The Third Empire of Men will no doubt falter and fall apart in the coming months and years that follow the Oblivion Crisis. Councilor Ocato and the Elder Council will attempt to hold the frail Empire together, but without the central figure of an emperor the provinces will slowly begin to break away. The mer, possible starting with the Summerset Isles, will see this as an opportunity to free themselves from the inferior rule of men. Once one province breaks out into open rebellion, the others will probably follow in tow. The Imperial Legions will be unable to prevent the uprising and some over ambitious generals will attempt to carve out pocket kingdoms for themselves. In the Imperial City distant relatives and nobles with Septim blood will make attempts to seize the throne for themselves. Their success would vary and no one would be able to remain in power for very long. In the end the land of Tamriel will degrade into civil war and enter a new so called dark age.

It will not be until an external threat or the fear of such a threat that a noble Nord or Colovian noble/warrior will rise to prominence at the head of an army. He will bring Skyrim and Cyrodiil under his control and from this power base slowly claim the rest of Tamriel for his new empire, the Forth Empire of Men. History tends to make a wheel in the Arena of Mundas and undetectably another empire will rise from the ashes of Talos' kingdom.

No, it's Helseth and Dres are "picking the carcass of Indoril"

To be honest, i wouldn't like to see Empire fall apart.
I like the Empire and Imperials.

It would be curious however, to see changes aswell. (And changes there will be, with all things happened lately)

Well, an overhaul to the Empire might be interesting to see: learn from the past mistakes, cut, add, etc. The death of it and it being replaced by another (similar?) would be interesting too. Personally, I want to see a new empire emerge.

Worse off.

I always thought it a shame the Dunmer, with their god-kings, never managed to make anything like a empire. It would have been much more interesting than the Imperials, who are pretty tame, and boring in the representation we had.

I think Tamriel will be worse off without the Empire. Everyone loses the infallible scapegoat when Cyrodiil goes to the dogs. Maybe Vehk will come back, Landfall us, or the snake-people come and teach us what a real empire is.

Things would probably go to hell. Go look at the Iliac Bay, and that's with the Empire still existant.

Agreed. While the Empire may have svcked at times, it at least prevented all out war between providences and civil war within providences. If it completely collapses, everyone would go for each others throat's.

The Empire has a hard time keeping control as it is, the Nords were allowed to invaded Solstheim under the Empire, the great houses continue a pseudo war. The Empire keeps things clean. Thats why it would be nice to see it fall, or recede somewhat.

I think that whether the collapse of the Empire is going to be for better or worse is going to depend entirely on what province you're talking about. It seems like in some instances, the Skyrim/Morrowind situation for example, only the threat of action from the Legion was keeping everything from exploding into utter chaos. Even with a living emperor to rally around the legions were able to prevent all out war but there were still skirmishes and general confusion going on over what essentially came down to property disputes. Obviously, the continuing stability of the Empire is going to benefit some of the Empire more than others. Didn't Elseweyr recently lose some land? And Summerset Isles seems to be increasingly displeased about being ruled over by a "lesser race".

With the emperor dead and no one currently occupying the throne, there is a question of who is in charge. The obvious choice being Ocato and the Elder Council in general, but I don't think the EC is going to do as good a job as some of the citizens of the Empire might like. They very likely have individual interests they'll want to advance and no final word on what happens. Theoretically I suppose Ocato could be it, but I don't know that he has a great deal of power individually. Unless the Legion is supposed to listen to him and actually does.

And then there is the military capabilities of different provinces. Were the local armies put down when the various provinces were conquered? I know Morrowind had the Great Houses, but after the Oblivion Crisis, who's left? Yes, the Legion suffered during the invasions and all, but they could afford to lose more people than anyone else couldn't they? I'm not certain any of the provinces will stage a full out rebellion because I'm not convinced they have the manpower. On the other hand, if any of the provinces decided to rebel, would the Legion be able to do anything about it? Especially if a couple of the provinces decided to make their escape attempts at the same time.

I'm a very rusty on TES lore, but I thought only Septims with the Amulet of kings could keep the Daedra from entering Tamriel. Again, I'm not sure, its been a while since I've played the games.

Ah, but that's no longer necessary, what with Martin's sacrifice. Anyway, it's thought that the Chim-el Adabal was just one of many things keeping the barrier up. The loss of Red Mountain and other towers weakened it enough to where the loss of the Amulet of Kings was the straw that broke the camel's back. In any case, it seems that the Amulet only requires royalty, not necessarily a descendant of Tiber Septim.

Well since they can't even keep the peace when their in a stable state (before full assault of Daedra/devastation of Imperial City), they're pretty screwed. The Renrijra Krin are actively taking or destroying all off County Leyawiin, Nords are all already assaulting Morrowind, Black March is almost completely uncontrolled, Summerset Isles are far off, and have the PSJIICS!, and Valenwood is also a relatively untamed province, and could easily win a Guerilla War against the Empire even while waging an on-off war with the Khajiit.

It also prevents a challenging situation to the Orcs, whether some will try to massacre them and others to enlist the aid of their strong warriors to form a peace treaty. So I'm a bit on the fence of whether or not it will actually be a good thing.

I think you overestimate the Renrijra Krin and their goals. Black Marsh always was but a province in name only. Valenwood actually is very easily governable (relatively) and therefore easy to field legions, especially since their capital has stopped moving and permanent trade routes can be established. Although there is the Wild Hunt... Finally, Orsinium enjoys a very nice alliance with Wayrest. Their only real threat is from Daggerfall (and possibly Sentinel, although I believe Lhotun has other things on his mind).

Lastly, @OmegaX: As far as we are aware, the pact lasted only through the events of 2920. However, since we do not know the terms of the pact, we cannot say for certain what has been... allowed.

When you consider what happened last time there wasn't a strong central authority in the the Empire (the Simulcrum, for those playing at home), there was chaos. They didn't call Tamriel the Arena for nothing. This was when people thought there was still an Emperor, and he could've come marching at the head of a column of Legionnaires to crush them and their squabbles at nay time.

Granted, Tharn was fanning the flames (why, I still don't know), but these wars he brewed up didn't appear from thin air. The reasons had always existed but could be mitigated by proper diplomacy. With a gentle push Tharn could start a war, but an equal push Uriel could prevent one.

Conclusion. Worse in that the citizenry of Tamriel aren't going to enjoy it, better in that adventurers will.

A good post, Wolf101. If Bethesda were realistic about the Interregnum, it could last for generations or more. I'll be disappointed if we're told in the next game that the Empire carried on after Martin as if nothing had changed.