Ludius

* Manga
* Novel

**Ludius** is the current emperor of Parpaldia and until the end of the Japanese-Parpaldian War he was considered the most powerful man in the entire Third Civilization Area.

A staunch supporter of Parpaldian expansionism, he led his country into numerous wars in the hope of someday becoming the sole ruler of the entire New World. His ambitions were thwarted by the recently transferred state of Japan, which with its modern technologies and warfare strategies managed to defeat the imperial army in every single battle. After the capitulation of the empire of Parpaldia in June 1640, the successful coup d'état led by the director of third foreign affairs office Kaios and the establishment of the parliamentary regime, he was forced to renounce to much of his political powers and to be turned into a mere figurehead.

## Appearance

Ludius is a twenty-seven year old young man. He has carved silver hair with an all-backed appearance has a deeper look. He wears regal clothing.

In the manga version, his outfit resembles some sort of 18th-century military uniform with epaulettes.

## Personality

Ludius is an extremely ambitious person who really wants to conquer the world and become its ruler. For him, the New World will only experience everlasting peace if it is under the rule of the Parpaldia Empire. This attitude justifies his constant expansion, subjugation and conquest of other nations for the sake of the his twisted version of the greater good as he proclaims to bring eternal peace for everyone in the New World while subjecting the people in the conquered nations with tyranny and oppression, making him incredibly hypocritical.

Even before the arrival of Japan, Ludius shows a clear trait of being totally unrealistic and narrow-minded ruler; with a high tendency to bite more than he can chew as he always think of taking on the direct fight against powerful Superpowers such as Mu and Holy Mirishial Empire simultaneously in the future while never taking much into the consideration of the massive tech gap, which is at least centuries in length.

The arrival of Japan in the so-called Outside Civilized Area massively amplifies his stupidity and arrogance as he and the rest of his government hastily declared war on the Japanese and demanded them to bend their knee without trying to understand the true power of Japan.

***Ludius - "Hmm… indeed, Japan is mighty. Our navy is decimated, and one of our largest bases has been leveled. However, our other two large-scale bases are still standing firm, and the city of Duro still supports us. We shall not run out of weapons. Furthermore, those barbarians will not be able to set foot on our land."***
***Kaios - "May I ask for the reasoning behind that?"***
***Ludius - "To land an army on a continent under control of a superpower with intimate knowledge of the landscape, they would need to invest massive amounts of resources. However, while Japan’s navy may be plentiful, their ground army is light. Our land is vast; no matter the quality of their soldiers, they will be unable to supply them in their endeavors."***
— Ludius stupidly deducts and looks down on the JSDF as a whole based on nothing but purely blind guess and ridiculous assumption without solid evidence or intel, depicted in chapter 37 of the Novel.
His arrogance often goes along with stubbornness and total ignorance as he completely refused to take the Japanese seriously even after the JSDF caused serious damages to his army to the point of that he keeps insisting that the Imperial Army still stand a chance against the Japanese with nothing but ludicrously blinded guesses and shallow information about JSDF military prowess. The best examples are after the JSDF decimated 90% of the Parpaldian Navy, he ignorantly stated that JSDF had weak ground force just by using his knowledge that only applies to low-tech countries while not trying to do a single research about the JSDF military power or using the low budget the JSDF has compared to his army has to spend to state that the JSDF is massively under-equipped to deal with the Parpaldian Imperial Army as a whole. He is an absolute amateur in terms of military strategy.

Consequently, his stick-in-the-mud mindset and obliviousness eventually caused his nation to suffer defeats after defeats without even scratching the JSDF. Ludius also extremely self-righteous and completely denied that he and Remille are solely responsible for the downfall of the Parpaldian Empire for provoking the suicidal war against the Japanese when Kaios dethroned him by justifying that he alone makes the Parpaldia an Empire, totally ignoring the fact that he brings his own country down as fast as he makes it becomes an Empire. During the New World War when the Riem Kingdom attacked Duro under Gra Valkas' order to damage Japan's merchant ships, Ludius had been shown to reduced to a Yes-man as he has zero means to assert authority to command his former foreign affairs official, now government head Kaios.

## Chronology

### Japanese-Parpaldian War Arc

Ludius first appeared after the Battle of Fenn Offshore, demanding to know why the Foreign Affairs Bureau hadn't reported on the punitive strike against Fenn for refusing to lease its land to the Empire. When it became apparent that Japan was responsible, he ordered the direct of the 3rd Foreign Affairs Bureau, Kaios to intimidate Japan for interfering. He would instruct Remille to directly take control of the matter when he became aware Kaios had met with Japanese diplomats instead of retaliating.

However, Remille would make the terrible decision of ordering the Nishinomiyako Massacre during the Parpaldia Empire’s Invasion of Fenn, provoking Japan to send its Self Defense Forces to the Kingdom and completely wiping out the invading force. Still not taking Japan seriously and allowing Remille to control the matter, he agreed with her plan to declare a ethnic genocide against the Japanese people, irreversibly pitching his entire Empire into war.

Ludius remained ignorant and dismissive of Japan until the Battle of Altaras Kingdom and Great Naval Battle of Esthirant caused massive damage to their Capital Defense forces and their Navy. Unwilling to leave the Capital defenseless, Ludius agreed with Arde to recall thousands of troops on garrison duty in the colonies, weakening their hold on all of them. During an emergency meeting to deal with the crisis, Ludius fought back against other members of the government who suggested making peace with Japan and insisted that the Empire commit to total war with Japan; to do anything else would be to abandon their destiny of ruling the world. When news of the Duro Air Strike arrived in the middle of the meeting, Ludius become enraged and ordered a retaliatory naval attack. It would be intercepted and completely destroyed before even reaching Japan.

Even as all of the Empire's colonies rebelled and they lost resources, crops, and tax revenue, Ludius remained steadfast in his determination. He did not believe Japan had the resources to launch a ground invasion, the willingness to bomb their cities indiscriminately, and he did not believe the colonies had the power to invade either. But other members of his government did not agree.

Kaios, after securing support from the military, initiated his Coup D'etat in Esthirant. Ludius was surprised by the move, and mocked Kaios were giving in to Japan. But he was deposed all the same.

Ludius kept his position as Emperor, but it was a meaningless title as all the colonies were granted their independence again.

## Relationships

### Remille

Remille is another member of the Imperial Family, although her exact relation to him is unknown. She is extremely fond of him and believes in his goal of conquering the entire world, and as a result he appoints her to handle important foreign policy matters in the Empire. Her interest even extends to being romantic, although he shows no sign of returning this. Despite the familial relation and her dedication to him, he was casually willing to hand her over to Japan if it meant an end to the war.

## Notes

* He is one of the few war criminals that managed to avoid incarceration by the Japanese.
* His name Ludius can be spell as "ludicrous" which reflects his low intelligent and absurd thinking when dealing with Japan.
* He often speaks in the third person. Instead of using pronouns like I or myself, he addresses himself as 'we' or 'us' much like British royalty does.

## Gallery

Emperor Ludius and Remille dreaming of world domination.Emperor Ludius illustration in the Book Volume 3