Poll: Skyrim- Who did you side with and why?

[zehydra]

Stormcloaks, the liberation of Skyrim will be good for Skyrim in the long run, and Ulfric Stormcloak, while not exactly the perfect dude in charge, is still much better than the Emperor and the Aldmeri Dominion rule.

The only downside to an independent Skyrim is that Skyrim has a smaller army to hold off the Aldmeri Dominion with.

 

[Artemicion]

I sided with Citadel Security.
Err, um. Imperials. I sided with the Imperials.

Ulfric's a bit of a tosser, to be frank.

 

[zehydra]

As an Argonian dude with an argonian husband, I supported the Empire. The Stormcloaks would have forced us out of Skyrim or in to poverty!

Not really, there are Argonians in pro-stormcloak places, and as an Argonian I liberated Skyrim and killed General Tullius. The Stormcloaks see past my race and regard me as a national hero.

Ultimately with or without the Empire, the racists would still control Skyrim anyway, since the Empire does not directly control Skyrim.

 

[Sheppard]

I am a loyal citizen of the Third Empire for these reasons:

For the Empire, and for the Emperor Titus Mede II!

 

[zehydra]

I sided with the Stormcloaks and I regret my decision every day. I only did it in the first place because I felt my Nord char should. I should have gone with my gut instinct to join the Imperials and drag my feet a little before deciding war is dumb and abandoning it.

The battle for Whiterun was AWESOME though. Fun stuff.

Hell it's a game, I joined the Dark Brotherhood not because I thought it befitting my character, or because I thought that killing innocents is a good idea, but because it's fun to do in game.

 

[Hal10k]

Minor spoilers here.

Ulfric Stormcloak partook in the mass, wholesome slaughter of the previous occupants of Markarth. He also denied them their rights to worship their own gods, and now he's bitching about the Thalmor , the very Thalmor he in fact ended up helping during the war by giving away vital information during interrogation, which as a result could have ended the war in elven favor had it not already been won - but they didn't tell him that. So Ulfric is going about his merry business of inciting racial hatreds, prejudice and distrust for the other races when he is actually the one who sold everybody out. I don't side with hypocrites, cowards or morons for that matter, even in a video game.

Sure, the Empire may be "puppets" to the Thalmor, but they wont be for very long by the sounds of it. They just found themselves in a very difficult position and had to make understandable sacrifices in order to survive.

i have not joined any
the empire seems nicer than the stormcloaks (its better to ban one religion than to ban every race except nords.) however the empire has surrounded itself with horrible friends such as the Thalmor and those occulus guys
both of which i knife away to the void everytime i see one of them.

Their gods were DAEDRA, bro. EVIL INCARNATE. The Imperials have also slaughtered and murdered innocent civilians in Skyrim. The information he gave didn't change shit. Learn your game son. He held out until the siege of the Imperial City had already been taken over by the elves. Him cracking UNDER FUCKING TORTURE, Changed nothing. Ah well, enjoy being a slave to a Human Supremacist Empire of racists. Ever heard of a Khajiit Emperor ruling Tamriel? Haha, ofcourse not. Fail.

Ignoring for the moment that most of the Daedra are ambivalent towards humanity, some bordering on outright benevolence, the original 8 Divines weren't even daedra. They're Aedra, a much more passive, benevolent variety of the same type of being.

Also, the reason all of the emperors have been human is that, prior to the events of Oblivion, it was necessary for all of the emperors to be a direct descendant of Tiber Septim in order to light the Dragonfires, the only thing securing the borders between Nirn and the other planes. If you didn't have a human emperor, you got invaded by demons. Seems sort of necessary. The Empire was hardly human supremacist; one of the most prominent figures on the Elder Council during the reign of Uriel Septim VII (emperor during games I-IV) was Ocato, an Altmer. The only reason that there aren't many prominent non-human members of the Empire at the time of Skyrim is that all of the homelands of the non-human races have seceded from the Empire.

 

[Sheppard]

To Heimir,

Actually, there was a Dunmer Empress for 46 years (Katariah), who was succeeded by her half-Dunmer son, Cassynder Septim. Also, before that, there was an Tsaesci Potentate for quite awhile.

PS: Also, the Stormcloaks are way more racist then the Empire, as they (the Stormcloaks) don't really adknowledge elvenkind and beastkind as sentient.

PSS: You swear too much for a friendly forum.

 

[OoopMAXqooO]

Empire ofcourse, you have to see that the empire hates the thalmor as much as the stormcloaks but knows they are not able to fight them, ulfrics an idiot, he does things without thinking them through, and he wants power for himself, it is mentioned ingame that if he asked the high king to turn against the empire he probably would of agreed, but instead ulfric killed him. plus the whole racism thing, even though im sided with the empire i still kill thalmor on sight

 

[Kurt Horsting]

The stormcloaks. Because the empire tried to kill me. Fuck those guys. If they want me dead at least give me a fucking reason (no I don't make my own backstory for my characters, that is what the game is for). If not, then they have reaped the motherfucking whirlwind. This was my first elder-scrolls game ever, so I don't give a shit if the empire did nice things before. My first experience with them was they were going to kill me for no reason. So, fuck 'em.

