Emperor Louis Viromaro

Official coronation portrait of Emperor Louis Viromaro, age 39.

Emperor Louis Viromaro, known as Louis The Builder and later Louis The Warrior during his reign, and Louis The Unfortunate after his abdication, was the Emperor of the Kythiran Empire during the last two decades of the Fourth Era. The start of his reign was considered a golden age of Kythiran absolutism, during which House Viromaro gained incredible wealth through mass taxation, the then-six provinces were losing more and more of their sovereignty, and the imperial city of Helmira received her largest expansion ever.

"Emperor Louis looking towards the Reich" Imperius propaganda painting produced during the start of Louis' reign, when several skirmishes occurred between Kythiran and Imperius forces.

"The Former Emperor at the Narrow Sea" portrays former Emperor Louis, age 61, at an unknown residence, in deep contemplation. In the distance, across the sea, are the white cliffs of the Raggisar Republic.

At the end of his reign he was partially responsible for the Dervich Incident, the following Raggisar Revolution, and most importantly the Kythiran Invasion of Imperius, the failure of which led to the Reforma Carta, the end of Viromaro absolutism, the end of the Pax Minecraftia that kept the peace in Minecraftia since the late Third Era, and his forced abdication in favour of his daughter, Empress Theodosia Viromaro.

Youth

Louis Viromaro was born in Ardoragh, in the Skaði Palace, when his father, Emperor Alexander Viromaro was using the then brand new palace for his monthly hunting trip. His younger brother Amantis Viromaro was born three years later in the same palace. They both grew up in Helmira, until he was seventeen, when he was send to study at the University of Helmira. Amantis joined him three years later. During their studies Amantis met Freya Hjarta, a woman of low Ardoraghi nobility. They fell deeply in love, and after their studies were completed got married and stayed in Ardoragh.

Lousi meanwhilst went back to Helmira after his studies, using Fort Winterhal as his private residence. Here he would throw lavish parties with many esteemed guests from across Minecraftia, including Duke Thomas Mace of Lotric, who was a personal friend of Louis and his best man at his royal wedding to Prisca Vinkhuys, the daughter of the then High-Lord of Attica, when he was 27 years old. Three years later their first child, daughter Theodosia Viromaro, was born. In total he and Prisca would have 4 children.

Reign

The reign of Emperor Louis Viromaro started when his father, Alexander The Peacemaker Viromaro, died in a hunting accident when Louis was 39 years of age. His brother, Prince Amantis, drowned on his way to the coronation. Tragedy struck again when the Imperius Reich used the change in leadership in the Empire to wipe out the rebelious Duchy of Lotric in the Lotrican Genocide. Although he tried to send aid to the Lotricans and Duke Mace, he struggled with the bureaucracy and the unwillingness of the provinces to send aid fast enough.

Following his coronation, he immediately initiated policies that focused on expanding the powers of the Crown, whilst repealing laws and decrees of his father that gave more independence to the Six Provinces. In order to fund his ambitious goals he increased taxes on the provinces ten-fold, draining their coffers. With the incredible wealth this gave him he ordered the renovations and expansions of the imperial city of Helmira, the largest construction project in history, even needing to hire labourers, craftsmen and architects from Imperius to make sure the project met his tight deadlines.

He also ordered the construction of the Sanssouci Palace in Attica, one of the most lavish and expensive palaces of Minecraftia, but only visited it three times.

The elderly High-Lord of Ardoragh tried but failed to return the autonomy of his province, much to the displeasure of his eldest son, Lord Whazajottom IlIlIIlllI Von Roterstein. When the latter became High-Lord at age 35, when Louis was 55, after the retirement of his father, the leaders instantly clashed. When the High-Lord began demanding a return of his province' autonomy and a lower tax rate, the Emperor refused. In response to this, the Ardoraghi ruler began to close down border crossings and pay smugglers and pirates to evade the harsh Kythiran taxes. Because of this, the Emperor began to look for a potential House to replace the Von Rotersteiners as High-Lords of Ardoragh. When he learned that the Ardoraghi court had made all religions legal within Ardoragh's borders, going against Louis' Holy Cee Doctrine, the Emperor instead had the Ministry of the Interior draw up plans for a separation of Ardoragh into two separate, smaller provinces.

Before these plans could come to fruition however, the Emperor's attention was occupied by trouble in the east. The Dervich Incident led to the start of the Raggisar Revolution, which Louis saw as the opportunity to finally conquer Imperius and make all of Minecraftia a single state, leading to the Kythiran Invasion of Imperius.

Revolution, War & Reforms

The Kythiran Invasion of Imperius at the beginning was lauded as a great success, as the Kythirans successfully captured cities that had been part of the Reich since its inception, such as Dorwall and Chesterfield. However, when the warring parties of the revolution, that had devolved into a full civil war, began to unite their forces against the Kythirans, their quick march towards victory dragged to a standstill. A massive assault on Imperia was unsuccessful in capturing the Imperius' capital, partially because Louis insisted that a large part of the Kythiran forces would travel south, to capture and free the ruins of the Duchy of Lotric, 20 years after the genocide. Refusing to listen to the advise of his generals and admirals, he continued to plunge the forces into several failed attacks, until the Imperius forces eventually started to push the Kythirans back towards the Narrow Sea.

During this time, Louis spend almost all his waking and sleeping hours in the White-Gold Tower, going over battle plans, writing to the High-Lords to demand more soldiers, ships, weapons and Florynts, whilst also trying to continue the rule the fracturing Empire.

After a visit to her husband in the Tower, the Empress Prisca Viromaro took a carriage with the curtains down, to keep out the summer heat, to the Royal Helmsdeep Theatre Society to enjoy the premiere of a new opera about the Kythiran victories during the war. Goran Prodan, an anarchist born and raised in a communal farm in southern Ardoragh, threw a bomb into the carriage. Unable to see the occupants, he assumed that the Emperor would be on board. The Empress died on the square in front of the Arch of Unity. Goran was arrested by royal guards, and executed by public drowning in the Bay of Splendour. According to eye witnesses, the Emperor ordered the punishment so he could observe it from a balcony of the Tower.

After the death of Prisca, the Emperor became despondent. He locked himself into his office, refusing to talk to any of his staff or members of his family. This did give the Kythirans a short run of success in the war, for it gave the supreme command of the armies back to the Grand Marshal and Admiral.

Post-Abdication

After his abdication Louis left Helmira and public life for good, first moving into Fort Summerhal. With the younger Viromaro princes wanting to use the palace as a hunting lodge again, he was forced to move to the more remote and tiny Villa Isla de Peligro on the Narrow Sea. Other than his full private battalion of the Kythiran Legion and staff, he lives alone, refusing to see guests. His memoirs "Treason Within", where he blamed House Von Dragestein and the iniators of the Reforma Carta for the failure of the Kythiran invasion famously flopped.