Lore:Empire of Cyrodiil (Interregnum)

Empire of Cyrodiil
Dark Anchors over the Imperial City during the Interregnum
2E 430 – 2E 582 2E 854 – 2E 896
Capital		Imperial City
Location		Cyrodiil
Common languages		Cyrodilic
Religions		Eight Divines Daedric worship (Mehrunes Dagon, later Molag Bal)
Government		Absolute monarchy
Preceded By			Succeeded By
Akaviri Potentate			Colovian Estates Nibenay Third Empire

For other Imperial entities also referred to as "Empire of Cyrodiil", see Empire.

The Empire of Cyrodiil (also known as the Imperial Empire) refers to an Imperial state that existed during the early years of the Interregnum. Although identified as an empire, it differed from the Alessian Empire, Second Empire, and Third Empire in that its only permanent dependency was Cyrodiil itself, and it was at no time ruled by a Dragonborn emperor.

History

With the collapse of the Second Empire in 2E 430, its provinces reasserted their independence, leaving the Imperial heartland of Cyrodiil to its own devices. The region remained a bastion of Imperial culture as the rest of Tamriel rejected its influence. Further, institutions that had been hallmarks of the Second Empire, including the Imperial Legion, the Elder Council, and the office of emperor, survived the chaos relatively intact. As such, the Empire of Cyrodiil, as it would come to be known, succeeded the Second Empire as a matter of course. In the absence of legitimate claimants to the Ruby Throne, the Empire of Cyrodiil was ruled over by a succession of pretenders who usually attained the throne through conquest.

The earliest known of these pretenders was the Warlord Attrebus who claimed the Ruby Throne sometime between 2E 430 and 2E 533, and mounted a campaign to rid Cyrodiil of foreign influence by expelling the Akaviri. The Akaviri refugees went on to settle in the Rim Territories of Elsweyr, where they founded the town of Hakoshae.

Artistic representation of Durcorach's conquest of Cyrodiil

Durcorach, a Reachman warlord, conquered Cyrodiil with an army of Reachmen in 2E 533. With Durcorach’s ascension to the throne, he would found the Longhouse Emperors Dynasty, which would rule the Empire for forty-four years. Durcorach would rule the Empire until 2E 541, when he was slain during an invasion of High Rock in a battle outside of Daggerfall. Durcorach would be succeeded by his son Moricar, who reigned for over twenty years before he was wounded during an invasion of Western Skyrim in 2E 563, and would die in 2E 564 as a result of his injuries. Moricar was succeeded by his son Leovic, who would reign until 2E 577, when he was overthrown in a revolt led by Duke Varen Aquilarios that was caused by Leovic’s legalization of Daedra worship in the Empire. Of all of the pretenders who had thus far achieved control of the Empire, the Longhouse Emperors had been some of the more successful ones, having managed to stay in power for over four decades. One triumph of their reign was the opportunistic annexation of Riverhold and Orcrest in northern Elsweyr by the Imperial Legion. This occurred during the early years of the Knahaten Flu outbreak, which had hit the Khajiit particularly hard. The Khajiit attempted to retake both cities from the Imperials but were unsuccessful. Rimmen was also brought under Imperial control prior to 2E 576. Under their rule, Cyrodiil controlled land as far as the Wrothgarian Mountains.

The Soulburst

Leovic's usurper, Varen Aquilarios, had been the Duke of Chorrol before leading the Colovian Estates in rebellion against Leovic. After personally killing Leovic and claiming the title of emperor of Cyrodiil, Varen set out to cement his status a legitimate leader of the Empire by retrieving the lost Amulet of Kings. He was encouraged in this endeavor by the powerful necromancer Mannimarco, who promised that the Amulet could be used in a ritual to persuade Akatosh to make Varen a Dragonborn. Mannimarco betrayed Varen, however, and the ritual broke the covenant with Akatosh and set Nirn adrift in the Mundus in an event named the Soulburst. Varen was believed lost in the event and his wife, Clivia Tharn, ascended to the Ruby Throne as Empress Regent.

Clivia Tharn's reign ushered in a time of increasing instability within the Empire. Swayed by offers of power and immortality, Clivia fell under the thrall of Mannimarco, who convinced her that the Mages Guild was responsible for the Soulburst and to expel them from the Imperial City, allowing Mannimarco's Worm Cult to operate freely. Mannimarco himself aspired to become a god and rule not only Nirn, but his master Molag Bal's realm of Coldharbour as well. Beyond the Empire's borders, the other nations of Tamriel began to unite into three different alliances in response to perceived Imperial aggression and corruption: the Ebonheart Pact, Daggerfall Covenant, and the first Aldmeri Dominion. Each alliance sought to conquer the Empire of Cyrodiil and place one of their own on the Ruby Throne, triggering the Three Banners War that wracked the whole of Tamriel in 2E 582.

