Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-6311114-20130719222148/@comment-99.73.229.146-20140222213326

If we are to take Cicero's accounts serious (which I believe we can, he wouldn't joke about the Night Mother), then I think we could safely assume that the political and social situation is rapidly deteriorating in Cyrodiil. The greatest war on the continent of Tamriel just waged twenty years ago. The Imperial City was sacked. Do you people realize what that really indicates? Sacking a city is no joke. It is the enslavement of the city's population, the destruction of it and the total removal of any sort of wealth that can be found from within. This goes along with the fact that of all the races that suffered from this war, the Imperials suffered the most. It was Nordic legions that allowed for the Thalmor to be pushed out of the province. In the meantime Imperial legions were either decimated or forced to retreat. Not to mention this war lasted over a period of several years. Those are years where southern Cyrodiil lay in ruin, crops aren't being planted or harvested, and disease and starvation would be rampant. I'd make a point to compare Cyrodiil to the Eastern Front of WWII. The Russians, while victorious, had losed massive amounts of population, seen the destruction of their industrial base and agriculture. Russia's population STILL suffers from that, despite modern technology and 70 years of rebuilding as a world super power. How many years have passed since the end of the Great War? Not even thirty. To make matters worse, if the player ends up killing the Emperor, that may be the final straw to break the Empire's back. Hell, the only reason the empire was reunited following the death of the last Septim is thanks to the quick thinking of a certain Colovian Warlord, the first Mede Emperor. In between Mede and the Spetims, Cyrodiil saw a period were the Counties were practically independent city states. Without the Emperor, you could possibly see infighting between Cyrodillic nobility and the mighty Imperial province turning into a Medieval Italy, aka, a smuthering of city states rivaling for power of the province, forget the rest of the continent.

The Fourth Era is likely the LAST era of anything resembling a united Tamrielic empire based in Cyrodiil. That of course, is if Bethesda were to go with a historically realistic situation. More than likely there will be a "glorious" comeback for the Empire with the Thalmor being defeated in the next game. Or heck, who knows. The next game might not have anything to do with the Thalmor at all.