Pocket Guide to the Empire , Third Edition : Eras Pocket Guide to the Empire , Third Edition Author : Imperial Geographic Society What follows is only a brief overview of what has preceded this time , for those who lack even a basic knowledge of the prehistory and history of Tamriel . Those who find their appetites whetted will be no doubt avail themselves of the many fine works of history in the libraries and bookshops of the Empire . Content . The Elder Wilds . History , of course , begins with creation . Sadly , all the objectivity and solid evidence we require of other events in our records must be dismissed at this early point . Within each province , each culture , each religion , each family there exists a different understanding of how this world came to be . It defines us , this belief in where we came from , and the Imperial Geographic Society prefers to leave that to you , gentle reader . That said , one persistent story that is accepted by many cultures is that as the world congealed into reality , the Gods made a great tower to discuss how best to proceed with the making of Mundus . The physical , temporal , spiritual , and magical elements of Nirn were set at this Convention , and the tower itself remained behind even as some of the Gods disappeared into Aetherius . Today it is the Adamantine Tower on the little island of Balfiera between High Rock and Hammerfell in the Iliac Bay . That such a humanoid structure remains the sole footprint of the Aedra speaks perhaps of the essentially mortal nature of our world . It is generally understood that neither proto - elves , or Aldmer , nor the proto - men , or Nedics , lived in Tamriel during the earliest years of creation . The Hist trees of Black Marsh , most say , were the original life forms on our continent , followed by the progenitors of the modern Khajiit , the modern Argonian , the modern Sload , the modern Dreugh , and other " beast folk , " some now gone our land , some so shy or rare that their presence is seldom detected . In what historian called the Merethic ( or Mythic ) Era , the years before formal historical reckoning , the Aldmer came to Tamriel from the legendary mysterious land called Old Ehlnofey or Aldmeris . They settled in Summerset Isle , and then began to spread out eastward . The Nedic people meanwhile came from the frozen land of Atmora to the north to what is today Skyrim . Where elves and men met , inevitably , there was hostility . The Aldmer changed over time culturally according to their new environments , being at first temperamentally and then physically very distinct " races " separate from one another . The ones who stayed in Summerset became known as the Altmer ; in Valenwood , Bosmer ; in Morrowind , Chimer and Dwemer ; in Cyrodiil , Ayleid ; and in High Rock , a mix between Nedic and Aldmer birthed the Breton s . The Orsimer or Orcs were also created at this time ; Altmer warped by the destruction of their leader Trinimac , who it is said became the Daedra Prince Malacath . This disparate chorus may have been crafted consciously by the Daedra or by the shifts of the earthbones , but the reason why is not necessary for this history . Change they did . The First Era . We begin counting time forward at the founding of the Camoran Dynasty in Valenwood . It is perhaps an arbitrary starting date , but Dynasty ( discussed in the section on Valenwood below ) and King Eplear himself were visionaries of the civilizations to come . In the center of Tamriel , the Ayleid s were creating an empire of their own with Cyrodilic slaves ; while to the north , the Nord s began to unite into a common whole that was to be called Skyrim . The Nordic influence on their southern cousins was equally dramatic , inspiring the Cyrodiils to revolt against their Ayleid masters , under the banner of Alessia , former slave turned queen . The Alessian Empire of Cyrodiil was born in 1E 243 . The expansionist Nord also harried the kingdoms of the Dwemer and Chimer in Resdayn , which is today called Morrowind . Eventually , in response , the embattled clans formed their own alliance with the Dwemer king Dumac and the Chimer king Nerevar ruling jointly in 1E 416 . In a few hundred years , however , the alliance between Dwemer and Chimer disintegrated into bloody battle , the War of the First Council . The aftermath of the war is legendary : the Dwemer were vanquished into extinction , and the Chimer were transformed into the red - eyed dark - skinned Dunmer . Together with the Nords , the Alessians turned their eyes west towards the fertile land of High Rock , ruled by the hated elves . For much of the First Era , the west was disputed land , until the Bretons rose as the empires , too extended , fell back . The Ra Gada , or " Warrior Wave , " from Yokuda arrived in Volenfell to the west in 1E 808 , conquering the land and renaming it Hammerfell . Once settled , the Ra Gada , or Redguard s , joined with the Breton kingdoms in destroying