I'm playing an assassin who is not dragon born. He's an argonian kidnapped by the empire and Jason Bourne-esque got trained by them since being a child and betrayed when the Thalmor found out about the program and decided it went against the white-gold concordat so they killed all of us off but me. I want to kill the damn empire (tulius in particular) but don't want to even trigger that whiterun watchtower quest. Is there any way to advance the civil war without even the first dragon spawning? I know I could just avoid the area for the rest of the game but I don't want to have to do that... Any advice?

No. You have to do a bit of the MQ (enough for the Dragons to spawn) in order to start the CW.

And so essentially...you will be RPing pretty much an Argonian Stormcloak?

To start the Civil War quest, just escape from Helgan. As you're running out of the starting caves, X/Y soldier will tell you to join X/Y side's on the civil war and report to Tullius/Ulfric. That's what starts it. Whatever you do, just ignore Balgruuf or keep the quest his court mage offers permanently, and no dargon shall spawn.

In order to get his revenge he may have to deal with some undesirable fellows (ulfric). That's unfortunate though shouldn't have to be that way I guess I'll just have to avoid that watchtower

Wait...what?

I was responding to shadow Titan but forgot to quote it my bad

Balgruuf will completely ignore you until you deal with the Dragon at the Watchtower.

EDIT: nvm, goes it show that I need to replay SK again.

I am curious as to what would happen if you begin Dragon Rising but attempt to avoid killing the Dragon and not finishing it. This should be in hints section technically, cause here comes a spoiler. I am not sure it will begin the Battle for Whiterun properly if you don't finish Dragon Rising. Anyway, let us know how that turns out. I am pretty sure Baalgruf won't talk to you about the Axe part until you kill the dragon at the watchtower.

you are mistaken...

in either side of the Civil War Questline you have to talk to Balgruuf before te battle of Whiterun (if your an Imperial yo offer him your support, if a stormcloak to deliver Ulfrics Axe).
If you have not dealt with the Dragon at the watch tower Balgruuf will say "No time for that! go kill that dragon, then we can talk about it!".

I think he's going to continue ignoring you/refusing to assist until the dragon is offed.

EDIT: Funnybunny just ninja'd me.

But yeah, you have to complete Dragon Rising period if you want to finish the civil war questline. A= Baalgruf can finally stop worrying about the dragon to make an important decision in the civil war and B= Er...let's just say there's a reason you have to kill that dragon first.

little late in correcting me.

Mirmulnir has to be killed first.

I've done Dragon Rising up to the point before you go to the Dragon. I do it up to the point where I can get Breezehome.

It's especially annoying when you want to be a stormcloak.

Balgruuf- "No, I won't declare war on you until you help me kill the dragon!"

You-

Ahhhh I don't want dragons! Haha oh well. Favorite game of all time but seriously this is a little bs, takes away from rp. I like the main quest sure but it simply doesn't fit some of my characters it shouldn't have been shoved down our throats is all.... Ehh I'll get over it

The interesting thing here is, if you wait with doing Dragon Rising until Balgruuf forces you, he comes off as much less likeable, especially if you play the SC side. I've done this with one character, and my reaction was pretty much "why force me to help me with that dragon when you KNOW I'm here with a message from Ulfric, whom you have no intention of joining anyway, and then you have the stomach to name me Thane, and act SURPRISED when I later show up as your enemy in battle?!?" He just seems demanding and selfish when you do the quests in that order. (I supposed he still would seem likeable if you come to him as a legionnaire, however, since you then will remain on the same side.)

@ the OP: If you're on PC I'm pretty sure there are mods that allow you to play through the CW without spawning dragons.

Xbox

Even weirder, when you basically just strolled up to him and said effectively, "I am a Stormcloak, and if you don't do what I say, Ulfric and his army, including yours truly will make you regret it." he just lets you skedaddle back to Windhelm.

You'd think a smarter Jarl would have had Dovahkiin killed or imprisoned and appoint a trusted advisor/servant to do the job for him.

"Don't shoot the messenger"

I'm RPing my Redguard as the non-Dragonborn harbinger of the Companions. He helped kill Mira-whatever at the watchtower, then scat before it was totally dead, ergo no soul absorption. So now there's a dragon corpse rotting in the middle of Skyrim. No more dragons will show up, and my character is free to go about his business: smith armor, drink mead, play tag with his two kids, and go on the occasional side quest.

My Nord never even bothered to go to Bleak Falls Barrow, since combat isn't really her specialty.