Emperor Titus Mede I | |||
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Race | Imperial | Gender | Male |
Died | 4th Era |
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Resided in | Imperial City Colovia |
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Reign | 4E 22- |
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Previous Ruler | Thules the Gibbering | ||
Next Ruler | Attrebus Mede | ||
Appears in | The Infernal City, Lord of Souls |
Titus Mede I was the first emperor of the Mede Dynasty during the early Fourth Era. Circa 4E 22, he captured the Imperial City and overthrew the Nibenese witch-warrior named Thules the Gibbering, ending the Stormcrown Interregnum.[1]:109[2]:96[3] After becoming emperor, he worked to stabilize and rebuild the Empire, although he was never able to restore imperial authority to all of Tamriel.[3][4][1]:18, 109, 282 His reign witnessed the formation of the Third Aldmeri Dominion following the overthrow of the imperial government in Valenwood by the Thalmor and their Bosmer collaborators.[3][4][1]:154 Titus I continued to reign during the Umbriel Crisis in 4E 48, and he contributed to the defeat of Umbriel.[1][2]
BiographyEdit
Background and Rise to PowerEdit
There is limited information available about Titus Mede's life prior to his accession to the Ruby Throne. He was born somewhere in Colovia.[3][2]:247 Titus had a lean face, strong chin, green eyes, and curly auburn (later half silver) hair.[1]:108 He had an unnamed brother.[1]:155 He also possibly had another brother.[1]:121 At some point, Titus married an unidentified woman who had a slightly crooked nose and blond hair.[1]:108
Prior to 4E 22, Titus had been a soldier in an outlaw army, a warlord in Colovia, and a king in Cyrodiil.[1]:108[3] Circa 4E 22, Titus captured the Imperial City with a force of less than a thousand men and overthrew Thules the Gibbering, the Nibenese witch-warrior who ruled what remained of the Empire.[1]:109[2]:96[3] Following the capture of the Imperial City, Titus routed the army of Eddar Olin with a force of around two thousand men.[1]:109
Emperor of TamrielEdit
Titus I's accession marked the end of the Stormcrown Interregnum.[3] Thules the Gibbering was not a well-liked ruler, but since he was Nibenese, many on the Elder Council favored him over a Colovian usurper.[2]:96 Hierem, who was from an old and well-connected Nibenese family and a minister to Thules the Gibbering, helped smooth over the conquest by convincing the Elder Council to accept Titus I as a liberator rather than a conqueror.[2]:96 Following this, Hierem became his prime minister.[2]:63
By the time Titus I became emperor, the Empire had virtually collapsed, as Black Marsh and the Summerset Isles had seceded from the Empire, and Morrowind was devastated by the Red Year and Accession War.[3][4][1]:206, 261 Elsweyr, as well as the Cyrodilic counties of Bravil and Leyawiin, had become independent.[1]:143, 180, 223 As a result, following his accession, Titus I worked to stabilize and reunite the Empire.[3][1]:18, 109, 282 He soon proved himself to be a shrewd and capable leader, and the province of Skyrim endorsed him as emperor.[3] Ultimately, during his reign, the Empire regained control of the provinces of Hammerfell, High Rock, Skyrim, and Valenwood, as well as counties Bravil and Leyawiin.[4][1]:223 Although Leyawiin was once again part of the Empire, it was restless under imperial rule.[1]:154
At some point during his reign, a Redguard named Takar, who was originally from Hammerfell, fought against the Empire until Titus I won him over, supposedly through personal combat.[2]:250 Takar later became one of Titus I's most trusted generals.[2]:250 One of Titus I's most valued men was another Redguard, Tralan the Two-Blade, who hailed from Cespar.[1]:98
In 4E 26, his son, Attrebus, was born.[1]:105 After his son's birth, Hierem suggested to Titus I that the people needed a hero, and that Attrebus should be that hero.[2]:245, 272 Titus I agreed to Hierem's plan, either to provide a sense of direction for Attrebus or because he believed it would placate Hierem.[2]:245, 272 To make Attrebus a hero, the Imperial Court staged every battle or duel he fought to ensure his victory, and if he went on an unstaged adventure, one of his guards would discreetly report it to the Emperor or Hierem, who would end it.[1]:146-147, 159-160[2]:66-67 Attrebus was unaware that all of his adventures were staged.[1]:146-147, 159-160[2]:66 The court also paid bards and authors to sing and write about Attrebus.[2]:66
