Video Game / Beyond Skyrim

Beyond Skyrim is a massive multi-team Game Mod project for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is being developed by several affiliated teams of volunteers who are working towards a truly breathtaking and ambitious goal, namely recreating the continent of Tamriel (and a few areas beyond) and integrating it more or less seamlessly with the base game, allowing the player to literally go beyond the border of Skyrim and experience both new takes on the settings of The Elder Scrolls games past as well as hereto little explored areas of the setting.

All the development teams have stated that they aim to make the mods feel as close to official DLC as possible, to ensure that nothing will feel or seem out of place, with unique armor, weapons, clothing, clutter, architecture, flora, and fauna created for each province, entirely new hours-long soundtracks composed for each project to best capture the ambient feel of each province of Tamriel, and most ambitious of all, crafting lore-friendly, intricate main questlines for each region, complete with free-roam sidequests and joinable factions with their own questlines, completely voice acted by a plethora of professional voice actors and actresses lending their talents to the project.

The project is planned to consist of seven different parts, and in addition four of the development teams are planning to put out so-called "pre-releases"; essentially playable teasers meant to give prospective players an idea of how their mods will look and feel in action. As of this writing, one of the pre-releases, Beyond Skyrim: Bruma, is out, while the other four are still in development.

The different projects

• Cyrodiil: The Seat of Sundered Kings — This portion of the mod will take the player back to the setting of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, allowing them to explore the heartland of the old and ailing Septim Empire almost 200 years after the Oblivion Crisis. While the Civil War rages in Skyrim, the province struggles with several problems of its own as the wounds and resentments of the Great War are still festering as the people of the Heartland are chafing under the tyranny of the Thalmor and their agents, who exploit the provisions in the White-Gold Concordat to terrorize and demoralize the civilian population. Meanwhile, the high and mighty nobles of the Decadent Court of the Imperial City are all busy scheming to seize the Ruby Throne, seeing recent developments as a ripe opportunity to make a play for it. But meanwhile, an ancient evil awakens deep underground and poses a threat to all of Cyrodiil. Amidst the power struggle, who will rise to confront this threat — and at what cost?
  
  The developers have put out a pre-release of their work in July 2017, named Beyond Skyrim: Bruma, which allows the player to explore the titular city and the surrounding area of the Jerall Mountains. It can be found here for Legendary Edition and here for Special Edition.
• Morrowind: The Star-Wounded East — Not content with "just" recreating the isle of Vvardenfell, the setting of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, this ambitious project aims to go one step further and allow the player to explore all of the region of Morrowind. The region will, of course, still be heavily effected by the apocalyptic event known as the Red Year, when the cataclysmic eruption of Red Mountain laid waste to most of Vvardenfell and some of the surrounding area. Not many details have been revealed about the storyline yet, but it will involve the politics of the different Great Houses of the Dunmer and their plotting against each other, and it has been hinted that the player will enjoy relatively great freedom in which House they choose to affiliate themselves with.
  
  The developers have announced that they are working on putting out a pre-release named Beyond Skyrim: The New North. The pre-release will allow the player to visit the north-eastern islands of Morrowind in the Sea of Ghosts, primarily the islands of Bleakrock and Sheogorad.
• Iliac Bay: Tower of Dawn — This portion of the mod aims to recreate both the setting of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall and its surrounding areas, letting the player visit both the Empire affiliated region of High Rock and the newly independent country of Hammerfell. The developers are also keeping the details of the story relatively close their chest when it comes to Hammerfell, but have revealed that the plot will involve the old hostilities between the Crowns and Forebears flaring up again. Meanwhile, more details have been shared about the High Rock storyline; namely that it will saddle the player with a new "reputation" mechanic and ask them to navigate the cut-throat politics of the Breton nobility, letting them either choose a side in the struggle or go independent and profit from the situation as they begin their own ascent up High Rock's feudal hierarchy.
  
  Like with the Cyrodiil and Morrowind teams, the developers are working on a pre-release, named Beyond Skyrim: Three Kingdoms, which will allow the player to visit the Breton Kingdoms of Jehanna and Farrun across the western border of Skyrim, as well as the Abecean Isles off the western coast of Hammerfell.
• Elsweyr: Sugar and Blood — This part of the mod will allow the play to visit the little seen homeland of the Khajiit, which, much like Skyrim, is experiencing a schism of its own, after a Thalmor-backed coup destabilized the country several years ago, and allowed the Aldmeri Dominion to annex most of the area. The land is now split between the rough and harsh northern desert province, Anequina, which for the most part maintains a vehement resistance against the Thalmor-takeover, and the more cosmopolitan southern jungle province, Pellitine, which for the most part accepts the Thalmor's presence. Meanwhile, the independent city state of Rimmen to the east is angling to extend its political influence into Elsweyr proper. The player finds themselves embroiled in the conflict and must find a way resolve it, for better or for worse.
  
  The Elsweyr team has also announced a pre-release of their own, named Beyond Skyrim: The Greater Rim. This pre-release, will, as the name suggest, be focusing on Rimmen, and North-Eastern Elsweyr in general, and will also include the Anequinan city of Riverhold.
• Argonia: The Roots of the World — Much like the Elsweyr project, this part of the mod will also allow the player to visit a relatively unexplored part of the Elder Scrolls world, namely the marshy Argonian homeland in the south-east of Tamriel. The details of the story are again relatively sparse so far, but it will involve the player getting involved in the plight of the local natives, and they can either guide them to unity and power, or exploit their divisions for their own profit.
• Valenwood: Lure of the Wilds — The dense forrest home of the Bosmer in the southwest of Tamriel will also be visitable. This being a relatively new project, not much have been revealed about the story, but the developers have hinted it will involve the Camoran Dynasty, and conflicts between Cosmopolitan and Tribal Bosmer over their place in the Aldmeri Dominion.
  
