John I, Holy Orenian Emperor

John Frederick, also known as John I (Common: John Frederick; High Imperial: Johannes Fridericus; Savoyard: Johann Frederic) (10th of Snow’s Maiden, 1498 – 12th of Grand Harvest, 1547) called the Relentless, of the House of Horen, was the first Holy Orenian Emperor of the restored Fifth Empire from 1526 until his death. A scion of the Horen dynasty, his accession to the crown of Oren with the signing of the Treaty of Metz returned the line of Exalted Godfrey to the throne and restored the Holy Orenian Empire which had been dissolved with the deposition of Alexander I almost half a century earlier in 1482.

John’s rule was shaped by several key factors: the bloody Eighteen Years' War, (the fourth such global conflict between the dwarven states and the human empire in the last century) internal religious and political turmoil as a lasting legacy of the Dukes' War and a return to the Imperial doctrine of enlightened absolutism espoused by his distant ancestor, Godfrey I. His aim to bring a sense of unity and purpose to the troubled factions within Oren was fulfilled for a brief time, however his efforts would prove flimsy and be temporarily unravelled shortly before his death. His twenty-one year reign proved second-longest of any emperor at the time of his death, falling short of his distant predecessor Godfrey’s rule by fifteen years.

Despite for a time successfully prosecuting a war against the dwarven fiefdoms, the end of John’s reign was tarnished by internal insurrections on the part of the militant Savoyards who still blamed him for the regicide of their king, Guy de Bar, in 1526. After a string of humiliating defeats to the Urguanites originating from the withdrawal of necessary Savoyard support on account of the Taxman's Conspiracy, the Emperor was forced to shamefully de-escalate the war. Refusing to make peace, he was killed in rout, the Eighteen Years War being ended months afterwards by his son, John II.

Regarded as highly educated, speaking several languages and of unparalleled pedigree at the time, John I Frederick’s legacy is a mixed one. The scholar Patrick Henry Rusden writes that he was ‘irrevocably flawed and haughty, though arguably an improvement to his predecessors’ but also that ‘his reign was not only characterized by his selflessness, fairness and incomparable dedication to the betterment of his country and his people, but also by his inability to attain their love and approval’. He would maintain a lifelong friendship with his cousin, brother-in-law and chief adviser, Augustus d'Amaury, until his death.

Biography
Early life

John was born in exile as John Frederick Horen in Pronce, Agathor (Upon the continent of Aeldin) the only son of Clara de Sola, daughter to Vibius de Sola, the renowned Imperial field-marshal and military dictator, and Charles Henry Horen, nicknamed the Old Pretender, who would later be forced into a monastery by King Andrew. Charles Henry was himself the son of Prince John of Marna, second son to Horen V and I, the last of the Horen emperors who abdicated for Aeldin in the year 1420. The childless death of Horen V’s first son, Owyn of Alstion, meant that the strongest Horen claim fell to the line of his second son John of Marna.

His parent’s marriage was arranged for what is thought to be political reasons. In 1498, Charles Henry left his pregnant wife behind in Agathor and endeavoured to travel around the Aeldinic provinces to raise a host against the Horosid emperor, aided by many of his wife’s de Sola kin. This attempt to claim the throne of the Aeldinic Empire led to his nickname as the Old Pretender and ended in utmost failure. He would attempt to take refuge in Oren, ruled at the time by King Andrew, however wary of his blood claims the Vydra monarch forced him into a monastery to take the name Polycarp. Charles Henry was freed from his imprisonment months later with Andrew’s assassination, however the label stuck even after he returned to Aeldin to find that his wife had birthed a son and heir.

John Frederick was born, educated and raised in Aeldin, and did not learn Common while he was young. Much of his tutelage was undertaken at the court of Benda Chivay, Governor of Agathor, where he was educated personally by the dissident Couentran cleric and favorite of the governor, Iosif of Roiye. It was there that the young John would be exposed to the high Imperial teachings in absolutism and the divine right of emperors. Under Benda Chivay’s influence, he would also grow a nascent hatred for mages and sorcerers, who he considered scheming and cutthroat, a dislike which would only be fully made manifest at the very end of his life. From the age of 14, he gained some experience of warfare during the Exeter War (Where he served alongside a much younger Athirius Roke) of his maternal great-uncle the general Marcus Antipatros against King Arnulf of Gaekrin in 1512, and also in the War of Banardian Succession.

