~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are a being, whose hands are stained with the blood of others, and whose mind is burdened with the price of freedom. Trapped and chained down, you do the bidding of another, in hope that one day your debts will be paid, and your secret forgotten forever...
✥THE MESSENGER ✥
This is a build brought to life from one of my longest role-plays, which involves being a personal bruiser for the Archmage of Skyrim. This is different from a hired thug mainly because you aren't doing it for the money and because you solely work for the Archmage and will do whatever task he asks upon you - even gathering meagre soul gems for students.
As 'The Messenger', your job is to send messages to whoever the Archmage asks you to. Now I'm not talking about some hocus pocus courier service, definitely not. The Messages you send often end with blood splatters and corpses. More often than nought, you never leave a job with your blade clean.
By 'message' I mean an assassination/wiping out of anyone who causes trouble for the College, leaving a clear memo to stay away.
Such a message can be the annihilation of a bandit fort, letting them know not to interfere with college business.
Like I said above, not only do you have to show that the College wont tolerate enemies by sending 'messages', but you also have to do jobs such as the clearing out of a Dwemer Ruin to help further the research of some students.
Everything you do is for the College, whether you like it or not. As the Messenger, you have a debt to pay, and no matter the task, you will do anything to repay it. Secrets must be kept secret. Your feelings do not matter; neither does the welfare of your soul.
"You sold your soul to me when you first stepped into these halls."
✥ BUILD ✥
Race – Breton preferred, but a Dark Elf or Altmer will be just as good.
Standing Stone – Lovers Stone for overall skill boosting.
Stats – You will want to put most of your effort into magic and health. Stamina is not an essential part of this build.
Lycanthropy/Vampirism – No and No.
Divines – Julianos and Kynareth. The Messenger prays to Kynareth for safe travels across the brutal land of Skyrim, and wishes upon Julianos for Magic Guidance and rejuvenation.
Alliances – As the Messenger, you do not care much for the civil war, you have other pressing matters weighing inside you. But you will take part, as the Arch mage has commanded you to do so. You side with the Imperials. This will benefit the College overall, so you have been asked to take part in a war you want no part of.
"As long as we know we're trapped, we still have a chance to escape.”
✥MAJOR SKILLS ✥
Destruction – One of your main offences will be destruction. Whether it’s fire, ice or lightning, as long as the message gets delivered, the Arch mage will be satisfied. You know to be prepared, no matter the enemy.
Sneak – The Messenger uses sneak prowess to their advantages, creeping up on their enemies and causing a swift blow for more discreet jobs.
Conjuration – You work solo in this line of work, so having something to help finish the job when faced with over a dozen draugr is a bonus. Raising the dead isn’t a problem for you, a debt must be paid, and you intend to do so. No matter the cost. Even going against your beliefs or morality.
One Handed – For when your Mana is low and you need to rejuvenate. Also, for the more up close and personal messages.
(If you have the Dragonborn DLC, the bound dagger is a must)
✥MINOR SKILLS✥
Restoration – You are all alone out there, and need to be able to heal yourself when the going gets tough. The ‘Fast Healing’ perk is essential for when you are in a sticky situation and need health fast.
Enchanting – To help give your daggers a little HP. It’s always good to have an advantage over your opponent.
Speechcraft – The Messenger has a silver tongue, and isn't discouraged to use it to get what they want.
“You can’t go back any more, there’s nowhere for you to go, nobody for you to turn to. You’re on your own.”
✥PERK SPREAD✥
✥SHOUTS✥
This is optional; you don’t need to be the dragon born.
But for that added fun, why not?
Aura Whisper – To help see when Enemies are close.
Throw Voice – When in a pickle, confuse your enemies.
Fire Breath - For those irritating Ice Dragons.
Frost Breath - Also, for those irritating Flame Dragons.
Dragonrend - It's a big help when fighting giant reptiles, trust me.
