Did anyone else think of "Braveheart" when joining t : V

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:20 pm

"They may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!!!"

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:25 am

For some reason I thought of the taliban....

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:28 pm

Not quite, since your character isn't a native of Skyrim or had his wife's throat cut. I keep thinking of Cuba, and Ulfric as Castro.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:42 am

Well, as a Breton, I pictured my character as the Irish guy in Braveheart that joins up with Wallace.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:33 am

I thought of seditious scum and never thought to join them.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:43 am

Well, with the Empire, I thought of tyranical religious oppression because of the bannishment of Talos worship. In Oblivion, I was all about respect for the Gods, including Talos. After doing the Knights of the Nine questline and becoming the Divine Crusader, you know that Talos belongs in the church. I also got the feeling that the empire was weak and possibly currupted if they had to cave to the demands of the High Elves.

Spoiler

You also see this curruption in the Dark Brotherhood when you hear why the night mother had to be moved. "her tomb was desacrated." The empire seems to have gone way down hill. Also, joining them has to be awkward for anyone who completes the Dark Brotherhood and kills the Emperor. You seriously just killed your emperor? Awkward.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 1:02 am

Well, with the Empire, I thought of tyranical religious oppression because of the bannishment of Talos worship.

There was little to no actual religious oppression of Talos worshippers until Ulfric Stormcloak essentially started jumping and down going "Hey look a meeeeeeeeeeeeee, I worship Taloooooooooooooos!" Before that the anti-Talos provisions went largely unenforced as the empire was more than happy to turn a blind eye to private or discreet worship.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:16 am

I also got the feeling that the empire was weak if they had to cave to the demands of the High Elves.

While the Empire was crumbling. The Aldmeri Dominion is not a foe to take lightly.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Great_War

When Titus Mede II ascended the throne in http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Fourth_Era#4E_168, he inherited a weakened empire. The glory days of the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Septim_Dynasty were a distant memory. Valenwood and Elsweyr were gone, ceded to the Thalmor enemy. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Black_Marsh had been lost to Imperial rule since the aftermath of the Oblivion Crisis. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Morrowind had never recovered fully from the eruption of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Red_Mountain. Hammerfell was plagued by infighting between http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Crowns andhttp://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Forebears. Only http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:High_Rock, Cyrodiil and http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim remained prosperous and peaceful.

This is probably the most important paragraph regarding the state of the Empire before the Great War.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:00 am

There was little to no actual religious oppression of Talos worshippers until Ulfric Stormcloak essentially started jumping and down going "Hey look a meeeeeeeeeeeeee, I worship Taloooooooooooooos!" Before that the anti-Talos provisions went largely unenforced as the empire was more than happy to turn a blind eye to private or discreet worship.

Well, Talos is a God, not a Daedric Prince. He is not supposed to be worshiped in secret. It is a disgrace to the church and shows that the empire is weak because they caved to the demands of the Altmer.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:30 am

But a divided Empire means the Thalmor win. Besides, "Nords have never been fair-weather friends."

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 7:29 am

Apparently, the Thalmor have already won, thus the reason for the rebellion. Refusal to cave to the Thalmor.

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:02 pm

A temporary truce and disbanding the Empire are two different things. If the AD had won, there would be no Legion, no Emporer, no Mundus.

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:38 pm

I'm sorry, but when my country signs a truce, it does not involve oppressing the religious beliefs of our people. That's more a surrender.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 4:00 am

(Sorry if some of this is a bit inaccurate, not that smart lore-wise)
The Empire refused the Thalmor's demands at first. Then the Thalmor killed every Blade Agent in the Aldmeri Dominion and started killing hundreds of people. Hammerfell only ended up doing fine by itself because suddenly it got to play defensive, which is much easier than offensive. The Empire didn't really arrest or punish anyone either for the Talos worship until Ulfric started parading it around. The Empire was faced with a choice. Let hundreds more innocent lives die, or ban the worship of Talos and for the most part cast a blind eye on it. What would you do?

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:17 am

The stormcloaks may fight to bring freedom of worship to Talos back, but at the same time, they are cynical, and enslave and discriminate against other races. They have no genuinity in helping the land become peaceful, because also what they're doing is causing thousands more to be killed in an already tedious relationship shared of the land.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:33 am

The way I understand it, the Empire would have surely beaten back the Dominion, as a lone province (Hammerfell) was able to fight them to a stand-still. Seriously, the Empire is gone. It may exist in name and on paper, but it is truly gone.

