Why? It's more fun to have several people claim it, and the empire splinters in the process.

Yeah, maybe a guy from Illinois.

The splintering bit is on the cards for sure. Whatever happens that will be the greatest danger.

Previous chancellors have ascended simply because without an Emperor the Empire is likely to become more and more unstable and, whether they were liked or not, stability was thought more important than personal dislikes.

What the Precursor is saying, portends and intends might be crucial - will Valenwood be drawn back into itself by Yffre's return or is it about to explode into an orgy of conquest backed by a God outraged by the despoliation of forests and creatures all over Tamriel?

Mundanely Cyrodiil has taken lands from both the Bosmer and the Khajiit - what if those two races made peace at long last because they decide they have a common enemy?

What could the Mage Guild do if Manomarco produces another human avatar who leads the much hunted and abused Necromancers of Tamriel in a war of conquest? What could the mages do having presumable been decimated by the recent Daedric invasion the limits of which have not yet been fully explored or even described?

Helseth loyal???? rofl - sorry - he plays his own game and you can bet he has planned for the centuries of life that he expects to come ...

The Nords are indeed on the move as their invasion of the North Western Mainland of Morrowind shows ... what if they conquer? Can th eDunmer and Helseth resitst without the Tribunal? Will the Nords turn to other Provinces if they make Morrowind vassel?

Giskard might ask you to consider: What are the Hist? What are they capable of? And what is the Argonian race's true relationship to them? There is a Hist at the heart of Empire for the first time in recorded history. Is it aware? Is it capable of intervening in events there? Did it want to be there or was it truly captured?

We know what the Altmer are doing - snooting up their noses at all the other races. Maybe they will decide to withdraw from the Empire at long last?

Loads more fun can be had from this great question - interesting times ahead.

I was just stating that someone (or some people) are going to have to take the mantle of ruler of the Empire for there to be another era. Thus is the way of Tamriel itself.

I realize the Empire, aloing with the world, is going to crap; I'm confident MK has stated this via his "None shall survive" quips he's made, if I interpreted them correctly.

Mommy?

No, Seriously...
My vote would go to divayath Fyr or Janus Trevalyn Hasselhoff Hassildor.

All speculation but I think without the Septim line in the throne the other provinces will break away and become independant. I believe in the end whoever takes over as Emperor will have to reconquer most if not all of the provinces. This process would take years so we may not see a true Emperor for a very long time, although I'm sure there will be many pretenders calling themselves as such. Thus is the way of kingdoms and politics....

Almost none of the provinces is not united enough to break away on their own. Morrowind is, perhaps, but they have nothing to gain from it, and a pro-Imperial King.

Seems to be necessary.

We know that Morrowind has a King - Helseth, who presented himself as pro-Imperial - we also know that Helseth's Mother - aka Barenziah - formerly the Empress Barenziah ... is still living. And there are reports of a major Gate and Siege Machine in Ald'Ruhn the Vvardenfell Capital of the mortal enemies of Hlaalu ... sort of damaging their hold on things.

So for all we know Helseth (who was fostered by Barenziah with the Underking accoding to a Daggerfall Quest) conspired with Dagon because assassinating the previous King of Morrowind (also putatively pro-Imperial) was just a stepping stone to the Imperial Throne.

Hmmm - now what is another name for the Underking? ... Was it the Worm King or Manimarco?

Helseth and Manimarco in the Imperial hotseat - and a fun time was had by all those vampires, necros and other delightful creatures ... ... a bit hard on the remains of the Mages Guild though - hunted by Imperial decree!

Hints have been passed about something Apocalyptic in TESV

I guess that anything that can go wrong will go wrong ...

From Elseth's side of the problem, the dunmers needs the Empire, even more so now that the Tribunal is gone.

The dunmers are so much into clan feuds and squabbles that they're sort of like a bunch of rambuctious kids in a schoolyard : they need either a big bully to rally against, or a big brother to kick them into a semblance of order.

Under the Tribunal, the feuds were kept in check, but it still required the Morag Tong as a safety valve.

Without the Tribunal, there's not much to prevent them from exploding into civil war - except the Empire, which both provides a common hate for the dunmers to rally around and gives Elseth a big bad honbailed boot to kick obedience into the most agitated of his vassals.

Well, yes - if the Empire falls into Helseth's grubby paws then that's game - set - and match = he becomes a hero to all in Morrowind - especially if he defeats another contender along the way an dhe gets total control over that big hob-mailed boot. I suppose it might be time to start taking odds on Occato's likely life-span

Hell, mere popularity did not prevent him from assassinating the previous King of Morrowind

Heh - then he might decide that other Provinces are a threat to Morrwoind an dCyrodiil and start a new war - or start a war on another continent and invite the Nords to join in - sort of distract them from their current occupation ... once they have done enough damage to his enemies in Morrowind.

