Manus VII

Manus VII, born Manus Persalex, Lord of Vinarrin, was a Sevician general, statesman, and politican who served as the 58th Imperator of Sevicia from 640 to 668 A.S. The son of Governor Sejanus Persalex, Manus was born in the city of Vinarrin in the Marshlands region of Sevicia in 599 A.S into a rich household. He trained to be a lawyer before pivoting to military studies, where he graduated from the Crownhood Military Academy in 623. He was elected as the governor of Vinarrin in 632 and was made Lord of Vinarrin by senatorial decree a year later. Much of Manus' political career was marred by accusations of corruption and bribery, which carried over into his reign as Imperator.
Manus was appointed the 58th of Imperator of Sevicia by senate vote on the 1st day of Tullena IV, 640 A.S. He ruled for 28 years, during which he earned a reputation as a hardline military commander with little in the way of domestic proficiency or understanding of state matters. He is widely regarded in Sevicia as one of the worst Imperators in recent history, and is often compared to his predecessor, Cloe of Ida, who is regarded as one of the greatest. 
Under his rule, Sevicia suffered a humiliating defeat in the First Duscadorian-Sevician War and fractured into the largest civil war in centuries, known as the Anaean Wars, during which some 2 million people, including civilians, were killed. He began a short-lived constitutional crisis in late 667 when he refused to abdicate the throne and forced the Sevician Senate to propose a vote to legally oust him from the office of Imperator. However, weeks before the vote could be decided upon, Manus contracted pneumonia and passed away shortly before his 69th birthday. He was given a state funeral and interred in the Forefathers Mausoleum alongside his predecessors.
Much of Manus' career and life is written about in volumes sixteen and seventeen of Cyppian's Annals, which takes a critical, often derisive view of his reign and his policies and describes him as "a man of lumpen shape and persona, in all he did and all he believed." Domestically, Manus was known as a conservative who preferred order over change, and he earned the nickname "Manus the Stern" for his attitude. He greatly reduced the aid programmes established by his predecessor and was known to often be late to many Senate meetings. Later writers and statesmen were incredibly critical of his reign, and he is often placed among the worst rulers in Sevician history. He was survived by his wife, Lady Joyce of Vinarrin, and one son.
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