Brekakt VII

Mayor of the Palace

**Brekakt VII, Prince of Goblins** (*Flavius Brecacitus Rufus Aurelianus Augustus*;11 Raintide 973), called **the Fair** or **the Liberator**, is a Gastrinian hobgoblin statesman and military leader who is the current Mayor of the Palace of Gestrin, also holding the offices of Curator of the Treasury, Master of the Armies, Lord President, Lord Chamberlain, Keeper of the Royal Seal, Warden of the Coasts, and First Senator. He is also the current Prince of Goblins, a hereditary title of authority among the Goblinoids, though this is more of an honorary title; his power derives from his collection of political and military offices.

Invested with governing power in 1003, he inherited his uncle's problem of revolts and orcish raids, and began a series of military campaigns that re-established royal rule in the eastern part of the empire. His wars in East Gestrin earned him renown as a skilled commander and a fierce warrior. Afterwards, he asserted his position by ruthlessly prosecuting traitorous politicians who had supported the Kaiser Revolt, expanding trade with the north, and settling veterans in Gastrinian colonies in the east. He then worked to expand welfare programs for children, orphans, and the poor, create an efficient water supply and treatment system, and integrate provincial leadership into the imperial government.

In the years since consolidating power, he has established Gestrin as the undisputed master of southern Ovaicaea.

## Early life and rise to power

Brekakt was born on 11th Raintide in 973, with the Gestrinized name *Flavius Brecacitus Rufus Aurelianus* after his blonde hair, his father's name, and his mother's name. His father was Prince Gardek (*Gardecius Brecacitus Rufus*), Mayor of the Palace from 971 to 989. His mother was Aurelia Cotta, a human noblewoman of Senatorial rank. Gardek had then recently ascended to power, after a power struggle with his brother Orestes. Gardek began his rule with the usual concessions. However, he failed to consolidate power and he dealt with crises throughout much of his later tenure, including a major rebellion in Kaiser, merrow raids in the Southern Islands, and a Dafrucan orcish invasion of East Gestrin. Gardek was assassinated in 989 in a palace coup carried out by Orestes, who was freed from prison by his hired thugs. Orestes then usurped power as Mayor of the Palace.

Flavius, around fifteen years old, had started training for service in the Palace Guard legion when news reached him; he considered fleeing with his mother to East Gestrin, but decided to continue his training. To the surprise of many, he was able to without interference and was left unharmed. Orestes allowed Flavius to rise as an officer in the Guard, becoming a senior centurion. In 994, he was promoted to the rank of tribune on the legionary staff and the next year was made prefect of the first cohort. In 998, he was made legate in command of the Palace Guard; in this position, he made connections and gathered allies. In 1000, his legion was deployed in a two-year rotation in the troubled Tethar frontier, earning Flavius much-need combat experience and recognition. It is still not known why Orestes allowed Flavius to continue his career unimpeded; it is assumed that he had some affection for his nephew, or wanted to keep him under his patronage.

Orestes had done little to handle the crises that had emerged under Gardek, and instead lived luxuriously and abused his power by ignoring the Senate, arresting his opponents, and using the army to terrorize federate communities in the east. He behaved like a tyrant, which made him many enemies in the government and army. The tipping point came on the eve of the new year in 1002, when during a royal winter feast, he openly mocked King Leo III and made coarse sexual remarks towards Queen Sibylla. Flavius, as an honored guest, stood up and publicly castigated Orestes for his behavior and left, with the King's permission. Orestes mocked his half-human heritage and ordered him arrested, but the Guard refused to comply, and Orestes retired to his quarters. Flavius moved quickly and gathered his allies, secretly communicating with the King through intermediaries.

The following morning, King Leo and several trusted legionaries of the Palace Guard entered Orestes' room. The King removed him from office, deposed him as Prince of Goblins, and had him arrested for the crimes of treason, royal slander, and tyranny. Flavius was acclaimed Prince of Goblins under the princely name Brekakt VII by the hobgoblin tribal elders, many of whom were prefects in the Palace Guard and were his co-conspirators. King Leo named him Mayor of the Palace and Master of the Armies, and granted him the epithet of *Augustus*, meaning "illustrious" but carrying the implication that he was sent by the gods to deliver the King and Gestrin from Orestes' tyranny. However, he chose to be formally known from then on by his Goblin name, Brekakt.

Orestes was executed after a public trial four months later.

## Military campaigns

Brekakt's first actions as Mayor of the Palace were to consolidate power, ensure the loyalty of his friends and allies, and making a show of deference to the King. Orestes had alienated almost everyone prior to his deposition, and few remained in opposition to Brekakt. Nevertheless, he learned from his father's failures and appointed his allies to important positions in the bureaucracy, and paid large bonuses to the Palace Guard out of his own purse. In his first address to the Senate, he vowed that he would handle the crises that had been weakening the empire for the past 30 years. The Kaiser region was in open revolt, East Gestrin was overran by orcish invaders; pirates were raiding freely in the Southern Islands; and trade had been disrupted across the empire, grinding the economy to a standstill.

