Kaiser Dominus
| Dominus Thorgils Tarjeisson Einhorn Ettlingar Verion | |
 | |
| Former Kaiser of Shireroth | |
|---|---|
| Began | 1642 |
| Ended | 1644 (killed) |
| Predecessor | Kaiser Hjalmar Redquill |
| Successor | Landsraad rule |
| Steward | Hallbjörn Haraldsson |
| Imperial Bloodline | Verion–Einhorn |
| Physical description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Human |
| Race | Norse |
| Hair color and style | Chestnut brown hair, gelled and combed. Notable forked beard and waxed moustache. |
| Eye color | Blue |
| Skin color | White |
| Other | Prosthetic left foot |
| Biographical information | |
| Father | Tarjei Einhornsson |
| Mother | Mira Mikelion-Verion |
| Date of birth | 1593 |
| Place of birth | Slevik, Normark) |
| Date of death | 1644 (Oustfest Massacre) |
| Place of death | Shirekeep |
| Resting place | Valley of Mors |
Kaiser Dominus Tarjeisson was the regnal name of Thorgils Tarjeisson, the 154th Kaiser of the Imperial Republic of Shireroth, who reigned from 1642 until his overthrow in 1644.
Early Life
Born in 1593 in the city of Slevik, Normark. Emigrated to Elwynn in 1608 as an undocumented migrant amongst a party of two hundred and fifty displaced persons. Settled in Caligae. Shared dormitory with Aasmund Vigeland. Joined the Union Defence Force in 1613 with a recommendation from General Secretary Vigeland. Transferred to the People's Militia in 1615. Deployed to the Green Valley (Araxion) in 1616. In the same year he was inured and captured by Church of Wayne fanatics after falling into a concealed bear pit (a large earthen pit with sharpened pikes in the bottom). A prisoner of war, he was transferred into the custody of Brettish forces and held for three years in captivity across the Blue Elwynn in unsettled territory. During his imprisonment, his left foot turned gangrenous and had to be amputated. Released after the armistice was signed in 1619 and repatriated in a prisoner swap later that year. To replace his foot he was provided with a government issued prosthesis that was unfortunately moulded to a right foot of a different size. Sent to Echo City for rehabilitation therapy. Assigned to an administrative post in a refugee reception centre in Islus in early summer 1621.
Sentenced by the Star Chamber to six years of contemplation in a monastery on Raikoth for the rape of Ergonian asylum seeker Kelly Kupliva in 1621. Released early from the Kphoraban Monastery on the Nadir mountain range in 1623 after attaining 'proper perspective regarding his past misdeeds' (or in practice by ingratiating himself sufficiently to the Abbot to earn favour) he was taken by sleigh to the city of Tala and there permitted to study amongst the ruins and work for opals, the local unit of currency. Employed by Councillor Ulni to read and interpret correspondence to the new royal government in Eliria. He was dispatched by Ulni to Amokolia in 1624 to observe and report back on rumours that the Steward's daughter was performing in public martial arts competitions. Thorgils was able to confirm that this was, indeed, the case. Scandalised the Council of Nine refrained from further cooperation with Eliria and even declined to report the disappearance of the Duke who had been dispatched to rule over them.
Instead of returning to Raikoth, Thorgils pressed on into the interior of Benacia, passing across the border and through separatist regions of Amokolia and down the Blue Elwynn to Shirekeep.
A man of the city
After arriving in Shirekeep in early summer of 1625, he found shelter amongst the dosshouses of the docks district where he was known as Thor Tanglefoot and Limpfoot Gils. Being no good on his feet and having no interest to go back behind a desk for a while, Thorgils learned a new trade as an abattoir slaughterman down in the bloody shambles of the Old City. It was discovered that Thorgils had a knack for the butchers trade and could readily turn a cleaver and saw to the hewing of any variety of meat from sinew and bone.
This skill with the knife brought Thorgils to the attention of various fraternities and associations in the city who had specialist requirements for ensuring that ladies and gentlemen who had fallen from grace in certain circles, whose disappearances would invariably be noted, never subsequently made a re-appearance. With the savings steadily accumulated through steady trade, Thorgils was able to acquire the lease on a commercial premises in the Old City district. The shop that he opened became known as the Tanglefoot Butchery - pride of place behind the shop was held by an industrial mincing machine with its own back-up generator. To this day, Tanglefoot pork and sage sausages are a local legend in certain quarters of Shirekeep.
Profiting through his mutually beneficial relationship with the informal fraternities, Thorgils placed his first bid for one of the city magistracies - the day to day functions of the Prefect's office having devolved during this era down to those local inhabitants possessed of sufficient initiative to declare themselves in charge - and was acclaimed as officeholder for the Old City in 1631.
