The topic of the Skyrim Civil War is a "hot" topic on this forum along with arguing for the Empire or Stormcloaks as if in a vacuum. But other provinces have interests at stake in the outcome.

I have left Cyrodiil and Skyrim out of the poll for obvious reasons and the Thalmor represent Alinor in the poll (as they are the current governing authority).

In this thread, you are invited to anolyze the Skyrim Civil War through the lens of the modern concept of Realpolitik and identify where the interests of each of the provinces falls between a Stormcloak victory or an Empire victory. You are encouraged to examine each one closely before voting.

Objectively, or as objectively as you are capable, where does the realpolitik best interest of each province (and its native race) lie in the outcome of the Skyrim Civil War and how do you come to your conclusion?

Thalmor dont want either side to win. so I can't vote.

Mich is right BretonSpellsword. The Thalmors bes interest is to see the war continue until both sides are exhausted, you should add that option

In the interest of contributing to the thread I will present my view on the subject, I am, however, not yet able to vote as the Thalmor section dos not include satisfactory options:

Hammerfell: Their main interest at the momment is to be able to go to war with the Dominion again, for that they will need allies. The empire can't ally with them without risking it's fragile peace with the Dominion. A Stormcloak victory would give Hammerfell a bordering ally with a shared hatred of the Thalmor and the millitary strength to back it up. A Stormcloak victory is certainly what I'd be hoping for if I was a Redguard

High Rock: In order to understand what the CW means to the Bretons it is first nessassary to appreciate the Sectarian nature of Bretonic society. High Rock is devided into many kingdoms, each with it's own monarchy, military and national identity. I won't go into detail (this is an area of the Lore on witch I am somewhat shaky) but suffice to say these Kigdoms, if left to their own devices would likely destroy one-another. The only thing preventing that is the Empire so, and if Skyrim becomes independent the empire no longer has any way to access High Rock. An imperial victory is in the Bretons interests.

Morrowind: No clear interest. House Redoran wants nothing to do with the empire and I can't imagine they're too concerned about Skyrim.

Black Marsh: The An-Xileel, while their ultimate aims remain obscure and vague, clearly have grievances against the Empire. That said, Ulfrics percieved mistreatment of the Argonians, and harbouring Dunmer refugees may put the An-Xileel in a position of neutrality: No clear interest

Elsweyr: As a massive Khajiit fan and a Stormcloak supporter I'm probably biased on this one so I'll be breif: I is clearly in the Khajiit's best interests to leave the Almeri Dominion and a Stormcoak victory does not immediately quicken that interest. That said: the Khajiit probably remember how the Empire abandoned them to the empire during the void nights and have no wish to return to imperial rule so: No clear interest.

Valenwood: Pretty much the same as Elsweyr by they probably don't have the same problem with the Empire so: No clear interest (but leaning towards Empire victory)

That last answer is difficult. They don't want either to win, just for it to drag out. The Thalmor have been really good at dividing provinces.

Cant vote for a lot of these since so many like black marsh have no interest in anyone which isnt the same as no clear interest.

Funny enough the current numbers pretty much reflect what I picked, with the exception of Hammerfell.

Yeah. I just imagined it as "They don't care".

Um...what's the difference?

Black Marsh: Stormcloak victory- the Argonians want independence and if Cyrodiil is on its own, they're going to keep it

Elsweyr: No clear interest. We don't know how many of them are satisfied with Dominion rule vs. want to rebel against it.

Hammerfell: Stormcloak victory- another independent Thalmor-hating state to form an anti-WGC bloc

High Rock: Empire victory- by a thin margin. They'll still have their main trade routes to Cyrodiil by sea regardless, but an independent Skyrim would mean they're isolated and would likely fracture into their little baronies.

Morrowind: No clear interest.

Valenwood: No clear interest. Same as Elsweyr, we don't know whether they would prefer to stay in the Dominion even under Thalmor rule vs. having a Cyrodiil ready to start colonizing them again.

Thalmor: This really needs a neutral option. I chose empire victory. Not having access to Snow Throat and being cut off from Adamantine by hostile states who aren't cooperating with the empire's appeasemant scheme is a severe hindrance to their goals.

No clear interest: "eh, we'll see"
No interest: "go f**k yourself"

That's the difference. Stay classy, English

I would say that the Empire has an advantage throughout the provinces because of the racism exhibited by the Stormcloaks. However, the Empire has had some clashes with a couple of the provinces, so maybe they'd go for the storm cloaks just so the Empire can be rid of.

Why do people think Stormcloaks are racist.
2 drunks at the main gate of Windhelm and that suddenly makes the stormcloaks racist.

No clear interest = we dont know which they'd prefer. no interest means we know they care about neither.

I put Imperial victory for everyone except Alinor. The Thalmor would benefit more from a division between them, divide and conquer. I don't see anyone else benefitting from a split.

Didn't Ulfric kick the Argonians out of Windhelm? Also, after an Empire victory, all other races seem much happier except, of course, the Nords.

At the very least, its STRONG favoritism.

Well, there is nothing but Nords in the SC army. There isn't even a general of a different race (then again, it is just a Nord related war).

And when one of drunks is a former soldier and the other is the brother of the top general, people aren't really going to think otherwise, but that's a whole different story for another thread which would this off topic.

Nords being nationalistic in their own country has no bearing on the national politics between the provinces. Besides, Nords being satisfied with running their own country instead of colonizing the rest of Tamriel is less racist in practice than if they were still in the empire business.

Because people are too lazy to look deeper, don't know the difference between racism and prejudice (They happen to be neither unless you are Thalmor), and are silly enough to think the Empire isn't and thinks the Nords are worse in this aspect.

Does Free-Winter let them back in? No.

Sorta like how SC fans like to hate on the empire for ONE blood-thirsty and lazy captain at the beginning of the game. We can only believe things based off what we are shown in the game. As Shadow Titan pointed out there are ONLY Nords among their ranks. BTW there really isn't much difference at all in prejudice and racism.

It's pretty easy to think SC's are when a lot of the people that support them are.

What's that last remark supposed to mean?

Its pretty easy to think the Empire supporters are cowards and puppets when a lot of them bend over for Thalmor as well.

That's because its a long term change. That's what Brunwulf says. If anything, its the Nords that have a problem with it. Free-Winter says something like "We Nords are as stubborn as stone".

It's going to take a while. The Dunmer and Argonians are very hopeful.

That it was a demonstration of how small things make huge difference in English, which invariably will lead to misunderstandings at some point