Forgot to address this.
The Wizard said:
problem is, the peace treaty was far more beneficial to the thalmor (who have barely any fighting men and rely heavily on ambushes and political maneuvering according to the rising threat.).
The treaty was the same as the original demand.
remember also that the peace treaty did not only cost the empire a god, but also an elite unit of warriors/spies/dragonslayers(how convenient).
I think you are making a error.
The Blades primary mission since Tiber Septim until the Warp in the West was recovering the pieces of the Numidium, I can point out their failure with Jagar Tharn and the whole Simulacrum.
Besides you can disband something without really disbanding something, you just extinguish the agency and create a new one with the exact same staff and the exact same purpose with a different name.
the empire also seems to hold the believe that this is just another war, not a fight against omnicidal mystics that want to blow up everything.
Because the Thalmor does not advertise themselves as that?
I would say the Empire holds no illusions over the Thalmor but you are asking for the Empire to do what Tiber Septim could not in a better situation without using a Deus ex Machina.
Fact is the Empire is not in a position to press forward but neither are the Thalmor.
that it was signed at all was the zenith of mede retardation, because what would the thalmor have done if it wasn't signed? fight until the last man, risk losing and destroy centuries of planning? and what if they had won against the empire?
To start the Thalmor made the mistake of pressing onward and end the war by capturing the Imperial City as the Cyrodiil invasion was initially a diversion from their main objective of Hammerfell, it was the continued successes that made then try to win the war by capturing the Imperial City and the Emperor.
You ask what could they done? The situation on Hammefell was far from over and the fact was the Empire had thrown everything they had in retaking the Imperial City, the Aldmeri Dominion still had their Hammefell forces.
The Thalmor even attempted peace when they captured the Imperial City so what do you think their terms would be? It was a situation were neither side was in a position to make any real demands and as you can say Titus Mede II was weak but the Imperial Army was simply in no shape to fight.
there were still skyrim and hammerfell, the latter of which kicked out the thalmor ON ITS OWN,
Hammerfell kicking then out was not on "their own", the Imperial Army fought the Aldmeri forces during the initial invasion until they were ordered to return to Cyrodiil and also the destruction of the Aldmeri forces in Cyrodiil meant those would not be used in Hammerfell.
and the first was founded by 500 dudes eliminating an entire elven civilization.
Yes, I would like to thank then for the Falmer ... you know, the annoying blind underground elves.
yeah, i bet they would have loved making open war with those guys. especially since the leader already was known to be of similar genocidal stock that they themselves are.
( in the dossier: see how they piss their pants at the prospect of a stormcloak victory)
And once again I throw back my Tiber Septim comment.
Of course for the Thalmor its best the situation maintains because it chips away the Empire strength by forcing them to commit troops to Skyrim and also denying them from full use of Skyrim resources.
Lets assume Skyrim becomes independent, to start the Imperial Legions will no longer suffer from losses due to Stromcloaks and will pull back to Cyrodiil (and High Rock), if the Aldmeri Dominion attempts the rather
foolish invasion of Skyrim (check a map, they would have to pass by either High Rock that is Imperial Held or by Black Marsh, Morrowind/Vvardenfell that is even more problematic) if the chips would be down they would ask the Empire for assistance and it would be granted, similar if they attempt another invasion of Cyrodiil chances are Ulfric would offer help because of what happened in the Imperial City during the Great War.
A victory of either side is also a situation were they lose.
the introduction of justicars as an answer to ulfrics demand of open talos worship was actually a gain for humanity.
Except the reason they are allowed to operate is because it was rubbed on their faces the treaty was being open violated.
how many generations until it would have died if it was only practiced under the table and talos be utterly forgotten? 4-5?
I think I had this conversation before and once again ...
In Daggerfall there were the Eight Divines, Talos was not active worshiped in the Iliac Bay (High Rock and Hammerfell) as in even Oblivion Talos had no dedicated Temple in Cyrodiil.
In Morrowind he was not even part of the Imperial Cult, there was a Talos cult but they separated from the Imperial Cult (with good reason, they were a
little crazy).
This is not the first time I see harping Talos as having widespread worship when even in Skyrim he have the grand total of TWO temples.
Also Kakure Kirishitan.
the thalmor could have just sat back and let it slowly die out, but instead they sent out SS troopers and build concentration camps, upsetting enough people to start an open rebellion.
And here is were you are wrong. you see the Thalmor could not do much as long the Empire was holding the Treaty, with the Stormcloak rebellion they pushed for the Justicars to go to Skyrim and uphold the Treaty as the Empire clearly could not.
The rebellion did not come from the Thalmor Justicar hunts, the Thalmor Justicar hunts come from the rebellion allowing the Thalmor to argue the Empire being unable to uphold the Treaty.
but instead of channeling all that hatred (and extra manpower) towards the thalmor, what does the empire do? bare it's ass and let itself get fucked.
Because currently there is no open war with the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire have yet to regain the strength to fight then, I would say the Thalmor are in the same situation so a open war would be a never ending border skirmishes as neither side would ever get enough strength to push,about the same exact situation Tiber Septim and the Aldmeri Dominion were in.
Also the bigger issue is that Titus Mede II signed a treaty, if Ulfric Stormcloak very much forces him to renegade on the treaty it makes his authority weak and put the Imperial Throne in danger.
So like it or not, the Empire signed that treaty and the only thing Ulfric Stormcloak does is for Ulfric Stormcloak sake, he is using the hate towards the Thalmor and the reverence of Talos in order to gain the Skyrim throne.
Oh Black you little scamp, you.
