Emperor Amelos

Emperor Amelos was the Emperor of Nesaria from 960 to his death in 1011. He is best-known for the fact that his coronation ended the Time of Troubles, and for his keen interest in the economic administration of his realm, leading to a peaceful recovery from the turmoil of earlier years.

## Early Life

Amelos, though belonging to the House of Capilus - the ruling dynasty of the Nesarian Empire - was part of a strain of the dynasty which was not particularly powerful, and did not realistically expect to become Emperor. Amelos was therefore given free reign to pursue his interests rather than being rigorously trained from birth how to be a soldier and monarch.

From an early age, Amelos proved himself to be an intelligent yet socially inept (and probably mildly autistic) boy, who found great joy in books but had few friends. In 955, at the age of 18, he applied to join the University of Elifana for a course in physics and mathematics despite his certainty that he would be rejected due to him not being Elfkin, but he was allowed to take the entrance exam due to his name; it was not as if the university authorities could reject a Capilus. The university expected to be able to reject him with the excuse of poor results in the entrance examination, but they were stunned by his performance, and the university council unanimously agreed to accept him, thereby making him the first non-Elfkin in history to join the University of Elifana.

Amelos was rapidly joined by the second non-Elfkin in 956; Leesk, a Cisen, essentially Amelos' only friend at this point, and a genius with numbers. During his studies, Amelos also met an Elf named Colien, a student of magic, who became his second friend. At some point in 958, Colien managed ("by some miracle", in Amelos' words) to get himself a girlfriend, a fellow student who studied natural history, named Felisa. She integrated well into the group, and they remained close friends for the rest of their lives.

The Time of Troubles did not prove to be a great disruption to Sevaliara as a whole, and studies at Elifana continued as normal, though academic trips to the continent were prohibited due to the quarantine imposed across the archipelago to protect it from the plague - much to the dismay of Felisa, who desired to observe the natural world, both out of her own interest and for her studies. Together they came to a decision; they would leave Sevaliara for the mainland and travel the far south of Eastern Inecuria, which had been barely touched by war or plague, to let Felisa happily obsess over creatures and to give Leesk a rare opportunity to show his homeland in Cisenila to his foreign friends. Despite the warning of the university that they would not be allowed to return if they left, they departed in February of 960.

## As Emperor

### Coronation

In May of 960, while en route to Cisenila, Amelos received a message from the Imperial Council informing him that he had been chosen as the new Emperor, since all the other candidates with a stronger claim to the throne now lay dead. He was ordered to convene with representatives of the council at the Old Tree, where he would be coronated. Amelos' friends accompanied him to the tree to meet the Councillors, and upon meeting them Amelos immediately informed them that he had no desire for the throne and wished to continue as a student. He demanded to know whether his parents had been informed of the decision, and in response he was told that they had both been killed by the plague a year earlier; news which had not reached Amelos due to the quarantine.

At the insistence of the Councillors, and their warning that the Empire could once again descend into a war for the throne if he did not take it, Amelos reluctantly agreed to become Emperor. It is likely that the deaths of his parents also convinced him to take the position, as he realised that the instability of having no Emperor would only lead to more people losing their loved ones. As the crown was placed upon his head, the Old Tree lit up in shades of violet and burgundy, the colour pulsating throughout its branches; it gave its blessing to a monarch for the first time in centuries, and after this point it would never give another blessing again.

The message of a new Emperor was sent out across the Empire as Emperor Amelos travelled to Ascaria with his friends to take his seat at the Imperial Palace. Much to the relief of all parties involved, no pretenders challenged this coronation. Amelos quickly found himself dissatisfied with the Imperial life, disliking the servants who slavishly waited upon his every need and the opulent buildings that he was alien to. He decided to move back to Elifana, stopping on the way at Cisenila so that Leesk could finally show his friends his home. The Imperial Council was dismayed at the Emperor not even being in Nesaria, let alone Ascaria, but there was nothing they could do. The authorities on Elifana were now no longer in a position to refuse his return now that he was Emperor, and he settled back into his old accomodation, as did his friends. It was also at this time that he gave the command as Emperor for Colien and Felisa to marry, only half-jokingly telling them that he was sick of watching them being so deeply in love but unable to muster up the courage to propose a marriage.

