Hey so for my next playthrough of Skyrim I plan on being a Dunmer, However from a hardcoe RPing perspective I'm torn over which faction to side with in the Civil War. From a lore perspective it seems the majority of Dark Elves hate the Empire and therefore it makes little sense for my character to truly want to prop up a decaying political empire that largely abandoned Morrowind after its most recent volcanic eruption. The obvious racism and bigotry of the Stormcloaks (or at least a significant portion of them) has already been discussed at length in previous threads. It would ultimately be hard for my largely chaotically good character to justify fighting for a faction that treats members of his own race as second-class people.

Therefore I'm uncertain on how to approach the Civil War from the perspective of a Dunmer who acts completely consistent with past history and lore. Any advice or ideas??

Which would benefit you in the long run?

Ulfric isn't doing anything to help the Dark Elves, I mean, just hear his dialogue with his Steward.

A "lore-correct" Dunmer, from how you see it, would probably be neutral. Some Dunmer join the Empire(1 Legate and a Farmer random encounter), but that is it. And it seems to be uncommon, based on dialogue from Dragonborn.

Civil war debate in 3...2...1

To me it seems like the Dunmer's hatred for the Empire has been going on forever. Ulfric's influence over the nords has only been a fraction of that, unless lore has it that everyone hates the Dunmer except for natives of Morrowind. I would side with Ulfric in hopes of destroying the Empire that my people have hated forever in turn hoping Ulfric will change his ways after it's all over. Just my $.02

Pretend your character has lived in the grey quarter for years and had a rough life and wants to a be treated fairly by Some citizens of Windhelm.

Depends did your Dunmer come from Cyrodiil or Morrowind? Regardless I'd say neutral.

And what did the Empire do? Abandon them during the Oblivion Crisis (though that was kind of understandable), do nothing for the Dunmer while they suffer from the Red Year, watch as Hist crazy Argonians sack Morrowind.

But hey since Ulfric allows them to stay as refugees within his city he must be the dirty pedophile incarnation of Molag Bal.

Personally my Dunmer character was neutral

This is gonna get locked!

There are reasons why an individual Dunmer would join the Empire, in the civil war.

There are reasons why an individual Dunmer would join the Stormcloaks, in the civil war.

As a people, the Dunmer are neutral in that they don't care about either faction.

So basically my advice to you would be to explore the lore of the Dunmer, come up with a background for your character and then pick the faction that best suits what you've come up with.

Aren't CW threads banned for now or did this change?

If they aren't:

Considering Morrowind Dunmer are extremely apathetic to downright hateful of any Dunmer they consider an outsider, a true Morrowind Dunmer wouldn't care about the Windhelm Dunmer at all. Also, Teldryn Sero is a Morrowind Dunmer and he says he lived in the Gray Quarter yet doesn't blame the Nords and says the Dunmer there are just bitter.

While Dunmer by and large are against the Empire, and have been for centuries, there are sects of Dunmer society that accept and embrace the Empire.

House Hlaalu comes to mind.

Of course, I'm not entirely sure of Hlaalu's stance 200 years later following the Red Year, but there is still precedent for Dunmer support of Imperial law.

What I'm saying is, an Imperial siding Dunmer RP is completely valid given the lore.

However, if you're going off of generalities, I would say that neutral would be more likely. Of course, individuality also comes into play, as not all people of a certain race are of a hive mind.

Join the Legion, kill Ulfric, then turn around and assassinate the Emperor.

From what I can tell, Ulfric doesn't discriminate (much) based on race.
The Stormcloaks will take anyone from any race as long as they prove useful and willing to bring the fight to the Empire. The main reason why the elves in the Grey Quarter are getting ignored is because they refuse to do anything to help the Stormcloaks... who are based out of the city they live in.

Ulfric could be doing something to improve the lives on his non-nord citizens, but hes of the mind that if youre not with him, youre against him. The Dunmer are lucky that he hasnt evicted them, to be honest.

Should we usurp the First Councillor as well.

Notice how much hope the Dunmer and Argonians see when the Empire takes Windhelm.

The An-Xileel in Argonia make the Stormcloaks look like Empire supporters in comparison.

A Dunmer would be neutral. The Nords in general have always been on bad terms with the Dunmer what with border disputes. Not to mention the way they are treated in Windhelm and Winterhold. I think the Dunmer would stay out of it.

"The reason we haven't chosen a side is because its not our fight" -Whatever the name of that Dunmer you see talking to Nords when you enter Windhelm is

Notice how Brunwulf the Argonians are still outside and Brunwulf says they are going to remain there.

Yeah Im waiting for that one.

As a people they are neutral as many have pointed out, they quite literally have next to no stake in this civil war, as an individual there could be any number of reasons why you would support one side or the other, I am currently debating which (if any) to support on my dunmer.

While I'm strongly inclined towards neutrality, this really got me thinking. Boy is my next Skyrim adventure going to be a blast!!

Cause he states that Ulfric's followers would be the ones harassing them and shatter-shield a stormcloak and known argonian racist furthers this.

As multiple people stated the Dunmer would most likely stay neutral but if you side with the empire they express that they are glad to be under imperial rule then stormcloak rule whereas their attitudes stay the same on the stormcloak side, probably either means the Dunmer as a whole don't hate the empire anymore, are Hlaalu who always loved the empire or just don't like stormcloaks.

Also as someone mentioned they'd hate the empire for not helping them with the red year and argonian invasion, the Empire had no responsibility or obligation to help the Dunmer because the dunmer and argonians weren't part of the empire.

That's probably game mechanics and what has already been said that would be harassed by Stormcloak Supporters.

Ulfric would be content in leaving them like that.

Funny how the Solitude executioner states Torygg wouldn't have let Argonians into the city either.