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 9:31 pm

It is indeed a shadow of its former self. Thanks to the Black Marsh leaving and taking most of Morrowind with it, the Summerset Isles taking Valenwood and Elsweyr, and Hammerfell being abandoned after the war. If Skyrim falls to the Stormcloaks then High Rock will be cut off from Cryodill and the Empire will truly have been destroyed (something I personally hope for lore wise)

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:22 pm

I choose the lesser of two evils. Sure the Nords seem racist, but why shouldn't they be? They want to be free and the 'outsiders' are oppressing them. Perhaps, if the empire sees that the Nords aren't weak, then a treaty can be signed with Skyrim to fight the Thalmor. As a strong believer in respect for religious freedom, I must rebel against tyrany.

» Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:25 pm

Well, as a Breton, I pictured my character as the Irish guy in Braveheart that joins up with Wallace.

I pictured myself as, Nelson Mandela, fighting apartheid in South Africa.....

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:53 am

There is a war between the Alderi Dominion and the Empire. The truce was a lost battle for the Empire, but the war is not over. It allows the Empire to regain some strength to, hopefully, initiate another offensive against the Thalmor down the road. To bide their time, they had to accept a humiliating truce.

The Stormcloaks are short-sighted. They don't realize that hurting the Empire will only make it easier for the Thalmor to tighten their grip. It would be wiser for the rebels to join the Legion, fight the Thalmor, and attempt to reinstate the worship of Talos that way.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:30 am

It is indeed a shadow of its former self. Thanks to the Black Marsh leaving and taking most of Morrowind with it, the Summerset Isles taking Valenwood and Elsweyr, and Hammerfell being abandoned after the war. If Skyrim falls to the Stormcloaks then High Rock will be cut off from Cryodill and the Empire will truly have been destroyed (something I personally hope for lore wise)

In the words of Ulfric "it will make for a better song". (albeit a depressing song)

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 6:14 am

I'm sorry, but when my country signs a truce, it does not involve oppressing the religeous beliefs of our people. That's more a surrender.

Yes that's nice except for the fact the closest your country came to signing a truce under losing or unfavorable conditions that actually affected the daily lives of its citizens was the war of 1812. If Canada suddenly curb stompted the entirety of your northern states and demanded you all banned football, baseball and basketball and recognised only hockey as the one true sport of all, I bet you'd be singing a different tune as to what is a 'truce' and what is 'surrender'.

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:27 am

The way I understand it, the Empire would have surely beaten back the Dominion, as a lone province (Hammerfell) was able to fight them to a stand-still. Seriously, the Empire is gone. It may exist in name and on paper, but it is truly gone.

Both the Empire and Dominion suffered heavy casualties in the Great War. With the Empire losing 3 legions and the remaining legions had lost over 50% of their legionnaires and the Dominion lost its main force at the Battle of Red Ring. I tend to think that both sides couldn't contiune the fight after that battle. Hammerfell was only able to fight back the Dominion due to two reasons, one being they facing an already weakened Dominion and the second being the legionnaires that were left behind to fight the Dominion which played an important rule of driving out the Dominion.

OT: I thought the Stormcloaks were traitors rather then freedom fighters, but you know the phase, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 8:13 am

As a strong believer in respect for religeous freedom, I must rebel against tyrany.

...and side with racist slave owners. /facepalm

» Sat Jun 02, 2012 5:07 am

Yes that's nice except for the fact the closest your country came to signing a truce under losing or unfavorable conditions that actually affected the daily lives of its citizens was the war of 1812. If Canada suddenly curb stompted the entirety of your northern states and demanded you all banned football, baseball and basketball and recognised only hockey as the one true sport of all, I bet you'd be singing a different tune as to what is a 'truce' and what is 'surrender'.

That would definitely be a surrender. Hockey being my favorite sport, a pretty sweet one.

...and side with racist slave owners. /facepalm

Absolutely. At least those 'racists' have respect for the Gods.

Did anyone else think of &#34;Braveheart&#34; when joining t

Did anyone else think of "Braveheart" when joining t