Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave of Vasquer and Anneliese of Vasquer, known by enough titles to fill a book on their lonesome, proved to be as able in the restoration of Berendar as they were in its defense. From the outset, their rule was a triumvirate, comprised of this couple and Prime Minister Elenore. While Elenore was undoubtedly pivotal, she seldom appeared in public. Emperor and Empress were the public-facing rulers, and the focus of this section.

From the outside looking in, it would be difficult to find a single blemish in their conduct. Those closest to them say that they did very little besides work. They were energetic, ambitious, and generous monarchs, who fostered a culture of cooperation in their court that, while not entirely democratic, certainly heeded the advice of those gathered to serve them.

They received heavy criticism for the suspension of the parliament and other institutions in favor of a highly-centralized government. In response to a delegate of a coalition of former nobility and dwarves who protested the autocratic government in 12 AC, Argrave is credited to say this:

“It took you twelve years to gather a coalition threatening enough to protest our government. In that time, we’ve rebuilt many of the cities that fell and founded new ones entirely. We’ve built a network of roads spanning the southernmost tip of the Burnt Desert to the coldest city in the north. We’ve provided tens of thousands of families deprived of house and home land of their own to develop. I won’t deny that I’ve not put a vote before all of the people, letting them decide if we’ve the right to do these things. I would expect the same courtesy from you in acknowledging democracy would’ve been impossible in the aftermath of the hell we all endured. This nation has just been born. As its parents, my wife and I shall teach it just as we teach our own children. It only now begins to walk, and soon, we intend to teach it to run. When we believe it can survive on its own, we will step away and let it live its life. On this point, you have my word.”

This was the only legitimate challenge to imperial authority in the first twenty-five years of their reign, and it ended bloodlessly in 13 AC with the formal annexation of the dwarven city of Mundi. Given the city had ceased existing long ago, it was merely a ceremony to indicate the dwarves would be given the same rights as other citizens of the Blackgard Union.

This incident earned them their most popular nickname: ‘Parents of the Empire,’ or Father and Mother for the emperor and empress individually.

It stuck, in part, because of the fecundity of their marriage. Between 1-25 AC, Anneliese gave birth to thirteen children. If not for the Age of Fury, Prince Garm believes they would’ve had more. For an elven woman especially, the rate is notable. Some believe they wished to stand as an example to their own people, but Prince Garm expresses skepticism, deeming it ‘…a natural consequence of an often annoyingly infatuated couple.’

Beyond their fertile marriage, they treated their empire as thoughtfully as a parent should their child. They were not given to displays of wealth or elaborate ceremonies. Any festivals held were paid at their expense and provided to the people. Any buildings built were not their personal property, but property of the nation or the public.

Indeed, for a long while, ‘the court’ was a concept rather than a place—Argrave and Anneliese were itinerant monarchs, travelling Berendar together and employing every effort to raise it up from the ash. It was only in 21 AC that they had a true palace where Blackgard had once stood, but it was a mere extension of the capitol housing the bureaucratic apparatus of the state, and dwarfed by several buildings around it.

While indulging in very little extravagance themselves, they made some notable exceptions for their children. Argrave in particular foisted gifts upon his children, such as in 18 AC when he gave Sophia an island which the princess subsequently repurposed to a headquarters for relief efforts venturing toward different continents.

They were extremely well-loved monarchs who built not only the civilization they presided over, but the culture that came to inhabit it. The governors took example from them, and the officials beneath the governor further distilled that spirit toward the people. Their people, regardless of any deliberate effort to provide example, took many traits from the emperor and empress.

There was a remarkable sense of community and solidarity that could be felt as clearly in the arid Burnt Desert as in the very heart of the rebuilt Blackgard. I write so having spent some years among both. The shared nightmare of the calamity gave everyone a commonality—a commonality which the Blackgard Union used to unite people that before would regard one another with mutual distrust.

This period wasn’t without conflict. The firm yet loving hands of the Parents of the Empire proved to be incredibly adroit at minimizing it, instead uniting those they could toward the shared goal of picking up the broken pieces of the world.

Even as a soldier sent to fight and perhaps die at their behest, I can think of no battle I felt was unjustified—not even the controversial Seventy Second Skirmish that marked the end of my service in 20 AC, where we disbanded a faction of centaurs that wished to raid lands neighboring those allotted to them. Though a brutal incident, it was necessary to strike preemptively lest more lives be lost by their actions.

But these are the public-facing personas of the Parents of the Empire. To relay the true faces of the parents, it’s best to ask the child. As such, Second Prince Garm graciously agreed to my request to describe his childhood. I believe his words speak for themselves, so I’ve included them without modification.

