Lore involves all sides, all truths, not just who was right, and talking to someone who prefers the opposition to your preferred side of the aisle doesnвЂ™t make them stupid or wrong. Hell, itвЂ™s alright to like one side over the other or to agree or disagree with the motivations of one group.Д«ut when you look at two sides of a fictional conflict like this one and take sides, youвЂ™re not really engaging in lore. What really happened? What were the results? ItвЂ™s not a matter of which side was right morallyвЂ“such questions are the demesne of philosophy, not history.ДЄnd the same is true of lore. No self-respecting historian looks at conflict and sees вЂњgood guysвЂќ and вЂњbad guys.вЂќ Instead they look at the facts. Speaking as a lore enthusiast, we tend to approach lore like a historian might look at history. вЂњTheyвЂ™re against my perception of the human identity! TheyвЂ™re evil animals!вЂќ It doesnвЂ™t take long for this mentality to extend to othering the opposition. We attach our own human identities to the identities of these fictional вЂњhumansвЂќ because as social animals, thatвЂ™s how our psychology works. The only reason anyone likes the Nords at all (in the context of the Civil War) is because they likely have identified with them as a race of humans.Д«eing human ourselves here in the real, it makes sense that any story about conflict between Men and some other alien race is likely to be interpreted with the Men as de facto protagonists. Right out the gate, this faux tribalism is stupid. People who argue in defense of the Thalmor or Empire are called fascists and people who support Stormcloaks are called racists, and both sides call members of the other stupid in one form or another. It turns into some sort of pseudo-RP where the lines between fiction and reality have blurred. They become legitimately angry at people who so much as like the opposing side, be it Empire, Stormcloak, or even Thalmor. To start, it has been my experience that people take this issue very seriously. And I have two primary schools of thought as to why. IвЂ™m here to tell both groups that none of that matters. Pro-Empire combatants will say that the Empire needs to remain united to fight the Thalmor, and the pro-Stormcloak folks will say that the Empire has no claim to Skyrim and has no right to infringe upon the rights of its Sons.Д«oth groups engage in the same sorts of debate instant-replays that youвЂ™ll find anywhere elseвЂ“if youвЂ™ve seen one, youвЂ™ve seen them all. Some argue that Ulfric was a Thalmor plant and that means the Empire is the clear moral superiority, and others will argue that complicity with the Thalmor is worse than directly fighting against them. Take a glimpse into the goings-on of any Elder Scrolls group on Facebook, Reddit, or nearly any other social platform, and youвЂ™ll likely encounter discussions on the Skyrim Civil War. This article first appeared in The Tel Mora Independent Press, Volume 1, Issue 3

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