✥GAME-PLAY✥
The messenger is not one to turn away from a fight. If a message needs sending, even if their life is on the line,
that message will get sent. Blood will always be spilt in this line of work.
From experience, the Messenger has gathered knowledge on their foes weaknesses and strengths.
Draugr – When clearing out ruins for research, or gathering supplies for other members, you will often, if not always come across the walking dead that is the Dragur. Flame spells and conjuring up Flame Antronachs will help in deterring the undead. YOL TOOR SUHL (Fire breath) is a strong offence in this case.
Automatons – The sparks and crackle of lightning is your strongest ally.
Multiple Enemies – Conjuration Dual Cast and Revenant will greatly help in this difficult situation. When cornered, your destruction spells will take out the front, whilst your conjurations will help wipe out the back.
Dragons – Joor Zah Frul (Dragonrend), but only if you have decided to go far enough in the main quest line, I would recommend taking it slow for roleplaying purposes. Storm Antronachs are extremely helpful when facing a dragon, as their lightning will take on both Flame, and Ice dragons. Choose your destruction spell wisely for this one, if facing a Fire breathing Dragon, then Ice spikes would be the most damaging. If an Ice dragon, use a Fireball.
✥EQUIPMENT✥
Steel Nordic Gauntlets
Adept Robes of Conjuration
Adept Hood
Mage Boots, Enchanted with Sneak Bonus.
(Couldn't find an image of those boots you get when you first enter the college, sorry)
Amulet of Kynareth
✥ROLEPLAY/QUESTS✥
The obvious quest line to do would be the College of Winterhold, so you can actually become the Messenger. But this is important - do not complete it fully. Just until the quest ‘Hitting the Books’. Only postpone completing it, I'll get back to explaining more on that in a moment.
The reason the build requires so much role-playing, is because you have to imagine that the Archmage is sending you on various jobs. Clearing out caves, wiping out ruins. After each job you complete, you have to report back to the Archmage.
As the Messenger, how you react and socialise to other members of the College isn't what I would call a social butterfly. Basically, most fear you and some even hate you. (Cough, Cough, Nirya) You are considered the Archmages personal bruiser, and with that title, comes respect but also isolation.
This bit requires more roleplaying - imagining peoples reactions to you. Their fearful looks, disgusted looks, hateful looks. (Cough, Cough, once again Nirya) And for those more intense roleplayers, even going to the extent to imagine conversations between you and Npc's across Skyrim. But just because others may fear you or ignore you when you speak to them, doesn't mean that you don't want to be ignored. You feel lonely. And deprived of contact. But luckily, as you make you way across Skyrim completing Jobs, there are some who don't care about what you are, and will talk to you regardless.
Back to the 'Hitting the Books' Quest. The reason you can't complete it is mainly because if you finish that quest, the quests that follow are too important to ditch for Messenger duties. You can complete it when you feel that you have completed enough jobs for the Archmage. I didn't complete it until I finished around over 40 jobs.
Over the course of becoming the Messenger, you will travel all over the land of Skyrim. (Depending on where you decide the Archmage has sent you of course, but the further from the College the better) Of course on your travels, you will come across a wide range of people, possibly even asking you to do jobs for them. This is fine. Just imagine that its on the way your heading anyway, or that you will get to it if the Archmage gives you a job to do which is close by.
Now for the Main Questline. I didn't start it till well into being the Messenger. This was a personal preference, as I find it more enjoyable to do when better skilled and already deep into the game.
“You sold your soul to me when you first stepped into these halls.”
As the line above states, once you stepped through the halls of the College, you are the Archmage’s personal henchman. The reason behind it is because he knows something about your past. Something so horrible, you would do anything for him not to spread it…Even becoming ‘The Messenger’. I won’t decide what the secret is for you, as that’s half the fun.
But I will tell you this, you come from a high status family from High Rock… which mysteriously vanished from the public’s eye. How it vanished? Hmm, I wonder.
