If anything, it provided Cyrodiil with much-needed weapons for a certain hero.

Nobody's perfect. But not everyone is a jerk.

After the Simulacrum Uriel was actually somewhat ineffective and the Empire started falling apart even before the Oblivion Crisis.

Back to the original question I have to agree that the Empire has good and bad sides. It does, in general, espouse fairly liberal ideas such as freedom of religion but t does so behind a veil of coercion and a barely hidden sense of superiority. In general it seems to want to homogenize every culture on Tamriel into its own.

Also "free trade" is a bit of an exaggeration. The East Empire Company has a state-decreed monopoly on trade in numerous goods, including, as mentioned above, raw glass, ebony, and Dwemer artifacts.

As well as the importation of Cyrodiilic goods (flin, brandy) into Morrowind, and exportation of Morrowind goods (kwama eggs, telvanni bug musk) into the rest of the Empire.

Of course Oblivion went and we can't find imported Morrowind goods any more than we can find flin, but that's another topic.

I am Russian and I have an historical example of great empire in my own country. The Soviet Union was the most powerful empire in the world. It protected own citizens, created the best science, created great culture. This Empire has killed many own citizens but when it was destroyed, our country had lost even more people. So, empire as the phenomenon, to my mind, it is correct world order.

They don't have a monopoly on those goods, but have an advantage. But there's probably not much demand for kwama eggs, musk, or saltrice outside of Morrowind or Solsteim.

The Empire does have a monopoly. It's pretty obvious, that's why there's always guards in the mines.

From the TES3 Encyclopedia on TIL:


From The Eastern Provinces Impartially Considered


If the EETC has Imperially mandated monopolies in the provinces it operates, we can assume that many more valuable goods originating in other provinces are under Imperial control.

Also, I imagine there is huge demand for Telvanni Bug Musk, as it is apparently one of the best perfumes in Tamriel.

May I point out that there's already been a thread locked due to discussion of religion (well, philosophy, more properly) and that this one is heading in the same direction? It'd be a shame to see the end of such an interesting thread.


Anyway.


Morrowind:

The Septim Empire; A top-heavy byzantine power structure that has been teetering for centuries on the brink of open civil war.

It has overreached its influence into untenable areas of conquest such as the Eastern Provinces, which has lead to widespread corruption and wilfulness not only within the Legion, but in the local Guilds as well. Having imposed its unbalanced economy on the Star-Wounded East, it has to resort to resource bans and tariffs to maintain a semblance of order in the commercial arena. Drug and artifact smuggling further worsens the situation.

There is widespread political unrest throughout the Empire, which has spread to the very threshold of White Gold Tower. There are riots in the streets of the Capitol, with many casualties. The people are unsettled by the fearful rumour that the Emperor's sons are dopplegangers placed by the Tharnatos during his reign. Uriel VII himself has falled deathly ill. The Empire's future looks dire.


Oblivion:


Empire is Law! Law is Sacred!

Unbroken line of kings!

Emperor Uri looks quite good for an eighty-seven-year-old!

The economy is booming! Even bandits have [censored]in' get-ups!

All the other Provinces are [censored] up, but they aren't here, so it's okay!!

Future is bright!! Long live the Empire!!

...

OMG DAEDRA bliviongate:



Keep in mind that there hasn't strictly been a unified Septim Empire since the days of its founder, and Uriel VII was seen as the last great hope for the Imperium.

Well, yes, and before him Uriel VI and Morihatha, who went on a similar "covert-ops" crusade in order to unify the Empire and shut the provinces up.

Cut out the politics.

As for the Empire, meh.

Indeed. Politics is fair game for discussion only so long as it is game-world politics. Drawing inferences from real-world politics needs to meet two criteria: it needs to be pertinent to the point of lore you are discussing, and it needs to be free from issues of present controversy.

While the collapse of the Soviet Union may not be a matter of present controversy, discussion on that subject has strayed far from its connection to Tamrielian politics, and therefore it has no further place in this thread.