The first indications of Thorgils' taste for power appeared when he held this office of Syndic between the years 1631 and 1634, during the reign of Raynor XII. Thorgils made a lucrative income out of the prostitutes who plied their trade in streets around the Shambles of the Old City. None of these women, nor their tea-boy and eunuch competitors, could ply their trade without first buying a licence from him. The money he thus obtained, contributed to his growing personal fortune, a portion of which he lavished on entertainers, purchasing the people's indulgence for all his whims by displays of generosity.
He was inspired with hopes of achieving even greater power by the prophecy of an old crone, who foretold that he would hold sway over half the world. For this he refrained from evicting her from her hovel and granted a licence to beg in the alehouses and clip joints of the districts under his rule. So he began to aspire to greater things than shaking down unlicensed petty criminals and the grinding of bones down into offal within the narrow confines of one small district.
Citizen
In 1634 he applied for formal recognition as a citizen of the Elwynnese Union. Owing to his chequered past, the Royal Court in Eliria refused to grand acknowledgement and instead Thorgils took a boat down to Teldrin in the Grand Duchy of Goldshire and received citizenship there from the Grand Duchess Noor Bint Simrani-Kalirion.
Not long afterwards, a new pamphlet was distributed in Shirekeep entitled 'the Semblance of a Mild Dilemma'. Written as an expression of regret at not being allowed to return to his adoptive homeland it was also a polemic calling upon the Elwynnese to not let their ancestral cultures not be drowned out but through diligence and hard work to instead preserve that heritage long into the future. The pamphlet was well received and convinced the Court of King Noah to rescind their original ban and to grant Thorgils permission to enter Elwynn.
Businessman
In the meantime, Thorgils had been busy. After taking up lodgings in the Bethlem Hotel, formerly Bethlem Asylum, he encountered two other exiles, Daniyal Siskander Dravot, an infamous ex-cudgeller, and Ernst Cryptsinger a former Instructing Justice of the Court of Star Chamber. Both had been exiles since the Communist Revolution. They were living a discrete but not uncomfortable existence in Teldrin, the least lunatic of the notable towns of Lunaris, and were willing to invest their remaining capital into the venture that Thorgils now proposed.
On his journey south Thorgils had noted the unregulated nature of the river trade between Shirekeep and Musica and how no tier of government was asserting itself in either monitoring or taxing that trade, to the extent that smugglers were growing lax and river pirates were plaguing the Red Elwynn. If a company was put together with a monopoly on trade into Teldrin, they might soon be able to fund a river patrol to ward of pirates begin levying tolls on the river. This proposal the three men took to the Aldermen of Teldrin and found them amenable. The next step was to lobby the new Grand Duchess herself. This they did by promising a tenth of all yearly profits. The result was the issuance of a Ducal Warrant and the formation of the ESB-Jörmungandr Group.
The Resistible Rise of Thorgils Tarjeisson
Appointment as Arandur of Alalehzamin and Utasia
On the 23rd of Elroqpin in the year 1634, Queen Noor, as Emira of Alalehzamin and Utasia, issued a Farman transferring the government of the precinct to Thorgils Tarjeisson. Uncomfortable at accepting an aristocratic title with Babkhi overtones, Thorgils declined to be recognised as Emir, instead returning that title to Noor. He was however prepared to take on the duties of Governor and asked to be recognised as Arandur (Steward) of the Emirate. This was achieved through special dispensation in the Royal Decree of the 5th of Vixaslaa, 1634 granted by King Noah.
His first act after appointment was to reform the Elwnameh, the customary body of law in Alalehzamin and Utasia, based off the laws of Baron Ardashir and the ordnances of the County of Lesser Zjandaria. In their place was a single fundamental law of the Emirate of Alalehzamin. The Farman created a Durbar of all the duly elected Mayors of the Bailiwicks of Alalehzamin and Utasia that would meet annually to legislate on matters within the purview of the powers devolved to the Precincts by the King's Court. The new Elwnameh also set out the nature of the social contract between the Emirate and civil society as well as establishing the Emirati Riddare as a Civil Defence Force.
