Lord Regent Thomas Ashbury

## Thomas Ashbury

"By god and my right I rule in her stead"

> *"Peace on New-Earth and goodwill to all... so long as they wish it in kind"*
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## Overview

The Regency of Thomas Ashbury left a legacy of expansion and prosperity cut short by an untimely death; unlike the last Lord Regent, who died from illness, Thomas's death occurred at his peak.

A ardent believer in the potential of the space age, his policies pushed the frontiers of space faster than even devote futurists had hoped for; the industry he formulated was one of void focus over any other, believing that the losses on the planet would be made up for in space.

Rapid colonization and military professionalisation were his hallmark. The army was transformed from simple fighters to farmers and builders, the elite turned from simple upper classes into the swords of humanity; while many of the reforms enacted were not his idea alone, it was he whom had the ability to foresee the needs of the Empire and who had the capacity to implement them.

As one of the few officials who had advocated for a softer approach towards aliens his death solidified the xenophobic ideals of the Empire, if Ashbury had been the man to facilitate the prominence of the Moderationists then it was his death that reversed its influence; as such a significant spokesman and representative of the movement his savage execution ultimately did more harm to the ideology then what good he had achieved for it.

## Born a ruler, raised a teacher

Thomas was a sly speaker and coercive diplomat in his youth, sliding through school life and emerging with a network of contacts and allies by the end of graduation; the man had that unpalpable knack for making friends, few had much bad to say of him and rarely would someone openly speak negatively of him.

Raised with the highest education and with the charisma to boot, Thomas easily found himself running the family show; before becoming Regent he toured New-Earth teaching advanced physics at the shockingly junior age of 25 until 2189 when he became Lord Regent at the age of 34. In that time he made careful selections from the students of his classes, ear-marking the best and brightest and aiding them in achieving the highest advancements possible in their work and fields of study; ensuring the rise of prominent intellectuals who all had his favour and influence to thank for their positions.

When Lord Regent Allerton died the pool of choices was large and among them all Thomas did not shine out, not at first... as the day of appointment drew close many candidates submitted recommendations to appoint Thomas as the Lord Regent. The soon-to-be Regent had negotiated with his competitors, promising the deliverance of wealth and prominence to them if they would back him for the position instead; a no-doubt difficult task as many of these candidates were already well-off individuals, but Ashbury leveraged his position as a scientist and his vision for a space-bound society to enthral the candidates with a piece of the future... trade in their position for Lord Regent now and be at the front of the line for space-based financial ventures and the first to receive the latest and greatest advancements in technology.

This was not illegal in any sense, rather it only boosted Thomas; by appointing him, he would take the title of Lord Regent alongside a team of backers who supported him rather than make enemies out of the losing candidates, his appointment promised stability and immediate action. As a bonus, there were many rising intellectuals out there who had their positions to thank for. When Ashbury became the Regent, he took that role with the promise of all the things to come, and he knew what was to come because he had been at the forefront of science.

## Lord Regent Ashbury

### Station Star-bound

Within the month of his appointment Thomas reversed all the actions made by the previous Lord Regent, Arabella Allerton, to postpone and delay the construction of a space station; work on the station finally began in full despite the economic dampening it caused, difficulties emerged as it was soon discovered that the nation lacked the technology to create the station without massive expense and the problem was soon exemplified by an accident that killed 1785 workers on the station. A fault in structural design caused the hull to collapse and workers were sucked out by the vacuum.

Rather than play cards of compassion though, Thomas used the opportunity to scorn and berate the current science departments. Quoting his words...

> *"It is clear to me now that the future of our nation has been sabotaged by the roots of its past, our scientists have dallied around for decades without purpose other than the advancement of their own kinds' wealth; no longer, the souls lost aboard New-Earth will be remembered as ones betrayed by the scientists they entrusted their lives with"*
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> *"So, on behalf of Her Imperial Majesty Queen Victoria the eighth; empowered by ancient decree I do, as acting Lord Regent, use her Royal Prerogative to commandeer the Institution of Science and its staff. Henceforth all working within it are subject to my oversight, the future shall be held ransom no longer"*
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> *"That is all. Long may she reign"*
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> **- Thomas Ashbury, Lord Regent, 2193 -**
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The entire science department was reshuffled, many lost their positions and cast out of the science community, a hard break to ensure a complete new start; replacing them were graduates that Thomas had lectured in his teaching years, by now they surpassed his own understanding of science as he had expected them to do so. The new scientists were innovative thinkers who saw not just future technology but workarounds to improve current use of technology, by 2195 work began anew on the damaged station; much of it torn apart to be redesigned, helping the new construction were newly designed void craft that were much smaller and able to fit in tighter spaces for construction.

#### Finished Construction

In mid 2199 the space station was finished, the rest of the year was spent transporting workforces and materials up to the station. In 2200 the station officially became operational, with orders for the construction of exploratory and construction vessels immediately; probes had been sent out to survey the local asteroids and planets, deposits of minerals were found strewn across the system including the wrecks of alien ships.

The space age had begun.

### Military Reform

The Empress was aware of other lifeforms in the galaxy and commanded that the Empire be prepared to defend itself from the worst, Thomas was tasked with this reform but he himself knew little of military discipline, he did however have an ideal plan for them; he envisioned the army as more than just the army, he saw them as the builders and colonizers of the galaxy. The Empire had a strong martial background and he hoped to funnel this military pride into other fields, he explained to a team of specialists that he'd enlisted to carry out the reforms that he wanted the military to be a capable fighting force, expeditionary force, builders, farmers and colonizers all in one.

