Title: FFXIV Write 2023 - Free Day 4 - 24. Lionize Characters: Aemilia sas Valentina, Katerina van Tullia, Nyx Blackmoon Rating: Teen Summary: On the right side of history, just at the wrong time Notes: Incomplete.
Her career started quietly.
A full blooded Garlean citizen of no note, joined the military to make a difference. Grew up under the shadow of Emperor Solus and his Magitek miracles. A few sorties, some success, canny intelligence, honorable but vicious.
No especial note was made of her. Another ambitious officer.
She climbed the ranks, if not easily, at least steadily. She learned from her errors and corrected her mistakes. She was a reliable part of the Garlean war machine, moving with her legion into new territories, conquering in the name of the Empire, forwarding the cause of Garlean hegemony.
Notes began to be made and compiled. It was important to know who she was, where her loyalties lie, guess at what she would become.
She gained a reputation as Garlemald gained its empire, and soon she was not a part of her legion, she was her legion, and then her legion was hers by right and in name, its Legatus, and she rode forward to victory, iron will riding her steel pride.
Now of course she was known, and the instruments of the Empire were at her disposal. The Iron Lion had become.
Conquering done, she switched to rule, and in this, the steel hammer was replaced with the velvet glove. While the rule of the day was to command with an iron fist, the Iron Line did no such thing. She was merciful in her leadership, showing an uncommon compassion to her subjects and subjugated. Work programs were put forth that paid fair wages and provided paths to, if not citizenship, at least comfortable and safe homes. Conscripts were treated well, and their tours were kept short. She did not turn on her populace with secret police and harsh adjudicators, instead allowing them largely to manage themselves, only the most egregious of offenses drawing the ire of Imperial ruthlessness. Many Legatuses on her position expanded, but the Iron Lion instead consolidated, and slowly, her province went from a war torn land to a rich source of food and material with which to feed the empire.
The Iron Lion no longer roared, and as she handed off her fiefdom to another Legatus - one hand picked by her to continue her efforts - she changed her aims, from military to political. With a groundswell of popular support and the loyalty of those who had known her, the Iron Lion sued for a spot in the Senate, and won.
The Frumentarium, of course, took careful note of this new trajectory.
An empire was not built in a day, neither Garlemald nor a more personal one. The Iron Lion, retired from a life of duty, now took up a life of service, as Katerina van Tullia. She took her place among the Imperial senate. Her power base was small, at first, buoyed by a successful military career and popularity at home. However, her views proved popular with an increasingly progressive Garlean citizenry, grown fat on military conquest and now warming to a life of leisure, as well as a sense of burgeoning responsibility, as conquerers now enjoying the fruits of their labors.
Power flowed and some with power began to view their privilege with a sense of noblesse oblige, and chief among those voices was that of the former Iron Lion.
"How are we to show the savages the value of civilization if we do not allow them the chance to participate in it? How can we uplift them from their dependence on their false gods if we cannot share with them the fruits of Imperial rule? We conquered them, yes, not only to retake our ancestral homes, but also, to prevent the ravaging of the land by their dread Eikons. But we must turn our faces towards the future, and I would reach out a hand, and offer it to them. Show them the benefits of being free, free from false worship and false deity. Then, I assure you, we need not conquer them anymore. They will come, of their own free will. This I decree!"
Katerina raised a hand to a cheering crowd, gray mane framing a proud face. The Iron Lion roared, and her voice could still be heard, it seemed.
Aemilia sas Valentina was amongst the crowd, and she clapped along as they cheered, even if somewhat less enthusiastically. No frown creased her forehead, because she was a professional. But she looked around, noting several in the crowd, noting how this meeting had been larger than the last, and larger than the one before that. Despite herself, she did allow herself to spare a glance up into the ceiling. High above the meeting hall, she looked - and saw.
In the dark, a gleam. The silvery ring of the eye of the lever she would need.
She sighed. Well. The Empire needed yet to grow, and to continue to do so, it seemed it would need some pruning.