Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27007772-20140611204941/@comment-50.190.125.182-20150426000411

I think something everyone is forgetting is that you're Dragonborn. By the end of the the game, you're probably the most powerful and influential person in all of Tamriel, next to perhaps the Emperor and whoever leads the Alderi Dominion. So I join the imperials. I'll explain why.

I completetly support Ulfric's idea of rebuiling skyrim, preparing for the war, getting rid of corruption, ect. But I despise Ulfric himself and do not want him in charge. So here's my after-war plan: (note: I'm a Khajiit)

(It should be noted that the Dragonborn has impacted and talked to just about everyone in all of Skyrim. I'm helped every little village, every person who requests it. So despite being a Khajiit, I command enormous respect from all.)

The New Skyrim

-   First I go to the emperor/Tullius and have him reorganize the governmental system in skyrim and instituting term limits for all Jarls and governers. I also form the soldiers into small units (of ten maybe) and rotate those out regularly. This prevents corrupt governers from establishing contacts with the right people and prevents the corruption of the guard, at least temporarily.

-  Next I need to cut out those corrupt money-hungry leeches such as the Silver-bloods and the Black-Briars. As Dragonborn, I've personally talked to and interacted with everyone so I can go in person and remove/relocate these individuals in Skyrim. (I can't do that for the rest of the Empire, unfortunatly.) This is where being in the Dark Brotherhood has its benefits. :D

-   Now I go to the remmants of the stormcloaks and essentially reform them. Or destroy them and replace them with disguised imperials if they don't agree. I direct them to attack any Thalmor patrols and investigators while leaving the imperials in peace. Since the Imperials are technically still at civil war, they can't be blamed, the Thalmor are removed, Talos worship can continue (since it was only the Thalmor who enforced it anyway.) and I remove the Thalmor eyes and ears from skyrim while leaving them with the impression of a drawn-out civil war. In essence, I can conduct military operations against the Thalmor without responsibility.

Now that corruption has been drastically cut out, money can now flow to the lower classes of Skyrim. This building of a stronger economy will faciltate a far stronger skyrim, much as Ulfric envisioned. I will leave skyrim to rebuild and strengthen themselves and move on to the rest of the empire.

The Empire, Reformed

-    Now this is where I need really good influence with the Emperor, which shouldn't be that hard to aquire as Dragonborn/Savior of Skyrim/being responsible for the end of the skyrim civil war. In order to cut out the corruption, I again put in term limits for the local governers of provinces. But I can't afford to lose my best and slimiest politicians, so instead of removing them outright, every two years they randomly switch provinces. I maintain the experienced leadership and cut out their local corruption. I also do the same to the military units assigned to provinces. Overall, I need to make all the city's political infrastructure identical to make the transitions very smooth. So everything is standardized in a Roman-like system, from the layout of buildings to the hierarchy of the governers. Sadly, because I haven't personally been through the entire empire, I cannot personnally oversee it all. The Empire will remain partially corrupted, but Skyrim will flourish.

-    Now I need to cut out the Thalmor's Justiciars from the Empire. So I secretly reform the Blades with the sole purpose of creating another false civil war in order to legally hunt down any Thalmor influence. I pretend to send out my forces to fight the Blades, but it's all for naught. The Blades mysteriously disappear every time.

-   As a Khajiit Dragonborn, I travel to the Khajiit and start to sway them from Thalmor influence, so in the event of a war, they would be very reluctant to support the Dominion. With some funding and propaganda, I could very well turn them to my side, the side of the Imperials.

-  Hammerfell. I'm unclear whether or not they despise the Empire for "abandoning" them, because they were left with a large amount of legionaries with which (in combination with their own superb martial abilities) they pushed out the weaker Dominon force in Hammerfell. If they hate the Empire, it's going to be very tricky to bring them back it, although an alliance wouldn't be too hard. If they realize that the Empire was merely biding it's time and had in fact supported Hammerfell through said legionaries and never really cut them off, then they should jump back in with some favorable conditions.

Other Factors

- "But the Empire tried to KILL ME!!" -- True, but I've already butchered the offending officer. In addition, why do I even care AT ALL? They failed to kill me. Many have tried, all have failed. (From Bandits to Dragons, they've tried and died. The imperial officer responsible has died, and you cannot blame an entire empire for the actions of a single idiot.)

- "Religious oppression is very bad"  -- Again, I agree with this. But who's doing the oppressing? The Empire, or the Thalmor? The Empire agreed to a certain treaty, but they aren't really holding up their end of the bargain.

- "Why can't you do the same, but as a stormcloak"  -- Because if skyrim splits off, either the Dominon will crush the rest of the empire (which now lacks the good Nordic legionaries) and come after you, the only remainder, or they come after you first directly after the conclusion of the civil war. They already have Thalmor patrols everywhere, and so in the event of a stormcloak victory those forces will group at a preselected location and cause massive damage and will probably establish a Thalmor foothold in Skyrim; so much for Skyrim's natural defenses.

 Conclusion

The Empire will rebuild, with the uncorrupted Skyrim acting as a stronghold and center for all of humanity (as Ulfric envisioned) from which the Empire can regain its strength. The end of the Dominon is clear unless they strike immediately. In which cause we're all screwed. I do not believe this is how Bethesda is going to do it however. You're probably going to wake up in a cell of the Dominon...

TL;DR - I'm the effing Dragonborn, I CAN DO WHAT I WANT AND CHANGE WHAT I WANT!!!