Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-25343239-20150319182007/@comment-260563-20180105080126

I once wrote a story about the Stormcloaks successfully winning a war against the Dominion, but that's mostly because of the fact that their leader by that point is no longer Ulfric Stormcloak: it was Argus Septim, my custom Skyrim fan character, who led them, and he's practically an evil version of a Mary Sue that wound up being the final boss in that tale. He's an evil brother of Talos who tried to take control of the Empire and lost after getting blasted to the future the same way Alduin was: by an Elder Scroll wielded by one of Tiber Septim's Moth Priests. He arrived in the Fourth Era, and he helped the Last Dragonborn fight Alduin and Miraak while hiding his real intentions.

He then turned on the Last Dragonborn, as he intervened in the Siege of Windhelm, saving Ulfric Stormcloak using the very same Bend Will shout that he learned from the Last Dragonborn during the campaign against Miraak on Solstheim. He then used that to enslave a large number of Dragons, first by getting a catalogue of names of Ancient, Revered, and Legendary Dragons, then by calling them by their names and then bending their wills when they arrived. Before Ulfric could be killed, Argus and his dragon army attacked the Imperials and pushed them out of Windhelm.

Argus also made deals with several Daedric princes, such as Molag Bal, Mehrunes Dagon, Boethiah, and Mephala, bolstering the Stormcloak forces with them. He pushed back the Empire, then went down south from Riften to Cyrodiil and conquered the Imperial capital, with Argus proclaiming himself as Emperor of his brother's empire. He then launched an invasion of the Summerset Isles with his army of dragons and Daedra backing up his newfound Imperial vassals and the Stormcloaks. He succeeded in devastating the cities of Alinor and forcing the Aldmeri Dominion to heel, but only because he had a massive army of dragons and Daedra backing up his human armies. With no respite in sight, the Third Aldmeri Dominion surrendered unconditionally, but Argus wasn't satisfied until after he killed nearly half the Elven population to make a point.

The reason why I wrote such a story is to show how THAT is the only way the Stormcloaks can defeat the Thalmor. They need massive advantages and an occupying force to occupy Alinor and keep the Elves down. The Stormcloaks can't do it alone, because even if they push the Elves out of Skyrim, the Dominion will always scheme to invade again unless the Stormcloaks occupy Alinor, WHICH THEY CAN'T. They don't have the manpower to. They don't have soldiers that are at the same grade as Thalmor soldiers are. They're already stretched thin occupying Skyrim after the Civil War, and if they occupy Alinor, what's to stop the Empire from riding north and attacking the overstretched Stormcloaks? That's why I had Argus summon the Daedra to his side and take Cyrodiil first before invading Alinor. That way, there would be no threat from the south, leaving the Stormcloaks with only the Dominion to worry about.