  The Valenwood team also plans a pre-release, namely the northeastern corner of Valenwood, know as the Arenthia Hills, which encompasses the city of Arenthia and its surrounding area.
• Atmora: Expedition to the North — This part of the project takes the player to the far northern and frozen continent of Atmora, the mythic birthplace of the Nords in the Elder Scrolls setting. Not many details about the story have been revealed, but apparently it will focus on the player journeying on an expedition together with a motley crew of explorers across the Sea of Ghosts, with the aim of uncovering the mysteries from the past hidden amongst the frozen ruins of the old Atmoran civilization, and on the journey they will also be asked to "right an ancient wrong".
  
  The mod will focus primarily on survival, incorporating elements from the popular Frostfall and Campfire mods, as the player character struggles against the harsh, deadly cold of the icebound arctic continent.
• Roscrea: Voices of the Deep — This will take the player into the northern island of Roscrea, a windy land with a harsh climate, but also great beauty and hidden treasures. As the weakened Empire struggles to maintain a fragile peace between the locals and the exploitative East Empire Company, the mighty Bear Cult seeks to hold on to the power they seized so long ago before it slips from their own fingers. And as all this takes place, a series of mysterious seismic events begin to shake the island, heralding fear of an age-old prophecy of ruin and devastation: When the Voices of the Deep call out, the sand will begin to fall, and herald the day of judgment.

And also:

• Wares of Tamriel — Released in January 2020, WoT adds the Intrepid Merchant Cardana Pallo, her crew, and her ship, Dawn's Venture, to the docks of Dawnstar. Cardana Pallo sells goods from her journeys all around Tamriel, and she and her crew members are happy to tell you news and rumors from the other provinces. A minor project meant to show off some of the new items and give hints to the plotlines from the different projects, the developers have stated that WoT is going to receive regular updates. Can be found here for Legendary Edition and here for Special Edition.
• Calipers — Released on April Fools' Day 2014, the mod was an April Fools joke, adding a room with a huge number of Calipers. That's it. Can be found here for Legendary Edition and here for Special Edition.

The teams are planning to release the mods primarily for the PC version of Skyrim: Special Edition, but have also promised to port the mods for Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S to the extend that it is possible. However, due to the size limitations on Xbox mods for Skyrim, the developers have predicted that while the pre-releases and smaller-scale projects like Roscrea and Atmora are very likely to be released on those platforms, the full versions of the mainland Tamriel regions will simply be too big in size and complexity to make the cut. PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5 ports, meanwhile, are entirely out of the question, due to Sony's rather restrictive policies on mods which forbids the addition of new assets (i.e. no new textures, meshes, and sounds/music).

The mods are still heavily in development, and have no set release dates yet. But the developers are always looking for volunteers and are very open about the process and frequently share updates on their progress, mostly through their official website, which can be found here, and their YouTube channel, which can be found here.

Compare Tamriel Rebuilt, a just as ambitious mod for Morrowind, which the project cites as one of its main inspirations (there has even been some asset sharing with Tamriel Rebuilt's sister-project Project Tamriel). Despite similarities in name and premise, Beyond Reach isn't part of the project.

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Tropes:

