User blog comment:Wolfishtail/Overhaul of civil war quest mod/@comment-5046408-20130523000647

...Ok, I'm not sure where that comment about "more named NPCs on the opposing side" went, but I'd like to give my two cents on the whole "it would not be realistic" statement.

Let's keep in mind this is a CIVIL WAR, meaning it's Skyrim vs Skyrim. Of course people are going to run into familiar faces; are going to "know their enemy", because the enemy is themselves. Don't worry, that's the only overly-profound metaphor I will give for this comment.

Literally speaking, let's take a look at the Hatfields and McCoys-I mean the Grey-Manes and Battle-Borns of Whiterun. Those families were all nice and happy before the Civil War broke out and tore them up by their ties to one side or an.comother. Lore-wise, it would not be uncommon for, say, an Imperial Soldier to end up encountering an old friend of his who he went hunting with when they were teenagers...finding them wearing Stormcloak armor and shooting arrows in his direction in the heat of the Battle of Whiterun.

Sadly, though, with Skyrim's Civil War questline being comprised mainly of nameless, sometimes faceless NPCs whom you will never see again, Bethesda was unable to truly capture the idea that the soldiers you were killing were so-and-so's son who joined the Legion in lieu of his father, what's-her-face's zealous daughter who was tired of waiting the war out, or that one fellow's cousin who was out fighting dragons while they were left on guard duty.

I don't know about you, but if the goal of this mod is to make the Civil War more "realistic" or "impactful", I can't think of a better way than to better capture this idea that Vanilla Skyrim only heavily implies.