ContagiousCure

The Thalmor don't run the empire. Concordat's purpose wasn't so they could control the empire but rather so they could maintain a presence within the empire for intelligence and sabotage. And it's doing just that, they've delayed the Legion's rebuilding efforts when they demanded the Talos ban be enforced in Skyrim after the Markarth incident, thereby triggering the civil war. I don't actually think the Thalmor are that strong from a military standpoint. Hammerfell is a clear example of that (even if Redguards are regarded as the best fighters in Tamriel). At the same time, I don't think the Empire will completely collapse. The imperials, as their name suggests, I believe will always have some kind of Empire, but it definitely won't be to the same magnitute as it was in the beginning of the 3rd Era - and I think that's a good thing for the sake of variety. *SPOILER ALERT* The DB questline loosely implies the Elder Council are actively seeking to replace the current Emperor. Nonetheless I don't think the Empire will regain its strength without some inspiring figure like a Dragonborn (unless Beth decides to skip another 200 years and write that the Last Dragonborn's descendents took the Imperial throne). Alinor is a huge mystery. But I get a sense the Thalmor takeover was a bloody one. I have no evidence for this, just a feeling. Also one of the Imperial Legates makes reference to ethnic cleansing of various woodelves in Valenwood? I'd be surprised if there wasn't some resistence effort brewing up. If the Thalmor are to be defeated, it'll be internally. But I think they're here to stay for a while because an evil dominion is a useful plot device.

I've noticed no difference between unpacked and loose. BSAs make the folder more neat but loose files allow reasources to be shared if another mod uses the same stuff.

I didn't think that female officer at the start was Legate Rikki. If you go withe the Stormcloaks, don't you kill said officer in the Helgen tower?

Nevermind, I should have guessed. The reason it was showing up in my game but not in the CK was because it was in my save game data. Earlier saves don't have it. Herp derp fail by me.

Even if you're roleplaying as an elven race, the Thalmor aren't exactly going to embrace you necessarily. Didn't they do some nasty ethnic cleansing when they took over Valenwood? I also get the impression their takeover of Summerset Isle was done with some atrocities. Also they're regime sounds very harsh. Their dossiers refer to them sending their own people to "re-education camps". I fully support the Empire. There's no such thing as the "nord way" or whatever, the Empire arguably started in Skyrim and it's part of Skyrim's culture. I mean the Empire is Talos' empire. Siding with the Nords in my opinion is extremely short sighted and really just falls into the Thalmor's plan of weakenining the Empire further. I mean, logistically Skyrim would be a nightmare for invasion. It's far away from Alinor/Summerset Isle, and it's harsh environment certain favours the natives. But if they actually want to defeat the Thalmor, keeping Skyrim united in my opinion is the best way. Don't agree with the Emperor's plan? Hire the dark brotherhood to assassinate him and put someone else in charge. Dissolving the entire Empire seems pretty stupid.

I couldn't really find a specific section that dealt with my issue so I'll just say it and hope this is the right place. I'm currently trying to edit a location in the CK. The place in question has one of those civil war maps with those red and blue flags that change colour depending on the progress of the civil war quest. You can activate them to update your map as well. However, these flags do not appear in the CK at all so I can't for the life of me find a way to delete them or move them. I can delete the map and the table the map sits on (and basically everything around the flags) but in game the flags still show up floating in mid air. I would have thought they were activators but they don't seem to even show up in the right list in cell view (unless they're called something deceptive). Are they only viewable from some special window/mode? In case you're not sure what I'm talking about, these are the flags I'm referring to: