Skyrim: Imperials vs Stormcloaks
Part of computer game Skyrim you have the choice of siding with the Imperial Legion or the Stormcloak rebellion. Well frankly, I didn't want to join either. It's a role-playing-game, I played the role of somebody who couldn't care less about uprisings and political ideology.
Fortunately, you don't have to join either - you can't avoid the war altogether as the main quest line does touch on it - but you should be able to come out neutral. I thought I had, but it seems not. It could have been this - it could have been mean sympathising with a prisoner somewhere. I'm not sure.
When I approach a Stormcloak camp, the guards were immediately alerted and told me that I was trespassing and I should back-away. A bit annoying given all the effort I had gone to to not take sides. The Imperial camps on the other hand didn't have any issue with me.
The fix luckily is very easy, this game is very easy to tweak or mod if you like. To set yourself neutral you need to remove yourself from those factions.
- Switch to third person view
- Open the console (that's the ¬ key in blighty, ~ in yanksville or just the key under the Esc key)
- Click on your character (a bit of text should appear indicating that something has been selected)
- Type in each of these followed by Enter:
addfac 00028848 -1 addfac 00028849 -1
This will set those faction IDs (the imperial and stormcloak respectively) ranking to a negative number for the currently selected character (your avatar). The negative number removes your rank entirely.
I have no idea if this will mess things up later in the game, or prevent you from siding later if you choose. Use at your own risk.