LeddBate

Also, the Forsworn attack everyone who isn't Forsworn. The only exception is if Madanach escapes Markarth alive and flees to his base at Druadach Redoubt after which the Forsworn in that area will be friendly to the Dragonborn. The Forsworn are a series of tribes that are criminal to anyone not Forsworn. Unlike the Civil War questline, you don't have a choice of whether to join them in general or not (with the exception listed above.) They are certainly "People of the Reach", but the title of "Forsworn" is a statement that they've become a group with an agenda. In this case, kill pretty much anyone not Forsworn. I remember stopping in at a mining community (Karthwasten, I believe) and listening to the miners chatter after their working shift at their barracks. One miner was considering joining the Forsworn while another warned him not to saying that they weren't just rebels, they were vicious killers. As most of the miners were Reachmen, I think that pretty well summed it up. Which is really a pity. There was an opportunity in Skyrim to really develop the Forsworn into something more. The whole episode in Cidna Mine seemed to be pumping the player up to have to make a choice, join the Forsworn and basically be an outlaw anywhere near Markarth, or turn on Madanach at the last moment and help the Markarth guards defeat him and his fellow escapees. Instead, it doesn't matter what you do. If Madanach escapes, one tiny area of the Reach's Forsworn likes you. And whether you help, hinder or just let Madanach go, you still get out of frame-up that got you thrown in Cidna Mine in the first place. Rather disappointing. A real role-playing opportunity was lost here.

In addition to what notmyhome suggested, I would add getting better armor and weapons. I got my smithing and enchanting skills up to 90 each so that I could fashion ebony armor and enchant it with various combat buffs. I already had an ebony bow that I'd picked up in a dungeon after a boss fight and I enchanted a Blades' sword with a nasty "steal health" enchantment so that every time I hit an enemy, I transferred some of the damage I did to them as extra health for me. In summary: Better armor: Ebony or Dragon (If you get your smithing skill high enough to make them as opposed to trying to find them in dungeons, so much the better.) Better weapons: Again, Ebony or Dragon. Enchantments: Armor pieces should have heavy armor buffs. Weapons should have one-handed buff (sword), archery buff (bow). If you're determined enough, you can get your enchanting skill up to 100 and put TWO enchantments on each piece of armor and each weapon. You can really drive up your armor rating and damage output then.

Whoops! Sorry. Didn't see that thread. Thanks for the answer.

I believe that Amazing Follower Tweaks (AFT) may be what you need. In my opinion it is better than UFO, mainly because it offers more options and does not seem to conflict with many other mods. I play a goody-two-shoes character, but I once accidentally attacked a civilian during a bandit clash. The civ went hostile on me, but my two followers attacked him instantly rather than turned on me. (I was so embarrassed that I reloaded an earlier save to bring the poor sap back to life.) EDIT: This video for AFT is hilarious.

Thank you for this diagnostic tool. When the CDN first started, my download speed were atrocious. I'm talking 3 to 8kbs. But, as you promised, the server system seemed to "learn" what worked for me and I'm now seeing speeds around 700 to 900kbs. A question. Would you want some of us who are doing fine now, but had lots of trouble earlier, do a test and send the results to you? Or would you prefer just those who are having bad download speeds right now?

I was actually glad when Elenwen showed up. Not my character, he was P.O.ed. But I loved it! I got to talk briefly with everyone before Arngeir called the meeting to order. Loved Elenwen's faintly threatening "...And this time I know what you are..." response. Not surprising, really, since I annihilated her entire security force on duty between the party and her private house. Oh, and offed her chief torturer... er, I mean "assistant". Throwing her out was great fun. +1 to Bethesda for setting that situation up.

Do you use LOOT? If not, give it a try. Compare it to BOSS orders to see if you can hammer out a better load order.

I don't visit the ME forums, but I just tried the above links and got the same (bad) results. I'm using Firefox on Win7. Never had any problems before. Still don't elsewhere. Just here (at those links.) Sorry to say guys, but it might be possible that it is something at your end after all. EDIT: And just to confirm, I also cannot see the ME1 forum when I am logged in. I can see and enter the ME2 and ME3 forums just fine.

