 The Line of Emperors VII |
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A COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY
into the
LINE of SUCESSION [sic]
of the
EMPERORS of CYRODIIL
XXII. KINTYRA II SEPTIM or THE CAPTIVE
Sad and woeful, the tale of Kintyra II! From youth, she was much sinned against, thrust onto the throne at the tender age of fifteen, while her aunt, Potema Septim, spread the blackest slander in the hallowed chambers of Empire. Queen Potema questioned, in terms that no worthy historian could bear to repeat, the legitimacy of Kintyra's claim, referring to the somewhat loose morals of her father's reign. In turn she proposed her own son, the weak-willed Uriel Mantiarco, as heir of the Septim Empire. Despite the support of the Elder Council and the willingness of Stone, Hedge and Flame towards Kyntyra II, Potema's words succeeded in riling up the ever-treasonous rulers of the outer provinces.
Kintyra II ruled but shortly, though her rule carried the seed of squandered greatness. By her command, the court returned to the austerity that is ever the hallmark of the Septim line. Similarly, many provincial insurgents laid down their arms when confronted with her gentle authority, and many voluntarily offered reparations to the White-Gold Throne. Kintyra was an accomplished sorceress, despite her youthful age, and would doubtlessly have become the foremost of her line to practice that cerebral discipline, and a patron saint to its adherents everywhere, were her life not so tragically cut short. For the lesser kinglets of Skyrim and High Rock were ever ready to undermine the authority of a true Emperor. During a festive visit to the Iliac Bay, Kyntira's escort was attacked, and the Empress herself imprisoned in the keep of Glenpoint, where she was murdered by the faithless lords of that place. For this reason, no Emperor will ever again set foot in the duchy of Glenpoint, nor will its name be spoken in the presence of an Emperor, nor will Imperial administration refer to it as anything other than the Hold of Traitors, much reviled.
XXIII. URIEL III MANTIARCO or THE CINDER-KING
Of all men and women who held the vaunted title, Emperor of Tamriel, none were unworthy as Uriel III (save the Expunged Reman). Only for the sake of completeness will his life and deeds be tallied here.
Mantiarco, under the tutelage of his mother, the cursed Wolf-Queen of Solitude, had engineered the petty kings of High Rock and northern Morrowind to rise in rebellion against Imperial authority. With the Legion's strength now divided, Mantiarco set his mercenary armies against the sacred Imperial City itself, against the very heart of the Empire. The Legion was in disarray, the Empress missing, and in but a fortnight the City's sheer white walls were broken, its red shores defiled. Uriel Mantiarco usurped the throne, crowning himself Uriel Septim III, though he has no right to that name.
This heresy would not stand. The coronation of Uriel Mantiarco was defied by both brothers of the traitor Potema, Cephorus Septim, the king of Gilane and Magnus Septim, the king of Wayrestm neither of these noble lords sharing Potema's innate pull to misrule and madness. For six years they battled the forces of the traitor Mantiarco across the whole of northern Tamriel, until the fate of the Empire was decided by a twofold battle in 3E 317. The brothers Septim had devised a brilliant military campaign, which had divided the armies of the Mantiarcos across Hammerfell and Skyrim, and cut off the weak Uriel III from the tutelage of his more intelligent and warlike mother. In the Battle of Ichidag, Hammerfell, a cornered Uriel III faced the armies of Cephorus, consisting of the defectors of the Ninth Legion and his loyal Redguards subjects. Uriel III proved himself an inept tactician, and was captured a few hours into the battle. He was sent to Gilane, but when news of his capture spread, the common people rose up in righteous anger, overwhelmed his battle-weary keepers, and burned Uriel III alive in his carriage. This, the fate of a traitor.
Simultaneously, Queen Potema was engaged in her own struggle against King Magnus, who had taken shelter in the ruins of Kogmenthist Castle near the Nordic city of Falconstar. Potema being a more apt tactician, the battle went well, and when the news of her son's death reached her ears she was infused by such rage and madness than she took to the field herself, forcing Magnus into a hasty and painful retreat. Potema then retreated to her stronghold of Solitude, where for ten years still she degraded herself and her subjects with the blackest arts of necromancy, vampirism and Daedra trafficking, in a futile attempt to keep the judgment of the Emperor and the Divines at bay.
XXIV. CEPHORUS I SEPTIM
With the death of Uriel III and the disgrace of Potema, the throne fell to Cephorus, third child of Pelagius II. So was crowned Cephorus I, who had won his right to rule through blood and ruthless war, and would know nothing but war his entire reign. The Empire was in utter chaos, with dissidents spreading lies here and there, the misled supporters of Uriel III continuing their blind opposition, and the Wolf-Queen herself launching endless attacks on the righteous ruler of Tamriel, gradually descending into the use of dark and dishonorable tactics. Cephorus I was ever a kind and intelligent man, who could speak with beauty on all subjects of poetry, philosophy and theology, but in the hours of his time he was thus reforged into a ruthless general and a leader of men, perhaps one of the greatest warriors the Septim line ever knew.
It is said that Emperor Cephorus I took the blackened bones of his fallen opponent, Uriel III, with him to the Imperial City, and there exhibited them to the Elder Council, attesting to his absolute victory and ruthlessness in battle. Hereafter he let these bones be locked in a lead coffin and thrown into the inner depths of the Imperial Palace, fearful as he was that Potema would use her necromantic powers on the remnants of her own kin next. Cunningly, this also insured him the support of his Nibenese subjects, who loathed their erstwhile usurper and the defiler of their holy city, and where convinced by local superstition that Uriel III's soul would thus be held by the roots of White-Gold Tower, never to flow downstream to rejoin the Circle of Arkay.
XXV. MAGNUS I SEPTIM
In 3E 340, Emperor Cephorus I died of old age. As his life of struggle had left no time for marriage or the raising of a suitable heir, the throne now fell to Magnus I. He was almost as old as his brother, but his bloodline was strong and fit to continue. Magnus I ruled only five years, but in his time he returned peace and stability to the finally subjugated northernly kingdom of Solitude, helping to erase the mark of Potema from the mind of its citizenry. With the more warlike of the dissidents finally subjugated by his predecessor's campaigns, Magnus I was free to pacify the few remaining points of opposition in more kindly ways, and brought about peace and stability in his Empire. His legacy, then, is the final defeat of the Mantiarco insurrection, and the continuing reign of the Septims.