Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-26893431-20180324140312

Busiao No Laughs wrote: Anequina and Pelletine are part of Elsweyr, as long as there is no canon lore and facts saying it has broken away or become so weak that it cannot even raise a coherent army... my statement holds. It is part of Aldmeri Dominion and when there's a need. It will raise an army as it is compulsory commitment as a vessal to their leaders.

I am not saying it is canon that they are winning. They are winning because the flow of the fight as of events up to Skyrim as events that may happen in Skyrim may not happen.

This is why up till start of Skyrim. The Aldmeri Dominion did not win every single battle but up till the events so far, they have the parts of the Empire broke away or wavered the loyalties of substantial number of people in Skyrim.

The Lorebook "Talos Mistake" I see it as a desperate attempt to remedy or minimize damage of signing the WGC. If there is a need to remedy, then there is damage.

As for Empire's Infantry. They have good infanty, organization, strong Nord soldiers vast numbers and discipline.

AD have a very diverse and versatile army. The Khajiits have natural advantage of Combined Arms. That is like a natural born 26 levels of tactical advancement and superiority. The Bosmer army will be a very good substantial archery force. The Altmer army will have a substantial Magic using force.

Big deal. Not much difference. It's all a matter of perspective of what they have.

The only indisputable numbers is...

AD last known number of provinces is 3

Empire currently known number of provinces is 3 but 1 of them is suffering from Civil War. The Civil War is indisputable hence, Skyrim was placed at 2.5

I am not saying they have absolutely no chance. It was quite obvious the Empire need to at least out number AD 1 billion to 1 in order to win is just messing around. It's to show how little I actually care about this topic. I just want my point.

Because of the indisputed numbers from Great War until now. I came to the conclusion.

Start of Great War Empire = 4 Provinces, AD = 3 Provinces.

End of Great War Empire = 3 Provinces, AD = 3 Provinces.

Start of Skyrim where actual "canon" ends Empire = 3 (1 weakened) and AD = 3 Provinces.

Since there is no true 'canon' indisputable lore saying otherwise about the 3 AD provinces not part of AD or being too weak to even provide a coherent army. (There's an Aldmeri Army making the borders tense?)

Hence AD = 3 Provinces. Since the only one confirmed to have lost Province "strength" is Empire. Then I say the AD is winning in this aspect. As for who has the final victory no one can tell. Who knows, maybe the Writer for sequel might go "Screw Empire and AD" Akaviri invades with 9000 Legions, each 5000 Soldiers and completely obliterate the Empire and AD.

Who cares.

My answer to the question asked by the thread author is Skyrim can't beat Aldmeri Dominion on its own because of simple numbers 4 Provinces have problem with 3, then there's no way 1 can take on 3 on equal footing/stability.

The AD is winning simply because there is no end to troubles in the Empire. A client state is not the same thing as a subject. The Dominion has no say in Elsweyr's military recruitment. Client states go to war when the state they are client to goes to war, that does not mean that that state also dictates how big their armies are, nor that they can command its armies. The Khajiits command their own military.

The AD is two provinces + a client state. Nothing more. The Bosmer and Khajiit are also not known for having well organized armies. There's a reason why the Second Dominion was called the "Old Mary" Dominion, I'll give a hint, it has to do with its army.