 The Line of Emperors VIII |
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A COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY
into the
LINE of SUCESSION [sic]
of the
EMPERORS of CYRODIIL
By the will of Emperor Pelagius IV, I, Tyr Ymanwe, have been given the task of presenting to the discerning public a full and unbiased account of the Line of Emperors, that all may be made aware of the history of Empire, and that the piety, strength, courage, and wisdom of the Rulers of Man be an example to all citizens. In this I succeed my master, Jaume Abtacil, who passed away before the completion of the great work for which he was commissioned. This book is dedicated to him, too, that I may always work in the tradition of excellent scholarship, as he has taught me.
XXVI. PELAGIUS III SEPTIM or THE MAD
Much has been written of Thoriz Pelagius Septim, the Emperor often maligned as Pelagius the Mad. The reality of his illness cannot be denied, nor can the simple fact that he was in truth not fit to reign, noble blood notwithstanding. Were it not for the insurrection of the Mantiarcos, the Imperial line would have continued by the blessed Kintyra II, full of life and promise, and Pelagius III would never have been near the White-Gold Throne. So the plans of the Divines, graceful and providential, are often crossed by the wickedness of men, who aspire only to the betterment of their selves and care not for the good of the Empire. Indeed, it should come as no surprise that the withered branch of Pelagius III was to carry no good fruit, and the true line of the Septims will continue by a different path before long. Still, the successors of Pelagius III were Emperors in their own right, and though their faults were many, it would be unwise to dismiss them outright.
Emperor Pelagius III assumed the White-Gold Throne in 3E 145, after ruling both as King of Solitude and as High King of Skyrim. He was at this time already married to the Katariah Ra'athim, the Dunmeri Duchess of Vvardenfell, a marriage orchestrated by his father Magnus I to placate the rebellious Dunmeri warlords. By virtue of Katariah's diplomatic temperament she was made Empress Regent when the Emperor's sickness deteriorated beyond his capacity to fulfill his duties. The Emperor was relegated to a life in the country, where healers and priests attended him until his death in 1E 153.
XXVII. KATARIAH I
As Katariah Ra'athim had adequately governed the Empire during her husband's long deterioration, she was affirmed by the Elder Council in her full regency: an arrangement inspired by the reign of Emperor Kastav during the Remanite dynasty. This decision was rightly contested, as the Dunmeri upstart was utterly foreign to Imperial morals and society, and proved unwilling to adjust. While the official record naturally makes no mention of it, there are enough anecdotes of Katariah's strange and scandalous behavior to affirm that she was unsuited to life among the crown of Imperial nobility. It should come as no surprise that Empress Katariah I avoided the Imperial court, where she was scorned, and instead sought the company of the people and the lowly provincial rulers.
If Empress Katariah I's reign is remembered as a good and joyful time, this is likely the result of her acute diplomatic skills and frequent sojourns among the provinces. For her stewardship, she must be commended. Of course, the period preceding her was plagued by civil war, sickness and rebellion, so the peace of Katariah's time would have seemed a respite even if her rule had been a mediocre one. Regardless of her skills in governance or the people's love for her, Cyrodiil is not one to suffer a foreign hand for long, nor will it truly prosper under one. Katariah's death, caused by a bandit attack during an ill-timed visit to the province of Black Marsh, should come as no surprise.
I hereby wish to warn the reader against a fraudulent account of the death of Katariah by the hand of the scholar Montalius, whose rumormongering and false accusations against families of great stature should by discounted and avoided at all costs.
XXVIII. CASSYNDER SEPTIM
Little can be said of the rule of Cassynder Septim, which lasted only from 3E 200 to 3E 202. Cassynder, having lived through the reign of his father and his long-lived Elven mother, was already of advanced age when the throne fell to him. Suffering from the debilitating conditions so often encountered among people of half blood, Cassynder at first was unwilling to accept the responsibilities of leadership, but was at last convinced by those loyalists who insisted on the continuation of the true bloodline of Tiber Septim. The demands of governance took a further heavy toll on the Emperor's health, until even the weight of the Amulet of Kings proved too much for him to bear.
XXIX. URIEL IV LARIAT or THE ILLICIT
Emperor Uriel Lariat was to be the last of this line of steward-Emperors, whose claim to the blood of Septim was often weak or nonexistent. They maintained the Empire, but did not truly rule it as an Emperor might, and were ultimately detrimental to its virtue and glory. Of these, Emperor Uriel IV's claim to the throne was by far the weakest, barely more legitimate than that of an Interregnum pretender.
Uriel Lariat, son of Empress Katariah I and a Breton consort of hers named Gallivere Lariat, was adopted into the true Septim line by Emperor Cassynder - a simple technicality, to allow Uriel the rule over the kingdom of Wayrest while his half-brother was indisposed. Cassynder was then called upon to fulfill his duty as Emperor, and when he later fell to his responsibilities, Lariat's adoption proved enough to claim the throne. Uriel IV thus had not a drop of Septim blood in his veins, a fact which offended both the low people and the noble members of the Elder Council. Uriel IV's reign was thus inhibited by a certain recalcitrance, the nature of which lied with the monarch, not his subjects.