I don't think Nemesis can just jump in and infect anyone. I mean, Lea, sure. Maeve, sure... But Mab? Ferrovax? Doubt it. If so, Mab wouldn't have bothered getting near Lea to cure her, she just would've had her taken out.

 

I think it's less about power, more about Nemesis not being a juggernaut. It's a spy, an inside operator that can apparently sneak through the Outer Gates. I don't think it's meant as a brute force type of creature, which is why more subtle approaches don't work in getting rid of it.

 

I actually detailed an idea for this on another forum several months ago. I'll see if I can hunt it down.

 

That would be nice; it's always good to get another perspective on stuff even if I do have a decent idea threshed out.

 

The basic idea I had was that Tamriel was similar to the planet Carna from Butcher's other series, Codex Alera--that is to say, it's the destination for a series of cosmic drop off points, effectively what's on the other side of a bunch of 'Bermuda Triangles.' This is the reason for the vast number of different species gathered there, but it's also cut off from the Nevernever, which canonically doesn't go far out past the Moon, which is how they stayed independent of the Dresden Files Factions. Many of these beings came from places in the Nevernever or on Earth, though, of course, not all--and, naturally, many came from widely different time periods.

In particular regard to the Dovahkiin, Alduin is a capital D Dragon like Ferrovax who, along with a number of other, benevolent or otherwise, powerful beings, found himself on Tamriel long ago, maybe even near the beginning. The Dragons, including the Dragonborn, are scions, either becoming actual Dragons (like Alduin and possibly Paarthurnax) or just little dragons (many faceless guys). After defeating his Brother Alduin in Sovngarde, the Dovahkiin tries to return home, but something goes wrong (basically, the Vus part of NAHL DAAL VUS) and he gets trapped in one of those Bermuda Triangles, going to opposite direction, thus ending up on either Earth or in part of the Nevernever connected to it.

There are several places in Dresden Files canon this can occur, but which is the best I'm not certain. If one wished to stay connected to the books, the most obvious choices are either in Dead Beat, in which the boundary between the mortal plane and the Afterlife was especially weak, or perhaps, for maximum confusion on everyone's part, a year before Cold Days, when everyone thought Harry was dead and the destruction of the Red Court had everyone going crazy. If you didn't stick to the books, the possibilities expand immensely, but I'm not sure when to have him appear, though it could easily be long before DF canon, which could itself be interesting, just to see the Dovahkiin in, say, Ancient Rome, or interacting with the Merlin or the young Courts or what have you.

Beings of interest on the DF side of things, besides everyone, probably include Odin and Ferrovax, due to being either a decedent of lost Nordic peoples from Earth or a lost Dragon, but due to his power, he'd inevitably draw the interests of many.

Anyway, thoughts?

 

THe whole dragon soul seems very like a mantle of power. SO it could be a dragon version of the knight mantle.
Could the hero teach his kind of magic to others? Even if it is only to those that have a touch of magic, that would allow the paranet to learn a bunch of magics that would allow them to fight bad guys.

 

I was going to put in the Dragonborn having a heft dislike of Daedra in general due to their tendency to fuck mortals over; having a dragon soul and all pride is a fatal flaw and being toyed around doesn't sit well with him. Deadric Princes know and they don't really give a damn, in fact they go on to pissing him off on purpose.
The game changer is in the form of Hermaeus Mora who really just wants to collect more knowledge and gives the Dragonborn a hint as to where the Heart of Lorkhan may be. With the 'heart of a god' in the works and three Elder Scrolls to boot the Daedra grow uneasy, especially factoring the reality warping ability of the Thu'um and Dragonrend which is the essential Kryptonite for your average immortal. Afraid that blatant meddling against his son may annoy Akatosh they use the Elder Scrolls which the children of the time god are especially susceptible to (Parthanux said so in regards to its use against Alduin).

As to how he gets to the DF universe I'm thinking of pointing at the somewhat similarities between Oblivion and Nevernever with the Elder Scrolls being 'pieces of creation' they can be used (well three of them + Daedra power) to send somebody beyond creation, or simply to a point beyond the realm of Oblivion...straight into the Outside.

I haven't decided how much impact the MC is going to have in the events of the book, largely by and by doing his own thing but I have a few ideas regarding the Red Court war especially with the Bow of Auri-El coming into play, so I'll probably start 5< from the first book (might have to read the whole series again...it's been quite a while).

The cosmic drop-off point idea is quite interesting and might actually patch up a few weak points regarding the arrival of Dovahkiin. I'll let you know if I decide to integrate it into my story and give appropriate kudos.

Thanks for the thoughts!