While that is true, it does not (in my opinion) invalidate my advice. I wanted very badly to join the Stormcloaks right after escaping with Ralof. The only reasons I didn't was that I've greatly learned to distrust knee-jerk reactions (especially my own) and, well, because I was a lvl 1 noob that could be easily beaten up by any roving bandit (or a particularly tough Skeever.) I still believe that every player should play the main-quest through to completion (or at least near completion) and visit every city and town throughout Skyrim to "get the pulse" of the populace, and then make their decision to which side to join in the civil-war (or not to join at all.) Everyone already knows my outlook. I sympathize with the Stormcloaks (and my character personally worships Talos) and I antagonize every roving band of Thalmor into attacking me (by simply standing my verbal ground when the Thalmor inevitably threaten me with that bullying sentence: "Perhaps you have something you wish to confess?") But, I will side with the Empire in the war because I believe that is not just Skyrim's best chance at remaining free when the Dominion attempts an invasion, but all of Tamriel's best chance at defense. A lot of talk has been made on this thread (and I am so very grateful to everyone who has participated, whatever their outlooks) -especially about how we impose our own worldviews and personal desires on the world of Skyrim. I couldn't agree more. I am clearly imposing MY beliefs on top of this game. I have made up my mind what my character stands for, and why. I am literally writing my own adventure within this game. When the game ends (and with mods that is going to be a long, long time) I will append my own "epilogue" based on what I have done and what I believe should happen afterwards. In MY rendition, there will be an eventual conclusion to the civil war. I won't end up King (and really, who wants to sit in on meetings with advisers and important dignitaries all day. Sounds terribly dull to me.) Nor will I be a Jarl. I'll be loved and respected by many, resented by others and hated by a handful. Because that's human (and presumably Khajit, and Argonian and Elven, etc, etc) nature. In my game, Skyrim will (in some areas, sullenly) rejoin the empire. And I will fade into the outback to continue my war with the Thalmor. They will not be able to rail the empire about me, because I won't be anywhere they can "officially" find me. This will force the Thalmor to back off a bit (because, officially, the White-Gold treaty is once again being enforced) and Talos worship, though underground, will continue to flourish. But I do not expect anyone else to share my views on the matter. Want to be a die-hard Stormcloak and purge Skyrim in steel and fire? That's perfectly valid as an ending as well. Whatever anyone thinks of Ulfric and Galmor, there's no reason why your game cannot end with you standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them as you first drive out the Empire, then the Dominion. You don't have to justify your view to anyone. And there is certainly historical precedent throughout our world to support either a Stormcloak or Empire victory. In the end, it really doesn't matter what Bethesda says "officially" happens after Skyrim. This is your adventure. Make of it what you will.

I refuse to touch the religious part of this question. Mainly because I'm pretty sure the mods would (quite rightfully) sit on this pretty fast. Instead, I'll address the other part of the question. Does making choices in video games equate to doing things in real life? In a word: no. Playing a video game is no different from writing (or reading) a book, stage or screen play. It's no different than wearing a costume at a Halloween party. You are "playing", not actually living. (Please don't get me started on Second Life.) And you should no more worry about choices you make in a game than you should about what you decide to wear. I'm in the middle of a one-Nord-war on the Thalmor, but that doesn't make me violent or intolerant in real life. What matters is what we believe and do in real life, not a game. Hope that helps.

Now THIS I agree with. The Thalmor (and Thalmor apologists) go on and on about how: "Oh, we're not really killing anyone. We're simply causing Mundis to never form. How can you kill someone who never existed?" I call total bulls*** on that. That's just arguing for the sake of theoreticals and causalities of effect. Even if it's true... A) Mundis exists now. B) If the Thalmor succeed, Mundis doesn't exist. Ergo, WE no longer exist. You can paint that anyway you like. It still adds up to wiping out thousands of years of history and the accumulated lives of billions of sentients. And now, on a lighter note... Frakkus Godot: "Here's a dossier on the Klegdixal." Buck Godot: "Thanks, Uncle. Can you give it to me in condensed form?" Frakkus: "They're jerks." Buck: "Thanks." Qvakk: "You really going to see the Klegdixal?!" Buck: "Yep. It's the only lead we have on this virus." Qvakk: "But the Klegdixal hate humans. Why should they talk to you?" Buck: "Ah, you just have to understand the underlying nuances of Klegdixal thought." Qvakk: "They're jerks!" Buck: "See? That wasn't so hard..." -Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire (The Gallimaufry Series) Just substitute "Thalmor" for "Klegdixal". Ironically, the Klegdixal end up becoming allies to Humanity. Hey, this is in the Spoilers section, so we're good, right?

