I have not played this game in a long time, at least not in any way that involves paying attention to storylines that are not modded, but based on what I remember, not choosing a side is the worst option. The civil war was instigated by the aldmeri(?) dominion to put skyrim into chaos and keep them from pushing the elves back out while they silently take over the empire. It makes things slightly better, but I still didn’t like how terrible both sides were.
I have not played this game in a long time, at least not in any way that involves paying attention to storylines that are not modded, but based on what I remember, not choosing a side is the worst option. The civil war was instigated by the aldmeri(?) dominion to put skyrim into chaos and keep them from pushing the elves back out while they silently take over the empire. It makes things slightly better, but I still didn’t like how terrible both sides were.
also the empire started in Skyrim the original Emperor was a Nord, so… Skyrim IS the Empire, as much as anywhere else or more.
Not like it’d be an option to not choose sides, there’s a storyline roadblock forcing you to finish the entire plot IIRC