In 4E 29, the Thalmor and their Bosmer collaborators staged a coup, overthrowing the imperial government in Valenwood and capturing the province's imperial strongholds in a brief campaign.[3][4][1]:154 After the Altmer and Bosmer defeated the Empire in Valenwood, they proclaimed the formation of the Third Aldmeri Dominion.[3][4][1]:154 Following the loss of Valenwood, the Empire provided supplies and manpower to the anti-Dominion rebels fighting in the province, while the Thalmor supplied and funded the Natives insurgency in County Skingrad.[1]:137, 154[2]:40-41 Titus I himself referred to the Thalmor as the Empire's "quiet enemies".[1]:154
Although Titus I appointed Hierem as prime minister, he did not trust him.[2]:246 The Emperor had no choice but to keep Hierem as prime minister, since it was believed that removing him from his position would trigger a civil war due to his many connections and extreme influence with the Synod.[2]:96, 99-100, 246 In 4E 38, Titus I placed a member of his inner circle, Letine Arese, in Hierem's ministry to spy on him.[2]:22-23, 72, 98-99 When he placed Arese in the ministry, the Emperor had no particular concerns about Hierem; only the sort of general paranoia a successful monarch must have.[2]:23
At some point, the Penitus Oculatus began surveilling the Emperor's brother to ensure that he made no attempt to usurp the throne.[1]:155
Umbriel CrisisEdit
In 4E 48, a woman named Annaïg Hoïnart, who was on the flying city known as Umbriel, contacted Attrebus, prompting him to visit the Imperial Palace to discuss Umbriel with his father.[1]:107-108 At the Imperial Palace, Titus I and Hierem informed Attrebus that the Synod, College of Whispers, and other specialists were already investigating the flying city, and that they felt there was no need to send an expeditionary force since Umbriel was slowly moving north towards Morrowind and was yet to threaten the Empire's borders.[1]:108-109 The Emperor also forbade the Crown Prince from attempting to stop Umbriel.[1]:109
Attrebus disobeyed his father and left the Imperial City with his guards, but before they departed, the Crown Prince's right-hand man, Gulan, followed protocol and reported the plans to the prime minister's office.[1]:111, 160, 272[2]:67 Attrebus and his guards went to the village of Ione and then to the springs near the Ayleid ruin of Sardavar Leed, where eight assassins ambushed and killed Attrebus' guards.[1]:111, 119-124, 140, 142
Colin Vineben, a Penitus Oculatus inspector, was ordered to track Attrebus and later investigated the ambush site, where he discovered a headless body thought to be the prince's.[1]:137-141 After Vineben's return to the Imperial City, Titus I, with Administrator Remar Vel and Intendant Marall, questioned him about his investigation.[1]:152-155 Vineben told the Emperor that he believed Attrebus was alive and that the headless body that was assumed to be Attrebus' was an attempt to draw attention away from the true perpetrators and to the Natives and Thalmor.[1]:153-155 Titus I agreed with Vineben, believing it was too convenient that the only burned portion of the body was where Attrebus had a birthmark, so he ordered the Penitus Oculatus to find his son.[1]:155 Later, a courier delivered news from Water's Edge to Titus I that Attrebus was alive, so the Emperor sent troops to investigate.[1]:273
Umbriel eventually stopped moving north and instead began moving west toward the Imperial City.[2]:46 In its first engagement against imperial forces, Umbriel's reanimated soldiers, known as wormies, attacked the imperial scouting party sent to perform reconnaissance on the flying city.[2]:16-18 Following this, Umbriel crossed the Valus Mountains to invade Cyrodiil.[2]:46 As Umbriel advanced, the Imperial Legion evacuated settlements like Cheydinhal and Mountain Watch.[2]:75-76, 202-203
