Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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TheFeniX
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Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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The Queen of Dragons sails her army across the narrow sea. Jon Snow takes his place at WInterfell. Cersei is the first of her name and sits on the Iron Throne.

Miraak kicking up a fuss in Apocrypha and Tamriel caused quite a ruckus. Before Hermaeus Mora sends the Dragonborn on their way, he becomes aware of a resurgence of Dragons in another world, the dead walk the Earth, a man was eaten by his own dogs, Grumpkins are mentioned in passing. Normally, he wouldn't care too much about a few more dragons and other bullshit in some backwards rock, but the existence of a few pieces of trivia pique his interest. He is unable to exert any influence over this world or it's inhabitants due to whatever types of magic or Gods currently exist. So, he gives the Dragonborn the Black Book of Fire and Ice and upon reading he/she is transported to Westeros/Esos (yea, I know they don't work that way, bear with me here).

He wants to know 3 things:
1. What magic created the White Walkers? Specifics.
2. What tanning process the Faceless Men use to have their masks look so fancy?
3. What moisturizer formula does Melisandre use?

This world is in turmoil, people are dieing, it's leaders corrupt, and there seems to be no way home without Mora's intervention. Besides, slaying Draugr has become tired and the book seems to have given the Dragonborn the ability to understand Westeros/Essos languages. Why not stick around for a while and help out..... or take the whole thing for herself?

As time and space means nothing to Mora, two separate Dragonborn walk out of two Daedric portals, both having completed the base game and DLCs with appropriate leveling, equipment, and mastering of the Thu'um. They are also both of legendary level of their appropriate skill levels. If they bother with it, they are masters at it and have any and all perks that come with the skill. None of their actual magic works, but the Voice functions just fine and due to an act of the Old God Beth-es-da, inherent regeneration given by Paarthurnax's teaching means either Dragonborn will recover from any injury, no matter how severe within 1 hour. Instantly fatal wounds are still instantly fatal, but anything else will heal given time. The only exception is loss of limbs, including fingers/toes. But burnt skin, broken bones, anything of that nature will heal within one hour. They start with an elixir that one sip will keep them fed and watered for 24-hours. It has 30 uses. They start with enough valuable gems and other gold coins they could use to live comfortably if they wanted, but this is a dangerous time for a stranger to show up with a (merchant) king's ransom in valuable property.

They are unaware of each other currently and have no inherent animosity toward each other. And just because women seem to be doing ok for themselves lately in GoT: they are both female.
1. A Nord appears near Castle Black. Hail Companion. A werewolf. Her areas of expertise are all melee weapons, shields (block), and bows. She wears heavy armor and is an accomplished blacksmith. To make her blacksmithing actually useful, she can improve any weapons to Dragonglass/Valyrian steel quality and effects and can affect any repairs on her own equipment to keep it in top condition using native Fire and Ice metals/materials. As a Nord, her innate cold resistance means she can shrug off basic Northern weather. With some warm clothing and enough food/water, she could operate in a blizzard indefinitely, even sleeping in the open if she had to. Battlecry is ineffective against skilled warriors with a name (Jon Snow, etc), white walkers, or Dragons, but makes anything else flees in terror for 30 seconds.

2. A Redguard appears in an abandoned basement of Bravos. The leader of the Dark Brotherhood and member of the Thieves guild. One of the 3 Nightingales (Nocturnal's going to be pissed). She has a full set of Nightingale armor and a set of basic Thieves Guild leathers/basic clothes to blend in better. She is trained in 1-handed weapons and daggers, bows, and light armor and knows alchemy. Due to this, she can sample small bits of any ingredient, without damage, and learn of all it's possible uses in alchemy. She is also a master of speech, stealth, lockpicking, and pickpocket. However, the people of Essos and Westeros aren't as blind as their Tamriel counterparts. She can't just crouch in the middle of a group of people and strip them naked at will. Nor can she brew potions well outside the bounds of what we've seen in GoT. Her Adrenaline Rush perk (because the Skyrim version blows goats) will heal her instantly of any wound, even mortal ones (exempting something instantly fatal), make her stronger than The Mountain, capable of sprinting without fatigue at about 30mph, and triple her basic fighting speed. All for 60 seconds once per day.