an empire in its infancy , the Orcish homeland of Orsinium . As the various Tamrielic cultures battled one another , there were threats beyond its shores . The Thrassian Plague from the Sloads washed over the land , decimating the population from coast to coast . The Tsaesci of Akavir preferred a more straightforward attack , invading Tamriel in 1E 2703 , only to be defeated by the Cyrodilic emperor Reman I . The death of the Emperor Reman III in 1E 2920 left the Cyrodilic Empire with no heirs . The reigns of power were ably taken up by Reman ' s Akaviri chancellor , whose ancestors had entered the Imperial service after their defeat by Reman I . Thus began the line of Akaviri Potentate s at the opening of the Second Era , who continued to rule the Cyrodilic Empire until its demise more that four centuries later . The Second Era . The Cyrodilic Empire continued to be a force of great power for the first four hundred and thirty years under the rule of the Akaviri Potentates . Though alien to our culture , they established some of the great traditions of our land , granting charters to organizations such as Mages and Fighters Guild s . Another sign of peace and prosperity occurred in the year 2E 309 , when Elsweyr was created by the unison of two Khajiit tribelands , Anequina and Pellitine . When the last Potentate , Savirien - Chorak , was assassinated in 2E 430 , leaving no heirs , the great Empire was finally destroyed . Black Marsh forcibly split from the lands of men , as the Knahaten Plague made the land uninhabitable by all but the Argonians themselves . Akavir once again invaded Tamriel , barely rebuffed after attacking Morrowind in 2E 572 . From one end of the continent to the other , war and rebellion struck at the heart of every great tradition of the land . The first sign of reunification occurred in the west . The Altmer of Summerset , long concerned with their own wars with other island kingdoms , allied with Valenwood to form the Aldmeri Dominion for their common good . Still greater , however , was the force that rose from the ancient seat of emperors , Cyrodiil . A great general , Talos , liegeless after his lord ' s assassination , began his career as the greatest conqueror in the history of the land . Better known by his Cyrodilic name , Tiber Septim and his armies conquered all of Tamriel , creating the Empire that bears name even today , and ushering in the Third Era . The Third Era . For thirty - eight years , the Emperor Tiber Septim reigned , bequeathing the throne of Tamriel to his grandson Pelagius on his deathbed . The Septim family , occasionally inclusive of adopted and married members , has ruled ever since . Within a few generations , however , the family had begun to develop rivalries and jealousies which exploded into a civil war in the year 3E 120 . The War of the Red Diamond ended with the death of Uriel III and his mother Queen Potema of Solitude , but its reverberations may still be felt today . The unity of Empire was never again to be assumed . The Emperors who followed , such as the Sheogorath - kissed Pelagius Septim II , yielded to the authority of the Elder Council to keep some semblance of order in the land . It was only too evident what occurred when the Empire was without a strong leader . In the most horrible example , the people of Valenwood , the Colovian West , and Hammerfell suffered under the depredations of the Camoran Usurper , who ravaged their land with unded and Daedric hordes for nearly twenty years before his defeat in 3E 267 . Beginning with the Empress Morihatha , however , the rulers of Tamriel have been extraordinarily strong and capable . This has not meant that the last one hundred and twenty years have been the most peaceful in Tamriel ' s history , utterly devoid of bloodshed , merely that the wars and troubles of our recent past are a pale imitation of what has occurred before . The most famous trouble of recent years came early in the reign of our current emperor , Uriel Septim VII . By wile and sorcery , his trusted battlemage Jagar Tharn imprisoned and impersonated his liege . The ten years that Tharn reigned , the so - called Imperial Simulacrum , was a time when old troubles resurfaced , forgotten grudges rekindled , and wars flared throughout the land . In the east , Morrowind attacked Black Marsh in the Arnesian War ; in the north , Skyrim battled High Rock and Hammerfell in the War of Bend ' r - Mahk ; in the south , Elsweyr took arms against Valenwood in the Five Year War ; in the west , Valenwood also lost land to its old ally Summerset in the War of the Blue Divide . Yet all these troubles , and the even more recent bizarre circumstances in the Iliac Bay and Morrowind paint only a picture with blood . In the year 3E 432 , the year of this Guide ' s publication , the Empire stands strong and united . In the chapters that follow , a more detailed portrait of the history and current events of each Province is presented .