A wormy delivered a letter from the lord of Umbriel, Vuhon, to one of Titus I's generals, who then informed the Emperor.[2]:99-100 The letter claimed that the citizens of the Imperial City were free to leave until Umbriel's arrival, but the Emperor refused to evacuate the city.[2]:99-100, 254 Umbriel's wormies eventually completely encircled the Imperial City, and they then began besieging it.[2]:199, 237, 245 In an attempt to stop Umbriel from reaching the Imperial City, General Takar led five thousand soldiers to confront the flying city's undead soldiers.[2]:250-252, 254 Once they encountered Umbriel's army, Synod mages used spells to lift almost three thousand soldiers toward the flying city, but soul-spinners killed the soldiers, so Takar and the remaining troops retreated.[2]:250-252, 254 After the failed preliminary strike, many imperial legionaries were recalled to reinforce the Imperial City.[2]:252
Inspector Vineben, who had covertly continued investigating Attrebus' disappearance, used a codeword to arrange a meeting with Titus I in the Imperial Palace, where he presented the journal of a woman named Delia Huerc to the Emperor.[2]:96-100 According to the journal, Hierem made a trip to Lilmoth in Black Marsh in 4E 47, where he and the An-Xileel seemingly performed a ritual to summon Umbriel to Mundus.[2]:64-66 Vineben told Titus I that he and Letine Arese believed that Hierem ordered the assassination attempt on the Crown Prince and was allied with Umbriel, but the Emperor found neither the journal nor Arese's statements incriminating enough to use against Hierem.[2]:98-100 Titus I told the Inspector that he needed real proof to present to the Elder Council to remove the Prime Minister from his position or else risk a civil war.[2]:99-100 He then gave Vineben a key to Hierem's ministry and rooms and told him to find undeniable proof of Hierem's involvement.[2]:99-100 Vineben and Arese later killed Hierem, which Arese speculated was the Emperor's true motivation for giving the Inspector the key.[2]:165-166, 278-281
The Umbriel Crisis ended when Attrebus and a Dunmer named Sul defeated Vuhon, and an Argonian named Mere-Glim used his connection with Umbriel and the city's Hist tree to lead Umbriel to the Realm of the Hist in Oblivion.[2]:298-304 Shortly before Umbriel's banishment to Oblivion, the wormies had overpowered the Imperial Legion defenders and were attempting to scale the walls of the Imperial City, but the banishment rendered the wormies inanimate.[2]:307-310 As the threat to the city was over, Titus I ordered the opening of the food and wine storehouses.[2]:311 Titus I then met with Attrebus, embraced him, and told his son that he thought he was dead and apologized for overprotecting him.[2]:311-312 The Emperor told Attrebus that the people would know the truth—that their prince had saved the Imperial City, and perhaps all of Tamriel.[2]:312 However, Attrebus believed that the Synod and the College of Whispers should receive credit for stopping Umbriel, not him.[2]:313 Attrebus suggested this because, after Hierem's death, Titus I needed their support to secure the Elder Council's support.[2]:313 Titus I agreed with Attrebus' suggestion and told his son that he returned not only as a man but more than that, as a prince.[2]:313
It is unknown when Titus I died, but his son Attrebus presumably succeeded him as emperor.[nb 1]
NotesEdit
- Members of Titus I's innermost circle were branded with a small wolf's head, his personal symbol.[2]:22
- The name "Titus Mede" was first used in Star Wars fanfiction scripts written by Michael Kirkbride, Kurt Kuhlmann, Ken Rolston, and Steve Gilbert for a mock television show called Star Wars: Rebellion.[UOL 1]
See AlsoEdit
- For specific information from The Infernal City and Lord of Souls, see the Books article.
ReferencesEdit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai The Infernal City — Greg Keyes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as Lord of Souls — Greg Keyes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rising Threat, Vol. IV — Lathenil of Sunhold
- ^ a b c d e f The Great War — Legate Justianus Quintius
Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.