Alexander Vasa
 Portrait of Regent Lochland during George I's reign. | |
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Position: |
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Monarch: |
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Preceded by: |
Sir Kiddbrutal Kaine, 1st Earl Kaine |
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Succeeded by: |
Dame Katherine Vasa |
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Term: |
261 - 269 AS |
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Born: |
249 AS |
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Service: |
261 - 270 AS |
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Titles: |
Regent, Prince Royal, Viscount Lochland, Clerk of the Privy Council, and Counsellor of State. |
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Family: |
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Prince Alexander Vasa, the 1st Viscount Lochland Alexander Vasa (born Prince Royal, Alexander Zor-Mako-Vasa) was a member of the Imperial House of Vasa. A descendant of Constantine IV Mako through Consantine IV's second's son, Prince Royal, Arthur, he was technically cousins to Carolus XII Vasa and Constantine VI & I Vasa though never met them, having joined in the reign of William I Vasa. Alexander was an experienced soldier, diplomat and a shrewd politician who was a profound and public anti-Unionist in the Saro-Oxerian Union, which gained him fame and renown amongst the youth of the Sarovian country. After the dissolution of the Union which Alexander campaigned for, he became a political outcast due to the wrath of William I. Alexander's fortunes would turn upon the ascension of Brianna I Vasa-Nassau which allowed and enabled him to rise to power once more, establishing a new Sarovian constitution and positioning himself as an autocratic Prime Minister who laid the foundation for the modern Sarovian state.
Modern perception of Alexander is rather varied, though he is seen and often ranked as one of the best Prime Ministers of the New Sarovian Empire and one of the most talented politicians to ever exist. These perceptions are often countered by claims of autocratic and dictatorial behaviour, citing his nine Stefanic years of near absolute control over the Empress Brianna, culminating in his Regency in the last months of her reign. Alexander was a staunch conservative traditionalist, and harboured extensive autocratic natures. He was known to neutralise dissent and "disappear" Sarovians who disagreed with him, leading to many liberal Sarovians denouncing his actions while also simultaneously acknowledging his benefit to the Sarovian nation. Likewise, he also is known as "Alexander the Kingmaker" for his actions cementing George I Vasa-Nassau on the Sarovian throne, continuing his Regency until his death.
Biography[edit | edit source]
Early Life[edit | edit source]
Alexander was born in 249 AS in the reign of William I, during the infamous Saro-Oxerian Union. Alexander's father, Arthur Louis, was the youngest son of Constantine IV and given the title of Prince Royal for him and his descendants. This was considered a "participation title" by Alexander, who saw it essentially as a title given to appease his father since he would never sit on the throne himself. As such, when Arthur Louis left in 252 AS, Alexander refused to be addressed by the title. Despite still being known as Prince Alexander formally, Alexander would publicly and aggressively campaign against his cousin William's Saro-Oxerian Union. Influenced by his father and the memoirs of his grandfather, he was fervently anti-Union and was essentially exiled from the Imperial Court over these views, alongside his father when he was still around.
Alexander would campaign for the dissolution of the Union relentlessly. Queen-Mother Cincinnis of Aurea, the grandmother of William I, led the Anti-Union camp in the Saro-Oxerian court, who pursued Sarovian domination of Oxeria or unilateral independence. Alexander was a chief deputy of hers, and allegedly promoted the illegal publication of the secret provisions of the Acts of Union in the Sarovian press. Alexander was charged with sedition and "lèse-majesté" over remarks he made at a dinner regarding the Empress Emily, but these charges were dropped by pressure of the Emperor, worried about bad press. When the two monarchs were forced to hold a national referendum, Alexander was politically delighted over the result and would infamously toast at a dinner party "to the downfall of the whore of the Empire," referring to the Empress Emily. For this comment, members of William's I guard would revoke his access to the Imperial Court, forcing him to be unable to vote in the predeccessor of the Assembly of Peers and severely culling his influence. This was seen as a step too far for even the Queen-Mother Cincinnis, who publicly denounced his actions.
Imperian Wars and Exile[edit | edit source]
Upon the beginning of the Imperian Wars, the Oxerian Empire and the New Sarovian Empire would ally and wage a series of campaigns. Seeking glory and a chance to redeem his name, Alexander enlisted in the Imperial Guard only to be rejected on the orders of the Emperor. Further attempts to join other units were similarily denied. Alexander would briefly commission in the Duke Dylan's Regiment as a Lieutenant under the name "Louis Arthur", the name of his father backwards, and would fight and achieve victory in a battle in Upper Preuze. His gallantry was recognised and, upon further investigation, his cover was blown and he was discharged and threatened with fraud. A blanket ban was then put in effect for Alexander's presence in any Sarovian government institution.