 

A Mantle, perhaps, but definitely not one like the Knights. The Dragonborn was, after all, the stronger then all the Dragons, at least eventually.

It fits better, surprisingly, as exactly what it is in Canon--he's got a Dragon's soul. We know they can appear as they wish to; he just happens to be stuck in the form of a human.

Which, honestly, makes sense, since that's the form best for interacting with...anyone on Tamriel.

Regardless, onto the main idea. There are several things to be addressed for the fic, chief amongst them, lolpowerlevels.

The Dragonborn isn't just another minion or something--he's Ysmir, the Dragon of the North and a bunch of other titles and he's a major player. He's more likely to be a backer then a minion, surprisingly, putting him in a rather different position then in the game.

But how much so? It really depends, not just on how much you think of the Lore, but also on what type of Dragonborn you use.

For example, here's something I wrote for someone on another forum:

While rather long-winded, the fact remains that all of those are titles the Dragonborn can canonically obtain. What do they mean for a fic like this?

While the Bloodkin and Bard things are unlikely to matter, what would being linked to so many immensely powerful--but also immensely limited--beings entail, after he finds himself in a new world? This is, after all, a chance for the Daedra here. How does Hircine react when the Dragonborn finds himself in a world of predators? How does Azure react, considering the presence of the Vampires and undead, as well as the influence of dusk and dawn in the DF? What of the Prince of Plots or Clavicus Vile, who'd have a field day? And the others? They're influence is limited, but by the terms of the Oblivion War, they'd be connected to Earth now, as would the Aedra.

While being a Thane has no direct meaning, it is something which the Dragonborn seems to endeavor towards--obtaining authority and rights in as many places as possible? That could play into the terms of the Accords.

And what of being a Vampire Hunter in a world of vampires? And if he's the Harbinger of the Companions, would he try to spread his brand of Lycanthropy? Or connect with other types of werewolves?

What of being an Archmage in a world with entirely new types of magic? Would he seek out the knowledge? Or of being the Listener? Would he spread the Night Mother's ritual? And will he try to establish a new Thieves Guild?

The Dragonborn will pretty much inevitably gain power--but how does the power he's already obtained play into things?

And also, what organizations would he look for power in this new world?

 

Sorry for going off-track a bit, but that's actually one of my major complaints about TES games: how one fucking character is able and expected to be the Master Of Everything in whatever province the game takes place in. "Oh I'm the head of the Mages Guild and the Thieves Guild and the Fighter's Guild and I'm the head assassin as well as The Chosen One™." It's like the worst Mary Sue shit ever. I would strongly recommend that anyone planning on bringing their Skyrim character over somewhere to ignore all this extraneous side stuff and just focus on what they did in the main quest.

 

Eh. I agree in spirit, but not quite to that extent. Characters definitely need to be limited, but they don't need to ignore all the various extraneous stuff. IMO, picking one, two tops, of the various guild/organization questlines to include in the character's backstory is the best way to go about it.

 

^This.

Also to slightly add on to it I'd say pick ones that are at least semi-congruent with one another. Thieves Guild with Dark Brotherhood, Companions with Legion/Stormcloaks etc. etc.

Not even talking about the sheer number of titles/positions you can gain, one of the big things that bugged me was how you could get titles doing things that were literally the dead opposite of everything you'd done so far. Just as a for instance The Legion and The Dark Brotherhood. It seems more than a little silly to me you can go through all of the "I serve the Emperor, crush the rebellion blah, blah, blah" and then go right around, sign up with The Dark Brotherhood and start murdering competent and loyal Imperial officers and end with not only murdering the Emperor you swore everlasting loyalty to but murdering the Emperor who was a fucking boss.

 

Any mortal being more powerful than the dragons would completely ruin the balance of power in the magical world. Pretty sure Ferrovax is stronger than Mab... Having some punk mortal even stronger than both, makes no sense whatsoever.

Would probably be wise to limit his powers a bit, or the story's gonna suck.

 

His power level's over 9000!!!

Limiting his powers...probably yeah, but it's quite simple to put your own, original and non game breaking spin on the power of the Thu'um (which is in the end what gave him the ability to go around killing dragons left right and center). After all the mechanics behind it were never explained or elaborated, not even what caused the cool down exactly before the next shout.
As for the balance of power, I'm working on that issue, the reason why I'm rereading several of the books from the series.

And yes I will be sensible about his affiliations too.

 

The Dragonborn, after he's eaten Alduin, would be a terrible protagonist. There's just no challenge for him at that point since he's an unconstrained mortal with god-like power. He could become the catalyst for a story though.

