The Ruby Ranks: The Transformation of the Imperial Legion Part III

Imperial Legion Historian Cornelius Fesculius

The Interregnum is possibly the lowest point in the Imperial Legions history. It may have suffered defeats and weakening since this time period, but this is where the professional pride of the legions were tarnished. As the Second Empire crumbled to its foundations in Cyrodiil, the cultural divide between East and West again split the country between the traditional Colovia and Nibenay regions. There is more difficulty in researching this time period as the cultural and social standards of the time plummeted from what they had been in the late First Era. Record keeping all but ceased as literacy became less important. Also the Imperial Legion itself became much more fluid than it had ever been in the past.

The memory of Remen’s twenty or so old legions still lingered on, the subculture of these once proud forces would not go quite so quietly into the night. However Colovia and Nibenay had their own “Imperial Legions” often with the same numbering system yet they were quite separate from one another. While these old legions remained often in name only, the nature of standing armies changed during this time. With little central government in Cyrodiil to speak of and due to the multiple contenders to the Imperial throne, legions were often raised by ambitious men and women simply to put themselves in power. These were often raised and disbanded at will with these forces taking on the organization and name of the Imperial Legion to claim some legitimacy. These newly raised legions were often drawn upon from a certain geographical area, and usually took their names from it. As this time period continued, it becomes harder to pinpoint the “real” Legion.

It was during this time that events transpired that would send the whole continent of Tamriel on a course to open warfare, all in an effort to cease the Imperial Throne. During the early years of the Sixth Century of the Second Era the Reachmen tribes were able to unify under Durcorach, the Black Drake and moved south into Cyrodiil to claim the Empire of Cyrodiil as their own. With little forces in the way to stop them Durcorach would claim himself as Emperor, thus starting the period of the Longhouse Emperors. Durcorach and his heirs would marry into the Tharn family of Nibenay, a move that many Imperial nobles scoffed at, claiming the Tharns were lowering themselves to the status of savages simply to keep close to the reigns of power. Durcorach would eventually lead his army of Reachmen on a savage campaign back into his native land of High Rock probably in an attempt to bring more territory under their control. This would have the effect of uniting the famously fractured High Rock for the first time in centuries with the signing of the first Daggerfall Covenant. Durcorach would be killed after an attempted siege on Daggerfall yet his heirs would continue to rule the Empire of Cyrodiil.

Leovic, grandson of Durorach would follow in his footsteps in a similar manner, marrying Clivia Tharn to solidify his claim to the throne and to implant himself in Nibenay nobility who had been complacently accepting the rule of the Reachmen for several years now. It should be said that parts of the Colovian Estates had been brought into the fold as well, they most likely joined to regain any form of stability during these uncertain times. Emperor Leovic proved to be much more eccentric than his father Moricar, who had attempted to practice Cyrodilic customs to keep popular support. Leovic practiced his Reachmen traditions quite openly and it began to wear on the patience of the ruling nobility in Cyrodiil.

The final straw came when Leovic legalized any and all forms of Daedra worship in the Empire of Cyrodiil. Barring the blatant sacrilege that this would invite and the affront to the Divines it would have caused; the Imperials have long memories and the legends of the Daedra worshipping Ayleids torturing and enslaving man had not lent an iota of credence towards the Daedra. This move caused an uproar and popular support for a rebellion began to follow Varen Aquilarios, son of the Duke of Colovia. Varen raised up his own army, the Legion of Chorrol to depose the heretic Leovic. The fighting would be particularly brutal as it set this Colovian Legion against the “Imperial Legion.” I use quotations because it had really ceased to be the Legion that had known throughout history, and merely a tool of tyrants. Varen’s Colovian Legion was able to fight its way to the Imperial City where he took on Leovic in single combat and slew him in the Imperial Throne room. Varen then crowned himself as Emperor and wed the widowed Clivia Tharn in an effort to consolidate his own rule and show a reconciliation between Colovia and Nibenay. The following events would divide an already weakened Legion against itself as cataclysmic events would push Tamriel to total war.

Emperor Varen would soon begin a quest to find the lost Amulet of Kings in an ambitious move to fully legitimize his rule. It was during this time that the Altmer sorcerer Mannimarco entered the Emperor's inner circle, his intentions would soon manifest in horrible ways. After the Amulet of Kings was discovered again, Varen and his companions sought to perform a ceremony to relight the Dragonfires which had been cold since the days of Reman’s heirs. The actual events that transpired have been lost to history but it is believed that Mannimarco tricked Varen into corrupting the ceremony and thus sundered the divided between Oblivion and Nirn, inviting in his true master, Molog Bal to attempt a joining of the two realms. The repercussions of this event has become known as the Soulburst. In the immediate aftermath Emperor Varen had disappeared, and was presumed dead. Clivia Tharn became Empress-Regent in his absence. Her contemporaries and later historians alike have denounced her reign as one of “madness, murder, and decay.” Clivia then appointed her sister Septima Tharn to the newly created position of Magus-General of the Imperial Legion. With this blatant nepotism, the Legion quickly became a tool under the control of the Tharn family, although many have pointed out that Mannimarco was the true power behind the throne during this time.