In addition the Elwnameh also contained significant new regulations concerning transport, sanitation and household infrastructure. Although criticised as absurd reproductions of the worst elements of Babkhan bureaucratic excess, the regulations contained in the Elwnameh provided an element of standardisation that had hitherto been largely absent. The largest single project initiated as a result of these reforms was the construction of the Royal Road that would link Ardashirshahr with Islus and Eliria. The Royal Road was intended to be built on a gargantuan scale, with a uniform layout consisting of two carriageways comprising of four lanes each proceeding in opposite directions, with a central partition set between the opposite carriageways carrying two parallel railway tracks for a high-speed commuter train service. The entire structure was set upon a raised platform of pounded earth five hundred metres in width and raised eleven metres above ground level on level terrain and of whatever height would be required to follow the gradient incline. The road was then to be flanked with a dyke of eleven metres depth and eleven metres width on either side.
To finance this project in particular, the Elwnameh reforms included the introduction of a monopoly on the production, distribution and sale of all psychoactive substances, a notoriously broad category extending from opium to coffee. The predictable result of which has been an explosion in black market racketeering and an equally vicious government led crackdown and enforcement effort by the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels and the Emirati Riddare. Opinion remains divided on whether the Monopolies are a lucrative source of revenue or a massive and unsustainable drain on the law-enforcement budgets.
What is known is that the promise of revenues derived from the enforcement of the Monopolies have been pledged as collateral for the operating costs of the Imperial & Emirati Bank of Alalehzamin which provides Banking Services to the Emirate, essentially permitting the importation of Teldrin Thalers as currency and the issuance of letters of credit by the Emirati Government. The contract for the administration of the Imperial & Emirati Bank of Alalehzamin was awarded to the Financial Services Directorate of the ESB-Jörmungandr Group, of which Thorgils Tarjeisson is of course Chairman. The suggestion of impropriety is naturally rejected by the Emirati Government which goes to great lengths to point out that the Financial Services Directorate is headed by Dr Ernst Cryptsinger and that a Jingdao Ethics Wall exists between the Financial Directorate and the Commodities Directorate headed by the Chairman and also within the Financial Directorate to separate the Imperial & Emirati Bank from the Bountiful Harvest Limited which administers the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Alalehzamin & Utasia, currently heavily invested in the Royal Road Project, and the expanding sub-prime derivatives market that is fuelling the household Ziggurat construction boom, through loans to the Emirati Government which in turn makes grants to facilitate the construction and proper maintenance of the required building infrastructure required for a lawful household residence (10 metre high raised mud-brick platform with a five storey residence built on top, surrounded by 15 metre high outer perimeter wall and 3 metre deep dry moat), in addition to the regular mortgage for other residential structures within the household ziggurat complex.
Arandur Tarjeisson seized upon a comparatively minor issue to demonstrate his political independence from the significant Babkhi minority community which has hitherto defined the character of the Emirate. After touring the second hand book stores of Ribat-e Kapav (southern district of the city of Ardashirshahr) he chanced upon an antique book known as the Foibles of the Unbelievers and immediately realised its incendiary potential. After an amicable discussion with the bookseller, a Esau Aalai Kasanrajon, he discovered that the book had a cult following in the Babkhi and Elw community for its xenophobic and darkly humoured depictions of Boreals, Elfinshi and the Froyalanish as foolish, effeminate and depraved creatures deserving only of a lingering death.
With this knowledge in hand, the Arandur ventured to Eliria with a petition to the King's Court that the book should be banned for incitement to hatred and harm to race relations in the Elwynnese Union. Rather awkwardly, he was opposed in this petition by Deimos Jasonides, the Secretary for the Board of Directors of the ESB Group. A Royal Rescript in response to the petition was received in early 1635 instructing the civil authorities to prosecute vendors who sell the Foibles of the Unbelievers under Article 2 of Chapter 3 of Elwynns Straflov. Gleefully, upon his return to Ardashirshahr, the Arandur summoned the Stallari and the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels, and made to confront Esau Aalai Kasanrajon for selling him his copy of the Foibles. Aqa Kasanrajon was subsequently dispatched to Dragonsfold Gaol, wherein he was held awaiting the pleasure of the revived Court of Star Chamber.
Conduct of Elections to the Royal Parliament
Complex three tier election for political parties and affiliated guilds. 141 delegates elected to 140 man delegation. Resolved after unfortunate accident befell the head of the EWP caucus.
Reform of the People's Academy of Elwynn
Sponsored restoration of the manuscript of the History of Elwynn. Proposed the appointment of new Board of Governance. Commissioned the Modern History of Elwynn.
Reorganisation of the Military of Shireroth
1635 - appointed Chief Secretary of Military Affairs.
ESB starts winning defence contracts put out to competitive tender.
1636 - appointed Minister of Military Affairs after the bloody culmination of the River War.
