Tiber Septim

Tiber Septim was a Dragonborn and was regarded as one of Tamriel's famed figures. Starting from his service under the Cyrodiilic king Cuhlecain, Tiber Septim fought as general Talos to unify Cyrodiil and finally all of Tamriel, an effort that culminated in the birth of the Third Empire. Tiber Septim gave his name to the lineage of Cyrodiil Emperors, the Septims. Upon his death he, arguably, became the god Talos and took his place in the pantheon of the Nine Divines.

Early life
Tiber Septim was born on the island kingdom Alcaire, as Hjalti Early-Beard. He was brought up in Skyrim, where he learned the ways of the warrior and the strategies of war from the chieftains there.

General Talos
Nords and Bretons had been fighting for centuries at the northern border of Falkreath, a kingdom in the Colovian Estates. At the age of 20, Hjalti lead the forces of Skyrim against the Reachman of High Rock. During those days he met Cuhlecain, the king of Falkreath, who came to secure his northern border. They became allies and Hjalti was named general of the joined forces. Hjalti was a shrewd tactician, and his small band of Colovian troops and Nord berserkers broke the Reachman line, forcing them back beyond the gates of Old Hrol'dan. A siege seemed impossible, as Hjalti could expect no reinforcements from Falkreath. That night a storm came and visited Hjalti's camp. Hidden in the storm was Ysmir, a long-dead Nordic king, who spoke with him in his tent and taught him the Way of the Voice. At dawn, Hjalti went up to the gates, and the storm followed just above his head. He shouted down the walls of Old Hrol'dan, and his men poured in. After their victory, the Nords called Hjalti Talos, meaning Stormcrown.

Prophecy
Soon after this, it became known from the arriving storm that the ancient Greybeards were about to speak. As the nearby villages were being evacuated, Talos, instead, made his way to the Throat of the World where the Greybeards lived. When he arrived, the gags of the Greybeards were removed, and they spoke his name. The world shook in response. The Greybeards told Talos that he would become the chosen one who would defeat the Elves and become Emperor of a united Tamriel.

Battle of Sancre Tor
Cuhlecain traveled with Talos as his general back to Cyrodiil. It was his ambition to secure the Colovian Estates and he saw his opportunity in the invincible warrior. But before he could act, allied Nord and Breton forces crossed the borders into Cyrodiil and occupied the major passes and settlements in the Jerall Mountains in 2E 852. Making their headquarters for the winter at the citadel of Sancre Tor, the Nord-Breton allies dared king Cuhlecain's new general to assault them. In response, Talos amassed an army and marched to Sancre Tor. The Cyrodilic army was small, poorly trained and outfitted, short on rations, and unprepared for winter campaigning. Sancre Tor was protected by an unscalable cliff in front and unscalable heights in their rear, but the entrance to the citadel was also magically concealed under the appearance of a large mountain lake in the basin beneath the heights. Faced with an impossible task, Talos received a divine vision of the Amulet of Kings in the Tomb of Reman III. The young general was inspired by his belief that he was fated to recover this ancient sacred symbol of the Covenant.

Accordingly, the Nord-Breton allies left on a small force to defend the citadel, descending through lower passages to attack and overwhelm the cold, hungry Cyrodilic forces before them. However, Talos was approached by a treacherous Breton sorcerer who revealed the existence of a mountain trail down the heights behind the citadel. Talos left a weak force in the lowlands to draw out the defenders, while he and the rest of the army approached the citadel of Sancre Tor from the rear, descending the unscalable heights behind the citadel. There the Breton traitor told the secret of the hidden citadel entrance. While the Cyrodilic army in the lowlands fought a desperate defense against the invasion force, Talos and his men entered the citadel, swept aside the small defense and captured the Nord-Breton nobles and generals. Thus he compelled them to surrender the citadel and their armies. The Skyrim army quickly deserted the alliance and swore loyalty to Talos when they saw him use the thu'um and knew him to be the son of Skyrim and heir to the Empires of Men. The leaders of the Bretons were executed and the captive soldiers imprisoned or sold into slavery. During the Sack of Sancre Tor, general Talos recovered the Amulet of Kings from the tomb of Reman III.

Cyrodiilic Empire
Cuhlecain's trust in Talos was rewarded because the general unified West Cyrodiil in one year. No one could stand before Talos' thu'um. They marched east and the enemy's battlemages surrendered before the army. In order to realize his liege's ambitions, Bray conquered Cyrodiil and fought against the last forces of the Akaviri Potentate. In 2E 854 they conquered the Imperial City and thus gained the full control over Cyrodiil.