 

[Arluza]

imperials. The imperials are accepting of all the races when compared to the Stormcloaks. Ulfric and his army doesn't seem capable of taking the Thalmor threat (whom I see as the Stormcloaks if the stormcloaks were High Elves). The imerial Army has resources and political authority. Ulfric has none.

 

[Smiley Face]

Ah I see. Wich gives Skyrim even more reason to secede from it. The Empire only is making a fuss over this because they want a nord meatshield against the dominion. But regarding the dragonfires and a direct line of tiber septim... What stopped the emperors from getting non-human wives? They did rule over the others, so why should they not share the place of Emperor with them? Never was any half-breed emperors. And people are really making the dominion seem like they are superpowered wich is wierd since Hammerfell kicked their asses by themselves and Skyrim is bigger and likely more populated than Summerset Isles as well as has the most fiercest fighters of all Tamriel, bar a few orcs.

I suppose I get a bit inflamed by all the "Stormcloaks are racists" talk. Because they are not. People are taking Stormcloaks out of contest and act like the civil war is everyones business. It's really just an in-house nord fight. So ofcourse the Stormcloaks will consist of only nords because why would anyone join their cause or even the Empire in this region unless they are nords themselves. It's a shame there's no neutral alternative or any way of usurping or being granted the power of one of those factions. I don't like Ulfric(mainly because this is a political gambit to become High King) but I support the Stormcloak cause.

There's a fair bunch of problems with this line of reasoning:

1) Skyrim is not Cyrodiil's "nord meatshield." Cyrodiil is BETWEEN Skyrim (to the north) and the elven lands (to the south-southwest). Furthermore, there isn't conscription, so any Nord's who're dying in a war against the Thalmor are doing so on their own volition. It would be more appropriate to say that Cyrodiil is Skyrim's meatshield.

2) On the subject of military concerns, The Empire's #1 priority is to prepare itself for an inevitable war with the Thalmor, and then fight it at full strength, when they can stand a chance. The Stormcloaks' plan is to throw a tantrum, drain the resources of the anti-Thalmor forces, win their independence, and then quickly lose it when the Thalmor can attack them unopposed. Yeah, Hammerfell's doing well against the Thalmor. No, a Skyrim weakened by civil war and expelling all non-Nords will not. Which brings me to point 3:

3) While not EVERY Stormcloak is racist, their mission is borderline, if not entirely, racist - their intent is to expel all the other races from their homes in Skyrim. I haven't played Skyrim for a while, so I can't point you to exactly where it's said, but that IS part of the Stormcloak mandate. The dark elves may have come to Skyrim as refugees, but many own property, have lives, etc. - and even if you were to discount them, there are many people of many races all the holds, who have every right to be there - and you're saying that because the Nords were there first, they can revoke all their rights? That reminds me of internment camps in the U.S. and Canada during WWI&II, and the many, many instances throughout Europe's history of the expulsion of religious minorities, be they Jewish, Muslim, or opposing Christian sects. There was a pretext to it, to be sure - but it was ultimately just an excuse to exact an injustice against a group.

That's the big problem - The Stormcloak plan is Stupid. The Stormcloak plan is Wrong. Now, independence, moreover, independence from a weakening empire? Fine - that's what I like about the Stormcloaks - but that's ALL they have going for them, and it's not enough.

 

[Hal10k]

Minor spoilers here.

Ulfric Stormcloak partook in the mass, wholesome slaughter of the previous occupants of Markarth. He also denied them their rights to worship their own gods, and now he's bitching about the Thalmor , the very Thalmor he in fact ended up helping during the war by giving away vital information during interrogation, which as a result could have ended the war in elven favor had it not already been won - but they didn't tell him that. So Ulfric is going about his merry business of inciting racial hatreds, prejudice and distrust for the other races when he is actually the one who sold everybody out. I don't side with hypocrites, cowards or morons for that matter, even in a video game.

Sure, the Empire may be "puppets" to the Thalmor, but they wont be for very long by the sounds of it. They just found themselves in a very difficult position and had to make understandable sacrifices in order to survive.

i have not joined any
the empire seems nicer than the stormcloaks (its better to ban one religion than to ban every race except nords.) however the empire has surrounded itself with horrible friends such as the Thalmor and those occulus guys
both of which i knife away to the void everytime i see one of them.

Their gods were DAEDRA, bro. EVIL INCARNATE. The Imperials have also slaughtered and murdered innocent civilians in Skyrim. The information he gave didn't change shit. Learn your game son. He held out until the siege of the Imperial City had already been taken over by the elves. Him cracking UNDER FUCKING TORTURE, Changed nothing. Ah well, enjoy being a slave to a Human Supremacist Empire of racists. Ever heard of a Khajiit Emperor ruling Tamriel? Haha, ofcourse not. Fail.

