History of Cyrodiil

Mythic and Merethic Foundations

Cyrodiil’s story begins with myth. In the dawn age, the Adamantine Tower on Balfiera became the site of the Convention, where the Aedra bound Mundus into form. Later myths tell of the White-Gold Tower rising in the heart of Cyrodiil, built by the Ayleids — the Heartland High Elves — as a center of their empire. For centuries, the Ayleids ruled Nedic humans as slaves, erecting glittering cities across the Nibenay Basin. Their cruelty was legendary, with Daedric sacrifices and divine tyranny defining the early Merethic Era. Yet beneath oppression, the seeds of rebellion grew.

First Era: The Alessian Rebellion

In 1E 243, the slave-queen Alessia led a revolt against the Ayleid masters. Blessed by Akatosh and aided by Pelinal Whitestrake and Morihaus, she defeated the Ayleids and claimed the White-Gold Tower. This rebellion ended Elven dominance in Cyrodiil and founded the First Empire of the Nedes, sanctified by the Covenant with Akatosh and the Amulet of Kings. The Dragonfires, lit within the Temple of the One, sealed the barrier between Nirn and Oblivion, ensuring Daedra could not freely invade. Alessia’s empire spread across Tamriel, though it quickly hardened into the Alessian Order, a monastic regime that imposed harsh doctrine and sought to purge Elven influence wherever it lingered.

The Alessian Order

The Alessian Order dominated the middle centuries of the First Era. Zealous and authoritarian, it enforced worship of the Eight Divines while destroying heterodox cults and Elven traditions. At its height, the Order ruled beyond Cyrodiil, but its rigidity alienated allies and provoked rebellion. The Battle of Glenumbra Moors in 1E 482 marked the turning point, when Direnni Elves and Breton lords crushed the Alessians. Over time, the Order fractured, and its grip on Tamriel collapsed. Still, its impact was permanent: Cyrodiil became firmly human, Elven dominion forever ended.

Collapse of the Alessian Order

The fall of the Alessian Order was as transformative as its rise. When its zealotry overextended, provinces rebelled, and even Cyrodiil’s own nobility turned against its priests. The Order’s collapse left a vacuum filled by warlords, sorcerers, and pretenders. Yet it also opened cultural space for diversity: Elven traditions resurfaced in art, and Imperial religion began blending Nibenese and Colovian practices. The memory of the Order’s tyranny left Cyrodiil wary of theocratic excess, shaping later dynasties to cloak divine claims in moderation rather than zeal.

The Rise of Reman

By the late First Era, Cyrodiil splintered into petty kingdoms, the Ruby Throne vacant. In 1E 2703, Akaviri Tsaesci invaded from the northeast, sweeping across Tamriel. They were halted at Pale Pass by Reman Cyrodiil, who united Nibenese mystics and Colovian warlords into one host. Instead of destroying the Akaviri, Reman absorbed them into his new empire, forging the Second Empire of Men. His dynasty reorganized Tamriel with roads, legions, and administration, blending Nibenese ritual with Colovian militarism. Under Reman I, Cyrodiil became the true heart of empire. Yet the dynasty fell with Reman III’s assassination in 1E 2920, plunging the continent into the Interregnum.

Nibenese and Colovian Divide

Cyrodiil’s culture was always split between east and west. The Nibenese, centered on the fertile river valleys, developed a tradition of mysticism, ritual, and elaborate ceremony. Their society favored scholars, priests, and administrators, weaving Imperial law with religious symbolism. The Colovians of the west, by contrast, lived along harsh frontiers and prized martial discipline. Their leaders were pragmatic warlords and generals, suspicious of Nibenese ornament. This cultural divide produced tension but also balance: every strong dynasty relied on Nibenese ritual legitimacy and Colovian steel. When one side dominated, Cyrodiil fractured; when both worked together, empire flourished.

The Tharn Family and Cyrodiilic Politics

Throughout the Second and Third Eras, the Tharn family of Nibenay repeatedly rose to prominence as battlemages and chancellors. Long-ruling patriarchs and matriarchs provided continuity during weak reigns, often wielding more real power than emperors. Most infamous was Jagar Tharn, who usurped the Ruby Throne for a decade during the Imperial Simulacrum. Yet even before and after him, the Tharns embodied a Cyrodiilic tradition: power maintained through bureaucracy, arcane skill, and ruthless manipulation. Their longevity reflected the adaptability of Cyrodiil’s elite families, who could survive dynastic collapse by embedding themselves in the machinery of empire.