Arthmoor's mod has helped immensely. However, one time a vampire and his minions warped in and chowed down Benethor before he could get away. What to do? I ran across this mod: Dawnguard, no Vampire Attacks The mod allows you to grab two new amulets while you're in Whitrerun's Hall of the Dead catacombs. One works for vampires, the other with dragons. Basically, they keep tricking the game into "resetting" the chance of a vampire (or dragon) attack to "0" every time you enter or fast travel to a city as long as you are wearing the amulets as you do so. You can wear both amulets at once and they will not displace your "regular" amulet. I've played for 12 hours with the amulets on and have entered/left numerous cities and towns about two dozen times. No vampire attacks so far. The mod description does mention that you can take the amulets off whenever you want there to be a chance of an attack happening. So, thank you to the mod makers for (once again) correcting not-so-well-thought-out gameplay on Bethesda's part.

Remember that with Helgen destroyed, you have to venture down into the cave to meet...

Thalmor Justicar: "Perhaps you have something you would care to confess?" Me: "Nuh, uh. Ain't going there." TJ: "What?" Me: (Places arm in friendly fashion over TJ's shoulder and points back down road with other arm) "See that dragon down the road?" Odahviing: (Looks up from eating a cow and waves with one wing.) TJ: "GULP" Me: "So, let's skip the whole 'okay, you got me, I'm a Talos worshipper' dance and talk about what in Oblivion is eating you guys." TJ: "Uhm, okay. Well, it's like this. Reality... this reality -mortality that is, is a prison imposed upon us. All we want to do is unmake time so that we return to what we originally were. A single race/entity in a complete transcendent reality. No death, no mortality." Me: "Okay. I'm with you so far. So... If I understand this correctly, Nirn -all of Mundis, would simply... what? Cease to exist? Doesn't that murder us all?" TJ: "No, no. Mundis would never come into being at all. You wouldn't die, you simply would never have existed in the first place. How can you murder something that never existed?" Me: "Uhm, is this like that 'Chicken and the egg' riddle Ma told me about?" TJ: "What?" Me: "You know... -what came first, the chicken or the egg?" TJ: "What in Oblivion are you blathering about you stupid Nord monkey-brained.... uh-oh..." WHAM! Me: (Cleans gore off of warhammer.) Odahviing: (Stomps up road and looks down at considerably shorter Thalmor) "Didn't go well?" Me: "Hey, I tried. I went full metaphysical with him and he reverted to name calling." (Gestures at Thalmor) "You hungry?" Odahviing: (Picks cow horn out between teeth) "Naw, I'm good. What now?" Me: "Well, there's two more of them just up the road." Odahviing: "Oh goody, I love strafing runs!"

There are numerous mods on the Nexus (too numerous to list, please exercise your search skills) that alter the behavior of NPCs to be more "aware" of your status and/or what you've been up to recently. In cities where I'm a Thane, the guards frequently recognize and hail me respectfully. On the road, I'll run into NPCs who will suddenly say something like: "Wait, you're the one that's been saving us from the dragons!" Or "I hear you've given the Thalmor a black eye. You sure know how to pick your enemies." Or (if you've been hitting Thalmor patrols) "YOU! You will pay for your crimes against the Thalmor!" Some of this is baked into the vanilla game, but mods add a lot more to the "Check it out, I'm the big bad Dragonborn!" immersion. Okay, okay! I can feel the evil stares beating on the back of my neck. Fine, here's a FEW of the mods I'm talking about. You can find the rest perfectly well by yourself. -Guard Dialogue Overhaul -Respectful Guard Animations -Interesting NPCs Add "Helgen Reborn" if you want to be head of your own city, and you pretty much have all the adulation you could desire from the masses.

