Valens I

Valens I was a Kosmokrator of the Silent Empire and the first in the Basarion dynasty to bear the reignal name of Valens. He was born the younger son of Prince Basarab Michael, the son of John III. When the Prince died from a sickness before assuming the throne, Valens became second in line to the throne after his brother, the future Basarab VII.

The brothers got on poorly even before the elder succeeded to the throne. When Valens turned sixteen he was exiled from Othery to serve as a page in the court of the Duke of Sudgewen. Ironically, this exile proved the making of the young Prince, who responded extremely well to the brash, martial and aristocratic culture of the young Vortish nobles. His greatest pleasures were horse riding and hunting. As an adult he married the only daughter of the Earl of Carrow, making him a powerful landed noble in his own right.

As his brother's reign became more contentious and it became clear that the Emperess would not bear any children, disaffected nobility began to flock to the Imperial Prince. The two brothers often argued, and although they remained civil with one another in public, Valens was often un-invited to important Imperial ceremonies where more distant members of the Imperial family were present. During this time Valens led several minor campaigns against unmen on the borders of Marlia and Knagel, which were blown up into great victories by his partisans, who hoped to create an image of a vigorous and honest soldier king to contrast with his brother's corrupt, inert and confused leadership.

When Valens did finally succeed, he was welcomed as an alternative to his unpopular brother, and his first act, to dismiss and in some cases imprison or exile his brother's corrupt councillors, lead to great rejoicing. However, he quickly replaced them with a new set of equally corrupt advisors. Of particular affront to the Otherites was his blatant favouritism for his friends among the Vortish nobility, and the nickname "Valens the Vorten" quickly stuck, and has even found its way into official histories.

Valens was soon as unpopular as his brother, albeit for the opposite reasons. While his brother rarely left Othery, Valens rarely visited, preferring to rule from his Vortish estate. While his brother tolerated corruption, Valens took massive affront at even minor impecularities, dishing out harsh sentences to popular local leaders for transgressions that would have traditionally been met with Imperial grace. And while his brother's vaccilated wildly between policies, Valens rejected ever petition ever brought to him, most of which never made it past the bevy of young Vortish knights and barons who formed his Privy Council. Like his brother, Valens' reign brought no catastrophe or disaster, but discontent and hardship spread throughout the Empire. Between them the reigns of the two brothers spanned nearly eighty years and lead to a massive decline in the integrity, legitimacy and sacristy of the Silent Empire, setting the stage for future cataclysms such as the tyranny ofBasarab IX and the Imperial collapse after the death of Basarab XV.

At least in one respect Valens excelled his brother - he had several children, one of whom rose to the throne as John IV . His youngest son, Prince Basil Valens , was also a notable Paladin of Vaad and warrior knight, viewed by some as the greatest Kosmokrator the Empire never had.