Second Era: Interregnum and Potentates

With no Dragonborn heir to light the Dragonfires, the Ruby Throne lay empty. The Akaviri Potentates, Versidue-Shaie and Savirien-Chorak, ruled as regents, maintaining order through assassination and bureaucracy. Their reign ended in blood, leaving Cyrodiil fractured into warlord kingdoms. For four centuries, the Interregnum saw the White-Gold Tower passed between pretenders, cultists, and Reachman emperors. Among the most infamous were the Longhouse Emperors, Daedra-worshiping rulers whose corruption provoked rebellion. Varen Aquilarios of Colovia briefly restored stability, but his failed Soulburst ritual unleashed the Planemeld, a Daedric incursion that scarred Cyrodiil. The Second Era ended only with the rise of Tiber Septim, who forged the Third Empire with Numidium and Dragonborn legitimacy.

Third Era: Septim Dynasty

With Tiber Septim crowned as Talos in 2E 896, the Third Era began. Cyrodiil was reshaped into the seat of a united Tamriel, the White-Gold Tower a symbol of human supremacy. The Septim line ruled for four centuries, blending Nibenese mysticism with Colovian pragmatism. Uriel Septim VII presided over a relatively stable age, though crises shook the empire: the Simulacrum usurpation by Jagar Tharn, the rise of Dagoth Ur in Morrowind, and the Warp in the West. Cyrodiil itself became cosmopolitan, its Imperial City a hub of trade, guilds, and diplomacy. Yet the assassination of Uriel VII and his heirs in 3E 433 shattered the dynasty and ended the era.

The Oblivion Crisis

With no Dragonborn on the throne, the Dragonfires failed, and Mehrunes Dagon’s armies poured into Cyrodiil. Oblivion Gates opened across the province, reducing cities like Kvatch to ruins. The Mythic Dawn cult orchestrated assassinations and chaos in the capital. The crisis ended only when Martin Septim, last heir of the bloodline, sacrificed himself in the Temple of the One, becoming the avatar of Akatosh to banish Dagon. His death ended the Septim line and the covenant of the Amulet of Kings. Cyrodiil survived, but its divine legitimacy was extinguished.

Fourth Era: Mede Dynasty and Decline

In 4E 17, Titus Mede, a Colovian warlord, seized the Ruby Throne, founding a new dynasty. The Mede line lacked Dragonborn blood, ruling by force and alliance rather than divine sanction. During the Great War (4E 171–175), Dominion armies invaded Cyrodiil, sacking the Imperial City in 4E 174. Titus Mede II retook the capital in a brutal counteroffensive but was forced to sign the White-Gold Concordat, outlawing Talos worship and granting the Thalmor authority within the Empire. For the Nibenese, this was humiliation; for the Colovians, a betrayal of tradition. The Empire endured, but Cyrodiil’s prestige waned, its capital desecrated, its faith compromised.

The Sack of the Imperial City (4E 174)

The Dominion’s capture of the Imperial City during the Great War was a trauma etched into Cyrodiil’s soul. For the first time since the Ayleids, foreign Elves ruled the White-Gold Tower. The city’s streets ran with blood, its citizens enslaved or slaughtered, and its temples desecrated. When Titus Mede II retook the city the following year, the victory was Pyrrhic: the legions were exhausted, and half the capital lay in ruins. The sack marked the end of Imperial invulnerability, proving to all Tamriel that Cyrodiil could be conquered. Its aftershocks fed secession movements in Hammerfell and rebellion in Skyrim.

Legacy up to 4E 201

By 4E 201, Cyrodiil remained the nominal heart of the Empire, but its power was diminished. The White-Gold Tower still rose over the Imperial City, but its symbolism had shifted: no longer the seat of divine Dragonborn emperors, but the embattled fortress of a dynasty clinging to survival. Provinces seceded or resisted, faith fractured, and the Thalmor prowled its streets as enforcers of a hated treaty. Yet Cyrodiil endured as it always had, its rivers and valleys still fertile, its capital still a beacon of culture. Its history — from Ayleid cruelty to Alessian liberation, from Reman’s reforms to Septim glory — made it the stage on which Tamriel’s greatest dramas unfolded, and ensured it would remain the center of struggle for the continent’s soul.