Windy wrote:So uhh what happens when you do the dark brotherhood quest and kill the emperor?
The game doesn't really functionally change when you kill the Emperor. You can can even kill the Emperor and THEN join the Empire, swearing loyalty to a guy you've already killed.
Bethesda's funny like that, though. It's kind of like stealing the Archmage's stuff for the Thieves' Guild in Oblivion, after you've already become the Archmage - you're just walking in and taking your own stuff, and then replacing it. Classic Bethesda.
A Combustible Lemon wrote:None of your points really make any sense, you can't just GIVE UP a god in a treaty, the emperor doesn't have religious control over the empire. Heck, he's not even a representative of Akatosh (giving him religious authority). This isn't Whitestrake or Alessia's empire, it's not the Septims' empire. It's some warlord's empire, taken after it was already decimated by the Oblivion crisis. Talos literally has nothing to do with it because his empire /ended/ with Martin.
Then there's the fact that the Nords /are/ the most native race to Skyrim, other than the Dwemer whose origin isn't known (except mythological stuff in Morrowind), all the races left are colonists going back. The falmer are the ayleids of Skyrim, they're functionally extinct and they weren't as nice to the nords as the nords are to immigrants either.
And what would you call half the jarls going to them if not local support?
Then the Thuum's never been outlawed in duels. If you're stronger than the other guy, you win... that's how duels work. The Thu'um's always been a weapon, since back in the day dragons weren't written out of the world.
Skyrim isn't a small region of the empire. it's the largest region of the empire untouched by war or cataclysm. Hammerfell is currently fighting the elves, Morrowind exploded, Elseweyr and Blackmarsh seceded. Skyrim is effectively half the empire right now, which is WHY the legion's working so hard to keep it. If the emperor dies, the elves would march on Cyrodiil and there wouldn't be anyone to stop them, same as if Ulfric died.
You bring up some interesting points. I play Oblivion so much that I forget about the things that took place in between the games.
The timeline of events is honestly pretty ridiculous if you look at it.
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Fourth_EraBut to argue a couple things you said:
1. Yes, they can give up a god in a treaty. There is no real religious authority at all. There isn't like a Vatican or Pope or any kind of central church to the Divines. Whatever religions do exist in the Empire, only exist as the Empire allows. The Divines aren't very hands on. The Daedra interfere a lot more than they do.
2. Here's a good map of Tamriel territories in the 4th Era:
https://www.imperial-library.info/sites/default/files/imagecache/node-gallery-display/gallery_files/Tamriel4E_LadyNerevar.jpgDraw your own conclusions.
And here's a silly map:
http://i.imgur.com/8C3ku.jpgStorywise, it probably won't matter what side you chose in the game, because the plot for the next game will probably still give the win to the Thalmor, or some other wildly unexpected stuff will happen, like magic will disappear from the world and there will be one person left who can still use it (spoiler alert: you), or some nonsense.
Anyway, pick whatever side you want. Ulfric's still a douche. Torygg thought he was going to get to talk to Ulfric and didn't expect a duel. Torygg LIKED Ulfric. Then Ulfric's like HA DUEL NO TAKE BACKSIES. The Greybeards are probably going to implement some stricter entrance requirements for future students.
"How many Draugrs have you killed? How many Jarls have you killed? Why?"