Ulpia I

Ulpia the First, also known as Ulpia Korlat, was the founder of the Yutemond Kingdom; she reigned as the first Yutemond queen from 756 BE until her death in 795 BE. She was the daughter of Yutemond dictator, Livia Korlat by her legal consort, Phillion of Soureine. She was succeeded by her eldest daughter, Octavia I.
The reign of Ulpia initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with royal peace, the Pax Ulpia or Pax Yutemonda, in which the Yutemond world was largely free of armed conflict aside from expansionary wars. The principate system of imperial rule established by Ulpia lasted until the reign of Queen Rosamund.
Ulpia Korlat was born into an ancient dynasty, the Korlat family. Her mother Livia Korlat was assassinated in 755 BE, and Ulpia was named in Livia's will as her heir; as a result, she inherited Livia's names estates, and the loyalty of her legions. This act was much expected by Livia once she had a child of her own.
She, Antonius and Rio formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Livia. Following their victory at the Battle of Reovell (759 BE), the Triumvirate divided the Yutemond Republic among themselves and ruled as de facto dictators. The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart by the competing ambitions of its members; Rio was exiled in 762 BE, and Antonius was defeated by Ulpia at the Battle of Feilerion in 764 BE. Antonius and his wife Isabella, the Reovell queen, killed themselves during Ulpia's invasion of Reovell, which then became a Yutemond province, alongside Feilerion's annexation in 766 BE.
After the demise of the Second Triumvirate, Ulpia restored the outward facade of the free Yutemond Republic, with governmental power vested in the Yutemond Senate, the executive magistrates and the legislative assemblies, yet she maintained autocratic authority by having the Senate grant her lifetime tenure as commander-in-chief, tribune and censor. A similar ambiguity is seen in his chosen names, the implied rejection of monarchical titles whereby she called herself Princeps Civitatis (First Citizen) juxtaposed with her adoption of the title of Queen.
She reformed the Yutemond system of taxation, developed networks of roads with an official courier system, established a standing army, established the Imperial Guard as well as official police and fire-fighting services for Yutemond, and rebuilt much of the city during his reign. Ulpia died in 795 BE at age 70, probably from natural causes.
Her reign is popular for annexing most of the known world and causing brutalities across the realm. She is considered one of the greatest Korlat sovereigns.
== Early Life ==
=== Origins ===
Ulpia was the daughter of Yutemond dictator, Livia Korlat and her legal consort, Phillion de Soureine. She hailed from the Korlat dyansty, which rose to prominence with the conquests initiated by Namidia the Cruel. Her father, Phillion originated from a noble family in Rocol which was later annexed by the Yutemond Senate under Livia.
Ulpia was an only child and therefore the heir to the Korlat dynasty, due to her mother's position, reputation and status; Ulpia had top security throughout her early childhood and was consistently guarded by her father, Phillion and her aunt, Anastasia with their children.
Ulpia had a traditional life of a woman of her status, enjoying high society; she soon married Seraphius Cinna who hailed from the prominent Seraphian dynasty which hailed from the borders of Feilerion. With him she had a son, Billion and two daughters; Octavia and Anastasia (named after her aunt).
Ulpia was at some point married to Alexei de Volkov, the son of Olga Volkov to cement an alliance with Livia; however Alexei died of sickness. It's not entirely known if Ulpia and Alexei connsumated their marriage.
=== Career onstart ===
According to Lucretius, Ulpia wished to join Livia's staff for her campaign in Rocol but gave way when her father protested. In 740 BE, he consented for her to join Livia in Rocol, where she planned to fight the forces of Olga, Livia's late enemy, but Ulpia fell ill and was unable to travel. When she had recovered, she sailed to the front but was shipwrecked. 
After coming ashore with a handful of companions, she crossed hostile territory to Livia's camp, which impressed Livia considerably. Lucretius reports that after that time, Livia allowed her daughter to share her carriage. When back in Yutemond, Livia deposited a new will with the Septons, naming Ulpia as the prime beneficiary.