Tropes that apply to multiple mods

• Arc Villain: As confirmed by the development teams, the villains you face in the main quest of each the different regions will be purely regional threats, instead of world threatening ones.
• Broad Strokes: The developers have indicated that this is their overall approach to lore from The Elder Scrolls Online. The mod's writers and designers will definitely take some inspiration from Online onboard, but if a story element in Online in some way or another contradicts one of the single player Elder Scrolls games, the teams are more inclined to side with the latter.
• Big Bad Ensemble: The Thalmor are going to be a recurring adversary across the different planned Story Arcs, but the developers have also indicated that they won't be the only threat the player is going to come up against.
• Blow You Away: The project is poised to add Wind Magic to the vanilia game's arsenal of Fire, Lighting, and Ice Magic. True to the trope name, Wind Magic's special effect will be the ability to knock over weaker enemies over with it.
• The Bus Came Back: Many of the projects plan to add creatures not seen in the mainline games for quite a while, such as the hellhounds, ghouls, and snow wolves last seen in Arena being planned to make a return in the Iliac Bay, and the grahls last seen in Bloodmoon making an appearance in both Roscrea and Atmora.
• Colon Cancer: The full title of most of the projects will follow a pattern of: Beyond Skyrim: [Province Name]: The X of Y. The exceptions (Atmora, Elsweyr, Morrowind) still follow the pattern up to the last colon.
• Decadent Court: From what the Cyrodiil, Morrowind, and Iliac Bay teams have revealed so far, these can be expected to play a large role in their stories.
• Fantasy Metals: From what has been revealed so far, the teams plans to bring back quite a few of the rarer metals on Nirn from the past games.
  • The Iliac Bay area will feature Adamantium to some degree.
  • Mithril will be featured in Cyrodiil and Roscrea. In Roscrea it will even be a plot-point, as the rights over the local mithril deposits is a major conflict between the native Roscreans and the mercantile colonists from the East Empire Trading Company.
  • The Ayleid weapons found in Cyrodiil's Ayleid ruins are made of Thunderbolt Iron, and require meteoric iron to improve.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Invoked, though for a practical storytelling purpose, rather than out of any dislike. The project's overall stance on most Creation Club content is to by and large ignore it, as it was made after the release of Skyrim and in many cases contradicts their own plans for Tamriel's various famous artefacts.
• Fan Sequel:
  • The Iliac Bay, Morrowind, and Cyrodiil projects can be described as such to The Elder Scrolls II, III, and IV respectively, as they take place in the same areas, and will contain plenty of references to them.
  • They will all also function as such to The Elder Scrolls Online, but to a markedly lesser degree.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Not that the Dunmer of Morrowind have ever had much affinity for Argonians and Khajiit, especially with how they have had a tradition of enslaving both for a long time, but following the Red Year and the subsequent Argonian invasion of southern Morrowind they have grown even more antipathetic and hostile to beastmen. This will be reflected in the story, with regards to the Great Dunmer Houses, where both Argonian or Khajiit Player Characters will be barred from joining House Dres, the most xenophobic of the Great Houses, and it will also be significantly harder for them to join the other houses. The only exception will be House Sadras, which, like its disgraced predecessor House Hlaalu, will be the most welcoming house to outsiders.
  • The Akaviri-Nibenese rulers of Rimmen have a rather dim view of the Khajiit, viewing them more as lowly servants at best and objects at worst, rather than people.
  • All the Kingdoms of High Rock will be generally hostile or at the very least suspicious towards Orcs.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The developers have stated that the player dialogue choices are generally written after this template. In most situations where the player is offered choice of dialogue response, there tend to be a pragmatic/brutish answer (Fighter), an intelligent/analytical answer (Mage), or a snarky/charming answer (Thief).
• Grim Up North: The Roscrea mod seems to take a more balanced approach to the trope than most, aiming for something that appears to visually be a mix of the Scottish Hebrides Archipelago and Iceland. The Atmora mod, however, seems to be embracing the trope for all it is worth.
• Kingmaker Scenario: The Dragonborn can crown a new Emperor in Cyrodiil and a new High King in High Rock.
• Land of One City: The teams plan to include two city states in the full mod, namely the city state of Rimmen, home to the Akaviri-Nibenese who were exiled from Cyrodiil in the Second Era, and the city state of Thorn, a former holding of the mighty Dunmer House Dres, which has since been taken over by descendants of Argonian slaves who took over the city following a successful Slave Liberation during the Argonian invasion of Morrowind.
• La Résistance:
  • A Khajiit one, called "The Followers of Alkosh" which is fighting against the Thalmor is going to play a role in the Elsweyr storyline.
  • The Cyrodiil devs have indicated that the more violent, assassination-centred stealth-gameplay joinable faction in Cyrodiil will be an anti-Thalmor organization called quite simply "the Resistance", which targets Thalmor agents and collaborators for assassination.
• The Mafia:
  • An Argonian one, know as "The Soulrest Fishery Association" (or just "the SFA"), is a major player in Argonia.
  • The Durai Agni, which is the old Redguard mafia, will be the focus of the Thieves' Guild questline in Hammerfell, though they dabble in more than just theft.
  • In Bravil, there are the two major local gangs, the Claws and the Lardons, who are in long-running Mob War over the control of the local skooma trade.
