Books:Pocket Guide to the Empire: 1st Edition

Release Date	1998
Time Period	2E 864
Author	Michael Kirkbride
Publisher	Bethesda Softworks
ISBN	N/A
Pages	46
Game	Redguard

A Pocket Guide to The Empire and its Environs (Being a Description of the Lands and the Divers Customs of the Inhabitants) was part of the Redguard manual, and provided the first detailed background information on the land of Tamriel and beyond. It began with a brief introduction, followed by chapters on Skyrim, Cyrodiil, High Rock, Hammerfell, the Aldmeri Dominion (Summerset Isle and Valenwood), the Elsweyr Confederacy, Morrowind plus the Wild Regions (Argonia, Pyandonea, Thras and Orsinium).

Each chapter consisted of a central portion of text, with sidebars on important matters or features. An additional feature of the guide was that it came with annotations supplied by the enigmatic "YR", an Altmer about to take up a post as military attaché in the Imperial City, who was sending the guide to his uncle as a warning that Tiber Septim may indeed be the "Dragonborn" spoken of in Altmer prophecies. The annotations provide an alternative perspective on the otherwise relentlessly pro-Imperial viewpoint of the guide.

The guide can be read in full here.