and one-handed. Hopefully this will not be too spread out. My last character (a Nord Warrior) was heavy into single-handed, heavy armor, smithing and block, with light investment in sneak and archery and a single perk in Restoration just to help me survive the lower levels.

The real question will be in allocating levels. Last character was about 2/3rds into Endurance and 1/3rd into Health, nothing into magic. Sauron Jr., might have to be split into even thirds, or maybe 1/2 into magic, and 1/4th each into endurance and Health. Not sure.

Sauron Jr? I like it! Need a mace to fit the image though.

I struggle to enjoy pure mage charaacters, or stealth characters for that matter (though I've had a bit of fun on my Bosmer lately), so I pretty much exclusively play some melee combination, whether it be dual-wield, two-handed or one-hand/shield. "Necro-warrior" should give me a bit more mileage out of the character (I hope).

its safe to say this guy goes HAM in role playing. Not a bad thing, but damn

Mace of Molag Bal

I almost never play anything but warrior types in fantasy games. That bit me in the butt with Dragon Age: Origins; I played a melee warrior and spent most of the time unconscious whilst my companions fought the bad guys. First Oblivion character was, again, a Nord Warrior named Thor (I wasn't feeling original, obviously) who eventually got to high enough level that he started adding in lots of magic abilities. Second Oblivion character was a High Elf pure mage character born under the sign of the Apprentice, so magic was pretty plentiful, although obviously enemy mages really hurt. He got good at summoning minions to take the damage while he did long-range magic damage.

First Skyrim character was the aforementioned Nord Warrior/armorer, and he got pretty good at what he did. Next will be Sauron Jr. Not sure about what I'll actually name him, but I'm pretty solid on what I want him to do. Evil Sword-Swinging Armored Fire-Ball-Throwing Necromancers FTW!!!

Oh, I expect Sauron Jr., to indulge himself in the occasional maniacal MWUUU-HA-HA-HA-HHHAAAAAA!!! laugh from time to time.

First i'd like to know a couple things about Nagash. When is his birthday and how old is he? Does he have any family or motivation other than to be more powerful than Mannimarco ever was?

Something I noticed you didn't mention was daedric items. Mortis sounds like a great weapon though, what kind of blade will you use? An idea is to have Nagash become obsessed with obtaining X daedric item for X nefarious purpose. Not sure how you write out your character though, but it might make for an intresting side arc if you ever need Nagash to go off and do some kind of seperate adventure from your other goals. If you don't feel comfortable joining any of the factions/questlines in the game then just avoid them.

Winterhold wise you could always be visiting there as a learner of magic. Join the college but don't progress the main questline, rp that your undercover to learn more about your craft/magic in general- you might want to leave this till your character has lots of story behind him, then if you choose to actually follow the questline you have a validly powerful enough character to take on Labyrintian and a understandable reason to go after the eye (power).

When you say 'reveal himself' to Tamriel do you mean as some kind of lych overlord or Necromancer conqueror? Have you thought of a motivation as to why? Not trying to knock your character here at all. I think he sounds awesome but I always felt ruling for the sake of ruling always felt forced in a villian. After all if Nagash views himself as evil then... well... he'd be a monster, unless that is what you want. Reluctant Necromancer warrior forced to rule the people of Nirn because they've not proved capable of ruling themselves on the other hand... hope you understand what I mean here. Sorry a lot of this is speculation but I hope it gave you an idea or two maybe! xD

I think this sounds like a good idea, I might have to try playing something like this sometime.

What I'd like to know, first and foremost, is really what is his motivation towards wanting immortality? It is just that he wants to live forever, absolute power, etc? Or is the something more to it? Something deeper? Or his just your typical fiend? I won't lie, while I do enjoy what you've written he sounds a lot like you're typical, "Hey, I'm all powerful, to most I am evil, and I want to rule the world!" type of guy. While that is, essentially, a pretty common build, and there isn't anything wrong with that, I'd love to know if there are any deeper ambitions underneath the surface of it all. As far as the quests goes, I could definitely see Ulfic taking him within the ranks of the Stormcloaks to turn the tide of the war. To me, he has come across as a win-at-all-costs character, something that I found during siding with the Stormcloaks on my first playthrough.

