User blog comment:Zippertrain85/Why the Stormcloaks are right./@comment-6336669-20130507202240/@comment-3217145-20130515110316

1. I'd like to expand on this a bit, actually. If you kill and replace Ulfric, the Jarl who replaces him talks about how he's already in talks and making plans to integrate the minority populations into the city, and to refurbish the Grey Quarter. He says he can't let the Argonians in yet for their own safety because of all the racist scum in Ulfric's city, and that Ulfric's rebellion left the city penniless and they can't refurbish anything yet. Nevertheless, he made the effort to go do these things. Ulfric never did. He didn't even pretend. He was perfectly fine with the atmosphere he cultivated and showed no signs of changing it.

2. What the Dragonborn can or can't do is irrelevant, because everyone personally involved in that exchange says that no pieces were shouted off of anyone. The real point is about the loading screens, which seem reliable. I can't cite anything specific, but it seems like they tend to say "It is said" and "Supposedly" and things like that if something is a rumor, and otherwise just state the facts.

Regardless, the Empire may have surrendered, but that seems to be more an issue of cutting losses than anything. There seem to be plenty of legionnaires left in Skyrim. If the Dominion had held the Imperial City and killed Mede, the "Empire" would be gone. The viability of Skyrim or any other province wouldn't matter anymore, so there's no reason to think that the surrender took into great consideration how much strength was left in their lands outside of Cyrodiil or the Imperial City itself. I don't think that the Emperor surrendering says much about what Skyrim, Hammerfell, or an alliance of provinces could do against the Dominion.

3. Bethesda likes to pretend all three paragons (Warrior, Mage, and Thief) are equal and no one has the advantage, so a fight between a Warrior group and a Mage group would probably come to a standstill, all things being equal. In fact, they did do that when they said Hammerfell fended of the Dominion.

4. The Akaviri didn't just walk past the mountains like they were nothing. It took a lot of scouting, clever maneuvering, building of forts, etc. I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember that there was like, ONE passage through the Jerall Mountains (Pale Pass) in Oblivion. It's not an insignificant obstacle.

5.

a) Coinage shouldn't matter much. The most basic trade is of goods. They could trade chunks of gold or sweetrolls if they wanted.

b) If Skyrim was smart, they would make good trade deals and improve relations with their potential allies. Not many people have much love left for the Empire, anyway.

c) I think ALL the provinces are well-known for being racist, so that part wouldn't matter. Hammerfell being a port economy just gives them more reason to ally with Skyrim, a nearby nation with very different resources, against a common enemy. And if Skyrim succeeds in breaking away, Morrowind feels abandoned, Hammerfell IS abandoned, and Blackmarsh, Valenwood, and Elsweyr already turned their backs on it, the Empire isn't going to be a political force for long. Anyone who doesn't want to be Dominionated would be foolish to think a Skyrim under Ulfric is the greater evil than the big army trying to take over the world.