[IDEA] Intersection of Race/Locality, Law and Corruption

[Jayleia]

OK, these are all kind of related, some sexytime content, some vanilla gameplay...inspired by the idea of dirty guardsmen mentioned in this thread  and the Trade And Barter mod on Nexus which adds to the potential of varied treatment of different races.

 

If you're a Breton in Markarth, you'll probably be treated like crap by the ruling Nord.  If you're an elf in Windhelm they'll treat you like crap.  You might be harassed by some citizens, or even attacked...and the guard might side with them if you defend yourself, shopkeepers might *ahem* drive hard bargains before they even consider buying stuff from you, and even then, gouge you.

 

In Solitude, Markarth or Whiterun, you should be safe from most racial prejudice (Solitude and Whiterun are too cosmopolitan to have time for that crap, while Markarth is too run down to afford to care...hell, you're spending a fortune building a manor near there).

 

There should probably be more laws inside cities:  Having a weapon or damaging spell readied in public during daylight hours should, barring defense of self or others, be illegal (nighttime is more dangerous, with Vampires and thieves and brigands...), daylight should, barring Dragon Assaults called up by Deadly Dragons, be relatively safe inside the city walls.  This would be a minor crime and about half the time, guards would ignore it, the rest of the time, half might accept bribes of gold or...services...while the other half might send you to the dungeons.  This would be altered by race and locality.

 

Shouting in city limits, even if its Clear Skies or Animal Allegiance should be illegal especially at night...except if you're defending yourself.  But having a weapon drawn in the presence of the Jarl, however, should automatically bring the guard down around you.

 

Because some laws may be enforced haphazardly, you might commit crimes and not realize it, earning a bounty on your head.  Or, since the cops are Devious...they may have other ideas for you...

[enkephalin07]

I can't help thinking of ways the player can abuse their Thaneship. The guard can get uneasy about you injuring the local persons and property, but wouldn't bat an eye over the assault and/or rape of someone they consider a second-class citizen at best.

[carnifex]

Skyrim could really use some prejudice based on race, faction membership and such. There's so much prejudice, mistrust and hatred in the world's background, and yet absolutely none of that carries through to actual gameplay. This is no real surprise considering how previous TES games had handled the impact the player race has on the game world (namely, they didn't), but particularly disappointing this time around thanks to the civil war.

[GaiusTerminus]

Again I want to point out SSO Crime and Punishment, whose author made some very cool framework before real life caught up. One of the bits that stuck out to me was that you got treated differently (very, very badly) in Winterhold if you were a mage, and differently in Windhelm if you were a Nord (not so badly).

[Jayleia]

Again I want to point out SSO Crime and Punishment, whose author made some very cool framework before real life caught up. One of the bits that stuck out to me was that you got treated differently (very, very badly) in Winterhold if you were a mage, and differently in Windhelm if you were a Nord (not so badly).

 

Very nice framework.  But I'd like to go beyond guards to make vendors and random NPCs respond based on what you are.

[Shinkoku]

Not sure about having different treatment based on localizations, but Resplendent - The Races Package adds a trait to dark elves, where they get worse prices from non-dark elves but normal (or possibly better? Haven't played it as a dark elf in a while) from other dark elves. You can probably look at how they did that (or ask the mod author) to figure out how to add racial biases, at least on a Nords-hate-specific-races basis. 

 

Maybe also add in your clothes impacting your treatment? Like rags not only get snide comments, but guard harrasment, and if you're wearing fine clothes people aren't as paranoid about you possibly stealing. (And some shop owners - I'm thinking Radiant Raiment specifically - might outright refuse to deal with someone in poor clothes) And speech-craft is more effective when wearing nicer clothes/armor.