I was always under the impression that this quote taken from the first edition of the Pocket Guide was not accurate, and was Imperial propaganda to make the high elves look like horrible baby-killers. The same Imperial scribe then goes on to say of the Altmer : "They have no real names of their own, only combinations of numbers that, when spoken aloud, sound to human ears as such. They feel no real tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion." "They are decadent and self-obsessed, and prize form and their own brand of manners or style as their main value....Each of them is concerned solely with himself, and as a result they do no real socializing; they meet and hold courts only to demonstrate their importance and power to each other. Rarely do they speak to the human ambassadors of Cyrodiil; when they do, their speech is full of riddles, or spell-words that enchant one to a satisfied madness." He basically describes them as completely inhumane, greedy psychopaths. Does the above quote sound like how the Altmer are portrayed in game? (Well, maybe the Thalmor come close to being as narcisstic, but not most other high elves.)

Does anyone know how a stormcloak victory effects Thalmor Spawns?

Of course Ulfric is an asset to the Thalmor. In fact, he and his Stormcloaks are probably the Thalmor's main hope of winning the war.

The Stormcloaks are solely focused on the short term goal. They simply don't care to think beyond their emotion and their anger over the outlawing of Talos worship.

The Empire signed the treaty because it was the only hope Tamriel had. They sign the treaty, regain strength then hit back when they can. Instead, you have the Stormcloaks running in like spoiled children and try to dismantle the Empire, the very faction Talos himself founded.

The Thalmor say it best themselves:

"Ulfric's death and an Imperial victory would have harmed our overall position in Skyrim"

When the bad guys say that, you know the Stormcloaks are wrong side to be behind.

Fairly certain it does, as I have yet to run into another Thalmor agent out in the field after the civil war. I have seen imperial soldiers escorting a stormcloak soldiers though.

In my game, the Thalmor are still hanging around in the Markarth palace, at times sitting near the new Jarl who mumbles about how he hates the Thalmor and wants to kill them all.

Also, there are two Emperor's guards near Stormcloak guards at Castle Dour's training area.
And of course there's Gauis Maro who sleeps at Ulfric's barracks in Windhelm, right next to Stormcloaks who constantly say "the next Imperial I see is DEAD!". Now lore that one out.

Best case scenario for the race of man would be

Have Eilisef named high queen of an independant Skyrim allied with the remnants of the Empire.

The Empire gets
A ruler of they Skyrim they trust.
The ability to move troops to the southern borders
Volunteers from Skyrim could still join the Legion(the only ones who would complain are the Thalmor but who gives a rats ass what they want)
Trade can continue between the two

The Stormcloaks get
Freedom from an Empire they see as weak
Religious freedom back
The ability to send troops to aid Hammerfell(if Hammerfell accepts )
Removal of the Thalmor from Skyrim
And they can start attacking the Aldmeri dominion.

PS.
With peace achieved they can lift the great soap embargo on Skyrim.
On that day their will only be winners,well except for all the rivers in Skyrim.

Being an "asset" doesn't necessarily mean he is a willing traitor. Clearly, the entire 'rebellion' of Skyrim was orchestrated by the Thalmor. Just because Ulfric is the type to be easily goaded into action by an outside party doesn't mean hes a Thalmor sympathizer.

The rebellion is in the Thalmors best interests and this is why they call Ulfric an 'asset'. He is someone that can easily manipulate in a predictable manner with staged events.

So the entire Stormclaok Rebellion is a giant Batman Gambit orchestrated by the Thalmor?

Ehhh...I don't think Elisif would be a good queen. She's nice, but she doesn't seem to have the qualities of a decent leader.

Balgruuf makes a good choice IMO.

Sadly the Empire is still strong enough that the choice of Eilisef is better for the overall picture.The Empire trusts her.They have some doubts about Balgruuf.
I agree tho Balgruuf is the best choice for Skyrim but Eilisef is the best choice for everybody.

Every time I spoke with her, it always seemed like it was someone else doing the work for her and making decisions for her.

Yeah, but at least Helseth was shameless about it and was one willingly, because it gave him power and influence. Plus, he was willing to kill for what he wanted. Elisif just seems too much like a child to really know what's going on.

And Riften svcks, no matter how one slices it.

Yeah, but at least Helseth was shameless about it and was one willingly, because it gave him power and influence. Plus, he was willing to kill for what he wanted. Elisif just seems too much like a child to really know what's going on.

And Riften svcks, no matter how one slices it.

Balgruuf, awesome as he is (and the fact that he is kicked from Whiterun if you side with Ulfric is enough to get me to side with the Empire every time beyond my second "see what happens" playthrough), doesn't.

Nah, that's Jarl Laila Law-Giver. Though it's not like the Empire hasn't used http://uesp.net/wiki/Tribunal:King_Hlaalu_Helseth before.

Does that mean that YR agrees with the scribes assertion that Altmer are "decadent and self-obsessed"? Or that they "feel no real tenderness for one another and have no concept of compassion"? He just nodded and smiled at how amazingly accurate the author was in describing how he himself pictures his own people?

It could be that the assertions were so ridiculous as to not even bother writing notes about it. Or it could be some of it was false information fed to the human ambassadors by the Altmer for other reasons. If the elves do breed slower than the humans, that would put the elves at a distinct disadvantage. Putting out the idea that Altmer breed just as quickly as humans but choose to kill most of their babies could have just been deliberate misinformation, that YR just chose not to comment on.

This is literally the only source that says that Altmer choose to kill most of their own babies. Just for my part, I will take it with a huge grain of salt until there is another confirmed source of this idea, or it's mentioned in-game.

Back to the original discussion, I guess I am the only one who believes it really doesn't matter which side of the war wins. Bethesda has to make it so that future games won't be tied into whichever side is triumphant, so most likely the only thing that is important is the fact the war did end eventually.

It's also possible, or maybe likely, that Skyrim may have some future crisis that effectively makes the end of the war inconsequential. Same way that Morrowind had the Red Year, and Cyrodiil had the Great War. Besthesda seems to want to make us genuinely care for the provinces they create, just so they can stomp on our hearts when they screw around with them.

So OP, don't feel bad about Ulfric Stormcloak's allegiances. Because it probably won't matter in the end, anyway. Feel better?

Elisef is way too young and way too inexperienced for the position of High Queen. She's also too nice of a person. She'd make Skyrim too soft, and only had admiration, which can quickly turn sour if she makes a mistake.

Also, she'd be a puppet, at best.