Ulfric Stormcloak

Ulfric Stormcloak is the Jarl of Windhelm in the game Skyrim of the Elder Scrolls videiogame series. He is the instigator of Skyrim's Civil War and the ultimate foe of the player should he/she side with the empire in the Civil War arch.

The Great War
Prior to the start of the game Skyrim the Cyrodiil Empire will have been fighting a major war against the Altmari Dominion, an alliances of Elven territories. The Elves of the Summer Set Isles, who were taken-over from within by a regime of elven supremacists called the Thalmor, sent some of their agents to the Empire to make demands. The Thalmor agents made various outlandish demands of their neighbors like the discontinuation of the Empires elite guards The Blades, Almari garrisons be stationed along Cyrodiil's boarders and the renouncement of their man-god Talos. Emperor Emperor Titus Mede II refused as the Thalmor expected he would and the second Mede asked them to leave the Thalmor gave the signal for the Almari soldiers they had lying in wait to seize the empire and begin a massive invasion.

The Empire's allies Included their neighbors in Hammerfell, who were always on friendly terms with the empire and disliked the notion of being overthrown by the Thalmor (who ultimately wanted to get rid of all non-elves) and Skyrim, the Empires northern province, which was the home of Talos who in addition to being later named a god was Cyrodiil's first Emperor. The Empire also had political and financial, though not military, support from Highrock in Daggerfall which had once been subject to Elven tyranny before achieving independence. At one point the Thalmor did take control of the city and kill the emperor, or so they thought the emperor killed was a decoy and Mede had made his way out of the city prior to the walls of the Imperial City being breached. Using the lull in fighting to their advantage once the Thalmor held the city the emperor marshaled his remaining forces and defeated the Elven General and retook his city putting the Thalmor in a compromised though not hopeless position in the war.

Once the tide of War began to turn in the Empire's favor the Emperor did something controversial that his allies and own subjects would scrutinize him for for years, he reopened negotiation with the Dominion. Titus Mede II wanted t end the war before more blood could be spilled and wagered the best time to renegotiate with the Dominion was from a point of strength so they would be more eager to avoid bloodshed themselves. A treaty was reached called the White-Gold Concordant, named after the White Gold Tower capital building of the Imperial city and presumably the location of the signing. The White-Gold Concordant stated that the elves on the Altmer Dominion would be allowed to have officials in the Empire, that temples of Talos were to be closed and that the Emperor was to surrender The Blades as war prisoners. Furthermore the Empire had to break their alliances with Hammerfell who were continuing the War against the Dominion and had to order Skyrim to submit as well. Hammerfell was outraged at the Empire but understood it's position and continued the fight against the Altmeri Dominion by themselves, and won eventually though at a great cost to their nation's infrastructure. Many have claimed that the Emperor's surrender just gave the Thalmor what they wanted the whole time making the war pointless but the empire's sympathizers have stated that there is a tremendous difference between accepting outrageous terms just because the elves asked and accepting them to stop a war. Also the empire did manage to get a few extra considerations from the elves like not having to allow the elves to garrison armies on Imperial soil and Emperor and Elder Council remaining and independent political group from the Thlamor. Skyrim was also highly against the surrender and such the culture of Skyrim's Nord people was such that fighting the good fight regardless of blood split was the highest honor. The ban on Talos was what weighed on the people of Skyrim the most even more that Cyrodiil's own people since he was not only the embodiment of Nord Ideals but their native son. Because of Skyrm's less than cooperative attitude towards the White-Gold Concordant the empire had to start stationing their own troops in Skyrim making many holds of the land subject to marital law if their Jarls ever tried to pass a policies that would endanger the Empire's side of the treaty.