20090526

Emperor Dirk Fodon

Emperor of the Terran Empire 302 - 321

b. 17 June 260
d. 15 July 321

Dirk Fodon was the second child of Emperor Philip Lütken and Mary Fodon. His childhood was spent on the Fodon estates on Torbet with his mother, father, and sister Ellen.

Dirk was a morose and taciturn boy who did not make friends easily. He was small for his age, and was tormented by other children. At the same time, his tremendous native intelligence and solemn demeanor always gained him allies among adults.

Dirk was 15 when his father was named Emperor and the family moved to Terra and into the Palace. He studied at Harvard and Cambridge, achieving a Master's Degree in Economics in 284.

When Ellen ascended to the Throne in 286, Dirk was 26. The following year, 287, she named him Imperial Exchequer, giving him full authority over the Treasury. Despite his best efforts, lingering effects of the economic slump of 275-280 continued to drain the Treasury and return little. About TE 295, Dirk began arguing for the reintroduction of taxation to put the Empire on a solid financial footing. In this he appears to have been under the influence of his main advisors, the Goldberg school of economists based at Cambridge. The Empress resisted Dirk's advice, and the Treasury continued to dwindle.

Ellen died in 302, and immediately her daughter, Joan, refused the Throne. There were two major candidates: Joan's son Alex Leonov (b. 275, age 27), and Dirk (age 42). The disputed succession went into the Imperial Council, and it wasn't long before a decision was made. By a landslide vote, the Throne was awarded to Dirk.

It was apparent almost at once that Dirk was not a laissez-faire Emperor. In his first hundred days, he issued Imperial Orders that limited the power of the Imperial Council, extended the authority of the Department of Colonization, and reintroduced taxation. Every Imperial planet was assessed annually for a certain amount; while developed worlds paid enormous sums, the burden fell heaviest on Colonies. In many cases, Colonies found their Imperial debt doubled or even tripled. Worlds which had been within years of paying off their debts suddenly found themselves decades behind. The Imperial Navy was dispatched to convince many recalcitrant planets to pay up. When several Fleet Admirals protested, Dirk dismissed them and replaced them with officers loyal to him.

The Galaxy seethed, and finally on 3 May 304, the Province of Patala formally seceded from the Empire, becoming the Patalanian Union. The Provost, Kasia Sayyid Contenau, took the title of "President" and a council of Idara and renegade Navy personnel organized themselves as the Presidium.

Dirk's Navy responded at once, but the forces of Patala were strong enough to force a stalemate. The Pax Terranica, which had been proclaimed by Maj Thovold 117 years earlier, came to an end. Struggles with the Patalanian Union would dominate the rest of the Empire's history.

Although Dirk's reforms put the Treasury on a firm footing and ensured the survival of the Empire as a political entity, they were greatly resented and led to deep divisions in the ranks of the Idara. For the first time since Maj Thovold's reign, credible and powerful opposition began to show itself in the Imperial Council.

In September 304, Alex Leonov and Maria Adelhardt had a son, also named Alex and known as Alex Minor. The boy was raised at the Palace under Dirk's supervision, serving as a hostage to ensure that Alex Major (the Heir) would behave.

The next decade saw continual increase in Dirk's power and his tyranny. When his body began to show signs of deterioration from stress, he was fitted with various implants until, by 310 he was a virtual cyborg.

Intrigue against Dirk Fodon was widespread; in the last decade of his reign, no less than eight separate assassination plots have been identified. In 315, when one of these plots was uncovered and traced to the upper echelons of the Department of Colonization, Dirk had the leaders executed and severely curtailed the powers and perogatives of the Department.

The last six years of Dirk's reign, from 315 to 321, were popularly referred to as "the years of terror," due to Dirk's increasing paranoia, tightened surveillence, and unpredictable executions as real or imagined plots were uncovered.

One of the most prominent plots against Dirk was led by his own nephew, Alex Major, and involved the Church of Meletia and various high-level members of the Imperial Council. In 320, Alex Major filed with the High Court a secret declaration of refusal of the Throne, in favor of his son, Alex Minor. It is suspected that this refusal was filed to satisfy Alex Major's co-conspirators that he was not in the conspiracy simply to build his own power.