Don't forget to become a willing puppet for some of the more eeeeeviiilllll Daedric princes. They ask you to do things like murder your followers in cold blood. Also, you can engage in a tasty bit of cannibalism if you meet a certain someone in Markarth. I have an eeevvvviillll mage right now. I kill every living creature I come across (hey, magic and target practice for my bound bow... souls to steal, right?). I only help people so far as it means payment to me in some form and I never do any goody two-shoes quests. I'm also always rude when in dialogue... I make that a point.

I'm also thinking of becoming a vampire. Nothing is more evil than a vampire, who drinks the blood of the innocent for his own power.

Every evil person wants to grasp at immortality... they just want to do it by their own power (to their folly).

I'll number the points so it's easier to follow what parts I am responding to.

1. I hadn't really given much thought to his early life in truth, with the intent on him being largely unremarkable. Something along the lines of below, might be interesting and hint at why certain desires might be present:

Nagash was born on the 13th of Rain's Hand, a particularly superstitious day in the province of Daggerfall (The Day of the Dead), in the final year of the great war (This would put him at about 26/27 unless my math is wrong). The third son of the Decimus family, minor nobility in the Imperial province, Nagash would ultimately have no claim as heir to house and wealth except under most unfortunate circumstances. That his mother died while giving birth to him, only made family life worse. In the eyes of his father and eldest brother, he could do no right and the sooner Nagash would be gone from them, the better.

The latter (family) part is a fairly well used trope, I suppose, but it goes someway to provide a platform for ambition or desire to prove one's worth. If memory serves, the Mage is the birth sign (Morrowind) for Rain's Hand and it just so happens the Day of the Dead was a listed holiday in that month - I like it at least.

2. Another thing that I hadn't given much thought to at the time, as I was operating with focus only on his own creations (Mortis etc). I'd have to give some thought to Daedric artifacts, though I'm certain that he might want to pick several up over time, if only for research purposes. Although not a Daedric item, the Necromancer' Amulet could definitely fill that role - there's already some level of obsession in place with regards to Mannimarco and if one could locate the Necromancer Amulet then surely it would be a boon to their own power.

3. Undercover is definitely the most viable for Winterhold I think. The College is just too valuable a resource to not make use of at some point. As you said, I can easily come back at a later time and finish the college quest line if it feels right anyway.

4. I probably should have clarified more in my opening post, but I'll do so now. The necromancer aspect of his life is well hidden, for obvious reasons. At this point in time, he doesn't go out of his way to murder people so that he has test subjects for his research (bandits non-withstanding). Regardless of the currently harmless nature of the research, you could be certain that the people of Skyrim would definitely view him as evil (particularly priests of Arkay, Vigilants of Stendaar etc) where as he wouldn't believe that he is doing anything wrong.

So it terms of revealing himself, it would be a point where he is confident in his own power that can openly embrace what he is without fear of the wrath of the heavens being brought down upon him. That's not to say that attempting to conquer Tamriel isn't a strong possibility but for now that is very distant in the future and Dawnguard might go a distance to shaping that.


The immortality question is tough to answer, especially without providing one that isn't completely stereotypical. In the eyes of Nagash, I can only speculate that cheating death (immortality) is the sign of a truly great (and powerful) necromancer. Any ordinary Necromancer can raise the dead but how many can cheat death itself, boldly labeling themselves 'Masters of Death' by doing so. It's not great, but that is all I have right now.

With regards to Stormcloaks, they were my first choice (only just) for that very reason (Ulfric's win-at-all costs attitude). On the other hand, given the relationship the Nords have with their ancestors, Sovengarde etc, the Stormcloaks might not willingly side with a Necromancer (assuming he is known at this point) as a result. I might even be better off taking an undercover approach to the Civil War and assist the side that it makes sense for me to (Which would likely be the Stormcloaks anyway).

As I was typing the latter part of the post, I had an idea regarding the Necromancer Amulet. There's a certain Necromancer in a certain temple belonging to a Daedra that very much dislikes the Undead. As part of his quest to seek the Necromancer Amulet, Nagash could "break words" with that Necromancer. The only problem I foresee with this is that I cannot imagine that he'd be able to obscure his true identity ( necromancy) from Meridia for any length of time significant enough to accomplish something.