I hope you have as much fun with this build as I had making it. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You are a being, whose hands are stained with the blood of others, and whose mind is burdened with the price of freedom. Trapped and chained down, you do the bidding of another, in hope that one day your debts will be paid, and your secret forgotten forever...
✥THE MESSENGER ✥
This is a build brought to life from one of my longest role-plays, which involves being a personal bruiser for the Archmage of Skyrim. This is different from a hired thug mainly because you aren't doing it for the money and because you solely work for the Archmage and will do whatever task he asks upon you - even gathering meagre soul gems for students.
As 'The Messenger', your job is to send messages to whoever the Archmage asks you to. Now I'm not talking about some hocus pocus courier service, definitely not. The Messages you send often end with blood splatters and corpses. More often than nought, you never leave a job with your blade clean.
By 'message' I mean an assassination/wiping out of anyone who causes trouble for the College, leaving a clear memo to stay away.
Such a message can be the annihilation of a bandit fort, letting them know not to interfere with college business.
Like I said above, not only do you have to show that the College wont tolerate enemies by sending 'messages', but you also have to do jobs such as the clearing out of a Dwemer Ruin to help further the research of some students.
Everything you do is for the College, whether you like it or not. As the Messenger, you have a debt to pay, and no matter the task, you will do anything to repay it. Secrets must be kept secret. Your feelings do not matter; neither does the welfare of your soul.
"You sold your soul to me when you first stepped into these halls."
✥ BUILD ✥
Race – Breton preferred, but a Dark Elf or Altmer will be just as good.
Standing Stone – Lovers Stone for overall skill boosting.
Stats – You will want to put most of your effort into magic and health. Stamina is not an essential part of this build.
Lycanthropy/Vampirism – No and No.
Divines – Julianos and Kynareth. The Messenger prays to Kynareth for safe travels across the brutal land of Skyrim, and wishes upon Julianos for Magic Guidance and rejuvenation.
Alliances – As the Messenger, you do not care much for the civil war, you have other pressing matters weighing inside you. But you will take part, as the Arch mage has commanded you to do so. You side with the Imperials. This will benefit the College overall, so you have been asked to take part in a war you want no part of.
"As long as we know we're trapped, we still have a chance to escape.”
✥MAJOR SKILLS ✥
Destruction – One of your main offences will be destruction. Whether it’s fire, ice or lightning, as long as the message gets delivered, the Arch mage will be satisfied. You know to be prepared, no matter the enemy.
Sneak – The Messenger uses sneak prowess to their advantages, creeping up on their enemies and causing a swift blow for more discreet jobs.
Conjuration – You work solo in this line of work, so having something to help finish the job when faced with over a dozen draugr is a bonus. Raising the dead isn’t a problem for you, a debt must be paid, and you intend to do so. No matter the cost. Even going against your beliefs or morality.
One Handed – For when your Mana is low and you need to rejuvenate. Also, for the more up close and personal messages.
(If you have the Dragonborn DLC, the bound dagger is a must)
✥MINOR SKILLS✥
Restoration – You are all alone out there, and need to be able to heal yourself when the going gets tough. The ‘Fast Healing’ perk is essential for when you are in a sticky situation and need health fast.
Enchanting – To help give your daggers a little HP. It’s always good to have an advantage over your opponent.
Speechcraft – The Messenger has a silver tongue, and isn't discouraged to use it to get what they want.
“You can’t go back any more, there’s nowhere for you to go, nobody for you to turn to. You’re on your own.”
✥PERK SPREAD✥
✥SHOUTS✥
This is optional; you don’t need to be the dragon born.
But for that added fun, why not?
Aura Whisper – To help see when Enemies are close.
Throw Voice – When in a pickle, confuse your enemies.
Fire Breath - For those irritating Ice Dragons.
Frost Breath - Also, for those irritating Flame Dragons.
Dragonrend - It's a big help when fighting giant reptiles, trust me.
