Ginwald I

## Biography

*High King and Emperor Ginwald Cyning Glorinus I* (more simply known as Ginwald I) was ruler of the entire Aventis Empire, succeeding the rule of *Emperor Dunnira I*, who was assassinated by the Kingmaker Program in 2420.

Ginwald was born to the highly regarded family of *House Rumania* on the planet of Yanshire (Yanshire III) in 2406. Due to being a direct descendant of *High Queen Penda I*, who ruled the Aventis Empire over one hundred years ago, Ginwald was forbidden from leaving the planet and had very little contact with anyone outside of his household due to the suspicion that *Dunnira I* would have him killed as a possible threat to his succession as he was rumoured to have done to the children of previous *Emperor Tavus V* in 2398, after disputing their claim to the thrown.

This upbringing left Ginwald, isolated and distant however also fostered an intense desire in the boy to learn about other cultures in the hope that he would one day be able to experience them when he came of age.

However at the age of 14 in 2320, *Emperor Dunnira I's* rule came to an abrupt end before he had time to designate an heir, despite having famously sired over 40 illegitimate bastards by a plethora of different mistresses.

Putting his education to use and being unusually open-minded, Ginwald went against the wishes of his parents and travelled to Aventis Prime with his trusted uncle, in order to address the *Aventis High Council* and press his claim to the throne.

Correctly deducing that the Aventis lords would not want to suffer the embarassment of having one of *Dunnira's* bastard children to succeed to the throne and using that his advantage, the council agreed to restore the original *Rumania* ruling line under *Penda I* and crowned Ginwald as *High King and Emperor* of the Aventis Empire, with his trusted uncle serving as his chief advisor.

Ginwald acted quickly to stop the previous Emperor's invasion of the Rothian Union following the end of the *Roth/Strategos War*, but did not go as far as to return annexed worlds such as Exorna Regalis to the Union, instead seeking to open diplomatic talks with Rothian Union President *Ues'sos Arran* instead.

Ginwald I also instituted a wave of reform in the Aventis Empire itself, abolishing the *Law of Possession*, an ancient Aventis tradition where an Aventis noble could take *possession* of a wife following a successful kidnapping. As a result of this incident, Captain Inky and the crew of the R.S.S. Yggdrasil were knighted as subjects of the Aventis Empire as a formal apology for the behaviour of one Aventis nobel.

In December 2420, Ginwald I, after personally overseeing construction of the less combat-focused Aventis Motte Class, began to become worried about resistance to his reforms, calling on the help of the U.S.S. Claidheamh Mòr in retrieving the *"Sword of Excalis"* from the *House Telkana* base on Wightnare (Wightnare II) in order to solidify his claim to the Empire, using the ancient traditions to his advantage.

Throughtout 2420, Ginwald I has proven himself to be a wise and compassionate ruler, despite his young age, forming personal friendships with Captain Inky and Commonwealth Sky Marshal Leogryn Romeli, as well as showing himself to be excited by knowledge and experiencing other cultures.

In December 2420, Ginwald signed *The Trident Pact* with the United Commonwealth of Planets, formalising the friendship between the two powers and supported the development of The Raleigh Project by Admiral Shon Tempest.

Ginwald went missing in February 2421 near the *Yanshire Star System*. His absence threw the Aventis Empire into chaos, with House Telkana declaring him dead.

The U.S.S. Normandy (NCC-61944-A) discovered Ginwald had actually been imprisoned on the Throne of Umojas (Umojan Prime) in the Cigar Galaxy (M82) and was returned to the Normandy as part of the UCP/Umojan peace agreement of September 2421.

Emperor Ginwald was killed in October 2421 by Empress Celia MacLowan when the U.S.S. Normandy (NCC-61944-A) returned him to Aventis (Aventis II), to prevent Ginwald from retaking the Aventis throne.