Military and Paramilitary Organizations and Orders of Tamriel: The Penitus Oculatus (Legion Addendum)

Just because the Oculatus completely escaped my mind the other day, and I had initially meant to mention them alongside the Legion. Not exactly going to be lengthy by any means (okay, maybe it will, just because I tend to babble), and considering the relative dearth of information on them, it's going to include a great deal of speculation derived primarily from their depictions.

The Penitus Oculatus is a military order that was formed at some point during or after the Stormcrown Interregnum, largely supplanting the Order of Blades as the Imperial Lifeguard as the latter moved away from the politics of the Dragonborn-absent Ruby Throne. Context seems to indicate that the Order of Blades dedicated itself more wholly to its work as the Eyes and Ears of the Empire at this time, but their quasi-independence and existence outside of the established Imperial command structure allowed for the Penitus Oculatus to grow its influence and its latitudes in the Imperial Heartland, gradually settling into the role not only of bodyguards, but also of investigators. Thus during the post-Interregnum, pre-War period, the Penitus Oculatus and the Order of Blades had respectively settled into semi-overlapping roles as Internal Security and Foreign Intelligence services, collectively forming the intelligence apparatus of the Empire of Tamriel.

The Great War brought with it a tumult of change, and with the dissolution and systematic elimination of the Blades at the hands of the Aldmeri Dominion, the Empire was left with a critical gap in its soft security that the Penitus Oculatus was left to fill. This marked the beginning of the transformation of the initial order into the widespread and widely feared service that it had become by the later 4th Era, an organization that not only inherited from the Blades its position as the Emperor's Eyes, Ears, and Shield, but also became his Dagger and Scalpel. Unbound by the same codes of Akaviri honor and passed-down traditions that had directed the Blades, and forged in the new political climate that had arisen in the aftermath of the Great War, the Penitus Oculatus had gone above and beyond their original mandate and become something greater: if the Legion can be said to be the closest Tamrielic analogue to a modern military, the Oculatus can be said to be the closest analogue to a modern intelligence agency.

Considering the apparent and close ties between the Oculatus and the Legion, it can be inferred that they are, if not an elite unit within the Legion itself, a sub-branch or sister-agency. It would appear that the Oculatus tends to recruit from the ranks of the Legion's best, selecting from them those individuals that are willing to forego their sense of honor and traditional morality in order to work toward the greater good; indeed, the initiation rites of the Oculatus and the Dark Brotherhood do not seem so different from one another, and it serves to further differentiate the Blades and the Oculatus that the latter are willing to go to more extreme measures to safeguard the Empire.

Penitus Oculatus agents themselves are well-trained and highly-disciplined individuals, skilled in the use of various weaponry in both combat and assassination, and possessed of a particular devotion to the Emperor and the Imperial Cause. The nature of their work demands that they be strong of will and unshakable in their convictions, their mental fortitude powerful enough that they may carry the vital secrets entrusted to them by the Emperor to the grave rather than reveal them to his enemies, though they may be interrogated, tortured, or subjected to persuasive magicks. While they are typically seen in the public eye dressed in distinctive armor and uniforms that visually liken them to black-clad Legionnaires, many Inspectors, appropriately nicknamed as "Spectres", forego uniforms entirely for anything but ceremonial occasions. The agents of the Oculatus not assigned to the Imperial Lifeguard instead roam the provinces in disguise, their assignments requiring that they discreetly eliminate threats to the security of the Empire without leaving any evidence of their involvement both within and without the Imperial borders.

Indeed, it is not an unreasonable conclusion at all to reach that the Oculatus likely operates in secret within the Dominion, as what constitutes a greater threat to Imperial security than those who virtually eliminated the Blades and defeated the Legions? It certainly seem as though the threat posed by Thalmor agents in the new political climate is an important contributing factor to the Oculatus' harsher and more amoral attitudes towards it's work in defending the Empire. Given the nature of the virtual "Cold War" that has arisen in the wake of the Great War, it can be reasonably assumed that agents of the Thalmor and the Penitus Oculatus participate in a great hidden game of political maneuvers, assassination, and counter-intelligence, and certainly facing a threat so insidiously clever has forced the Penitus Oculatus to adapt in ways that its predecessors could not.

Addendum to the addendum:

Whereas the Legion tends to emphasize the strength of unity and the importance of working in conjunction with those beside you as a droplet in a tidal wave, the Penitus Oculatus instead seems to put greater emphasis on the abilities of One: how a single well placed dagger may change the outcome of a battle, how a single word spoken at the right time can change the course of a political struggle. Spectres seem to work more often than not alone or in small cells, and may be expected to operate in wholly hostile territories with very little aid or contact with superiors or Imperial authorities. Thus also is the importance of unwavering loyalty made even more relevant, as turncoats in the organization represent incredibly dangerous variables to Imperial security.

Command structure of the Oculatus appropriately seems to be much less rigid than that of the Imperial Legion, and far more diffuse as opposed to concentrated. Accordingly ranks do not appear to have the same connotations or responsibilities of their counterparts in the Legions, as members of the Oculatus do not operate as part of large rigid troop formations, or abide by strict standards of military courtesy and structure. This does not necessarily mean a separation in command authority between the Legion and the Oculatus however, and it seems that the Oculatus does hold some authority to co-opt members of the Legion for their own assignments. Generally, the Penitus Oculatus is depicted as a more fluid organization than the Legion, and necessarily so given its expected duties.