This is some hardcoe rpg'ing. i love it

This. I've done a lot of forum roleplaying over the years, and It's nice to see such a diverse community dedicated to the game and the roleplaying aspects of it. I hope you do a log of your character's adventures as I'd definitely love the read. From what I've seen, and what you've explained, I really like the sound and build of this character.

I'd be interested in doing a journal style creative piece but I'm quite busy, so I wouldn't really like to make a commitment to actually doing it and not coming up with anything.

I fell into that trap once before, with a Fable 3 fan fiction that only lasted 3 and a bit chapters because I ended up not enjoying writing stuff involving game's existing characters.

The concept I like though, so I might at the very least give it a test run and see if I like the results.

Sounds like Nagash will pair well with some of the daedric quest.

I'm tempted myself to do a all-out psychotic, destructive, soul-ensnaring, cannibalistic, necromantic, Daedra-consorting evil playthrough, but I don't know if my conscience could take it.

I thought the same thing and struggled with it a bit. But, I looked at it as role-playing. Daniel Day-Lewis played a sociopathic oil barron in "There Will Be Blood". Though I hated his character (as I'm sure he did too) he played it damn well.

Very impressive.

You have a nice character there, I suspect he'll take on a life of his own as you progress.... as good characters should.

My only advice is don't force him to stay locked into the framework you have built, if events during play (and your own train of thought) lead him into situations where, for example, joining the thieves guild suddenly becomes viable, don't push yourself too hard to stay within the original brief.

But yeah, great post, nice read, cool character.

One thing I haven't seen a lot of but think is a great idea is Skyrim journal blogs. I've seen a couple here and there where players actually detail who their character is and what they do each *game* day. They add screenshots and everything. It's a pretty cool concept and takes role-playing to a whole new level and they read like stories (since you can embellish on the thoughts and actions of your character within the particular psychological profile you've given him/her). If you start one of those, post the link here.

Good post, you are great at backstory really good!!!

Figured I'd pop in with a little update for those interested in the journals. Unfortunately I've been sick the last few days and that has sapped any interest in writing the things, though I have been playing! 20 hours in and Nagash finds himself at level 34, I've not touched the main quest (or civil war) and have no plans to do so for a while yet. I'm definitely having a lot more fun with him than I have done with the mages I've rolled in the past. The backstory helps somewhat.

A little synopsis of events thus far:

Upon arrival and subject to rather.. unfortunate events surrounding an ambush and a failed execution, Nagash found himself situated in Whiterun hold for the first month. At first, the nights saw him rent a room at The Bannered Mare. A redguard by the name of Amren impeached the necromancer-wannabe to help find his father's lost sword, which could be found in Redoran's Retreat. Nagash had also spent time conversing with Farengar, the court wizard to Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. He found the man to be overtly condescending, but Nagash did eventually learn the fire atronach spell from Farengar, who further directed him to the college of Winterhold.

Nagash cleared out Redoran's Retreat of bandits and recovered Amren's sword, using his budding conjuration magicks. With the bandits gone, he decided that Redoran's Retreat would make the perfect lair for him to study in while remaining relatively close to Whiterun. Over the next few weeks, Nagash split his time between his lair and Whiterun, wiping out several bandit encampments in the area unbeknownst to the guard but likely warranting appreciation. He had hit a plateau in his research though and sought out some fellow Necromancers not too far from his own lair.

Perhaps naively, he had expected them to welcome him with open arms. Instead, he was greeted by a fireball just off target. It would seem their coven or cult was not accepting new members. In the battle that ensued, Nagash had only barely emerged victorious over the handful of Necromancers who were in truth, little more than novices themselves. If it were not for the fire atronach spell he learned from Farengar, he surely would have been the one to fall.

The exchange left him somewhat exhausted and thus Nagash retired to Redoran's Retreat. It took him a week to fully recover from the exertion and it was a week of contemplation. It would have been nice to be a part of a group of Necromancers, that he might be able to study the arts more freely. Perhaps for the best this time though, given how weak his opponents were. Once rested, Nagash made the several days journey northward to Winterhold, specifically for the college there.

