right im new so yeah

right i have a odd fetish for army ( no rephase )

what i meant to say is that while walking round oblivion / cyrodil but if this is the heart of a powerfull empire were is the empire it appers that the " army " that this "empire" could find to defended it self and its leader from domination was what is the eulivenet of the town police i mean while walking round i never saw so much as a miltary camp and all thier forts are well broken of missing WALLS so lore people who i am hopeing can fill me in here what happened to the imperial army why are thier no well anything to do with defense i mean thier not even a even any form of border watching which is messed if the provinces are as unstable as i hear so yh

Well, for the forts, you could try reading http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/846081-what-happened-to-the-forts/ thread.

i did now what?

(sorry if i apper to be a bit well a holeish im not going thought any easy time)
(nothing sad or anything just difficult)

Well I dunno, I figured that thread would partly answer your question.

I think the books and NPCs of "Oblivion" mention that the Legion's forces are focused east and in other provinces. The people of Cyrodiil probably grew complacent after a few generations of peace and were caught unprepared when the Mythic Dawn struck.

A: The ruined forts are 500 - 1500 years old, from a time when there was a patchwork of petty kingdoms, not the empire. They have never had anything to do with the imperial legions.
B: It's been 166 years since a war impinged on the province of Cyrodiil. Policing is the only function the legions have there.
C: Most of the legions are deployed to other provinces, where there are actual wars and uprisings to fight.

think about it like america; most of our military forts are abroad so we can stop wars before they reach our boarders. I don't exactly agree with most of the sentiment (in terms of modern day america), but it is a logical answer

There also appeared to be an Imperial garrison at the Imperial Prison.

They are all abroad, fighting weresharks and naked liches so you and M'aiq are safe.

michael? @

If you want to have more legion soldiers and the appearance of the Imperial Military in your game (if you have PC) download onra's Under the Sign of the Dragon mods. These would include Fort Akatosh, Guards of Cyrodiil, etc.

Are you certain they were Imperial?

There are Legion guards patrolling there, instead of the Imperial Watch.

Oh, and there's also a Legion armory there.

Ok, just checking. The public has a right to know.

It's the Imperial LEGION. Legions are basically state-sponsored mercenary armies who fight in countries that they're not from. You won't be seeing many French Foreign Legionerres in France.

Legion in terms of Roman Legions, which was the name of the professional Roman army. Cyrodiil is heavily inspired by Rome.