Elder Scrolls VII: Blacklight

The Elder Scrolls VII: Blacklight is an open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the seventh main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls VI: Redfall, and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 6, and Xbox Series X1 on March 3, 2030.

The game's main story is about the Dwarves returning to Tamriel, seeking to conquer it and enslave all non-dwarves. It is set 14 years after the events of Redfall, in northeast Tamriel where Skyrim, Morrowind and Cyrodiil meet. Over the course of the game, the player completes quests and develops the character by improving skills. The game continues the open-world tradition of its predecessors by allowing the player to travel anywhere in the game world at any time, and to ignore or postpone the main storyline indefinitely.

Gameplay
The Elder Scrolls VII: Blacklight is an action role-playing game, playable from either a first or third-person perspective. The player may freely roam over the whole map, which is an open world environment consisting of wilderness expanses, dungeons, caves, cities, towns, fortresses, and villages. Players may navigate the game world more quickly by riding horses, paying for a ride from a city's stable or by utilizing a fast-travel system which allows them to warp to previously discovered locations. The game's main quest can be completed or ignored at the player's preference after the first stage of the quest is finished. However, some quests rely on the main storyline being at least partially completed. If the player is caught commiting crimes, i.e. murder and theft, they will be encountered by a guard and will be forced to either pay the bounty, go to jail or resist arrest. The bounty is tracked seperately in the three areas, Skyrim, Morrowind and Cyrodiil.

Character creation
In the beginning of the game, the player chooses between 10 different races: Argonian, Khajit, Breton, Imperial, Redguard, Nord, High Elf, Dark Elf, Wood Elf and Orc. They can then choose a class, either picking from a list of existing ones or creating their own class. They will also choose a birthsign. These stay the same throughout the whole game.

Classes
Each class has 6 major skills, 6 minor skills and 11 miscellaneous skills. Classes also have 2 favoured attributes, and a specialisation in either combat, stealth or magic. Only major and minor skill increases contribute to increasing your overall level. Levels stop increasing when they reach 100. Ten major/minor level increases are required to increase the player's overall level. Major skills start at level 25, minor skills will start at level 20, and miscellaneous skills start at level 15. Because of this, 85 is the maximum player level.

Skills
There are 23 skills in Blacklight, those being:


 * Heavy Armour - Those trained to use Heavy Armour make more efficient use of Iron, Steel, Dwarven, Ebony, and Daedric armours.
 * Medium Armour - Those trained to use Medium Armour make more efficient use of Chain, Scaled, Silver, bonemold, and Orcish armours.
 * Light Armour - Those trained to use Light Armour make more efficient use of Hide, Leather, Chitin, Elven and Glass armours.
 * Acrobatics - Those trained in Acrobatics can jump higher and further, and are more resistant to fall damage than others.
 * Athletics - Those trained in Athletics run and swim fast, and restore their stamina quicker.
 * Sneak - Those trained in Sneaking are unseen and unheard, allowing for easier thievery.
 * Lockpicking - Those trained in Lockpicking can open locked doors and containers faster and with fewer broken lockpicks.
 * Pickpocket - Those trained in Pickpocketing are less likely to be caught plucking valuables from their target's pockets.
 * Alchemy - Those trained in Alchemy can create powerful potions to increase their abilities, or craft poisons to decrease their enemies'.
 * Enchanting - Those trained in Enchanting can enhance the ability of their weapons, clothes and armour with ease.
 * Smithing - Those trained in Smithing can forge powerful weapons and armour, as well as maintaining their existing weapons and armour.
 * Zero-Handed - Those trained in Zero-Handed combat use their fists to knock out the enemy and damage them without hurting themselves.
 * One-Handed - Those trained in One-Handed combat make more efficient use of Swords, Axes, Maces and Clubs.
 * Two-Handed - Those trained in Two-Handed combat make more efficient use of Greatswords, Battleaxes, Warhammers and Spears.
 * Archery - Those trained in Archery make more efficient use of Bows and Crossbows.
 * Throwing - Those trained in Thrown combat make more efficient use of Throwing Knives, Darts, Javelins and Throwing Stars.
 * Destruction - Those trained in the School of Destruction use magic to damage their enemies.
 * Alteration - Those trained in the School of Alteration use magic to manipulate the world around them.
 * Restoration - Those trained in the School of Restoration use magic to control life forces.
 * Conjuration - Those trained in the School of Conjuration use magic to raise the dead and summon creations from Oblivion.
 * Illusion - Those trained in the School of Illusion use magic to manipulate the mind of their enemies.
 * Speechcraft - Those trained in Speechcraft can persuade others to do as they say.
 * Mercantile - Those trained in Mercantile get better deals when buying and selling goods.

Primary Attributes
Primary Attributes govern skills. When the player levels up, they get to increase three of the 8 primary attributes. The amount you get to increase an attribute depends on how many of its governed skills you leveled up.


