I gather here all the DLC ideas I have expressed in a previous thread. My apologies for the resulting length of the topic.
OffshoreI think that the Sea of Ghosts could be a great place for new content. I would love to be given the opportunity to
use boats to travel on it. New environmental dangers could be encountered : wrecking storms, wrecking icebergs, fast-growing brinicles, hazardous reefs, maelstroms, underwater volcanoes, ...
Among the new places that can be added with a DLC, there are
Roscrea, Olenveld (the personal, insular graveyard of Tiber Septim), Solstheim and the Castles of Glass and Coral of the Dreughs.
Dreughs have always fascinated me. With the withdrawal of Vivec's power, one can think a major impediment to the recovery of their lost civilization is now gone. Obviously, a recovery of their lost power could have heavy consequences on shipping, and thus on trade and politics. No doubt it could be used to build a nice storyline. They could be a threat, as well as they could be interested in tying up commercial agreement to sell their own stuff.
Many new creatures could be added through such a DLC, among which underwater Dragons, electric slaughterfish, narwhals, krakens, Lamiae, Medusae, Dreughs, Rieklins, Grahls, Frost Giants, Gehenoths, and possibly even unchanged Falmers on Roscrea, as well as people of those Ice Tribes who once besieged Dawnstar. The lands of Roscrea could even be called home by wholly rhinoceros, as a nice counterpoint to the mainland's mammoths. Both mammoths and wholly rhinos would be dreadful war mounts, by the way.
Among these new creatures, many are of the NPC type, (in fact, the ones I wrote with a capital letter), which means that they could have their own society, hierarchy, culture, religion, architecture, arts and crafts, leading hence to new clothing and armor sets, new weapons, new artifacts, possibly even new spells.
Among the new creatures added, one could also count the clockwork dreughs, which are amphibious counterparts to the Dwemer war machines built by Sotha Sil when he lived in the Castles of Glass and Coral.
New "ores" could also be added, for example Stalhrim, mother-of-pearl, cold-water coral.
Many
new factions could be added through this DLC, each with its questline, clothing, armor and weapon set and its historical background. Here are the examples that come to my mind.
Spoiler Sotha House :
Since Sotha Sil once lived in the Castles of Glass and Coral, is it totally crazy to assume some remnants of the Sotha House, thought to be destroyed, could have survived underwater ?
Weresharks
Seafarer's Guild :
Sponsored by Solitude, they'd be fcused on exploratory missions.
Imperial fleet
Stormcloak fleet
Dunmer fleet :
Devoted on the protection of coastal Dunmer Settlements on Solstheim
Dunmer Great Houses on Solstheim.
Pirat Fleet :
Possibly related to the Thieve's Guild ?
Merchant Fleet
Thalmor fleet :
In case there are unchanged Falmers on Roscrea, no doubt the Thalmor would be interested in meeting them.
Berserkers, Ulfhednars and Svinfylkingars :
These are, respectively, bear-related, wolf-related and boar-related warriors. At least the firsts of these is known to inhabit Solstheim.
East Empire Company :
I wish that the East Empire Company will get more stuff. No doubt it suffered from the war between Morrowind and Argonia, and a return to Solstheim could afford new opportunities to join the Company. Both directions (the war between Dunmers and Argonians and Solstheim) could lead to interesting questlines for this faction, in case it becomes joinable.
A Necromancers' guild :
Possibly settled in Olenveld. They perhaps protect the island by dissimulating it with spells.
Men-of-'Kreath, Ayleids and FalmersThere are several reasons which make me think there should be
Ayleid Ruins in the Southern Skyrim.
First, this could explain why there are Elven Armors in Skyrim.
Second, the Adabal-a mentions that the Men-of-'Kreath were imported from the North by Ayleids. This makes very likely that the Ayleids would have some settlements north of the current cyrodiilic border.
