(A/N, Checking back over the previous chapters I notice something that Meroth said, and I remembered there was a character that was supposed to be included, but can't at this point. Thu'ur. With his electric hammer. It was a part of a plan, but the story has changed. So, to all of you waiting for Thu'ur, the immortal nord to show up, he won't be coming and I am sorry. Additionally, Morrowind was mostly claimed by Black Marsh in the Fourth Era, I am assuming that in the nearly 3000 years since Skyrim, Black Marsh took over Morrowind entirely.)
Tiber grabbed one of Albert's unarmored sorcerers by his robe, "How could you just leave him out there! How could you let this happen!" Tiber yelled, throwing him against the wall of the throne room.
"We're sorry sir. We just thought-" the one who was thrown replied.
"You thought what?!" Tiber questioned.
One of the armored ones answered, "We thought, 'Hey, there's thirteen guys left, and Albert is fighting them, we should probably stay back while he roasts them, he might hold back if we're near' we were thinking of his and our safety." The armored one finished.
Tiber growled, "Dismissed." He told them.
Thurrahui and the other children of the dragonborn got up from their kneeling positions as well.
"Not you six. You stay." Tiber said, pointing at them.
They nodded, kneeling again.
"You can go to a seat." Tiber indicated the chairs lining the walls. They sat while Tiber paced, "So explain to me exactly why you six weren't a part of the army while the other sons of the Dragonborn were." Tiber demanded.
"Well, simply put. We were strong enough to say no." Thurrahui explained, "Our father was dying and we told Camoran he could screw himself and we weren't going to leave his side until he passed."
"I see, and this was how long ago?" Tiber asked.
"Five years." Thurrahui replied.
"I see... Five years ago... I was thirteen... That year there were 9 assassination attempts set up by Camoran... 10 the following year... 9... 7... 5... 8... There was no guarantee I was the one, and if I had died, it would have been another year until the next emperor would have risen... I killed him and the other potentials when I turned 18, then I realized who the other assassins were my predecessors... Camoran did some seriously fucked up shit... I won't try you for treason because you betrayed Camoran not me... Though... I give you a task. I am emperor now. Fully and truly. I have conquered Cyrodiil, and by extension most of Tamriel, it will be trivial to make the other provinces bend the knee... Kill Camoran. Come back to me when you are done." Tiber ordered.
"Of course, your imperial majesty." Thurrahui said, standing and bowing with his brothers.
Tiber paced the throne room, looking at the masks they had placed down at his feet, he knew them by name and enchantment, and they had told him the one Albert picked up. Nahkriin. Albert would have specifically targeted the one he needed. Tiber picked up Nahkriin.
They terrified him. He felt he needed to better keep himself alive and kill them. He looked at the alternatives, Vokun would have been another alternative. He felt Daedra wouldn't have been useful enough, he felt that they wouldn't be fooled by illusions, and he felt that altering the laws of physics wouldn't be enough. Given Albert's abilities, those would be the two best choices.
Tiber sighed. He picked up Hevnoraak, Otar, Volsung, and Rahgot, placing the four together. He then picked up Nahkriin, Morokei, and Vokun, placing them together. He picked up Miraak, Ahzidal, Dukaan and Zahkriisos and put them together. He placed the final two masks together. He would have a new project for Yagrum.
He bagged each set separately, setting the bags next to the throne he sat again, rubbing his temple. He had an empire to start ruling. He needed to prepare to expand over the rest of Tamriel.
"Sorry Albert..." He went to go find Psij.
Psij was in his room, reading as usual, "Emperor, I was wondering when you would come get me. Who are we going to annex first?"
"The most likely candidates. And you might as well come out of the shadows Silencer, you're the only one who would be able to get past my assassins, and you walk differently than the speakers." Tiber said loudly, making sure to shame the assassins.
The sound of laughter came from the shadows, "This shadowscale is impressed." he cleared his throat, "The black hand wish to announce that Black Marsh is yours."
"I didn't realize that the Brotherhood had such pull there." Tiber said with a laugh.