If he, say, turned up in the Nevernever and immediately killed a Dragon, eating his soul in the process. That would terrify the rest of the Dragons, upset whatever balance of power there is before/during/after the Red Court War. The story wouldn't necessarily focus on beating the Dragonborn, just trying to get him to stop killing everything and join the supernatural community. Oh, and stopping Ferrovax from wrecking shit too.

Otherwise I'd suggest bringing the Dragonborn in before he kills Alduin, possibly even bringing Alduin over as well. That way you can have the Dovahkiin as a viable protagonist without him being overwhelmingly powerful compared to everything else out there.

 

To be fair, the Dragonborn doesn't necessarily have to be particularly overpowered. Just make him very, very good at killing Dragons. And appropriately powerful in other things, of course, but somewhat like Michael - he doesn't really have that much power, but it's the White God's protection that allows him to go up against beings like the Denarians.

You could make it so that Dragonrend only affects Dragons, not all immortals. The Thu'um is essentially magic, and in a language spoken by a different type of being, an immortal one, to boot - it puts a strain on the person speaking it, that's a common interpretation for the cool down. Sort of like the Words of Power in the Shezzaverse. Other, similar constraints, to limit the power of the DB. Make it so he ends up with what we have at the end of the game - someone who is extremely dangerous in combat, but not a worldbreaker like Talos or Vivec.

I'm fairly certain that if the DB I ended up with at the end of the game, maxed level with all the perks there are, defeated the Ebony Warrior and completed all the non-radiant quests, went up against Azura or Nocturnal or Hermaeus Mora, he'd be squished flat pretty quickly. Mab and co. can be along similar lines in terms of comparative power.

Forget about what the Thu'um is potentially capable of, and stick to what we are given in-game, and those seem like fairly decent parameters to me.

 

The first part is pretty much what I tried to convey earlier, though I botched it pretty bad. What I meant by the Dragonborn being a major player was that he'd be like, well, most of the major players are in the DF--not inactive, by any means, but active on a level that doesn't directly effect most people because it's on such a high scale.

Rather then the type of guy that, say, Harry would meet up with and have a beer with, he'd be more of a major spanner in the works which Dresden (and everyone else) would have to live with, work around, and only occasionally meet directly. A major element in the story whose addition has effected everything in ways both obvious and subtle, but not a protagonist.

Edit: Though I could also see some interesting possibilities stemming from him being dropped in the Nevernever and trying to gain power/conquer. Wasn't it said somewhere that Dragons have an innate need to conquer? That could cause trouble for everyone. Even then, though, he'd be more in the background, making everyone's lives more difficult.

Though that could just be Dragon Commander talking.

 

We know mantles can be removed, possibly even stolen. So what if when he arrives in this world, his energy is stolen/drained so it takes time to be restored, or limited til he regains his full power.
His magic while varied, wont be an automatic win. TO learn his magic, you need to read their books correct. so the magics could be shared slightly. I wonder if his magic would be limited to those touched by his power, say werewolves he made.
his type of werewolves eat/hunt vampires, and vamps cant eat their blood.

 

First of all the DB doesn't eat Alduin's soul, he destroyed Alduin's physical body after which the soul was whisked away somewhere; if I remember correctly one of the Greybeards or Paarthunuax said that he still has to fulfill the duty of ending the world when the time comes (hence the title 'World-Eater') after all.

Second of all he wont be a werewolf or vampire or anything. A simple Nord will do and for affiliations I'm going with the Greybeards and the College of Winterhold.

Lastly comes the part of the limits of the Thu'um. I'm going to go for my interpretation that when you bend reality using a shout reality pushes back and eventually re-exerts itself, hence the time limit for each shout after which the effects wear off. In the Dresden verse reality is a bit...different in the fundamentals than the world the DB came from. So when the DB tries to bend reality (outside of Nevernever at the very least) reality pushes back...that along with coming to terms with the dragon souls he's absorbed as well as his own soul will probably be the first arc I've got planned. After all the guy's absorbed thousands and thousands of years worth of memories while he himself is a mortal- going to hit him hard and fast somehow, the only other DB to absorb dragon souls was the first one and we all know how he turned out...(if you've played the add on at least).

Thanks for all the feedback everybody ^^

 

See now I can't stop picturing Harry doing a soul gaze and having his brain melt out his ears from the thousands and thousands of years of memories from all of the individual dragon souls the DB has eaten.

 

Ok, so I don't know if this idea has been pitched, but Gabriel Blessing has a snip or two that sparked an idea. Here is the first snip so you can get an idea...

So the idea is what if Harry, some how, managed to not be cought by the white council and became a warlock.