Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27007772-20140611204941/@comment-26356342-20150529172217

Phantasys wrote: You don't know how politics work do you? A government that publicly denounced their gods isn't just going to suddenly turn back and admit they took the coward's way and let their god take the fall. The empire will always insist that their way is the right way and they've already publicly admitted that TALOS wasn't a real god. "We were lying the whole time we were just scared" isn't exactly something the empire would admit. You can see in books like "The Talos mistake" that the empire has agreed that TALOS isn't a god. If they did admit that it would DESTROY their authority and credibility and allow any detractors a devastating weapon to use against them. You love to say that Ulfric drew attention to the TALOS worshippers, but people were vanishing from their homes and on the roads LONG before Ulfric took a stand...so what were those? Accidents?

Weaken the two provinces? No. A swift Stormcloak victory is the BEST possible chance for Skyrim and High Rock to recover. The empire's side of the WGC lets the thalmor run amok in the provinces killing anyone they liked. That puts a damper on the population and gives the thalmor the advantage. You say the empire keeps the thalmor from invading the provinces...but look at the map geographically. How in TALOS' name is the Thalmor supposed to invade Skyrim or High Rock from Summerset? The empire will assume their reason of going in with an army is to take Cyrodil again with the excuse of going after Skyrim. Sail around through the Sea of Ghosts? It's called the Sea of Ghosts for a reason...Stormcloaks put out the lighthouse and the thalmor kill themselves against the rocks. Sail around the short way past Hammerfell? The Redguards will think it's another attack and start harrassing any ships they send. There is no feasible way for the Thalmor to attack Skyrim. The Thalmor agents even in-game have notes that say they can't afford to send reinforcements to Skyrim and any assassinations would need to go unaided. A handful of treaty enforcers can't hope to even take on a town's guards let alone the army. I'm starting to see a pattern here... you make some vague insult, then proceed to embaress yourself, ignore all my facts, answer none of my questions and respond with an opinion mired with inaccuracies. I understand politicts quite well, as well as how surrender treaties work, and how relations between nations work... If you actually read anything I've written to this point that'd be more than apparent. I'd suggest re-reading the conversations between myself and Pink Slim.

" A government that publicly denounced their gods isn't just going to suddenly turn back and admit they took the coward's way and let their god take the fall." Do YOU know how treaties work? Im going to explain this to you one last time, and maybe this time you'll understand... when you lose a war... and you sign a treaty... you have no say in the terms of that treaty, your only option is to obey. To give you a real world example, "The Treaty of Versailles" That Germany signed. Germany had to accept blame, pay reperations, they were forbidden to have submarines or an air force, could only have an army of 100,000 and lost territories. Did they want to sign it? no. NOW lets apply this to the White-gold concordat... which forced the Empire to pay reperations, lose territories, and banned the worship of Talos. Do you see a pattern? Do you not understand that when it was signed they HAD to follow through with the terms? Terms they originally rejected when faced with the Ultimatum that started the Great War. "  "We were lying the whole time we were just scared"  " is inaccurate, it's more like "had we not signed the WGC ending the blood shed, most of you would be dead right now, we needed time to recover, and were forced to enforce the terms of the surrender treaty" The Empire's "official" statement and how the Empire feels are vastly 2 different things. Did you by chance notice the book "The Talos Mistake" was written by an Imperial  Liaison? Someone whos job it would be to assist in enforceing a treaty (that they did not want to sign) Do you not grasp the concept of "getting along till you can find the means to fight back"? They're in a state of Cold War, and both sides have to play their cards right, and until then they have to maintain peace. As a side note, those people being taken were being taken by the Thalmor, so I will once again ask you stop pinning actions of the Dominion onto the Empire as if they are one and the same.

Skyrim and High Rock? High Rock is with the Empire not with Skyrim. Again.. Skyrim cant strong arm in High Rock simply because it wants to, nor would it be in a posistion to fight High Rock, as attacking High Rock would cause the Empire to send aid, causing more fighting and deaths. Stop suggesting they would join forces when theres no evidence to suggest Skyrim wants the help of High Rock, or that High Rock is somehow mad at the Empire enough to leave. The WGC doesnt give them free reign to kill whomever they wanted, it gives them rights to enforce the treaty in Imperial controlled territories. The terms on that treaty don't state "kill whomever you want". I have studied the map quite well, however I'm also taking into consideration "logic" and "reason" as well. Can Skyrim fight 2 fronts? especially after losing men in a civil war? especially when it's army consists of farmers and such who have no military or combat training? Because if you read the Terms again on the WGC, it gives allows the Thalmor to go into Imperial owned terrirtories... like... oh.. I don't know... HIGH ROCK. Skyrim could be faced with opposistion from the Cyrodil border and the High Rock Border. Looking at High Rock, that would put the Dominion within striking distance of Solitude, where the East Empire company keeps his goods, Skyrim supply lines could be cut off, while the dominion gains even more spoils of war. The Dominion is currently calling the shots, if they want to march an Army through Cyrodil to fight the nords of skyrim, right after the nords just got finished with fighting off imperial forces, not only will Cyrodill be forced to comply, they have no reason to intervene since they just lost a bunch of men to skyrim's uprising. Hammerfell harasses ships sailing close to its borders, they dont just send out a navy to the middle of the ocean on the off chance the dominion has ships sailing. further more, where do you think the Thalmor are going to go once Skyrim gained independance? south back to cyrodil? no, they're heading for High Rock. It's well known the Thalmor want the civil war to continue on with no clear victor so they 2 will be weakened. Entering the fold back into the Empire at least maintains the teanse cold-war-esque peace. Peach both nations need right now.