SoS:Shadows Over Skyrim
About
Return to the province of Skyrim in a way you never have before with this addition to the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Tabletop Roleplaying Game. New guilds provide game masters with a variety of benefits and perks to give to the player characters, and present inspirational quest ideas to help form campaigns centered on these stories. A hoard of new items, including the iconic Dragon Priest masks, provide treasures for players to find, and new monsters help create the memorable fights to find them.
Shadows Over Skyrim is primarily focused on aiding the Game Master build a believable version of Skyrim, and will provide options that are likely to function well in any setting involving the northern province, be it any of the time periods found within the series, or beyond. These pages do not contain options for players, instead focusing on utilizing Skyrim as a backdrop for stories to be had at a roleplaying game.
Chapter 1 includes a list of the guilds found within Skyrim, complete with descriptions, notable characters, tips for using them in your game, perks of being a member, quests, and other options to aid the Game Master with roleplaying guilds effectively.
Chapter 2 hosts a wealth of information about the different holds of Skyrim, complete with quests to guide your party towards new adventures in Skyrim.
Chapter 3 comes with a variety of items, old and new, related to Skyrim and beyond. You’re likely to find an object your players would love to have in their hands, or an interesting artifact might help you come up with a quest for your party to obtain it. Be creative!
Chapter 4 is the largest chapter in the book, including an enormous quantity of monsters and NPCs to populate the adventures to be had within the region. Includes plenty of returning fan favorites.
Welcome to the Frozen North
“Skyrim is now host to giant, flying lizards and two-legged cat-men... and you're surprised by me? Yes. I just talked. And am continuing to do so.”
―Barbas, the talking dog
North of the beating heart of Tamriel, east of the great stone castles, west of the ashen lands, south of the ghostly sea. This is the location of the hearth of men, Skyrim. As the northernmost province in Tamriel, the geographical location of Skyrim’s landmass is the cause for its inclement cold weather, deep snows, floating glaciers, low foliage, towering pines, and mountainous landscapes, all of which have fostered a culture ―and biological tendency― that highly prizes strength, hardiness, and enhances competition, allowing large, bulky and savage creatures to thrive in this greatly hostile environment. The men that call this land home are the Nords, which tend to be strong, proud, and stubborn. In their great immaculate halls they reign over small cities as honorable jarls, awaiting any challenge that may lay before them.
The Reign of Snow
The province of Skyrim has always had a harsh climate that can be difficult to withstand. However, this is little deterrent for the numerous settlers that have laid claim to the bitter north-lands. Long before the first era, the frozen wastes served as the foundation of a wealthy and prosperous society, inhabited by proud creatures known as snow elves, an ancient race of Mer that has nearly entirely disappeared in more recent eras, becoming the savage creatures now called the Falmer.
During the late Merethic era, the Atmorans, an ancient race of Men, would land at the northern coast of Skyrim in an colonizing effort led by the Atmoran warrior Ysgramor, founding the city of Saarthal. Though for a time there was relative peace between the Snow Elves and the Atmoran, this uneasy agreement would not last long as rising tensions would eventually conclude in The Night of Tears; an assault on Saarthal led by the Snow Elves which would end up with the eradication off the majority of Atmorans living in the city at the time.
First Empire of Man
After The Night of Tears, a surviving Ysgramor returned with the legendary war band of warriors who would eventually come to be known as The Five Hundred Companions, retaking the city of Saarthal and claiming much of the northern province’s territory for themselves at alarming speeds, thus obtaining a much firmer hold of the northern province, which allowed the colonizers to become fully separate from the continent of Atmora, and to establish The First Empire of the Nords, leaving the Snow Elves to escape into the depths of the undergrounds with their dwemer brethren, forming a one-sided pact that would eventually seal their fate.
An altercation with the known as The Dragon Wars would cause many deaths, but gave the Nords access to the Thu’um, also known as the Voice, a gift which allowed mankind to triumph over their draconic oppressors, and gave them a noticeable edge in combat when compared to the rest of the creatures in Tamriel.
Now with an established control of the northern province, the Nords would begin expanding their influence to the neighboring regions of High Rock, Morrowind, the Nibenay Valley, as well as a handful of Dwemer City-Sates, in a series of military and political movements that would be known as The Skyrim Conquests, which put great political and military power square in the hands of the northern province.
However, this hard-earned influence quickly succumbed after the death of High King Borgas, who was killed during a Wild Hunt, and whose death sparked the War of Succession, causing Skyrim’s newly- held positions to crumble under opposition, or internal strife.
Contents
| Miscellaneous Creatures | NPCs | Appendix |
|---|---|---|
