The House of Aurelian

Coat of Arms of the House of Aurelian

The House of Aurelian *(Haus von Aurelianus)* is one of the two reigning Dynasties ruling the Imperial Federation. Founded in 1839 by Marius Aurelian after the conclusion of the Thermonian Civil War. Proclaimed in the capital of Caeseria, the surname was as much a statement about the hopeful aspects of a Golden Era, as it was a statement that the Monarchists had definitively won.

## The Thermonian Civil War

Divisions in Thermonia had been present since the nation's founding in 1777. From the landed, wealthy Ex-Paladins who founded the colony, to the poor farmers who lived out of the cities and towns with the local natives. Through successive elections, it was becoming clearer and clearer that the City vs. Rural divide was becoming more the central political issue of the day. Eventually in 1836, a boiling point occurred. On the 23rd of October, The President, Alexis von Goldenbaum was declared Prime Minister by a special assembly of the Senate and Commons, giving Alexis full authority over governmental affairs. In Effect, proclaiming him Dictator in Perpetuity of the Thermonian Commonwealth. This however, enraged the Rural peoples and the majority of the Urban moderates, causing an event that would come to be known as "The Declaration of the Rights of Man." in the township of Augustia. Declaring a state of Insurrection against the oppressive government, and encouraging law-abiding citizens to take up arms and resist the concentration of power.

#### The War, and the Usurpation.

The war could have easily been a 10-year drawn-out affair. The Rural faction, who quickly became the *Alliance to Restore the Republic of Thermonia* quickly took to guerrilla action. The Urban faction, which became the *Goldenbaum Dynasty* became bogged down in the loss of many talented officers to the Alliance. However, Alexis von Goldenbaum may have misjudged and mistimed the loyalty of many who sided with him. The support of the previous Urban faction was rested predominantly on a large quantity of Moderates who wanted a temporary dictator to usher in reforms to please both factions without the gridlock of politics. However, when it became apparent that Alexis von Goldenbaum simply wanted to establish a monarchy, his support nearly evaporated. This rose to an apex after a crushing Goldenbaum defeat at the battle of Trebiza. Alexis in response had the General who caused such a defeat swiftly executed, and replaced with a up-and-coming star named Marius von Innsbruck. Promoted to Field Marshall after the Goldenbaum victory at Cannsburg, Marius was working behind the scenes to compromise with Moderates and broker a peace deal. A treasonous act which would have surely gotten him executed if Alexis had found him out, so when he discovered a Goldenbaum sympathizer within his General Staff, Marius decided to act before Alexis had been informed of his plan.

#### The Aurelian Dynasty and *Generalplan Nord*

In 1839 Marius von Innsbruck lead his 3rd Army Group into the capital of Thermona, Caeseria, and deposed Alexis von Goldenbaum. Followed by a horde of Moderates and some but not all of the high-ranking members of the Alliance, He tried, convicted Alexis of treason, and executed him in the span of a week. After the death of the dictator, Marius revealed his "*Generalplan Nord*", A plan he had been working with the Moderates with for the post-war national situation, which re-organized Thermonia into a Constitutional Monarchy with the promise of immediate reforms in both governance, voting, and other mainstay issues of the Alliance. He also provided general amnesties to those who would stop fighting and work to rebuild the nation and reform its governance, and asserted the creation of his own dynasty, the *Aurealian Dynasty,* who would act as the guardians of the reforming nation. He did however, condemn anyone who would continue fighting as traitors and rebels, and that uniting to rebuild their fatherland was more important than continuing bloodshed. Even with this however, hard-line Republicans kept on fighting until the next year, but Marius's advances in 19th Century counter-guerrilla warfare quickly put an end to the remaining combatants. By October 1840, the fighting had largely ceased, and the last major commander for the Alliance agreed to a a cease-fire.