Before Alex and his fellows could strike, however, Dirk uncovered their plot -- then died, apparently of natural causes (autopsies showed massive cerebral hemhorrages) on 15 July 321. Alex Minor took the Throne and was confirmed in the Imperial Council with only token dissent.


copyright (c) 2009, Don Sakers
Find out more on The Scattered Worlds site

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

20090520

Rose Cetaire

Rose Cetaire rises from a nearby couch and moves toward him. She is half a head shorter than him, slender and slightly gusty. She wears a dress of green silk, somewhat oriental in style, full-length and slit to mid-thigh on the sides. When she walks, the dress reveals perfect feet in emerald sandals that seem a part of her limbs. A discreet gold pin, in the shape of her famous monogram, clings to her neck. Her skin is porcelain-doll white. Her fine, straight hair, so dark a red that at first glance it appears black, cascades down her back and nearly sweeps the floor. She brandishes a gold lorgnette whose eyepieces are the letters R and C.

One of the most successful women in the fashion industry, Rose Cetaire is strong, quiet, and intensely loyal to her friends. At her whim, chintz replaces lace and denim turns damask, the world around.



copyright (c) 2009, Don Sakers

Find out more in Dance for the Ivory Madonna

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

20090513

Diebethar

Diebethar was the third great empire of the Gathered Worlds. From c. 22 million BCE to c. 5.2 million BCE, Diebethar ruled the Galactic Core of the Milky Way and, ultimately, all other galaxies of the Virgo supercluster. Diebethar is estimated to have ruled over ten billion worlds, with a total population of over ten septillion sapient beings.

Diebethar was a theocratic totalitarianism ruled by the Gergathan through methods as yet uncertain. All local religions were subsumed under worship of the Gergathan as the ultimate authority. The capital was the Core world Messilinia. The internal political structure of Diebethar is still unknown.

After the defeat of Garadhros by the Virgo Cultures, it took the Gergathan a million years to recover power and influence. Although hindered by the Free Peoples of the Scattered Worlds (and particularly by Jel Haran and Lirith), by 21 million BCE the Gergathan had regained enough power to start reconquering the Milky Way's Core, and to proclaim the third great Core Empire, Diebethar.

Through treachery, guile, and division, Diebethar rapidly spread through the Local Group and beyond, meeting and defeating the Virgo Cultures about 19 million BCE.

About 5.2 million BCE, the Avethellan Empire led an assault against Diebethar and Messilinia, and the Avethellan hero Kylvin struck at the Gergathan with one of the Singing Stones. However, Kylvin's Strike -- like Forriva's -- was blunted at the last moment.

Nonetheless, Diebethar fell, and the Core was briefly integrated into the Avethellan Empire. About 5.19 million BCE, Diebethar was succeeded by Malreppidar.



copyright (c) 2009, Don Sakers

Find out more on The Scattered Worlds site

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader

20090506

The Knights Economic

More or less with the establishment of the Tr#skan Trade Union (c. 4000 CE), the Knights Economic came into being as an order. At first, only the most successful traders were knighted by the Council Mercantile; as centuries passed the Knights Economic came to dominate the trading circles, and finally became synonymous with the traders. Knights Economic pass through rigorous training, and they are sworn to uphold high ethical and moral standards.

The Assembly of Knights is the judicial arm of the Knights Economic.

A Knight Economic is empowered to make deals and agreements binding on the Council Mercantile and the planet BDA Tr#ska. In a sense, a Knight Economic is BDA Tr#ska.

Each Knight Economic carries a Baton, attuned to his/her own biochemistry, which serves both to identify him/her, and to stitch him/her into the Trade Union's comm net.

The authority of a Knight Economic extends to choosing other Knights, subject to the approval of the Council Mercantile. Happily, such approval is seldom withheld.

A Knight Economic, of either gender, is addressed as "Sir (First Name)" or "Sir Knight." An apprentice Knight is referred to as either "Cadet (First Name)" or "Boy (First Name)" -- again regardless of gender.

On BDA Tr#ska, the Knight's Hallow preserves memory of all past Knights Economic.



copyright (c) 2009, Don Sakers

Find out more in The Scattered Worlds site

Like the blog? Send the author a donation.

 Subscribe in a reader