I wonder if the Nerevarine incarnate will return, in dailogue or books ofcourse. Or am I wrong thinking that the Corpus disease rendered it immune to aging?

It really doesn't matter. The Aldmeri Dominion will march on the feeble defenses of man and become the rightful rulers of the empire.

Arrogance will be their undoing, just like the Dwemer and Alyied before them
Starting to think my multiple personalities are merging into one......

Choose the side that DIDNT want to remove your head at the start of the game. Then make a snide comment about it when they need you to fight for them.

it really doesn't have much affect in the grand scale unless you can some-how go back in time and prevent the civil war in the first place. at this point it's really just a matter of whether the forces of skyrim march under the banner of the empire, or as an independent ally of the empire (neither side is stupid enough to think they can single-handedly win the war).

the empire has a good ideology behind it, but is very corrupt at the higher levels and really only wants to keep skyrim from succeeding because they are already too weak to stand alone, yet the stormcloaks are ignorant to change and progress. neither option is a good for of government, but overall I personally prefer the nords system of honour over the imperials system of law (although that's just me).

basically it depends on whether your character solves problems with honour or logic, and whether they have a problem with corruption or tradition impeding progress.

If you want to skip the oath to the empire (a reasonable position, especially if you join also the TG/DB guild), go join the stormcloacks and then double crooss Ulfric bringing a certain object to Tullius.

It also makes sense from a RP point of view: at the beginning of the game, the Stormcloacks looks very friendly while the empire, with the Helgen incident and all, looks like the villain. The more you stays with the Stormcloacks, the more you realize they're the righteous paladins they fashion themselves.

I feel the same way, I have played many characters, none, not one has sided with Imperials.. thinking of doing it eventually though

I'm the complete opposite, so a low ranking official in the empire makes a rash decision, your response is to punish them all. Makes no sense surely you punish the individual the general doesn't even notice (he has just caught Ullfric for Christ sake). You might also have deserved your punishment, what's your RP.

I generally side with the empire, Skyrim for the nords is just jingoistic nonsense. Besides alienating the empire would leave Skyrim alienated and possible destitute (trade). And let's not forget Ullfric has usurped the rightful king of Skyrim.

Well when i started playing with my khajjit Dro'basha i couldn't decide which side i choose so i joined the Companions and as a Harbringer i never get involved in the political things. At night i hunt both the Stormcloaks and Imperials as a Dog of Hircine.

Indeed, that is the reasoning I usully go with them.

To the OP: Not all Starmcloaks are racist, even the second in command is open to other races(Ulfric never specify his stand in it personally), but they are pro-nord in the sense that they want to rule the land themselves and preserve their culture.

The Redguards have abandoned the Empire as a whole, though they may not prefer the Stormcloaks either. Ulfric tries to establish alliances with Hammerfell, so that is something.

In general a Redguard character would probbaly not take side, but they may have more reason to join the Stormcloaks than the Empire if they look at what happened after the Great War.

Apparently, Ulfric ingored Hammerfell pleas of help during the second great war and only now that they won their independence he's trying to establish a relationship with the new state. Pretty opportunistic.

That crazy Redguard necromancer is pretty pissed for that, as she writes in her diary.

Another reason they wouldn't naturally support either side then.

*They* didn't really put your head on a block. The captain at Helgen did (or whatever rank she held). And she's dead, I believe. And besides, it wasn't a personal thing, since you had just been caught alongside Ulfric and his Stormcloaks. If you had captured Usama Bin Laden and several of his loyal followers, and one of them said "oh, I'm not an al-Qaida member, I just happened to be nearby!" would you have believed him and just let him go? And I'm pretty sure that there would be moments when the Dominion would put you death or send you to the torture chamber for being around Stormcloaks or heretical Talos worshippers just as quickly as the captain sent you to the waiting headsman. Possibly true that the Stormcloaks would be quick to deal out death sentences too, with the whole "you're either with us or against us" mentality.

The imperials tried to kill you, paybacktime it is. To bad you cant hunt down their families and kill their wifes and children to.

It should depend on your RP.

Just join the faction that more suits your liking. If you need advice, just remember that Hamerfall has seceded from the Empire after the Great War.

I've just started a new character, a dark elf merchant type (I normally play Imperial or Khajiit thief type), with the idea of basing my operations in Windhelm. I haven't done the Civil War quest for the Stormcloaks yet, only the Imperials, so I thought I might investigate thaht.