## Members of the House of Aurelian

***A note on Titles of the House of Aurelian**:* The word *Autocrator* or Autocrat is a bit of a misnomer. It was used by the natives of Thermonia to describe their governors and nobility, but in reality means "One who rules alone." While this does not aptly describe the function of the modern Thermonian Monarch, it was distinct enough to differentiate from the BFE's *"Emperor"* and Equestria's *"Augustia"*

The modern titles of the head of the House of Aurelian are thus:

*His/Her Imperial Majesty: Autokrator of Thermonia, Emperor of the Lands of the Black Fire Dynasty, Supreme August of Equestria, and Kaiser of the Imperial Federation.*

#### 1st Autokrator: Marius Aurelian (1839-1842)

Despite his victory in the struggle, Thermonia still had a Monarch. One who was still bound by the law, but one none the less. A monarchy was the exact thing that the founders of Thermonia had attempted to escape, and republicanism was almost ingrained into their culture. It would take the sheer charisma and quick-witted skill that won him battle after battle, in order to steer the ship of state. However, steer it he did. In the first month of his reign he tried, convicted, and had only the most die-hard members of the Alliance sentenced, and even then he was incredibly lenient. It was said that not a single person was executed under his reign. He truely honored his agreements with the moderates, and implemented much-needed reforms that where goals of both sides in the conflict. However, always by his side: Lucius, while still the youngest of Marius' sons, was at the time more like a Young Adult, and even at the age of 16 he was always by his fathers side. He learned alongside his father, and he was a great source of joy for Marius.

With this father-son combination seeming to be everywhere, keeping the peace, and establishing the powers of the Monarchy, everyone seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Within the span of a year, reconstruction was well underway, the government was stable, and with the unbridled optimism he had for everything, Marius felt his country was finally back on its feet in such a short span of time. The achievements of his "*Generalplan Nord*" were as vast as they were popular: Land Reform, voting rights and equal protection for natives enshrined in the constitution. The role of the nobility, the inability of industry to use monetary incentive to keep workers in poverty, these populist reforms drove his critics into silence, and his supporters wild.

However, if there was one failure of his reign, was his inability to accept any vision but his own. With his wit and charisma he would shut down debate in a, less than tactful manner, and betray a value that would come to define modern Thermonia: That you must allow people to change their opinions themselves. Forcing them to adopt an idea will only make them resentful. With his supporters ascendant, and his critics driven from the light, underground societies grew in opposition of his reign. His inability to fathom ideas contrary to his own simply drove people, who where unable to express themselves or even their concerns in a meaningful way, to radicalization and radical action. Inevitably this would be his downfall.

On March 15th, 1842, While stepping off the train into his hometown of Innsbruck, a man by the name of Luther Pilc stepped toward him. Marius had known this man, the leader of a prominent Republican Society, Marius had debated him before an audience and viciously critiqued him. Marius had done all but stripped the man of his honor, and now here he was there before his sovereign. According to eyewitness and Marius' personal guard, Pilc approached Marius, and shook his hand. He had almost seemed friendly, if not re-conciliatory. However, it was just a cover, for just a split second later, two gunshots rang out from the concealed weapon in the assailants sleeve. The shots where instantly mortal, as they where of a high caliber and destroyed Marius' heart and lungs outright.

With a cry of "*Tod der Tyrannen!*" He took his own life with a final blast to the head. Dying before the Imperial Guards could serge through the crowd and detain the assailant. However, this would not be the only tragedy this day, for four of his five sons would also be murdered in a coordinated strike. It was only by a stroke of luck that the youngest and most fit to rule of Marius's sons, was not assassinated.

It just so happened that he was late for a conference he was due to attend, where an assailant was waiting in the wings. Due to this tardiness, he was able to be caught and secured by the Colonel of the Imperial Guard, and the assailant arrested. With much somberness he was reunited with his mother and sister, who were only narrowly spared themselves.

**Autokrator Marius Aurelian, Father of Thermonia and Duke of Innsbruck, lived for 56 years and ruled only for 3.**

#### 2nd Autokrator: Lucius Aurelian (1842-1895)

Lucius Aurelian was elevated to the purple on 16th of March, 1843, the day after the assassination of his father, at 18 years of age. Knowing the country needed no instability, and that he was the sole remaining eligible candidate for succession, and backed by the Imperial Guard, he went before a special session of the Thermonian Senate. Declaring his intention and right to rule based on his eligibility rather than blood, he allowed the Senate to vote on his fate.

Through a close vote, he was elected by the legitimate representatives of the Thermonian people the true and only successor to his father, and that only he had sole right to be the Head of State. With his newfound power secured he went on a mass investigative spree. Ordering the Imperial Guard to track down and arrest the members of the group which had taken so much from him. However, he was still his fathers son, and would not render undue punishment. In a public trial, the conspirators were convicted, and the harshest sentences where reserved only for those whom major responsibilities lie. Most were let go, as they were simply spectators with no real attachment other than agreeing with the core ideals of the group, and not the radical notions of regicide of the groups top members.

