Battle of Red Ring
This battle took place during the Great War in 4E 175. The two sides were the Aldmeri Dominion and the Tamrielic Empire. The Battle was named after the Cyrodilic road, the Red Ring Road.
One year before the Battle of Red Ring, the Aldmeri Dominion had conquered the Imperial City. The Battle of Red Ring gave the Empire a chance to get the Imperial City. The battle was a success for the Empire, and they got the Imperial City back.
Both sides of the battle had very heavy losses. The Empire lost most of their men, and the Dominion lost all of their's.
Now some background on the battle.
After the Dominion took over the Imperial City, they thought that the surrender of the Empire would happen soon after. The Emperor Titus II knew that the Dominion, and let them think that until the Battle of Red Ring. One of the Imperial Generals, on his way back from Hammerfell, took over the Colovian Highlands outside of Chorrol (my favorite city in the ES games). And even though they took over that area, they were still undetected. Since they were undetected, they were able to make a surprise attack on the Dominion. The battle lasted five days, as the Empire was pushing forwards, and were trying to meet the general that took over the Highlands and his garrison.
Before the battle, the Emperor was injured by a group of assassins. He was in too bad shape to lead his army, so an unknown hero took his armor and lead the army in the Emperor's place.
The Empire still managed to win, even though the Dominion had reinforcements from Bravil and Skingrad.
The unknown hero picked up Goldbrand from a fallen daedric minion.
This battle marked the end of the major battles in the Great War, it ended in the Dominion's favor. While some believe that they should've kept fighting, others believe that they didn't have enough troops to continue the fight.
That ends part one.
Part two, the Alessian Empire
The Alessian Empire is also called the First Empire. The Empire started by Saint Alessia, and was after the Slave Rebellion, which overthrew the Ayleid rule of the land. It was the first human Empire in Cyrodiil. The Empire fell after War of Righteousness.
The Empire started after the rebellion of the slaves of the Ayleids. The rebellion managed to take over the White-Gold Tower in the Imperial City. Alessia named herself the emperor, with a promise to keep a covenant between man and Akatosh. The covenant was that as long as the Dragonfires would stay lit, that there could be no daedric invasions.
Alessia was a large religious authority, due to her connestion with Akatosh. She also allowed Ayleids who wanted to keep their gods and religion to do so, as long as they would release all slaves and stand with the rebellion.
She was gifted the Amulet of Kings (vol 3) and her soul was placed in it, as would her descendants. Her first descendant was a half-bull minotaur (eww, furry).
So pretty much, Alessia was a slave who was part of a slave rebellion. She proclaimed herself emperor, and became a large religious figure. She was given the Amulet of Kings.
There's a lot more on the wiki article, but it didn't fit along with the main idea of the empire. If you want to, you can go check it out. I might do a follow up some other time, but I have stuff to do soon, so I'll leave it out.
Ayleids
The Aleids were a race of Mer and were descendants of the Aldmer, and are the ancestors of the Altmer. The Aldmer moved to the Summerset Isles. Some of them decided to go adventure into the land of Tamriel. The ones that went to Morrowind, became the Chimer, the Summerset Isles became Altmer, and Cyrodiil became the Ayleids.
The Ayleids made the first empire on the land. They built the White-Gold Tower, and they had a very strong empire.
In the First Era, the Slave Rebellion started, which ended the Ayleid rule, and started the Allessian Empire.
They are now presumed extinct, and there has only been one sighting in the Third Era. That was Umaril, in the Knights of the Nine questline for Oblivion.
The Ayleids were very skilled in magic. It became a large part of their culture.
The Ayleids built the Imperial City.
The Ayleids had many different letters, characters, and words. Some of their ancient writings have been translated to the new language of the Empire.
The Ayleids had a very close relationship with the Daedric Princes.
The Ayleids have many ruins around Cyrodiil. One example is Sancre Tor.
The Amulet of Kings is one of the relics that they have.
Well, that about sums it up for today.