Pocket Guide to the Empire , Third Edition : Skyrim Content . Skyrim is the northern province of Tamriel , a land of breathtaking beauty and lethal winters . It is one of the ancient seats of power in the Empire and well - populated by the Nord s . As if to compensate for their freezing environment , the Nords are famously hot - blooded and the political climate can be as shifting and dangerous as the winds . History . Looking at virtually any vista in Skyrim , one is looking at the remains of a battlefield . The great Aedric cataclysms that brought Tamriel into existence in primeval times seems to have spent most of their fury in this northern land . Vast majestic mountain ranges form the spiny twisted backbone of the province and one can hear echoes of the early Nedic people ' s battle cries whistling in the winds of the valleys . Tradition has it that the first humans came to Tamriel from the continent of Atmora in ancient days . It was a not a single invasion but a series of them over hundreds of years , creating many different Nedic cultures , the new - arrived Atmoran s always clashing with the generations that had already established themselves . The region around Saarthal in the high northern coastal mountains exchanged hands many times , becoming more powerful and more permanent , like the Nords themselves , by adversity . In addition to fighting one another , the Nedic people faced off against a new enemy , the Aldmer . The struggles between the two - prototypical men and prototypical elves - continues in some form or another to this very day , as the Nedic people became the Nord s , Imperial s , and Breton s , and the Aldmer became the Ayleid , Altmer , Dwemer , Chimer , Dunmer , and Bosmer . Out of this time also rose one of the most legendary of all Tamrielic figures , Ysgramor , from whom all Nordic kings are descended . Spreading out from the north , Ysgramor ' s clan stretched its arms , proving that no ancient force was more fearsome than the Nords . In the 113th year of the First Era , the entirety of modern Skyrim was under the reign of King Harald , and still , it continued to expand . Leaving their snowy valleys and mountains , the Nords attacked the Dwemer of neighbouring Resdayn , the Altmer and Bretons of High Rock and lent aid to the rising slave rebellion in Cyrodiil which was to end the Ayleid rule of the south . In the centuries that followed , Skyrim expanded and contracted as battles were won and lost . Though Cyrodiil was considered a separate domain , the Nords and the early Imperials formed a loose alliance against their elven opponents , their cultures mixing together , creating the foundations of Aedric worship . Yet Skyrim remained the dominant human nation in Tamriel until it was torn apart by rivalries within the Ysgramor clan . As individual chieftains fought each other , Skyrim gradually lost her holdings in Morrowind and High Rock , and certain localities in Skyrim became independent kingdoms . For brief periods , one ruler has managed to unite all of Skyrim , but the Nord character is one essentially of conflict , and the confederacies never last . The Cyrodilic Empire and later the Septim Empire was able to take advantage of this tendency and recruit the warlike Nords to their side before they became a force of the opposition . In the third era , if Cyrodiil has been the heart of the Empire , Skyrim has been its strong arm . The greatest threat to the Empire ' s unity occurred in the 120th year , when the so - called Wolf Queen of Solitude , Potema , aunt of the Empress Kintyra , launched a rebellion that became a blood civil war . Though it was eventually quelled , the repercussions are evident to this day . There is a strong underground movement called the Horme that believes Potema and her deposed son of Uriel III to be the last of Tiber Septim ' s true blood and under that principle lead raids against Imperial interests in the province . Under the Imperial Simulacrum of Jagar Tharn , cold animosities between the kingdoms of Skyrim and their neighbors in High Rock and Hammerfell were fanned into the fire of war . Upon the true Emperor ' s return to his throne , this war ended , but not before Skyrim had reasserted itself on territory it had not held since the 1st Era . Current Events . The War of Bend ' r - Mahk increased the territory that is considered Skyrim considerably , allowing the Nordic counts to swallow up many miles of eastern High Rock and Hammerfell . Resistance by the Breton s and the Redguard s is feeble in the cities of Jehenna and Elinhir , and more active in the border zones of the countryside . The city - state of Dragonstar continues to be divided into western and eastern sections , walled off from one another , each with its own government , and each with an atmosphere of mistrust and fear . There are few days without an act of terror from one resistance group or another , though , so far little territory has changed hands since the days of the Imperial Simulacrum . Solitude , always one of the richest and most influential counties in Skyrim , has grown ever more powerful , controlling much of the northern coastline following King Thian ' s alliance by marriage with Macalla , the Queen of Dawnstar . It has sought to expand its influence further by annexing several former Imperial fiefs , such as the island of Roscrea , ruled directly by the Emperor since Uriel V conquered it in the 271st year . It has begun sponsoring exploratory missions even farther from the mainland into the misty waters of the Sea of Ghosts . Winterhold , Solitude ' s ancient rival , has also experienced a renaissance of power and influence . Refugees from Morrowind , far from burdening the eastern city , have brought with them new ideas , enriching her culture and stimulating its old mercantile spirit . Scholars from all over Tamriel have descended on the county since it became home to the Ysmir Collective , a library rescued from destruction in the east , and the cornerstone of academic life at the College of Winterhold . Hrothgar and Whiterun have not been as fortunate as their coastal northern cousins . A dynastic feud , attacks by Horme bandits and frost trolls , and a series of annihilating winters of alternating floods , droughts , and fires has crippled the area that was once considered the Imperial City of Skyrim . The population blamed and then curiously exalted the leader of the local witches ' coven , Jsashe , a self - proclaimed priestess of Lorkhan . The Witch - Queen of Whiterun , as she is called , now wields effective control of the county , though her magic has not brought it prosperity as of yet .