Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27007772-20140611204941/@comment-121511-20150325154351

Eh, I've said it before elsewhere, and I stand by my assertion that Hammerfell didn't exactly rout the Dominion: rather, even fighting a very weakened host that had suffered from skirmishers harrying their advances in the harsh deserts and bloody clashes with Decianus' Legion, the local Yokudan forces and the Legion veterans left behind to aid them only managed to stalemate the Dominion. The Dominion more or less withdrew as it had already accomplished more than its initial campaign goals, and didn't see much point in going through the trouble of conquering Hammerfell outright when it wasn't necessary. That aside though, even if Hammerfell could be said to have "defeated" the Dominion, all this was done quite some time after the Red Ring and the signing of the Concordat: Mede still had no way of knowing.

Really, the most important thing to consider is Mede's perspective, and the facts that were available to him at the time he made his decision. The Legion was barely holding itself together after suffering the greatest losses that it had perhaps ever suffered in its history. Cyrodiil, the Imperial Heartland, had been pillaged, its citizenry slaughtered, its infrastructure burned down, and the Imperial City itself was sacked and then battered further in the process of fighting. Large portions of Hammerfell, too, were ravaged in the process of Dominion incursions, and Skyrim and High Rock had been put under great stress in the process of levying and sending scores of their men and women only to die at the hands of elven blades or magefire. The Imperial Navy was either destroyed, or too weak to be of any use. On the other hand the Dominion territories of Valenwood, Elsweyr, and the Summerset Isles were virtually untouched by fighting, and perfectly capable of sustaining further campaigns with men and supplies. The Dominion Navy, primarily Altmeri, was largely intact, and largely acknowledged as the greatest naval power in Tamriel. And very importantly, Mede had no way of knowing whether or not Lord Naarifin and Lady Arannelya's hosts were a significant detachment or a small portion of the Dominion's military capabilities: considering the fact that the first time he denied the Dominion's terms they carved through the Empire with little effort, he had even more reason to consider accepting the terms when they were offered again. He was at his whit's end, and he did not want to risk the lives of more of his subjects by refusing the Dominion's terms a second time: for all he knew, the second refusal would lead to a complete destruction of the Empire, and he had seen how the Dominion treated civilians, prisoners, and other non-combatants. It's not a very good leader who risks the lives of all his constituents just to put on an appearance of bravery and resoluteness: he had already proven himself a proper Colovian during his military campaigns. The Concordat was the time at which he had to show he was also a proper Niben.