Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24137988-20140425080241/@comment-75.75.80.173-20140611042437

The Empire will probably not have much place anymore, but a collection of states in diplomatic collection could exist. Tiber Septim wanted a Tamriel more united and peaceful, but had to fight to even see a portion of that.

Either way, the Empire was really corrupt, weakened, and had less morale by the time of the Great War. Skyrim shows a great many examples of these corruptions, but even during the days of Oblivion were there hints of discord, rivalry, & abuse of power  ( look no further than Cheydinhall, Bravil, & Anvil to name a few ). Also, all those crazy people running around like the ones in Hackdirt.