Lore:Clivia Tharn

Clivia Tharn was the ruler of the Empire of Cyrodiil during the Interregnum. A member of the prominent   family, born to   and his seventh wife, Pulasia,  and Abnur's sixteenth daughter overall.  She was also the widow of former Emperors Leovic and Varen Aquilarios. Abnur had plans for her first child to inherit the throne,  but by the time of the Alliance War she was "comfortably lodged in Mannimarco's pocket",  and had disappeared from the public eye months before the Planemeld.  
When she was 7-years-old, Clivia played a game of Imperial War-Chess with her younger relative Euraxia and played an illegal move. Outraged, Euraxia taunted her by saying that she would one day be queen of Rimmen, but Clivia remained unimpressed, stating she would be the Empress. Her sister Septima noted that while she lacked instinctive prowess in the magical and political arts, Abnur groomed her for the Ruby Throne because she had an innate ability to command others, and they would have no choice but to follow.  She married   of the  , and served as his consort. When Leovic was overthrown and killed in a violent   for legalizing   worship in the  , his usurper, Duke   of  , wed Clivia to consolidate his rule.  When the   embarked on a journey to locate the  , Abnur sent Clivia a letter instructing her to oversee the Elder Council in his absence and saying that if Mannimarco's plan to relight the Dragonfires worked, her first child would inherit the whole of Tamriel. 

In  , Varen mysteriously disappeared during a calamity known as the  , and Clivia was quickly declared Empress Regent of the Empire in his stead. This aroused widespread suspicions that Clivia and her father were responsible for Varen's disappearance, though it unbeknownst to even Clivia it was Mannimarco's doing. Mannimarco, who had orchestrated the Soulburst, became the power behind the Ruby Throne, turning Clivia to worship   and manipulating her into expelling the   from the   so that his   could operate freely.     When the three alliances invaded Cyrodiil in  , they gained control of the keeps around the Imperial City, with one occasionally gaining ephemeral supremacy and choosing an Emperor from its own ranks. However, as none of the alliances were able to take the Imperial City, Clivia continued to rule. This lasted until a dark anchor opened over the Imperial City, heralding a Daedric invasion which quickly overran the Imperial forces, and resulting in the deaths and capture of many of its citizens who were unable to escape.

While absent from the Elder Council meeting at the start of the invasion,  she was in charge of commanding troop movements, though her nonsensical orders for General Velarius suggest she was being impersonated even at the time.  Elder Councilor Itinia had not seen Empress Clivia for months even before the anchors fell, and had not seen her after.  As of  , Clivia's fate is unknown; she is not among the known survivors of the Daedric invasion of the Imperial City, and one of Molag Bal's servants, Molag Kena, impersonated her to gain access to the   in order to carry out the " " ritual.  It is unclear how long Kena had been impersonating Clivia. 
 

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Notes
Though Septima says Clivia was the sister of both her and Euraxia,  Abnur states that Septima is his grand-niece/third cousin and Euraxia is his half-sister. 
See Also
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