After reading all the posts, my opinion is :
Please stop this drama! Templars and Mercs had made a deal and Nords made a reaction.
Both sides still disagree on the reasons, but at the moment, all of you are trying to blame one side.
Seriously, you are even arguing with stuff that doesn't belong to this "deal" for example that nords have UIF support and aren't as neutral as they tried to.
IMO, you ( all factions ) should clearly state what they want and what not if they made any deals.
In addition, the only factions that should actually discuss this are Mercs,Nords and Templars but I haven't read a single answer of the Templars yet.
Nobody is "neutral" as you state to be. If you have ever played cRPG and/or read stuff in the forum,. you would create an opinion about certain clans, happenings and so on, so basically
only people who haven't made any experiences about cRPG madeness are truely neutral