Skyrim Civil War: Imperial forces versus Stormcloak rebels.
Skyrim Civil War: Imperial forces versus Stormcloak rebels.
You’ve experienced Skyrim firsthand—waking up in an Imperial cart, surrounded by Stormcloak fighters as the Empire clashes with its own rebels. The land of Tamriel is divided between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, a conflict rooted in ancient tensions. After the Empire’s defeat by the Thalmor, it signed the White-Gold Concordat, which banned worship of Talos, the god revered by the Nords. This sparked deep anger among the Nords who longed for independence from both the Empire and its imposed rules.
The High King of Skyrim, installed by the Empire, faced a challenge from Ulfric, Jarl of Windhelm, and the Stormcloak rebels. Ulfric defeated him in battle, earning the label of murderer, while the rebels hailed him as the true victor. These events ignited the civil war that defines Skyrim’s story.
The Imperials aim to crush the Stormcloaks to reassert control and restore stability, though they remain under the shadow of the Thalmor. The Stormcloaks, meanwhile, fight for their freedom and the expulsion of both the Empire and the Thalmor from their homeland. Their supporters often proclaim, “Skyrim belongs to the Nords,” and they target outsiders.
Throughout the narrative, you’ll encounter choices that shape the conflict: join the rebels and risk war, support the Empire’s efforts to bring peace, or pursue diplomacy. Your decision may depend on your character’s background or race—whether you’re a Nord, a Stormcloak, or someone from another faction. The path you choose will influence the fate of Skyrim.
I decided on my initial run and wasn’t happy with it. After the peace treaty, I thought it was a mistake. One NPC mentioned, “With all the soldiers fighting in the war who will take care of the bandits.” That’s me. In my game I don’t side with anyone; the war just serves as a setting. My role is to battle bandits, necromancers, vampires, and draugr. I’ve used more than 250 mods for this in LE and around 240 in SE. The best moments come from the draugr fights because some dungeons contain over 700 of them (Wyrmstooth). It fits well with my experience—over 10,000 hours in Skyrim, a place I really love.
As enemies reach higher levels, ebony equipment becomes scarce while traders' budgets tighten. After completing the Thieves Guild, you'll find fences holding 4000 gold—useful for moving loot efficiently and accepting stolen items. By advanced levels, currency loses value; I still scrutinize every defeated foe for those four weeks. With only around 25 mods installed, I’m looking for recommendations for the original Skyrim version (excluding Dawnguard or Hearthstone).
"Oh, a quirky treasure. I'm going to tackle it step by step. This time I'll gather everything. I'm here now, so I'll seize it while I can to begin the mission." *60 hours later* Stones of Barenziah: 17/24 "This quest is a mess—those quest items are useless, stuck in my inventory like a bad habit. Worthless gems for a crown that offers nothing exciting after finishing! I'll never do this again!!" Every single time. If you usually choose the imperial faction, would you alter your mind if you'd already defeated the Dark Brotherhood and killed the Emperor?
Watch until 2:30 for the final part, then it’ll be a bit amusing afterward.
I’ll create a list for you. My game lasts roughly 15 seconds without some patches and external programs. SKSE http://skse.silverlock.org/ This patch fixes memory issues that happen when the first chunk runs out, letting Skyrim allocate a second one. It takes about 15 seconds to use the first chunk. ENBoost https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38649 This is for players who don’t use ENB. ENB manages VRAM and prevents crashes during swaps. If you need dawnguard or hearthstone, you’ll need to purchase "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition - PC (Imported Version)" on DVD. The game isn’t on a disk but installs via Steam. That’s the only way I’ve found right now.