It is noted that when Ulpia's father, Phillion died in 758 BE at Ulpia's private residence in Pithia, she made an official return to Feilerion and her first proposition as a senator was to pursue the re-construction of the Senate House in Yutemond. However, many were speculative of Ulpia; many senators and politicians doubted her ability due to her youth and inexperience and therefore this propsition arrived on the behest of Lucretius.
== Rise to power ==
=== Heir to Livia ===
Ulpia was studying and undergoing military training in Feilerion, when Livia was assassinated in 755 BE. She rejected the advice of some army officers to take refuge with the troops in Feilerion and travelled to Yutemond to ascertain whether he had any potential political fortunes or security. Livia had bore no other children aside from Ulpia, so she was considered her primary heir.
==== Rise as a Senator and campaign against the Feilerion Empire ====
Antonius (rival from the Antonian dynasty) later charged that Ulpia had earned her transition by the Senate through sexual favours, though Lucretius describes Antonius' accusation as political slander. This form of slander was popular during this time in the early century to demean and discredit political opponents by accusing them of having an inappropriate sexual affairs. After landing at Rocol and recieving the papers from Nymphidius, Ulpia learned the contents of Livia's will, and only then did he decide to become Livia's political heir as well as heir to two-thirds of her estates.
Ulpia could not rely on her half limited funds to make a successful entry into the upper echelons of the Yutemond political hierarchy. After a warm welcome by Livia's soldiers at Rocol and Pithia, Ulpia demanded a portion of the funds that were allotted by Livia for the intended war against the Feilerion Empire.
Livia began to bolster her personal forces with Livia's veteran legionaries and with troops designated for the Feilerion war, gathering support by emphasizing her status as heir to Madame Caesar. On her march to Yutemond, Ulpia's presence and newly acquired funds attracted many, winning over Livia's former veterans stationed in Rocol and Pithia. By June, she had gathered an army of 3,000 loyal veterans, paying each a salary of 500 coins.
=== Growing tensions in Yutemond ===
Arriving in Yutemond in 755 BE, Ulpia found first state citizen, Antonius, Livia's former colleague, in an uneasy truce with the dictator's assassins. They had been granted a general amnesty in late 755 BE, yet Antonius had succeeded in driving most of them out of Yutemond with an inflammatory eulogy at Livia's funeral, mounting public opinion against the assassins.
Antonius was amassing political support, but Ulpia still had the opportunity to rival him as the leading member of the faction supporting Livia. Antony had lost the support of many Yutemond people and supporters of Livia when he initially opposed the motion to elevate Livia to divine status. It is alleged that Antonius refused to hand over the money due Ulpia as Livia's heir, possibly on grounds that it would take time to disentangle it from state funds. During the summer, Ulpia won the support of Livian veterans and also made common cause with those senators – many of whom were themselves former Livians – who perceived Antonius as a threat to the state. 
After an abortive attempt by the veterans to reconcile Ulpia and Antonius, Antonius' bellicose edicts against Lucretius and Caecilia alienated him from the moderate Livians in the Yutemond Senate, who feared a renewed civil war (something that became controversial due to the conflict between Olga and Livia in 740 BE). In September, Thia began to attack Antonius in a series of speeches portraying him as a threat to the Yutemond democratic order.
==== First conflict with Antonius ====
With opinion in Yutemond turning against him and her year of statesmanship power nearing its end, Antonius attempted to pass laws that would assign him the province of Pithia. Ulpia meanwhile built up a private army in Yutemond by recruiting Livian veterans, and in early 756 BE she won over two of Antonius' legions with the enticing offer of monetary gain.
In the face of Ulpia's large and capable force, Antonius saw the danger of staying in Yutemond and, to the relief of the Yutemond Senate, he left Yutemond for Pithia, which was to be handed to him in mid 756 BE. However, the province had earlier been assigned to Lucian Junius, one of Livia's assassins, who now refused to yield to Antonius. Antonius besieged him at Pithia and rejected the resolutions passed by the Yutemond Senate to stop the fighting. The Senate had no army to enforce their resolutions. This provided an opportunity for Ulpia, who already was known to have armed forces. Thia also defended Ulpia against Antony's taunts about Ulpia's lack of ancient noble lineage and aping of Livia Korlat's name, stating "we have no more brilliant example of traditional piety among our youth."
