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After months of fighting the Imperial Occupation of our homeland we finally cut the head off General Tullius and that damned wench Rikke. We stormed Solitude mid-morning, with my honor guard at my back we painted the ground red with the blood of the Imperial soldiers as they desperately tried to push us back. The road belonged to the Stormblades; remaining Imperial forces attempting to ease the siege were quickly disposed.

And yet, I'm unsatisfied with the outcome, nervous even at the thought of a liberated Skyrim.

During an operation in which I and several of my most trusted agents infiltrated the Thalmor Embassy I had chance conversation with General Tullius; this was all before the war truly broke out. He seemed, despondent, like he knew the plight of his station required certain appearances to be maintained for the sake of the White-Gold Concordat but knew it was all for naught. Were we really enemies? Were we needlessly killing Imperials, men and women who at one point shared similar bloodlines born of Atmora? He seemed like a man in disbelief, willing at a moments notice to take up arms against the true enemy but was constrained by his duty to an Emperor who signed away his Empire to the Elves.

I stole away to recover information from the Ambassador's residence. The opposition was minimal and I secured certain documents, incriminating documents, that would have called into question Ulfric Stormcloak's legitimacy. Had I committed to a war I was fighting on the wrong side of? Our leader is a Thalmor asset, and the Thalmor ambassador secured her position within Skyrim as a result.

Yet it is done. Would General Tullius still have a tongue to speak, could he have changed our minds? We know the Thalmor are the true enemy. Was Skyrim to be the beginning of their end, with the standards of the nine Holds flying in the wind alongside Imperial banners as we marched through the Jerall Mountains into Cyrodiil to send those pointy eared bastards back to hell? Is this what the Thalmor wanted all along, for Imperials and Nords to kill each other, making us weaker all the while strengthening their own ranks in our homeland?

The men call me Stormblade. I intend to live up to such a legacy.

We're marching our host away from Solitude to return to Fort Sungard, soon to be the City of Sungard. The Reach is still under the duress of the Forsworn insurgency. If only I can secure my influence in the Reach and become blood brothers and sisters with the soldiers of Markarth...

I doubt if Ulfric appeals for my troops in a foreign campaign against the Thalmor I would commit; the troubles on our own soil require us to till and plant seeds in this bloodstained country. We have to rebuild, else we might as well hand over our freedom to those who have trespassed on it for reasons I still fail to understand.

We've been soldiers for so long now, I forget what it's like to sit around a campfire under a field of stars and tell stories of our adventuring exploits. Diving into ancient crypts, scattering bandits into the hills, or having our names toasted to in the mead halls for killing the frost troll who was terrorizing livestock. I miss waking up to the soft breathing of someone sleeping next to me. Gone are the days of simplicity and isolation. Skyrim is free from the Empire, and yet, there's still more fighting to be done.

-Valyrie "Stormblade" Wulfsbane, Stormcloak Field General, Thane of the Reach, and Regent Protector of Fort Sungard