So I won civil war as the Stormcloacks and now got to play as a member of Dark brotherhood. I find the quest line so story breaking that its just idiotic. I mean in solitude there are Imperial guards next to the Stormcloacks. And a Imperial officer inspects the cities.

There should be a correction to that questline to make it fit in the political situation in which Skyrim is after winning the civil war as Stormcloak. Did Beth say something on that subject?

Nothing, I guess they didn't really think about that.

Its even worse when you join the imperials after finishing the DB questline, considering your final assasination target.

Yeah. Never though of it that way. You are right.

Why is it idiotic? The Dark Brotherhood doesn't have any political affiliations. They didn't carry out the contract on the Emperor to help the Stormcloaks, nor did they do it because the Imperial side thinks that they need a stronger leader.

The only reason that the Emperor was murdered can be broken down into two simple reasons.

1) Motierre is a minor Noble looking to rise well above his station. It took him years of favor culling and planning, and even then was still an expensive proposition to undertake.

2) The Dark Brotherhood accepted for the same reason that they accept any contract, because Sithis wants Souls. They also need the recognition and to have that necessary fear back. What good is an Assassin's Guild that nobody fears? It boils down to reclaiming and seizing respect that they once held. Never once was it mentioned/implied that the Dark Brotherhood was helping either side of the civil war.

It isn't pointless as the OP claims to join the Stormcloaks after the DB quests. Think about it. The DB killed the Emperor, and he has no sons. The next logical strong figure to attempt to seize the Throne would be General Tullius. If you like to think that the Stormcloaks had anything to do with the Emperor's death, then killing Tullius at the end of that quest line would be them ensuring that the Empire is shaken to its very core and that the search for a new Emperor is going to take twice the time. This takes a ton of pressure off of the Stormcloaks, and gives them time to rebuild and strengthen their forces (and that of Skyrim as a Sovereign Nation) in anticipation of Thalmor aggression.

If you join the Imperial side, now you are stuck with an Empire with no figurehead. The Throne sits empty and the dead Emperor had no sons to make Heir. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to have General Tullius dominate and destroy the Stormcloaks as a political play for the Throne. By decomating the Stormcloak rebellion, he presents himself as a strong, capable, fearless leader who can protect his people and uphold the most core beliefs of the Empire. In this regard, the Dark Brotherhood's independent actions in assassinating the Emperor have greatly helped him out politically, plus they have unwittingly assured that the Empire can rebuild its strength and its military by holding on to the Province that makes up the core of its Army. They basically ensure that the Empire survives to fight the Thalmor again one day (it's no secret at all that Tullius hates the Thalmor with a passion and only works alongside them because of the White Gold Concordat. If he had a choice, he would be killing every Thalmor agent he could find.).

So doing the Civil War Quests after the Dark Brotherhood Quests isn't pointless or stupid, if you put yourself into a political scheming/war mongering mind-set, then it all makes perfect sense. Without ever joining a side or picking a political adversary, the DB helps whichever side you choose with out ever knowing that they are doing so.

And they still reclaim the respect that they deserve by undertaking and succeeding at the daunting task of assassinating an Emperor of Tamriel. Sithis gets his Souls, the DB gets its gold and its respect back (as well as a new Listeners and a welcome return to the Traditions and Old Ways that kept it running for so many, many centuries).

I don't see how it could be pointless or stupid.

Actually, the OP is right about the way events play out if the Stormcloaks win the Civil War. It makes no sense for the Emperor to venture to hostile territory.

Yup, I am now playing an Imperial and I took the Oath to server the Empire. Therefore, there's no way I can play through the DB quests again. Sure, the game won't recognize my affiliation and there are no consequences, so I have to set my own cause and effect rules.

That's my biggest gripe with Skyrim... there are NO consequences to your actions.

I agree with the OP, that's rather ludicrous to place Imperials in a Stormcloak occupied city! LOL

I salute you.

The OP isn't talking about before the Civil War questline, but after the Civil War. I agree with the OP, it doesn't make sense that the Emperor would visit Skyrim if the Stormcloaks pushed out the the Empire.

