Slaying a Romance

f all the many great deeds of the ruling family of the Medes, none stands out so much as the tale of Titus Mede's legendary single-handed conquest of Cyrodiil. And what a pretty little legend it is! So filled with drama and sudden reversals of fortune, it must surely be unique among episodes of history in being so fit for adaptation for the stage! Is not such a thing just a little suspicious, and might there not be a possibility that it might lead a reasonable man or mer to suspect it might share with the theatrical productions it so resembles a common fictional basis?

After all, it is not as if the early Medes lack a reputation for (let us be polite) embellishing certain details of their lives? I surely have no need to remind anyone of the puerile fantasies which Titus' propagandists wrote about his son Attrebus, a man who, as an adult, had far more sense than his father and wisely disavowed such myths in favour of real deeds, quietly suppressing the fictional tales of his youth slowly and without drawing undue attention. Those few that survived his diligence hold up better today as comedy than as mythology!

But of course the myth of Titus Mede's conquest of Cyrodiil cannot be discarded so easily and without embarrassment. It is the foundation stone of the dynasty, the ongoing justification for the legitimacy of their rule, that Titus Mede rose from nowhere to sweep aside all disorder and unify Cyrodiil, saving it from tyranny, famine and banditry (not to mention insidious foreign enemies) and ushering in a new era of peace and liberty? Is this not the story which every child in the Empire is told until they can repeat it by heart? Are we not reminded by the Primates every Sundas to thank the Divines for sending Titus to save us?

It is curious, therefore, that this story does not mention some very interesting details about Titus Mede. Details which are matters of public knowledge, and yet which for some reason are never spoken of. The legend does not mention who Titus was actually working for when he began his conquest of Colovia (let us just say that given our current diplomatic situation, it could be rather embarrassing). It does not mention the two Sieges of  . It does not mention the real identity of Attrebus' mother (again, very embarrassing - did the Medes think that we would somehow forget he needed one?). It does not mention the Concord that was signed with the Burghers of  . It does not mention the indignities that he had to suffer to please the Old Monster of  , before that beast would consent to let him cross the bridge to its fortress. It does not mention the student uprising in the Arcane University two days before he entered the Capital. It does not mention the fate of Ousias Marcopitas. Who is that, you may ask? Why, only the last Chancellor of the Empire before the coronation of Titus Mede. Strange, is it not, considering he was such a powerful man, that so few references to his name can be found today?

But please do not take my word for it. Read for yourself. The evidences are there for all who have the wits to see, in the County Record Halls of Kvatch, in the recently published correspondence of the first Procurator of the  , in the many pamphlets copied from stolen records by the Temple Zero Society, even in the collated Public Minutes of the Elder Council (how on Nirn did your goons forget to censor that, Titus?) The more you search, the more inconsistencies I guarantee you shall find. Should it not concern all of us that the foundational myth of our ruling dynasty, the justification and sanctification of that rule, may be built upon a pack of lies?