• Multiple Persuasion Modes: The development teams have discussed that their respective mods will add a few options that weren't used in vanilla Skyrim. Already in the Bruma pre-release, several situations allows the player to use their Illusion skill in dialogue, with it basically working as a mix of Compelling Voice and Jedi Mind Trick.
• The Nth Doctor: The teams have stated that the various Daedric Princes have planned side-quests in most provinces, but they will take on different forms outside of Skyrim, due to a lack of access to the original voice actors. Luckily, the broader lore of the Elder Scrolls states that Daedric Princes are somewhat free to change their appearance and voices on a whim when interacting with mortals, which is what the writers plan to take advantage of. But it is also planned to be averted in the cases of Sheogorath and Hermaeus Mora, as one of the mod's voice actors, Daniel Hodge, is capable of doing a spot-on impersonation of their voices.
• Original Flavour: The project's declared goal is to try to follow the established lore, general writing style and overall look of the Elder Scrolls series as closely as possible, and that the mods should, ideally, be able to pass for official DLC. A core part of the project's mission statement is also to not make or introduce any significant changes to Skyrim's core gameplay, but keep it as close to vanilla as possible.
• Order Reborn: Both criminal and more classic takes. The Cyrodiil team have announced that a Thieves' Guild questline is planned to be included with their full release, but since Skyrim established that the Thieves' Guild have no real presence in Cyrodiil any more, it will focus on re-establishing and rebuilding the local chapter of the guild. On the less criminal side, something is going on with the Knights of the Nine, and the Morrowind team has indicated that the questline for the closest Mages' Guild equivalent, the Shad Astula school, is about rebuilding Shad Astula.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Since the different projects will take you outside Skyrim, Draugr won't be the only undead enemy you face. Expect to meet Zombies in Cyrodiil, Wights in High Rock, Ra-Netu in Hammerfell, Bonewalkers in Morrowind, Dro-m'Athra spirits in Elsweyr, and Fleshfly Zombies in Argonia.
• Permanently Missable Content: The developers have revealed that this will to some degree be in play across the different projects:
  • Cyrodiil's "The Seat of Sundered Kings" main quest will include the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II as a plotpoint. If the player doesn't do the Dark Brotherhood questline in the Skyrim basegame before it happens, it will become unavailable. There will be some warning before the Point of No Return shows up, however.
  • In Morrowind, the Morag Tong questline will be unavailable to the player, if their Dragonborn is a member of the Dark Brotherhood. Becoming a member of the Morag Tong will, conversely, lock out the Dark Brotherhood questline. Justified by the two organisation have historically always been mortal enemies.
  • Many of the main quests across the different projects will ask the Dragonborn to ally with one of the factions in play at some point. This of course makes the other faction's questlines mutually exclusive. So far, this have been revealed to include:
    • The factions vying for the position of Emperor in "The Seat of Sundered Kings" questline in Cyrodiil.
    • The Great Houses in the Morrowind.
    • The Breton Kingdoms in High Rock.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: As with previous TES games, Giant Rats are a common pest and minor enemy throughout the continent. More unusually, Elsweyr is also home to Slarjei, a kind of giant, horned capybara often used as mounts and beasts of burden by the khajiit of Anequina.
• Scenery Porn: It simply wouldn't be The Elder Scrolls without it. From what the different teams have showed off so far, they intend create just as impressive and beautiful landscapes and vistas as Bethesda and also aim to take full advantage of the extra rendering power afforded by the Special Edition engine to add some extra flourish on top.
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: Feeling that many of the quests in Skyrim were a bit lacking in depth and complexity, the developers have stated that they are looking more towards Fallout: New Vegas and Oblivion when it comes to their inspirations for quest design.
• Space Compression:
  • The Morrowind team have stated that, in terms of size, their version of Vvardenfell won't be a 1-1 replica of the one in Elder Scrolls III (there is another good reason for why Vvardenfell in the 4th Era will also be drastically different in look and feel), since they will be creating the entire region of Morrowind, and Vvardenfell will therefore have to be compressed at least a bit to fit in scale with the rest.
  • Also an inversion with Cyrodiil, which — since it is made to the scale of Skyrim — will actually be slightly larger than it was in Oblivion.
• Story Arc: The teams have stated that, due to engine limitations^note more specifically editor engine limitations. The game engine can handle cross-worldspace quests perfectly fine, but the Creation Kit can't load two too large world-spaces at the same time, and all the BS ones are well beyond the limit (they have a special cut-down version of Skyrim's worldspace to do province crossings)., there is ultimately not going to be much interconnectivity in quests across the different regions of Tamriel. Instead of some big, overarching quest, each region will instead feature a main quest line of their own, but the different main quest lines might occasionally acknowledge the others with a reference here and there.
• Vestigial Empire: A common theme through most the projects is going to be how the weakening of the Cyrodiil Empire is sowing division and discontent both across the provinces it controls as well as its neighboring countries.

