Vilpesian Empire

The Vilpesian Empire, sometimes also referred to as the Fourth Empire, is one of the two main empires on Tamriel by the 22nd decade of the Fourth Era. A direct descendant of the Septim Empire, the Vilpesian Empire is seated in Cyrodiil, with the Imperial City being its capital. As it is a completely human empire in a time of strife and war between the Men and the Mer, it rules over the human provinces of Skyrim, High Rock and Hammerfell.

Origin and founding
In the aftermath of the defeat of the Stormcloak Rebellion and the death of Ulfric Stormcloak at the hands of General Tullius and the Last Dragonborn and the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II, the Third Empire fell into a period of political unrest. Within the Elder Council, there were several candidates for the throne. Among them was Marius Vilpes, a noble of both Imperial and Nordic heritage hailing from the northwest of Cyrodiil. Vilpes had implicitly been supportive of the Stormcloak cause, believing that Talos had a place among the Eight Divines, and as such had the favour of the common people of the Empire, especially the Nords, and his charismatic personality ensured that he also had many supporters within the Elder Council. However, the Aldmeri Dominion was wise enough to predict that Vilpes on the throne would mean that their influence would slip away, and thus had another member of the Elder Council, who was very easily discovered to be a strawman by the others, nominate himself. Through bribery and intimidation, they made sure that this strawman actually won the vote. Vilpes was not so easily cast aside, however, and the man challenged and attacked the Dominion candidate by Nordic tradition, but the Dominion's agents intervened and had him exiled to Skyrim.

While the peace seemingly returned to Tamriel, Vilpes actually secretly formed an army in the year after his exile. Having won far more support than Ulfric Stormcloak ever had, he had an army composed of Nords and Imperials of a size large enough to challenge the Imperial Legion by 4E 203. On the 17th of Hearthfire of that year, the army began its campaign southward. The Legion soldiers stationed in Skyrim proved to be of little use against the massive army, and many even joined the army of the man they believed was the true Emperor. And so the army entered Cyrodiil with little resistance, and even within the Imperial province there was little will to fight the man they had wanted on the throne. Within a year, Marius Vilpes' army was standing in front of the gates of the Imperial City, where the remnants of the Third Empire held their last stand in a bloody siege that lasted for several months. The two warring factions remained in a stalemate until the 4th of Sun's Dusk, 4E 204, when the Imperial City finally surrendered, as the strawman Emperor had committed suicide the day before and the Legion now had no cause to fight anymore. Marius Vilpes was throned as the Emperor of the Vilpesian Empire three days later.