### Reign

Amelos did not stop his studies of mathematics and physics when he became Emperor, but they took a back seat compared to the needs of the realm. Amelos expected to hate his new job, but separated as he was from the inane politics and subtle intrigues of the Council and situated in his element in Elifana, he came to enjoy the process of administering the realm, analysing economic reports and dictating policies to his governors. He was meek in his early years, but soon became bolder in sacking incompetent administrators and placing effective ones in their place, and when the plague died down it became safe for him to habitually travel across the continent to inspect the performance of his subordinates.

Amelos found it difficult to communicate with his Councillors and governors face to face, but he regularly kept in contact through letters, and the frustratingly slow pace of the postal system motivated him to undertake a total overhaul of the post service and to invest in restoring the main highways which had fallen into disrepair in recent decades. He implemented more rigorous training procedures for postmen, expanded the number of them and ensured the placement of stables at regular intervals across the highways, which allowed the postmen to switch to fresh horses as soon as they got tired. This was one of a host of successful reforms which Amelos passed over his long reign.

As well as his improvements to the post service, perhaps his next most famous reform was the passing of sweeping legislation - all written by Amelos himself - which regulated urban centres across the continent, taking into account the general principles of order, cleanliness and aesthetics as well as new discoveries about the spread of diseases. Among the most significant of these new regulations were the obligation to have a constant supply of fresh water either directly to or within a close distance of every single household, and prohibiting under pain of death the open dumping of sewage or the establishment of cesspits close to fresh water sources. The amount of lives saved by these policies over the centuries cannot be calculated, but it is surely in the tens of millions.

Amelos' friends remained at his side for the entirety of his reign, often advising him on how he should act, with Leesk in particular giving invaluable help with analysing the economic reports which Amelos regularly demanded from his governors. Colien became a professor at the University of Elifana, teaching magical studies, and his wife Felisa continued to study the natural world, developing a special interest in marine life.

Generally speaking, Amelos' keen interest in the administration of his own realm led to an impressive economic recovery from the TIme of Troubles. This promising situation caused all the ongoing rebellions to eventually lose support and fizzle out, and no further rebellions were declared. On the question of the nationalist rebel leaders who had fought against the Empire, Amelos pardoned all of them except the infamous Elwaquri rebel named Nahret Karakke, whom he ordered to be executed for raping of dozens of women. Nahret preferred to take his own life, and opened his wrists in a bathtub in October of 961.

Whilst on a trip to Avamorica, Amelos was struck by the beauty and kind nature of the keeper of an inn he stayed at, named Elya. He discovered that Elya was in fact a noblewoman of the fe Valsiga family, the last member of her house, after her entire dynasty had been destroyed in the wars for the throne. According to the traditional narrative, after just a few conversations Amelos offered to help her restore her status and wealth and to give her a place at his side, but his offer turned out to accidentally sound an awful lot like a marriage proposal - which Elya accepted. Amelos suddenly found himself with a wife, but he was not one to complain, for he liked Elya a lot and the two rapidly came to love each other. When they first met is debated - some claim it was before Amelos became Emperor, others say after - but it is known that they married in 963. Elya proved to be a lot more socially competent than Amelos was, becoming a great help in administering the Empire as she excelled at the face-to-face meetings whereas Amelos was hopeless. They bore only a single child, Derano, who succeeded Amelos without conflict after he peacefully passed away in his sleep in August of 1011. Though Amelos spent most of his life at Elifana, he expressed shortly before his death a desire to be reunited with his ancestors at the Royal Cemetery in Ascaria, where his corpse was taken and buried.