White-Gold Tower

Small replica of the White-Gold Tower from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The White-Gold Tower, also called the Imperial Palace, White-Stone Tower or simply White-Gold, is the enormous central spire of the Imperial City, located in the heart of Cyrodiil. It towers above everything else in the city.

The tower was built by the earliest Aldmeri migrants to Cyrodiil in the middle Merethic Era and was the center of the region occupied by their descendants, the Ayleids. The tower was originally called the Temple of the Ancestors (known to the Nedes as the Citadel), and was home to the Ten Ancestors, a set of Ayleid statues made from meteoric iron and glass. The distance between the Ayleids' lands and those of their theoretical overlords led to the establishment of White-Gold Tower as an independent city state in 1E 0; a state that lasted until Alessia overthrew Ayleid rule in 243.

In the time since, the White-Gold Tower has served as the seat of Imperial authority for the many empires established out of Cyrodiil, from the First Empire led by Alessia, the Second Empire led by the Reman dynasty and, briefly, by the Akaviri Potentate, and the Third Empire led by the Septim dynasty, begat by the legendary Tiber Septim himself.