Legion Quests
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 8:35 pm
I was thinking about Legion quests and I came up with a few, so far. I have ideas for three quests, which you need to complete in order to get admitted into the Legion. In Morrowind, you get admitted in the legion very easily, because they are undermanned, but in Cyrodiil, I believe process of admission should be different and more strict. Overall, we need to focus on more intricate design of the faction to properly represent Imperial culture and logic.
I also have an idea of the legion in mind, which acts as a federal power. While the guards act as municipal forces, protecting towns and their immediate surroundings, the roads, wilderness and most important locations and routes are federal jurisdiction, protected by the legion. Legion also works all major crimes, which take place all over the province, like gang related activities, piracy, smuggling, etc.
Think of RCMP as an example. But obviously, this is in addition to their military functions which are rarely used.
So far, quests in order:
1) Record Check
If you ask around Cyrodiil, you will learn that a certain Fort in Colovia is an active recruiting spot, so you should check it out if you are interested. People will also add that they have strict requirements there.
As soon as you arrive, you need to meet the commander of the Fort. I want him to be named Glebus Jigolous, if you don't mind (it's an Easter Egg for Russian speaking people, referencing a famous film series and a popular mod for Oblivion, but a very subtle one). He will become like a father figure to the player, strict, but honest and straight-forward, down-to-earth legion officer, not interested in political affairs, but interested in maintaining peace and order.
As soon as you arrive and ask him to join the legion, he will say that legion cannot accept just anyone. You will need to go to local Census and Excise office, where they should provide you with a criminal record check. If you have proof of clear criminal record, then you can return and join the legion. It makes sense that Imperials don't want to accept criminals and ex-convicts to protect their homeland, so they have this bureaucratic practice in place.
As you all know, player starts game as a prisoner, so it seems an impossible task. You still go to the Census and Excise office, where you meet local administrator, a mid-level clerk of the Curia, Nibenese. He will tell you that there is going to be a long time you need to wait to check your criminal record, plus there is a mess in the papers, so he isn't even sure they will be able to check your record (bureaucracy). Then, the administrator says that he might be able to help you obtain new and clean record, but you'll need to help him first (corruption).
Here you have three options:
1) Order him to give you clean record (if you are higher rank in the Curia)
2) Bribe him to give you clean record (1000 gold)
3) Help him out
If you decide to help him out, he will tell you that thieves recently robbed him and stolen family treasures from him. He will tell you where their camp is and ask you to retrieve all valuables from there. He believes that since you aspire to be a legionnaire, some petty thieves shouldn't be a problem for you to handle.
You find camp of thieves, an independent group of Khajiit. They are living in the wilds and they are aggressive. You kill them and find treasures in one of the chest. The only thing is, these are Colovian treasures and administrator is Nibenese, but player might not know it. You can also hear around town, that certain Colovian noble's house was robbed recently. If player guesses what is going on, he can return treasures to the rightful owner and receive weapon as compensation. Alternatively, you can still bring treasures to administrator and he will give you a clean record.
If you brought treasures to the Colovian noble, the administrator is going to be pissed. He was actually the one who hired thieves to steal treasures from a noble he has feud with. He wanted to use player as a gullible fool to not pay the thieves and to cover all his traces. When player comes to him after returning the treasures to the rightful owner, he will ask to pay 2000 gold or he won't give any papers. If player has high speechcraft, he may be able to persuade him to give papers for free, otherwise threatening to tell everyone of administrator's schemes (not that he confesses or anything, but it is clear that he is involved).
No matter which way you obtained clean record you need to return it to Glebus Jigolous and this is the end of the first quest.
2) Legionnaire's Examination
After you brought clean record to Glebus, he will say that it is good, but not enough to be admitted into the legion. In order to be admitted, you still need to pass all the tests. First test is going to examine how good do you know what every legionnaire must know. You will need to pass an exam before you can join. It will allow to better acquaint player with the world and the legion.
The exam itself is very similar to class creation process in the beginning of Morrowind. Glebus Jigolous will ask you questions and you will need to answer. Three categories of questions, each has three questions, nine questions total. One wrong answer, you fail an exam. He will not tell you which answer is wrong, so you will need to study hard before you do it. Amount of attempts is unlimited though, so theoretically you can just guess. Categories of questions: History of the Empire, Imperial Law, Legionnaire's Duties.
Since it is not an easy exam, Glebus recommends you to study first. You can go to the library and either study books, or you can ask the librarian all the necessary questions. The librarian is an old legion soldier, who is too old to fight, but doesn't want to retire and prefers to stay at the fort, keeping the library.
You have three options:
1) Ask the librarian - easiest, since he tells you all you need to know, but he needs your help before you can ask him something
2) Study the books - medium, since it will give you all the required information, but you will have to look for it
3) Try guessing - hardest, since there are nine questions and you don't know which you answer right and which wrong
When you find the librarian, he will complain that young recruits have stolen his sword again. While many respect him around the fort, not everybody does and some make fun of him. Since it's harmless, nobody interferes. He asks you to retrieve the sword for him, before he can teach you anything. You ask around the legion and people tell you who is most likely behind it. Two young recruits, who like to fool around.
