Emperor Frederick

Called: The Philosopher

Early Life and Election

Born in 131YE, Frederick Ritter van Holberg was the grandson of Commonwealth immigrants who became Imperial citizens. His parents lectured at the University of Holberg, and he spent much of his early life around academics. In his teens he went through a particularly noteworthy rebellious phase during which he developed the prodigious appetite for wine that stayed with him throughout his life - and ended abruptly in 153YE when he was near-fatally stabbed during a drunken brawl. After his brush with death, Frederick abandoned the life of the rake and bravo, and became a doctor of philosophy and political theory.

Rather than spending his time in academia, however, he spent the next ten years touring the Empire arguing with anyone who was prepared to listen about the nature of humanity, morality, ethics and responsibility. He became a regular attendee of the quarterly Anvil summits, and began to attract fellow scholars from across the Empire with week-long symposia where robust debate and wine flowed equally. He dabbled in the Imperial Bourse, allegedly making a small fortune while the Chair for the Great Pits of Ennerlund by cornering the market on sales of mithril to the Urizen who were at that time involved in a program of expanding their mana sites in Zenith and Spiral. Becoming bored with the Bourse, he served several times in the Senate, twice as Senator for Holberg and for one memorable six-month term as proxy Senator for Tassato. He was a clever and vocal critic of Empress Varkula, who referred to him frequently as a greased weasel and more than once had him ejected from the Senate when his seemingly disingenuous questioning of her policies began to grate. Much of his opposition to the Empress revolved around her heavy-handed attitude to the Imperial Synod and Bourse - but he always supported her efforts to improve social mobility and freedom for the citizenry as a whole.

After the death of Empress Varkula, Frederick set his eyes on the throne, and achieved his goal less than a year after the death of the Undying Empress.

Reign

In contrast to his predecessor on the throne, Emperor Frederick employed a light touch on the tiller of Imperial politics. He rarely used the powers of the Throne, with the exception that he endeavoured to attend every meeting of the Senate, Synod, Military Council and Imperial Conclave. In pursuit of the latter, he had an artefact Pauper's Key constructed by the renowned artisan Catherine de Sarvos, which allowed him to enter the Hall of Worlds. Some scholars suggest the artefact was usable more often than the common example, but the key itself was stolen shortly after Frederick's death and its current wherabouts unknown so this cannot be verified.

His primary method of influencing the Empire was with his speech. He was a renowned orator - surviving writings from his reign suggest that there were very few people who could hold their own against him when he spoke before the Senate or the Conclave. He spoke passionately about the need for the Senate to remember that it represented the people of the Empire - it did not rule them. Frederick worked hard to remain accessible to anyone who cared enough about a situation or subject to come to an Anvil summit. He sometimes described the role of the Throne as being to represent the Empire to the Senate; to be a Senator whose constituency was the entire Empire and everyone in it.

Frederick encouraged the military council to consolidate the gains Empress Varkula had made, and clashed several times with generals who wanted to continue expanding into barbarian territory. By no means a pacifist, Fredericks first concern remained the citizens of the Empire - he opposed plans that put them needlessly at risk, whether they were soldiers or civilians. "We deal too often in numbers," he famously said while ejecting the General of the Army of the Citadel from the Military council. "We would all do well to remember that each one of those numbers is also a name."

He rarely participated in Synod activities, prefering to remain as an observer alone. In private, he was known to have little patience for the inter-Assembly politics of the Synod. Some historians have accused him of being a Lucidian or an adherent to the faith of the Commonwealth, but there is little real evidence that he held any strong religious belief. Rather he spoke many times on the importance of cultivating a rational mind, and of reasoning out the correct way to behave in any given situation.

Much of what modern scholars know of Frederick comes from his writings. He wrote one book before his acension to the throne, and two more afterwards, as well as authoring numerous pamphlets, academic papers and three books of poetry. Thanks to Emperor Nicovar, intact copies of his books are extremely rare but there are many fragments and his works are regularly referenced in other philosophical and political texts.

Death and Legacy

TBC