But they respect your religious veiws?

Ah, now it all makes sense.

No, a surrender would be having Mexico curb stomp your southern states and demand you recognise soccer *shudders* as the one true sport of all

hockey IS the one true sport!

Yes, killing and demeaning entire races of people, possibly into extinction, to worship your God makes so much sense.

WeBB15
your savros aren quote is wrong- its "what you learn here will last you a lifetime several if you're talented"

Err, Ulfric didn't do that. He responded to the Jarl's plea for aid against the Forsworn that had taken over the city. The Jarl/Empire agreed to let them worship Talos if they wished. The Thalmor caught wind of it, and they demanded the Empire arrest Ulfric and his men. The Empire, simply for complying with the Thalmor's demands and arresting the man that saved their land is complete BS. They are the true traitors, both to their founder (Talos) and their citizens.
The Empire was completely on the defensive. They were just caught off guard by the sudden Thalmor invasion. Hammerfell expected it when it happened to them, and thus fought to a stand-still. The Empire could have fought to a stand-still or even won (though at trememndous cost to both sides) had the so-called "Emperor" kept his pair attached to his body. Not only that, but if the Empire had kept fighting, they wouldn't have ost their two most valuable provinces; Skyrim and Hammerfell, for Skyrim's vanguardesque soldiers and Hammerfell's natural-born foot-soldiers and their navy (Which we can assume is probably the force of the former Empire's naval strength). Also with these two very important provinces lost, they are totally cut off from High Rock, thus their source of mages/anti-mages and berserking, bloodlusting Orsimer. Therefore the Thalmor have effectively cut Cyrodiil from her resources that she needs to simply survive, let alone thrive.
Gee, here I thought that being cynical towards the other races of Tamriel was somewhat justified since almost all have impacted Skyrim negatively.
Altmer, Bosmer, Khajiit - The combined Aldmeri Dominion, who have effectively taken control of the "Empire", thus making Cyrodiil their puppet-nation. They also ban the worship of the most iconic being in all of Tamriel, Talos, who is the pride of every true Nord in Skyrim. They hunt down anyone they please and all in all are not very good for the people, regardless of race, in Skyrim.

Imperials - Puppets of the Thalmor as I stated above and enforce the will of them through military force. They stand for all Skyrim i against. They are not valourous, honourable, or loyal. Examples, in order, are as follows: 1) They surrender to the Thalmor 2) They engorce the will of the Thalmor 3) They turn on their own citizens in the name of a treaty that should not have been signed, and was only signed so a fat "emperor" could keep his throne.

Dunmer - Both live in the remains of Morrowind, which borders Skyrim. Dunmer cross the border as refugees that are a plague on their war effort; they refuse to fight for the only group willing to confront an entirely better outfitted and trained military force, yet they want to live in towns and pretend they owe no loyalty. I am a fan of the Dunmer, but I have to agree (although bitterly) with the Stormcloak supporters; the Dunmer refugees are a sap on the system like a welfare case.

Argonians - Not a direct threat, but if they so choose to (which is likely) they could make a conquest to conquer Skyrim as they did Morrowind, seeing the weakened state as an opportunity for a new slab of territory.

Bretons - The Forsworn are Bretons and are waging their own little war on Skyrim. This doesn't do them jsutice in the eyes of the Nords. However if it was possible, I would have Markarth set under a unique form of government consisting of two leaders; one being a Forsworn (or if it is the case, they wouldn't be Forsworn any longer) and the other being a Nordic. They have a reason to hate the Nords as well (as you learn in Cidhna Mine), but still, their impact is negative in the minds of the Nords of Skyrim and more specifically, the Reach.

Only Redguards and Orcs (and civilized Bretons) haven't negatively impacted the Nords. I don't blame them for being cynical racists, but I also don't condone it.


Never have the Stormcloaks enslaved. They discriminate, yes (but I explained why, though this doesn't necessarily make it right), but they are not slave-masters.
The Stormcloaks want Skyrim to be under Nordic rule now that the Empire is not the best choice for them. I don't know about you, but would you give up what you want just so everything could be peaceful? No, because then you would suffer and human pychology dictates that your happiness is more important than others' (to a point)
The tedious relationship of the land is because the Empire is occupying their land. Anyone who is willing to be forced into unity is not going to take it seriously and will not abide by it.

None of what you said makes the stormcloaks rebellion right or more honorable than the imperials. Nothing you say ever will.

Great post Daryn. It made sense to me.

I don't think your country has ever been in the position to have to sign such a truce. I'm hoping though that if the US was ever given such an ultimatum they'd put the survival of their citizens first, it does claim to be a secular state...

Yes, but moreso http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminius. My Stormcloak character was named after http://www.livius.org/va-vh/veleda/veleda.html who "foretold the Germans' successes and the extermination of the legions."

I thought of idiots rejecting their true rulers, yes. Least the Stormcloaks didn't wear dresses.



How, in any way is the Stormcloak Rebellion anything like apartheid?

I like to think of Talos as the Elder Scrolls equivalent to Jesus Christ seeing as they were both men who became god like figures in death. Emperor Titus Mede II signing the White-Gold Concordat to ban the worship of Talos would be like President Obama signing a treaty that would outlaw the worship of Jesus. I could only imagine the reaction if government agents started closing down churches, and confiscating bibles and crosses specially considering the prevalence of guns in our society.

No because the Scotts are the only ones to be able to kick the Nords out of England, they stayed away from the highlanders after learning a lesson, lowland Scotts are mixed with the Nords,they were able to get a foothold in the lower territories and [censored] the woman accordingly, as they did everywhere they raided.

The movie Braveheart was about William Wallace, a highland hero.
Maybe you draw a reference in that they both seem to be fighting oppression

Even at that.... it's a stretch.

@Serethil: wtf?


FYI:

Being a Scot in this life, I can most certainly let you know your run-on sentence is full of ignorance though most likely well intended. The true 'Scots' though are the Picts, neither Gaelic or Nord, highland scots such as myself are typically a mixture of all three gene pools. My clans lineage goes back a very long time and yet my father visually looks like a Nord stereotype: huge, blond and blue eyed. Mom is exactly the opposite: thin, pale, freckled, raven haired and essentially a Pict. The Nordic races have a strong gene pool predominately because they abducted the best female specimens to take home as the 'spoils' of their type of warfare, the Romans were a different story...

...oh yeah, the Stormcloaks get my vote because: 1- they didn't try to execute me without reason, 2- Imperials are like the Romans (see Hadrians Wall) and 3- well, my ex-girlfriend is Italian.

Mjoll the lioness looks like a female version of the braveheart guy.

That war paint...