"the rest of the empire"
Not much of an empire; that only officially includes what, cyrodiil, either high rock
or hammerfell, and maybe morrowind? (was that argonian war concurrent with the great war?)
So, about that civil war.
-If the empire wins it, it'll be little more than a footnote like putnam said, swept away in the thalmor-empire conflict. However, I don't think this outcome bodes well for the empire at all. Where the nords were the (primary) source of the empire's second wind in the last war, it's been 20? years of being trodden on by the empire with their talos ban &
allowing enemy agents jurisdiction over their territory. If losing a civil war is heaped on top of that, I don't think the mood in skyrim is going to be in any shape to stand & deliver for the empire a second time.
-If skyrim wins it, there're two choices.
-A. The empire immediately recaptures it off-screen dues-ex-machina style, which is pretty much a worse version of the last scenario.
-B. Skyrim secedes, and the empire is further crippled.
Overall I don't think the empire is long for tamriel. As has been laid out in the last few pages, bethesda have been hinting at it's fall for quite some time, and couple that with the dark brotherhood's quest 'to kill an empire', I think we're going to see a new era with a lot more elves in it.
I haven't, however, finished the main quest in skyrim yet, (I tend to get sidetracked...), so if there's some grand revelation right at the end I'm completely ignorant.
Many thanks for
that post putnam! Fuckin pelinal whitestrake. That guy gets around.