Third, the apostrophe in Men-of-'Kreath could be a sign that some apheresis took place. I don't think it a fancy hypothesis that the Men-of-'Kreath could in fact be the Men of Falkreath. Moreover, Falkreath belonged once to Cyrodiil. Were it not enough, would it be too far-fetched to consider that Falkreath could be the place were the Falmers met the Men-of-'Kreat?
A DLC focusing on the
Men-of-'Kreath could be an opportunity to learn more on this mysterious people. In the Ayleid ruins that could be added, one could possibly find new ores (namely the meteoric glass and iron, both praised by the Ayleids), new artifacts, and possibly traces of exchanges that took place between Falmers and Ayleids. Since Ayleids seem to love the light, I wonder whether they'd have relations with Wisps.
The player could also join the
Thalmor, and try to acomplish Umbacano's dream, both with Ayleids and Falmers. This could be an occasion to encounter some
Falmer questgiver.
As I have always wondered whether Men and Minotaurs could have forged an alliance between Alessian war (wasn't Bullharza thought to be a Minotaur?), an Ayleid ruin in Skyrim could perhaps be a nice occasion to encounter some unique intelligent Minotaur questgiver (perhaps an undead one?).
Borderline areas. A DLC could also expand the main game's territorry by adding a stripe of borderline area, with possibly some
Velothi strongholds near Morrowind's border, and possibly some Dunmer ancestral tomb (a Bonelord with a different spell in each of its four hands could be dreadful, and finally deserve its name). This could also add the
Pale Pass, the city of
Dragonstar, the town called
Snowline and the nearby
Fearfrost Caverns, which a tribe of peaceful Goblins call home. Why not also Orsinum?
Wind BearersThis is an idea I first expressed in http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1204633-berserkers-and-the-creatures-they-call-winds/ previous thread. Since it would make a nice DLC, in my opinion, I mention it here.
The last lines of the Children of the Sky are: “The further north you go into Skyrim, the more powerful and elemental the people become, and the less they require dwellings and shelters. Wind is fundamental to Skyrim and the Nords;
those that live in the far wastes always carry a wind with them.”
What if the mentioned wind was not only an outward sign of their elemental powers.
What if those winds were genuine, conscious beings? Not mammals, undead or daedra, but a new kind of ethereal, elemental, invisible creature, who become visible only when it coalesce or carry particles like snow, vapor, dust. Winds. Ice Wraith would then be merely a Species in the Kingdom of Phylum of Winds. What if a strange, mysterious link bounded the Nords, who one could call Wind Bearers, to their Winds? What if a Wind Bearer and his Winds were in some way hunting companions?
In that context, what are the aforementioned elemental powers? Perhaps it is a wild, ancient, natural magic allowing them to summon winds, to see through them, to communicate with them, to travel fast within the wind, perhaps even, for the most talented, to temporarily become a Wind?
This raise even more questions. If the winds truly are conscious beings, able to communicate, perhaps they worship or serve some god. So which one? Kyne, the Mother of Storm? Or other, savage, yet unknown ancient gods? If this is the case, the Wind Bearers perhaps also worship these gods. And since they perhaps worship Kyne, perhaps they were taught by Her some forms of Thu'um...
Perhaps a DLC could introduce the Wind Bearers, and even allow you to become one of them...
Dwemer explosive trapsThere could be in Dwemer ruins tiny spheres and tiny clockwork spiders which are in fact
small moving bombs, that dwemer machines could use against the player or which could constitute moving traps to avoid. The interesting thing is that the player could (carefully) take and disactivate some of them, possibly using magicka to freeze them and prevent them to explode, or take their remains and repair them. Afterwards he could enchant them and/or fill them with toxious or explosive potion in order to use them as a weapon against his ennemies, and assigne them a target with some assignation spell, so that while they explode, they cast shock spells to the nearby opponents, and/or vaporize poisonous gases or liquids on them. If such engines are dropped into the crowd, the panic they'd provoke would let the player the opportunity to vanish without being noticed, or to commit some other crime.