When I was young, I’m sure I can speak for all my brothers and sisters in saying our childhood was rather joyous. Our parents made as much time as they could for us given the gravity of what they did, and it was rare for us to go a day without seeing them. Despite this, the Blackgard Union often came first. Fortunately, Sophia was the best sister any of us could ask for, and acted as something of a second mother to all of us alongside other servants.

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Our family travelled a great deal, and as we did, we siblings came to understand the immensity of what our parents actually did. They had a certain intensity to them that was difficult to describe. They were huge, larger-than-life, and that held true in everything they did. They had a weight, a vitality, that only they can understand. After all they’d done, they found it difficult to connect with us on a personal level. Despite the traumatic period they lived through, they endeavored very hard to ensure we felt loved, and that they didn’t want us to follow in their footsteps.

I suspect all of us felt some insecurity at the fact they didn’t have any expectations of us beyond achieving happiness, but each of us dealt with it in our own way. At the end of it all, each of us found a route that we were happy travelling. We accepted we weren’t entitled to anything simply because of the womb we jumped out of. Our parents remained supportive and loving, but we did sometimes joke amongst each other that the Blackgard Union was the favorite child after Sophia.

By 25 AC, the pair had fourteen children.

First Princess Sophia of Vasquer

Born between 10-8 BC

The beloved first child. Allegedly Argrave’s niece, he officially proclaimed her his daughter not long into 1AC. Given the care she was shown, some allege that she was Argrave’s first child by another woman. Given he would’ve been, at best, in his early teens, most historians agree the claim has no merit. Moreover, her magical aptitude was merely decent, not reflecting Argrave’s immense affinity.

By the time of her adulthood, Sophia was exceptionally well-educated—some suggest groomed as a successor. She remained in the royal court to help raise her brothers and sisters, but also came to take the office of grand almoner. She would become loved further and wider than she already was for significant acts of selfless charity.

First Prince Castro of Vasquer

Born 2 AC

In his youth, Garm described Castro as ‘a terror.’ As he aged, however, and as he was introduced to magic, he calmed. He was said to take to magic with the same fervor that his namesake did. He proved exceptionally talented, and ended up being one of the first graduates of the state-sponsored magic school.

In magic, he became something of a student to Anneliese. He aided her wherever possible, allowing her own curiosities to be indulged by the steadfast work of her son as she governed the Blackgard Union. Rumor swirls to this day that he’s particularly interested in magic involving the sun of Argrave’s creation, but as of writing this, nothing practical has manifested.

Second Prince Garm of Vasquer

Born 4 AC

When asked of himself, Garm says, ‘I merely prefer to stay in the background, watching, documenting. Some find it dull, but I prefer my boring life. I knew early on I had no desire to lead the exciting lives of my parents. I could tell how it weighed them down, made it difficult for them to connect with us.’

Despite his modest claims, Garm’s achievements in magic are reflective of the immense talent of his lineage. Garm feels the need to inform the reader that he was ‘…markedly less humble in [his] youth.’

Third Prince Enrico of Vasquer

Born 6 AC

‘Enrico was the only among us who intended to follow in our parent’s footsteps, no matter their discouragement,’ Garm says of his late brother. ‘He was stubborn, energetic, and ambitious—often to their frustration.’

From an early age, Enrico is said to have studied governance under Elenore, magic under Raven, and leadership under the governors of the time. He idolized his parents, and because of that, often acted by their example rather than their direction. He was considered for a governorship, but in the end, fearing to begin a cycle of nepotism, Argrave appointed him head diplomat and representative of the imperial family in 24 AC.

His death in 25 AC is considered the unequivocal beginning of the Age of Fury.

Second Princess Diana of Vasquer

7 AC to present

Diana avoids the public eye. Even my colleague, Garm, merely says that he ‘…will respect her desire for privacy, and refrain from talking out of turn.’ She has a noted affinity for art, quietly patronizing several institutions. Some claim her to be the famous painter ‘Onyx,’ but I found no evidence to that point.

The other nine imperial scions were still in childhood by the time the Age of Fury began. Consequently, I will save my description of them for the section of this volume detailing it. Commenting on the family on the whole, Garm has this to say.

I believe these twenty-five years were, for my parents, their golden age. They enjoyed building rather than defending. They enjoyed the rush to success. They enjoyed establishing something of their architecture, of their design. And most of all, they enjoyed elevating those that had endured the calamity alongside them to greater heights. They seldom ended a day gloomily. That aspect was reflected in all of us.

Though they were certainly the most present figures in our life, our aunt and uncle also proved an immensely positive influence. For the longest time, all of us considered Orion to be nothing more than the fun uncle. It was only when the Age of Fury began that we saw precisely what our family had been like in the years before we were born.

Speaking to Garm’s point, I can attest to the fact that the empire simply would not be what it was without the stewardship of Elenore and the large cabinet of governors that she presided over in her capacity as Prime Minister. As such, the next profile will discuss those prominent figures closely adjacent to the imperial couple in this era.