This is a question I've been asking myself lately, what will be the future of the Empire? I mean, for me I know that the Imperials could wipe out the Stromcloaks. But I've come with a possible future of the Empire. I think the Empire should have a truce with the Stromcloaks, and they could help each other defeat the Thalmor. But maybe the Empire should try to convince Morrowind, Black Marsh and Hammerfell to make one huge Empire, "The United Empire of Tamriel". With the capital being The Imperial city. Where everyone fights for the unification of Tamriel against the Thalmor. And it becomes a Democracy with an elected Emperor. I think all of the manpower from every province could destroy the Thalmor army. What do you think?

During the Septim timeline Tamriel was united under the Imperial banner. For the Empire to survive they need to make amends to Hammerfell, Skyrim, Black Marsh, and Morrowind. Plus they need to sway Elsewyr and Valenwood back. This can only be done with a strong, charismatic, and cunning leader, and Titus Mede II is not that leader. The Empire still has legions, but the Aldmeri Dominion has three provinces vs the Empire's two; and High Rock is not dependable due to all the politics that goes on there. So it's really just Cyrodiil against the Dominion. I agree Tamriel should unite as an Empire under democracy and elect an Emperor. But like I said Cyrodiil will need a strong, charismatic, and cunning figure like Tiber Septim.

actually, its three on both sides

Okay my mistake. Which is the third one on the Empire side, I've forgotten?

you got Cyrodiil, High Rock, and Skyrim..



considering we don't know for certain who the canon victor in the CW will be (if there even is one), we have to go by what little in-game evidence we have to base our predictions upon..


until we know for sure, we have to assume the status quo remains the same

I've made the case on other subjects that real world ideas can have relevance when it seems that a parallel is intended to be there in the writing, but does the concept of democracy even exist in Tamriel?

Thank you.

Ultimately we don't know. We don't know the state of High Rock, Hammerfell, or Cyrodiil currently, or the outcome of the Skyrim civil war.

We have, however, learned a few tidbits of new information from the TES Legends spinoff. We now know that Lord Naarifin was being aided by the Daedra and was using the Orb of Vaermina to spy on his foes, which probably explains his success in Cyrodiil, in contrast to Lady Arannelya's difficult and hard fought campaign in Hammerfell, the Dominion's crushing defeat at the Battle of the Red Ring (which by that point, he no longer had the orb), and independent Hammerfell's seeming subsequent success against the Dominion.

In other words, it's possible the Dominion isn't currently as powerful as has often been assumed.

First, of course the developers can write it as they wish. That said, the idea of either Morrowind or Black Marsh re-joining the Empire would be quite a stretch. For Morrowind, an alliance with the Empire could be done credibly on national security grounds. The most I can see for Black Marsh is neutrality in the conflict. For Hammerfell to re-join the Empire (prior to Great War II) would take some involved diplomacy (if it is even doable) - again here an alliance would be easier to achieve and frankly more easily believable.

Fair approach. However, assuming the player does not take sides in the Civil War and only does the Main Quest, the Reach is surrendered to the Stormcloaks ("Season Unending") . This is strategically significant as it cuts off High Rock.

These things would need to be evolutionary. You may want to check http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1478896-high-rock-rebooted/

Don't forget that the Thalmor doesn't really have the full support of all the Altmers. They have always been unpopular particularly with the other factions. Remember what the Archmage of the College of Winterhold said? What you can learn from magic can benefit you for a life time, multiple if you are smart. With the innate long lives of the Altmers, I imagine they have far more such mages who can put the Archmages of the Mage Guilds in Imperial City and Skyrim's college to shame. Imagine the Thalmor had to contend with those. Even if the Thalmor had mages like that in their ranks, these guys won't have an easy time because the Thalmor was just a minor faction.

The Empire may still be able to move through Orsinium, which lies on the border between Skyrim and Hammerfell. Or move through Haafingar, depending on where the routes between Skyrim and High Rock are.

No it doesn't.A large part of the border sure but not all of it and one of the main roads(I think there are two?)from Skyrim to High Rock would still be under the control of the Empire.

I don't see the non-Aldmeri Dominion provinces all uniting anytime soon.

-With Hammerfell, how do you make amends to them after leaving them high and dry (regardless of whether it was the best decision for the Empire to make)?

-Morrowind is still too weakened to do anything, and even if they weren't I seriously doubt they'll want to join a cause that is outside their borders except for any excursions into Black Marsh. And they certainly won't be friendly with the Empire that left them to fend for themselves in the wake of the Oblivion Crisis (again, regardless of whether that was the best decision the Empire to make at the time).

-Due to the rise of the apparently extremely xenophobic An-Xileel, Black Marsh probably won't join the fight anytime soon. But we don't really know anything currently happening in Black Marsh beyond that. There is a rumor that the Thalmor are running arms to the Argonians to attack southern Morrowind, but this could be baseless.

-High Rock is still part of the Empire, but we still don't really know anything about what is going on there in current-day Tamriel.

-As for Skyrim, we don't know how the Civil War will have resolved by the time of TESVI.

allegedly, that particular statement should be taken with a grain of salt since it directly contradicts what we actually saw happen in the Oblivion Crisis...



it could be a retcon that the Empire did pull out the legions.. or it could be misinformation, parents feeding lies to their Children over several generations in order to make propaganda against a foreign power more common place as well as attempting to create a sense of patriotism (a pretty common thing actually, happened in Europe since at least the hundred year war, and still happens today)

I wish you were right, but the maps I have looked at indicate that the Reach covers the entire Skyrim-High Rock border, from Hammerfell to the sea.

Even if the canon dragonborn opts for staying out of the Civil War and hands the Reach to the Stormcloaks, it doesn't necessarily mean it stays that way. In that instance, the Civil War can play out between games (and out of the player's hands) until it is resolved. Militarily, that would favor the Empire.

If it does play out that way, then there would be window of vulnerability for High Rock. Hypothetically, the Dominion (if they have the navy) could attack High Rock while they are cut-off.

It is not a retcon. Your interpretation of it as misinformation is the way to go. Nothing trumps eyewitness of an event. The only way Bethesda could retcon the Oblivion Crisis like that would be to issue a patch for The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion which altered the content accordingly. As that game is ten years old , it is safe to say that is not going to happen.

I looked at my OFFICIAL map that shipped with the Retail version.So if any map that you looked at shows something different it is probably not official.

Edit:Just googled to find a http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/p/1091741/12077480/1321061038400/skyrim+deluxe+map.jpg?asGalleryImage=true&token=LdKi9R3zbAgaY%2FDLT13P7PmYOwQ%3D

I have that as well. That map gives general locations of the various holds, but does not show the borders of each hold. The official game guide includes detailed maps of each hold and the Reach appears to cover the entire Skyrim-High Rock border. It still comes down to how the Civil War is canonically resolved, but that window of vulnerability for High Rock (if the Hold map is accurate) will exist if the canon Dragonborn does "Season Unending" (which is likely since that is part of the Main Quest).

Either way, we have to wait and see.

Are you blind?The red lines are the hold borders they are very easy to see.What did you think they are ?Decorations?

thats not how Retconning works, not even close..

There are 4 roads pretty big as far as the game Skyrim goes, 1 leading to High Rock from Solitude's direction, 1 to Hammerfell from Falkreath's direction, 1 leading to Morrowind from Riften, 1 leading to Cyrodiil from Helgen's direction.

Skyrim is sitting in a highly defensible location I must say. With being part of the Empire, they can really save manpower as the minimum amount of troops needed to defend the country is much lower with High Rock covering the seas and entry from west, Cyrodiil buffing attacks from South and Morrowind blocking entry from the east.