Katariah (as Regent)

Wife of the eccentric Pelagius Septim III, Katariah was finally awarded the regency of Tamriel in 3E 153. The Empress Regent of Tamriel was proclaimed Empress Katariah I upon the death of her husband. Some who do not mark the end of the Septim bloodline with the death of Kintyra II consider the ascendancy of this dark elf woman as the true mark. Her defenders assert that though Katariah was not descended from Tiber Septim, the son she had with Pelagius, was, so the chain did continue. Despite the racist assertions to the contrary, Katariah's forty-six year reign was one of the most glorious in Tamriel's history. Uncomfortable in the Imperial City, Katariah traveled extensively throughout the Empire, such as no Emperor ever had since Tiber's day. She repaired much of the damage the broken alliances and bungled diplomacy had created. The people of Tamriel came to love their Empress far more than the nobility did.

Katariah's death in a minor skirmish in Black Marsh in 3E 200 is a favorite source for conspiracy-minded historians. The sage Montalius's discovery of a disenfranchised branch of the Septim family's involvement with the skirmish was a revelation indeed. Her son, Cassynder, assumed the throne.