Rislav the Righteous Content . Like all true heroes , Rislav Larich had inauspicious beginnings . We are told by chroniclers that the springtide night in the 448th year of the first era on which he was born was unseasonably cold , and that his mother Queen Lynada died very shortly after setting eyes upon her son . If he were much beloved of his father , King Mhorus of Skingrad , who already had plenty of heirs , three sons and four daughters before him , the chroniclers make no mention of it . His existence was so very undistinguished that we hear virtually nothing of him for the first twenty years of his life . His schooling , we can suppose , was similar to that of any " spare prince " in the Colovian West , with Ayleid tutors to teach him the ways of hunting and battle . Etiquette , religious instruction , and even basic statecraft were seldom a part of the training of a prince of the Highlands , as it was in the more civilized valley of Nibenay . There is a brief reference to him , together with his family , as part of the rolls of honor during the coronation of the Emperor Gorieus on the 23rd of Sun ' s Dawn 1E 461 . The ceremony , of course , held during the time of the Alessian Doctrines of Marukh , and so was without entertainment , but the thirteen - year - old Rislav was still witness to some of the greatest figures of legend . The Beast of Anequina , Darloc Brae , represented his kingdom , giving honor to the Empire . The Chieftain of Skyrim Kjoric the White and his son Hoag were in attendance . And despite the Empire ' s intolerance of all elves , Chimer Indoril Nerevar and Dwemer Dumac Dwarfking were evidently there as well , diplomatically representing Resdayn , all in relative peace . Also mentioned on the rolls was a young mer in service to the Imperial court of High Rock , who was to have a great history with Rislav . Ryain Direnni . Whether the two young men of about the same age met and conversed is entirely the stuff of historian ' s fancy . Ryain is spoken of in praising words as a powerful land - owner , eventually buying the island of Balfiera in the Iliac Bay and gradually conquering all of High Rock and large parts of Hammerfell and Skyrim , but Rislav is not heard of again in history ' s books for another seventeen years . We can only offer supposition based on the facts that follow . Children of kings are , of course , married to the children of other kings to bind alliances . The kingdoms of Skingrad and Kvatch skirmished over common territory throughout the fifth century , until they reached a peace in the year 472 . The details of this accord are not recorded , but since we know that Prince Rislav was in the court of Kvatch six years later , as husband to Belene , the daughter of King Justinius , it is fair to make an educated guess that they were married then to make peace . This brings us to the year 478 when a great plague swept through all of Cyrodiil and seemed particularly concentrated in the independent Colovian West . Among the victims were King Mhorus and the rest of the entire royal family in Skingrad . Rislav ' s only surviving elder brother , Dorald , survived , being in the Imperial City as a priest of Marukh . He returned to his homeland to assume the throne . Of Dorald , we have some history . The King ' s second son , he was slightly simple - minded and evidently very pious . All the chroniclers spoke of his sweetness and decency , how he saw a vision in his early years that brought him - with his father ' s blessing - from Skingrad to the Imperial City and the priesthood . The priesthood of Marukh , of course , saw no difference between spiritual and political matters . It was the religion of the Alessian Empire , and it taught that to resist the Emperor was to resist the Gods . Given that , it is scarcely a surprise what Dorald did when he became King of the independent kingdom of Skingrad . His first edict , on his very first day , was to cede the kingdom to the Empire . The reaction throughout the Colovian Estates was shock and outrage , nowhere more so than in the court of Kvatch . Rislav Larich , we are told , rode forth to his brother ' s kingdom , together with his wife and two dozen of his father - in - law ' s cavalry . It was surely not an impressive army , no matter how the chroniclers embellish it , but they had little trouble defeating all the guards Dorald sent to stop them . In truth , there was no actual battling , for the soldiers of Skingrad resented their new king ' s decision to give up their autonomy . The brothers faced one another in the castle courtyard where they had grown up . In typical Colovian fashion , there was no trial , no accusations of treason , no jury , no judge . Only an executioner . " Thou art no brother of mine , " Rislav Larich said , and struck Dorald ' s head from his shoulders in one blow . He was crowned King of Skingrad still holding the same bloody axe in his arms . If King Rislav had no battle experience beforehand , that was shortly to change . Word spread quickly to the Imperial City that Skingrad , once offered , was now being taken back . Gorieus was an accomplished warrior even before taking the throne , and the seventeen years he had as Emperor were scarcely peaceful . Only eight months before Dorald ' s assassination and Rislav ' s ascendancy , Gorieus and the Alessian army had faced another of his coronation guests , Kjoric the White , on the fields of the frozen north . The High Chieftain of Skyrim lost his life in the Battle of Sungard . While the pact of chieftains was selecting a new leader , Cyrodiil was busily grabbing back the land of southern Skyrim that it had lost . In short , Emperor Gorieus knew how to deal with rebellious vassals . The Alessian army poured westward " like a flood of death , " to borrow the chronicler ' s phrase , in numbers far exceeding what would be required to conquer Skingrad . Gorieus could not have thought actual battle was likely . Rislav , as we said , had little to no experience at warfare , and only a few days ' practice at kingcraft . His kingdom and all of the Colovian West had just been ravaged by plague . The Alessians anticipated that a mere show of arms , and a surrender . Rislav instead prepared for battle . He quickly inspected his troops and drew up plans . The chroniclers who had heretofore ignored the life of Rislav now devote verse after verse describing the king ' s aspect with fetishistic delight . While it may lack literary merit and taste , we are at least given some details at last . Not surprisingly , the king wore the finest armor of his era , as the Colovian Estates then had the finest leathersmiths - the only type of armor available - in all of Tamriel . The king ' s klibanion mail , boiled and waxed for hardness , and studded with inch - long spikes , was a rich chestnut red , and he wore it over his black tunic but under his black cloak . The statue of Rislav the Righteous which now stands in Skingrad is a romanticized version of king , but not inaccurate except in the armor represented . No bard of the Colovian West would have gone to the market so lightly protected . But it does , as we will see , include the most important accouterments of Rislav : his trained hawk and his fast horse . The winter rains had washed through the roads to the south , sending much of the West Weald spilling into Valenwood . The Emperor took the northern route , and King Rislav with a small patrol of guards met him at a low pass on what is now the Gold Road . The Emperor ' s army , it is said , was so large that the Beast of Anequina could hear its march from hundreds of miles away , and despite himself , the chroniclers say , he quaked in fear . Rislav , it was said , did not quake . With perfect politeness , he told the Emperor that his party was too large to be accommodated in the tiny kingdom of Skingrad . " Next time , " Rislav said . " Write before you come . " The Emperor was , like most Alessian Emperors , not a man of great humor , and he thought Rislav touched by Sheogorath . He ordered his personal guards to arrest the poor madman , but at that moment , the King of Skingrad raised his arm and sent his hawk flying into the sky . It was a signal his army had been waiting for . The Alessian were all within the pass and the range of their arrows . King Rislav and his guard began riding westward as fast as if they had been " kissed by wild Kynareth , " as the chroniclers said . He did not dare to look behind him , but his plan went faultlessly . The far eastern end of the pass was sealed by rolling boulders , giving the Alessian no direction to go but westward . The Skingrad archers rained arrows down upon the Imperial army from far above on the plateaus , remaining safe from reprisal . The furious Emperor Gorieus chased Rislav from the Weald to the Highlands , leaving Skingrad far behind , all the while his army growing steadily smaller and smaller . In the ancient Highland forest , the Imperial army met the army of Rislav ' s father - in - law , the King of Kvatch . The Alessian army likely still outnumbered their opponents , but they were exhausted and their morale had been obliterated by the chase amid a sea of arrows . After an hour ' s battle , they retreated north into what is now the Imperial Reserve , and from there , further north and east , to slip back to nurse their wounds and pride in Nibenay . It was the beginning of the end of the Alessian hegemony . The Kings of the Colovian West joined with Kvatch and Skingrad to resist Imperial incursions . The Clan Direnni under Ryain was inspired to outlaw the religion of the Alessian Reform throughout his lands in High Rock , and began pushing into Imperial territories . The new High Chief of Skyrim , Hoag , now called Hoag Merkiller , though sharing the Emperor ' s official xenophobia , also joined the resistance . His heir , King Ysmir Wulfharth of Atmora , helped continue the struggle upon Hoag ' s death in battle , and also insured his place in history . The heroic King of Skingrad , who faced the Emperor ' s army virtually alone , and triggered its end , justly deserves his sobriquet of Rislav the Righteous .