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| Justinian II | |
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| Notable Person | |
| Full Name | Jouseau Ivrae de Sange |
| Race | Ailor |
| Date of Birth | August 15th, 220 A.C. |
| Date of Death | May 5th, 302 A.C. |
| Claim to Fame | Regalian Emperor |
Justinian II Ivrae (born Jouseau Ivrae de Sange; born 15th of August 220 A.C. - 5 May 302 A.C.), was a Regalian Emperor, military leader, religious leader who succeeded the throne of the Regalian Empire after his father Justinian I died, ruling from 269 A.C. until his death in 302 A.C. Justinian II was remembered as a competent emperor, and a more accomplished field tactician and admiral. He is still celebrated in the Regalian Emperor as the last Ivrae Emperor after a long line of incompetent Emperors. Despite his military victories, Justinian II is also remembered for his failure to end the Baron’s Rebellion and almost turning the Empire into a constitutional Monarchy indefinitely.
Origins and Early Life
Justinian II was born on 15th of August 220 AC to Justinian I Ivrae and an unknown mother in his ancestral palace, the Grand Imperial Palace in Regalia. Another son would be born to his family several years later named Charles (styled Charleroi II). With his father as an Emperor, Justinian had every luxury afforded to him from his home, though contact with his parent was extremely sparse. Justinian I was an incompetent Emperor who the court often accused of complete subservience to the tyrannical Chancellor Morgan Kade. This early hide and seek within the palace that often had Justinian II dance away from assassination plots had a profound impact on his later life, in particular how he saw the other noble families and the Kades in particular. Justinian II was afforded the best tutors, trainers and horse riders to educate him for his future office on the throne. On completion of his studies, he engaged in the rule of minor Vixhall fiefs in his father’s name.
History
Justinian II succeeded Justinian I in 269 A.C. at the age of 44. This was a considerable age, Justinian II had participated in various wars before his ascension and was already known as an able commander in the field at this time. When he succeeded the throne, his father had died a day after the Kade Chancellor, meaning that almost on the same day two new men came to office. Supporting him was Norn Kade, who was 20 years old at the time. This severe age difference shifted the dependency that had dominated the Imperial palace in the past 30 years where the Emperor had become a lackey of the Chancellor. The start of Justinian II’s rule however heralded the Regalian era that is referred to as the “Great Pessimism”, two decades in which civilian morale was exceptionally low due to the lack of progress, socially and militarily.
During this interlude period, the van Sherburne family gained large amounts of influence at the Imperial court, largely at the expense of the Emperor and the Kades. Locally, the van Sherburnes became complacent and started extorting the peasantry and barons, an unfortunate series of events that would see the rise of the Baron Rebellion of Drachenwald in 273 AC. This event is more commonly referred to as the Drachenwald Crisis. Justinian II sent his now obedient Chancellor to deal with the matter, though the outcome was not as he had hoped. A disastrous battlefield led to the eradication of nearly a third of the nobility loyal to the Emperor including Norn Kade who was executed “in the Emperor’s stead”. Justinian II had to concede on this loss and negotiate with the Barons to accept the creation of the Regalian Senate, a legal body to replace the Regalian State Council and allow lower nobility a bigger vote in state matters. The Empire effectively transitioned to a constitutional monarchy, for a while.
Norn Kade was succeeded by Moriarty Kade who developed a very different relation with Justinian II. The two of them (largely because Justinian II’s sons were distant) developed a father and son relation with Moriarty being 23 ascending the Chancellor’s seat, while the Emperor was advanced at 48. Moriarty and Justinian Ii were both gifted commanders, and so they often joined forces on the battlefield. Justinian’s opinion of the Kade family shifted from despising them to seeing them as allies. In most matters, the two families worked together to try and win back power in the Senate.
Around 280 A.C., the Iron Bulwark political faction seized the vast majority in the Senate and started calling for more wars on the foreigners. Initially, the Emperor was opposed to this jingoistic warmongering, but Justinian II and the Chancellor devised a plan to retake majority in the Senate through the very wars the Iron Bulwark was proposing. The victim was quickly found in the large but relatively weak Essa Empire. Regalia invaded with full force, the Emperor and Chancellor at the helm in their capital ship. The Emperor proved himself an able commander even at the advanced age of 55, fighting in melee with enemy Allar at the battle of Fessa Huallo and more. The Emperor’s plan had worked, support for the families who distinguished themselves in the Chrysant War galvanized in the Senate and with one successful vote, the short lived step towards democracy in Regalia came crashing down with thundering applause of the people who put it in place.
Later Life
Justinian II became terminally ill several years later, following the death of all his sons and his advanced age. The Emperor had three sons sired by his wife, who all died in a freak accident involving Undeadism. From the year 297 A.C. onwards, the Emperor was almost permanently bedridden. He transferred more and more powers to his Chancellor and brother, until his brother Charles died in 299 A.C. The last three years, the Emperor tried desperately to find a solution to the impending succession crisis. All direct male heirs were extinct from his line of the family, only the sons of his brother’s daughters were left. With his last dying breaths, he signed the Imperial Succession act which dictated that females could pass on titles. This meant that the almost 300 year rule of the Ivrae family came to an end and the Imperial throne passed to a Kade. He supposedly died in his sleep in 302 A.C.
Personality
Emperor Justinian II was always seen as a stoic, serious and unspoken person. He used little words and was often very direct, but eloquent in how he presented himself with poise and authority. He was a man living by the sword, always wearing his diamond encrusted sword with him and strengthening the Imperial Guard from a small time order to a prestigious organization. What Justinian II lacked in social skills, he far made up in military skills. Unfortunately his lacking social skills meant that he was often isolated from his peers and oblivious to political intrigue in the capital itself. Justinian II was a family man, this was largely also seen as the reason why he simply gave up on life in his last few years when his sons and wife all died in short succession.
Legacy
Justinian II is often remembered as a skilled Emperor, but also as a sign of the endemic problem of the Ivrae dynasty. A series of incompetent Emperors had caused the Emperors to lose touch with reality and isolate themselves from the other nobility, allowing rampant corruption and political favoritism to creep into the Empire’s higher ranks. As the last Ivrae Emperor, he signed the crucial document allowing the title to be passed onto a female related member of the distant heritage of Theomar the First.
Extended Family
Justinian II was survived by only one of his nieces, Adelheid Ivrae who succeeded all titles her uncle held. Her sister Liliane had died several years before to a Slizzar revenge plot after the Chrysant War. Justinian II had three sons, Augustus, Juvin and Therin. They all died during an Undead incident at the Imperial Palace in 279 A.C. without conceiving any children. Justinian II’s wife Madileine de Sangre-Istairoix died early in his reign from a disease that was never diagnosed.
Trivia
- Justinian II had a massive beard towards the end of his life, it almost reached down to his waist. He refused to have his beard cut after the Chrysant War.
- Despite the fact that Justinian II was reported to have died in his sleep, some have rumored his successor Alexander I actually suffocated him with a pillow after he forged the paperwork for the succession because Justinian refused to sign it. No evidence exists to support this rumor however.
- Justinian II is thought to have had various bastards. There are rumors that the enigmatic Black Order tracked them down and disposed of them before they could be discovered, and more rumors exist of some surviving in a monastery far away.
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