"Every silencer is a shadowscale, and every shadowscale make up half of the ruling council of blackmarsh. Officially, there are no shadowscales within the Brotherhood and our operations in Blackmarsh are still officially closed. However, everyone in Black Marsh is a member of the Dark Brotherhood, in some capacity. The Lilmothiit recovering at our center." He said, cackling.
"I figured a lot of you would have dayjobs, but an entire province." Tiber chuckled, pausing, "He left." Tiber paused again, "Ok, so, we start with Valenwood. Psij, come on, to the throne room, we have to interrupt some people in Valenwood." Tiber walked to the throne room, Psij following.
Psij stood several feet from the throne as Tiber sat down. He closed his eyes.
"Let me know when you're ready." Tiber said.
Psij opened his eyes and a projection of 5 bosmer sitting around a fire appeared around the throne.
"Hi there, I assume I am speaking to the people of the highest authority within Valenwood?"
"The Altmer have the highest authority here..." A male, directly in front of him muttered.
"And they wouldn't like us talking to you." A female behind him said.
Tiber put a finger in the air and spun it, they rotated and the female showed up in front of him, "And look what the Altmer have gotten you. The Thalmor military and many others now lie dead on the battlefield because of the Altmer's leadership. I took over the imperial city, not harming any Bosmer in the progress, and the Thalmor insist on leaving me alone, but also restraining humans, forcing them not to march on me. This poor choice led to the humans ultimate rebellion, selling your friends and family to Molag Bal. Wives and daughters forced to become daughters of coldharbor, now enslaved there because I was forced to kill them as the men forced them to march on my city. And the other Thalmor are also enslaved there because the men wanted to force them to cooperate." Tiber explained.
"Yeah? And who forced the men into desperation? Huh?" She said, slamming her fist into the ground. She pointed at Tiber, "You."
"You misunderstand. I only forced men to turn to Daedra, the Altmer who lead the dominion were the ones who wanted to prevent the men from doing it, leading to their desperation for selling your people to Molag Bal. I may have caused them to die, but the Altmer's lack of cooperation ensured their eternal enslavement, but I can prevent such things for you." Tiber offered.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"Valenwood. It will become a part of my empire as Cyrodiil and Skyrim before it." Tiber explained, "It will receive no special nor worser treatment, and it will grant equal protection of its borders, policing by my men, et cetera." Tiber finished.
"Taxation?" she asked.
"10% of all income. With my men around, crime will drop, tensions will slowly be eased, and the economy will thrive, as it has in the half a year I have been in charge of the Imperial city." Tiber offered.
"Deal, but only once we see that our borders are guarded." The woman said. The four men spoke their approval.
Tiber snapped his fingers and Psij teleported several soldiers into their camp, "We can't have you dying." Tiber snapped his fingers again and Psij teleported a large number of soldiers out of the city to their borders with orders written in their head, "You should find out shortly, make sure my men aren't attacked by yours." Tiber said with a smile.
The hologram vanished.
"Alinor please." Tiber requested. A hologram of the Thalmor headquarters appeared around Tiber, "Hello to the third Aldmeri dominion, brutalizers of the previous empire. All is not well in Aetherius and Nirn I am afraid." Tiber mocked.
"What is it you want?" An ancient Altmer demanded.
"Surrender, nothing short of it. You lose all political power, and get taxed like a normal province of my empire and I put a Bosmer in charge of your lands as a lord, or king, or whatever title they want." Tiber said with a smile.
"And what makes you think we will accept this?" The old man replied.
"Because, you know what happened to your armies on the mainland. You know what my people were able to do. You know of my power. And I will kill you if you don't submit. You will have an hour to debate this, the entire time of which, I will stare at you menacingly." Tiber folded his hands, placing them under his chin.
"We will never-" the old man began.
