Originally Posted by
Opperhapsen
They don't, ever.
They never touch a hair on a bystanders head.
The only really bad thing they do is relegate the non humans to their own quarters in a single city. Something I cannot get worked up over since said races are infinitely worse within their own borders, have pretty much universally proven to be criminals, and in the case of the Khajit are nationals of a country that helped the very people they're fighting.
With Hammerfell out of the empire, Skyrim is supplying a sizeable majority of Imperial troops.
If they leave imperal rule they'd have a much, much, much larger force guarding their borders (Easily rivalling the Imperial legion), their borders are ludicrously defensible, they're largely self-sufficient, and holding Skyrim is going to be next to impossible.
Skyrim stands better alone, it's the rest of the empire that needs Skyrim.