Atmora: Expedition to the North

• Born Under the Sail: The Hafkyn Clan were famous for their expertise in shipbuilding, which gave them quite an edge in dominating trade in the Sea of Ghosts, and enabled them to become the most powerful and richest clan in Southern Atmora.
• Endless Winter: Though it has always been colder than Tamriel, Atmora was once a relatively lush and green place, supporting a large and advanced human civilisation. That was until the strange phenomenon know as "the Frostfall" starting turning the continent colder until it turned into the frozen wasteland that it is today. More worryingly is the fact that the Frostfall also seem to be able to freeze time itself to a halt as well, making the "endless" part of the trope name more true than in most examples.
• Feathered Dragons: One of the new creatures encountered on Atmora is going to be the Jill, a feathered dragon from a somewhat obscure piece of Elder Scrolls lore, that describes them as the "female" counterpart to the regular dragons, who are responsible for repairing linear Time after a Dragon Break.
• Genre Shift: To some degree. From what has been shown of the Atmora project so far, it will be quite a bit more creepy and moody atmosphere-wise, compared to the Skyrim basegame and the other Beyond Skyrim projects, and will even have some horror elements. Based on the preview material, some fans have already begun to compare its tone and atmosphere to Dark Souls.
• Nice Day, Deadly Night: The developers have revealed that Atmora will run on a relatively set gameplay loop, where the player is left free to explore the continent and find quests and secrets during the day, but when the sun goes down, the local temperature drops down to lethal levels, requiring the player to seek shelter for the night either at the expedition camp or indoors areas, lest they want to freeze to death.
• Oddball in the Series: Atmora: Expedition to the North is not this in relation to the Elder Scrolls, but it sticks out amongst the other Beyond Skyrim projects, acting more like a large-scale adventure mod — while it has been indicated there will be sidequests, the focus is still heavily on the main quest, and unlike the other projects, you can only travel to Atmora by starting its main quest, and you can only go back to Skyrim by completing it (and once you have, you can't return to Atmora)^note this all makes sense given that Atmora is a frozen wasteland without any known inhabitants left and a different continent separated by an ocean from Tamriel, but it still makes for a radically different approach to things. Atmora is also stated to have it as a hard requirement that the Greybeards have acknowledged the player character as the Dragonborn, whereas the other projects will be open to the player in any order and at any time they desire.
• Soiled City on a Hill: Atmora's largest city, Jykurfyk, was in the past the Jewel of the Amtora, and one of the shining capitals of humanity on Nirn, and was said to rival even the Imperial City itself. But following a (as of yet undisclosed) transgression against the Gods, the city was hit by divine retrubition and then torn apart by a ferious civil war. This persumably played a large part in the decline that ultimately putting an end to the old Amtoran civilization at large.
• Time Stands Still: The cold winds of the Frostall over Atmora does more than simply freezing the blood of any bold explorers, it also have a strange effect on time, causing some areas of Atmora to be literally stuck in the past. Get too close to it's epicenter, and you could end up the same.
• When Trees Attack: One of the few details that has been shared about the story is that Hermaeus Mora is up to something on Atmora. And, true to his epithet of "The Woodland Man", one of his minions the Dragonborn can encounter in the area is the "Ysrirot", basically a tree-like creature with blackened, bark-like skin, covered in Hermaeus Mora's trademark many eyes and its roots and branches resembling his tentacles, and with a gaping maw on its trunk that can attack both by biting and spitting poisonous gobs of muck.