 * Strength - Governs Acrobatics and Two-Handed
 * Endurance - Governs Heavy Armour, Medium Armour, Zero-Handed
 * Agility - Governs Light Armour, Sneak, Pickpocket, Archery
 * Speed - Governs Athletics, One-Handed, Throwing
 * Personality - Governs Speechcraft and Mercantile
 * Intelligence - Governs Lockpicking and Conjuration
 * Willpower - Governs Destruction, Alteration, Restoration
 * Craftsmanship - Governs Alchemy, Smithing and Enchanting.

Derived Attributes
Derived Attributes don't govern skills, but still heavily impact the game.


 * Health - The amount of damage you can take before you die.
 * Magicka - The amount of energy available for spellcasting.
 * Stamina - Affects all actions of the player (running, jumping, swinging, casting, etc.)
 * Encumbrance - The carrying capacity of the player.

Setting and characters
Blacklight is set in the year 221 of the Fourth Era. The game takes place in Eastern Skyrim, Western Morrowind and Northeast Cyrodiil, as well as the island of Solstheim. The game is set during the middle of the Second Great War. This is not a major part of the story, but the player may witness battles between Thalmor and Imperial soldiers in the Cyrodiil region, south of Cheydinhal. The player character is a prisoner of unknown origins.

Plot
The player character is a prisoner in Raven Rock, Solstheim, who has finished serving their sentence. The player's cell is unlocked, and they are led by two guards to the port and go on a boat. The player is told that they're going home, indicating that they are not native to Raven Rock. They then awake when the boat arrives in Blacklight, a city in Morrowind. The player is pardoned and registered as a free citizen. While the player is walking south down the road from Blacklight, they will encounter a fort garrisoned by the Imperial Legion. Suddenly, a doorway appearing to be made of Dwarven metal appears. Dozens of Dwarven soldiers, archers, battlemages and automatons pour out of the doorway, and a battle between the Imperial Legion and Dwarves ensue. The player can do nothing but watch, but as the imperial soldiers are being decimated, one legionnaire approaches the player and guides them to safety in the village of Soluthis, located north of the imperial fort. The soldier, wounded and tired, then asks the player to report to the Count of Cheydinhal to spread the news of the Dwemer attack. The player goes to Cheydinhal, and the Count is initially skeptical of the player's claim, but still sends some of the Cheydinhal Guard to the fort, which are told to return in three days. The player returns to the Count in three days, and the Count believes the player after the guards still have not returned.

Major Cities
There are __ major cities in Blacklight:


 * Cheydinhal - A Cyrodiilic city to the far northeast, the only Cyrodiilic city in the game. It is the only city with a majority Imperial population.
 * Riften - A city in Southeast Skyrim, the home of Skyrim's Thieves Guild. The city has become even more corrupt than it was in Skyrim after the Imperial victory.
 * Windhelm - A city still recovering from Skyrim's Civil War.
 * Winterhold - Has been gradually rebuilding over the last several years, Winterhold is roughly the same size as Raven Rock.
 * Blacklight - The capital of Morrowind and House Redoran's territory, and the biggest city in the game.
 * Raven Rock - A somewhat small settlement in southern Solstheim, under the control of House Redoran.
 * Vivec - A massive city in Vvardenfell, not controlled by any single Great House. It is the second biggest city in the game.
 * Balmora - A city in inland Vvardenfell, controlled by House Hlaalu.
 * Ald-ruhn - A city close to Red Mountain, and nowhere near as big as it was 221 years ago.

Factions
The player can join various factions in Blacklight, those being:


 * Thieves Guild - This guild, based in Cheydinhal, follows the Gray Fox and despises Skyrim's Thieves Guild for supporting the rich and not giving to the poor. Quests from this Thieves Guild are much more noble than those from the Skyrim thieves guild. The final quest in the Cyrodiilic Thieves Guild questline involves a heist of the headquarters of the Riften Thieves Guild. Many Cyrodiilic Thieves Guild quests involve stealing from Dunmer aristocrats in Morrowind. The Thieves Guild operates in Morrowind and Cyrodiil.
 * Riften Thieves Guild - This guild has never been better before, and with Maven Black-Briar has Jarl of Riften they practically control the city. Many Riften Thieves Guild quests involve expanding the guild's influence into Morrowind. The Riften Thieves Guild operates in Morrowind and Skyrim.
 * Morag Tong - A legal group of assassins. Morag Tong quests don't just involve assassinations, but also executions. The Morag Tong is based in Vivec. There is no Dark Brotherhood in Blacklight, but this is the closest thing. The Morag Tong only operates in Morrowind.
 * Fighters Guild - A mercenary guild with guild halls in Cheydinhal, Vivec, Balmora, Ald-ruhn and Blacklight. The Fighters Guild operates in Morrowind and Cyrodiil.
 * Vivec Arena - A faction of combatants made up of several teams fighting each other to the death. The Vivec Arena only operates in the Arena Canton of Vivec.


 * The Synod // The College of Whispers - The two successors to the Mages Guild which collapsed after the Oblivion Crisis. The two main questlines involves eventually uniting the two into a new Mages Guild. Both factions have guild halls in Cheydinhal, Blacklight and Vivec.