A brief history of the empire, part 3
by Stronach k'Thojj III
Imperial Historian
The first volume of this
series told in brief the story of the succession of the first eight Emperors of the Septim
Dynasty, from Tiber I to Kintyra II. The second volume described the War of the Red
Diamond and the six Emperors that followed its aftermath, from Uriel III to Cassynder I.
At the end of that volume, it was described how the Emperor Cassynder's half-brother
Uriel IV assumed the throne of the Empire of Tamriel.
It will be recalled that Uriel IV was not a Septim by birth. His mother, though she reigned
as Empress for many years, was a Dark Elf married to a true Septim Emperor, Pelagius
III. Uriel's father was actually Katariah I's consort after Pelagius' death, a Breton
nobleman named Gallivere Lariat. Before taking the throne of Empire, Cassynder I had
ruled the kingdom of Wayrest, but poor health had forced him to retire. Cassynder had
no children, so he legally adopted his half-brother Uriel and abdicated the kingdom.
Seven years later, Cassynder inherited the Empire at the death of his mother. Three
years after that, Uriel once again found himself the recipient of Cassynder's
inheritance.
Uriel IV's reign was a long and difficult one. Despite being a legally adopted member of
the Septim Family, and despite the Lariat Family's high position -- indeed, they were
distant cousins of the Septims -- few of the Elder Council could be persuaded to accept
him fully as a blood descendant of Tiber. The Council had assumed much responsibility
during Katariah I's long reign and Cassynder I's short one, and a strong-willed "alien"
monarch like Uriel IV found it impossible to command their unswerving fealty. Time and
again the Council and Emperor were at odds, and time and again the Council won the
battles. Since the days of Pelagius II, the Elder Council had consisted of the wealthiest
men and women in the Empire, and the power they wielded was conclusive.
The Council's last victory over Uriel IV was posthumous. Andorak, Uriel IV's son, was
disinherited by vote of Council, and a cousin more closely related to the original Septim
line was proclaimed Cephorus II in 3E247. For the first nine years of Cephorus II's reign,
those loyal to Andorak battled the Imperial forces. In an act that the Sage Eraintine
called "Tiber Septim's heart beating no more," the Council granted Andorak the High
Rock kingdom of Shornhelm to end the war, and Andorak's descendants still rule
there.
By and large, Cephorus II had foes that demanded more of his attention than Andorak.
"From out of a cimmerian nightmare," in the words of Eraintine, a man who called
himself the Camoran Usurper led an army of Daedra and undead warriors on a rampage
through Valenwood, conquering kingdom after kingdom. Few could resist his
onslaughts, and as month turned to bloody month in the year 3E249, even fewer tried.
Cephorus II sent more and more mercenaries into Hammerfell to stop the Usurper's
northward march, but they were bribed or slaughtered and raised as undead.
The story of the Camoran Usurper deserves a book of its own. (It is recommended that
the reader find Palaux Illthre's The Fall of the Usurper for more detail.) In short, however,
the destruction of the forces of the Usurper had little do with the efforts of the Emperor.
The result was a great regional victory and an increase in hostility toward the seemingly
inefficacious Empire.
Uriel V, Cephorus II's son and successor, swivelled opinion back toward the latent power
of the Empire. Turning the attention of Tamriel away from internal strife, Uriel V
embarked on a series of invasions beginning almost from the moment he took the throne
in 3E268. Uriel V conquered Roscrea in 271, Cathnoquey in 276, Yneslea in 279, and
Esroniet in 284. In 3E288, he embarked on his most ambitious enterprise, the invasion
of the continent kingdom of Akavir. This ultimately proved a failure, for two years later
Uriel V was killed in Akavir on the battlefield of Ionith. Nevertheless, Uriel V holds a
reputation second only to Tiber as one of the two great Warrior Emperors of
Tamriel.
The last four Emperors, beginning with Uriel V's infant son, are described in the fourth
and final volume of this series.
Onto