Undecided

I like both the Imperials and Nords.

Having adversaries in games is important, no?
An empire, slavery, racism, blood feuds, ...

or should all this be abolished, and we hold hands, singing around the campfire on High Hrothgar?

None, who says we need to support on of the sides, perhaps we need to reunite both sides.

Which of my characters would you like to answer the poll?

Well... considering all lore and updates thus far point out that the player is going to be the new Tiber Septim, I really hope it doesn't force you to help the Empire and become the next Emperor. I'd rather be king of Skyrim if forced into a role like that. But yeah, you're Dragonborn, just like the Septim line. You're probably an heir of sorts.

Neither, obviously Falmer will take over the world.

[img]http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4db2uew9A1qcpt99o1_400.jpg[/img]

Naw, the whole idea that imperialisation is occuring and removing the local culture is a bit exagerrated I'd say. Look at Morrowind; the empire obviously had a military presence there keeping the peace and yet it let the Tribunal and the Houses be. It didn't outlaw silt striders or local insults like swit; no Cyrodilisation happened. Morrowind was Morrowind, and that's that. Sure it was part of the empire but it still had it's very strong regional identity, and the imperial bureucrats seemed to respect that from what I gathered. (Hell, if anything, it's Cyrodil's local culture that's being invaded by the provinces! Bravil and Leyawin from Elsewyr and Black Marsh, Cheydinal from Morrowind, Anvil from Hammerfell and Bruma from Skyrim)

(Oh and if anyone argues that releasing the Nerevarine was an imperial plot to influence Morrowind's political system... well I'd chalk it up to prophesy and destiny and not to the Empire :tongue: )


I'm not commenting on the moral issues of the topic, though those should be generally clear anyway regarding slavery. I'm just saying that it's detrimental to the general good - if one community, e.g. Dunmer, is allowed free reign over another, e.g. Argonians, then things can get quite bad quite quick. A historic rivalry may form that culminates in terribe relations if not outright war that can quite easily drag other provinces in. The Argonians' invading of Morrowind just screams retribution for the slave trade imo :shrug: I can imagine Blackwood for example getting svcked into that political quagmire, and there may be economic repurcussions across Tamriel - provinces that won't trade with Morrowind because they're slavers, others that boycott Black Marsh for the invasion, etc etc...

Remember that Morrowind had been recently opened to colonization about (20, 40, years? don't remember exactly) ago, and they already had forts in each major city of Vvanderfell. That's already a pretty public declaration of intentions on it's own.

Let's also add another example, too: Solstheim. The Empire didn't had any trouble to build a fort, to dissarray the nature order of the Skaal, and giving free hand to the East Empire Company to expand further north, further destroying the ecology of the island, and bringing imperialization everywhere.

My theory is that that didn't happened in Morrowind because of the Armistice with Vivec, and because the Empire thought the dark elves were not worth all the trouble of conquering and imperializing Morrowind (too beligerant for their taste). But they sure "catch up the whole arm when you give them the hand" (as we'd say here) at the slightest opportunity, or don't hesitate to expand uncontrollably if the opposition is weak enough.

anolyzing whether the Empire can be unambiguously called a good or bad thing is a bit tricky.

Speaking from a narrative perspective, I think that an Empire that controls all of Tamriel is probably a bad thing. The Empire itself is an interesting faction, but it's more interesting if it has rivals.

From an "in-character" perspective, it's an incredibly thorny issue. It's fairly obvious from Tamriel's history that large empires are the rule, not the exception - Cyrodiil's been the center of more than it's fair share due to its inherent geographic advantages (a central location and fertile river valley) , but Skyrim and the Aldmeri both had large empires of their own, and Morrowind obviously had imperial ambitions of some kind toward the Black Marsh and Elsweyr at some point due to all its Argonian and Khajit slaves. And during the Imperial Simulacrum, the nations of Tamriel pretty much set out trying to murder each other the moment imperial authority weakened. So whatever else, the Empire keeps the peace - and without it, there's no guarantee that anyone would be "free" of oppression by some nation other than Cyrodiil.