The three alliances quickly conquered much of central Cyrodiil and confined the Empire to only the Imperial City and Lake Rumare’s environs. With central Cyrodiil ravaged by war, most of its inhabitants scattered. Some of them hid in the northern and eastern mountains, while others fled south to Blackwood. The richest of the Imperials, mostly Nibenese, bought estates in western Colovia, around the cities of Kvatch and Anvil, away from raging war. That proved to be a mistake, however, as Anvil was captured by pirates who claimed dominion over the entire Gold Coast and declared it an independent state, leading to strife with loyalist Kvatch.

The Empire did not sit idle as the armies of the alliances forged deep into its territory. It attempted to expand its reach on two fronts: High Rock and Hammerfell to the north, and Valenwood to the south. The invasion of High Rock and Hammerfell was spearheaded by the Seventh Legion led by Magus-General Septima Tharn. To the south, the Legion of the West Weald led by General Lavinia Axius invaded Valenwood to annex Arenthia Vale, which, by decree of the Count of Skingrad, and the Elder Council was renamed the South Weald. Each of these ventures ultimately failed. Circa 2E 582, Chancellor Abnur Tharn as head of the Elder Council attempted to end the Three Banners War and restore the Empire's power through assembling the Wrathstone and using it to activate an "ancient weapon" within the Halls of Colossus. Instead, this unleashed several dragons which had been imprisoned for centuries.

Little is known about the outcome of the Three Banners War; however it is known the Empire of Cyrodiil collapsed during it. By the time of Mehrunes Dagon's plot to gather the Four Amibitions, the Empire of Cyrodiil no longer existed as a power, and its government, the Elder Council, was formerly dissolved. When Tiber Septim's conquests happened in the Ninth Century of the Second Era, the Empire had long ceased to exist. Cyrodiil was divided between the Nibenese east and Colovian west, and remained so until reunification under the warlord Cuhlecain, whom Tiber Septim served as a general at the time.

Known Rulers

Name	Born	Race	Crowned	Died, Deposed, Abdicated, or Office Abolished	Additional Information
Pretenders of the Empire of Cyrodiil during the Interregnum
Attrebus	2E ?	Imperial	2E ?	2E ?	Expelled the Akaviri from Cyrodiil sometime between 2E 430 and 2E 533.
Many would-be conquerors	N/A	N/A	2E ?	2E ?	Various warlords conquering the Imperial City, none as longlived as the Longhouse Emperors.
Durcorach 'the Black Drake'	c. 2E 485	Reachman	2E 533	2E 541 or 2E 542	Reachman Warlord who conquered Cyrodiil and founded the Longhouse Emperor dynasty.
Moricar 'the Middling'	2E 518	Reachman	2E 541 or 2E 542	2E 564	Son of Durcorach. Born and raised in the Reach, but received an Imperial education during his father's reign as emperor.
Leovic	2E 542	Reachman	2E 564	2E 577	Son of Moricar. Unlike his father and grandfather, he had no experience living outside of Cyrodiil. The third and final member of the Longhouse Emperors dynasty.
Varen Aquilarios	2E 536	Imperial	2E 577	2E 579	Overthrew Leovic at the end of the Colovian Revolt.
Empress Regent Clivia Tharn	2E ?	Imperial	2E 579	2E 582	Consort of Leovic and Varen Aquilarios. Was disposed of prior to 2E 582 and was replaced with Molag Kena. However, she may not have been killed when she was replaced.
Unknown (many)	N/A	N/A	2E 580	2E 582	Pretenders of the Three Banners War. One of these Emperors was a soldier from the First Aldmeri Dominion, who rose to the Ruby Throne after his victory at the Battle of Chalman Keep.
Unknown	N/A	Kamal	2E ?	before 2E 812	At least one Kamal Usurper.
Cuhlecain	?		2E 854	2E 854	King of Falkreath who later conquered all of Cyrodiil. Was allegedly murdered by Tiber Septim.
Tiber Septim	2E 828		2E 854	2E 896	Founded the Septim Dynasty and Third Empire.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.