The Elder Scrolls Online's Daggerfall Covenant "an alliance of convenience"

If you know your Elder Scrolls lore, you know that the Daggerfall Covenant's alliance of Orcs, Redguards and Bretons is an unusual thing. Zenimax Online has explained how the grouping came to be.

The Orcs have warred with other races throughout the series's timeline, but Zenimax Online explained that history leading up to The Elder Scrolls Online primed the warlike race for an alliance.

"As a race, the Orcs have what we would call an inferiority complex. They’ve been kicked around Tamriel and looked down upon by the other races since the beginning of time, and they crave respect. It was a big deal for the Orcs when, in relatively recent history, Orsinium was finally admitted into the Second Empire as a full province," a developer post explained.

"The clans that have joined the Daggerfall Covenant remember that period of recognition, and seek to revive it. The Bretons promised the Orcs could revive Orsinium unmolested, and that once the Covenant re-established the Empire, Orsinium would once again be an Imperial province."

Nevertheless, it's an uneasy grouping, described as "definitely an alliance of convenience".

"Individual Bretons and Redguards may not be happy about it, but the residents of their border towns say it’s better to have the Orcs marching against their enemies than raiding their flocks and their farms," the post pointed out.

"The Redguards and Orcs have always respected each other as honorable opponents – and while the Orcs may not trust the Bretons, as a general thing, they do trust King Emeric, who’s proven reliable. And serving side-by-side is building trust between the races."

As for the deep-rooted religious differences between the races, they've been quietly swept under the rug by political leaders.

"Orcish leaders, such as King Kurog, emphasize that the Orcs of Orsinium worship Mauloch, who absolutely isn’t a Daedric Prince at all, honest. It’s those other Orcs who worship the Daedra Lord Malacath."

This information is just the latest in a series of question-and-answer sessions specific to factions; a previous entry covered the Ebonheart Alliance.

The Elder Scrolls Online is expected to launch in 2013.

Thanks, Massively.