Yeah, you need to get on the Jarl's good side before Idgrod the Younger will trust you with the letter.

Correct. If you escape with Ralof, one of those two Imperials you kill is the Captain that coldly sent you to the block over Hadvar's (admittedly weak) objections. So, revenge pretty much taken since Tullius let her make the decision. Sure, it would be nice if the first time you journey to Solitude and waltz into Castle Dour (on that subject, does imperial security in that castle suck or what?) you could walk up to Tullius and have a brief conversation tree that went something like: Dragonborn: "Remember me at Helgen? Still want to take my head for nothing more than walking on the road?" Tullius (if you escaped with Hadvar): "Calm down mister. Legionnaire Hadvar tendered a report about you, and the Captain died during the razing of Helgen -so the matter is settled. Unless you want to make some new trouble about it?" Tullius (if you escaped with Ralof): "Calm down you insolent whelp. You clearly managed to escape with your hide intact. A lot of other people didn't. Including the Captain of the execution detail -so the matter is settled. Unless you want to make some new trouble about it?" Yeah, that would be awesome. Uhm, what were we talking about? Something about evil empires? :blush:

"Cult of personality", -agreed. Between his brief appearance at the beginning and Ralof and Gerdur's down-to-earth (Tamriel?) common sense lines at Riverwood I wanted to trot right off to Windhelm and join the intolerant bast- uhm, I meant Stormcloaks, right away.

You mean this http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19281/? right?

I chose Whiterun, but my decision is influenced by the mod "Towns and Villages Enhanced - Whiterun" at http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19799/? Really makes the city look beautiful.

There has been a lot of food for thought here and I thank everyone for contributing. Mostly, I hope these comments will help new players who want more info about the forces (political, personal and military) driving the civil war in Skyrim so that they can have more fun making decisions they think their character would actually make in such situations. All good stuff. Please keep commenting if you wish.

Why? No matter how high my level gets, when I try to tell them to get lost, they always respond with "Nice try, but you don't scare me." Now I could understand that reaction back when I was level 5 or less -but I'm freaking level 50 now. I have speech near 100. I'm equipped with Daedric weapons and Ebony armor. Practically all of Skyrim knows I'm carrying out a one-man-war with the Thalmor and I've left a trail of dumber-than-rocks previous thieves beaten to within an inch of their life (literally) behind me. You'd think word would eventually get around. But nooooo. Some pissant armed with a steel sword and a dagger thinks he can bully me into coughing up? I usually don't even bother with weapons. I just beat them to submission (bleed-out state) then get back on my horse and saunter away before they can get back up. When there are other travelers on the road nearby, I can almost imagine them snickering at the poor dumb thief. At first (when my levels got into the twenties) it was comical. Then it got sad. Now it is plain irritating. I'm beginning to wonder if it is actually a bug in my game. Does anyone else experience this? On a similar subject, I now estimate that I've killed eight assassins from the Dark Brotherhood. Is Astrid just that stupid? Does she really think that throwing assassins at me penny-packet-style will eventually work? I'm so disgusted with this stupidity that I'm going to take great delight in wiping out the Dark Brotherhood when I get the chance. (Sigh. Yes, I was in rant mode. Thanks for reading.)

