After reporting yesterday on the rumoured Morrowind DLC for Skyrim, Michael Glavin takes a look at some other Elder Scrolls locales we'd like to see in Dragonborn's future adventures...

7. Cyrodiil

Cyrodiil has always been the seat of power in Tamriel, the heart of the various Empires that have arisen throughout Tamriel's history and the setting for Skyrim's predecessor, Oblivion. After the events of Oblivion, with the end of the Septim Dynasty, the Empire that had controlled all of Tamriel began to crumble, and during the "The Infernal City" and "Lord of Souls" novels based between the events of Oblivion and Skyrim the newly-arisen Mede royal family were struggling to maintain order across the Empire. The results of this are later seen in Skyrim, after the ineffectual Empire are forced to allow the secession of a number of provinces in order to grant them independence - as well as being invaded and subjucated by the imposing Aldmeri Dominion. In Skyrim, the Dragonborn is given the option of assisting either the Empire or the competing nationalist faction, the Stormcloaks, in rising to power in the region. The two questlines are similar but mutually exclusive, but in both cases the progression of these quests into Cyrodiil would be the next logical step.

If players decided to side with the Empire then the Dragonborn's next move under the command of General Tulius would be to move a military campaign into Cyrodiil and push back the occupying Thalmor government into their home provinces of Valenwood and the Summerset Isles. This would actually involve some interesting political subplots, as Tulius' campaign would surely not be sanctioned by the Emperor himself - at least not openly - so would involve open rebellion in estabishing a newer, stronger Imperial line. What's more, the fact that the player may have potentially assassinated the Emperor during the Dark Brotherhood questline means that the Imperial throne may remain empty, and in both cases it's possible that the player could eventually ascend to the Imperial throne as Emperor - not so farfetched when considering the fact that the Septim bloodline of Emperors in the Third Era were also dubbed "Dragonborn".

On the flipside, if the player sided with the Stormcloaks, the possibility are a bit more opaque. Under the command of Ulfric Stormcloak, the Dragonborn could lead a military campaign into Cyrodiil for a variety of reasons - to storm the Imperial City in an attempt to take the throne, to launch a counter-offensive against the Thalmor, or even just to sack the province. Again, like the Imperial campaign, there's also the chance that the player could even ascend to the Imperial throne and become the new Dragonborn Emperor himself.

In both cases, the story would involve a lot more branching questlines than we're used to in Skyrim, and would be a welcome change from the multitudes of linear and black-or-white moral choice quests we've been given in a past. It would also help to expand on a lot of the lore in the "modern" times of the Elder Scrolls universe, and give players of Oblivion a chance to explore the homeland of the Empire that they've become so familiar with, seeing the ramifications of the Empire's war with the Thalmor, the White Gold Concordat and even the fallout of their own military campaign against the people of Cyrodiil.