Argonia: The Roots of the World

• Bird People: Downplayed with the Sarpa, one of the teased Argonian subspecies that can be encountered in the deeper parts of the swamps. The Sarpa are still recognizably Argonians, and thus quite reptilian in appearance, but they are much more feathered, especially on their heads, arms, and tails, while their snouts are remarkably beak-like (though they still have teeth) and their feet are slightly more claw-like.
• Fantastic Livestock: The Argonians have domisticated a local spieces of giant snail, which they exploit for their meat, eggs, and slime, all of which has many uses in Argonian society. A somewhat common sight around Argonia are the snail-farmers who very slowly herd their snail flocks around the countryside.
• Feathered Fiend: The so-called "Marsh Harpy", is a huge chicken like-bird, known for its bright and colorful plumage and its very ill temper which leads it to indiscriminately and stubbornly attack anyone and anything that gets too close to its nests, the later of which has earned its nickname by Imperial colonists back in the day.
• Malicious Monitor Lizard: Argonia has the Wamasu, a horrifying strong predator, that is even capable of casting lightning magic.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Aligators will be one of the hostile creatures the player can encounter in the swamps.
• Parasite Zombie: Fleshfly zombies are people infested by a species of insect called fleshflies. They're covered in structures similar to wasp nests and filled with the glowing eggs of the insect, which the hosts are driven to protect. Disturbingly, they're not actually dead, though the fleshfly infestation causes them to decay and removes their capacity for any sort of logical thought.

Cyrodiil: The Seat of Sundered Kings

• Added Alliterative Appeal:
  • Invoked. When you're buying furnishings for White Pine Lodge, the player house in Bruma, and tell the shopkeeper of Ice-Wind Traders that you wish to "spruce up the stairs", he simply can't help himself:
    Cedus Perusius: Ah, you want to spruce up the old staircase? Scrumptious! ...Sorry, alliteration. I brought my flamboyant side out to play, heh. I, uh... Sorry.
  • It also applies to the title of the mod itself.
• Ascended Meme: In an Easter Egg, all Cyrodiil guards have a relatively low chance (around 5%) of using the classic "Stop right there, criminal scum!" dialogue from Oblivion.
• Bad Guy Bar: In Bruma there is The Restful Watchman; as opposed to the nice, spacious and friendly Jerall View Inn, it is a shady and dirty little place where the more suspicious citizens of Bruma like to hang out at night.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: A heroic version in Cyrodiil. When helping a man Ethanir fighting his wife Alanya, who has gone mad and is summoning several waves of Daedra against him and the Dragonborn, it is possible to make a remark to this effect:
  Ethanir: (tired and anxious) I... I don't know how long I can keep this up. My age betrays me. How are you holding up?
  Dragonborn: This is a pretty normal day for me, if I'm being honest.
  Ethanir: Believe it or not, that's comforting to hear right now.
• City Noir: According to the Cyrodiil developers, Bravil is going to be a medieval fantasy take on the trope.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The Cyrodiil writing team has revealed that "The Seat of Sundered Kings" quest line, the main story arc they have planned for the area, is going to rely on the Dark Brotherhood of Skyrim successfully pulling off their assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II. Normally this is a deed that is supposed to be performed by the player as part of an entirely optional quest line, but if the player has not completed the Dark Brotherhood quest line, they can now potentially have it blocked off it if they advance too far in the Cyrodiil quest line. The developers have however promised that the player will be warned well in advance before this cut-off point happens. On a related note, it also means that choosing to ally with Penitus Oculatus and destroy the Dark Brotherhood of Skyrim won't prevent the Emperor's assassination.
• Dark Reprise: What has been heard of the soundtrack for Cyrodiil so far, incorporates many of the themes used in Oblivion, but plays them in a more melancholic, sombre, and overall darker manner to reflect the current state of Cyrodiil.
• Exact Words: In Bruma, two Thalmor agents are giving the local priest, Neremus, who runs the Cathedral of Saint Martin a hard time over the fact that he is worshipping and proselytizing about a descendant of Talos, believing that his behavior violates the ban the White-Gold Concordat has put on such activities. Neremus, in best Rules Lawyer style, spits back that the letter of the Concordat only forbids the worship of Tiber Septim, but Martin Septim is never mentioned at any point in said treaty^note what little we have on the Treaty implies it may have general anti-Gods from Men elements, which would cover other such gods, like Reman and Cuhlecain... except Martin Septim isn't worshipped as a god, he's worshipped as a saint (of Akatosh, the perfectly legal god he was a priest of and which he turned into an avatar of to throw back Mehrunes Dagon into Oblivion). The two Thalmor agents find themselves utterly unable to formulate a counter argument, and leave embarrassed, swearing to Neremus that he hasn't seen the last of them.
• Life Drain: A new spell added by the mods is the Absorb Health Cloak, which lets the caster absorb health from surrounding foes.
• Light and Mirrors Puzzle: Some of the puzzles encountered in Ayleid ruins will be of this nature, which uses crystals that spilts beams of light in two. Elements in the puzzles includes the player being asked to find said crystals to complete patterns, or redirect the light beams by rotating the crystal holders.
• Magic Knight: A fairly common enemy in Ayleid ruins are the adonai-Pelinaga, undead Ayleids whose title roughly translates to "lordly knight of death." They wield both bound swords and powerful shock spells.
• The Main Characters Do Everything: As described under Cutting Off the Branches, the Cyrodiil storyline can potentially subvert this, by having Emperor Titus Mede II die at the hands of a Dark Brotherhood assassin. The planned change will mean that said assassination does not necessarily have to be carried out by the player character any more and can even happen entirely off-screen.
• Mob War: Bravil has a brewing one between the Claws and the Lardons, who are struggling to get control over the local Skooma trade.
• Monumental Damage: With Bruma, you get the chance to visit Cloud Ruler Temple again. Well, to be more accurate, what is left of Cloud Ruler Temple after the Thalmor laid siege to it during their large-scale purge against the Blades.
• Museum of Boredom: The so-called "Hall of the Champion", which is maintained by Harald Burdsson of Bruma, is a museum dedicated to the Champion of Cyrodiil, the Player Character of Oblivion. Said museum is nowhere as exciting as Burdsson tries to make it out to be. Amongst the things he has on display are the shackles from the Champion's cell in the Imperial Dungeon and a handkerchief the Champion once blew their nose in.
• Never Found the Body: Between Oblivion and Skyrim, Count Janus Hassildor of Skingrad was deposed by the Kastav family in a violent coup and the secret that he was a vampire was outed to the population of Skingrad. Although Davon Kastav, the leader of the coup, swore up and down that the vampire count had been vanquished and would not return, he was still unable to present a body to fully ensure anyone that it really was the case. As a result, hushed tales of Count Hassildor still haunting the streets of Skingrad at night or plotting his terrible revenge on the city in a dark lair somewhere out in the wilderness are still in frequent rotation amongst the city's inhabitants.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: At one point, it is possible to found a stray dog out in the wilds around Bruma. Upon inspecting the dog, it appears to be injured. You are then left with the choice to give the dog to Erlus Risula, the innkeeper at Snowstone Rest near the border to Skyrim, who is looking for a new dog to replace his old, deceased one. Alternatively, you can return the dog to its original owners, a local affluent family by the name of Jucani, but it appears to be a bad choice, as the injuries on the dog strongly imply that they are abusive towards it. Actually investigating deeper into the rich family, you find out that the dog belongs to the young boy, Banus Jucani, and its injuries were the result of an accident caused by an elderly family member. So if you did what appeared to be the obviously "good" choice, namely giving the dog to the innkeeper, then congratulations; you robbed a blameless child of his beloved pet and made an enemy of a rich and influential family.
• Plague Doctor: The revenant necromancer mask has this appearance. A friendly NPC who wears it states that it's typically used by necromancers to block out the foul smells that one tends to encounter when working with rotting corpses.
• Renegade Splinter Faction: A sidequest at Fort Pale Pass deals with a small breakaway group of radical Stormcloaks called, naturally, the "Stormcloak Breakaways", who believe that the only way to ensure Skyrim's secession from the Empire is to attack Cyrodiil and the Imperial City directly.
• Succession Crisis: The Cyrodiil team have revealed that one is going to play a big part in the main quest line they have planned. To more specific, said crisis is triggered by the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II. The developers have additionally teased who the different parties in the crisis are, and what their values are.
  • Terentius of Bravil, who firmly believes in the rule of law and feels the Empire has faulted in its upholding of the law, hence why it's currently in decline.
  • Umbranox of Anvil, who believes in a strong military presence and is convinced that the Empire could have won the Great War if they had continued the fight instead of suing for peace with the Dominion. They are the most likely to take the fight to the Thalmor in the future.
  • Carvain of Bruma, a young and idealistic candidate with dreams of restoring the Empire to the golden years of the Septim Empire.
  • Tharn of Cheydinhal, who despite their history are doing well, and are, as always, operating out of their manor in Country Cheydinhal and their home in the Imperial City. They want to save the Empire and be prepared for the next war, using whatever that takes.
  • The player can also decide not to directly take any sides, which involves empowering the Elder Council to elect the current High Chancellor to the post of Potentate to create a somewhat stable leadership to weather the next Great War.
• Video Game Vista: As you cross the border to Cyrodiil at Pale Pass, and make your way down from the Jerall Mountains, you are treated to the sight of the lush and green Nibenay Valley stretching out in the lowlands before you, with Lake Rumare and the Imperial City at its center, and the red mountains marking the border to Elsweyr being just barely visible in the far distance, hinting at the scope that Beyond Skyrim will have once it's done.

