Emigre Deep Lore: The Imperial Idiot
I feel like you guys are sleeping on Emperor Abessathaan, so I'm gonna draw more attention to him.
Abessathaan had the horrendous misfortune of ascending to the throne during a time of religious conflict and civil unrest on Andoria, and he chose the dumbest possible approach to handle it. Instead of intervening politically and using the sway the Imperial Clan had over the masses to break up the conflict and find a sensible resolution, he brute forced the problem - and unified every single faction against a single target.
This is what modern historians refer to as a poor life choice.
Abessathaan only compounded the issue when he forcibly declared himself the only religious leader Andoria needed, in what seemed like a fit of megalomania at the time but was probably closer to a very desperate move by a politically obtuse individual. Worse still, his claim was that this declaration came as the result of a vote voluntarily taken by the heads of all the major religious orders at the time. This was demonstrably untrue, as he had the first religious leader to openly disapprove executed on the spot, though it does technically still qualify as a unanimous verdict if all the dissenting parties are dead at the time of the vote.
Abessathaan, as one might guess, was not a subtle creature, and he was much hated at the time.
No, really. The man was challenged to (and fought in) a life-or-death duel forty-seven times in six months. That's literally a duel every 3.8 days. Not only that, but he was also dodging assassins the entire time. Everyone wanted this guy dead.
(Rumour has it his own children couldn't stand him, either. While the rumour cannot be truly verified one way or the other, historians have noted that many of them took it upon themselves to obtain command postings rather far from home, and for very long stretches of time. Certainly, much longer than was usual for the era.)
Now, just imagine how it was back then:
Imagine being the Andorian equivalent to a scheming ex-Pope, desperately trying to kill off an idiot Emperor who has wrongfully stripped you and your faith of their political power, their lands, and their identities. You send assassins. They fail. You send more assassins. They fail. You send even more assassins. They fail. Nothing is working, and soon your coffers are looking increasingly anaemic.
One of the leaders from the Other Religion sends you and someone from the Other Other Religion a secret message, which essentially boils down to:
Detestable Foes, (Desties, if you will)
I'm at my wit's end. I've sent thugs in. I've sent poisoners in. I've sent assassins in. Nothing. Nothing is working. I hear your efforts have been equally fruitless, which of course surprises no one. I propose we set aside out differences, many and varied as they are, and work together, or each of us funding our own separate attempts is going to bankrupt us all. Our differences may be profound, but our goal is the same.
This is enlightening, because now it's not just you who has failed to achieve your lofty goals of murdering The Imperial Idiot, but two other equally well-appointed enemies, with equally deep coffers... and it's not like you're bursting with fresh ideas for handling the problem, either, come to think of it.
So, you agree to meet somewhere isolated, somewhere your face isn't known. You agree not to bring guards. You're lying.
(That's alright, as it turns out, because the other two agreed to come alone and also lied about it. Typical. Exactly what you'd expect of these people.)
Thus, you three desties bitterest of enemies meet under an uneasy truce to kill the Emperor so that you can resume your glorious holy war against these heathen infidels. And the other heathen infidels, of course. Mustn't show favouritism.
And then one of you - and which one will vary, as all three will take credit - has a moment of realization:
The best way to kill the Emperor is to do it legally.
Of course! It's so simple! The Emperor's absurdly effective guards, who now haunt your nightmares at this stage, can't intervene during a lawful duel! They won't like it, they'll try to stop it, but they can't! The rules are the rules, and nowhere in the Codex does it say that none can challenge the Emperor to combat by Ushaan. So, the three of you start sending duellists instead of assassins - champion duellists and Clanless brawlers and disgruntled soldiers, everyone and anyone at all. And there are so many to send.
Abessathaan was not a popular man at the best of times, and this was far from the best of times.
It takes time, as all good things inevitably must, but The Imperial Idiot begins to look haggard, jumpy - positively paranoid. His guards are increasingly irritable and all too quick to strike first and ask questions never. He's wearing down under the onslaught of challengers. He'll slip up any day now, you can feel it in your bones. The time is approaching at last! Your long awaited goal is finally within your grasp-!
-And then the son of a bitch adds the Right of Substitution to the Codices of the Ushaan.
This thoroughly foils your plans. Your desties fellow conspirators are given pause, now uncertain, and withdraw their support to fall back and consider their options. You alone try to stay true to the course, but it's all for naught. You're back to square one, without so much as a third of your starting funds and no working plans at all. Your fury is boundless; you show none of it.
The Imperial Idiot returns some of the lands and a handful of rights to the religious orders he previously offended, a transparent peace offering if ever there was - but not yours, no. Your order remains beggared and in disgrace. It would feel targeted, a pointed exclusion, but for the fact that several smaller orders are also left in the lurch. (It was absolutely targeted.)
The other religious leader and the other other religious leader start pretending they don't know you. One of them claims ill health and retreats to some Clan holding in the far south, after which she never emerges back onto the political scene again. The other stops going out in public entirely. So fixated on The Imperial Idiot as you are, it never occurs to you to question why. (Neither lived out the year. Knowing this would not have saved you.)
Clan Kavros has been bankrupted by your exhaustive efforts, just as your religious order is because they are one and the same. There is no further recourse - no resolution, no way out of the pit you've dug yourselves into. By some miracle, The Imperial Idiot hasn't connected that your Clan was responsible for many of the attempts on his life. (He definitely had.)
You may be safe for now, but if your numerous acts of treason ever come to light, your entire Clan will be purged. (Preparations were already being made at the time.)
So you head out into the Northern Wastes in an unprecedented move, and do not question your good fortune when no one stops you from leaving. (The 'officials' sent to 'handle' Clan Kavros were waylaid and failed to intercept their mass exodus in time.)
And hundreds of years later, some know-nothing historian from a Clan barely warranting the status will note down your sole contribution to that era was to turn your Clan into a bunch of scattered, nomadic families in some sort of ineffective political protest. Insult to injury will be the added note that The Imperial Idiot who ruined everything went on to live a relatively happy life while making everyone else around him quite miserable.
If you had a grave, you'd be rolling in it.