Ignoring for the moment that most of the Daedra are ambivalent towards humanity, some bordering on outright benevolence, the original 8 Divines weren't even daedra. They're Aedra, a much more passive, benevolent variety of the same type of being.

Also, the reason all of the emperors have been human is that, prior to the events of Oblivion, it was necessary for all of the emperors to be a direct descendant of Tiber Septim in order to light the Dragonfires, the only thing securing the borders between Nirn and the other planes. If you didn't have a human emperor, you got invaded by demons. Seems sort of necessary. The Empire was hardly human supremacist; one of the most prominent figures on the Elder Council during the reign of Uriel Septim VII (emperor during games I-IV) was Ocato, an Altmer. The only reason that there aren't many prominent non-human members of the Empire at the time of Skyrim is that all of the homelands of the non-human races have seceded from the Empire.

Ah I see. Wich gives Skyrim even more reason to secede from it. The Empire only is making a fuss over this because they want a nord meatshield against the dominion. But regarding the dragonfires and a direct line of tiber septim... What stopped the emperors from getting non-human wives? They did rule over the others, so why should they not share the place of Emperor with them? Never was any half-breed emperors. And people are really making the dominion seem like they are superpowered wich is wierd since Hammerfell kicked their asses by themselves and Skyrim is bigger and likely more populated than Summerset Isles as well as has the most fiercest fighters of all Tamriel, bar a few orcs.

I suppose I get a bit inflamed by all the "Stormcloaks are racists" talk. Because they are not. People are taking Stormcloaks out of contest and act like the civil war is everyones business. It's really just an in-house nord fight. So ofcourse the Stormcloaks will consist of only nords because why would anyone join their cause or even the Empire in this region unless they are nords themselves. It's a shame there's no neutral alternative or any way of usurping or being granted the power of one of those factions. I don't like Ulfric(mainly because this is a political gambit to become High King) but I support the Stormcloak cause.

As the poster below me pointed out, there was a Dunmer Empress, who took the throne after the death of her husband, the lunatic Pelagius III (I suppose relation-by-marriage was good enough for the Dragonfires). This was an unusual occurrence for the Empire because power usually transfers directly to the heir after the current emperor dies.Their son, a half-elf who took on the characteristics of a human, took the throne after him. The primary reason there weren't many half-elf emperors was that the elven races tended not to interbreed with humans in the first place- neither are held as inferiors, there just aren't many relationships, presumably due to cultural difference and that whole "live for hundreds of years so long as you don't die of disease" thing elves have going for them. There weren't any half-orc emperors was that, again prior to the reign of Uriel VII, the orcs had precisely zero political clout and were generally held as Always Chaotic Evil. There weren't any half-Argonian or Khajiit emperors because it's debatable whether they're even biologically compatible with humans.

The reason the Dominion is held as a large threat despite Hammerfell being able to repel them was that the war lasted nine years, killed a whole freaking bunch of people, and still lost them a significant chunk of their territory. Remember that Cyrodiil managed to repel the Dominion's invasion in the last war too, they just signed the treaty banning Talos worship because they didn't want to be invaded again and knew that this was their best way to buy time. Everybody on all sides is just building themselves up for the next war at the time of Skyrim, Dominion included- everybody wants this one to result in a definitive win.

 

[Warlordnipple]

I always hated the high elves since Morrowind because they are dicks to everyone. I sided with the imperials after I found notes that the High Elves wanted the Stormcloaks to revolt.

 

[Yoshemo]

As an Argonian dude with an argonian husband, I supported the Empire. The Stormcloaks would have forced us out of Skyrim or in to poverty!

Not really, there are Argonians in pro-stormcloak places, and as an Argonian I liberated Skyrim and killed General Tullius. The Stormcloaks see past my race and regard me as a national hero.

Ultimately with or without the Empire, the racists would still control Skyrim anyway, since the Empire does not directly control Skyrim.

The argonians who live in Windhelm are forced to live outside the walls. Same with any Kajiit. And riften is considered a crap hole anyway

 

[mastermerrick]

Stormcloaks.

My elaborate, mind blowing reason as to why: I flipped a coin.

 

[Cazza]

None. I did like the idea of an independent Skyrim. I didn't like the Skyrim for the Nords only view. An independent Skyrim could still have a military alliance with the empire. I liked the Imperial non racist views. I accept they didn't have a choice in accpeting the Elves terms. Though it would kind of feels like I would be fighting an independent Skyrim which is something I see as good.

 

[8a88leph1sh]

I wanted to take over skyrim myself. seriously I'm the f-ing Dovahkiin. I defeated the world eater. frankly if I could kill the creature meant to destroy the world I can handle a Thalmor invasion. plus if you do the civil war quests you can take over the whole country in like a week or less (and it was at a bloody standstill before you came along). and I know people would follow me and I think I could convince a few dragons to help as well. sadly the game isn't deep enough to let you do that...I mean really. the stormcloaks are racist ultranationalists (and my character is a dark elf) and the imperials have proven that the empire is no longer the force it once was and is just a shell. I really wanted no part of either side. let me rule bethesda!