Elsweyr: Sugar and Blood

• Citadel City: Resting at the top of a plateau and being protected by its thick walls, Rimmen has managed to maintain its independence even as it is squeezed in between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion.
• Feathered Fiend: One of the more common predators found in most part of Elsweyr are the giant terror birds, who have no problems attacking men, mer, and Khajiit alike.
• Our Manticores Are Spinier: The Manticores of Elsweyr resemble large cats with mandrill-like heads and a retractable stinger in the tail. The patterns on the top of their head loosely resemble the face of a khajiit.

Iliac Bay: Tower of Dawn

• Ancient Tomb: In High Rock, the player will encounter several Breton Crypts, old, gothic-looking, giant mausoleums used by the ancient Bretons to lay their dead nobility and their servants to rest.
• All Deserts Have Cacti: The Iliac Bay developers have stated that, unlike the original Daggerfall, they will deliberately avert this trope with their version of Hammerfell, as it will take even more direct visual inspiration from North Africa.
• Apocalypse Cult: The Fourth Orsinium is haunted by the presence of a cult that preaches that the Orcs are living in the Last Days before Malacath casts his final judgment on their race.
• Circus of Fear: High Rock/Iliac Bay's assassination faction has been mentioned to be the Quill Circus, which used to have ties to the Dark Brotherhood^note the scant Daggerfall mentions and appearance implies the Quill Circus is a perfectly genuine circus whose specialization in acrobatics and shows of archery was tailor-made for Dark Brotherhood operatives to practice their skills while undercover, with the leader of the Circus aware and appears to have absorbed elements of it when the Dark Brotherhood hit on bad times. It may still operate as a non-fear circus quite often, but if you double as assassins for hire, you'd move closer to this trope for people in the know...
• Enforced Cold War:
  • Skyrim is technically at war with the Hammerfell kingdoms of Skaven and Elinhir due to how the War of Bend'r-Mahk ended without any signing of a peace treaty, so their territorial despite over parts of the Dragontail Mountains was never formally resolved, but the Empire has since enforced an official stalemate between the three parties. And of course, there is also the whole Civil War business in Skyrim, that effectively has tabled the issue for the time being.
  • Both the people of Hammerfell and High Rock are very unhappy about the Orcs of the Dragontall Mountains having established the Fourth Orsinium, and their kings would like nothing more than to invade and raze the city to the ground again, like they have already done three times in the past, but as Orsinium is allied with the Empire, and therefore enjoys its official protection, none of them dare to make the move.
• Foreign Ruling Class: The King of Jehenna, Fenrald Jevenson, attempts to defy this, by emphasizing his own Nordic ancestry and seeking to promote a fusion-culture that pays respect to both Breton and Nord heritage, as both groups have been living alongside each other in Jehenna for centuries, with the province at times having been annexed and then lost again by Skyrim at several points in history. While this seems to have been successful in keeping the peace so far, not all, especially some of the more traditionalist Nords who live in the region, are happy with Fenrald's rule, with some clamouring for Jehenna to be restored as a part of the High Kingdom of Skyrim as the Hold of Briarmarch, and be ruled by a proper Nordic Jarl once again.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Pretty much every political entity in High Rock have a belligerent attitude towards the Kingdom of Wayrest. Daggerfall, Carmlorn, Evermore, Northpoint and the Empire in particular outright hate them. Their relationships with Farrun, Jehanna, and even their own ally Kamoria are strained at best. The only exception is the Kingdom of Shornhelm, which maintains a netrual attitude towards them. The Kingdom of Evermore comes in on a fairly close second place; while not as outright despised as Wayrest, the other kingdoms (again, except for Shornhelm) have a grudge of some kind or another against them.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Illiac Bay team have stated that the High Rock plot line will see the player allying with one of the factions vying for control of the region (though it is possible to decide to remain independent and Playing Both Sides), and that there won't be "a clear cut 'right' side in this struggle".
• Golem: The main job of the White Lily Sect, who have their headquarters in Jehanna, is to produce Iron Golems, which are the Bretons' most frequent away of keeping grave robbers and other intruders out of their eloborate crypts. (And, of course, keeping the restless dead from venturing outside said crypts.)
• Halloweentown: The developers have teased that Farrun in High Rock will be quite a creepy place; a medieval city cast in fog with narrow, winding alleys and a foreboding, eerie presence.
• Honor Before Reason: Used to justify why the Bretons have big eloborate crypts to intern their honored dead, despite this tending to result in said dead ending up haunting said crypts as undead Wights. Back when the Direnni Hegemony held dominion over High Rock, they mandated the cremation of the corpses of the recently deceased, persumably in a bid to avoid the whole undead problem in the first place. After rebelling against their Elven masters and becoming self-governing, the Bretons had come to associate the tradition of cremation so much with the oppressive overlords they had just finished overthrowing, that they found the idea of upholding the practice utterly intolerable, and took to bury the bodies of their dead instead, even in spite of the tendency for them to occasionally reawakening.
• Monster Town: The Illiac Bay project will also include Fourth Orsinium, a town funded by and inhabited mainly by Orcs, though it will also be possible to meet friendly (or at least peaceful) goblins and ogres in said town.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The developers have mentioned that they plan on giving the Reachmen a more somewhat more complex portrayal, as opposed to Vanilla Skyrim which has them mostly represented through the primarily hostile and violent Forsworn faction, and with a few token peaceful civilian Reachmen found here and there. In the parts of the Reach placed in High Rock, the player can encounter different Reachmen tribes whose cultures and attitudes towards outsiders are more varied; while some of these will be warlike and hostile, others will be more peaceful and even outright courteous and welcoming towards visitors.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: The developers on the Iliac Bay project have stated that they are planning on reintroducing Wereboars in their area.
• Please Select New City Name: The province of Jehanna has long been an apple of discord between Skyrim and High Rock, due to the former having attempted to annex it at various time in history, claiming it to be the lost tenth hold of the old Nord kingdom. The most ardent Nords in the area still insist on calling the region "Briarmarch", the name it has had during these annexation attempts.
• We ARE Struggling Together: As if the Fourth Orsinium didn't have enough problems by being surrounded by hostile Bretons and Redguards who want them at least displaced and ideally wiped out entirely, the various leaders of the city have problems getting along and trusting each other. The fact that an Apocalypse Cult is taking root in the city is making things worse.

Morrowind: The Star-Wounded East

• Ancient Tomb: The Dunmer's Ancestral Tombs complexes dot Morrowind's landscape. As the Dunmer tend to hold their honored dead in somewhat higher regard than Men and actively worship their ancestors, they don't tend to take too kindly to people who have been revealed to trespass in them.
• After the End: What has been seen from the Morrowind project so far suggests that the region will by all means lean heavily into this trope, especially when it comes to Vvardenfell itself due to the events of the Red Year.
• Developer's Foresight: Rather than lock the player to House Telvanni if they were named a member by Neloth before visiting Morrowind, the dev team plan on having him be so distant that him naming the player a member won't have any effect on membership to any of the other houses, although the dialogue will at least acknowledge this, so there isn't a loophole that would allow the player to join 2 houses^note although they haven't indicated if being named a member by Neloth after visiting Morrowind would do the same.
• Hazardous Water: The southermost area of Vvardenfell where the city of Vivec once stood is now nothing more than a massive water-filled crater caused by the crashing of Baar Dau (the asteroid that housed the Ministry of Truth) into the city called the Scathing Bay, so named because the water in the bay is boiling hot. So, unless the Dragonborn wishes to be boiled like a lobster, it's best to give the bay a wide berth.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Following the Red Year, House Redoran has been lauching a large-scale colonization project on the islands in the Sea of Ghosts north of Vvardenfell. This has brought them into increasing conflict with the local Nords and Skaal settlers, who have been living there for generations and therefore don't take too kindly to their new Dunmer neighbors, seeing them as interlopers at best, and intruders and occupiers at worst, and some of them have taken to violently resisting them.
• The Puppet Cuts His Strings: A plot-point in the Morrowind storyline, where discontent is brewing between House Redoran and House Sadras. When Sadras overtook Hlaalu's place on the council, they were originally sponsored by Redoran, who basically saw the minor House of Sadras as their obedient supporters who would unquestionably favor their side in any political argument. Sadras, however, has since been steadily growing in economic power, prestige, and political influence, to a point where they are no longer content with just blindly following Redoran's lead, and are as such starting to make moves towards greater autonomy. Redoran, in turn, are rather nervous about what this independent streak can mean for their political position.
• Recursive Fanfiction: Due to their close relationship with Tamriel Rebuilt, the Morrowind Team has stated at least some bits of their project's in-house lore will be shared with Rebuilt.
• Rules Lawyer: The developers have indicated that this will be House Sadras' main hat as a faction. They know their way around the very arcane Dunmer legal system better than anyone, and use this to get things their way.

