Pocket Guide to the Empire , First Edition : Cyrodiil Cyrodilic history truly begins by the middle of the Alessian Reformation ( see sidebar , Alessian Order ) , when civilization and cultivation had allowed the region to emerge as a discernible Tamrielic power . Its culture and military strength centered in the sacred Nibenay Valley , a grassland expanse with a vast lake at its heart . Several small islands rose from this lake , and the capital city sprawled across them , crisscrossed with bridges and gondola ferries . Rivers connected the city - state to both its profitable outlying territories and the friendly inland ports of Skyrim and Pellitine . Rice and textiles were its main exports , along with more esoteric treasure - goods , such as hide armor , Moon sugar , and ancestor - silk . The sheer size of Cyrodiil ' s physical theater , and frequent intervals of Elven tyranny , made its unification as a whole a slow and oft - interrupted process . At the height of Alessian influence , its western arm enjoyed a brief autonomy as the Colovian Estates , a demarcation that still colors an outsider ' s view of the Empire today ; often , Cyrodiil has two faces , East and West , and any discussion of its later social history must first be tempered with a summary of this early divergence . Traditionally , the East is regarded as the region ' s soul : magnanimous , tolerant , and administrative . It was in the rain forests of the Nibenay Valley that the original Cyro - Nordic tribes , the Nibenese , learned a self - reliance that separated them culturally and economically from Skyrim . . By the time the Alessian Doctrines filtered down from the north along the river trade ways , these mages had become the ruling aristocracy . They were quickly superseded by the Alessian priesthood , whose inexplicably charismatic religion found purchase in the lower classes . The traditional Nordic pantheon of Eight Divines was replaced by a baroque veneration of ancestor spirits and god - animals , practices encouraged by the mutable - yet - monotheistic doctrines of the Alessian faith . The doctrines eventually codified nearly every aspect of Eastern culture . Restrictions against certain kinds of meat - eating , coupled with the sentiments of the blossoming animal cults , soon made agriculture and husbandry nearly impossible . Thus , many of the Eastern Cyrodiils were forced to become merchants , which , over time , allowed the Nibenay Valley to become the wealthiest city - state in the region . Yet , under Alessian rule , no matter how rich or powerful the merchant class became it was still a tenanted citizenry , and the tithes they were forced to pay the priesthood were constant reminders of the state ' s true masters . The West is respected as Cyrodiil ' s iron hand : firm , unwavering , and ever - vigilant . The Cyro - Nords that settled it had relinquished the fertile Nibenay Valley long ago , determined to conquer the frontier . Their primitive ferocity was disinclined to magic or the need for industry , preferring bloody engagement and plunder instead . After they had captured the Nedic port - cities of the Strident coast , the Westerners embarked on a mastery of the sea . Their earliest voyages took them as far as the Iliac Bay and the Cape of the Blue Divide , whose ports they annually raided until the ( then ) superior Yokudan navies arrived , ca . 1E810 . By the time of the Alessian Reformation , the Westerners were firmly in a position , both geographically and socially , to resist its doctrines . Hammerfell , its northern border state , was now protected by its own holy - avenging order , the Ra Gada , whose bloody intolerance for foreigners acted as West Cyrodiil ' s buffer against the Alessian priesthood . The pantheon of Eight Divines , therefore , survived unchecked in Western Cyrodiil , and relations with the increasingly Alessian East became strained . Ultimately , the West isolated itself from the theocratic hegemony of the Nibenay Valley , establishing an autonomous government , the Colovian Estates . Things persisted in this vein until the Thrassian Plague of 1E2200 ( see ) , which decimated more than half of Tamriel ' s population , particularly the western coastlands closest to Thras . After Bendu Olo , the Colovian king of Anvil , led the All Flags Navy to victory over the slugfolk of Thras , the glory of the Cyrodilic people became known throughout the world . The Colovian Estates began to overshadow the richer , more populous East then , which eventually lead to the War of Righteousness that ended Alessian rule . Control of the Nibenay Valley reverted to a mercantile - magocracy that was still far too arcane for Western tastes to entertain a reunification of Cyrodiil . Four hundred years would pass before that would happen , when Reman I , another proud son of the West , rallied the Valley ' s army to join his own and fight the Akaviri Invasion of 1E2703 . The Cyrodilic forces engaged the Akaviri in every region of the north , eliciting their surrender at last in the Pale Pass of Skyrim . By war ' s end , the Cyrodiils found themselves not only united as a nation , but , too , responsible for the further protection of the northern human kingdoms at large . When the Elves of the Summerset Isles took umbrage at what they perceived as a renewed human imperialism , Reman was forced to prove them right . In order to the already weakened northern kingdoms , he offered the captive Akaviri Horde amnesty in his future dominions if they would serve as the nucleus of the Army of the Second Empire of Men . Reman ' s own dynasty lasted for two hundred years , and in that span it conquered all the kingdoms of Tamriel except for Morrowind . Indeed , the Dark Elven Morag Tong were the doom of Reman ' s heirs , and the death of the last true Cyrodilic Emperor heralded the beginning of the Common Era . The Cyrodilic Empire endured for another four hundred years under the auspices of the Akaviri Potentate ( see sidebar , The Second Empire ) , fell , and suffered a similar span of years in the insurrections , misrules , and loss of power known as the Interregnum . Yet , the remnants of the Cyrodilic Empire refused to die , even though both East and West had become fragmented beyond measure . A petty king of the Colovian Estates , Cuhlecain , came to power and appointed an Atmora n as General of his legions . General Talos had studied in Skyrim , and used the thu ' um . He could rout armies with his battle - cry and shout