Cuhlecain's intent was to crown himself emperor. But Talos was still haunted by the prophecy done to him by the Greybeards. Before Cuhlecain could be crowned, Talos secretly murdered him and his loyalist contingent with the help of a High Rock nightblade. The Imperial Palace was burned to the ground in the action (probably to destroy evidence) and Talos slit his own throat to take the suspicion off of him. Though he lived, his Voice failed him. The assassination was blamed on the Shaw, which, for political reasons, are still the Western Reach. To prevent Cyrodiil from falling apart again, Zurin Arctus, the Grand Battlemage, crowned Talos as Tiber Septim, new Emperor of Cyrodiil.

''The last part of Talos' rise to the throne was erased from the official history but it can still be found in The Arcturian Heresy. Although Talos betrayed his own liege, one must not think of him as pure evil. Cuhlecain would never have allowed Talos to become Emperor and in the end, it was only he who could bring back the Empire to its former glory and ignite an long period of peace. Eventually, the act of slitting his own throat, could mean Talos regretted his act and wanted to commit suicide. The fact he survived the attempt, made him see he was destined to do bad in order to achieve the good.''

Emperor Tiber Septim
After capturing the Imperial Throne, Tiber found the initial administration of a fully united Cyrodiil a time-consuming task. He sends his old ally, Ysmir, to deal with Imperial expansion into Skyrim and High Rock. Ysmir, mindful that it might seem as if Tiber Septim is in two places at once, works behind the scenes.

The human kingdoms were conquered, even Hammerfell, which was figured to be an arduous task. Ysmir had wanted a complete invasion of Hammerfell, allowing a chance to battle their foreign wind spirits himself, but Tiber refuted him. The Emperor had already made a better plan, one that would seem to legitimize his rule. Cyrodiil supported the losing side of a raging civil war and were invited in to the rule of Hammerfell. Finally, the Empire could turn its eyes onto the Elves.

Ysmir continued to press on Tiber Septim the need to conquer Morrowind. The Emperor was not sure that it was a wise idea, hearing word of the Tribunal's power. Ysmir wanted his vengeance, and reminded Tiber Septim that he was fated to conquer the Elves, even the Tribunal. Tiber's battlemage Arctus advised against the move but the emperor wanted the ebony in Morrowind, because he needed a source of capital to rebuild Cyrodiil after 400 years of war. Ysmir came up with the idea that, with the Tribunal dead, Septim might steal the Tribunal's power and use it against the High Elves (the oldest enemies of Lorkhan predating the Tribunal).

Summerset Isle was however the furthest thing from Tiber's mind. Even then, he was planning to send Arctus to the King of Alinor to make peace. In the end, a need for the ebony was determined. The Empire invaded Morrowind causing the Tribunal to give up. When certain conditions of the Armistice included not only a policy of noninterference with the Tribunal, but also, in Ysmir's eyes, a validation of their religious beliefs, Ysmir was furious, having been an ancient enemy of Morrowind, therefore abandoning the Empire completely. Without Ysmir, all Tiber's ideas of conquering Tamriel vanished. While having been nice, decides to only worry about Cyrodiil and the human nations who were under his rule.

In that time, general Symmachus, a Dunmer who had become a friend of Tiber, brought Barenziah to the Imperial City where she met the Emperor and they both fell in love. The Emperor and Barenziah engaged in an affair but soon it was discovered that Barenziah was pregnant. Tiber determined that he could not allow such a threat to his sons dominion and so ordered a healer to force Barenziah to miscarry. Barenziah was dispatched from the Imperial City very soon after this.

The Numidium
(Partially quoted from the book, The Arcturian Heresy, written by The Underking, Ysmir Kingmaker)

Tiber Septim was always fascinated by the Dwarves. After their victory in Morrowind he ordered Zurin Arctus to research the Numidium, the grand artifact of the Dwarves Tiber received from Morrowind. In doing so, Arctus stumbles upon some of the stories of the war at Red Mountain. He discovers the reason the Numidium was made and some of its potential. Most importantly, he learns Ysmir's place in that war of long ago. Arctus believed he could activate the artifact but was working from incomplete plans, thinking it was the heart of Lorkhan's body that was needed to power the Numidium.

