Quote Originally Posted by Keltest View Post
Thats not a law of the Thalmor, thats a law of the Empire.
It's a law the Empire was forced to institute in the White Gold Concordat. As was the dissolution of the Emperor's guard and intelligence service.

The Empire was forced to pay a large tribute in gold and land, except the land decided actually no the Empire and Thalmor can both to to Sep and so the Thalmor didn't get that.

And in Skyrim we see Thalmor operating in Imperial provinces and basically enforcing their own will.

It might not be de jure vassalage, but the Empire bent the knee almost totally and it very much seems like they didn't need to. Hammerfell alone was able to resist once it got over a conflict which, had the Emperors* been any sort of politican at all, wouldn't have been nearly as intense.

*And this isn't just the Mede dynasty. There are three entire games of you the player pulling Uriel Septim VIII's stones out of the fire.