Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-27007772-20140611204941/@comment-24075086-20150529161815

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.