Current playthrough, Empire. But I'm sort of an lone wolf, happy to kill any imperial soldiers if they get in my way, as I have done multiple times.
magmayoshi said:Correction they are selling out to THE THALMOR (the genocidal high elves) rather than suffering heavy losses or extermination. The Empire hates the Thalmor like everyone else but is mature enough to realize that literal hero worship isn't worth the Thalmor killing everyone.ZedFish said:Exactly what I thought. I rocked on up to Windhelm, listened to some Elves complain, talked to Ulfric then went straight to Solitude to join the Empire.DutchAssassin8 said:In Skyrim you can choose to either join the (I chose Imperial because i thought Ulfric and his band of merry men were a bunch of racist pricks. Besides that i just like the Roman empire and weaponry)
Him and his bloody Galmar Stonefist... grumble. At least the Empire aren't dicks, even if they are selling out to the High Elves.
I hate how polar good vs evil the sides become if you decide to background check the sides a little and the contrast just becomes huge as you delve further. But I love the transition period of how you feel toward the factions details emerge.
I think you are confusing the War of the Red Diamond when the Imperials kick ass which is decades before with the Battle of the Red Ring which was the last battle in the war where the Imperials kick some more ass but used up their remaining energy (I had to look that up because I knew there a number of similar named events). Hammerfell apparently kept fighting (after the peace treaty provided a short break) well enough to hold back the Thalmor but got pretty much wrecked in the process, which would be the minimum of what would have likely would have happened to all of the Empire since the troops were all tired out and the Thalmor were stronger at the time. The Emperor signed the White Gold Concordat because he wanted to win later (which a lot of warriors and warrior based cultures (like the Nords) misinterpreted as just cowardice).Shadowsafter said:magmayoshi said:Correction they are selling out to THE THALMOR (the genocidal high elves) rather than suffering heavy losses or extermination. The Empire hates the Thalmor like everyone else but is mature enough to realize that literal hero worship isn't worth the Thalmor killing everyone.ZedFish said:Exactly what I thought. I rocked on up to Windhelm, listened to some Elves complain, talked to Ulfric then went straight to Solitude to join the Empire.DutchAssassin8 said:In Skyrim you can choose to either join the (I chose Imperial because i thought Ulfric and his band of merry men were a bunch of racist pricks. Besides that i just like the Roman empire and weaponry)
Him and his bloody Galmar Stonefist... grumble. At least the Empire aren't dicks, even if they are selling out to the High Elves.
I hate how polar good vs evil the sides become if you decide to background check the sides a little and the contrast just becomes huge as you delve further. But I love the transition period of how you feel toward the factions details emerge.
Actually according to accounts of the Battle of Red diamond, the Aldmeri armies were utterly destroyed in the Imperial city and the Empire, while seriously hurt, still had the support of the provinces (especially Skyrim and Hammerfell, the regions that produce the toughest fighters) and could've counterattacked. The Emperor signed the White Gold Concordat because he was a coward.
He not working with him. A lot of people read things wrong in a certain book. I won't spoil anything but he not working for them.hutchy27 said:I haven't sided yet. At first I planned imperial but the thalmor were god damn annoying so I decided I'll go stormcloak but after hearing that ulfrcic is working with them put me off that option.
Scorched_Cascade said:Ladies and Gentlemen: Context.
The empire has relatively recently emerged from a costly war in which they won a Pyrrhic victory. They pushed the Almeri Dominion out of their home territory of Cyrodiil but in the process gave them half of Hammerfall as part of the peace treaty and outlawed the worship of the god of the empire giving Thalmar free access to persecute his followers.
-Talos is the most significant of the nine divines for the Empire because he was a man who became a god, specifically an emperor. The Empire is basically shaming itself by denying their founder's divinity.
-The Empire has also been forced to allow Black Marsh (Argonians) and Elseweyr (Khajit) to secede from it.
-Morrowind was wrecked by an ash volcano eruption and then subsequently invaded by the now free-agent Argonians.
-Hammerfall was expelled from the empire due to their refusal to accept the White-gold peace treaty. The Redguard continued fighting all by themselves and to put it bluntly: kicked elven arse. They single-handedly threw the Thalmer out of the parts of Hammerfall the Empire freely gave over as part of the peace treaty.
-The Empire currently consists of: Skyrim (Nords), Cyrodiil (Imperials) and High Rock (Some Orcs, Bretons) and is not all that great a military force any more (Nords and Redguard used to do the bulk of the fighting till Hammerfall's split and Skyrim's civil war)
-Skyrim is being drained of resources (mainly manpower and metal) to float the other two provinces.
-The Thalmor call themselves the "savior of mer (elven) kind" basically if you're not an elf you're a second class citizen or worse a slave.
Skyrim currently has just finished fighting the Thalmor (elves) and is bordered on one side by Morrowind which has just been invaded by unallied Argonians.... can you see why the Nords might be a little predisposed to not trust those races?
Those of you balking at the capture of that one town need to remember that without decisive movements the civil war just grinds down both sides and causes unnecessary loss of life. That town was given months to decide where their allegiances lay. The Jarl thought that the Empire would win and wanted to be on the winning side so his people were not mistreated by the eventual victor.
The town was captured within a day (presumably) and with fairly minimal loss of life. Had they decided to sack and burn the town you might have cause to call them unjust...but they didn't.
TL;DR:
-The Empire is not the strong, overwhelming force you think it is
-You think the racism unjustified? Look to Europe's past and how those associated with prior aggressors were treated by those they had been fighting against. It's not racism for racism's sake.
-Yes Ulfric is a dick and selfishly motivated but he's a good leader. Have you actually spoken to the Jarl of Solitude? She means well but she doesn't know her ass from her elbow when it comes to military doctrine; at one point she suggests sending an entire legion to clear an insignificant cave complex before her advisors correct her.
-Windhelm is a shithole purely because it's a shithole not because of Ulfric's direct actions (it's highly likely it's a slum to be due to him being rebel and unsupported by the other towns in skyrim with limited trade)
-Solitude (The Empire's skyrim capitol) is surrounded by water. Thalmor elves specialise in naval warfare. Should they siege it, they'll win.
Edit:
Here's a map of Tamriel
Empire= High Rock, Cyrodiil, Skyrim
Argonian forces= Black Marsh, Morrowind
Almeri Dominion (Thalmor)=Summerset Isle, Valenwood
Unaligned= Hammerfell, Elseweyer
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