I've wondered for a while, seeing as I've heard nothing about actual unrest in High Rock against the Empire, but they are effectively cut off from the heart of the Empire due to the Civil War. And of course in the event of Stormcloak total victory, they are totally cut off.

But I've heard nothing of High Rock having its independence from the Empire. They were connected to Cyrodiil via Skyrim and Hammerfell, but Hammerfell stands alone and Skyrim's a mess. If it has not gained its independence, then why didn't Tullius request aid from High Rock, who's border is right next to Solitude hold and the Reach, both Imperial territory in the beginning. And why didn't the Bretons do anything about the Markarth Incident, which would no doubt hurt their reputation amongst the Nords, whom they would rather have as allies.

Is High Rock (still) suffering from political disputes to bother about the outside world?

The implications in the game are that the Empire's entire military assets are on the border with the Thalmor and that Tullius is restricted to using Skyrim's own primary Nord-based legions.

In short, taking the soldiers from High Rock means weakening the border with the Thalmor.

But High Rock doesn't seem to be in any particular danger. The Thalmor are struggling with Skyrim and far more so with Hammerfell. Granted they aren't as safe as, say, Morrowind, but they aren't vulnerable like Cyrodiil.

Doesn't the Empire actually have to function to have functioning parts?

Ha, I kid I kid...they're hanging around for a little while longer.

Tullius did send for aid to High Rock and they ignored the request. Ulfric's request is ignored too. High Rock wouldn't care about the Markarth incident. They hate the Forsworn/Reachmen. Probably don't mind seeing the nords take a lump or two either.

Personally, given their nature, I'd say they're waiting to see the outcome of the war before making a choice. If skyrim wins, great, they can secede too and regain their autonomy. If the empire wins, they'll simply keep the status quo and not have to fight any legion forces.

no he means the high rock legions are in Cyrodiil for that vary reason. high rock is out of the way so its imperial military is to the south to guard the Cyrodiil border. there's no one in high rock for Tullius to call on.

The Orcs? Orsinium may have fallen but they should still have a large presence there, right?

May I ask where this information is from? Also, how does High a Rock even have the authority to reject an offer from an officer with a a mandate from the Emperor - wouldn't that constitute treason?

I don't think they rejected it, but as Cecilff says, they're ignoring it until the CW business is dealt with.

Also, I'm not doubting it, but I'd like to see the dialogue where Tullius asks High Rock for aid. This entire time I've never seen the quote.

That depends on what you call a large presence. Technically Orsinium is not part of any province, it's an independent city-state. It just keeps getting sacked and rebuilt. If any Orcs from Orsinium are going to help the Legion, they're probably already there.

Thalmor are not struggling in Hammerfell, they simply left. The Dominion military forces reached a stalemate, and the Thalmor decided to order the military out of Hammerfell when they reached an agreement with the Redguard. Just a quick note, Dominion military =/= Thalmor. They are two different things. Currently controlled by the Thalmor, but not a part of them. Same as the Dominion is ruled by the Thalmor, but it is a very small yet elite political faction with a lot of power.

The short answer is that we have no clue as to where High Rock stands on the Empire. They haven't given Ulfric an answer, but they haven't rejected his proposal, or so it seems from the dialogue. This suggests that they're either not interested in the civil war in Skyrim, or that they are waiting to take a side.

What we know about High Rock is this:

They participated in the Great War

Wayrest fell to Corsairs around 4E188

They haven't answered Ulfric

It's hard to get. cs.uesp.net doesn't seem to have gossip text in it, or if it does, I have no idea how to find it. For example, try to find http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=120180183 on cs.uesp. I screenshotted them in the past. It's a random dialogue that Rikke can have with Tullius, same as the one Galmar has with Ulfric.

Doesn't help that Tullius's article is a stub.

I've never seen Sybille say that, you sure it wasn't cut or added in by a mod?

If SkyUI adds voice lines that were voiced by their original actors.

Thats the only modification I use. It was voiced by Sybille anyways(And Falk). I http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123996987 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123997901 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123999090 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123997943 conversation if you like. Don't have the whole thing because Serana decided to start talking to me partway through. Basically Falk's concerned with the costs of Sybille's experiments, Sybille says she provides a great service to the city, Falk continues to protest, that first line comes up, Falk becomes accusatory towards Sybille, and she blows him off with the remarks at the end here.

A lot of gossip seemed to be bugged at first so it's not surprising you may not have heard some of them. But later patches to the game made them proc more frequently. Enter the blue palace sometime when court is going on, and you'll have a chance to hear Falk and Sybille talk about it.(It was hilarious because neither one whisper it, and you can hear it standing right next to Elisif herself)

I'd like to know what nations make up the province now. With that marriage in the 3rd pocket guide and the sack of Orsinium, there could be as few as four kingdoms: Daggerfall-Camlorn, Wayrest, Northpoint and Evermore. While there's nothing to suggest the royalty of High Rock have anything to do with the Markarth Incident, I would think the Reachmen in Evermore would have tried something similar.

The Reachmen and the Bretons are commonly not seen as the same people, much like the Colovians and Nibenese are separate, despite having essentially the same "blood", as it were. The Bretons seem to dislike the Reachmen as much as the Nords do. I don't think anyone would suspect the Bretons for having something to do with the Forsworn Uprising.

You're right on not knowing much about which kingdoms make up High Rock now. We know Wayrest was around at least 13 years ago, but we know nothing about what happened after the Corsairs sacked it. Daggerfall seem to be around as well, given the Jarl's chef in Markarth is from there and Hadvar references Daggerfall if you chose Breton at the start of the game. Orsinium is now on the border between Hammerfell and Skyrim, after the sacking of it in the early 4th Era. Camlorn, Northpoint, Evermore and Alcaire are still complete mysteries as far as I am aware.

I know, but I assume the Reachmen in the Western Reach are or at least used to be subjects of the Breton King of Evermore, just as Reachmen in the (Eastern) Reach are subjects of the Jarl and I'd be surprised if the former didn't have a Forsworn movement.

Wouldn't Balfiera be part of Wayrest? If it is, they don't seem to have much control there now, but that would be no surprise.

In future games, the developers could really put the borders where ever they please.

With the help of a few Fallout and TES modding tools, I've been doing some digging through Skyrim's voice files for Tullius, Galmar, and Rikke (that one was difficult because unlike Ulfric, Tullius, and Galmar, Rikke doesn't have a unique voice, thus her dialogue is mixed in with the lines her voice actress recorded for other NPC's), and I've seen (or rather, heard) nothing about Tullius and Rikke having ever requested aid from High Rock. I've found that dialogue about Galmar talking about High Rock, but nothing on Rikke and Tullius discussing anything of that sort. They do have conversations, but none of them seem to be about aid from High Rock.

Even if he did request aid, I wonder what channels his request would have to go through. It appears that provinces and districts have their own Legion commanders. Would Tullius have to work through these channels or would he simply be able to use his rank to order other Legion forces to come help in Skyrim. Furthermore, we see how the Knight of the Imperial Dragon in Morrowind was politically involved with the council, so any request to other Legion commanders could be complicated by their political ties to their own district. To what degree are the Legion higher ups able to exercise power over the regional forces?

Like with most provinces political situation during the time of TES 5 we honestly don't know the current political situation. All we know is that they have ignored a request for help from Ulfric and Galmar is not happy about that.

If Skyrim does leave the Empire it's going to create an interesting situation for High Rock though.