You find them. One of them is just a side-kick, he is there having fun with his buddy. Another has the sword and is the leader between the two. You can persuade him to give you the sword by getting his disposition to about 80. Alternatively, you can have a fight with him. He will be using his fists and you need to knock him down to win. But if you kill him, it will be a crime and you will be blocked from joining the legion (they will never accept Legionnaire's killer). So you should be careful here. Once you retrieve sword in any way, you return it to the librarian. He will be glad and will tell you all you need to know for the exam.
Once you have prepared, go and pass the exam by answering questions from Glebus Jigolous. Once you have passed the exam, only one test is left before you can join the legion.
3) Field Testing
So you have passed both record check and an exam, you are almost there. Glebus has one last test left for you, before you can become a part of the legion.
He needs to know how good you are at the field. How good are you trained, how well do you respond to orders, etc. He assigns you to help out the road patrol nearby. You should meet the patrol on the specific place on the road and help them out for one week, so they can assess how good you are.
But on your way to the meeting place, you find the exact patrol, though most soldiers are dead. One is wounded. He manages to say that they ran into smugglers and had a fight, but smugglers had an advantage over them, as they had additional men hiding in ambush. Thus most soldiers were killed and their commanding officer was taken prisoner by the smugglers to their hideout. He manages to tell you the location of hideout and dies from his wounds after that.
You have two options here:
1) Return to Glebus and tell him what happened
2) Go to the hideout and try to take care of bandits
If you just go to the hideout, it is going to be more difficult, but you can save the officer. But if you return to Glebus, he will complement you for doing the sensible thing and he will also assign you an experienced legionnaire as help to try and retrieve prisoner. If you go to the hideout with backup, then the officer is going to be dead, because you took your time. You and another legionnaire will actually take his body out (disable it). Either way, you will have to return to Glebus after saving the officer or finding his body, which is located at the end of the dungeon and you will most likely have to kill everyone on your way there.
If you saved the officer, Glebus will be impressed by your valour, but he will ask you not to be so brash in the future. If you return to him with bad news, he will still thank you for your effort. He will also send his men to pick up bodies from the road (disable). If the officer is alive, the officer himself might give you some additional reward.
After this field test, Glebus will admit that you are worthy to serve in the legion and allow you to join, after swearing an oath.
Congratulations, you are in the army now!
You will also get Imperial Chain Cuirass as a reward and uniform, as well as Imperial Broadsword and Imperial Chain Greaves. In the future, Cyrodiil legion will give you better equipment and more often than Morrowind legion did.
------
What do you think? They are not easy to do, but I find quests like these to be engaging and telling you about the world. I can try doing them myself, I did some quests for Morrowind awhile back. It would be tricky, but I believe it is possible.
I also have an idea of the legion in mind, which acts as a federal power. While the guards act as municipal forces, protecting towns and their immediate surroundings, the roads, wilderness and most important locations and routes are federal jurisdiction, protected by the legion. Legion also works all major crimes, which take place all over the province, like gang related activities, piracy, smuggling, etc.
Think of RCMP as an example. But obviously, this is in addition to their military functions which are rarely used.
So far, quests in order:
1) Record Check
If you ask around Cyrodiil, you will learn that a certain Fort in Colovia is an active recruiting spot, so you should check it out if you are interested. People will also add that they have strict requirements there.
As soon as you arrive, you need to meet the commander of the Fort. I want him to be named Glebus Jigolous, if you don't mind (it's an Easter Egg for Russian speaking people, referencing a famous film series and a popular mod for Oblivion, but a very subtle one). He will become like a father figure to the player, strict, but honest and straight-forward, down-to-earth legion officer, not interested in political affairs, but interested in maintaining peace and order.
As soon as you arrive and ask him to join the legion, he will say that legion cannot accept just anyone. You will need to go to local Census and Excise office, where they should provide you with a criminal record check. If you have proof of clear criminal record, then you can return and join the legion. It makes sense that Imperials don't want to accept criminals and ex-convicts to protect their homeland, so they have this bureaucratic practice in place.
As you all know, player starts game as a prisoner, so it seems an impossible task. You still go to the Census and Excise office, where you meet local administrator, a mid-level clerk of the Curia, Nibenese. He will tell you that there is going to be a long time you need to wait to check your criminal record, plus there is a mess in the papers, so he isn't even sure they will be able to check your record (bureaucracy). Then, the administrator says that he might be able to help you obtain new and clean record, but you'll need to help him first (corruption).
Here you have three options:
1) Order him to give you clean record (if you are higher rank in the Curia)
2) Bribe him to give you clean record (1000 gold)
3) Help him out
If you decide to help him out, he will tell you that thieves recently robbed him and stolen family treasures from him. He will tell you where their camp is and ask you to retrieve all valuables from there. He believes that since you aspire to be a legionnaire, some petty thieves shouldn't be a problem for you to handle.
You find camp of thieves, an independent group of Khajiit. They are living in the wilds and they are aggressive. You kill them and find treasures in one of the chest. The only thing is, these are Colovian treasures and administrator is Nibenese, but player might not know it. You can also hear around town, that certain Colovian noble's house was robbed recently. If player guesses what is going on, he can return treasures to the rightful owner and receive weapon as compensation. Alternatively, you can still bring treasures to administrator and he will give you a clean record.
If you brought treasures to the Colovian noble, the administrator is going to be pissed. He was actually the one who hired thieves to steal treasures from a noble he has feud with. He wanted to use player as a gullible fool to not pay the thieves and to cover all his traces. When player comes to him after returning the treasures to the rightful owner, he will ask to pay 2000 gold or he won't give any papers. If player has high speechcraft, he may be able to persuade him to give papers for free, otherwise threatening to tell everyone of administrator's schemes (not that he confesses or anything, but it is clear that he is involved).
No matter which way you obtained clean record you need to return it to Glebus Jigolous and this is the end of the first quest.
2) Legionnaire's Examination
After you brought clean record to Glebus, he will say that it is good, but not enough to be admitted into the legion. In order to be admitted, you still need to pass all the tests. First test is going to examine how good do you know what every legionnaire must know. You will need to pass an exam before you can join. It will allow to better acquaint player with the world and the legion.
The exam itself is very similar to class creation process in the beginning of Morrowind. Glebus Jigolous will ask you questions and you will need to answer. Three categories of questions, each has three questions, nine questions total. One wrong answer, you fail an exam. He will not tell you which answer is wrong, so you will need to study hard before you do it. Amount of attempts is unlimited though, so theoretically you can just guess. Categories of questions: History of the Empire, Imperial Law, Legionnaire's Duties.
Since it is not an easy exam, Glebus recommends you to study first. You can go to the library and either study books, or you can ask the librarian all the necessary questions. The librarian is an old legion soldier, who is too old to fight, but doesn't want to retire and prefers to stay at the fort, keeping the library.
You have three options:
1) Ask the librarian - easiest, since he tells you all you need to know, but he needs your help before you can ask him something
2) Study the books - medium, since it will give you all the required information, but you will have to look for it
3) Try guessing - hardest, since there are nine questions and you don't know which you answer right and which wrong
When you find the librarian, he will complain that young recruits have stolen his sword again. While many respect him around the fort, not everybody does and some make fun of him. Since it's harmless, nobody interferes. He asks you to retrieve the sword for him, before he can teach you anything. You ask around the legion and people tell you who is most likely behind it. Two young recruits, who like to fool around.
You find them. One of them is just a side-kick, he is there having fun with his buddy. Another has the sword and is the leader between the two. You can persuade him to give you the sword by getting his disposition to about 80. Alternatively, you can have a fight with him. He will be using his fists and you need to knock him down to win. But if you kill him, it will be a crime and you will be blocked from joining the legion (they will never accept Legionnaire's killer). So you should be careful here. Once you retrieve sword in any way, you return it to the librarian. He will be glad and will tell you all you need to know for the exam.
Once you have prepared, go and pass the exam by answering questions from Glebus Jigolous. Once you have passed the exam, only one test is left before you can join the legion.
3) Field Testing
So you have passed both record check and an exam, you are almost there. Glebus has one last test left for you, before you can become a part of the legion.
He needs to know how good you are at the field. How good are you trained, how well do you respond to orders, etc. He assigns you to help out the road patrol nearby. You should meet the patrol on the specific place on the road and help them out for one week, so they can assess how good you are.
But on your way to the meeting place, you find the exact patrol, though most soldiers are dead. One is wounded. He manages to say that they ran into smugglers and had a fight, but smugglers had an advantage over them, as they had additional men hiding in ambush. Thus most soldiers were killed and their commanding officer was taken prisoner by the smugglers to their hideout. He manages to tell you the location of hideout and dies from his wounds after that.
You have two options here:
1) Return to Glebus and tell him what happened
2) Go to the hideout and try to take care of bandits
If you just go to the hideout, it is going to be more difficult, but you can save the officer. But if you return to Glebus, he will complement you for doing the sensible thing and he will also assign you an experienced legionnaire as help to try and retrieve prisoner. If you go to the hideout with backup, then the officer is going to be dead, because you took your time. You and another legionnaire will actually take his body out (disable it). Either way, you will have to return to Glebus after saving the officer or finding his body, which is located at the end of the dungeon and you will most likely have to kill everyone on your way there.
If you saved the officer, Glebus will be impressed by your valour, but he will ask you not to be so brash in the future. If you return to him with bad news, he will still thank you for your effort. He will also send his men to pick up bodies from the road (disable). If the officer is alive, the officer himself might give you some additional reward.
After this field test, Glebus will admit that you are worthy to serve in the legion and allow you to join, after swearing an oath.
Congratulations, you are in the army now!
You will also get Imperial Chain Cuirass as a reward and uniform, as well as Imperial Broadsword and Imperial Chain Greaves. In the future, Cyrodiil legion will give you better equipment and more often than Morrowind legion did.
------
What do you think? They are not easy to do, but I find quests like these to be engaging and telling you about the world. I can try doing them myself, I did some quests for Morrowind awhile back. It would be tricky, but I believe it is possible.