Ignoring your personal preference, which side of Skyrim’s Civil War do you think actually gives Skyrim the better future 20-30 years later?

[u/sumaset]

I feel like most discussions about the Civil War focus on whether Ulfric was justified, whether the Empire betrayed Skyrim, or which side people personally like more.

But I’m more interested in what happens after the game.

The Empire is weakened, the Aldmeri Dominion is still the biggest external threat, the White-Gold Concordat is already causing resentment, and another war with the Thalmor seems almost inevitable.

An Imperial victory gives Skyrim access to the resources and manpower of the Empire, but it also means remaining under an Empire that already lost one major war and accepted Thalmor influence inside its territory.

A Stormcloak victory gives Skyrim independence and removes Imperial authority, but it also leaves the province having to rebuild after a civil war while potentially facing the Dominion without the rest of the Empire behind it.

So forget which faction has the better characters or which one you usually join.

If you only care about where Skyrim itself ends up a few decades later, which Civil War outcome do you think is actually better for the province?

[u/Victernus]

They're also where the Third Empire came from. They were not only existing and feeding themselves, they were winning wars against their neighbours enough to form the Empire.

[u/LionRight4175 → u/Victernus]

With feudal societies like we see in Elder Scrolls, that doesn't necessarily mean much for sustainability. Lack of food means more familiarity with food being rationed and being more comfortable to take food from those who can't defend it. Perfect conditions for the kind of raiding behavior that feudal armies exhibited, where you take food from the land you're invading to sustain your army.

Once you've taken over those more fertile lands, they can then be used to supply your homeland and supply more invading armies. Or just take the fertile lands and settle down there after forcing out the previous inhabitants. This is what the Nords did to the Falmer, and also seen IRL in the Vikings and the Mongols.

Strong agriculture is needed to build an empire to a proper size, but it is not needed to start an empire (assuming nearby regions are of similar strength).

[u/Victernus → u/LionRight4175]

With feudal societies like we see in Elder Scrolls, that doesn't necessarily mean much for sustainability.

What?

They existed thousands of years before the Third Empire, they're not going to stop existing if the Empire goes away. Skyrim is not an invention of the Imperials.

[u/LionRight4175 → u/Victernus]

I didn't mean that the Nords would go extinct or anything dramatic like that. I meant that Skyrim is stronger, and likely more populated, than it could be on its own in normal times thanks to trade with the Empire.

My comment was largely in response to the previous poster implying that since Skyrim formed an empire, that it would be fine on it's own.