Brekakt released the senators and politicians Orestes had imprisoned without trial, and offered a general amnesty to federates who had revolted because of Orestes' heavy taxation and terror tactics. This did a great deal to allay fears of tyranny, and brought these former enemies onto his side. He then mobilized 82,000 troops in the east to march into the Kaiser region to defeat the rebels and restore order. Near the end of 1002, the rebels had taken the old citadel of the City of Kaiser, while most of the city blocks were a warzone between rebels and local guards. After a year of preparations, Brekakt led eight of the eastern legions and an equal number of auxiliaries in a systematic assault on rebel-held towns, razing those that refused to surrender and turn out their rebel occupants. Townsfolk were sold into slavery and the towns were marked for reconstruction and resettlement by veteran soldiers and colonists. He promised a grant of immediate citizenship for the auxiliaries that volunteered for the campaign, which enticed over 10,000 new recruits from across the empire, mostly freedmen, which extended the initial preparations as the new soldiers had to be trained and drilled into shape. However, once the campaign was underway, it swiftly progressed throughout the land, restoring control to the royal army.

In early 1005, the army besieged the city. Brekakt set up entrenchments and a wooden palisade facing the city, and a second line of earthworks and walls facing outward to defend against rebel reinforcements. Skirmishes outside the siege line lasted almost a year, but by the end of it the rebel army had bled itself dry trying to lift the siege. Famine and constant urban fighting had taken its toll on the city population; refugees were allowed to settle in the war camp under close observation, but almost half of the city's population perished during the long siege. Rebels in the city blocks organized one final sally outward but were cut down before they could even reach the battle line. The royal army moved to occupy the city; siege weapons and war mages broke down the inner walls and the vanguard of the legion's hobgoblins stormed the citadel, with Brekakt leading the charge himself. The rebel defenders were slaughtered, and those that were captured were summarily crucified. Three legions were left behind to suppress the remnants of the Kaiserite insurgents. Brekakt tasked some legionaries with building new roads, and contracted workers to rebuild the sacked towns throughout the region, and made good on his promises. The families of veterans were resettled in these new towns. Veteran auxiliaries were discharged with a grant of citizenship, and were settled into the City of Kaiser to rebuild it along with the returnees.

Many auxiliaries, however, remained in the host as it moved into the hills and deserts of East Gestrin. There Brekakt would have to take a different approach. The orcs were not attempting to take territory and captured cities, but instead were waging a guerrilla war of terror and plunder, bushwhacking their way throughout East Gestrin. They camped in the wilderness, lived off the land, and attacked out of nowhere. There were no permanent forts or population centers held by the orcs that Brekakt could besiege and assault. Nevertheless, Gastrinian colonies lived in fear of orcish raids and the legions stationed in the area had been whittled down by attrition. The region was on the brink of collapse, and trade to the far east had completely broken down.

Brekakt organized a network of informers, spies, and scouts to scour East Gestrin and find the orcish campsites. Over several months, this observation technique gave him vital intelligence on his enemy's movements, army sizes, and resources. He was then able to conduct a scorched-earth campaign, burning farms and villages and harassing orcish camps through counter-raids. He resettled villagers into fortress cities, which he bolstered with auxiliary troops and new walls and earthworks. He laid out a plan to goad the orcs into sieges and open battle, where superior Gastrinian discipline and engineering could break the frenzied orcish hordes. Captured orcs were to be sold into slavery.

Brekakt had returned to the capital in 1006, leaving the operational planning of the East Gestrin war in the hands of his chief of staff, Cassandra. Upon his arrival, he was granted honors by the King and was the center of a triumphal military parade. He then set to work in handling the economic and political troubles in the empire. He initiated an investigation into corruption and treason by members of the Senate, who were suspected of aiding the rebels in Kaiser, and set up a series of public trials. No senators were executed, but they were imprisoned for long terms and had their properties confiscated. Brekakt was eager to avoid the appearance of tyranny and set up a special fund for the relief of war refugees in Kaiser, fed by these expropriations, instead of these monies going into the general Treasury.

He made new treaties with sea elf and merfolk communities in the Southern Sea to reduce taxes and army obligations, and in exchange they would proactively attack pirate havens. A new law decreed that those captured in the act of piracy would be summarily executed. Trade was able to resume, and the subject communities were able to properly pay towards government revenues. Brekakt forgave the tax debts of the local communities, enabling them to grow on their own terms. He sought new government revenues, expanding state-owned mining, farming, and milling enterprises. He reopened trade with the northern kingdoms, which invigorated the frontier economy. Pearl Port, which had been neglected, experienced tremendous growth as war captives were transported into its slave market.

During his time in the capital, he married prominent senator Genessa Avita. He returned to East Gestrin in 1010 to oversee the final stages of the war in East Gestrin, leading cavalry skirmishes against the orcs over the next year and a half, finally driving them back to Dafruca in 1011. He again made good on his promises, and granted citizenship early to the auxiliaries who had served during the eight-year war. They were settled onto lands in the restored territories, forming new Gastrinian colony towns. Upon his return to Zonara, he refused a second triumphal parade, and instead honored his protegee Cassandra. In late 1011 he and Lady Genessa formally adopted her, and she was fast-tracked for a command position in the royal legions.

