User blog comment:StarkBlack/Most Powerful Province?/@comment-87.252.87.254-20150819151704

several provinces are contenders, I wouldnt put Black Marsh as a winner yet:

Skyrim has been described several times through the course of "skyrim" to be an economic powerhouse, so much in fact that some belived that without the aid of Skyrim´s resources and manpower, the empire would crumble(think this was said by Tullius, Ulfrik, Ralof, and some other stormcloaks. futher more, Skyrim is highly defendable due to being surrounded by mountains which means that any Army entry into the province has to go through certain known paths(not to mention inland mountains aswell, which futher restrict an enemy´s movement once it gets inside). another thing to take into consideration, is the fact that Skyrim is bitterly cold (many inhabitants even states that how anyone is able to live there is beyond them), which undoubtedly would play a significant role in any defensive war (just keep in mind the German invasion of the USSR) . lastly, skyrim was considered a considerable threat to the Dominion by the Thalmor, both as a fre Province and a countinued member of the Empire, something few provinces can boast.

However, Skyrim isnt as densely populated as some of the other regions, and as the 4th biggest province this might hamper them a bit, however the population more than makes up for it by being natural warriors, not to mention being the only race that can effectivly deal with their own climate... futher more, Ulfrik(if he win) set in motion a huge "arms race" intending to 1st fight of any Imperial offense, and 2nd "show those pointy ears of summerset that not all races are their slaves".

Morrowind

First of, Morrowind has by FAR the biggest army of any province(been a while since I played Morrowind, but I belive it was said by one of the house lords, however he also said that cooperation between the houses is a rare sight, so Morrowind seldom has a united force) so much in fact that when the Oblivion crisis made cyradil withrow their Imperial forces house  Redoran (almost all by themselves) was able to defend against Morrowind against both the Deadra and the  Argonians which earned them much respect, and this was only ONE OF THE GREAT HOUSES.

However, Morrowind has some setbacks. First of, even before the erruption its economy wasn´t much to brag about (not compeared to the more rich provinces anyhow), and after it made things even worse. However, the red mountain (and other parts of morrowind, like  Solstheim etc) are said to have abundance of untapped resources. and as the biggest province, it is hard to defend, even if they chose to fall back to Vvardenfell, as it is big enough to be a province of its own.

Highrock

Although it is mountainous, and is only connected to the rest of tam through a thin line with Hammerfell, these mountains are not (generally) even close to be as tall as the ones in skyrim(generally making them more of an annoyence that an impermeable obstacle, cuple this with its size, a big army should be sufficent to conqur it with relative ease, not to mention that highrock is divided into several smaller kingdoms, making it far less unified than most provinces. however, the bretons are a force to be reconed with, but Highrock in itself is not a big player.

These are just some arguments I listed to justify my placement of some of these provinces, arguments for Black Marsh and Cyrodiil has been made futher down, and The reason for listing High rock is mostly due to some ppl down here listing High rock rather high imo ;S

1) Unified Morrowind

2)Skyrim

3)Black Mash

4)Cyrodiil