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… with the end of the Gellenti and Axarine campaigns and the Treaties of Vaetis Proximii which reunited the fragmented Western Marches with the core Capellean clusters Imperial control was firmly reinstated. Though large segments of the Imperial Fleet, Army and Marines remained in the west for some decades, her Highness Cordellia Livinia was at last victorious, having successfully weathered the serious of rebellions which would later be aggregated under the convenient nomen of the Second Schism.

Decades of on and off fighting had privileged the executive position of the Empress to levels not seen since the Collapse. Furthermore a personal interest in, and judicious of, use of promotion and the grinding casualties of a decades long campaign, had furnished the by then aged Empress with a cadre of officers and advisors whose skill and ability have seldom been seen since the formation of the Stellar Empire. Though the campaigns of Admiral Kavic, the diplomatic victories in courting the wavering Sector Dukes, and the lesser known but no less important actions of a cadre of veteran officers, are beyond the scope of this treaties, it is suffice to say that the position of the Imperial party was extremely strong.

As ever seems to be the case with the Viatrente family Fortune’s Wheel did not long endure this happy state of affairs. Cordellia Livinia was by now aged and worn, as much by the cares of a wartime crown as by the passage of years. Indeed it seemed that hardly was the ink on the Vaetis Treaty dry than the Empress began to fade. Despite the efforts of her physicians Cordellia Livinia died with a year, bequeathing the Empire, much strengthened and at the peak of its strength to her son Paelon. Before her passing the Empress prevailed upon her council to swear an oath to the then middle aged Paelon, though truthfully their loyalty to their liege lady and weariness of war would have been sufficient to prevent any thought of a challenge. 

Paelon Viatrente’s reign was marked by the growth of trade and the prosperity of peace. The wealth of the Empire increased by the year, and the Emperor, with the example of his mother heeded the advice of the council bequeathed to him by his mother's example. Though dutiful and competent Paelon lacked the dynamism which characterized his mother and though he worked himself to the point of exhaustion he was frequently unable to exercise control of events. At key crisis points throughout his reign, such as the mutiny at Aquillea and the Rebellion at Gysemae, the Emperors response was vacillating and lacking in resolve. Action by local nobles and officers contained the damage, but set a precedent for independent action which would prove troubling in subsequent years.

The expansion of trade and the demobilization following the end of the war proved to hold unexpected stings. Men and women who had made their livings by the prosecution of warfare in Imperial service found themselves with few opportunities for employment and access to a great deal of surplus military equipment. Furthermore they were forced to watch the rewards of the peace being reaped by traders and merchants, all of whom had been far from the fighting and many of which owed allegiance to worlds that had been in open rebellion. Piracy and banditry spread amongst the outlying systems, even into those, such as the Eastern Cross, which were untouched by the Schism itself. The problem proved an insoluble one to Paelon and his administration. Though the Imperial forces were able to smash individual pockets of resistance with ease, the problem proved to vast to admit of a singular solution. Furthermore Imperial troops expressed a marked reluctance to put down former comrades with the customary, and necessary, force. Indeed fears of mutiny and insurrection amongst crews and ground units led to increasing timidity in the repression of chaos.  

Paleon Viatrente died after a reign of only twenty one years. Unlike his mother, he bequeathed to his son Phillipus an Empire simmering with chaos. The noble council and officer corp that had bulwarked the beginning of Paleon’s reign were beginning to be lost due to death or retirement. Outlying systems suffered greatly from piracy and lawlessness and the merchants and nobles who suffered at their hands growing discontented with the lack of effective Imperial response. Unfortunately Paleon Viatrente’s death had one last misfortune to bequeath to the Empire.

Phillipus Viatrente had long been neglected by his father. Though this neglect was borne of Paleon’s complete if ineffective commitment to his duty, this did little to soften the blow to the young prince. Ascending at only twenty years of age, Phillipus was insecure, foolish, weak minded and easily lead. He immediately dismissed the remaining more militant officers from the council, detesting the way they had always made his father appear weak. Instead he staffed the bureaucracy with his own cronies, ambitious social climbers who had long seen the disaffected Phillipus as a ladder to power. The young Emperor was convinced by his coterie to allow the construction of private forces for the suppression of unrest, the very condition which had lead to the Second Schism. The older militant families lobbied hard against his move and earned the further ire of the vengeful and autocratic Phillipus. Although they weren’t able to prevent the creation of private militias, they were able to prohibit the possession of capital class vessels and certain other military technology, measures aimed at preserving the superiority of the Fleet over the squadrons of local  warships.

Although the Phillipic Reforms initially allowed the suppression of piracy and chaos, both through a direct application of force and by providing profitable and legal employment for members of the disaffected soldiery, the long term effects were predictable. Nobles and merchant consortiums began to use their new found armies to settle private squabbles and to extort concessions from those slower to build up their own forces. The Empire, formally united by the Vaetis Treaties, began to fracture into regional power blocks. 

Beset by constant strife and harried on all sides by the demands of both his political clients and opponents Phillipus began to grow erratic and paranoid. Imperial Intelligence and the secret police grew more powerful by playing on the Emperors fears, and many citizens, including members of the nobility and political opposition began to disappear. Worse still Phillipus’ paranoia began to extend to his own family. His wife and daughter were placed under house arrest and restricted to the Spire. These detentions enraged large factions of the nobility, even swaying previously neutral magnates to outright opposition, further fanning the flames of the increasingly unstable Emperor.

Over the next three years the situation continued to degenerate. Central paralysis further encouraged regional lords to act independently and allowed the unscrupulous to expand their power bases. Continuing disappearances and imprisonments on Capella raised the political temperature to near boiling point and the ancient right to travel with armed liegemen was revived. The final straw came when the Empress, Miranda Sienna, died unexpectedly. Despite attempts to keep it quiet news spread across Capella within hours. Rumors abound that Phillipus had ordered Miranda and his daughters execution, pushing the ancient families, with whom they were intimately connected by marriage and family alliances, to the breaking point.

For a time it looked as though open warfare might erupt on the capital itself as the nobility convulsed in a coup against the Emperor. Fortunately this disastrous coup attempt was forestalled by two unexpected turns of events. One, the unstable Phillipus finally snapped. He appeared in the throne room in the full ancient regalia, mounted the throne, placed a pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger. Secondly, within minutes of this suicide, princess - now Empress- Mercedez Viatrente emerged from her imprisonment. Although only nineteen years of age, Mercedez seized control of the palace guard on her own initiative and ordered the immediate and summary execution of those of her father's cronines who attempted to obstruct her including the Chief of Imperial Intelligence and the Captain General of Capella. The Imperial Marines, loyal to the Emperor or Empress, rather than local authorities, were brought to readiness. On Mercedez command the Marines seized control of critical installations across the Empire and within the Fleet, detaining officers and administrators of questionable loyalty, replacing them with officers she trusted, in many cases the children or grandchildren of families who had served with her great grandmother.

Within twenty four hours of the death of Phillipus, the Fleet was dispersed across the Empire and Empress Mercedez Viatrente was officially installed with the support of the ancient noble families. The fact that such a young woman, especially one who spent the last three years under close arrest was able to move so quickly and establish…..  




[i]
Annotated Histories of the Later Viatrentes Vol IV - Overview[/i]

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