Zrehael

Actually, they were in the BEST position to. In all truth, short of allowing the leader of the Aldmeri Dominion being able to kick Emperor Titus Mede II in the groin on the quarter hour, the terms of the treaty could have been much worse, or they could have just decided to go against the treaty and take the Imperial City again. They probably didn't go with that course of action as the amount of civil unrest of the people of the former Empire (I say "former" in this case assuming hypothetically the Aldmeri Dominion decided to continue with the Great War and lay siege to the Imperial City a second time) would be greater than it was now, and, if anything, would have been a call-to-arms of all non-mer races to take up arms against the Aldmeri. Ondolemar actually put it best: "The Empire exists because we allow it to exist." Lest we forget the Aldmeri Dominion stomped the Empire, and after retaking the Imperial City, they just didn't have the power to deal with another Aldmeri assault. The peace treaty was signed so that the Empire could continue to exist without having to worry about that next Aldmeri assault. As for Ulfric? He's still just a whiny little bastard who wants to be High King and couldn't give a damn about anyone else even if he actually wanted to. Hell, he's the reason the Thalmor are dragging people out of their beds at night in Skyrim anyways. If he wouldn't have gone around agitating about it, the Emperor wouldn't have needed to crack down on them, and the Thalmor wouldn't even be in Skyrim. It's amazing what you can learn just by spending the day smithing Iron Daggers with a blacksmith, huh? :tongue:

Tried sneak to consume. Didn't work. Looked for an option outside of that to eat a dead bandit, like a standing option. Nothing. Looked for a power that I perhaps would have had to use that the ring would have granted me. Nothing. The only option I have with dead bodies is to just loot them. Not sure what I'm missing here.

As the topic and description say, I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how I'm supposed to feast with Namira's ring. With the ring equipped, crouching and selecting them gives me no option, there's no power available with which I may munch on dead bodies... At this point, the only part of it that is working is the part that gives me 50 Stamina... Unfortunately, I seem to be the only one having this problem, as Google Searches have only turned up inquiries (which I have read over), but the suggestions do not work. Anyone else having this problem or am I just doing this whole cannibalism thing wrong?

The Long-Winded Version: Honestly, I chose the Imperials. As a Khajiit, I chose to go with Hadvar in the beginning. Sure, they just tried to execute me, but gaining a little favor with them will go a long way in the end, regardless of the outcome. Besides, the reason I was on that cart was because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with a bunch of traitors. Were I on a cart with just a bunch of people like the horse thief, it would've probably started just like Oblivion did: in a jail cell. The Stormcloaks honestly can't stand the elves or beast races, so I can't imagine possibly changing their minds about a Khajiit. Aside from that fact, Alvor gave quite the bit of good insight to the situation. If you went with Alvor and listened to what he has to say, he'll tell you that when the White-Gold Concordat was signed when he was a child, no one really cared too much. Everyone still had their little shrines to Talos, and no one was getting hauled off in the middle of the night. When Ulfric and his little groupies started getting all riled up about it, that's when the Emperor had to crack down, and that's why the Thalmor are now marching across Skyrim and dragging people out of their beds. He also goes on to say he doesn't support really anything that the Empire's done as of late, which I can imagine is the attitude of many loyalist Nords. Of course, the word of one blacksmith wasn't really one to go on, but then I had a nice little talk with Sybille Stentor, the Solitude court wizard. She made some excellent points there as well. First off, let's not forget that the Thalmor made quick work of the Blades, a group of fighters that were easily the most skilled warriors of the Empire. How does Ulfric expect to fare any better with a bunch of ragtag recruits, only a few here and there having any real military training from the Empire? Stentor noted this when she remarked that the Dominion was "a sleeping beast that Skyrim cannot slay alone." For all of the Dungeons and Dragons nerds out there, you might better know this tactic as "Don't split the party." She then went on to explain that many Nords were already a part of the Imperial Army, along with Skyrim's need of food and other resources that they receive from the Empire. The strongest point, however, was her saying "Even if we can't worship him openly, Talos the god was once Tiber Septim the man, and this was his Empire." The last reason I have is merely an assumption on my part, which is the current tactics of the Empire vs the Aldmeri Dominion. Many people seem to consider the Empire a puppet of the Thalmor, but lets not forget just how badly the Empire was curb stomped in the Great War. I see the Empire in the terms of a man with a knife to his throat. He's doing as he's told only until the person who has the knife at his throat drops their guard. Once the Thalmor let their guard down a little more, the Empire will make their move for one last strike against them. The Empire will need Skyrim's support for that, and, unless Skyrim wants to be overrun by elitist elves, Skyrim will need the support of the Empire as well. Honestly though, I'd love to see if anyone can come up with some justification that a Khajiit would side with the blatantly racist Stormcloaks. I had the idea for doing another Khajiit character so I could play through as a mage (If you haven't noticed by now, I'm a fan of the Khajiit) instead of my usual warrior/thief archetype. It'd be interesting to see Ulfric sucking up to the Dragonborn for help, who happens to be a "cat". Obligatory tl'dr Version: Played a Khajiit. Went with Hadvar for the pardon. Sided with the Empire because the Stormcloaks are a bunch of racist SOBs and Ulfric's a greedy bastard. Would love to hear sound reasoning for a "cat" to fight for the Stormcloaks instead for another character idea I have.