The most early part of his reign was characterized by his mother, Annemarie Aurelian, the wife of the slain Marius. For even though justice had been served, no act could comfort this grieving mother of the nation. It would seem that the people empathized with the pain she felt. The next few years would be characterized by art and theater, music and poetry of her loyalty to her husband. The grim disposition paired with the state the country was in. It would be these ashes, however, that Lucius would rise from, and earn his most well-known epithet, *Der Phönixkönig*; The Phoenix King.

Already, however, though the nation grieved with him and his mother, other groups relished. Lucius' advisors and officials where plagued by radicals who attempted to frustrate his decrees and foment dissent amongst his ministers. Plagued by this adversity, he soldiered on through the beginning of his reign. In attempts to emulate his father, he expanded and simplified the law. He called upon the top legal scholars of his time to begin the process of writing a consistent law code, amending the old and rationalizing its language. In these volumes of text, he had written the legal framework that the Imperial Federation uses today. Named the Corpus Juris Civilis, it was finished in 1856 and was perhaps the greatest achievement of his reign.

It was not the sole achievement, however. For also during his reign did he embark on military reforms. He built and had schools for officers funded. He standardized military units in accordance to battlefield role, and then simplified how men would be raised, and how they where trained. Thermonian units would become renowned for their ability to be trained exceptionally in their battlefield role. Infantry where drilled day and night on how to dig trenches, how to load and fire their weapons. Cavalry were drilled in the proper upkeep of their mounts and proper skirmishing/breakthrough techniques. Artillerymen where awarded on their accuracy and rate of fire. Thermonia's military ended up being smaller, but however it was an elite and formidable force that could utilize swift maneuvers and appropriate application of force to bring victory after victory.

It would be his foreign policy however, were he would feel as though he could never live up to his father. In 1847 the Conference of Canterlot occurred, were all the great powers came to discuss the remaining lands which were considered "Uncivilized." Thermonia, while now respected internationally for becoming a monarchy, was barred from attending this Conference, and was denied an empire outside her boarders. Enraged, Lucius began to increase industrialization in Thermonia, and inviting those peoples who were persecuted by the great powers to come to his country, and reside there. This encouraged mass migration to Thermonia, providing her with cheap labor, and widely available intellectuals, who were welcomed into the gilded temples of learning that were the Universities that Lucius had constructed for them.

These clashes between Thermonia and the other Great Powers of the world would come to a head in 1885. Under the guise of providing humanitarian aid for the locals of the Mild West, Lucius ordered a military force of several thousand Thermonain soldiers to enter and claim land for a new Colonial state in the Mild West, instigating a short war between the Black Fire Empire, who sought to contain the resurgent nation. This war concluded however, with the Treaty at Peterlutz, which gave Thermonia some control over the territories and peoples of the western Mild West, in exchange for a treaty of non-aggression with the BFE. The locals however [**REDACTED**]

Though the war with the BFE had a favorable outcome for Lucius, it was still hard fought, with some battles lost, and several thousand dead on Thermonia's side. This however was a bit of a wakeup call for Lucius, as by this point he was 62 years old and had no clear successor. With his loving wife he had nine children, only one of which, Lucretia, was skilled enough in affairs of administration and of the state to serve as potential candidates. While he loved his children very much, he realized their talents would be better off served as local administrators and serving in military roles than trying to tackle the beast of state. It was his Lucius's last push of his reforms and laws to put into place his new Inheritance law. Cognogeniture, where the sovereign and Senate would collaborate and choose an heir, which would govern at the consent of the people. The struggle to have the nobility and people adopt this method of succession would last him till the end of his days.

On July 18th, 1895, Lucius Arelian shook off his mortal coil surrounded by his wife, children, and grandchildren. His passing caused by a lung condition that was exacerbated by his age and stress.

**Autokrator Lucius Aurelian, Duke of Innsbruck, Lived for 71 years and ruled for 53. Known as the Pheonix King for his bravery in the face of oposition and adversity to his rule, and his ability to rise beyond that and become a man, worthy to be his father's son.**

#### 3rd Autokrateira: Lucretia Aurelian (1895-1914)

Lucretia Aurelian, 3rd youngest daughter of Lucius Aurelian, was elevated to the purple on July 21st, 1895, three days after her father's passing. Almost immediately it seemed that she was not fit to rule. Constantly sleepy, almost lazy, she had to have an army of servants keep her on track with her other work, let alone stay presentable. It was said she had such little interest in courtly politics that she had almost fell asleep during her own coronation ceremony.