It was not political things. It was the philosophy. My thoughts about nature and history of such phenomenon as "Empire". It was the answer to a question: What is it an empire and why its existence is important.
For example, supposing I spoke about the Roman empire, its organization, its history part, laws - is a message would be removed? So what is a difference? I was not going to create the conflict. On the contrary, as you probably have noticed, my post was politically correct. I am not an religion or political fanatic. I ask to allow to lay out to me the remote message. Believe, I will not break the forum rules.

That is fine. So long as your post has a demonstrable connection to Tamrielic lore and does not touch political open wounds, it is welcome here.

There were a number of posts that discussed the collapse of the Soviet Union that did not so much as mention Tamriel, but instead discussed Russian and Western politics and philosophies in connection with the Soviet Union. Those posts have been deleted, and that particular line of discussion is closed.

Members responding to posts mentioning Russia or the Soviet Union are cautioned not to discuss Cold War politics except to the extent that a direct and necessary connection to Tamriel is made in plain language.

Can I restore my post without the further discussion of these questions?

I misstated it. I meant to say that they did not have a monopoly on kwama eggs or saltrice, but merely an advantage.

No, all the deleted posts will remain deleted. They were deleted because they were off-charter: they did not address any point of Tamrielic lore. Posts that address real-world political situations without making plain the connection to Lore are precisely those that are restricted.

I have understood. No problems.

Question for all netizens of the forum:
Why Tamriel is an empire? As far as I know, the Empire is the state which has the control over sea open spaces. Does the Empire of Tamriel has battle-worthy fleet? Where is it mentioned?

As far as I know, an empire is an empire because it has an emperor. I don't think it has anything to do with seas or land, it just happens that a few of the great empires through real world history have also had control of the seas/land on the other sides of great waters.
Oh, and Empire as a word also implies that it is a great nation, and not your common neighbourhood kingdom. Other than that, "empire" is just the same as "kingdom".

And yes, the Septim (right?) Empire has a great fleet, if I'm not mistaken, the Imperial Navy. But for some reason, it did not appear in Oblivion.

Yes, in essence an empire is just a large kingdom. Moreover, An empire is a state that extends dominion over populations distinct culturally and ethnically from the culture/ethnicity at the center of power. Some historians even consider tsarist Russia to have been an Empire.

On-topic: Almost nothing is known about the Imperial Navy. The PGE 1 and cap'n Dugal's Journal are some of the few texts that mention it.

According to historical sources the state becomes empire when it gets access to sea spaces. Examples: the Great Britain (it is called Mistress of the sea), the Roman Empire and Russia. It became empire at the time of Peter the Great who has created fleet.

If you want to start a historical discussion then I suggest that you start a topic in community discussion, since we are getting a bit to of-topic here.

Tell it to the Mongols.

But at least Colovia has some maritime tradition.

The Akkadian Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Mongolian Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Chinese Empire (which created a great navy at the end of the fourteenth century and by the mid-fifteenth century it was destroyed because they didn't need it), the Islamic Empire, the Holy Roman Empire (though this claim is questionable)...? And those are just the ones that came to mind.

Empire is simply a term thrown around to describe a powerful state with an extended rule over a good portion of their known world. At the time of the Akkadians and Babylonians this didn't even include that much ocean, whereas by the time of the British Empire the oceans played a defining role in their ability to control their territory. In the case of Cyrodiil, they're perfectly fine with the empire they have, and a navy is not really required for them to keep a hold of it. Once Akavir gets hungry again they'll hope Bethesda hasn't forgotten about their great Imperial Navy, but who knows.

Don't forget the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire and the Habsburg Empire. All three of them did not control much territory overseas and were not known for having great fleets.


And there of course also monarchies that were not called empires, but that did have a large fleat and controlled considerable large territories overseas. The Dutch and French spring to mind.

Rather unrelated, but it begs the question: Was the Cyrodiil of Alessia and Marukh considered an Empire, or is it just considered one to apologetically round out the history of Reman and Septim?

Ottomans loved their ships.