The Empire lies broken and diminished, struggling under the heavy yoke of the supremacist Thalmor. The northern province of Skyrim, from whence the founders of the Empire hail, is torn by civil war, as brother fights brother and the Thalmor watch with glee. In these times of chaos, a forgotten threat returns, bearing with it the promise of the end of all things. The world is irrevocably doomed. Sort of.