I alway have an issue with joining the Empire as they were trying to execute me at the start of the game. I’m not big on forgiveness.
Regarding your choice:
It is possible to choose neither side and to negotiate a peace.
… I did not know that. Something to research…
[spoiler]For me, the decision boils down to a few specific points:
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The Empire (actually, just one captain, who you get to kill if you follow the Stormcloak) orders you to the chopping block just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. So, the Empire is subject to poor choices on the part of some of its officers.
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Ulfric is a rabid, Skyrim-belongs-to-the-Nords, racist xenophobe who will, at best, enforce slum-living for all the damn elves. However, does anybody remember how the dark elves treated non-dunmer in Morrowind, or how the Imperials treated non-Imperials in Oblivion?
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According to Ulfric and the (former) High King’s mage, Ulfric issued official, legal, appropriate challenge to the High King in front of the High King’s full court. The king accepted and shouting ensued. Time for a moot!
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Ulfric, however, requires you to swear fealty to him as True High King of Skyrim if you go the Stormcloak route, and this is just patently false. See above re: moot.
So: Ulfric didn’t break the law (of Skyrim). It is time for a moot to choose the next High King of Skyrim. If that king isn’t Ulfric, it will very soon be time for another moot, because Ulfric is a racist jerk.[/spoiler]
Thanks for the advice, everyone, it’s appreciated.
D_Odds,
How is peace possible? I don’t mind spoilers for the quest, and it sounds like the way I’d want to go.
Regarding Ulfric:
During the main quest, you find evidence in the Elven embassy that Ulfric had been a prisoner of the Elves and that they released him specifically to sow a rebellion in Skyrim. It’s similar to what the Germans did with Lenin in WWI and makes the choice of siding with the Empire even easier for me.
Peace
Easiest way is not to choose to join either side. When you get to the part of the main quest where you have to trap the dragon, the Jarl won’t help because of the war effort. Go to the Dragon Shout guys, and get them to agree to hold peace talks. Both sides have enough respect for them to agree to meet. You get to direct the peace talks a bit after that. I always toss the Thalmor from the meeting, but I don’t think it matters.
Sorry, hard to research names from my phone. I think you can pick a side as long as you don’t do too much for them.
Here’s a description of the procedure.
A possibly significant point; one of the words for the Slow Time Shout is quest locked. If you want it, you’ll have to pick a side and do the first two missions.
And Slow Time is badass, so there’s that. Also, Marked for Death is awesome, and you either have to join the DB or eliminate them (or cheat).
It’s not really peace, merely status quo. If you start the Civil War then do that quest, you cannot progress anymore in the war until you beat the MQ and it becomes moot.
My understanding is that that is a temporary truce, just long enough for the Jarl of Whiterun to allow you to trap a dragon in his keep. Once you ride off into the wild blue, the war’s back on. Then again, even if you follow the war quest chain through to its end, people still talk as if it’s on (you can still ask them what it will take to end the war, and they say things like "Ulfric’s head on a pike. Thanks, been there, done that), so maybe this is meant to be a final ending to the war… however, having completed the dragon quest chain, it is still possible to join a side and win the war, so… This is one of the things I find annoying about the game…
Thanks, everyone. I’m still not sure what I’ll do, but this will give me some options and help me make a better decision. 
I like bittersweet choices. No “help Dragon Jesus save the world” vs. “break the 4th wall and have your character download ‘killable children’ and ‘take dumps on corpses’ mods to be an evil dick” choices.
From today’s cracked: (#5) A guy plays through the game with only his fists and a funny “Swedish”(?) accent. I had no idea there were fist finishing moves.
An interesting detail; Hearthfire apparently changed Lydia’s dialogue slightly. Instead of just her put-upon sounding “I am sworn to carry your burdens”, she alternates it with several other lines like “at your command” or “as you wish, my Thane”.
She was my first companion, as I’m sure is true for 90%+ of you. I dumped her for her snotty attitude. Interesting change. Still not taking her back though, she exists to block my way in Breezehome and startle me when she hides beyond my peripheral vision and talks to me.
I’ve decided to collect all the Dragon Priest Masks. However, I don’t feel like going through the College of Winterhold questline again. Is there a way to get to Morokei without it?
Last night, After I went through Forelhost, I found a note wanting to meet up at Labyrinthian. Does this mean there’s a way in now?
According to the Wiki, Morokei is quest-locked.
There are more than the one tomb at Labyrinthian; the note was probably for one of the other ones.
That guy is a homophobic, misogynistic dick.
I was traveling from Winterhold, going west to Dead Man’s Respite, when I stopped at a crossing and was looking at a sign to get my bearings. Suddenly a big black object flew over my head. I tracked where it landed, and it was a dead horse. I ran to where it was thrown from, thinking some sort of quest event had happened. All I found were a few wolves. Bwah?
Later, I was running through a valley on the same journey, and a bottle of mead rolled down the hill by itself. Again, no idea where it came from.
I figure these were just glitch events, but it was odd.
Yeah, there are occasional glitch effects where stuff just appears in the air; I once had an Imperial patrol fall out of the sky and die. Although sometimes it can be a giant or a dragon; dragons can pick victims up and drop them, and giants can basically smack stuff into the stratosphere (which is real funny when it’s you).
Or the SpaceSpaceSpace Core. He goes back home when he meets the giant.
Look up “Red Dead Redemption bug” or “… glitch” on YouTube. That had some weird ones, including humans fusing with animals and acting freaky.
I blame Sheogorath.