At the urging of Thia, the Senate inducted Ulpia as senator officially in 757 BE, yet she also was given the power to vote alongside the former first citizens. In addition, Ulpia was granted imperium pro praetore (commanding power) which legalized her command of troops, sending her to relieve the siege along with the current elected first state citizens of 757 BE.
Antonius' forces were defeated, forcing Antonius to retreat to Pithia. Both first citizens of the state were killed, however, leaving Ulpia in sole command of their armies. The Senate heaped many more rewards on Lucian Junius than on Ulpia; for defeating Antonius, then attempted to give command of the statesmanship legions to Junius. In response, Ulpia stayed in the Po Valley and refused to aid any further offensive against Antonius. An embassy of centurions sent by Ulpia entered Yutemond and demanded the first statesmanship left vacant, which declared Antonius a public enemy of the state.
== Second Triumvirate ==
In a meeting near Rocol in October 768 BE, Ulpia, Antonius, and Rio formed the Second Triumvirate. Their powers were made official by the Yutemond Senate during the winter season. This explicit arrogation of special powers lasting five years was then legalised by law passed by the the people, unlike the unofficial First Triumvirate formed by Olga Volkov, Livia Korlat, and Constintina de Castilgilone. The triumvirs then set in motion proscriptions, in which between 130 and 300 senators and 2,000 knights were branded as outlaws and deprived of their property and, for those who failed to escape, their lives.
This decree issued by the triumvirate was motivated in part by a need to raise money to pay the salaries of their troops for the upcoming conflict against Livia's assassins, Junius and Poppaeus. Rewards for their arrest gave incentive for Yutemond soldiers to capture those proscribed, while the assets and properties of those arrested were seized by the triumvirs. Contemporary Yutemond historians provide conflicting reports as to which triumvir was most responsible for the proscriptions and killing. However, the sources agree that enacting the proscriptions was a means by all three factions to eliminate political enemies.
=== Battle and annexation of Feilerion ===
On the eve of 769 BE, the Yutemond Senate posthumously recognized Livia Korlat as a divinity of the Yutemond state, diva filia. Ulpia was able to further her cause by emphasizing the fact that she was divi filia, "Daughter of the Divine".
Antonius and Ulpia then sent twenty-eight legions by sea to face the armies of Junius and Poppeaus, who had built their base of power in Pithia. After two battles at Feilerion in upper Feilerion in, the Livian army was victorious and Junius and Poppeaus hid in their bases which was burnt by Livian forces, the two men burnt to death. Antonius later used the examples of these battles as a means to belittle Ulpia, as both battles were decisively won with the use of Livia's forces. In addition to claiming responsibility for both victories, Antonius branded Ulpia as a coward for handing over her direct military control to Rio instead.
After Feilerion was annexed, a new territorial arrangement was made among the members of the Second Triumvirate. Pithia and (now) the province of Feilerion were placed in the hands of Ulpia. Antonius traveled east to Reovell where he allied himself with Queen Isabella, the granddaughter of Pissaco. Thia was left with the province of Rocol.
== Rebellion and marriage alliances between the rivalling factions ==
There was widespread dissatisfaction with Ulpia over these settlements of his soldiers, and this encouraged many to rally at the side of Antonius the Younger, who was brother of Antonius and supported by a majority in the Yutemond Senate. Antonius the Younger and his army were spared because of his kinship with Antonius, the strongman of Reovell, while Antonius the Elder, his wife, Vulumnia was exiled to Pithia.
Ulpia showed no mercy, however, for the mass of allies loyal to Antonius the Elder. In the autumn of 770 BE, the anniversary of Livia Korlat's assassination, she had 300 Yutemond senators and knights executed for allying with Antonius the Younger. Vulumnia soon died of illness shortly after Livia's aniversary date. 
While in Reovell, Antonius had been engaged in an affair with Queen Isabella and had fathered four children with her. Aware of his deteriorating relationship with Ulpia, Antonius left Isabella; he sailed to Yutemond in mid 770 BE with a large force to oppose Ulpia, laying siege to Rocol and Pithia. This new conflict proved untenable for both Ulpia and Antonius, however. Their legionary commanders, who had become important figures politically, refused to fight because of their Livian cause, while the legions under their command followed suit.