lesser men off their feet . A year later more than half of the Cyrodilic Empire was reclaimed or consolidated , and Cuhlecain saw fit to move into the Nibenay Valley , capture the capital city , and proclaim himself Emperor . By this point , High Rock and Skyrim , which bitterly opposed a return to Cyrodilic rule , gathered their armies for a joint invasion of the Colovian West . Talos met them on the field of Sancre Tor . The Nords that had come to cripple the Empire soon joined the General ' s forces , for when they heard his thu ' um they realized he was Skyrim ' s Son and the Heir to the Empires of Men . The Breton s were sent back to High Rock with tales of Cuhlecain ' s new General , where they decided to combat the Emperor ' s sorcery with their own . In CE854 , a nightblade from the Western Reach made his way to the Imperial Palace at Nibenay . There , the Witchman assassinated the Emperor , caught the Palace on fire , and slit the throat of General Talos . " But from the smoldering ruin he came , one hand to his neck and with Cuhlecain ' s Crown in the other . The legions wept at the sight . His Northern magic had saved him , but the voice that led them would be more silent from that night on . His word could no longer rout an army with a roar , but he could still command one with a whisper . He took for himself a Cyrodilic name , , and the Nordic Name of Kings , Ysmir , the Dragon of the North . And with those names he took , too , the Red Diamond Crown of the Cyrodiils , and became their True Emperor . " Thus was born the Third Empire of Men . Cyrodiil in the Third Empire is the young , vital embodiment of its ancient heritage . Internally , it has undergone an incredible restoration - - reconstruction of the ruined sections of the Imperial City is nearly complete , roads and cities destroyed in the Interregnum have been rebuilt , East and West are unified for the first time in four centuries . Cyrodiil ' s present stability and strength have not been seen since the Reman Dynasty ; indeed , they were born under similar circumstances - a Westerner winning the Eastern throne , forging them both into the greatest power in Tamriel . And now , in but twenty years time , Tiber Septim has secured Imperial authority in High Rock , Skyrim , and Hammerfell . Every human region stands with him against the Elven menace . The Emperor has gracefully attributed his success to his peoples , the Colovians and the Nibenese , whose cultures we shall now treat in their current incarnation . [ TRAVELER : " Colovian officers have traditionally been appointed as provincial governors to the human regions of the Empire , as these often need the most forthright of the Emperor ' s men . " ] By contrast , the Eastern people of Cyrodiil relish in garish costumes , bizarre tapestries , tattoos , brandings , and elaborate ceremony . Closer to the wellspring of civilization , they are more given to philosophy and the evolution of ancient traditions . The Nibenese find the numinous in everything around them , and their different cults are too numerous to mention ( the most famous are the Cult of the Ancestor - Moth , the Cult of Heroes , the Cult of Tiber Septim , and the Cult of Emperor Zero ) . To the Colovians , the ancestor worship and esoteric customs of the East can often be bizarre . Akaviri dragon - motifs are found in all quarters , from the high minaret bridges of the Imperial City to the paper hako skiffs that villagers use to wing their dead down the rivers . Thousands of workers ply the rice fields after the floodings , or clear the foliage of the surrounding jungle in the alternate seasons . Above them are the merchant - nobility , the temple priests and cult leaders , and the age - old aristocracy of the battlemages . The Emperor watches over them all from the towers of the Imperial City , as dragons circle overhead . Places of Note : . Indeed , if the history of the Nord s is the history of humans on Tamriel , then Cyrodiil is the throne from which they will decide their destiny . It is the largest region of the continent , and most is endless jungle . Its center , the grassland of the Nibenay Valley , is enclosed by an equatorial rain forest and broken up by rivers . As one travels south along these rivers , the more subtropical it becomes , until finally the land gives way to the swamps of Argonia and the placid waters of the Topal Bay . The elevation rises gradually to the west and sharply to the north . Between its western coast and its central valley there are all manner of deciduous forest and mangroves , becoming sparser towards the ocean . The western coast is a wet - dry area , and from Rihad border to Anvil to the northernmost Valenwood villages forest fires are common in summer . There are a few major roads to the west , river paths to the north , and even a canopy tunnel to the Velothi Mountains , but most of Cyrodiil is a river - based society surrounded by jungle . Refayj ' s famous declaration , " There is but one city in the Imperial Province , - - " may strike the citizens of the Colovian west as mildly insulting , until perhaps they hear the rest of the remark , which continues , " - - but one city in Tamriel , but one city in the World ; that , my brothers , is the city of the Cyrodiils . " From the shore it is hard to tell what is city and what is Palace , for it all rises from the islands of the lake towards the sky in a stretch of gold . Whole neighborhoods rest on the jeweled bridges that connect the islands together . Gondolas and river - ships sail along the watery avenues of its flooded lower dwellings . Moth - priests walk by in a cloud of ancestors ; House Guards hold exceptionally long daikatanas crossed at intersections , adorned with ribbons and dragon - flags ; and the newly arrived Western legionnaires sweat in the humid air . The river mouth is tainted red from the tinmi soil of the shore , and river dragons rust their hides in its waters . Across the lake the Imperial City continues , merging into the villages of the southern red river and ruins left from the Interregnum . The Emperor ' s Palace is a crown of sun rays , surrounded by his magical gardens . One garden path is known as Green Emperor Road - here , topiaries of the heads of past Emperors have been shaped by sorcery and can speak . When one must advise Tiber Septim , birds are drawn to the hedgery head , using their songs as its voice and moving its branches for the needed expressions . Annotations . Annotations by YR :