Debating on who to align with as a Bosmer PC

[Br3admax]

Citation pls. The Empire completely ignored Frostmoth and allowed the Redoran to take control, and when we visit the island in 201 it is not Imperial territory.

Wut? You think the Empire ignored Frostmoth when a general died there? In the eruption of Red Mountain mind you?
"Well, Carius was the Imperial garrison commander at Fort Frostmoth, but he died over 200 years ago when the Red Mountain leveled the place."

The Nords obviously succeeded in their Third Era campaign considering it was part of Skyrim during the Red Year, not an Imperial colony like in Bloodmoon.

"In the first year of the Fourth Era, after the destruction of Ald'ruhn, many of the Dunmer Great Houses sent out small groups of their own to seek places to reestablish themselves. House Redoran's group was led by Brara Morvayn who immediately struck out for Solstheim. After some quick negotiations with the East Empire Company"
"With the East Empire Company's permission, Brara brought in some of House Redoran's elite "Redoran Guard" to fill the void. The guard proved to be an ideal replacement for the fallen Imperial soldiers and have been guarding the town ever since."
"In 4E 16, when Solstheim was passed into the hands of the Dunmer people, the East Empire Company was forced to relinquish Raven Rock's control to House Redoran."
-History of Raven Rock
Nope. Imperials were in control up until Solstheim was given over.

The mine was officially closed in 4E 181, but the colony had been in decline for hundreds of years at that stage. It had been entirely unprofitable since the early days. The sealing of the lower sections happened in 4E 10, which literally was centuries ago.

True enough.


That being said, there's literally nothing that says Morrowind left the Empire, yet even Black Marsh is mentioned. Alinor didn't even form until 4E22. You think someone would bring up Morrowind leaving officially, like we have with literally every other province. We have nothing.

[legoless]

Imperials were in control on the ground, but not politically. It was the High King who had the authority to give the island away, and the Elder Council entirely ignored the protestations of the Imperial legionnaires.

[Damon]

NPCs are different. There's no bosmer NPCs helping the Imperials, either.

...Come to think of it, outside of Nords/Imperials/Bretons (way too hard to tell which is which at a glance,) the great cosmopolitan Empire has a pretty "exclusive" looking army. I don't recall even seeing Orcs.

The Imperial Army is predominantly Imperial in Oblivion, for example, because Cyrodiil is the Imperial homeland. The Imperial Army of Skyrim's time was predominantly man because the Empire was really only as big as the human-based provinces, sans Hammerfell.

In Morrowind, the Imperial Legion is quite diverse. If you take a look at the members of the Imperial Legion on the wiki (link below), you can see that there are quite a lot of Orcs in the Legion, primarily in the frontier outpost of Gnisis, though a few are elsewhere. And, just eyeballing it, it seems like when you break down the list by race, Orcs seem like they are second, in terms of total members of the race affiliated with the Legion.

In fact, the only two races not represented in the Legion in Morrowind are the "beast" races, the Argonians and Khajiit. Back when times were prosperous, it would seem the Legion was quite diverse, outside of the Imperial stronghold of Cyrodiil, where the population was mostly Imperial.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Impe ... on_Members

[legoless]

In fact, the only two races not represented in the Legion in Morrowind are the "beast" races, the Argonians and Khajiit.

Worth mentioning this guy, who was a high ranking member of the Legion in the Second Era.

[Imbalance]

Ghorza in Markarth talks about her training in the Legion.

[Damon]

That's true, though when I made my post mentioning Orcs in the Legion, I was referring to Orcs who were actively serving in the Legion. Although it's still almost, if not entirely a human-based Legion when you look at active Legionnaires.

[Pilaf The Defiler]

I think it's generally a pretty poor idea to use in-game character model demographics to try to determine the composition of lore populations. It's obviously not ever gonna be accurate. We're told countless times across several games that the Legion is chock full of Orcs. We actually see this in Morrowind, but that lore never got retconned and gets mentioned all the time in Skyrim. They're there, but just not on screen.

[MidbossVyers]

Well, restoration and enchanting are like the Raymonds of magic. Everyone, even those who don't usually like magic, love them.

[Derp53]

The Legion is the only choice. Stormcloaks are racist Dominion puppets, and you'd be aiding Allena's oppressors much more by siding with them than with the Thalmor-friendly Empire. If she's really only out for herself, then an Imperial victory will make her a high-ranking war hero with significant immunity from Thalmor persecution. Compare that to being a veteran in an "independent" Skyrim with no allies, responsible for creating an increasingly Thalmor-dominated world.

The Stormcloaks are no more puppets than the Legion is by fighting the Civil War. And racist? Do you also assume human rights is an accepted concept in a medieval setting because literally everyone is just degrees of [&@%!] in this game. The Stormcloaks are at most as racist as the Imperial faction. Ulfric doesn't report the Thalmor and the Empire isn't beholden to all the Thalmor's demands unless they fit into the WGC.

Furthermore, what's this about Skyrim not having any allies if it goes free? What about Hammerfell? Factions in High Rock? Morrowind? On what grounds can you insert such a badly constructed point about the Stormcloaks? Because literally of your post has either been disproven or disputed effectively elsewhere and just as a disclaimer I don't like either side. I just really really really hate idiotic arguments.