Me too..!!

Is it? The emperor is dead, long live the emperor. You aren't really destroying the empire you are just removing its greatest weakness.
In the long run, a unified empire with a new strong emperor will fare better than a unified empire under the current emperor, or an empire divided into Ulfric's Skyrim (Nords only) and a weakened alliance of High Rock and Cyrodiil. Assuming of course that whoever is behind Motierre has planned his part of the coup as well as the DB.

It is silly of course, when the emperor travels to a "liberated" Skyrim (without a large army)

Of course it is. How can anyone so honored warrior as Stormblade ever join in Dark Brotherhood?

Dude I am walking now in Solitude and there are 2 imperial gards next to the Stormcloak soldiers. In Dragonsreach there are imperial soldiers next to Stormcloak guards. The whole story makes no sense after the Nords casted out the Empire. There are Stormcloak guards talking how someone killed the emperor and they didnt catch him. Once the Imperial soldiers were chasing me and they run into city guards in Solitude and began o fight each other. It a major story breaker. So the cure is - never play the civil war story. Than the missions and the situation makes sense.

The random stormcloak guards in the cities will also comment on the death of the emperor as a bad thing. I thought this was strange, but I know it's because of the voice acting.

I was wondering about this. I played the Empire after the DB questline, and 'Long Live the Emperor!' Umm.. yeah. About that...

It *is* a bad thing for them. Seizing power is one thing, keeping it is much harder. The current emperor is predictable, he will avoid conflict if he can. His successor may be of a different breed, Tiber Septim wasn't above using dragons and blasphemic dwemer automatons to conquer Tamriel, the next Emperor might not be above an alliance with the Forsworn and the Sload to retake Skyrim.

What better way to distract the masses from a sudden change of government than a total war against rebellious hillbillies?

Not necessarily. In fact, most assassinated heads of state in the real world actually HAVE been killed by one of their own citizens/subjects, and that person usually believes that what they are doing is best for the empire/nation/kingdom. The Emperor my be killed, but the Empire lives on!

Emperor is a position. Titus Mede II is just the man that happens to currently occupy that position. The Empire will live on and perhaps even flourish long after Titus is gone. In fact, it could be argued that the true imperial blood line died out long ago, so should be renewed... perhaps by the "spiritual" heir to Tiber Septim: the Dragonborn! Dovahkiin doesn't have any of Tiber's human bloodline, but he does share Tiber's Dragon bloodline.

I don't know if this has been stated before but I think the Legion soldiers do mention if you won the Civil War for the Stormcloaks. I think when you first do the mission to assassinate Vittoria Vici, you can overhear some Penitus Oculatus agents say that the regular Legion is sloppy and they couldn't even keep the Stormcloaks out of Solitude.

If this is true, the fact that the agents mention the Stormcloaks winning yet the Emperor is there is just jarring.

I think a lot of the major quests seem very rushed, so it's no big surprise something like this would happen.

I did the civil war on the Imperial side. After Ulfrik's (sp?) death, you still hear people talk about him. The dialogue hasn't changed very little. The only that has changed is Tulius and what's her name telling me to take out stormcloak camps (which is humorous because the leaders of those camps are STILL essential characters and can't be killed). I still hear guards and other imperial leaders talk about Ulfrik as if he were still sitting up in Windhelm. I'm no programmer so I have no idea what it would take but I agree with you. You'd think they'd make the game adjust to the major changes in the world such as the civil war coming to a close, the emperor being killed and things like that.

Oh well, still a very fun game.

I hope beth is reading so they can fix it.

They have much to read. And I'm not sure that patches and DLC can fix this game. What could have and should have happened were that Bethesda put more work into the game from the start.

We are not unpaid Beta Testers. We are people who expect quality games on the day they are released.

Who gives a toss? Its a game!

People need to realize, finishing the civil war quest line isn't winning the war. It's simply you gaining a significant advantage for the side you chose. You really think the imperials are gonna give up just because you took solitude? No the emperor is gonna come and lead an army to retake skyrim.

The emperor cant go anywhere if you just killed him...