The Imperial had expected to find an institute like that which he had fled in Cyrodill, the Synod but he was pleasantly surprised, despite having to pass some idiotic test administered by an Altmer. He quickly learned that Phinis Gestor was the man he would need to seek out for conjuration training, but Nagash boded his time. He spent a week, a whole damn week, attending Tolfdir's classes on the basic use of magic. He saw fit to run a few errands for the college Librarian too. He was an Orc and as blunt as you'd expect from their species.

Phinis Gestor tasked him with summoning an unbound Dremora Lord and binding it to his will. This took a week, with several attempts a day. And there were more than one attempt that nearly resulted in his own demise at the hands of an angry Dremora. Several more weeks would be spent studying under Phinis, with Nagash picking up some higher level necromancy spells as well as a spell that would allow him to summon a more.. co-operative Dremora Lord. It was then Nagash departed from the college, his teacher had grown a tad suspicious in his almost unnatural yearning to master the conjuration arts in as quick a time as possible. Nagash was far more formidable now but no doubt Phinis had many secrets left yet to tell.

Nagash returned to Whiterun, but only briefly. He would be on the road again and headed toward Solitude, surely there would be much promise there in the capital of Skyrim. The journey had been a lonely one, with the occasional interruption from wild animals. At least until he passed Fort Snowhawk, which was inhabited by a group of Necromancers. Two stood guard outside and Nagash this time decided to show off his power, in the hopes that he would be welcomed. Once again the Necromancers spurred him and attacked; their folly ultimately as they too fell to his magic. It was the first time he had opportunity to proper use Phinis' teaching and by Azura, he had grown much stronger.

The exertion of maintaining control over a Dremora Lord (as well as some skeletons, were closer to killing him than any other act that day. Several days rest in the ruins of Fort Snowhawk and then Nagash continued onward to Solitude. He made his way to the Blue Palace, where he did chance upon one of the council, Sybille Stentor. She was cold and distant, but clearing out a vampire's den at her behest won favour. There was something about her though, Nagash couldn't quite work it out at first, but over time and several more deeds accomplished, he fully believed she was a vampire.

He confronted her on it away from prying eye, not because he wanted to become a Vampire himself; he didn't, he had interest in how she was able to remain hidden in plain sight. In order to further his studies, Nagash knew he was likely to trip up as things stood now. Stentor agreed to mentor the Imperial and the two have become fast friends. Nagash spent close to a month in Solitude and the surrounding area, even taking out a cult of Necromancers looking to resurrect Queen Potema, during that time. The Imperial necromancer had drawn several conclusions by now, one being that should his minions be unable to guard him from melee opponents, Nagash was rather frail and could be struck down with ease. In truth, he thought this was by and large why his Dremora Lord summon was so successful - enemy mages couldn't dish out enough damage on their own to dispatch it before the Dremora drew within striking range.

"I will not be felled in such a manner," he thought.

The second observation was that his conjuration skills were no longer likely to improve. He had reached his peak in that department. It had proven more than enough in the past, but he would never reach the acclaim of the likes of Mannimarco in his current state. No, it was time for Nagash to begin research into powerful artifacts, with a view of acquiring them to further his own power. He would have liked to fashion his own artifacts and perhaps, if he continued to become more powerful he would, but for now it remained but a distant dream.

---

From a mechanic point of view, I'm currently stuck in a state of indecision with regards to melee weapons. Originally I had planned for Mortis to be a two-handed weapon, which would forbid casting while wielding it however one-handed is still an option, so that I can summon and fight without losing too much either side of the party. I will probably use Daedric or Dragonbone for the sword whether it be two-handed or one.

Right now his Necromantic research has been limited to bandits and other necromancers, so for the most part he has been able to conceal that aspect of his person (with the help of Sybille) while leading a relatively normal life in the cities of Skyrim. He tends to be less social now-a-days though, on part of the run ins with the Necromancers on both occasions he had hoped to join but he's not near the "isolating one's self from society" stage just yet. I'm considering doing the marriage thing with him, if only because it'll help his public image. Any suggestions on which lucky lady in Skyrim might fit the bill for Nagash? I was thinking Brelyna Maryan but if I have to finish the College quest-line to do her favours (I can't remember) then that might be off the books.

He's also very much entering the stage now where he is seeking out artifacts, be they of Daedric origin or otherwise, to increase his power. I suspect that their influence might not be for the best..