Medical Scandal in Allswell
Appointment as Count of Ran
Contract for the Royal Government of Goldshire
Appointment as Royal Instructing Justice for Elwynn
Campaigned for the revival of the Court of Star Chamber
Controversy with Minarboria
In spite of being a consistent advocate of good relations with Minarboria and fostering trade relations both through the ESB Group and the placing of a notable defence contract, the conduct of a military exercise on the island of Zy-Rodun featuring a thin expy of Minarboria as the antagonist touched a raw nerve with the government of that realm, coinciding as it did with changing media perceptions of the the undead in the media output of the Elwynnese Commons which resulted in the lodging of a harshly worded formal query by the Government of Minarboria with the Ministry of the Exterior in 1638. The exercise known as 'Mulcher', a part of the far larger preparedness test known as Operation Long Haul coincided with a long holiday enjoyed by the Minister of Military Affairs which put him in a difficult spot for seeking to allay the concerns expressed. Fortunately however, the explanation he provided, together with a more thorough and detailed response by Kaiser Hjalmar appeared to go some way towards clearing up misunderstandings and calming a potentially tense situation.
The Vale of Angularis
Transferred from Amokolia to Alalehzamin and Utasia by an Act of the Royal Parliament in 1638
Subject to a tour of inspection by the Arandur of Alalehzamin and Utasia in 1639.
Operation Tymarian Sun
Main Article: Operation Tymarian Sun
Objective attained: the Kaisership
In 1642, having loyally served Kaiser Hjalmar Redquill for four Elw years (1639-1642), Thorgils unexpectedly received the departing Kaiser's nomination and blessing to ascend to the Mango Throne. As the nomination was uncontested, the process of subjecting the nomination to a vote in the Landsraad was foregone and Thorgils ascended to the Kaisership as Kaiser Dominus Tarjeisson, and in Babkhi Domnush Taryezadeh (see Qaisar-e Sathrati).
Reign
After establishing his government and trimming back the power of the Imperial Household, Thorgils celebrated his good fortune by beginning negotiations for the contracting of a dual marriage alliance with the Lordship of Blackstone and the Emirate of Sathrati. The Lord of Blackstone offered up Lena Verion, albeit with a hefty price-tag, and rejected the Kaiser's counter-offer that the marriage would be in lieu of an invasion. Template:Verion
Whilst Western Benacia held his attention, the Kaiser also became aware of reports emerging from the ungoverned regions beyond the borders of Amokolia concerning a conflict between surviving populations of Batavians and Puritanians on the one hand and robotic forces believed to be controlled by a rogue RasmOS terminal. Intrigued, and determined to remove any strategic threat to the Imperial Republic, he commissioned Laqi Hyrrion, the luckless ambassador to Minarboria and reluctant revenant, to lead the expedition into Dietsland to make contact with the native groups and to organise a more effective resistance under the Imperial Banner. Unexpectedly the expedition also encountered a group of far-flung Kildari refugees who had fled the continuing Jingdaoese occupation of their homeland. Laqi's mission was further complicated by the news that agents of the Lord of Blackstone and the Iron Company had established a sizeable presence on a peninsular jutting out from the southern shore of Dietsland. Nonetheless, to ensure that there could be no failure, the Kaiser had informed Laqi that he would be punished with bodily disintegration if he failed to return with anything less than complete success.
More rewarding were efforts to formalise the governance of the Tellian Condominium, which resulted in the signing of the Cedar Charter early in the Kaiser's reign, which cleared the way for the deployment of the Cedrocomando S.A. to secure the area.
On the domestic front, the Kaiser continued the work of his predecessor by signing the Elwynn River & Imperial Infrastructure Accords which, amongst other things, placed the greater part of the length of the River Elwynn, including the entirety of the Red Elwynn between Shirekeep and Musica under Imperial Jurisdiction.
Also in his first year, Kaiser Dominus undertook a state visit to [ Constancia] marking the first occasion of formal relations being established with the Euran Realm beyond the cursory exchanges that had denoted the prior state of mutual recognition. Constancia had earned much in the way of admiration during the Kaisership of Hjalmar by resisting a Jingdaoese invasion.
During the reign of Kaiser Dominus, it became official custom and practice to combine the AN and ASC calendars with the former being the 'long count' year and the ASC year being the 'short count' increment of the AN year. Although not a perfect solution, it was hoped that, with time, the change would embed itself into the culture of Shireroth and help bring an end to narrative incongruities and the succession of tragic deaths caused by the unwary casually switching between chronologies and rapidly succumbing to the debilitating effects of Temporal Haemorrhaging.
His reign was characterised by a number of overseas visits including attending the ultimately successful but much delayed, Shirerithian, Natopian and Alexandrian conference at the Palace of Whales in Walstadt (Cibola) and a state visit to Constancia, a small but increasingly Kingdom on the continent of Eura. Both of these visits yielded new alliances and trade deals during the course of 1643.