While Arctus reported about his discovery, the prophecy from the Greybeards finally became clear to Tiber Septim. The Numidium was what he needed to conquer the world. It was his destiny to have it. The heart of Lorkhan was lost to their cause but there was another source who could make the Numidium work, Ysmir. The Emperor contacted Ysmir, saying he was right all along about Morrowind. They should kill the Tribunal for Septim realized the true danger of Dagoth-Ur while Ysmir was away, and they need to get together and make a plan as Septim was also in need of an army.

As Ysmir arrived, he was ambushed by Imperial guards. As he took them on, Zurin Arctus used a soul gem on him. With his last breath, Ysmir's Heart roars a hole through the Battlemage's chest. With everyone dead, Ysmir gone to ash, Tiber Septim strolled in to take the soul gem. When the Elder Council arrived, he told them about the second attempt on his life, this time by his trusted battle mage, Zurin Arctus, who was attempting a coup. He had the dead guards celebrated as heroes, even the one who was blasted to ash. Following this event, Tiber warned Cyrodiil about the dangers within, but says he has a solution to the dangers without, The Mantella.

The Numidium, while not the god Tiber Septim and the Dwarves hoped for served it's purpose, Ysmir's soul was not like Lorkhan after all, helped Tiber to conquer Tamriel. After defeating the rulers on Summerset Isle a new threat appeared. A rotting undead wizard who controlled the skies. He blew the Numidium apart. But it pounded him into the ground with its last flailings, leaving only a black splotch. The Mantella fell into the sea, seemingly forever.

(End of quotation from The Acturian Heresy)

Tamrielic Empire
The Third Era was announced by Tiber himself in 2E 897 after the uniting of the entire continent of Tamriel under his banner. Tiber Septim crowned himself the First Emperor of Tamriel.

Death of Tiber Septim
On his deathbed, Tiber Septim bequeathed his throne to his grandson, Pelagius Septim, and he died in 3E 38. Tiber died at the age of 108, the oldest man in history. He was buried in the catacombs of Sancre Tor among the members of the Reman dynasty.

Godhood
After his death Tiber ascended to godhood. He became Talos again, the God of War and Governance, for after a lifetime of war, he had united Tamriel for the first time in history. He changed the religion of the Eight Divines into that of the Nine Divines. During the Great War between the Empire and the elves of the Aldmeri Dominion however, peace was agreed upon with one of the conditions being that the Empire cease to recognize Talos as one of the Divines, and as such all shrines to him were removed from the temples of towns loyal to the Empire and their new Elven masters.

It is important to note that the matter of Talos' godhood is still a point of contention, both in how and whether it happened, and it is possible that Septim didn't ascend at all. If he did ascend, it is possible he did so by mantling Lorkhan.

Legacy
Tiber Septim was the father of the Septim line. They ruled the entire Third Era over Tamriel until the line died out with Martin Septim.

Tiber appeared again in Morrowind as a retired Imperial Legionnaire named Wulf. He aids the Nerevarine by asking him to take his lucky coin to Red Mountain. While the Hero of Morrowind has this coin, he gains a greater power which lasts only a day, called the 'Luck of the Emperor'. Later, an Imperial priest in Ebonheart tells the Hero that Wulf may have actually been a divine manifestation of Tiber Septim and that this visitation may mean great doom for the Hero.

Unanswered mysteries
There are still conflicting reports about Tiber's life due to all aspects of his early reign being rewritten, and this is why there is such confusion over questions as :

(Brought up by Ysmir in The Arcturian Heresy)
 * Why does Alcaire claim to be the birthplace of Talos, while other sources say he came from Atmora ?
 * Why does Tiber Septim seem to be a different person after his first roaring conquests ?
 * Why does Tiber Septim betray his battlemage ?
 * Is the Mantella the heart of the battlemage, the heart of Ysmir, or is it the heart of Tiber Septim?

Armor

 * Totem of Tiber Septim
 * Boots of the Apostle
 * Armor of Tiber Septim

Trivia

 * Tiber Septim's name was based on the first names of the Roman Emperors Tiberius Caesar, and Septimius Severus, thus creating the name Tiber Septim.
 * The currency of the Empire, the Septim, is derived from Tiber's name.
 * The surname of the family could be a reference to a Septum, a thing that partitions or divides. It could be a reference to the ability of the Septims to form a "partition" between the worlds of the Daedra and the real world.
 * In Greek Mythology, Talos refers to an automaton made by the Greek God Hephaestus. This may have been the influence of Numidium.
 * It's also possible that his name was based off the Tiber River, the river the Roman Empire was founded on.