A. Alternate option: Your Dragonborn comes through a portal with 1 (Vanilla) companion of your choice. In the event, like with Serana, they are some kind of Vampire or Werewolf, you may chose whether that transfers over. You exit the portal wherever you want, but at the timeframe given at the beginning of the OP, with the equipment you could realistically carry. Keep it sane, no stacking enchants and other guff to godlike levels. Named/unique weapons are ok.

Both are obviously masters of the Thum, but no shout that relies on conjuring entities works for them. Call Storm still creates weather and lightning effects, but no summoning the dead of Sovergarde or dragons. Dragonrend will ground any GoT dragons, but also anger them enough for 60 seconds that nothing will make them stop trying to kill the Dragonborn with the exception of something crazy like the Mother of Dragons jumping in front of them.

You control these characters (or in the case of the follower, give them orders). They know what you know, but you can't use information that you couldn't realistically know to get someone to trust you. Such as telling Jon Snow "The last time you saw your father, he said X" or confronting Cersei that she used the Green Fire to blow up a whole lot of people. You know the broadstrokes, not the specifics. Anything someone could realistically know being in that given area: Jon Snow is a bastard and is now in charge of Winterfell. Winter is Coming. The Faceless Men are based in Bravos. King's Landing got blowed up and now Cersei Lannister sits on the throne. Stuff of that nature.

Just remember, you never should have come here. I figured there would have been a nerd thread like this before, but I found nothing via search. So, hopefully I didn't miss something.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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1. Fucked against Dany's dragons, as they're too vastly different from Elder Scrolls dragons for Dragonrend to work. An absolute monster against White Walkers and wights, however, because ebony in the Elder Scrolls appears to pretty much be obsidian, which is known as dragon glass in Westeros. Daedric weapons are ebony infused with the soul of a daedra, so there is no reason to assume they will be ineffective against a White Walker. Nord resistance to frost will be a huge boon, as well as the shield perk that provides resistance to fire/frost/shock damage whenever equipped with a shield. Even without bullshittery you can have armor in Skyrim that will make the Mountains suit look pathetic in the resistance department. Adopting werewolf form will be more than enough to bitchslap the Mountain around, and he's the strongest human we've seen by an enormous margin. Added bonus of causing anybody who sees her in that form to be a bit freaked out by an eight or nine foot tall wolf person. Which werewolf totem would she go in with? That affects tactics available. Being able to summon a couple of spectral buddies would be incredibly potent. It's hard to say just how much info the Dragonborn can glean about any of these processes.

2. Getting into the Faceless Men would be fairly easy with the sorts of skills this Dragonborn would already have. Figuring out the process that created the White Walkers is another matter entirely. Dany's dragons will be an even larger problem for this Dragonborn, as she will lack the elemental bonuses the prior Dragonborn has. With the mechanics you offer for the adrenaline rush, she'll be able to slaughter anyone in combat. Especially if she invokes something like elemental fury. The Faceless Men would positively salivate over someone like this.

Both of these Dragonborn would have a few shouts that would be absolutely massive game changers. Storm Call would render any battle absolutely one-sided. Presumably, Westerosi aren't going to fair very well against getting struck by lightning. Morale would suffer, as well. Your opponent shouts at the sky and within seconds a thunderstorm forms and starts raining lightning down upon everyone nearby? That's huge.

Clear Skies would be excellent for dealing with god-awful weather. A huge boon if you need to get through the North. Blizzard? Just yell at the sky and the blizzard goes away in seconds.

Soul Tear would be one of those things that would just wreck anyone who witnessed it. You watch someone get killed by words alone, and then he rises up and turns against his former allies? That would fuck you up.

Summon Durnehviir would be incredibly handy. An unkillable dragon ally that will summon undead warriors for you? That's useful as hell.

Slow Time would allow the Dragonborn to move about, slaughtering people with near impunity for a short time...


