User blog comment:Hippogriff12/The Scarcity of Racists in Skyrim/@comment-5302371-20120728161339/@comment-5135631-20120730003924

Generally they can keep their culture, but this is not always true, as Talos has been forgotten and most of the Nordic pantheon has been merged into Cyrodillic one. I meant conquer as in defeat someone on the battlefield, which the Empire still had to do with every province except Morrowind.

Surely a good leader should have some creativity and be able to see the positives of declaring independence himself? If Torygg wasn't seriously considering it to the point where Ulfric felt he needed to kill him rather than alert him of the possibility, then Torygg either lived under a rock his whole life or was with the Empire, in both cases justifying Ulfric's murder of him.

It would be a bad idea to try to make peace with Balgruuf because his loyalty to Ulfric would be suspect, as we both know Balgruuf very much bends towards the Empire and is a closet Imperial. It would be better to have someone like Vignar Grey-Mane who is definetly loyal to Ulfric.

Ulfric follows the "If you're not with us you're against us policy" but so does Tullius. Ulfric gave Balgruuf time to decided, and he decided to join the Empire, and he payed for that. Ulfric is at war, and when you're fighting a civil war, anyone who is not with you in your country is against you. What would Whiterun do, be it's own little country until Ulfric or Elisif died? Balgruff picked a side, and on the Stormcloak questline he lost, but at least he can live the rest of his life knowing that he didn't cop out of the war like a coward.