Cyrodiil's Forts in The Elders Scrolls

[ABRIELLE]

As you know, there are a number of abandon forts scattered across Cyrodiil not counting the bandits and creatures in them. I know that the forts are the Imperial Legion's, but all of them are abandoning. Why? I'd think that the Legion would keep at least some of the forts functional for as a waypoint of caravans or legoneers patroling the roads. Why are they all abandon please help me out of this confusion.

[Deepest BLUE]

I would think that the Legion would keep at least some of the forts functional for as a waypoint of caravans or legoneers patroling the roads. Besides from the Oblivion Invasion, there are a ton of creatures and bandits, I'd think that they'd know that abandoning them would mean a new place for them. And why not keep at least a couple functional, that way the Legion could send guards from a specific fort nearest to an incident's location, providing a better defense for Cyrodiil. Remember the Legion sent a group to for Sutch to defend it from the Daedra. Why would they need to protect the fort, if they had any intentions of using the fort in emergency situations they'd have to clear it out first.

[CACTUS101]

You could take the tack that this is the fault of Oblivion designers BTW I don't blame Ted Peterson or MK or if you want to try to fit the forts into lore, maybe the funds were lost due to corruption and complacency. I agree that you'd think they would have forts because of bandits and monsters.You can devise many explanations for why none of the fort are in good shape and still manned by the Legion, but ultimately it's a futile effort because you won't be able to craft one that really makes sense.

[Isabella]

There was a thread on TIL that went into more depth than it relay should have mostly thanks to me.You should read what was said about roads changing, population moving/dying, borders shifting, and funds reallocated. It was either under tes games or lore. I agree with that. Most of the forts in Cyrodiil are shoty and run down, therefore, maybe the upkeep of the forts was costing too much. Plus, most of the forts are out in the middle of no-where. That said, I think it would have been reasonable to have a few forts near roads and towns that the legion would use as camps and outposts.

[Anthony12]

There were never actual forts in Cyrodiil, they just holed up in the cities and towns. A few decades before the events of Oblivion though Cyrodiil went through a period of romanticism and adventuring spirit where the counts built forts and what they thought Ayleid ruins would look like, complete with traps and chests so they could role play a bit. The fad died out and whoever was next along took over the shelters. What good is protecting a province if your soldiers aren't mobile. What if a person was being robbed a mile down the road? You'd never see them. Yet, here would be an entire fortification of drunken soldiers laughing and helping "merchants" and "traders" unpack their scrolls and other personal prefects. It makes sense they'd retire from the traditional bases or whatever, and have soldiers patrolling a perimeter.

[Bricklayer]

I wouldn't think keeping forts up to date in Oblivion would be practical. Lore wise, it would be, but Oblivion leaves a lot of gaps. If we go from what we see in the game, most forts are in the middle of the wilderness, with relatively no roads or paths nearby. It would be difficult to stop the forts with supplies, seeing as there are hundreds of them. It's much easier to have garrisons of soldiers in self sufficient towns. Although, stationing your troops thin across the country, in places where they are most likely not needed, does not seem like a good strategy.

[Gajendra1]

To put that into perspective, Atmora became too cold for the Nords and some are walking around naked in Solstheim. So Kamal can be cold as hell, if not colder because even the devils freeze in. For clarity, this is mostly an objection to the idea that Solstheim is cold enough to be like Kamal. Kaarstag seems to be just another monster. He sentient, and not just that but intelligent enough to meet Hircine's lofty standards. He's probebly more intelligent than half the Nords on the Island.