Former Emperor Accused of Appropriating Breton Culture

IMPERIAL CITY, CYRODIIL - A new academic paper published by a scholar simply known as Tertius, is raising eyebrows in the Imperial City today. The commotion is due to the authors posthumous accusation that Emperor Uriel VII appropriated Breton cultural armor and dress styles for less than noble reasons: "The Emperor was looking to bring in additional wealth to Cyrodiil after the success of his agent in Morrowind. But he feared that travelers to Cyrodiil would associate the current Colovian style with the 'strangeness' of Morrowind. To reject that notion he ordered a change in the Imperial Legion's uniform as well as changes to traditional dress in the region. The aim was to reject this associated 'weirdness' left over from the campaign in Morrowind to try to attract more visitors to the region. So smiths and fashion designers were to steal from the more subdued cultural style of Breton artisans to give a more 'normal' look and feel to the people of the capital. Though the changes saw blowback from current residents, the changes had the intended effect and Cyrodiil in the days leading up to the Oblivion Crisis saw its most populous years."

It is true that Emperor Uriel VII, who presided over more than his fair share of threats to the then Septim Empire, did order a redesign of the Imperial Legions uniforms soon after the defeat of Dagoth-Ur in Morrowind. Gone were the original Imperial Legion uniforms which consisted of ornate designs incorporating the Red Diamon, horses, a battle kilt and outher flourishes that made the fighting force stand out. Replaced with a "head to toes" plate set that had little in the way of embellishments that would look at home on any knight of the Illiac Bay. Also around this time the distinct Colovian and Nibenese styles saw a homogenization, that left little distinction between the two halves of Cyrodiil. Whether these were intentional changes to appeal to other provinces or just a natural evolution is hard to determine.

Tertius is the self proclaimed head of "Nega-Druid Bretonic Studies" at an unnamed college within the Imperial City. This isn't the first time Tertius has caused such a commotion. He once accused the great Tiber Septim of similar motives related to the change of Cyrodiil's jungles to the more accessible and cosmopolitan forrest countryside we now enjoy.