Ok I'm doing this mission for the Dark Brotherhood.
Gaius Maro is going from place to place "checking" the security. I have his schedule that I stole, very convenit.
But my question is; Is Gaius Maro an Imperial? he is in ALL Imperial armor and checking things for the empiour after all.
If he is an Imperial what in the Tamriel is he doing in The Palace of the King, Windhelm??? Where Ulfric HIMSELF is sitting on the throne? And Why in Oblivion is no one at his heels like a scamp?
I love this game but this right here is making NO SENSE TO ME! please help explain this to me. Am I missing something??

He's with the Penitulus Oculatus, which is basically the elite wing of the Imperials who protect the Emperor. As to why he doesn't get beat down in Windhelm, not sure, guess it's just one of those things the overall lore ignores in favor of convenience.Kiind of like how you can never brag about killing the Emperor when you're a stormcloak, or how outside of some guard dialogue the Emperor's death isn't even a big deal.

I must say this gets under my skin very much so. I've been with TES series since Morrorwind (spent like 2 1/2 years playing that game [in game real time]).
I hope they don't DUMB down the next game for the "casual" gamer, like the did in Oblivion (Way over did it in that game) and have done in this game as well.
But I will keep playing and just ignore this little mistake.

Political reasons. If you're running "Bound Until Death" or "To Kill an Empire," Ulfric refuses to siege Solitude, because he's trying to avoid an all-out war with the Empire, or so he says. And he'd certainly get in trouble if he had a member of the Emperor's elite bodyguard and security force killed.

Or maybe it's all a conspiracy. The next patch is Ulfric and Tullius (undead if you killed one of them) shaking hands and walking off onto a boat that will take them through the Sea of Ghosts into Cyrodil