## Social reforms

With the major military efforts of his early rule behind him, Brekakt then worked tirelessly to see his governing policies through to fruition. While some of these took time, they reestablished order in the lawless seas and frontiers, reinvigorated the economy, and expanded social services. Trade flourished in the 1010s, importing and exporting widely with the constituent kingdoms of the Empire of the West, with Aendrilad, and with the far eastern Empire of the Morning Star. The citizen colonies established in the East blossomed into centers of trade and industry. The city of Kaiser was refounded as a Gastrinian citizen colony. Though the devastation of the war had considerably impeded its former status of a trade gateway to the east and north, it has recovered gradually. By 1020, its population reached around half of its pre-war numbers, mostly through resettling auxiliary veterans.

Brekakt made generous financial grants to sea elf tribal chiefs in Mocryae and Crab Bay, bringing in half a dozen new senators from the region. Safe travel along the royal roads enabled eastern nobles to rejoin the Senate after thirty years of abstention. With a new influx of revenue from taxes, and the resumption of diverse leadership from across the empire, he was able to expand social services to the poor and in-need and obtain accurate information on the state of poor communities in the empire. Despite the long and grueling wars and the sack of Kaiser City, Brekakt did not treat the restored regions as conquests but "as a prodigal child returning to the family", according to historian Clarita Vibia, and endeavored to restore social services and give the local leadership a greater stake in the survival of the empire.

The state undertook control of milling enterprises and grain production in various locations, with state-run bakeries in every city, in a process of vertical integration. This streamlined the supply of food to the urban poor, enabling less expensive and faster movement from grain, to flour, to bread, all under state control. He used various new means of funding to expand the state welfare system, providing an increased stipend to poor families, founding state orphanages in major cities, and providing state-subsidized education for poor children and orphans. He funded this through sale of war booty, from interest payments on government land development loans, and from higher tax rates on patricians and senators.

Public access to free, safe drinking water became a pet project of Brekakt's, after witnessing firsthand the diseases that flourished in army camps due to contaminated water sources. From 1012, he ordered the construction of new aqueducts in many cities across the empire, and hired mages to cleanse the water at certain junctures, creating an efficient water-treatment system and a constant water supply. While expensive, much of the initial infrastructure was funded by an injection of capital from war booty, and increased income taxes have made this a sustainable social service.

Lithuari writer Robert of Vimsbury noted in his 1019 travelogue *Journey to the South*, "...in my travels I have never seen a happier and freer people. With their needs provided for, Gestrin's citizens, from the poorest to the richest, are empowered to pursue their lives as they see fit. Every man and woman can find their own way to the 'Gastrinian Dream', if they work hard, honor the gods, and trust in the law." Much of this can be attributed to Brekakt's social policies in the preceding decade.

## Current events

Brekakt, as Master of the Armies, determines the use of military force in the name of King Leo III, and Gestrin has recently become militarily involved in an international incident. Around the middle of the year 1020, the Queens of Tethar formally invited Gastrinian legionaries to assist in policing Tethar in the midst of mass social unrest in the capital, charging that the Imperial Army was insufficiently meeting its obligations in the southern country. Brekakt mobilized two full legions and several cohorts of auxiliaries to occupy Tethar.

## Family and personal life

Brekakt's father and uncle are deceased, but his mother, Aurelia Cotta (b. 948), is still alive. Through her he is related to the Aurelius family, a very wealthy and prominent senatorial clan. The Aurelii have provided many politicians, generals, and even royal consorts. Brekakt also has two brothers: Radu (b. 977, *Ovius Bracacitus Radu*) and Drago (b. 981, *Ancus Brecacitus Drago*).

In 1008, Brekakt married Genessa Avita of the prominent Avitus senatorial family, one of the oldest and most illustrious aristocratic houses in Zonara. She earned her wealth through various business interests and became a senator in her own right in 1002. Despite having numerous suitors, she chose Brekakt, as they had known each other during childhood. After two stillbirths, they had a son in 1012, whom they named *Marcus Brecacitus Leo*, after the child's godfather, King Leo III.

Brekakt adopted his protegee and trusted military deputy, Cassandra (b. 982), in 1011, and she took the name *Cassandra Brecacita Aureliana*. Cassandra was an orphaned Tethari girl, ostensibly the daughter of freed slaves, who had enlisted in the army in 997 and quickly became an auxiliary centurion. She was noticed by Brekakt as a capable quartermaster during his cohort's rotation in the northern frontiers, and he requested her transfer to his personal staff. She reportedly served a critical role in securing the capital during his ascent to power. After serving as his chief of staff during the war in Kaiser, and he appointed her in charge of the military campaign in East Gestrin in 1006. She received a triumphal parade and numerous accolades during her return from the eastern war in 1011, and was formally adopted by Brekakt. He has encouraged her rapid ascent in the Gastrinian military, assigning her various commands in cohorts and legions. She is currently *vicarius* in command of three provinces' border legions in Tethar. As his eldest child, she is his heir presumptive.