User blog comment:Hippogriff12/The Scarcity of Racists in Skyrim/@comment-80.216.219.47-20120730163451/@comment-4588723-20120801032742

To say that it’s not the same empire is really just a question of semantics. Keep in mind that there was only a short space in between the Oblivion Crisis and the rise of Titus Mede. After Ocato was assassinated and the 15-year attempt to rule by council collapsed, there were only seven years of that “Stormcrown” chaos, and the would-be userpers were simply attempting to step into Septim shoes and take over the same government, albeit with a quickly diminishing jurisdiction. Mede was just the one who finally made it stick, he didn’t actually make anything new out of Cyrodiil. So yes, it feels like a different Empire now in terms of administration and military strength, but it is nonetheless the Empire of Tamriel ruled from the White Gold Tower in the Imperial City of Cyrodiil, and protected (at least on paper) by the Imperial Legion. The Mede Empire is the same governmental force in all its trappings and in its infrastructure – but for lack of a better description, it just sucks at being an Empire.