Here is how to level block right up to (and beyond) level 100. You will need: LOTS of health and Stamina potions. "Ultimate" class potions are best (especially for health) but a sufficient quantity of lesser potions will serve. I recommend 15 to 18 potions of Ultimate Health or about double that of the medium class ones. You should have about half that in Stamina potions. Go to Soljund's Sinkhole (see: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Soljund%27s_Sinkhole for details where to find it.) There is a final "boss" Draugr (or Dragon Priest if you are of a very high level.) When you enter the final room, you will see two of the standard Nordic hawk-like totems and the Draugr. One of the totems will begin spitting fire at you while the other will start glowing green on-and-off. The purpose of the green glowing totem seems to be to buff the draugr (making the fight tougher for you) but, it seems it will also buff your own block skill if you utilize it! Run over to the right-hand side of the right-hand totem and turn around to face the on-coming Draugr boss. The totem next to you now blocks the fire from the other totem preventing you from taking additional burn damage. Quaff a healing potion if needed. Now start blocking. As the Draugr boss attacks you, your block skill should go up about every 4 to 6 hits! Keep an eye on your health bar and drink another potion when you get down to 20% or less. Save often in case you make a mistake and the Draugr kills you before you drink another potion! Occasionally you will level up. Wait until you are low on health before actually leveling as this will save you a health potion. As your skill rises, you will start getting blocking perks that will make the Draugr's job harder and yours easier. Eventually you will get the perk where time slows down when you block. This will start consuming Stamina. (Now you know why you need the Stamina potions.) Keep this up until either: A) You've got your skill up high enough that you're satisfied or B) You're down to one health potion, in which case it is now time to put down the Draugr. Once you kill the Draugr, both totems will stop working, so you don't have to worry about additional damage. I found this out by accident when the Draugr backed me into that little spot next to the totem and I realized I was out of the fire-totem's line of er, fire. Because I was trying to raise my block skill anyway, I blocked rather than full-out fought. I was hoping to raise my skill by one, maybe two points before I was forced to kill the Draugr. Imagine my surprise when my block skill started rising for every 5 or 6 hits the boss scored on me rather than the twenty or so I was anticipating. The Draugr was healing every 6 or so swings as well. It was at that point that I got suspicious of the green-glowing totem. I'm pretty sure its function was to buff the Draugr boss, but apparently it also will buff you! But only so long as the Draugr is er, alive.

Absolutely! I guess I should have made myself a bit more clear. I'm not going with the Empire because I think they're right. I'm joining them because they are the lesser of two evils. Also, I have to admit that I have a soft-spot for Jarl Balgruuf (best Jarl in Skyrim in my opinion) and I just can't stand to help Ulfric depose him. Agreed. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the "Civil War Overhaul" until I was up to level 27. ApolloDown makes it very clear that installing his mod mid-game is inviting disaster. Since I wasn't willing to give up that much of my accumulated character (restarting after having to remove Warzones and scrub my game at level 5 was painful enough) I regretfully had to pass on CWO. Too bad, it looks like a lot of fun.