Keeping the Thum would make the Dragonborn into a one person army, especially due to Storm Call. That alone would fell entire armies, end a siege in minutes, and just generally make the Dragonborn the single most powerful and dangerous being on the planet. The Night's King can raise an army of the dead, sure. The Dragonborn can summon a thunderstorm that blasts every living thing nearby with lightning. You can drop a wight. You can't just make a thunderstorm go away. Add in shit like Fire Breath and the Dragonborn is the ultimate slayer of wights, with ebony/daedric weaponry being more than adequate for butchering White Walkers.

In the context of Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire the Dragonborn, even without any magic beyond the Thum, is outright superhuman and insanely powerful. About the only creatures I can see realistically taking on the Dragonborn and winning are Dany's dragons. Not even a giant would be a match, seeing as our two choices can either turn into a werewolf and knock a giant to the ground and shred it or just put an arrow through its eye from range. Once you introduce the Thum, the dragons are the only chance unless you can catch the Dragonborn unawares and throw overwhelming force immediately. It's hard to say if getting struck by lightning would immediately take Drogon out of commission. Durnehviir could be helpful against the trio, though.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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TheFeniX wrote:Both are obviously masters of the Thum, but no shout that relies on conjuring entities works for them. Call Storm still creates weather and lightning effects, but no summoning the dead of Sovergarde or dragons. Dragonrend will ground any GoT dragons, but also anger them enough for 60 seconds that nothing will make them stop trying to kill the Dragonborn with the exception of something crazy like the Mother of Dragons jumping in front of them.
I excluded conjuration based shouts due to the randomness of having extra players in the mix and trying to work out how Skyrim dragons would compete with GoT dragons, but also because I wanted conjuring out of the mix completely because it's so damn broken. And, for this scenario, I say that Dragonrend will at least ground any dragon for a limited amount of time, but also make them furious enough that, for the time it lasts, they wouldn't back down unless it would endanger Dany. This keeps her, if she so chooses, from just sending a single Dragon (or all three) to do strafing runs against the Dragonborn with impunity without considerable risk.

This also means the Dragons aren't the huge trump card against anyone the Dragonborn(s) decide to ally with. Holding up in a castle would work when attackers risk a dragon being forced to land inside the walls and attempt to kill one of the occupants. However, this does risk at least one being offed fairly easily if Dany decides she's the only one who deserves to have the blood of the dragon.

I had another Draft up with a preliminary setup of what I would do with my Dragonborns, but it got eaten somehow. I'll get around to typing something up again in there near future.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

Post by Napoleon the Clown »

Ah, missed that part.

Still, Storm Call is going to be hugely destructive. Think of what could happen if all you had to do was shout three syllables to summon a thunderstorm that will kill everyone involved in the battle. And as described, Dragonrend would only really come into play for grounding a dragon for stabby stabby time, which it's hard to say if Dany's dragons are especially susceptible to that anymore. Storm Call would be the best way to deal with them, most likely.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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You made me load an old save. Good man. Popped a 3 word Storm Call at Karthspire Camp. It's still as stupidly powerful as I remember, but the lightning strikes are fairly random (can hit nothing at times) and can range from rapid fire to fairly sparse. The wiki says they come every 3-6 seconds. It's not guaranteed to wipe out entire armies, and it can even hit friendlies. It however would do considerable damage to tightly packed formations and would be an amazingly effective terror weapon. Like you said, three words and the weather changes dramatically, instantly, and your buddies are randomly eating lightning bolts. It would also turn any ground hazardous fairly quickly. Dirt and Sand would become a quagmire. Cities without decent flood design would flood nearly instantly.

That said, it's a 3 minute effect on a 10 minute cooldown (longest in the game). But I don't know if the cooldown on the Thu'um is a purely gameplay contrivance or not. Supposedly the some of the Greybeards have mastered so much of the Thu'um they can't talk at all without knocking down walls.

If I had to make a judgement call, I would say at the least, Shout stacking is out. If the Dragonborn wants to call down the Storm indefinately, that's fine. She could keep it up 30% of the time anyway. But if she decides to Dragonrend or Dragon Aspect, the Storm dries up immediately. Though this could lead to the hilarity of the Dragonborn just FUS-RO-DAHing their way across the land. Better pack some throat lozenges.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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I'm not sure that a soldier in this setting could stand up to a lightning bolt, so 180 seconds of that would logically kill a lot of people. And scare the piss out of any survivors. Law of averages puts that at about 51 bolts, and of course the torrential downpour that springs forth from nowhere. Morale would be gone, each bolt of lighting would realistically hurt people within a decent distance of where it landed... The in-game version has to be scaled down from what it "really" does, otherwise that's a freaking tiny storm with pathetic bolts of lightning. Given how much they compress Skyrim and the cities, along with their populations, it's not too absurd to assume that they're doing the same here.