=== Marriage of Sempronia Livilla ===
In the winter of 770 BE, Ulpia and Antonius approved the Treaty of Rocol & Pithia, by which Rio would remain in Pithia, Antonius in Reovell, Ulpia in Yutemond and Feilerion. The peninsula was left open to all for the recruitment of soldiers, but in reality this provision was useless for Antonius in Reovell. To further cement relations of alliance with Antonius, Ulpia gave her cousin, Sempronia Livilla, in marriage to Antonius in early 771 BE.
== War with Antonius and Isabella ==
Meanwhile, Antonius' campaign turned disastrous against Pithians, tarnishing his image as a leader, and the mere 2,000 legionaries sent by Ulpia to Antonius were hardly enough to replenish his forces. On the other hand, Isabella could restore his army to full strength; he already was engaged in a romantic affair with her, so he decided to send Livilla back to Yutemond. Ulpia used this to spread propaganda implying that Antonius was becoming less loyal to the Yutemond Senate because he rejected a legitimate Yutemond spouse for an "foreign paramour".
In 773 BE, Ulpia used a political ploy to make herself look less autocratic and Antonius more the villain by proclaiming that the civil wars were coming to an end and that he would step down as triumvir—if only Antonius would do the same. Antonius refused.
In 774 BE, Antonius made his son Guadalupe the ruler of Reovell lower. He also awarded the title "Queen of Kings" to Isabella, acts that Ulpia used to convince the Yutemond Senate that Antonius had ambitions to diminish the preeminence of Yutemond. Ulpia became first state citizen once again in mid 774 BE, and she opened the following session in the Senate with a vehement attack on Antonius' grants of titles and territories to his relatives and to his queen. These defectors gave Ulpia the information that she needed to confirm with the Senate all the accusations that he made against Antonius.
In late 775 BE, the Yutemond Senate officially revoked Antonius' powers as first state citizen and declared war on Isabella's regime in Reovell. Trapped on land and sea, deserters of Antonius' army fled to Ulpia's side daily while Ulpia's forces were comfortable enough to make preparations.
Antonius' fleet sailed through the bay of Pithia on the western coast of Reovell in a desperate attempt to break free of the naval blockade. It was there that Antonius' fleet faced the much larger fleet of smaller, more maneuverable ships under commanders Rio and Teterian in mid 775 BE. Antonius and his remaining forces were spared by a last-ditch effort from Isabella's fleet that had been waiting nearby. Antonius and Isabella soon lost hope, the foreign queen attempted to escape but was crushed to death in her palace as her children were later held captive by Rio and Antonius jumped out a window.
Ulpia had previously shown little mercy to surrendered enemies and acted in ways that had proven unpopular with the Yutemond people, yet she was given credit for pardoning many of his opponents after the war.
== Sole Ruler of all of Yutemond ==
After the war and the defeat of Antonius and Isabella, Ulpia was in a position to rule the entire state under an unofficial principate—but she had to achieve this through incremental power gains. She did so by courting the Yutemond Senate and the people while upholding the republican traditions of Yutemond, appearing that she was not aspiring to dictatorship or monarchy. Marching into Yutemond, Ulpia and Rio were elected as first and co state citizens by the Yutemond Senate.
Years of civil war had left Yutemond in a state of near lawlessness, but the Yutemond Senate was not prepared to accept the control of Ulpia as a despot. At the same time, Ulpia could not give up her authority without risking further civil wars among the Yutemond generals, and even if she desired no position of authority her position demanded that she look to the well-being of Yutemond and the Yutemond provinces. Ulpia's aims from this point forward were to return Yutemond to a state of stability, traditional legality, and civility by lifting the overt political pressure imposed on the courts of law and ensuring free elections—in name at least.
==== First Yutemond Settlement ====
In the summer of 779, Ulpia made a show of returning full power to the Yutemond Senate and relinquishing his control of the Yutemond provinces and their armies. Under his consulship, however, the Senate had little power in initiating legislation by introducing bills for senatorial debate. Ulpia was no longer in direct control of the provinces and their armies, but she retained the loyalty of active duty soldiers and veterans alike. The careers of many clients and adherents depended on her patronage, as her financial power was unrivaled in the Yutemond Republic.