Yes, yes, I know. This subject has been done to death. But I hate necroing old threads so please forgive me. I'm in my first playthrough (technically 2nd -since I stopped at level 5, removed the old Warzones mod and restarted) and have really been wrestling with the decision of whether to join one side or the other in the civil war. EDIT 3/3/15: I want to take this opportunity to state that Warzones has been updated (by the original mod author, MGE -as well as Grand Bulwark and others) into Warzones2015 and now functions brilliantly. I participated in the beta and also spot-tested the main release. Gone are all the problems with save-game corruption due to orphan scripts. You owe it to yourself to try this fantastic mod if you would like to have a real WAR in Skyrim. 2nd EDIT 11/05/15: Can't resist mentioning that WarZones now has it's first official expansion, WarZones Assault Attack. This add-on adds strongholds, facilities, bosses and artillery (yes, artillery) to both factions. I should note that I started with the "Live Another Life" mod but choose the vanilla start anyway. Why? I loved the introductory sequence. I thought it was well-paced and an excellent set-up for the storyline to begin. My one problem with it was that it was suddenly interrupted by the character creation screen. That was just too jarring and completely immersion-breaking. Thus, LAL allowed me to make my character first, then go through the introduction without interruption. Much better. Anyway, I followed Ralof because it made sense (to me.) The Imperials tried to have me (unfairly) executed without even allowing me a chance to defend myself. Ralof seemed a fairly stable fellow with a good argument for support of the Stormcloaks. Gerdur was very sensible and asked me to perform a favor (going to Whiterun to ask the Jarl to send troops to defend Riverwood) which spelled out her loyalty to home and kin. More, she talked about the tricky political situation with the civil war brewing and made a lot of sense with her opinions. It was almost enough to make me run right up to Windhelm right then and there to join the Stromcloaks. But, but, -I've gotten old enough to get suspicious about any situation that "makes too much sense." It's hard to explain. I'm not good with words. All I can say is... the more the argument for joining the Stromcloaks made sense, the more suspicious of it I got. So, what to do? Well, after sitting there in Riverwood and thinking it over, I decided the only way I could make an informed decision about it was to either read a lot of spoiler material (thus lessening my enjoyment of the game) or get out there and explore Skyrim and see first-hand what all the fuss was about on both sides of the civil war. The problem is that once you go to Whiterun to get the troops that Gerdur asks for, you start off on the main-quest. However, as many of you already know, you don't HAVE to follow the main-quest when you exit Whiterun. So, for all you new folks just starting your first playthrough, my advice is that once you get the quest to go visit Bleak Falls Barrough to retrieve the stone tablet for Farengar -don't. By that I mean, just leave Whiterun and ignore the quest. You can complete it later. Much, much later. Sure, logically, Jarl Balgruuf should rip a strip off your back-side if you show up with the tablet three or four months later. But the game doesn't do that to you. If you want an immersive justification for this, just "alter" (in your mind) the instructions that Farengar gave you from "Go to Bleak Falls Barrow and recover the tablet" to "Go to Bleak Falls Barrow in a few months when the snow storms have subsided enough for you to have a chance of approaching it and recover the tablet." So, with that justification for my not returning right away with the dragon tablet, I left Whiterun and started exploring. I've visited every major city and most of the towns and villages. I've joined the Companions and the College of Winterhold. I'm a Thane in three cities. I've been imprisoned in Cidhna Mines (and exonerated after escaping) and I've fought alongside both Stormcloaks and Imperials against bandits, vampires and other scum. The only fights I haven't gotten involved in were between Imperials and Stormcloaks. I've risen to level 50 and explored a LOT of the continent of Skyrim. Most importantly, I've met all the people in the cities, towns, villages and outposts. I've seen what's happening with my own eyes (and ears) rather than just listen to the talk of others. This is what I have observed. I know this is posted in the Spoilers section, but I still feel obligated to warn you, here be spoilers: The Stormcloak rebellion is headed by Jarl Ulfric Stormcloak and his trusted friend Galmar. They are planning their forthcoming war from the Jarl's palace in Windhelm. It is suprisingly easy to gain admittance to see them. Ulfric Stormcloak believes that his rebellion is necessary. It is the driving force behind everything he does and says. Unfortunately, he's willing to sacrifice anyone and anything to win. Worse, he's willing to do such things simply because they are expedient. Ulfric may or may not be racist, but a visit to his court in Windhelm demonstrated that his court is chock full of them. Listening to them telling jokes, many of them bluntly racist, actually made me ill. (NOTE: I'm using mods that add people to cities, villages and towns. So, in all honesty, I don't know how many of these nasty nobles are actually in the vanilla game.) Worse, Ulfric's 2nd in command, Galmar, clearly is of the "You're either with us, or against us" stripe. I got the distinct sensation from him that he'd happily butcher anyone he doubted the loyalty of. Just looking around