A female Nord

Looking down at your hands, they were distinctly feminine, but still rough and muscled. Your skin was a pale white, and you could see a bit of your own blonde hair in the corner of your vision. "This was a bad time to come to Skyrim, kinsman," Hadvar apologized, confirming the fact that you were a Nord like him.

"Captain, she's not on the list," Hadvar protested, but his superior officer would not budge: You were to be executed along with the Stormcloaks. Giving you a pitying look, Hadvar said, "At least you will die in your homeland."

With that, you followed the crowd of bound Stormcloaks, all rugged Nord soldiers in their distinctive blue uniforms.

A number of Imperial guards, in their grey armor and brown uniforms, surrounded the Stormcloaks.

General Tullius, leader of the Empire's forces in Skyrim, stated that Ulfric Stormcloak and his subordinates here would be executed for the of the High King. You didn't pay too much attention, having heard this many times before in your playthroughs and while watching online videos.

A bitter Stormcloak interrupted the final rites performed by a priest, and knelt down on the chopping block. The headsman raised his axe, and brought it down.

Surprisingly, there was no blood. The head was cleanly removed from the man's body, but after a few moments it vanished without anyone commenting on it. Huh.

"Next prisoner!" the Imperial captain ordered. Hadvar indicated that was you, and you calmly stepped forward.

Kneeling down, you turned your head to face the massive tower that would soon become the perch of Alduin the World Eater.

A roar split the air as you lay there, causing confused whispers through the people standing around you.

The headsman hesitated, but began to raise his axe.

An even louder roar spread fear throughout the crowd, but the headsman's focus was solely on your neck.

He held the axe above his head, ready to strike, when the sound of huge wings announced the arrival of the massive black dragon, Alduin.

He landed atop the tower, the of his landing making the headsman topple over. You had a brief moment to take in the black dragon's fearsome beauty, his shiny black scales, how sharply pointed his scales were, and his sheer size, before he roared, and meteors began to rain from the sky.

"Come with me, kinsman!" called Ralof, the Stormcloak who had been in the cart with you. You followed him into a tower, hands still bound in front of you, as the guards tried to fight against Alduin.

As you ran, the small fiery rocks that rained down on you didn't quite feel real, feeling only a bit of warmth when one buzzed through the air near you. Although that was no excuse to be careless, you could still get hurt if you weren't careful.

Ducking inside the tower for cover, you joined Ralof, Ulfric, and a couple of other Stormcloaks.

"What is that thing?" Ralof asked Ulfric. "Could the legends be true?"

"Legends don't burn down villages," Ulfric muttered.

"Quick, up the tower!" Ralof ordered the Stormcloaks, who began running up the stairs.

You followed behind, a bit slower, and there was a loud crash as Alduin burst his head through the wall of the tower and blasted one of the Stormcloaks with fire.

The man screamed briefly before vanishing, saving you the worst of his grisly .

Alduin turned its attention elsewhere, and flew off.

Looking through the hole in the tower, it was an easy jump over to a nearby half-demolished inn.

Or, it would have seemed that way if this were a game. From your perspective, it was an eight foot jump. Your gut told you to follow the script, at least for this intro sequence, but could you really bring yourself to risk that kind of jump?