The other question is whether Cyrodiil was trying to "Imperialize" the other provinces. We don't have a lot of examples of this, but as far as I can tell, I don't think so. The impression I get is that so long as the provinces pay their taxes, don't start any big wars, and don't question the authority of the Emperor, the Empire is content to let them be - we can see that the Empire mostly sticks to its official enclaves in Morrowind. For crying out loud, they even allow the Dunmer to continue practicing their native religion, even when they know that it provides an alternative power base to the Empire. If they were genuinely interested in "Imperializing" Morrowind, the Temple would be the first thing to go.

The Temple the first thing to go? If they'd have done that, all of Morrowind would have stroke back with a passion. Not only it'd have totally broke the Armistice, but it'd have been the definitive proof of the Imperials' intentions. No, touching the Temple would have been a BIG mistake, at least doing it all of sudden.

But few people here are noticing that there are more than one way to conquer a province. For example, instating alternative, Imperial religions like the Imperial Cult, and grew it up until it becomes a challenging, or even predominant religion against the autoctonous one. The same happens with the Imperial culture. Thay way, the Imperialization of a country is done in a more "casual" way. It takes more time, but it's as much effective as any other way...and without any bloodshed.

As for peace, you may be right. But that doesn't make it right of them trying to instaurate their culture and religion in any open breach that they can see. The definitive solution would be a non-intrusive Empire, where peace is kept but Imperial culture and religion are restricted to Cyrodiil. I'd be happy with that, from my anti-imperialist point of view

The UESP says that the Empire had largely lost power in the outlying regions and Uriel Septim VII and his five or six predecessors had been working to restore it. There seems to be a lot of "conquest" in their work to restore the Empire.

At best, it was an Empire with good intentions that spent a lot of time fighting and killing people.

there should be a choice like shivering ilses but more dramatic changes on what ever you decide

Anti-Imperial, the Imperials have weighed down all of our countries for long enough, greedy savages they be.

Time has taught me that any "good intention" is spoiled as soon as you try to impose them to someone.

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRM - The civil war is not about whether to be apart of the empire or not ..... :thumbsup:
The King has died and its about (I think) if there should be a King, or return to the Moot, or a debate over who the 'true' Heir is.

Assuming that, since your character is the last Dragonborn, he will eventually become the Emperor, I'd be pro-Imperial. Think about it, who better to reunite and re-empower the Empire but a true Dragonborn? Not to mention the fact the he'll be saving not only Skyrim, but the entirety of Nirn from the plight of Alduin and the dragons, meaning people and nations will rally behind him.

Pro-Imperial, but I would only support this if we had an adequate emperor and fair and balanced territories. However, such a preference is pretty hard to get, so I'm in the middle really, leaning pro-imperial.

Not much point in that is there? No dragonfires to light anymore, and no point in lighting them as far as I understood it.

The Nords should lead themselves!

I'd like to say they should stick together, but it depends. What's there left to stick with? From what I've understood, everything in a lot of chaos right now, and I'm sure dragons popping up everywhere isn't going to help that.

My Orsimer and Argonian characters are going to be anti-Imperial. The Orsimer because the Empire won't allow Orsinium to become independent, and the Argonian because (s)he backs the Black Marsh's secession.

Frankly I couldn't care less. However we've been under Imperial oppression for so long I think it's time we experienced some change. ANARCHY!

thats exactly the purpose of this game. Bethesda is drawing away from the roots and tearing your great memories in half and filling them with thoughts of war and rebellion.... if i can i will become hated by both factions but loved and respected by both factions at the same time. I am...Dovakhin after all . while both factions try to erase me from arrogance. i will be the ultimate protector of Skyrim. Kinda like The Watchmen

It's been 200 years. If Attrebus set the Empire on a good path and his legacy is strong I'd be pro-Empire. If not I'd support the rebels.

In general though I don't usually support people trying to tear something down. There are some people who will always be malcontents no matter what. Nothing will please them and they can't be constructive, always trying to tear things down, always trying to ruin things in the guise of "helping." There are times when rebels have a good cause, but much of the time they are just trying to destroy what's been accomplished. The Empire stands for order rather than chaos, justice rather than barbarism, an end to all slavery, etc. I didn't vote pro-Empire though. We know nothing about what the world looks like. Either side could be corrupt and disgusting. Heck it may turn out that both sides are corrupt and untrustworthy.

Imperial Legion plz