the city and talking to the populace in general (let alone the Grey Quarter) left me with a feeling that Windhelm was a dark city full of hatred and despair. Traveling back to Whiterun was such a relief that I actually wanted to hug Nazeem. (Not really.) On the Imperial side of the fence, General Tullius and Legate Rikke are the driving force behind the Empire's efforts to quell the rebellion and put down Ulfric once and for all. (After he escaped from Helgen in the confusion of Alduin's attack, much like you did/will.) It is also easy to gain entrance to Castle Dour to speak to Tullius and Rikke, but the General quickly grows tired of you and will order you out. Tullius is a tough, no-nonsense commander. He seems to have no qualms about anyone, of any race or belief, serving in the Imperial Legion. But, he has absolutely no patience for anyone. He's clearly under terrific pressure to bring the rebellion in Skyrim to a quick end. Having the Thalmor looking over his shoulder (more on that a bit later) is not helping matters. His 2nd in command, Rikke is a bit more willing to think openly about options and this allows her to warn Tullius about possible blind spots in his plans. If there is a dark presence in Solitude (and Castle Dour) it isn't in the Imperial sections, but rather in the chambers reserved for the Thalmor. Tullius is driven and stubborn as hell, but he only has it in for the Stormcloaks themselves. This allows Rikke to warn him about the danger of continuing to let Whiterun stand aloof in the brewing conflict and the need to push Jarl Balgruuf for a commitement, which Tullius (grudgingly) accedes to. The Thalmor are the "Representatives of the Aldmeri Dominion to the Empire." What I quickly came to believe after reading books, notes and confronting them face-to-face in the cities and on the roads of Skyrim, is that they are the not-so-secret police/special forces of the Dominion. While everything I've said above that paragraph is open to argument and differences of opinion, the Thalmor are not. They are racists of the worse sort. They threaten, bully, insult and will attack you on the road if you give them the slightest excuse. They will actually twist a conversation you initiate with them until you either have to admit you are a Talos worshipper or meekly back-off while they insult you and then walk away. You will spot them with alarming regularity on the roads of Skyrim, usually well armored and well armed. They are often leading a prisoner. I can't think of a more provocational situation if you are role-playing. Even if you're not playing as a Nord, these encounters are scary and very dangerous (especially if you are below level 10.) It becomes very clear, as you play the game, that the Dominion is playing a "both sides against the middle" strategy with the Empire and the Stormcloaks. I've come to the following conclusions: 1) I sympathize with the Stormcloaks... -but not with Ulfric (and especially not Galmar!) Ralof and Gerdur really pulled at my heartstrings at the beginning of the game, but getting to know Ulfric and seeing his city totally smashed my initial vision of him based on Ralof and Gerdur's words. 2) I don't like General Tullius's... "general" attitude (no pun intended.) But he is a hell of a lot more respectable (in my opinion) than Ulfric. His attitude problems (and the blind spots they create in his awareness) are somewhat mitigated by Legate Rikke. I don't like him, but I dislike him a helluva lot less than Ulfric. 3) The Thalmor are the most arrogant, murderous bigots I've run into in the game. At least bandits just want your money. Hell, even Vampires want to kill you for a practical reason. Even Galmar looks like a paragon of love and virtuousness compared to them. This isn't just my opinion. They spout racist, hateful oaths when they are in combat with you. They insult everyone (not just you) and their threats aren't just thinly-veiled, they are openly sarcastic and provocative. This is what I already do: I attack Thalmor (who are not inside cities) wherever I find them. In order to avoid getting a bounty placed on me, I provoke them into combat. This is easy to do as all you have to do refuse to back down when the Thalmor start threatening you with thinly-veiled accusations of Talos worshipping. (My favorite response in the conversation tree is a flippant "You got me, I believe in Talos." This has gotten me into trouble as I am now running into Thalmor "hit squads" that are actively seeking me out. No, I'm not imagining this. I've found orders on their bodies with my name on them. Personally, I think this is wonderfully immersive. Even city and townsfolk have started to comment on my one-man-war against the Thalmor. This is what I intend to do soon: I will finally go to Bleak Falls Barrow and retrieve the dragon tablet for Bulgruuf and Farengar so I can re-trigger the main quest. When I finally deal with Alduin, I will join the Empire. Putting down the rebellion as quickly as possible will prevent many deaths in the long run. Also, while I sympathize with the Stormcloaks, I believe their leader is unworthy. Mainly because he simply will not accept that a Skyrim WITH the Empire is stronger than without. But, I will continue to champion Talos worship. I will attack Thalmor on sight. I will continue to wage a one-man war against the Dominion until I've exhausted all of Skyrim including the various mods. (Can't wait to try the series: "Fight Against the Thalmor" by MadFrenchie.) Now, you may see things quite differently about the Empire, the Stormcloaks or even the Thalmor. (Please forgive me, though. I'm liable to laugh at you if you think the Thalmor are "misunderstood.") So please, let me know your opinions.