After seeing media from Skyrim I have noticed what I think are the two main factions warring for control of Skyrim.

If you look at the wall in the new trailer when the narrator says "When the sons of Skyrim will spill their own blood...", you can see the two factions on either side of the mural where on the left they seem to be dressed in more traditional Nordic attire while the opposing side is dressed in an imperial-roman or anglo saxon attire. Then also look at the guards/soldiers that are walking around the village in the trailer wearing the romanesque/centurion armor. Was there an occupying imperial force in Skyrim with perhaps an undercurrent of independence-minded traditional "Skyrimians" fighting for an ancient nordic culture?

Does anyone know any canon on the setting here? I would really be interested to know more about the setting.

*Edit for punctuation

I think there are meant to be several factions warring over the Skyrim Throne. I was unaware Skyrim had a king until the announcement the other day i always thought all of Tamriel was ruled but the imperials but maybe they found independence after the time of Oblivion maybe chancellor Ocato and the Elder Council couldn't hold the empires colonies together after the death of Martian and Uriel.

The two factions (MQ) in Skyrim are whether to cede from the empire or stay in the empire.

Also, Morrowind had King Helseth as its provincial ruler.

But Emperor is a higher title than king, so the kings answer to the Emperor.

Also the game is 200 years after OB so a royal hierarchy may have been introduced in that time . Also it is known that the Imperials do have control over atleast one outpost that we know of, this outpost is one along the road leaving Skyrim so the own part of the border.

Interesting... So I wonder, if there are more than 2 factions, what are the otehr factions... or who could they be?

I believe that there has always been kings and such the high king i thought would be the empires main guy in skyrim so when he got killed war brakes out half against the empire half for the empire

"Generals and Kings have knelt at my command....." - Uriel Septim VII

That makes sence still I think there maybe more than 2 warring clans.

Well played!

I'm SO glad he's dead...

And that confirms I'm definitely joining the most anti-imperial faction in my first char, for sure.

Ill have to join the most imperial faction myself

One of the various video interviews we've seen (probably a GI one) showed a map of Skyrim in the background that had an arrow pointing at Solitude that said "empire", and one pointing at Whiterun that says "rebels" (or maybe it's the other way around, it's been awhile). So yeah, pro- and anti-empire are the major factions in the civil war, and those two cities evidently act as their capitals.

There's also different 'tribes' in Skyrim, sort of like the Great Houses in Morrowind.

Yes it's probably going to be more like Morrowind in that aspect, more tribes, clans and maybe different religions. Beth have confirmed that they have made effort to make different clans and areas (and races) more unic. More unic cities and different cultures. You should allso be able to see how old the country of Skyrim is by the ruins etc, showing different eras in history.

(sorry for my english, right)

That is so awesome.

But I doubt they're as large as The Great Houses in Morrowind.

Conflicts makes the gaming world interesting. In Morrowind there was lots of them. Just think of it, The three houses on Vvardenfell - in constant conflict, The three different religions (ashlander, tribunal, temple) - conflict, Camonna tong vs Thieves Guild, Empire vs Dunmer, Morag tong vs DB, Telvanni vs ... everybody?

I love that selfish ugly game of politics and religion hehe Veery dunmer.

But in Oblivion... njeh... :/

Good riddance now he's dead.

Yes, there is an Imperial faction(consisting of the Empire and its supporters) and a Rebel faction(consisting of... well rebels, those that want to secede from the Empire). Who else is involved... we don't know, but based on the trailer, yea I think the Imperial Legion has a presence in Skyrim, most likely as guards(the ones in the video appear to be your typical patrolman type guards), but hopefully also fighting the rebels in greater numbers.

Also... there are the Dragons, and the Dragon Priests. Its not clear if they are on any side in particular, and if I had to guess, I'd say they weren't on either side. The mainquest will probably revolve around you uniting the two factions to fight them or something like that, maybe with an option to favor one or the other.

"The Elders scrolls told of their return their defeat was merely a delay....when the sons of skyrim would spill their own blood. ..."

What do we do if we hate both of them?

I agree, finally someone cut him down(THANK YOU DAGON!). And I will also be anti-empire.

All this Empire vs Rebels talk keeps making me think about Star Wars.

Which would be awesome.

IMPERIALS OUT OF SKYRIM! FREEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! :intergalactic: