Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-26213507-20150715194939/@comment-26356342-20150722233913

@Draevan13 I'd like to thank you once more for at least being competent, and having an actual discussion, it can't be said enough.

I apologize I had meant to convey I understood your actual point and found it just a bit funny to say they're "even" but "heres why the other is better" right next to each other.

For the Security, Skyrim only had issues with security around the time the war started, it could be assumed because the Empire was recalling all its troops. While admittedly a bit bad for Skyrim, it would serve to prove that Stretching an army too thin will weaken it. Keeping Skyrim within the Empire ensures the Thalmor have a much wider area to try and control. Think of it like this; If "trouble" with the treaty were to start in High Rock, Cyrodiil, and Skyrim, the Dominion would have to respond by sending Justicars, so now you have ALLLLL these Justicars stretched thin.. Overnight you could have them all killed by much smaller forces taking out a good chunk of the dominion's Army. As for resources, I was thinking more about food, and not so much the ore. But you bring up a good point. However if the Empire loses Skyrim, Skyrim loses a lot more then it might think. For instance it could lose the East Empire Trading company, and lose supplies trdaded through High Rock. There's only 3 of the 9 holds that can have and handle farms, and with Skyrim on it's own, 1 bad crop could mean the deaths of hundreds if they don't have anyone they can get help from, with everyone dedicating their supplies to the War I don't know who they could even ask for help. I suppose that's where the Ore and such comes in... but If the Empire felt slighted they could refuse all trade in or out of Skyrim as a means of petty justice.

But all that is getting a little too far into speculation, My point being is I feel the same as Balgruuf; "Mutual advantage! Any fool can see that. For centuries, we have benefited from the Empire's protection, and prosperous trade with the south. In exchange, the people of Cyrodiil sleep peacefully, knowing their northern border is guarded by the fiercest warriors in all Tamriel." All I ever read about when it comes to Skyrim's contribution to the rest of Tamriel is just mentions of their Warriors, I just feel they'd have better ground to stand on if the lore mentioned something like "all the Empire's wheat comes from Skyrim" Just something we could point to other than brute strength and claim they have a bargaining chip.

Admittedly on the Jarls there were a few I re-read after I wrote it and thought it comes off bias, and it's true, it's hard to remove my bias. Part of that comes from spending several games defending the Empire, but ultimately I had to look at the 2 possible Jarls and think "which would I follow?" Because for anyone who just loves Skyrim, that's really what your choice of who to side with should come down to. Who do you think is better for Skyrim in it's current state, without any of this "late 5th era" nonsense and such. Igmund does come off a bit weak, but given his history it's easy to see why he might hesitate before making a decision, however if the choice is between Igmund and ANY member of the Silver-bloods, especially one so easily prone to violence, I'm picking the guy who would at least think twice before making huge decisions. The forsworn aren't totally wrong in what they claim, and super ironically, they believe they're the "True sons and daughters of the Reach" Which sounds an awful lot like someone else we all know...(They also just want independence, hate the Empire and the Thalmor..) Yet everyone is totally fine with them being labeled as "the bad guys" of the situation. Siddgeir does consort with criminals, I did forget that, and I'm not justifying it at all, but like Maven, if you own and control the crime, you can ultimately give the most protection to your hold. It's not like Siddgeir is scared of the bandits, and does what they tell him. With Granite Hill gone, that's obviously WHY the taxes are late. :P with Idgrod... she was a bit harder, it's a lesser of 2 evils situation again. My decision of her being better if the idea that she's been running the hole just fine, and that the people say they would have been better off with the empire. I guess I have sympathy for her a bit because Urial Septim was a bit of a mystic. His visions just weren't as bad of a condition as hers, She still got the job done tho.