The Legion quickly became hated and despised under the rule of the Tharns as they took part in campaigns of annexation and conquest in various parts of Tamriel. To cite a segment of King Eamond’s speech to his troops.

“Today, invaders from the east threaten us once again, in the form of an Imperial Legion from Cyrodiil. But these are not the legendary warriors of an Empress Hestra, or the disciplined soldiers of an Emperor Reman: these are the degraded mercenaries of the Tharn usurpers. Indeed, this legion is even led by a cousin of that decadent and faithless family!"And who is this Magus-General Septima Tharn? What battles has she won, beyond bullying freeholders for their back taxes? What barrel-scrapings are these so-called 'legionaries' she brings to pollute our homeland with their heretical, Daedra-worshiping ways? "I say they are scum, a desecration of the once-noble name 'Imperial Legion.' I say they are a rabble...”

This quote describes the prevailing attitude of the time towards the Imperial Legion. It was the actions of this Empire of Cyrodiil)) that prompted the various factions that had arisen in Tamriel to action. The Daggerfall Covenant, the Ebonheart Pact and the Aldmeri Dominion all subsequently invaded Cyrodiil in an attempt to fulfill their various goals and policies. This triggered what would become known as the Three Banners War or the Alliance War of 2E 582. The remnants of the Imperial Legion were quickly put on a three front defensive as they attempted to hold off all three alliances, aided only by the fact that these factions were also fighting each other.

It should be noted that there was a great deal of defections from the Legion during this time, many would go on to support the Daggerfall Covenant as it sought to restore the Second Empire. Surviving Covenant records show a number of purely Imperial cohorts that had been formed from defectors attempting to revive what they saw as the rightful Empire and Legion. These men and women had the thankless task of fighting their former comrades in an attempt to do what they thought was right, as they could no longer support the actions and tyranny of a Tharn lead Legion. Those who did remain in the Imperial Legion of the Cyrodiil Empire became ruthless and acted as common bandits would, engaging in the taking of hostages to encourage local areas to submit, plundering and pillaging of the hinterland, and the execution of any who spoke out or defended themselves against such actions.

As the Alliance War continued to be fought by the various factions Cyrodiil became a wasteland punctuated only by the massive fortifications the various alliances had built. The only semblance of a truce came to pass when a single person attempted to convince the alliances to mount an attack on Coldharbor and end the process of the Planemeld. However this fragile peace could not last forever and soon the fighting resumed soon in earnest. Yet victory eluded all the combatants, sieges started to last longer and the war began to slowly reach a stalemate. The fighting continued for years as each side desperately tried to gain the upper hand as their resources and manpower began to dwindle. The years of difficult fighting and tremendous losses served only to exacerbate the underlying weaknesses of each Alliance.

It should come as little surprise that the Ebonheart Pact was the first alliance to split apart in 2E 597. The Nords, Dunmer and Argonians had been mutually antagonistic towards one another throughout history to this point and the hardships of fifteen years of warfare eventually saw them at each other's throats. However the Daggerfall Covenant and the Aldmeri Dominion could not capitalize upon this. The Orcs of the Covenant had slowly began to believe that they were bearing a larger share of the burden in the fighting than the Bretons and Redguards. Soon they began to openly question the leadership of the Covenant. The sack of Orsinium will also never leave the collective memories of the Orcs and so they withdrew their support from the Covenant. The Bretons and Redguards, weakened by their losses in the war dissolved their ties and focused on restoring their own nation's strength. The Aldmeri Dominion, by virtue of being the only alliance left, could have resorted the rule of the Elder races as they had originally intended. Despite the strong political unity the Dominion possessed, they had suffered catastrophic losses to their populations. It is well known that Elves reproduce at a far slower rate than the races of man and so the causalities were that much more devastating. The embers of the Alliance War finally died with little fanfare in 2E 598.

Throughout all this the Imperial Legion had also faced devastating losses to its forces as the war had dragged on into decades of fighting. Yet these brigands of the Tharn regime had held off the best that the various Alliances could throw at them. The structure and organization of the Legion had shown its worth even if it was in the hands of despots. With Tharns deposed from power the Legion would not make any overt moves to put anyone in power. It’s manpower pool had been devastated by the fighting and they fell into simply hiring themselves out as guards or mercenaries. Still in this time of the Interregnum various kings still played at war and some attempted to claim the throne but none were even marginally successful.

Yet even in this time there was still loyal groups of men who devoted themselves to the protection of Cyrodiil and her people. Some historians attribute these legionaries to aiding those loyal knights that were “known by their eastern swords and painted eyes…” who some think were decedent of the old Dragonguard of Reman. After nearly 400 years of chaos and strife it would be the actions of a petty king of Falkreath that would set in motion perhaps the most important events in history of Cyrodiil and the Imperial Legion. The winds of history were shifting and it would prove to be a renaissance for the Legion, the reforging of the Ruby Ranks would be undertaken by a single man who would take the Empire to heights only dreamed of. A man, who would Love his legions and reshape the very land for them.