guipit said:
but why do people like Dandelion and Zoltan hate them? People say they take away freedoms like debauchery.
So the whole deal with Nilfgaard is rather interesting. A long time ago, dwarves and gnomes ruled the lands, then elves showed up - they weren't too chummy with the other non-humans at first but eventually started getting along. Then came the humans and ran the elder races to the ground, isolating them to ghettos and treating them like second-class citizens, especially the elves.
However, at some point Nilfgaard appeared from the south and the Northern Kingdoms saw the huge empire as a threat - they're afraid Nilfgaard might do the same thing the first humans did to the elves and other races. Furthermore, they are a strong financial force so a lot of merchants fled to Nilfgaard because of better trading conditions. This obviously infuriated the Northern monarchs so they spread propaganda about Nilfgaard and how horrible they are, the people obviously bought it. And Nilfgaard being a brutal war machine didn't help their agenda either. The mages obviously dislike them because Nilfgaard regulates them heavily and treats them like abominations which is also why they support the North.
A lot of the elves, dwarves etc. that have chosen to live with humans don't agree with The Scoia'tael and their actions but since humans are so racist, they see them all as one group which often leads to pogroms. And the Scoia'tael detests non-humans that don't support their cause and even punish them just as harsh as the humans do - so basically, the elves and dwarves that are trying to co-exist with the human race are essentially stuck between a rock and a hard place and they have The Scoia'tael to blame since they're the ones provoking agression.
Now, in the previous wars, Nilfgaard used The Scoia'tael, who saw them as saviours and were determined to drive the humans to the see. So with Nilfgaard aiding the Scoia'tael, you can see why a lot of non-humans hate the empire so much. During the war, when the Scoia'tael lost their usefulness, Nilfgaard stopped supporting them which obviously angered the Squirrels. So now even they're against Nilfgaard because they feel cheated and used.
Witchers are generally neutral so they don't really care about the whole thing. And nobody likes witchers, http://youtu.be/NZcsNE6wCHI?t=7m26s ...
TL;DR
Nilfgaard are dicks to everyone so that's why they're so hated. Witchers, much like honey badgers, don't give a damn.