While he waited for space mines to be constructed and snowball the construction of more mines, Thomas called for widespread military enlistment, he promised free rights to land and property for anyone who enlisted within the first 5 years of his offer; the new recruits were first taught basic construction and farming techniques rather than military affairs, they received lectures on city planning and basic infrastructure and those who showed aptitude were moved up the ranks as logisticians and officers. By the end of the courses the recruits could build basic self sustaining communities within forts, like more advanced versions of roman soldiers.

These reforms made the soldiers exceptional in warfare, an army runs on its stomach and morale and these soldiers could at least provide the food for themselves in drawn out wars, they were also professional soldiers though the weaponry was basic and mass produced to provide for the massive army.

### Expansion in space

Within the decade enough material had been amassed and assembled into a colonization ship, rather than it be filled with civilians though it was filled with soldiers and the ship became a mixture between a HQ and colonizer; this wasn't out of military pride, it was practical. The nearby planets could be infested with other mindless Biluan or just other hostile xenos, the military could also set up housing, farms, mines and factories and then switch out as soldiers into civilians (thus being delivered free rights to the land and property, what Thomas had promised)

With the first model colony established the people saw what military life now offered, wealth, land, property and the chance to become a class higher than before (many people in the 2210's were still lower classes as the population had grown too rapidly for the state to cope and while they were fed and housed they did not have much disposable income). Now with planned population control the people were guarantied better prospects now and no risk of future generations falling into poverty so long as the population controls were adhered to. When the second mass recruitment drive began the numbers were higher than before, though the offer was extended to a wider age range than before.

#### Snowballing

Setting up a colony was easier for the Empire and reaped greater rewards than it did for most nations of the time, as the colonizers were soldiers they lived less consumerist lifestyles and were more productive as a group; in addition, as they switched into civilian lives they became tax contributors rather than tax sinks and being ex-military were willing to freely contribute to expanding the colony for immigrating civilians. This made the period of establishing the colony largely cost reduced affording faster paybacks on the costs.

By the third decade of his regency - 2220's - the Eternal Empire was expanding constantly and even set sights on asteroids as mini habitats, at this point the Empire afforded the cost of colonizing a planet and other projects.

### Void Industry

At the same time the void industry exponentially grew, the economy was devoted to funding mining operations in space even to the point of net losses in income, Thomas believed strongly that the economic returns would prove worth the expense; whenever their was spare credits it was put into funding void constructions, his will went beyond even strong supporters of space expansion who were now seeing some credence in the previous Lord Regent's doubts. But as Lord Regent none could oppose him and he had the support of Her Majesty, so strong was his influence he passed through several expansion projects and expanded the frontiers faster than construction ships could keep up... it seemed he was claiming space just for the sake of it.

Anyway the industry expansion began to snowball alongside colonization and soon the economy was reaping the benefits, doubts were set aside and the golden age of expansion dawned.

### Beware the alien

The rapid claiming of space also justified itself as contacts with xeno began to surface. Fearing that the xeno may see fit to kill Humans with any reason, the ambassadors advised that the xeno should never see the true Human form until they knew enough of the xenos way... so they wore suits to hide their forms.

Talks quickly broke down, the Eternal Empire had known of the existence of xeno before even 2150, the wrecks of alien ships being proof; without the wonder of exploration and more the fear of alien threat, the Eternal Empire closed all their borders with military vessels.

#### Calls for war

As growth looked set to halt as xeno empires arose around them, the Imperial Court began calling for preliminary strikes and surprise attacks, a mentality of who *will* strike first arose; Thomas resisted the calls, the Empire was not ready for war and he held a less hostile regard to xeno life. He believed in isolation, keeping xeno a distance but as mutually accepting neighbours.

> *"Of course ambassador, we believe an amicable relation between our nations is not only possible but the most mutual way forward; I personally give my gratitude for your understanding on the delicate affairs of my people and hope to soon dine with you in person"*
> **- Thomas Ashbury, Lord Regent, Discussing future negotiations with xeno bearing resemblance to 'elves' -**
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#### Addressing the people

To calm the fervour of war in his own people he promised the continual expansion of the Empire, inwards.

> *"There are still many planets untouched by our presence, we may not live on the molten planets today but in the future we will. We may then still run out of planets you say. Well there are many barren rocks in space we may yet carve homes into; and if this does not suffice then we can build our cities in space. Not in my lifetime but maybe within the next century we could do that and so much more"*
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> *"If you would simply put down your arms for now and see a place for all lifeforms; we need not love them or even like them, we must simply respect them. And so I implore you all to join me and hope for peace on New-Earth and goodwill to all... so long as they wish it in kind to us"*
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> **- Thomas Ashbury, Lord Regent, 2235 -**
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#### Breakdown

Contact was made with a new xeno species in 2236, Thomas went in person to meet the new xeno in attempts to cool off the hostile temperament of his people; on January the 7th 2237 the Eternal Delegation met with the xeno who had so far remained distant and cold.

They were cut to pieces. Live TV showed the slaughter of diplomats and guards, Thomas Ashbury being cut in half on live camera...

Like mentioned above, his ideals were like his brain... smashed and pulverised. For the Dyss took no prisoners... their screams reminiscent of laughter and cackles.

## Xenophobic sentiment

The majority of non-hostile sentiment that was still present evaporated. Victoria VIII again was pushed further into loathing of others, as Thomas Asbury was crushed so was what little hope she had for other xeno life.