User blog comment:Cyrice1/Stormcloaks or Imperials/@comment-3470121-20120707000909/@comment-173.57.94.251-20120707003803

First off, try playing as a Dunmer or Argonian. The sheer amount of hatred and bigotry that you receive from Stormcloak guards and members of their cities is mind-blowing. They seek to remove non Nords from Skyrim if possible. Second, the Empire is fighting for essentially the same thing that the Union fought for in the Civil War, the authority of the Federal Government. Thirdly, the main driving factor is Ulfric's desire to be High King. Torryg was an admirerer of Ulfric and would have listened to his word fairly, but Ulfric went in and murdered the barely adult ruler with his voice. Fourthly, the fragmentation of the Empire would restart the Great War. The Stormcloak cause of an independent Skyrim is as hollow as the cause of the Confederacy.