Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24.139.116.236-20131222233804/@comment-10207438-20140216041134

TheDwemerSpy wrote:

Pink Slim wrote: they can without a doubt crush the thalmor within skyrim, so I don't see how they're wrong Yes but those are Thalmor in small numbers. Also, I did a little test with console commands and spawned a bunch of Thalmor and a bunch of Stormcloaks, the Thalmor beat the Stormcloaks. yes, they are in small numbers, because they only have small numbers, now if they were to send an entire army to Skyrim they'd have to literally march through the empire, or sail around the entire continent.

if they go through the land route they'll never get to skyrim, do you expect  the empire is going to let the Aldmeri Dominion march thousands of troops through the heart of the empire? if they did bring an army that close to the border it would spell war. at best  they might conquer Cyrodiil again, but at such a slow pace and with such heavy losses that Skyrim wouldn't have much trouble wiping them off the map. Remember, it took the AD's full forces just to take the imperial city, which is accessible from every direction, and the entire war lasted around seven years(I believe)

if they go by sea, they have two options:


 * option A: the western route, go around Hammerfell and Highrock, the fastest route to get to skyrim, the only problem is that they have no place they could safely dock and resupply, and if they did Skyrim would easily catch wind of an armada of AD ships going around Highrock/Hammerfell, plus the ships of roving pirates, I doubt they'd attack the Aldmeri ships, but they can sell information to Skyrim(number of ships, the size, distance, etc.)  Skyrim would catch wind of this and they will be prepaired to fend off the (most likely)malnurished Aldmeri troops that haven't set foot on land in months.


 * option B: the eastern route, this route is much longer indeed, so you'd think that taking this route would be safer if it's a viable alternative correct? well that all depends on the locals. you see, the AD is not hostile towards either Blackmarsh or Morrowind, so they can most likely resupply here, but that might be where the problems lie for them. as you should know, the argonians don't take kindly to strangers in their lands, especially armed strangers that might attack them, one wrong move and the island nation has just lost all their ships and sailors to a couple hundred lizard people they just angered. now if they make it past the argonians, without incurring their wrath, they can resupply in Morrowind. now what do we know about the Dunmer, that's right, they have NEVER been on good standing with outsiders. now what else do we know about them? well they have always had a bit of a rivalry with their cousins from the Isles. While I don't expect the Dunmer to fight the AD, they will if pushed; another thing to note is that the Dunmer and the Nords aren't exactly friends, but they aren't enemies either, and recently Skyrim has shown some kindness to the Dunmer, so it wouldn't be too out of character for someone to warn Skyrim, if they don't alredy know.  NOW, what else is there if they can make it past the dunmer as well? raining ash and stone from the Red Mountain, plus the boiling waters around the island.

here's the thing, if they do any of those things, their forces will not be able to protect them from their other enemies. they go by the sea to the east, they're attacked by The Empire and Hammerfell. They take the Sea to the west, The Empire preoccupies their borders and Hammerfell will swoop in and take the Isles. They go by land, they start a full scale war against the empire, Hammerfell joins in and if they manage to conquer Cyrodiil they have a full force Skyrim waiting to tear the AD a new one.

If the Stormcloaks take Skyrim, the AD is in a postion where they have to leave skyrim to their own, or start a full scale war from all sides.