Editing Scrollhammer: Imperial Legion (section)

===History===

For millennia, the Empire of Cyrodiil has ruled over all Tamriel since the First Era. The Dragon-Throne of the Emperor has long been the most sacred and powerful seat in all of Tamriel. The Emperors have long commanded endless realms and armies by their decrees, and by the edicts of the Elder Council. In the height of its power, not an inch of land in all Tamriel was not at least nominally part of the Empire.

But the beginnings of the Empire were humble. For in the dark days of the First Era, the High Elves of the Heartland, the Ayleids, made slaves of the humans who dwelt in their lands, and treated them with unimaginable cruelty. It was after centuries of oppression that the human slaves who inhabited the Nibenland rose up and overthrew their Elven masters. Saint Alessia, the queen of the rebel armies, made a pact with the gods, that she and all her descendants would be Dragon-Born in exchange for divine protection. The gods gave her the Amulet of Kings, a gem of great power, the sigil of the Eight Divines willing to come to the aid of Man. The power of the Amulet granted all who possessed the mark of the Dragon-Born the power to seal off the realms of the damned from the mortal world, that as long as one who wore the Amulet lived, the hosts of Oblivion would be held at bay.

The Empire has struggled and lived on, in many forms, rises and falls. The Empire of Alessia conquered many foes after the Ayleids, uniting much of Tamriel. It was this First Empire that established monotheism, the faith of Shezarr, known elsewhere as Shor and Lorkhan, the God of Nirn, the vigilant protector of the human race. The Empire eventually would return to primarily worshiping the Eight, but many, especially the Men of the North, would never falter in their loyalty to mighty Shor.

The First Empire reigned for many centuries, but came to an end after its age of glory. Tamriel shattered into an era of strife and destruction. The Amulet of Kings was lost. It was in these days that great king of the North pursued the ghost of Alessia, and upon his final discovery of her, received her blessing. Through many strange portents, a child, Reman Cyrodiil, was born of this blessing, and upon his brow wore the Amulet of Kings. Reman was Dragonborn, and grew to be a conqueror of an even greater legacy than even Alessia; for even the God-Kings of the East, the indomitable Tribunal, swore their fealty to his throne.

It was in the age of Reman's Empire that the armies of the Akavir, the mysterious Orient, landed upon Tamriel, and made war upon his legions. For years and years the armies did battle; at last peace was made, and many of the warriors of Akavir settled in the lands of the west. In the many interregna of the latter half of the Second Empire, many a descendant of the Akaviri served as regent over the Empire, holding the title of Potentate of Tamriel, but not carrying the Dragon Blood.

And so it came to pass that the Second Empire dwindled away. But in the final days of the Second Era, out of the great northern woods of Falkreath came a mighty warrior. Within his blood flowed the power of the Dragons, and within his soul flowed a great destiny. Like the heroes of myth, he bore the mark of Shor himself, and under his banner all Tamriel, man and elf, orc and beastman, were united. He was the Emperor Tiber Septim in life, and in death was rewarded with godhood. The Eight Divines took him into their number as Talos, God of Statecraft and War. The Eight became the Nine.

[[Image:Elder_Scrolls_IV_Oblivion11.jpg|thumb|200px|right]]

The Third Era was a golden age for the Empire. Never before were the peoples of Tamriel so affluent, and never before was the Empire's influence so great. But from this peace there came decadence and unrest. In the later years of the Third Empire the Battlemage Jagar Tharn, chief advisor to Emperor Uriel VII, imprisoned his liege in a pocket realm by sorcery, and impersonated him for ten years. In mockery of Talos, the accursed lich Mannimarco became a god, and his army of the damned attempted to conquer the world. Hannibal Traven, Archmage of Cyrodiil, sacrificed his life to defeat Mannimarco's avatar, but the long-standing Guild of Mages was torn apart. And in the final years of the era, Uriel and his three legitimate sons were murdered by Daedra cultists. The leader of this cult, the Dragonborn Altmer Mankar Camoran, stole the Amulet of Kings, and severed its power to allow the armies of Oblivion to ravage the world. All Tamriel burned in hell-fire and darkness descended. It was only then that the last surviving Septim, the priest Martin of Kvatch, reclaimed the Amulet and fulfilled Alessia's pact with the gods: from the Amulet sprang forth Akatosh himself, who battled with the Daedric Prince of Destruction upon the soil of Mundus. Martin ascended to be with his forefather Talos through this ritual, and the Blood of the Dragons was no more.

The Mede family succeeded the Septims, beginning the Fourth Empire. But the Empire could not be restored to its former glory. The Hellspawn of the Deadlands had destroyed much of what was once Tamriel. The half-daedric Ayleid king and nemesis of Alessia, Umaril, returned to Mundus leading a Daedric army of his own, desecrating the Chapels of the Nine. The most decorated veteran of the Oblivion Crisis, the Hero of Kvatch, disappeared into the realm of the Mad God Sheogorath and was never seen again. The God-Kings of Morrowind were made mortal by the Nerevarine, and vanished. Without their guidance, the cities of the Dark Elves were destroyed by civil war and natural disaster, and the Red Mountain erupted. Anarchy reigned over the Eastern Provinces as hordes of lizard-men came forth from Argonia and butchered the armies of both the Empire and the Dunmer Great Houses.

In the south of Tamriel, the Elves of Summurset Isle seceded from the Empire. The government of the Thalmor, cruel-hearted sorcerers, were welcomed by the Bosmer and Khajiit into the Southern Provinces; having wrenched their lands from the hands of the Empire, the Thalmor turned against them, enslaving and murdering countless innocents. The Thalmor vowed to recreate the Elven empires of old, and destroy the human race where the Ayleids had failed.

So it was that the Mede Dynasty went to war with the Thalmor. After a long and devastating war, the Thalmor took the Imperial City, and savagely butchered its inhabitants. Emperor Titus II rallied his armies for a final heroic charge, and slaughtered the elves to a man. The cruel general of the Thalmor was publicly shamed at the center of the city for an entire month, and then put to death for his crimes. But the Empire was too weak to fight on. The Elves had all but won. And so the surrendered to them, accepting the infamous White-Gold Concordat.

Among the terms of the Concordat were the granting of the extraterritorial jurisdiction to Thalmor officials in Imperial territory, and the disbanding of the ancient protectors of the Dragon-Born Emperors, the Blades. Half of the Province of Hammerfell granted to the Thalmor; the Redguards responded to this insult by seceding from the Empire and driving out the Elves. But worst of all the agreements was the banning of the Cult of Tiber Septim; to worship Talos as a god became a capital crime throughout the lands of the Empire. The Divines were declared to be Eight in number again. The Elves brutally kidnapped and tortured all still loyal to the great hero of Mankind. As a final symbol of the Empire's impending fall, the Jarl of the East March, the northern shores upon which Man first came to Tamriel, declared war upon Cyrodiil. With the power of the Voice, once wielded by Talos himself, he slew the High King of Skyrim, and proclaimed that Man's northern homeland would be free from Elven tyranny once more. It was the darkest hour. Only if a final hero with newfound Dragon Blood were to arise could the Empire be reunited.