His sharp green eyes looked me over carefully even as his posture and facial expression said he was bored.
"Most would kneel if summoned by a Jarl you know." he said with a tinge of amusement.
His voice was deep, strong and had a smoothness to it that gave it weight.
"I'm not much for false politeness." I said with a shrug.
"Ha! I can respect a man that demands proper reason to kneel beyond giving empty face. If only everyone had that kind of courage. I didn't ask you to come here for mere lip service however." he said with a small smile.
"I WAS wondering about that. Far as I know you've got one of a few reasons I can think of why you'd want to see me." I said casually.
"Oh? And what reasons could you think of?" he asked as he sat up straight intrigued.
"The first two are my reputation from Riften. My reputation as a prodigy and of my mastery with a blade. For the first maybe you hope I'll have some outside insight to a dilemma you are having. For the second, well master swordsmen are valued by everyone. A seasoned veteran like you might more than most. Then of course is the possibility that you heard of me from a guard or someone else and decided to see what the fuss was for yourself. Take my measure as it were. So how close did I get?" I asked after explaining my thoughts.
His smile grew and he clapped in appreciation "Your reputation does you disservice it seems, your mind is sharp as a well honed blade. A mix of the first and last reason in truth. I have long heard tale of your mental prowess and thought to get the truth from the source rather than rely on mere rumor." he said bluntly.
"Understandable. Let me guess, you are curious about my take on the empire and that concordat?" I asked with a knowing smirk.
"Yes, after the incident in Markarth i've been thinking on the matter heavily. It weighs on my mind. Why should Skyrim serve an empire that cares little for her people? An empire that has been dying a slow painful death for the last two hundred years." he said gravely.
"I'll be blunt here, I don't like the current empire. It's like a great forge that worked well enough when it was properly cared for but has begun to strain after years of mismanagement. The Thalmor's war merely shined a light on this decaying forge, it couldn't be denied anymore." I said without holding back.
"Well spoken. Indeed the forge grows strained and is crumbling. So tell me what should Skyrim do about it?" he asked leaning forward with keen interest.
"Do you have a map of Tamriel? It would be easier to explain with one." I asked and he nodded and looked over at his steward.
"Jorleif, fetch a map of Tamriel." he commanded and the older Nord man bowed before leaving.
While we waited Ulfric got up from his throne and motioned for me to follow him as he walked to an open doorway to my left. I recognized the room as the one from the game that he used to plan all his rebellions war movements. The walls had weapons mounted on it but the large table was empty of the large scale map of Skyrim that was there in the game. Soon enough Jorleif came in and unrolled a large highly detailed map of all of Tamriel. It had clear borders marked, important cities and geological marks of importance. -
I leaned over and traced my finger along the borders of skyrim and explained my thoughts.
"Right now Skyrim is bordered by three different provinces, Cyrodiil to the south, Hammerfell to the west and Morrowwind to the east. This is both good and bad for any plans of ceding from the empire. It's good because it means that most of our neighbors wouldn't mind and if anything might help. Morrowwind is a mess to put it frankly and can't spare the energy or resources to help themselves much less the empire. Hammerfell on the otherhand is still trying to fight off the Thalmor and left the empire to do so. Following me so far?" I asked and he nodded.
"The real problem is that we share a major border with Cyrodiil, if we want to leave the empire that whole stretch of land has to be blockaded. Our mountains help us here so we really only have to block a few passes but the empire WILL try to stop us. The key here is unity, we need the people of Skyrim to want this wholeheartedly. Any civil war here will only ruin everything." I said gravely.
"So we need Markarth, Falkreath and Riften on board at least. Solitude and the High king are both in the empires pocket though so we need to clear it first, perhaps with the old ways?" he suggested but I shook my head.
"Torygg is young but truly wants whats best for Skyrim. He's only accepting the empires rules and that concordat because he doesn't know of a better way, what we have to do is give him one. I am willing to bet a hefty pouch of gold he'll jump on such a thing in a heartbeat." I say seriously.
"I assume you have something in mind?" he asked with a barely contained look of eagerness.
"We ally with Hammerfell and Morrowwind, like the Daggerfall covenant of old. Mutual support and reinforcement to stave off the empire and push back the Thalmor. Morrowwind needs our crops and textiles, Hammerfell our warriors and supplies for war with the Thalmor. If we can get Morrowwind to support the fight with bodies while we serve as the heart of this alliance with training, coin and supplies we will be a solid unit in the north, no need for the empire." I said with a grin.
Ulfric traces the maps details with a deep thoughtful expression but I can see the gears lining up and turning as he goes over the logistics mentally. He didn't need to say a word, he was fully convinced. This idea of mine wasn't some spur of the moment thing either. I had long since considered the problem of the games civil war and how to prevent it. The root cause was the treatment of skyrim by the empire versus loyalty to it. Ulfric in the game wanted Skyrim's people to be treated right more or less and knew the empire had to go for it and so went the civil war route. -
The issue was all this accomplished was weakening Skyrim and the empire both. After wracking my brain I came up with a solution when reading up on the history of the second era. The war of three specifically. I then looked at the board as a whole and saw the best way to do this was by allying with our neighbors. Together we'd be too big a target for the empire to dare attempt crushing outright like in the game. Together we'd also make a virtuous cycle of support.-
Morrowwind had a lot of extra bodies who needed to be fed and a severe lack of land to grow food and could be used as soldiers, Hammerfell needed soldiers and supplies to fight the Thalmor. Skyrim had the warriors, trainers and supplies to serve as the perfect beating heart of this alliance and happened to perfectly sit right between these two provinces. If we do this right not only would we be able to cleanly break off from the empire but we'd become a serious force of trouble for the Thalmor.