The Third Legion

By Marcus Quintus

An account of the Third Legion's experiences throughout the Second Great War, written by Legionnaire Marcus Quintus.

Foreword (By Lucius Quintus, son of Marcus Quintus)
Marcus Quintus was an Imperial Legionnaire during the Second Great War, a conflict between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion. Marcus was assigned to the Third Legion, made up of mostly Imperials, but was bolstered by Orcish and Nordic mercenaries when needed. The Third Legion was garrisoned in and around Chorrol a few years prior to the start of the Second Great War. Emperor Titus Mede II already had plans laid out in the case of his death, which occurred in Skyrim by the Dark Brotherhood. Titus had hoped to garrison his men along the border of Hammerfell in an attempt to counter-attack the Dominion if they defeated Hammerfell. The war itself began sometime after Titus had been assassinated. The Thalmor Embassy based in Skyrim quickly sent word of his death to thee higher powers of their order, who saw this as weakness - especially since the Civil War in Skyrim still ravaged the land. The Dominion quickly mobilized their forces and concentrated on a war of attrition with Cyrodiil while pushing into Hammerfell. Meanwhile, a group of Dunmer in Morrowind staged a massive attack to regain lost territory from the Argonians. With a dead Emperor, the Elder Council recalled General Tullius from Skyrim to help defend Cyrodiil from the obviously approaching attack by the Dominion, allowing Jarl Ulfric free reign over Skyrim.

4E 202, 5th of Hearthfire
In the waning months before the Second Great War actually began I was assigned to serve in the Third Legion, which had been garrisoned in the Imperial city of Chorrol ever since the end of the First Great War. Apparently, Emperor Titus Mede II already had plans laid out in case the Dominion attacked the Empire. His main strategy was to secure defenses along his southern borders to prevent the Dominion from ever retaking the Imperial City as they had done in the First Great War. His secondary priority was to launch a counter-attack against the Dominion if they defeated the Redguards in Hammerfell. As I figure it, the Dominion would have taken loses while fighting the Redguards, so an overly-sized army was not necessarily needed for the counter-attack. Not to mention the men stationed along our southern borders would keep a large force of the Dominion garrisoned in their northern borders, in fear of an impending attack on their provinces. It's not exactly a complex plan, but it would no doubt work if given the right circumstances.

But as I am writing this the war has already been going on for several months. As planned, the Third Legion remained in Chorrol while the Redguards fought the Dominion. Our defenses to the south had been successful, although we lost Leyawiin and took heavy casualties in Bravil. The loss of Leyawiin may be a good thing, because the Argonians now bordered the Dominion and a lot of heated conflicts arose between them; for so long the Empire had been the buffer zone between the two nations.

The Dominion focused much of their attack on Hammerfell, not wanting to waste their soldiers fighting Cyrodiil again. Within months they had completely taken all of southern Hammerfell. The Redguards had secured a thick alliance with the newly proclaimed Stormcloak Kingdom, now led by Ulfric Stormcloak and based in Skyrim. Ulfric had sent many of his soldiers to Hammerfell's northern cities in an effort to help defend them and take the fight to the Dominion. Some argued Ulfric's true intentions were to usurp the Redguard's cities at the ripe opportunity, but the necessary unity of man always presented the benefit of the doubt.

Once we received word of the Dominion's ownership over Rihad, Legate Tacitus Tyranus immediately ordered us to move out. We were to meet up with a small group of soldiers detached from the Fourth Legion in Kvatch and later meet up with the remaining Redguard defenders of Rihad. And then we'd be tasked with retaking Rihad and restoring control.

And so we moved out.