From both his patrilineal and matrilineal ancestors he inherited an ambiguous relationship with both the far-off Orenian states and the Aeldinic Empire itself. His great-grandfather Horen V and I had departed Oren with much of his court and nobility in 1420 to establish a dynasty ruling over the western half of the continent of Aeldin, however exactly forty years later Horen rule ended in Aeldin as well with the death of Emperor Owyn and the rise of Emperor Horos the Usurper. The rightful heir to the childless Owyn was his brother, (John Frederick’s then-aged grandfather) Prince John of Marna, however with the support of much of the nobility Prince John and his infant son, Charles Henry, were cast into exile to the province of Agathor by Horos, where they would be ‘guests’ of Benda Chivay. His mother’s brother, Titus de Sola, was Duke of Istria in the Kingdom of Oren ruled over by Olivier de Savoie, and his grandfather on that side, Vibius de Sola, had crossed the Nocibur, dethroned Emperor Robert and perished for it in the year 1467. Thus the boy John Frederick was regarded as having one of the most extensive blood claims in contemporary times, to the empires of both Oren and Aeldin.

Marriage

In early 1519, the twenty-one year old John Frederick was married via proxy to his first cousin, Adelheid of Istria, the daughter of his maternal uncle Titus, Duke of Istria. The clandestine ceremony was conducted in the chapel of Dour Watch by Pentarch Edmond de Montfort, with Helton Chivay standing in John’s place for the ceremony as the groom conducted some business in Aeldin. He would not actually meet his bride and consummate their marriage until 1520 when he sailed to Oren for the first time in his adult life, and in 1521 their first child was born - a son named John Sigismund.

Accession

((WIP))

Reign


Though Imperials may have given him the appellation of 'the Relentless', in life John was known to his dwarven adversaries as 'Soldier John', a mocking epithet reflective of his destructive obsession for military campaigns and their associated pomp and ceremony. This was especially contrasted with his son and heir, who would become known as 'Gardener John' during his early reign on an equally satirical account of his passion for the mundane matters of gardening and agriculture over those of politics.

Edward of Istria was his loyal court chaplain and illegitimate half-brother.

Death
The Taxman's Conspiracy reached its zenith in the middle of the month of the First Seed in 1547. A session of the Imperial Diet turned bloody when Savoyard assassins attempted to ambush the emperor, led by Elias of Savoy. They were defeated, however, in an uncommon show of mercy, the emperor only executed a single member of the death squad, Ser Emery of Felsen. The remainder were released hastily, John keen to resume his campaign in the south, to which he traveled immediately thereafter.

However, the Savoyards had withdrawn vital economic and military support for the campaign, implicitly resulting in a crushing defeat at the Battle of Fort Dunamis. The Imperial besiegers, starved, diseased and poorly equipped, were repelled with ease by the Urguanite army and their mercenaries, led by Grand King Rhewen Frostbeard. The Imperials were forced to retreat north towards Erochland, with several war-bands of dwarven soldiers in dedicated pursuit. Though the emperor wished for he and his soldiers to continue fighting to the death at Fort Dunamis, he was begrudgingly persuaded of the necessity of retreat by Jan Kovachev, the Duke of Carnatia. This pragmatic action by the duke was believed to have saved the Imperial forces from total annihilation at the hands of their adversaries in the southern campaign.

On 12th of the Grand Harvest, 1547, Emperor John drowned near the border of Vandoria and Erochland while attempting to ford the Eroch River. Accounts of the event are conflicting, however, he was believed to have been thrown from his warhorse after dwarven arbalestiers harassed it with bolts, causing it to rear upwards. His heavy armor weighed him down and ensured his men could not rescue him in time, his body being washed away by the strong flow of the river.

In an almost apocryphal story, his body was found by a merchant of spirits, who preserved it in a cask of dark rum to send to the capital. Ever since, that particular type of rum has been known as 'Johnsblood' in reference to this fable.

Titles and Styles
The titles of John I changed throughout his reign. At the time of his death, his full Imperial title was: His Imperial Majesty John I Frederick of the House of Horen, by the Grace of GOD, Holy Orenian Emperor and rightful Emperor of Aeldin, forever August, Apostolic King in Oren, of Savoy, Kaedrin, Haense, Renatus and Salvus, Defender of the Faith, Duke of the Crownlands, Carimea, Erochland, Kingston and Leone, Margrave of Greater Kreden, Count of Felsen, Louvain, Beauclair, Wett and Metz, Sovereign of Humanity and Protector of the Elves, etcetera.