I have left out Body mods, Race mods, Custom Armor mods and Follower mods since they are mainly a personal preference. Skyrim Mods ----------------------------------------------------- Gameplay Effects and Changes: Cutting Room Floor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/47327 Realistic Ragdolls and Force https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/601 Alternate Start - Live Another Life https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9557 Death Alternative - Your Money or Your Life https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/45894 Immediate Dragons https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9621 Run For Your Lives https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23906 Multiple Floors Sandboxing https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57376 Skyrim -Community- Uncapper https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1175 High Level Enemies https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27866 -------------------------------------------------------------- Eat, Sleep, Drink: Pick one. iNeed - Food Water and Sleep https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51473 Total Realism - Basic Needs https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10...escription ------------------------------------------------------- Patches: CTD and Memory patch ENBoost https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38649 Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71214 ShowRaceMenu Precache Killer https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33526 HDT Physics Extensions https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53996 SSME - Skyrim Startup Memory Editor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50305 For referance only. Use SKSE Safety Load https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/46465 Dragon Stalking Fix https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54274 Mfg Console https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44596 --------------------------------------------------------- Interface: SkyUI https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863 Better Dialogue Controls https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27371 ---------------------------------------------------------- Utilities: Memory Blocks Log https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50471 Wrye Bash https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1840 ---------------------------------------------------------- Immersion: Wet and Cold https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27563 Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163 Player Headtracking https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23600 Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/74568 Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65013 Immersive Patrols https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12977 Follower Commentary Overhaul - FCO https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52019 Craftable and Placeable Havok-enabled Bedrolls https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19943 Guard Dialogue Overhaul https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23390 Immersive Wenches https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51189 Hateful Wenches https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68090 Deadly Wenches https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60625 Forgotten Wenches https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72104 Judgment Wenches https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/76289 ---------------------------------------------------------- Weather: Vivid Weathers https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73937 ---------------------------------------------------------- Models and Textures: aMidianBorn Book of Silence https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24909 aMidianBorn wolf armor and skyforge weapons https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34147 aMidianBorn Elven Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23125 aMidianBorn Steel Plate Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/20792 aMidianBorn Leather Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22065 aMidianBorn Dwarven Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24398 aMidianBorn Blades Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41731 aMidianBorn Steel Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/18272 aMidianBorn Ebonymail https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37422 aMidianBorn Orcish Armor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29831 aMidianBorn Landscape https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37865 Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8655 This is a big performance hit. ---------------------------------------------------------- Dungeons: Forgotten Dungeons https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57979 ------------------------------------------------------------- For Followers: UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/14037 My Home Is Your Home - a mod for followers https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/18045 Follower Goes on a Trip https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52235 --------------------------------------------------------------- Body, Face, and Hair: Enhanced Character Edit https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12951 ApachiiSkyHair https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10168 The Eyes Of Beauty https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13722 ---------------------------------------- NPC: Travellers of Skyrim - Travelers https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15501 NPCs Protected Redux https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53602 Populated Dungeons Caves Ruins Legendary https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73143 Populated Forts Towers Places Legendary Edition https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73146 Interesting NPCs https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8429 OBIS - Organized Bandits In Skyrim https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31264 -------------------------------------------------------------- Animation: 360 Walk and Run Plus https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34508 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Modders Resources and Tutorials: RaceCompatibility for Skyrim and Dawnguard https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24168 (has vanila version) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Creatures: SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10175 Skyrim Immersive Creatures https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24913 Birds of Skyrim https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17723 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overhauls: JK's Skyrim https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61035 Use remote towns only if you are having performance issues. Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68425 Deadly Dragons https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3829 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quests and Adventures: The Notice Board https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70142 Helgen Reborn https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35841 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Environmental: Stable uGridsToLoad https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41592 TreesHD_Skyrim_Variation https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3812 Pure Waters https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1111 The Skyrim Distance Overhaul LOD Improvement https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19446 Remove Underwater Grass and other stuff too - A Performance Mod https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55240 Skyrim Performance PLUS https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6387 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Weapons and Armour: Real Bows https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64440 JaySuS Swords https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1002 Lost LongSwords https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26261 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player homes: Elysium Estate https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33939 Mammoth Manor https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52460 Riverside Lodge https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/14308 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic - Spells & Enchantments: Face Light https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13457 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Lands: Falskaar https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37994 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Clothing: Winter Is Coming - Cloaks https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13486 Cloaks of Skyrim https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12092 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Buildings: Civil War Repairs https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/18526