

Many other quests throughout Skyrim are affected by the Civil War quests because, depending on which side you chose, certain main cities and forts will be taken over by the side you are on. The quests for either side are similar but not identical, there are many alterations and differences in the consequences for each side. Once you commit to one side, you are bound to that side, after the second quest and for the rest of the game. Achievements are not affected by your choices, you will unlock all Civil War achievements by completing the quests for either army. Neither side is wholly right or wrong, they both have their reasons and moral justifications to why they are fighting, it is therefore entirely down to your own beliefs and preferences which side you join.

After completing the initial joining quest and taking the oath, you still have the option to leave- you are given an opportunity to betray the side you chose during the second quest for either side 'The Jagged Crown'. You can choose to join either army later on by visiting either the 'Palace of the Kings' in Windhelm or the 'Castle Dour' in Solitude. They will both guide you out of Helgen and later invite you to join their side of the war, but you do not have to join either side just yet. You are introduced to the different sides of this conflict at the very beginning of the game, during the first Main Story quest you make a choice there to either follow a Nord Stormcloak named 'Ralof' or an Imperial soldier named 'Hadvar'. To resolve this rebellion the Empire deployed the Imperial Legion to challenge the Stormcloaks. Recently Ulfric challenged the High King of Skyrim, Torygg, to a duel and killed him. Recently, in defiance of the Imperial treaty, a Nordic rebel named 'Ulfric Stormcloak' rose up against the Empire to reclaim the land of Skyrim for the Nord race establishing the 'Stormcloak faction'. Talos is a very important deity in Skyrim, as he originated there, the Nords of Skyrim were therefore greatly distressed by the ban to worship him.

The Empire stopped short the invasion by signing the ‘White Gold Concordat’- a treaty prohibiting the worship of the Imperial God Talos throughout the Empire. Only thirty years ago the Aldmeri rejected a final ultimatum from the Emperor Titus Mede II, and the governing body of the Aldmeri (the Thalmor) invaded Cyrodiil triggering the 'Great War'. The provinces of the Summerset Isles (home to the High Elves) and Valenwood (Wood Elves), have formed an Elven Empire called the 'Aldmeri Dominion'. It is now the Fourth Era and 'Titus Mede II' has conquered the Imperial City in Cyrodiil causing the lands of Valenwood, the Summerset Isles, Black Marsh and Elsweyr to withdraw from the Empire. Skyrim is at war! It is two hundred years after the Oblivion Crisis in Cyrodiil, but to the north, in the hardened land of Skyrim there is new unrest.