As to effectiveness in a situation where there are armies involved... I took the opportunity, once, to grab all three words before completing the Civil War. Damn is it helpful for clearing the forts you need to take a hold. Sure, it kills your "buddies" too, but why should you care? You're the Dragonborn.

In a situation where the Dragonborn could run around with an Amulet of Talos and the mask Morokei (unbugged, obviously), she would have a 40% reduction in cooldown on shouts. So, basically wait 3 minutes after Storm Call ends and spam it again. And given the ungodly combat abilities a Dragonborn attains, or being able to use the shout and then find a good hiding place...

Fire Breath into packed soldiers would be hideously effective. Light 'em up, boys!
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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TheFeniX wrote: 1. A Nord appears near Castle Black. Hail Companion. A werewolf. Her areas of expertise are all melee weapons, shields (block), and bows. She wears heavy armor and is an accomplished blacksmith. To make her blacksmithing actually useful, she can improve any weapons to Dragonglass/Valyrian steel quality and effects and can affect any repairs on her own equipment to keep it in top condition using native Fire and Ice metals/materials. As a Nord, her innate cold resistance means she can shrug off basic Northern weather. With some warm clothing and enough food/water, she could operate in a blizzard indefinitely, even sleeping in the open if she had to. Battlecry is ineffective against skilled warriors with a name (Jon Snow, etc), white walkers, or Dragons, but makes anything else flees in terror for 30 seconds.
Hmm. 'Can create Valyrian-steel weapons at will' is a pretty powerful ability, and one that could fairly easily be parlayed into a high position of authority basically anywhere - particularly in the North, where they know all too well that they'll need a lot of semimagical weapons shortly. This Dragonborn, I suspect, joins the Rangers of the Night's Watch (because Bethesda didn't program in gender-specific questlines) and ends up defeating Night's King in an epic battle on top of the Wall, conveniently staged such that only about twenty people are present at any one time.
2. A Redguard appears in an abandoned basement of Bravos. The leader of the Dark Brotherhood and member of the Thieves guild. One of the 3 Nightingales (Nocturnal's going to be pissed). She has a full set of Nightingale armor and a set of basic Thieves Guild leathers/basic clothes to blend in better. She is trained in 1-handed weapons and daggers, bows, and light armor and knows alchemy. Due to this, she can sample small bits of any ingredient, without damage, and learn of all it's possible uses in alchemy. She is also a master of speech, stealth, lockpicking, and pickpocket. However, the people of Essos and Westeros aren't as blind as their Tamriel counterparts. She can't just crouch in the middle of a group of people and strip them naked at will. Nor can she brew potions well outside the bounds of what we've seen in GoT. Her Adrenaline Rush perk (because the Skyrim version blows goats) will heal her instantly of any wound, even mortal ones (exempting something instantly fatal), make her stronger than The Mountain, capable of sprinting without fatigue at about 30mph, and triple her basic fighting speed. All for 60 seconds once per day.
This is a little less straightforward. Probably, she takes a boat to King's Landing and gets distracted by sidequests until the Targaryen fleet shows up, at which point Daenerys gives her a dragon to ride and they both head North to wreck the undead in - again - an epic confrontation involving at most twenty people at a time.
A. Alternate option: Your Dragonborn comes through a portal with 1 (Vanilla) companion of your choice. In the event, like with Serana, they are some kind of Vampire or Werewolf, you may chose whether that transfers over. You exit the portal wherever you want, but at the timeframe given at the beginning of the OP, with the equipment you could realistically carry. Keep it sane, no stacking enchants and other guff to godlike levels. Named/unique weapons are ok.
Heh. My usual Dragonborn is an extremely powerful battlemage doubling in assassination tactics and almost always an accomplished vampire lord. In Westeros, (s)he may as well be immortal and invincible even without the silliness Skyrim allows and encourages. Whoever she wants dead... simply is, without any plausible chance of survival; this absolutely includes supernatural ice age doom-zombies. What are they going to do that's scarier than a high-level Draugr Deathlord? Probably she ends up as the Lich-Queen of Westeros.
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Re: Dragonborn in Westeros and Essos [Spoilers]