With an inventive mind like Helseth's what would not be possible?

I just hope he is not turned into a dull and boring homebody ...

But both Helseth and his Hlaalu allies know that opposing the Empire won't get you anywhere. Look at Indoril.

If Barenziah - former Empress of Tamriel supports her son King Helseth of Morrwind and rightful heir to the Imperial Throne then he would not be fighting the Empire - he would be running the whole dam thing - right?

Barenziah was never empress of Tamriel... and Helseth is not fighting the empire.

op: i suspect the elder council will rule things for a bit until the situation is again stable. then all the distant relatives of the septims will start coming out of the woodwork. a family that important has relatives everywhere. i doubt it will rise to civil war but disturbance is likely imho. I doubt any provinces will break away, at least initially. They are all kinda busy fighting either with each other or inside themselves.

Perhaps select Akaviri will rule the Empire once again.

The underking was zurin arctus, battlemage of Tiber septim, not Mannimarco, king of worms.

He was also Wulfharth, who was resurrected by Shor to fight Resdayn.

...if you belive The Five Songs.

need to read that one.

Well, you and Crimson Paladin should be BEST FRIENDS then!

Lol, I'm kidding. I have this to say about the Five Songs though: if Vehk himself referenced an event that was recorded in the text, then there has got to be SOME truth there.

And while this next statement isn't necessarily directed at anyone in a hostile manner, PLEASE don't jump up with the "Vehk is a liar" argument... It's starting to get lame to me...

Doesn't vehk have some sort of water mask dealy to indicate he's telling the truth?

Eh...I hate to sound like an idiot, but...it always clicked in my head that Wulfharth's soul was in the Mantella, mainly because it's stated that the soulgem is used on him and at the time it was easier to process in my head that an avatar of Lorkhan could power the Anumidum better than Arctus' soul could. I feel that, in some weird ass way, the Underking's Heart blasting the crap outta Arctus' somehow made him become the next Underking.

In the end, I find both about equally plausible though.

To Ravager: yeah he does, though I don't remember if he stated that in the interview.

edit: Nope he doesn't. But check these pieces of info:

1. If Nerevar didn't kill a god at Red Mountain...why the hell is he "Godkiller" then?

2. According to The Five Song's spiritual sequel, the Arcturian Heresy, eventually people got confused on who Tiber Septim was, thanks to the Underking's placement in another part of Tamriel, as well as other crap. It was as if Septim was in two different places at once.

3. Like I said, Vehk himself even references events recorded in the Five Songs and the Heresy, most importantly the point where he killed Tiber Septim.

...Yes. He was at Red Mountain.

While as always, this is merely my opinion, I still feel it has much merit.

The Anumidum was supposed to be powered by the heart of a god. Lorkhan's Heart. Wulfharth was soultrapped, and the Heart was substituted with the soul of Lorkhan's avatar. It's simple to see how this works. Wulfharth/Ysmir was a recurring incarnation of Shor, and his title was the Underking. When he was destroyed, he somehow possessed Zurin Arctus, who became similar to a lich, with attributes of both beings. Zurin Arctus is the Underking, just like Pelinal's predecessors were the Underking.

Then [censored] hit the fan. Instead of using Lorkhan's Heart to ascend to godhood, Mannimarco reached apotheosis using the soul of Lorkhan's avatar. Once again, a simple and symbolic substitution. Both Zurin and Ysmir are dead now, and we await the next Shezzarine.

Thanks for that, especially the Pelinal part; always wanted to ask about that but I either forgot or..just didn't. Feel less like an idiot now.

Sotha Sil for Divine Emperor!

(Of course then we'd have a puppet government.)

I think Tamriel is going to go through a few generations of disunity. We'll probably see an "Emperor" in Cyrodil, appointed by the Council, who is opposed by various contenders from places like Skyrim and High Rock. Meanwhile, the meric domains will attempt to withdraw from the Empire completely (except Morrowind, which, under Helseth's leadership, will maintain a nominal, but very independent, membership in the Empire, given his throne has no legitimacy outside the Imperial system, and the growing popularity of the Imperial Cult).

And then whatever the Hist of Argonia have planned will approach fruition. Who knows what they're up to? Maybe they'll find a way to use a new Tower to raise their old dominion out of the sea, creating a land bridge to Akavir.

Just wanted to reiterate...