Excerpt from The Immigrant's Guide:
There's no getting around it. Next I must tackle the delicate issue of race in Skyrim. First I want to say that all of these people are people. None of them are all good, none entirely evil. Most are fairly honest and decent. They bleed, they sweat, they fart and they cry. Some are dreadful snobs, some are thorough scoundrels, some are selfless healers, and none of these characteristics are pinned to any one race. Everybody just wants to get through their day as best they can and maybe have a drink or two at the end of it. That having been said…
If you are an elf, the good news is, elves in Skyrim are not forced to choose between servitude and poverty in the cities or living secretively in the forests. They are also allowed to own weapons and wield them in self-defense or as the tools of their trade. I have met elves at all levels of society, and yes, some are servants but others are merchants, business owners, mages, courtiers, priests, and even dignitaries. The bad news is, you will not blend in seamlessly among them. The elves here have a harder, bonier appearance and most are rather taller than you. I do not want to dissuade the elves among you from crossing the Bridge—far from it!—but it will be challenging.
Broadly stated, there are three main categories: Human, Elven (also known as Mer) and Other. 'Other' is the simplest to define.
First, there are the Argonians, a race of lizard people. They have tails, scales, cold blood, and can breathe water. Some have feathers where we have hair and others have spikes or horns. They may not be very friendly at first, as their race has a long and troubled history of being enslaved, and they face prejudice from some factions. If a city boasts Argonians among its general population, you can be sure you will be welcome. It is a sign of acceptance and sophistication. Argonians tend to gravitate to trades which work in and around water, for obvious reasons, and are miserable in the cold, which in Skyrim means nine months out of the year in most areas and twelve months out of twelve in the rest of it.
Second, but second to none, as they themselves will tell you, are the Khajiit. Some claim they were once elves who were blessed with exceptional grace, beauty, and speed by the goddess Azura and turned into…large, intelligent cats who go about on two legs. As cats are exceptionally graceful, etcetera, one can hardly argue with that claim! They too have a long and troubled history of enslavement and face even more prejudice than the Argonians. They are not allowed to take up residence in most cities, or even to enter unescorted, but that is beginning to change. Expect them to speak of themselves in the third person; if a Khajiit ever says "I am glad to see you again," rather than "Kharjo is glad to see you again," check to make sure you haven't sprouted a tail and fur, as such intimacy is reserved for family. Most Khajiit are traveling caravaneers, but they make exceptional warriors and yes, J'zargo, exceptional mages as well.
Next: Humans. It's really only hard-line Nords who make a great deal out of the different races of humans. Personally, I find it hard to tell the difference, and given that many people now have parents of different races, how do you define the offspring? Can you say that someone came from Cyrodiil or Hammerfell when their parents were born in Skyrim and they've never set foot out of the country? There are Nords, tall, light-skinned, and nigh impervious to cold. Imperials are shorter, darker and prone to being extremely lucky. Then there are Redguards, medium height and quite dark, gifted in all the arts of war, and finally the Bretons. Bretons trace their origins to the time when humans were enslaved by the Ancient High Elves. They were 'Bred-on' or 'Begot-on' slave women by their Elven masters, who sought to add human fertility to their own race, but as the resultant offspring looked more human than elven, they instead created a new race of humans with a greater aptitude for magic.
Most Fereldan humans will blend into the human population seamlessly. I'm from the Anderfels, and everyone takes me for a Nord.
Elves: There are several races of elves, four who you will meet on a regular basis, one which still exists in a degraded form, one which doesn't seem to live anywhere around Skyrim, and one which is entirely extinct. These are the Altmer, or High Elves, taller than many humans, golden skinned, and possessing a great deal of magic. Any High Elf who refers to themselves as 'Thalmor' is going to be a horrible snob who believes all other races, including other Elven races, are inferior. The Bosmer, or Wood Elves, are most like the Dalish (I do not say 'identical to'), living more in tune with the natural world, smaller, with light brown to light green skin (I did not say identical!). They are exceptional archers, hunters and woodsmen. Extreme hard-line Bosmers never eat or drink plants of any kind for religious reasons and have come up with ways of fermenting milk and animal blood to make alcoholic beverages (remember, not identical!). They also have to eat whatever they kill, so it is wise to find out how religious a Bosmer is before you accept any dinner invitations they may extend to you.
The Dunmer ran afoul of the same goddess who created the Khajiit and were turned grey-skinned as a result. The exact shade of grey ranges from medium to nearly black, sometimes with hints of green, blue or even lavender. Those tints are seen as a mark of beauty, rather like being blonde or red-haired among humans. In terms of height, they fall in between the Altmer and the Bosmer. Displaced from their homeland of Morrowind by a volcanic eruption, they, like you, emigrated to Skyrim, where they are the only race confined to an alienage, but only in one city, Windhelm, and only if they choose to live there. Elsewhere they are free to live where and as they choose. Some have achieved success as merchants, mages, and mercenaries, but they face more prejudice than anyone but the Argonians and the Khajiit.
The Orismer, or as they are more commonly known, the Orcs, are physically rather like a cross between elves and the Qunari. Very tall and powerfully built, they have pointed ears, tusks and darkish skin which ranges from greyish-brown to greenish-brown. Most live in strongholds where they can live in accordance with their own ways, which includes polygamy. Most chieftains have more than one wife, and among the elven races, their race alone seems to have escaped the curse of dwindling fertility. Orc strongholds are the one place I have ever seen even one elven child, let alone several in the same family. Given that their race was supposedly the result of a curse, it hardly seems like a curse in that respect.
The Maomer are the Sea Elves. They reportedly live in the sea and have nearly transparent flesh. As Skyrim's only coastline is to the extreme north and choked with icebergs, it seems likely they all live somewhere warmer. I have never met one.
Where, you will be asking, are the Dwarves? The answer is: Nowhere. The Dwemer are extinct, and I doubt very much that the Dwemer were what we call Dwarves. For one thing, all their artifacts, including armor, beds, and chairs in Dwemer ruins, indicate they were of about the same height as the Dunmer. They were also an elven race, with the same pointed ears that all elves have. Some say that they were called dwarves by the giants. (who are another story entirely. Personally, my theory is that they are actually Bosmer men who suffer from a rare congenital hereditary disease which causes them to grow several feet taller than normal. They have distinctly elven features and there are no giant women. The Bosmers are very silent on the subject.) At any rate, they were technologically advanced, focused on science and logic over religion and magic, and incurred the wrath of Azura, like the Dunmer. They also seemed to have mistreated the Falmer, or Snow Elves, when the Falmer came to them for refuge.
Moving on to the Falmer…Many centuries ago, the Falmer were driven to seek refuge with the Dwemer as a result of conflicts with the Nords. The Dwemer did not welcome them as kin, but as slaves who they forced to take toxins which rendered them blind, degraded their intellect, and caused them to become twisted and stunted. The few I have seen living in Dwemer ruins are pitiful to behold, but extremely dangerous, the more so because they are still very powerful mages. They also keep Charaus as domesticated animals. No one living has ever seen a Snow Elf as they should be, but by all accounts they were shorter and paler than any of the races now extant. That is where you come in…
A/N: Clearly Anders hasn't met the two last remaining Snow Elves yet and therefore, the events of Dawnguard haven't yet taken place. He may also have made some mistakes, seeing as he is not a native. Or it may be a plot point dropped in on purpose.
Thank you very much for your reviews. (Especially Ceg. Your last review made me laugh a lot.) I know I am getting behind on my review replies, for which I apologize. From several of my reviews, I gather that the excerpts are favorite parts of the story. Would you like to see them more often?