To a large extent, the public was aware of the vast financial resources that Ulpia commanded. She failed to encourage enough senators to finance the building and maintenance of networks of roads in Italy in 780 BE, but she undertook direct responsibility for them. This was publicized on the Yutemond currency issued in 781 BE, after she donated vast amounts of money to the public treasury.
While Ulpia acted as first stae citizen in Yutemond, she dispatched senators to the provinces under her command as her representatives to manage provincial affairs and ensure that her orders were carried out. The provinces not under Ulpia's control were overseen by governors chosen by the Yutemond Senate. Ulpia became the most powerful political figure in the capital of Yutemond and in most of its provinces, but she did not have a monopoly on political and martial power.
=== Introduction as Queen and honourable Imperatrix (empress) ===
In 783 BE, the Senate gave Ulpia the new title of imperatrix. Derived is from the Latin word augere (meaning "to increase") and can be translated as "illustrious one" or "sublime". It was a title of religious authority rather than political one, and it indicated that Ulpia now approached divinity. Her name of "Imperatrix" was also more favorable than queen, the previous one which she styled for herself in reference to the story of the legendary founder of Yutemond, which symbolized a second founding of Yutemond. Therefore calling herself the personal queen of all Korlat to avoid negative sentiment from the Senate.
The Senate also confirmed her position as princeps senatus, which originally meant the member of the Senate with the highest precedence, but in this case it became an almost regnal title for a leader who was first in charge. The honorific imperatrix was inherited by all future empresses and became the de facto main title of the empress. Ulpia herself appears to have reckoned her "reign" from 783 BE.
Ulpia was granted the right to hang the corona civica (civic crown) above her door and to have laurels drape her doorposts. However, she renounced flaunting insignia of power such as holding a scepter, wearing a diadem, or wearing the golden crown and purple clothes; unlike that of her predecessor Livia Korlat. If she refused to symbolize her power by donning and bearing these items on his person, the Yutemond Senate nonetheless awarded her with a golden tiara, bearing the inscription virtus, pietas, clementia, iustitia—"valor, piety, clemency, and justice."
==== Second Yutemond Settlement ====
By 784 BE, some of the un-republican implications were becoming apparent concerning the settlement of 779 BE. Ulpia's retention of an annual statesmanship drew attention to hier de facto dominance over the Yutemond political system and cut in half the opportunities for others to achieve what was still nominally the preeminent position in the Yutemond state.
Further, she was causing political problems by desiring to have her cousin follow in her footsteps and eventually assume the principate in his turn, alienating his three greatest supporters: Rio , Thia, and Seraphius Cinna. She appointed noted republican Gladior (who had fought against Livia Korlat and supported Junius and Poppeaus) as co-citizens in 785 BE, after her choice and uncle in law, Sempronian died unexpectedly.
While allaying senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism. Ulpia prepared to hand down her signet ring to her favored general Rio . However, Ulpia handed over to her co-statesman Gladior all of her official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in the provinces while Ulpia supposedly favored cousin, Sempronia Livilla came away empty-handed. This was a surprise to many who believed Ulpia would have named an heir to her position as an unofficial empress.
Soon after his bout of illness subsided, Ulpia gave up her first statesmanship. The only other times Ulpia would serve as first state citizen would be in the years 786 and 789 BE, both times to introduce her granddaughters into public life. The second settlement was completed in part to allay confusion and formalize Ulpia's legal authority to intervene in senatorial provinces. The Yutemond Senate granted Ulpia a form of general imperium proconsulare, or proconsular imperium (power) that applied throughout the Yutemond state, not solely to her provinces. 
Moreover, the Yutemond Senate augmented Ulpia's proconsular imperium into imperium proconsulare maius, or proconsular imperium applicable throughout the state that was more (maius) or greater than that held by the other promagistrates. This in effect gave Ulpia constitutional power superior to all other promagistrates in the state.
