Tony the Terrible

**Antonio Proscuitini IX** (1297-1352), born Gregor, commonly known as **Tony the Terrible**, was the emperor of Tuscolo from 1317 until his death in 1352.

### Early life

Gregor, last name unknown, was born in 1297 in the warm equatorial region of Amatricianetta on Tuscolo to parents who abandoned him at a monastery, where he was taken in by a monk. Greg, as he was known at the monastery, received formal education and shelter there. In 1310, when Greg was 13 years of age, his monastery was attacked by soldiers from the town of Panedolce. During this attack, everyone in the monastery was killed except for young Greg, who was taken in by the invading soldiers. Greg was taken in by emperor Antonio Proscuitini VIII, who raised him as his heir and renamed him to Antonio Proscuitini IX.

### Teenage years

During his teenage years, Antonio Proscuitini IX built a reputation as an intelligent and just young man. There was no doubt in the minds of the court and of the empire that he was the rightful heir. During this time, his adoptive father was attempting to unify the planet under his rule, and had successfully conquered over half the planet in his lifetime. When young Proscuitini turned 18, his father began to suffer from syphilis (most likely contracted in his harem), for which he was bedridden for 2 years before finally dying, making Proscuitini IX, aged 20, the new emperor. At this point, he abolished the harem, which ended up having some unintended fiscal effects, as a good amount of the capital city's economy was based on prostitution, which most of the ex-concubines turned to.

### Early reign

The early reign of Antonio Proscuitini IX can be summed up in one word: unification. After the death of his father, Proscuitini followed in his stead and sent his armies to unify all of Tuscolo. He is noteworthy for utilizing brutal tactics to stamp out political dissidence in conquered locations, such as burning down the entire town of Sweherpanzerspähwagen and putting the heads of its inhabitants on statues. While not exactly in line with standard human decency, his methods of conquering were quite successful. The entire planet of Tuscolo was unified in 1332 under his control.

### Middle reign

Alongside stamping out dissidence on the battlefield, Proscuitini was very adept at "dealing with" political opposition at home. In 1333, Proscuitini arrested a meeting of a group of citizens talking about how much they missed the old emperor, and held them in prison. For 14 months, he cracked down on dissent across Tuscolo, and anyone who expressed negative sentiments toward the emperor was locked up. During this time, the political prison was beginning to get too full, and as such, Proscuitini came up with a brilliant idea: a festival to create a show of the execution of these political prisoners. Thus was born the Festival of the Elephants, which was met with massive success. This, along with the fear of being thrown into the festival, completely shut down negative sentiments toward him in public.

### Late reign and death

As the number of political prisoners being arrested started to go down, Proscuitini set his eyes on other "public" projects. He had statues of himself erected, and sought to have the people revere him as a god. In 1349, common citizens began to secretly organize a coup, which would end up coming to fruition the following year. Successful, the new government would establish itself as the Republic of Tuscolo, with the capital in the newly-renamed New Astoria. Now a political prisoner himself, Proscuitini would write constantly to those he trusted. In these writings, historians have come to understand his deteriorating mental state, although they also believe that this may have started much earlier. In 1352, the Tuscolan goverment had Proscuitini executed by elephant. His last words were, "Hey! Good elephant! Careful, now..."