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Imperial VS Stormcloak


Jackal2233

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I know how many threads have been released over numerous sites about this, and personally I hate that I'm making another one about it... yet none of the responses so far has given me a solid reason to help end the civil war siding with one or another (in fact it made it worse), I'm playing as a redguard.

 

The Imperial legion is indeed, a shadow of its former self. The emperor is a fake, and a weakling, not to mention he is not dragonborn. They are puppets of the Altmer, yet at the same time they want a united Empire against the Altmer. Still I believe a people should govern itself, unity is one thing, imperialism is another.

 

Then we have the stormcloaks, a bunch of racist bigots with a leader who I don't even particularly like. Not to mention siding with them risks the Thalmor overruning Skyrim while it is weak. Still, it IS Skyrim, the land of the nords, and they refuse oppression, and hammerfell also revolted against the empire and held their own... making the stormcloaks a viable choice for my redguard.

 

But my redguard dislikes how elves are treated ingame by the stormcloaks... ARGH... I have to say this has been the hardest decision I had to make in a game. I need your help, please post your opinions! And help convince me to side one or the other!

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With my latest character I roleplay a Thane.

He, my character, is very grateful for being "Thaned" by the Jarl so he go around helping as much as he can by doing quests for the Jarl and the people in Whiterun. While I did this I noticed the Jarl and most citizens favoured The Imperial Legion so naturally I chose that side to eliminate a big threat to the Jarl.

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Though I haven't taken any side yet, I'm going to side with the empire. First of all, I don't like Ulfric's racism as well. The second reason is Empire is pretty stable and working mechanism. Civil war will reflect badly on the civilians. I'm not against Skyrim being a sovereign kingdom, but Ulfric is not the leader Skyrim needs. When I want to make this decision, I imagine all skyrim being like Winterhold - and I don't like winterhold. Don't like the atmosphere there, the nords' attitude to elves. Also civil war isn't the way to achieve this goal. Perhaps, it's not time for Skyrim yet to be independent. If more people in Skyrim were for its independence, I may have chosen another side, but it's not like that. Favoring the Empire doesn't make me like the Thalmor, I'm thinking of killing every single one of them if I get a chance.
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I found a book somewhere last night that I actually took the time out to read. It chronicled Ulfric's 'war' with the Foresworn. I know you shouldn't believe everything you read but the author of that book claimed Ulfric killed everyone old enough to carry a sword that didn't swear complete allegiance to him at the tail-end of the 'war.' Which made him guilty of *severe* war crimes at the end of it all. Kinda put a new slant on him and the Stormcloaks for me. And not a positive slant, either. I wish I'd kept it now so I could say what the title of it was. Edited by xlr8films
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I sided with the Stormcloaks, defeated the Empire, then killed Ulfric and 2 of his Jarls because they didn't care about the people, they only cared about power/money, so I killed them. Now to wait for a mod where the good Jarls ousted by Ulfric are reinstated. Baalgruff, the Jarl of Markarth, and the Jarl of Morthal are the ones I want reinstated.
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The stormcloaks goal might be noble, but damn it is short sighted.

If they split from the empire, they've basically screwed Skyrim.

 

Point 1) The Thalmor ( spelled right?) Is playing dive and conquer, and doing it well. The empire is recovering from their loss, but know they need to hit back soon enough. The Stormcloak is idiots that don't see this. Remove the mpire, and you remove the continent between the 3-country alliance of the empire. Thus 3 countries will be split into 1 in 3 different spots. Now the Thalmor can rush in and take each one.

 

Point 2) They play Divide and Conquer. Theyr main brick in this play is Ulfric and the stormcloak.

 

I actually like the thalmor. A perfect plan, a perfect military. Let the weak kill themself, as they tend to do. Too bad I can't join them >.<

The only thing ruining their carefully balanced plan for Skyrim, is you. You tip the balance towards one side.

 

I sit with the Thalmor, then the empire. The stormcloaks are shortsighted and racistic.

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I don't want to choose a side either. My guy is a Nord Hero and will do good for the people. I feel loyalty to the Nord People but the stormcloaks are racist and stupid. Yet the Empire rules would have had me executed for nothing! I don't like either side. It's too bad the "Dragonborn" can't unite Skyrim and bring piece to the land as the new High King.

 

I might not choose a side until much later.

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I don't want to choose a side either. My guy is a Nord Hero and will do good for the people. I feel loyalty to the Nord People but the stormcloaks are racist and stupid. Yet the Empire rules would have had me executed for nothing! I don't like either side. It's too bad the "Dragonborn" can't unite Skyrim and bring piece to the land as the new High King.

 

I might not choose a side until much later.

 

 

According to their dossiers, the Thalmor...who strive to rid the world of humans...doesn't mind who rules Skyrim, as long as it is not the Stormcloaks. That is why I chose the Stormcloaks. Or, if you are an elf, maybe not.

Edited by AbleGnome
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By the end of the main quest it's pretty obvious that the question is not "Who is good and who is evil" but rather more along the lines of "Who are the bigger dicks". Every time I'm about ready to declare allegiance to one side, I recall something awful that side has done so I'm put back on the fence again.

 

Just on my way to completing my induction task for the Imperial Legion, I was stopped on a road by three Thalmor justiciars. Upon talking to them, their leader asked down his nose at me whether I worshipped Talos. Upon responding people should worship whomever they like, I was declared a heretic and attacked. After blasting his two cronies of a cliff with Unrelenting Force and taking their mage leader's head off, I reflected on this. The Thalmor have the Empire of Tamriel in their pockets and their ultimate agenda is for high elf supremacy. As soon as I realised giving Skyrim to the Empire really meant giving it to the Thalmor, I immediately turned tail and went to Windhelm to seek out Jarl Stormcloak and join the rabble.

 

Of course, as soon as I got inside the gates, I recalled seeing how a pair of nords were bullying an elf around, calling her a spy &c. As a nord I suppose my character would be carrying nord interests at heart, though I certainly have no distaste for elves (I even ended up marrying Jenassa, a dunmer). At the end of the day, as much of an arse as Ulfric Stormcloak is, and his racist/supremacist tendencies, he is at least interested only in subjugating Skyrim to his ends. He doesn't seem at all concerned with what goes on beyond Skyrim's borders.

 

The Thalmor, on the other hand, already have most of Tamriel under their thumb, and so the choice became slightly easier. If the Thalmor dominated the entire continent there would be little hope of them letting go. Maybe somewhere down the road, with a divided Tamriel at least there would still be some hope for someone new to step up and unite the nations under a truly neutral regime with the interests of the people at heart, no matter their race or creed, just as Tiber Septim did so many yonks ago.

 

As an aside, I love the fact that Skyrim even allows this kind of internal conversation to take place. It goes to show just how well Bethesda have crafted this world and lore. This kind of political intrigue, after playing Morrowind and getting caught up in all the politicking among the great houses, was something I was really missing in Oblivion, which was much more of a straightforward 'good vs bad' fantasy.

Edited by IanHead
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