Problem is, I realise... how does a dark elf merchant in Windhelm decide they'll fight for the Stormcloaks? Apart from the obvious revenge point from the start of the game, I'm waiting to see if any quests throw up some ideas of an RP reason to side with Ulfric. Any ideas?

Quite easy, Your character think that most of the Dunmer in Windhelm are too weak or stubborn to adapt to new enviroment OR You'll join the SC to show Ulfric that your people can be trusted.

I guess this sort of depends on what kind of merchant you want to be. If profit is the only thing you care about, you might support the Stormcloaks to try to get the your Dunmer competition kicked out of Windhelm (assuming you had bribed the right people to secure your place). On the other hand, supporting the Stormcloaks as a Dunmer might impact their views on Dark Elves. If you go that route, your merchant might be instrumental in establishing the Dunmer as a permanent part of Windhelm, socioeconomically speaking.

Along with a few viable reasons mentioned by the other posters, religious zeal, nationalism, patriotism or some other kind of loyalty to Skyrim (you might be Nord-raised, or thankful that they took you in after what happened in Morrowind, with you being less naive and proud compared to the rest of the Dunmer etc), disgust for the Thalmor or the Empire, promised monopolies and/or tax cuts and just about any other decent reason or excuse you can think up.

Isn't is more the other way around? The Empire abandoned the Redguards? That, in turn, has created a lot of resentment among the Redguards. Or at least the Redguards of Hammerfell. If the OP's Redguard is not originally from there, s/he might not carry that same resentment.

As a counterpoint to the Stormcloaks not being racist, I'm reminded of a farmer I met along the road. He was on his way to Solitude to join the Imperial Legion. I forget his race, but he comments that he was born and raised in Skyrim. Despite that, the Nords still treat him like dirt.

They ceded parts of Hammerfell to the Dominion in the WGC, yes. It's possible, and maybe probable, that the Dominion took parts of Hammerfell along with banning Talos with the resentment it would create in mind. Divide et impera, and all that. And to the Empire's defense they most likely accepted the terms so that they could survive and fight another day, so a rational Redguard could still be loyal to the Empire.

Cheers for the ideas, chaps. This one sounds like it might suit my character best, but they were all great suggestions!

Depends on your view on it with the reguards. Hammerfell secceded because the Empire gave parts of their territory to the Thalmor. However, the redguards didn't want more to do with the Empire so by definition Hammerfell left, or adandonned if you will, the Empire.

I have also meet farmers, both dunmer and redguard that says Ulfric have the right of it as they go to join the Stormcloaks. Personally I prefer to quell the rebellion, but I will not see it from one side only.

There is racism all thru Tamriel. The nords are actually milder than most.
The worst are the various Elf races, with the Thalmor Altmeri being real nazis, thru and thru.

Look at the political situation this way:
The politicians on ALL sides - Imperial, Nord, and most particularly Thalmor - are self serving, cowardly, craven, traitorous, egomaniacal vermin. Tamriel would be a happier place if they were all rounded up and killed.
However: there are still issues to be decided.
Do the nords have the right, as a people, to sovereignty over their own land and domains? The answer is a resounding YES. If they want to worship a dead hero-king, it may be stupid and superstitious, but that's THEIR business and no one else's.
If they want to administer their land with a chaotic and unstable system of jarls, that is again a poor choice on their part, but it's their RIGHT to make that choice.

The Thalmor want to impose their will, beliefs, cultural values and doctrine on all Tamriel. That is fundamentally Unjust.
The Imperials, serving their own security needs, are prepared to acceed to some of the Thalmor's demands. That is aiding and abetting Injustice.
You can even see it within the ranks of the Imperial military command - they believe in the original model of the Imperium, where there was tolerance and freedom for all races, creeds and colors, and though they reject the seperatism of the Nords, they see the Thalmor as the true enemy.

Despite the profound imperfections of their leadership, the Nords are in the right.

Are you kidding me? The Capt. worked for Tullius and Tullius was full of blood lust for some beheadings. You can even him saying in his drunken Col. Tigh voice "The Empire is gonna put you down!" I would have expected that they would have thrown me in a dungeon while they sorted the whole thing out, but instead, the Imperials decided to kill them all and let the gods sort them out. I see no reason to treat the Imperials any different.

The argument that the Thalmor are a more fearsome enemy and that the Imperials are necessary to defeat the Thalmor is not pursuading me to support the Imperials. The Imperials did such a good job fighting the Thalmor last time, why should I expect them to do a better job in the future? The sad fact is that the Empire died with Martin Septim and until there is another dragonblood on the throne it is not the true Empire.