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Esquire wrote:Hmm. 'Can create Valyrian-steel weapons at will' is a pretty powerful ability, and one that could fairly easily be parlayed into a high position of authority basically anywhere - particularly in the North, where they know all too well that they'll need a lot of semimagical weapons shortly. This Dragonborn, I suspect, joins the Rangers of the Night's Watch (because Bethesda didn't program in gender-specific questlines) and ends up defeating Night's King in an epic battle on top of the Wall, conveniently staged such that only about twenty people are present at any one time.
Joining The Watch seems a bit exclusive for the Dragonborn. No guild you can join in Skyrim really requires that kind of commitment. The members are still allowed a fairly large amount of freedom, even those with ties to the Daedra. In fact, even Daedric champions are allowed a large amount of freedom because said Daedra only exert their influence for limited amounts of times. They may call upon you again, but that's about it.

Not to mention the fair amount of sexism that exists in GoTs, versus the lack of sexism that exists in Tamriel. The Dragonborn may not have any interest in pledging allegiance to a "no girls allowed" club, but would more than interested in at least working with them while their goals are synced.

I would say, even with the cold resistance, there's not much good reason to just march North alone, or with allies, past the wall. It's better left to setup defenses either at the Wall or Winterfell and just let Winter come. Jon seems more than accepting of fighting women, Ygritte for just one obvious example and a quick showing of the Thu'um would help shut up any naysayers. Since this group has already seen magic such as White Walkers and Giants, it's a good bet they'd take the Dragonborn's support. It'd be suicide not to.

With an army backing or her backing an army, the Night King is in for a rough go at it. Already noted about the powers the Dragonborn wield and she's fought numerous undead, even high-powered and ancient Dragon Priests. I assume Dragon Fire is effective against Walkers, at least the show kind of hints at that. A few Yol Toor Shul's would be effective. And something I didn't even think of when making the OP: Dragonglass arrowheads. Mastery with the bow in Skyrim is... pretty god damned overpowered. There's no reason she (or even other trained archers) can't pick off the leaders from stupidly long range (the player can hit nearly any stationary target at the draw distance due to the way the game doesn't require you to adjust for range) while they sit on their horses trying to look cool. The zombies can be dealt with by standard forces. So... I should have rethought my blacksmithing bonus. Whoops.

The worst part might be marching South after everything is said and done. The Dragonborn is a wanderer and, at least in my experience, would be unlikely to just settle down in the the North. That could piss off/scare a whole lot of people. If Dany (or Cersei) gets wind of a one-woman army whose words can shatter walls, outright trying to kill her might take priority. And, by design of the OP, another Brienne sized woman wandering Westeros in heavy armor and badass looking weapons is going to get noticed.
This is a little less straightforward. Probably, she takes a boat to King's Landing and gets distracted by sidequests until the Targaryen fleet shows up, at which point Daenerys gives her a dragon to ride and they both head North to wreck the undead in - again - an epic confrontation involving at most twenty people at a time.
Hell, Bravos alone has enough side-quests to get lost in, much less the rest of Essos. I have no idea how I would play this out. It's not a given a master assassin and thief would care about being a general of the Dragon Queen. Too out in the open and she's already dealt with 2 major betrayals from powerful guild leaders. Manipulating things through the background might be much more up her alley.

The Faceless Men may need to be wiped out or brought to heel. She may or may not assume the Many-Faced-God is an extension of the Night Mother. That said, her skills are way above that of what we've seen from the Faceless Men. Her only real disadvantage is not having their masks, instead relying on insane stealth. But she's still a Redguard Woman at all times. Since slavery is looked down upon in the Empire, she might consider just waging a shadow war against the Masters.

Would love to see how she deals with a Faceless Men contract on her head though. What would they charge for that though?

Sidenote: maybe Daario can find his replacement Paramour.
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