✥GAME-PLAY✥
The messenger is not one to turn away from a fight. If a message needs sending, even if their life is on the line,
that message will get sent. Blood will always be spilt in this line of work.
From experience, the Messenger has gathered knowledge on their foes weaknesses and strengths.
Draugr – When clearing out ruins for research, or gathering supplies for other members, you will often, if not always come across the walking dead that is the Dragur. Flame spells and conjuring up Flame Antronachs will help in deterring the undead. YOL TOOR SUHL (Fire breath) is a strong offence in this case.
Automatons – The sparks and crackle of lightning is your strongest ally.
Multiple Enemies – Conjuration Dual Cast and Revenant will greatly help in this difficult situation. When cornered, your destruction spells will take out the front, whilst your conjurations will help wipe out the back.
Dragons – Joor Zah Frul (Dragonrend), but only if you have decided to go far enough in the main quest line, I would recommend taking it slow for roleplaying purposes. Storm Antronachs are extremely helpful when facing a dragon, as their lightning will take on both Flame, and Ice dragons. Choose your destruction spell wisely for this one, if facing a Fire breathing Dragon, then Ice spikes would be the most damaging. If an Ice dragon, use a Fireball.
✥EQUIPMENT✥
Steel Nordic Gauntlets
Adept Robes of Conjuration
Adept Hood
Mage Boots, Enchanted with Sneak Bonus.
(Couldn't find an image of those boots you get when you first enter the college, sorry)
Amulet of Kynareth
✥ROLEPLAY/QUESTS✥
The obvious quest line to do would be the College of Winterhold, so you can actually become the Messenger. But this is important - do not complete it fully. Just until the quest ‘Hitting the Books’. Only postpone completing it, I'll get back to explaining more on that in a moment.
The reason the build requires so much role-playing, is because you have to imagine that the Archmage is sending you on various jobs. Clearing out caves, wiping out ruins. After each job you complete, you have to report back to the Archmage.
As the Messenger, how you react and socialise to other members of the College isn't what I would call a social butterfly. Basically, most fear you and some even hate you. (Cough, Cough, Nirya) You are considered the Archmages personal bruiser, and with that title, comes respect but also isolation.
This bit requires more roleplaying - imagining peoples reactions to you. Their fearful looks, disgusted looks, hateful looks. (Cough, Cough, once again Nirya) And for those more intense roleplayers, even going to the extent to imagine conversations between you and Npc's across Skyrim. But just because others may fear you or ignore you when you speak to them, doesn't mean that you don't want to be ignored. You feel lonely. And deprived of contact. But luckily, as you make you way across Skyrim completing Jobs, there are some who don't care about what you are, and will talk to you regardless.
Back to the 'Hitting the Books' Quest. The reason you can't complete it is mainly because if you finish that quest, the quests that follow are too important to ditch for Messenger duties. You can complete it when you feel that you have completed enough jobs for the Archmage. I didn't complete it until I finished around over 40 jobs.
Over the course of becoming the Messenger, you will travel all over the land of Skyrim. (Depending on where you decide the Archmage has sent you of course, but the further from the College the better) Of course on your travels, you will come across a wide range of people, possibly even asking you to do jobs for them. This is fine. Just imagine that its on the way your heading anyway, or that you will get to it if the Archmage gives you a job to do which is close by.
Now for the Main Questline. I didn't start it till well into being the Messenger. This was a personal preference, as I find it more enjoyable to do when better skilled and already deep into the game.
“You sold your soul to me when you first stepped into these halls.”
As the line above states, once you stepped through the halls of the College, you are the Archmage’s personal henchman. The reason behind it is because he knows something about your past. Something so horrible, you would do anything for him not to spread it…Even becoming ‘The Messenger’. I won’t decide what the secret is for you, as that’s half the fun.
But I will tell you this, you come from a high status family from High Rock… which mysteriously vanished from the public’s eye. How it vanished? Hmm, I wonder.
I hope you have as much fun with this build as I had making it.