During his long absence during the Euran Voyage, the Kalirion Khanate, the Emirate of Alalehzamin & Utasia and the ESB-Jörmungandr Group began to gradually move their candidates into key positions commanding the troops and security forces tasked with the defence of the Imperial capital, Shirekeep, as the Imperial Forces and their allied militias suffered reverses at the hands of a coalition of rebel groups during Goldshire's civil war. At the same time, these manoeuvres caused subtle tensions to develop with the partisans of the houses of Simrani-Kalirion, Osman and House of Verion, all of whom felt entitled to a share of the patronage and revenues that came with holding the seat of the Imperial Government.
The long and bloody Civil War in Goldshire came to a conclusion with the Armistice of Airle which was signed by the defeated commanders of the Army of the Golden Dawn on Reire the 15th of Nomeziooqu, 1643. The Magister Militum of the Palatini Corps, Adam Ayreon-Kalirion, and the Commissioner of the Crypteia, Tokaray al-Osman, were the architects of this victory, which whilst devastating for the rebel leaders, who were castrated, mutilated and dispatched into exile at various Raikothin monasteries, was surprisingly bloodless considering the sanguinary nature of the Imperial leadership. It was felt by many that the onus was placed by the Kaiser's Court upon the peaceful and speedy reincorporation of the rebel areas into the Imperial Republic so that Goldshire could once more resume its rightful place as the breadbasket of the Imperial Republic.
The vexing issue of public morality once more reared its head during the reign of Kaiser Dominus, and the accords he had negotiated with Elwynn and loyalist Goldshire at the start of his reign[1] came under concerted attack in the Landsraad[2] that it became apparent that he did not have the support of the majority of the Imperial Electors who were roused in anger at the salaciousness, and sometimes the perceived vulgarity, of the all-too public depictions of Froyalanish religious art.
On on Amnure the 7th of Laemill, 1643, rather than risk the disquiet of the Shirekeep mob, the Kaiser gave the signal that his advisers should withdraw the accords from the Landsraad and instead reintroduce the Bill for the Regulation of the Shirewiki[3] which asserted the right of Imperial control over the contents of the media contained within its repository of information.
In 1643 the Kaiser was inducted into the Alexandrian Legion of Honour[4] as a Grand Officer. Along with Princess Asara Sisu and Chancellor Benjamin Meir of Natopia, the award was bestowed by the Alexandrian Emperor in recognition of the efforts of the entente that had been negotiated in Walstadt between the three foremost powers of the Western Hemipshere.
Triumph and tragedy: the last days of Thorgils
1644:
- State Visit to Elwynn
- Oustfest Massacre
Imperial Advisory Council of Kaiser Dominus
- Steward and Scribe of Raynor's Keep: Hallbjörn Haraldsson of the Houses of Ayreon-Kalirion and of the Descendants of Freyja, Jarl of the Seven Ports;
- Minister of the Interior: Mira Octavius-Aryani, Count Palatine of Kezan;
- Minister of the Exterior: Adam Anushiruwân Hilding Ayreon-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed bin Sathrati of Waffel-Paine, Khan of Cabbagefall;
- Minister of Military Affairs: Dominus, Kaiser.
- Ryker Everstone, Viscount Redquill, Scientific Adviser and Bag-Carrier;
- Shyriath Bukolos, Count Bukolos, Lurkmaster-General (An obscure title chosen by the Deep-Singers);
- Orion, Industrial and Colonial Policy Adviser;
- Audun Joel Hallbjörns- og Esthersson, Adviser on the Reconstruction of Shirekeep;
- Thorstein Noah Hallbjörns- og Esthersson, King of Elwynn;
- Noor bint Daniyal, Queen of Goldshire;
- Mira Raynora Major, Queen of Lichbrook.
Relationships
- Katja Magda Thorgilsdottir, daughter
Expeditions
The Kaiser was notorious for abusing his travel expenses, both during his earlier life and during his subsequent reign. The most notable voyages were as follows:
- The Journey to the West: An assize undertaken whilst Arandur of Alalehzamin and Utasia which dovetailed into a wider and extremely bloody war;
- The Euran Voyage: A state visit to the Free Associative Kingdom of Constancia which, combined with a tour of some of the ruined Babkhan cities of Eura, became subject to a series of increasingly improbable events.
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Kaiser Dominus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by: Kaiser Hjalmar Redquill |
Succession of the Shirerithian Kaisership 1642–1644 |
Succeeded by Landsraad |