It would be, in my opinion,
a very useful tool for characters like mixed magic/sneak assassins/terrorists, and lead to very interesting quests and fancy assassinations, for example for the Dark Brotherhood. But a tool that would have to be repaired after each use, obviously. On the other hand, the dwemer machines able to launch such dwemer bombs could become dreadful opponents.
The Realm of Dreams / Spriggan's medicineI realize it's quite unrealistic, but I once thought to a spell or ritual that would allow the caster to
enter the dreams of the sleeping target. Each NPC and many creatures (among which Falmers, Giants, Spriggans, trees...) would then have their own
à la Henantier dream world. While in the dreaming world, one could perhaps also be attacked by trapped souls, either contained in nearby gems or nearby enchanted items.
This would allow for many fancy quests, including recovery of information. Also, people communicating through their sleep during wars would open exciting possibilities,as it would allow very fast exchange of (possibly false) information.
Originally, I thought it as a Spriggan's medicine : they'd heal Spriggans and Trees by entering the dreams of the suffering ones and by killing some
creatures which would be some dreamt materialization of the illness. The dreaming world would be related to the "world" were some Spriggan go between their deaths and resurrections. The ability to enter the realm of dreams would be a gift from some Spriggan deity.
This would also allow to encounter all new creatures or non-playable NPC races who haunt the nightmares.
But, well, I suppose it's too frenzy to be lore-respectful...
CollectionsWhat would be nice, too, would be
some stuff for collectors.
For example, for numismatists, various coins, various Septims with the heads of old emperors, Dwemer coins as someone mentioned them in another thread (I can't remind which one), ...
Or ancient engraved glass pitchers of Ayleid fashion, or ornated Falmer porcelain. Pieces of ancient arts and crafts, which could afford information about the different Nede tribes, as they'd feature variations in the engraved patterns, accordng to the cultural variations in the various tribes.
Or a very old and hard to find series of book, possibly quest related...
One could even think that insanely rich characters could
build greenhouses and for te sake of prestige (or scientific interest), grow exotic species of plants and import exotic animals (who said tamed cliffracer ?

) Thus, a collection of rare birds? Some people asked to things on which they could spend money. Building a large warm greenhouse in the cold Skyrim land would require loads of money, I think.
advlt only DLCThis would introduce nudity, various lore about how the different religions in the game envision six and the ethics of six, a Dibellan cult, perhaps would reintroduce the Aureals and Mazkens (recall than the latter are supposed to be Dark Seducers), possibly even the Daedra seducers. Why not getting a chance to get involved in absolutely immoral trades, such as drug traffics and slavery (by joining the remnants of the Camonna Tong?). Such a DLC would allow the devs to tackle the matters they couldn't put in the main game in order not to restrain their audience. I know that some of you will say that everything will be modded in anyway, but console people would perhaps be pleased with such a DLC, as well as the PC users who would want it in an "official" way. In the same way, offcial visual improvements (higher resolution textures, ...) could be added through a DLC or patches.
Side with DragonsAfter the main quest, claim Goldbrand and swear to protect peaceful Dragons.
Specialized HousesLike the ones which were added into Oblivion, but gathered in a single DLC
Dragon break!Well, the Dragons have in the lore tight links with the time. One could encounter a character who is able to
uncover the past. You'd then see, thanks to his dragon-related power, what happened in some dungeons hundreds or thousands years before, seing ghost-like beings acting as they did then. This could create passionating storylines, and great quests, for exemple, enquiries to uncover what happened to an artifact...
Table games in tavernsFor example, whist-lke, or
chess-like, or mahjong-like games. Or more original ones, each with pieces of lore around it. This could lead to
gambles, tournaments, and would be a very nice reason to go into taverns and a very nice
brawl trigger. One could add fortune-tellers who predicts your future by reading cards?
Miscellanous factions that could be added : An arena,
The Morag Tong,
A necromancer's Guild.
I would also love to be able to join the
Forsworns and lead them to take their land back.
Chosing a side between Hagravens and Spriggans could lead to nice questlines, too. Possibly leading the player to encounter some mysterious deities worshipped by each of these.
