Significant Durnalian Figures

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Palamon
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Significant Durnalian Figures

Post by Palamon » Thu Nov 04, 2004 5:53 pm

This will be a topic dedicated to significant figures in Durnalian history, such as Itracus the Unholy and Junian the Clean. First, we will start with Junian the Clean, who is apparently a hands-down favorite. Very well.

I begin here because, really, I don't have many ideas for historical characters, heroes or otherwise, and Itracus the Unholy is just too much work to start with. But before I post a long post, I'm going to go re-read what I've already written so I can hopefully get some new ideas brewing... the next post will be dedicated to everybody's favorite mad Durnalian Emperor.

Palamon
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Posts: 49

Mad Emperor Junian 'The Clean'

Post by Palamon » Thu Nov 04, 2004 7:56 pm

Timeframe: late Imperial Age, just prior to the short-lived Itracian Empire.

Junian the Clean was born His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince Junian, son of Terian the Great, Emperor of Durnalia. These were the final years of the great Pax Durnaliana, and the Empire had lapsed into decadence. Under Terian, the known world around the Great Sea, known as 'Our Sea', had finally all submitted to Durnalian rule: from the Great White Mountains in the north to the Neverending Desert to the south, from the Boundless Ocean in the west to the boundless Eastern Wilderness. All known civilization bowed to the Emperor of the Grey Tower. And there was peace.

And prosperity, and riches. Fabulous riches. Durnalians lived the good life, at least the very wealthy did. But as the rich got richer, the poor got poorer. And Junian was one of the few of the controlling class to see the disparity between the rich and poor. As Crown Prince, the young Junian put together a great number of shows for the people in the city's many arenas, and he was very popular. His interest in cleanliness, however, was by far his most distinguishing feature: it was he, not yet the Emperor, who commissioned the building of four new aqueducts, and expanded the sewer system. His popularity soared when he built the very first public baths that were truly public: any member of Durnalian society could bathe there, and the baths were truly gigantic.

And then came the death of his father. Junian may have disapproved of his father's hedonistic lifestyle, but he loved his father. He blamed an 'unclean soul' for his father's death, even as he blamed an 'unclean city' for the diseases which had plagued the city's poor. As Emperor, he outlawed all brothels and gambling houses, and made many of the activities which many of his contemporaries enjoyed illegal. This, strangely, only made him more popular among the people, though the aristocracy despised him. He made it law that any person visiting a public place be clean, and he instituted washing-rooms in the palaces where visitors could clean themselves. A great many public goods came of Junian's decisions; even as diseases spread elsewhere in the Empire, in Editia, the most populous city in the land, the people were largely healthy. Life expectancy grew, and the laws expanded beyond the city to the entire realm. Based on the wisdom of a wise woman whose council he regularly heard, Junian began to boil any water before he would drink it; any 'unclean spirits' in the water were killed in such a manner, she said. And he believed her. All but the most foul of water could be boiled and strained and boiled and strained until it was of suitable drinking quality, he discovered.

There were many strange stories about the things Junian the Clean would do at court. He drank only previously-boiled drinks, including wine. He only served such drinks as well, and all his food was cooked to a near char to purge any unclean spirits which may have existed in the animal. Suffice to say, his feasts were often poorly received. He would never allow anybody to touch him, save those who had undtertaken a lenghty cleansing ritual. He would not set foot on the streets outside the palace (which caused a dramatic -decrease- in his popularity). The commonfolk often joked about what sorts of rituals he must have to undertake after a trip to the privy. Most notably, he had absolutely no hair on his body after his fifth year as Emperor. Lice hid in hair, he reasoned, and they were unclean. So he went bald. Completely bald, and ordered many in his entourage to do the same.

NOTE: I welcome other strange stories regarding Junian the Clean's bizarre activities. I'm sure some readers can come up with some good ones. I won't take all suggestions as fact, but most at least can make for good rumors.

Unfortunately, Junian's idiosyncrocies ran deeper than any could have imagined. And it all wound up with his highly unlikely death: self-boiling. For if boiling could kill the unclean spirits, but yet leave the clean spirits, the good spirits, alive for his nourishment, then could it not also kill the unclean spirits within? Perhaps it did. But it also killed him, and Itracus became the next and final Durnalian Emperor.

Palamon
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Posts: 49

Re: Significant Durnalian Figures

Post by Palamon » Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:08 pm

More on Junian the Clean:

During his rule, there was peace and prosperity throughout Durnalia, and the moralists of the day had to admit that this crazy Emperor had done a lot of good for the Empire. Cities across the land were cleaner, disease was at an all-time low, and Junian's popularity was widespread as both a competent leader and a terrific subject for court-jesters' skits.

Despite his oddities, Junian was singularly wise in his dealing with the various cultures that had become a part of the Durnalian Empire. He did not claim deified status, and he permitted them to live their lives in their own way, so long as they learned the Durnalian language. Education was at historically high levels, and the Empire was making true progress.

It is a constant lamentation among historians that Junian had not at least adopted an heir; had he done so, they believe, the Durnalian Empire would still peacefully thrive. Junian never seemed to have great aspirations or hunger for power, and passed only laws which he felt benefited society. Why did he then choose to boil himself alive? There can be no doubt that the Emperor had by the end of his rule progressed toward dementia, but there can also be no doubt that he had made a great many enemies among the nobility and clergy who had lost power, and whose hedonistic social life was destroyed. Was he murdered? Or perhaps someone close tho him had coached him along this ever-maddening path to unwitting suicide.

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