» Sun Dec 11, 2011 4:42 am
Though obviously it should be left to the players decision of what they think happened, it is a good thing for canon to be chosen so as to maintain a storyline of the Elder Scrolls world.
I'm gonna say Ulfric won. All the other provinces are becoming independent or part of new political entities (Valenwood, Sumerset and Elsweyr for the Thalmor, Morrowind and the Black Marsh for the Argonian government, Hammerfell is independent), and the Imperial City has already been sacked. When Rome was sacked the first time, it was all over for the Roman Empire. They persisted a bit longer, but ultimately they were finished at that point and doomed to crumble completely. We can already see the Empire is crumbling both militarily and economically (and socially, by the looks of it), so for it to persist would just drag it out for an extra game.
So here's my version of what happens. Skrim got independence, the Empire fell. Whether from internal strife, external invasion, or whatever, it fell. The weakened state of Skyrim joins with High Rock to form an alliance, and Hammerfell either remains independent or becomes part of their alliance. Cyrodiil is split into pieces by each of the powers, with Argonia getting the south-east, the Skyrim-High Rock alliance getting the north, and the Aldmeri Dominion getting the south and west. The rivers in Cyrodiil are convenient for this because it splits it pretty well down the middle.
From here, no idea what happens next or where the game is set. Maybe Eslweyr, with Argonians trying to invade or something? Sumerset Isles makes little sense unless the Argonians and Nords all got boats and invaded, Valenwood would be uninteresting due to the entire thing being just woods, Skyrim, Morrowind, High Rock and Cyrodiil have been used already. So my best guess based on this general canon is a setting in either Hammerfell, with all 3 factions vying for it, or some kind of cross-province setting. Maybe even something in the Black Marsh with internal strife, kinda like how Morrowind had no war going on but it had the internal problems with Dagoth Ur, and how Arena had you trying to free the Emperor. This would work with the Sumerset Isles as well.
just my 2 cents