Skyrim needs a follow-up sequel: The Thalmor war. It could take place on the same Skyrim map area, with most of the same dungeons/location present.
Either the Empire or the Stormcloaks are defeated, and now the weakened military state is perfect for the Thalmor invasion. But they need to gather intelligence first, so they are kidnapping select NPCs for interrogation. When fast-traveling or walking the paths, our hero runs a chance of crossing paths with the hostile Thalmor, with or without hostages. Many early quests are to either find kidnapped Skyrim NPCs, or to free them from known locations - often dungeons or camps. Sometimes it can be tricky to keep the hostages alive. If our hero is a "good" alignment person, the Thalmor may threaten to kill the/a hostage if the hero does not retreat - necessitating a stealthy approach to the rescue. Our hero can summon a dragon to help him defeat the Thalmor.

What's more, the Thalmor have bribed many groups of men in Skyrim, it is not just the Thalmor that is discovered doing dastardly deeds for the Aldmeri Dominion. We are never 100% sure of anybody's loyalty. Some quests are to find evidence of Thalmor involvement, whether or not it is treason, or caused by Thalmor blackmail. The Thalmor are a race of very powerful mages, a bit stronger than the mages and necromancers encountered in the first skyrim, and have warrior units as well to balance the warfare - they make decent guards for their battle mages.


The Thalmor get wise to this, find out that a dragon was captured at one time in DragonsReach balcony, and devise a wicked plan to catch a dragon for themselves. They set up a brilliantly designed ambush for the hero, where they have a copied dragon yoke ready to catch a dragon. They lure the hero into the spot, and attack, knowing our hero would call the dragon. They quickly capture our hero, and use him to bait the dragon into the trap. Once the dragon is trapped, they negotiate with it to turn it against our hero, and work for the Thalmor - not to mention they have the opportunity to experiment and devise new methods of attacking dragons. Now the hero is in shackles, and must find a way to escape his prison, or perhaps escape during his escorted exodus from Skyrim (the Thalmor had to catch the dragon in Skyrim, as that is where our hero is). His dragon no longer comes to his call. As he is escaping, several groups of Skyrim warriors come running to his aid as he is fleeing from the Thalmor, so he turns the tide and they obliterate the invading Thalmor regiment.

But the damage is done as far as the dragon control is concerned, now the Thalmor have the dragon helping them against Skyrim. It is up to our hero to counter the Thalmor offensives. In some cases, the Thalmor hit one place using the dragon, while simultaneously hitting another more strategically important place, knowing the hero would be sent to counter the dragon. Using this method, they kidnap the hero's friends and/or military leaders to use as blackmail tools against the hero. In some cases, the hero is urged go free them, in other cases the hero simply takes that stronghold. But one betrays Skyrim, and lays another ambush for our hero, backstabbing him at the moment our hero thinks he has liberated him/her. Once again, our hero must break free from the Thalmor oppression.


Meanwhile, since it was discovered during the initial Skyrim iteration that
so our hero has the job of making it work right, to use it against the Thalmor. However, the Thalmor know of this, and during our heros captivity they attack and take that facility. They quickly use it to track our hero's escape, to try to eliminate him. Now our hero has the task of either re-taking that facility, or destroying the device, while the Thalmor is hot-on-his-heels, knowing his every move.


Anyway, that's my thought of what the next Skyrim sequel (add-on pack) should entail. Of course a lot of side-quests and other tie-ins to the previous story could be added. What do you think? Do you have any additions to this story? Embellishments? Please, let's hear them - being careful not to give spoilers for the current game without using the spoiler tag as I did above.