The snow swirled outside Dragon's Reach, as Barca, Son of Baal, son Belial, son of Balthor took his seat. The fire crackled loudly, bathing the room with light, but not heat. Or at least, not enough heat so it seemed to the eighty-eight year old Jarl, who shivered as the council meeting commenced. But he had not displaced Jarl Balgruuf XV of his throne at the head of the hall because he was the oldest Jarl, but because he was also High King of Skyrim. Although, it hadn't been all that long ago that Barca had been Regent of Whiterun.

Striding through the open doors appeared the Jarl of the Rift, Ulfric. He had been named after the leader of the failed Stormcloak rebellion, six-and-a-half centuries prior. Barca didn't consider Ulfric Stormcloak a hero, like the Jarls of the Rift and Eastmarch; it was the Stormcloak's war that had weakened Skyrim enough for the Aldmeri to subdue it. Ulfric refused to bow Barca, refused to bow to his king. Ulfric blamed Barca for his three years imprisoned in Cyrodiil. But to let Ulfric push him towards anger would only result in an unfavorable outcome for the evening's discussion.

Ulfric had been the last to arrive. Now, seated in a semicircle, with Barca as the point, were the seven Jarls who represented the nine holds of Skyrim. It was time to begin the debate.

"As you know, there are several especially important matters before us today. The most pressing is Jarl Ulfric's. The throne recognizes Ulfric."

Ulfric rose. "As you know, two-and-a-half years ago, our High King defeated an army of the Dunmer outside the walls of Windhelm. He massacred it. One hundred twenty thousand dead elves were left in his wake. There were no survivors. And for revenge, Morrowind is raising an army unlike anything the world has seen since the days of Tiber Septim. And they're coming for us."

Ulfric paused, letting his message sink in. "But they're not ready yet. Our best intelligence indicates it will be another eight months before the dark elves are ready to strike. We need to hit them now before they are ready. We need to smash them in their camps."

A moment of silence wafted through the room before Barca quietly responded to Ulfric. "With what men should we attack the elves?"

"With the united armies of Skyrim" Ulfric replied. "The Nords have broken the elves, and we'll do it again."

"Where will you get these armies of Skyrim?"

"From the holds, just as in times past."

"Jarl Ulfric, how many warriors do your reports indicate the Dunmer have?"

"Half-a-million"

"And how many men do you have?"

"Forty-five thousand. But I won't be alone. The Jarls of Skyrim will stand with me."

"Jarl Rikke, how many soldiers can you muster?"

Jarl Rikke was a young woman, one-and-twenty, and daughter of the Jarl who had fallen in the Siege of Solitude. "Ten thousand"

"And you, Jarl Gunther?"

Gunther II was also young, just six-and-twenty. His father, Gunther, had fallen in the second stage of the war against the Dominion, nineteen years ago. "Thirty-five hundred"

"Jarl Balgruuf?
Balgruuf XV was two-and-twenty, and likewise had been orphaned by the Aldmeri. Barca had raised him, and ruled for him until he came of age. "Six thousand"

"Jarl Assengar?"

Assengar was nine-and-fifty, and had spent his entire adult life fighting the Aldmeri. He had been two-and-twenty when Barca had begun his war, and Assengar had served admirably. He was now the Jarl of both Haafingar and Falkreath. "Haafingar can raise four thousand. Falkreath has no adult males above the age of eight. And I don't know why we are sitting here discussing the Dunmer. It is the Khajjit who need to pay."

"What about the Altmer?" Balgruuf shouted, before Barca could reign in the council. Balgruuf tried to continue, but Hamilcar bellowed over him, "What about the Argonians?"

"At least the Argonians took prisoners." Balgruuf yelled back. "Rorikstead, Dragonbridge, and any peasants the Altmer found along the way to Solitude are gone."

"The Khajjit killed every male in Falkreath over the age of five." Assengar inserted quietly. "An entire generation of men in Falkreath will grow up without fathers. It will be eight more years before Falkreath has any kind of army. We must avenge this travesty."

"The Argonians killed the Greybeards." Hamilcar inserted. "The Greybeards must be avenged."

"Enough" said Barca. He spoke quietly, but everyone in the room felt the force of the word like a physical blow, shoving them back into their seats. "We will now continue this council in a civil manner. Jarl Hamilcar, how many men do you have at your disposal?"

Hamilcar was also older, eight-and-forty, and was the Jarl of Hjaalmarch and the Reach. He was also a Thane of Haafingar, Prince of Skyrim, heir to the seat of Winterhold, and the heir of a Thane of Whiterun. He was Hamilcar, son of Barca, son of Baal, son of Belial, and probably the most influential of all the Jarls.

"Hjaalmarch can summon nine thousand men, and the Reach can do the same."

"I tell you" Barca replied, "Winterhold has no males above the age of thirteen. Winterhold can be of no help on your excursion to Morrowind."

"This, however, I can tell you", Barca continued, "If Ulfric succeeds in convincing the rest of you to go along with this invasion of his, I can tell you what that will mean for Skyrim's future. The Bretons of High Rock will take their force home, and declare neutrality. The Imperials of Cyrodiil will declare war, though they won't actually show up. The Redguards of Hammerfell will attack Falkreath. The Orcs will declare war, and attack the Reach. The Argonians will once again attack the Rift, and the Khajjit will once again fall on Helgen. Not to mention the half-million dark elves who will fall on Eastmarch. And you want to fight all of them. We will have less than one-fifth of the Dunmer's numbers alone."

"But if you wait, if we let Tamriel see the Dark Elves as the aggressors, the sides will be drastically different. The Bretons of High Rock will come to our aid. The Imperials of Cyrodiil will come to our aid. The Redguards of Hammerfell will send us provisions and weapons. The Orcs will still declare war on behalf of the Dominion, but they won't actually come. They are tired of fighting elven wars. The Khajjit won't be able to get to Skyrim because our allies, the Imperials will block all roads from Elsweyer. The Argonians will still come to the Dunmer's aid, but they will have to go through Morrowind because of the Imperials, which will slow them down. So I ask you: which would you rather have: three races against two in our favor, or the Nords against five races?"

"For two-and-a-half centuries, the Imperials have served the Aldmeri; the Orcs for even longer and the Bretons for almost as long." Ulfric replied. "What makes you think they will abandon the elves now?"

"For one hundred fifty years the Nords served the Aldmeri. And when Winterhold rebelled almost forty years ago, no holds joined it. In fact, in many of your fathers stood against me and my father." Barca responded. "Yet even alone, we broke the siege of our hold. And because Jarl Gunther I of Eastmarch and Jarl Ulric of the Pale saw weakness in the Dominion, they joined Winterhold for the second war. And when we won again, the rest of your fathers joined our cause. And then we fought and won a third war."

"Three times the Elves have tried to dispossess us of our land, and three times we have beaten them off. When the Dominion subdued us, we were the weaker party. No race, save the cats, willingly ceded autonomy. But the Dominion was strong. And we were not unified. But now, the Dominion is weak. And the other nations will sense this, no, the other nations have sensed this weakness, and they will rise up and destroy the Dominion."