Everyone else at the table cut in, yelling to be heard over the others. Arguing of the veracity of claims, the severity of the threat, and the truth behind the words. 23 minutes later, the old man was killed. They pushed his body over and a young Altmer woman took his place, "Does anyone reject my placement as the leader of the Elder Council?" there was silence, "Good then. I would like to make a request, we are willing to accept your terms, however, in the interest of peace, we have a slight politics adjustment." She stated.
"I'm listening." Tiber said.
"Our people would have difficulty accepting a Bosmer as absolute leader. So I propose that there is a partnership of leaders. One Bosmer of your choosing and one Altmer of our choosing, and an elder council below them." She offered.
"Very well, in the interest of peace. We can work out the finer details in person, but I will take this as an acceptance of Empire rule, and I will expect you to state it as such, like with Valenwood." Tiber snapped his fingers and the projection went away. He sniffed, thinking for a moment, "High Rock."
Psij blinked and a hologram of five Bretons and an Orc, sitting around Tiber appeared.
"Greetings rulers of High Rock, I am Tiber Septim. I assume you have heard of my war against the Cyrodiilic and Aldmeri empire at the very least." Tiber said with a smile.
"We are not interested in getting involved in a war, we told them much the same." The Orc stated.
"Well, good, neither am I, I just got out of one you see... I was the winner." Tiber said slowly.
"And you would like to negotiate a trade agreement?" The middle Breton asked, male.
"No... You see... I am far too greedy for simple trade. I want power. 10% taxes from you, you can rule your people how you will. However, you defer to me. And in exchange, I won't use the power that conquered the Aldmeri and Cyrodiilic empire, to attack you." Tiber offered.
"We only tax our people 7 percent, we wouldn't be able to afford a full ten. How about five." The Orc offered, looking to the three female and two male bretons.
"Five sounds good." The Bretons agreed.
"Like I said, we don't want a war, and the fact that you can say that you won... We would like peace." The orc explained.
"I understand. Five percent sounds agreeable to me. Contact me when you are ready for me to come in and sign the paperwork." They nodded and Tiber snapped his fingers, the hologram went away. He sighed, "Elsweyr."
Psij blinked and the female high elf appeared in front of them again.
"Is there anything further you require?" She asked.
"Oh, no, just let the Khajiit know who's in charge now." Tiber snapped his fingers and the hologram vanished, "Hammerfell."
Psij closed his eyes and moments later opened them, a redguard sitting on a throne in front of him.
"I presume I am speaking to the King of Hammerfell?" Tiber asked.
"You are, King Frandar the Final. And you are?" he asked.
"I am Tiber Septim. I have conquered Skyrim and Cyrodiil, I have just negotiated annexations of Valenwood and Alinor after crippling the Thalmor. Elsweyr followed suit being part of the Aldmeri dominion, and High Rock agreed to join as well.. Upon hearing my winning Cyrodiil, Blackmarsh immediately sent me an ambassador to announce their new loyalty to me." Tiber smiled.
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Frandar asked.
"Frandar, I just won a war, a war for an empire that your kingdom was once a part of. That you seceded from due to the Aldmeri Dominion. You can have any religion you want, but you are a part of my empire and you send your taxes directly to us." Tiber demanded.
"Such confidence." Frandar chuckled, "What makes you think I will submit?"
"Because on all sides of you are my underlings. The Aldmeri Dominion managed a stalemate with you 3000 years ago with just them. I have the combined might of Cyrodiil, Black Marsh, Elsweyr, Alinor, Valenwood and Skyrim. It is within my means to make you a smoking crater. Don't tempt me." Tiber threatened.
What followed was a scene that Tiber had seen a short while ago.
"Don't tempt me, for I may fight your new-" Frandar began.
There was a lot of yelling that followed. Soon enough, Frandar was killed and another Redguard sat in his throne.
He cleared his throat, "I am Derik. And I want to ask, what are your terms."
"Standard 10% taxing and you rule your kingdom as you wish, but you listen to me." Tiber offered.
"Fair enough. We get trade from the Empire?" he asked.
"Of course." Tiber replied, "Call me when you are ready for me to sign."
He snapped his fingers and the hologram vanished. Negotiations had ended in his favor.