Chosing to become the slave of some Wispmother questgiver could also be nice. In fact, I'd join every "faction" that could lead me to know more about Falmers, Forsworn, Hagravens, wispmothers or Spriggans.
Joining the Thalmor, the Psijic Order or even the Mythic Dawn could be nice, too.
Places mentioned in previous games and I think you forgot, and that could be added through a DLC : Spoiler Amber Guard,
Black Moor,
Blind Fjord,
Crypt of Hearts,
Darkwood,
Dragonwood,
Dunpar Wall,
Frostheim,
Glacier Run,
Granitehall,
Helarchen Creek,
Hsaarik Head,
Lainalten,
Laintar Dale,
Larvan's Stronghold,
Massacre Caves,
Nimalten,
North Creek,
Oakwood,
Old Fort (which is described as being build with huge blocks of porphyry),
Pagran Village,
Reach Corigate,
Slipneck Fjord,
Troll Hole,
Troll Pace,
Vernim Wood.
Miscellanous things mentioned in other lore and that I think are absent from the game, and that could be added through DLCs : Werebears (and wereboars?),
(Black) Ironwood treesThe Whiterun throne, as a huge block of raw stone
The boy born with a knife instead of a right hand, mentioned in "The Infernal City"
Dwemer walking ballistae
Some spells which were present in past games, among which the Sphere of Negation, Light that Burns, Light that Protects, "Ennemies explode", the -bloom based destruction spells from Morrowind (with special visual effects). Their names are too awesome to drop them !
Poison spells
The spell called Froststar, which focus the power of elemental winter and of the prayers from Dawnstar into the caster, and I suppose generates a dreadful blizzard. I am sure this can look awesome in some quest based on defending Dawnstar.
Jyggalag. I would like to be given a quest from him.
Other miscellanous things that could add to the game : "Real" bats
The mysterious axe which is called "The Wings of the Queen of Bats"
A town to (re)build
New jobs (carving wood [making armors from black ironwood?], falconry, weavery, jewelry, farming, preparing infusions, ...)
Snowhawks
Merchants in military forts (I think this would give them a more town-like feeling, and wherever human activity takes place, some trade happens, so I think it would make sense)
Horse armors
Light Daedric armors (if the daedric (heavy) ore is made of ebony coated with Daedric blood, what would happen in case an alchemist coats glass with Daedrci blood? )
More Ores (mithril, adamantium, amber, madness ore, domina, lead, bronze, copper, brass, tin, ...)
Using frostbite spider silk to produce clothing with greater enchanting capabilities.
More Daedra NPCs and creatures each with new armors and weapons (Hell Hounds [in volcanic areas?], Aureals, Mazkens, Xivilais, Winged Twilights, Scamps, Clanfears, Vermais, Hernes, Ogrims, ...)
Snow Wolves (endowed with magical abilities)
Imps
Undead creatures (e.g. undead bear or wolf)
Mounted combat
Spears, crossbows
New (or old) Daedric realms to explore
Through smithing, armor upgrades which affect armor look
Trees that walk (and attack).
Going back to Battlespire.
Helping the Spriggans to rebuild a sanctuary in the Moss Mother Cavern. With Spriggan artifacts as rewards.
Undead Dragons.
A come-back of the Drothmeri army.
Help the Falmers to change again : make Ursa Uthrax's nightmare and a Falmer vrsion of Umbacanno's dream come true!
It would be great if the economics was made more complex, and if you could affect it more.
A chance to customize your character's appearance in game. (For example, hairdressers, shapeshifting spells (weren't the dragons supposed to be able to use shapeshifting spells?)...)
Reintroduce named soulgems.
A chance to add to the weapons, clothing or armors, in addition to their enchanting, a weak permanent upgrade by using runes (by engraving them, or damascening, ...)
A way to tame wild creatures. Don't you want an ice wolf as companion? Or a snow hawk as hunting brethren?
And more generally...
MORE LORE !