Roscrea: Voices of the Deep

• Animal Motifs: Due to Roscrea's remote placement, Roscreans have always been more isolated from the other tribes of Men, and so, unlike their cousins in Skyrim, their cultural and religious practises remained untouched by Nedic influrences. As a result, the Roscreans still worship the old Atmoran pantheon, where the gods are still represented by different animal totems, and their society is structured around different the adherents to these animal cults fulfilling different functions in society.
  • The Bear Cult, with the Bear being analogous to Tsun, are warriors who protect Roscrean against any hostile outsiders. They have also managed to leverage this fuction as protectors to become the de facto rules of Roscrea by vassalizing the other cults.
  • The Owl Cult, with the Owl being analogous to Jhunal/Julianos, are scholars and mages decidated to teaching and gathering of knowledge and obscure and ancient magic from old Atmora. They also try to stay netural in matters of inter-cult politics.
  • The Hawk Cult, with the Hawk being analogous to Kyne/Kynareth, are tradionally nomads who roam Roscrea as goatherders. They are responsible for much supplying much of the food and animal-based products to the rest of the other cults.
  • The Whale Cult, with the Whale being analogous to Stuhn/Stendarr, are sailors and shipbuilders.
  • The Snake Cult, with the Snake being analogous Orkey/Arkay, are alchemists and healers.
• Culture Chop Suey: Since the Roscrean people share their heritage with the Nords, their culture will also take a lot of inspiration from Viking Age Scandinavia, but will also differ from it by having elements of Native American culture mixed in too.
• Endless Winter: Downplayed. In some of the teasers the developers have shown, there are subtle signs that the effects of the Frostfall, that has caused parts of Atmora to literally be stuck in the past, is beginning to affect the northernmost parts of Roscrea too.
• Impartial Purpose-Driven Faction: The Owl Cult are a group of semi-isolationist scholars decidated to the pursuit of spirtuality and knowledge, and as such they try to stay out of the politicking between the other Roscrean cults.
• Mithril: As far as everyone knows, Roscrea is home to Tamriel, if not Nirn's last known undepleted Mithril veins. This drives much of the conflict between the native Roscreans and the Imperial colonists, as the Empire has a great interest in securing a steady flow of Mithril for use in more advanced kinds of armors and weapons. The Roscreans, meanwhile, are fully aware of just how precious the metal is to the Empire, and walk a difficult balancing act of keeping distribution of it under tight control, but not so tight that it might provoke overt hostility from the Empire.
• Monument of Humiliation and Defeat: Roscrea never really experienced the Dragon War to the same degree as Atmora and Skyrim, as the local Dragon-adherents, the Dragon Cult was overthrown and hunted to extinction by the Bear Cult before they had much of a chance to turn into despots. The Bear Cult commemorated this event with a prominent statue in Frulthuul, which depicts a bear pushing over a dragon.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Downplayed. The Roscreans are not happy with the Imperial colonists being on their island, and are quick to expess let their dissatisfaction be known when they feel the colonial government steps out of its bounds or otherwise meddle in their internal affairs, but for the most part they have come to tolerate their presence.
• Our Founder: A statue of Uriel Septim V proudly keeps watch over Crane Shore. The native Roscreans has their own counterpart statue, one of the the legendary heroine, Ros, who looks towards the general direction of Atmora.
• Wandering Culture: The Hawk Cult has traditionally been this, as their culture has revolved around following their goat herds around the island with the flow of the seasons. The Bear Cult has, however, recently forced them to limit their nomadic activities and stick to a few designated spots. This, of course, doesn't sit well with the Hawk Cult and is breeding cultural confusion and discontent.

Valenwood: Lure of the Wilds

• Glowing Flora: One of the teased biomes of Valenwood is the Jodewood, a region where the flora is mainly defined by bioluminescent plants in all kinds of colors.
• Horned Humanoid: Some select Bosmer will have deer antlers growing out from heads. Amongst the Bosmer, having natural antlers is seen as a blessing from Y'ffre and a sign that the person having them is especially pious and loyal to the Green Pact, and as such, some Bosmer who aren't all that pious, but still want to appear like they are, wear headdresses or crowns with decorations meant to imitate antlers.
• Puppet State: Valenwood is nominally independent as a political entry within the Aldmeri Dominon, with the Camoran Dynasty, the Bosmer's traditional leaders, having been allowed to retrain their formal postions. Behind the scenes, however, they are obligated to defer to representatives from Alinor, who by fiat have been installed in the various Bosmeri courts and hold final executive power in political questions.
• Succession Crisis: With the recent passing of King Elebor Camoran, Valenwood is facing one as he left two potential heirs to the throne; one is Olalorn, his son, who is seeking to further strengthen Valenwood's ties with the Aldmeri Dominion, and the other is Casdra, his daugther, who is more aligned with the more traditionalist tribespeople and more likely to push for more autonomy for the Bosmer people.

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