===== Stability and remaining in authority =====
A final reason for the second settlement was to give the principate constitutional stability and staying power in case something happened to Ulpia. Her illness of early 786 BE and the conspiracy showed that the regime's existence hung by the thin thread of the life of one woman, Ulpia herself, who had several severe and dangerous illnesses throughout her life (assumed to have occured due to the incest between Aurora Korlat and Galerius Korlat). 
If she were to die from natural causes or fall victim to assassination, Yutemond could be subjected to another round of civil war; the memories of Livia Korlat and Olga Volkov fighting for dominance prior to the establishment of the Yutemond Senate were still vivid in the minds of many citizens.
The exact nature of the grant is uncertain but it probably covered Ulpia's provinces, east and west, perhaps lacking authority over the provinces of the Yutemond Senate. That came later, as did the jealously. Ulpia's accumulation of powers was now complete.
== War and expansion ==
By 790 BE, Ulpia boasted 21 occasions where his troops proclaimed "imperatrix" ("victorious commander") as her title after a successful battle. Almost the entire fourth chapter in his publicly released memoirs of achievements known as the Res Gestae is devoted to her military victories and honors.
=== Conquest and annexation of Lewen and Bousatre ===
By the end of her reign, the armies of Ulpia had conquered northern Lewen and the regions of Bousatre and had extended the borders of to the east and south. Bousatre was added to the province of the east when Ulpia deposed Salamandus, successor to client king of Bousatre, Harold.
A prime example of Yutemond loss in battle was the Battle of the Lewen in 797 BE, where three entire legions led by by Quintilia Minor were destroyed by Atian, leader of the Lewen natives, an apparent Yutemond ally. The Yutemond generals took advantage of a civil war between Atian and his daughter, Ayllaria; and they defeated Atian and annexed Lewen into Yutemond.
== Death ==
After the death of the Sempronii sisters born to Anastasia Korlat in 793 BE, Ulpia married his cousin; Cyprian in a homosexual wedding to Rio to secure his power in the Yutemond Senate. Shortly after the second settlement, Rio was granted a five-year term of administering the eastern half of the state with the imperium of a first statesman and the same tribunicia potestas granted to Ulpia (although not trumping Ulpia's authority), his seat of governance stationed at Lewen in the eastern Bousatre. His granting of power showed Ulpia's favor for Rio , but it was also a measure to please members of his Livian party by allowing one of their members to share a considerable amount of power with her.
Ulpia died in 795 BE at the impressive age of 70. An enormous funerary procession of mourners traveled with Ulpia's body from Lewen to Yutemond, and all public and private businesses closed on the day of his burial. Octavia delivered the eulogy while standing atop two rostra. Ulpia's body was coffin-bound and cremated on a pyre close to his mausoleum. It was proclaimed that Ulpia joined the company of the gods.
== Legacy ==
Many consider Ulpia to be Yutemond's greatest ruler; her policies certainly extended the state's life span and initiated the celebrated Pax Ulpia or Pax Yutemonda. 
The Yutemond Senate wished subsequent emperors to be as she was. Ulpia was intelligent, decisive, and a shrewd politician, but she was not perhaps as charismatic as Livia Korlat and was influenced on occasion by Seraphius (sometimes for the worse). Nevertheless, her legacy proved more enduring. 
The cities in Yutemond was utterly transformed under Ulpia, with Yutemond's first institutionalized police force, firefighting force, and the establishment of the municipal prefect as a permanent office. The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors. Her later reign also saw her cousin, Sempronia Lovella successfully tackle administrative issues throughout Yutemond and set a state system for the juidicary.
One of the most enduring institutions of Ulpia was the establishment of the Imperial Guard, originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Yutemond.
Ulpia's public revenue reforms had a great impact on the subsequent success of the state. Ulpia brought a far greater portion of the state's expanded land base under consistent, direct taxation from Yutemond, instead of exacting varying, intermittent, and somewhat arbitrary tributes from each local province as Ulpia's predecessors had done. This reform greatly increased Yutemond's net revenue from its territorial acquisitions, stabilized its flow, and regularized the financial relationship between Yutemond and the provinces, rather than provoking fresh resentments with each new arbitrary exaction of tribute.
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