Alexander began to return to the good graces of the Queen-Mother, but she passed away before their friendship was fully repaired, leaving Alexander stuck without a cause or allies. Alexander likewise began to befriend the Crown Prince of Kiev, Andrey Vasa, but he too died before he took the throne. William would officially order the exile of Alexander from New Sarovia before being sick. The exile was fortunately not ordered however: a joint Aurean-Imperian offensive caused mass chaos in the realm forcing William to abdicate and Edward I Vasa would take the throne. Edward did not like Alexander any more than William, but he himself was forced to abdicate in favour of his Brianna who was relatively apathetic to him. Alexander reckoned this was his opportunity to shine.
Rise to Power[edit | edit source]
In the first Stefanic year of the Empress Brianna's reign, the political scene was relatively chaotic. Four factions vyed for power over the young, impressionable Empress. There were the Constantists or Zaclites, the monarchists, the Sacroytes and the pacifists. The Constantists were usually aristocrats or wealthy landowners who supported Francis I Vasa-Nassau, styled Constantine II of the State, to also take control of the Sarovian throne from the Empress. They argued the throne should not belong to someone so young and inexperienced, let alone a woman, since the last "Sarovian" monarch who was a woman was Tsubaki the Mad in Roisa. The second camp were the monarchists, who were staunch supporters of the Crown and put their trust and faith in the Empress. They did not trust the new "Sacrovian" union, seeing the disaster of the old Saro-Oxerian Union, and didn't support the Sacro Emperor. Those who did, however, were known as Sacroytes and would support close Sarovian ties to Emperor Jacob to the point of allowing Lusophone Sarovians to be annexed into Sacro. Lastly, the pacifists saw the disaster of the Auro-Imperian offensive into Sarovia and wanted to achieve peace with them at any cost.
Alexander aligned himselves with the monarchists and quickly was allowed back into court by the Empress Brianna, who was seeking new allies in any shape or colour. Alexander quickly found himself back into his natural element and assembled a coalition known as the Monarchist Party of New Sarovia, which he led. The Sarovian parliament (known as the Chamber) at the time was still dissolved by the Empress. Political agitators on all sides of the spectrum had been calling for an actual written Sarovian constitution, with Sacroytes wanting to control the Empress and the Constantists wanted to write the Empress' out of the line of succession. Alexander took it upon himself to write the original Sarovian constitution, which was wildly denounced by all sides other than the monarchists. Pacifist leader Athena, seen as a pushover by the Sacroytes and Constantists, was propped up as a coalition figurehead to reject the Constitution. Alexander convinced the Empress to unilaterally decree the Constitution into existence, which occurred in September 2019 (261 AS). The pacifist-Sacroyte-Constantist coalition ran as a combined party known as the Democratic Party, arguing in bad faith that the Constitution should be written and voted on by the people. Alexander ran for Prime Minister and narrowly won the election with a 50/50 split, but managed to fortunately control the Speaker of the Assembly, which enabled him to ram through legislation.
Prime Minister[edit | edit source]
Prime Minister Alexander first oversaw the weakening of his political enemies before he managed any long lasting reforms. Athena, who also was recently was appointed as Field Marshal of the Realm, was pressured to resign. Alexander would attack her in the press which ultimately led to her disgrace and resignation, despite her reasoning being the hopelessness of the military situation. The military defeats again and again dismantled the pacifist party of the Chamber, which led to the Constantists and the Sacroytes remaining. Alexander was surprised by the Empress' cunning when she was able to throw off the Sacroytes shackles through her diplomacy and shrewd politics, and allowed breathing room for Sarovia proper. The situation got worse when the Constantists (specifically, a branch known as the Zaclites) would be convinced by Constantine II of the State to support him by providing Sarovian intelligence, and Sarovian nobility and military officers such as Zacline Aelous began to give weekly aid and reports to the State rather than his Queen-Empress. The final straw that broke the camels back was Alexander's election and, weeks after, the Zaclites broke out in rebellion and declared their support for Constantine II:
The Principalities of Preuze and Goguryeo have revolted and seceded from the New Sarovian Empire with the goal of dethroning Czarina Brianna and the illegally elected Prime Minister Alexander, the "Constantine" roleplayer! Constantine II shall be declared King of the Sarovians for the better future of our beloved Empire.
This is a public statement to inform all soldiers and citizens in the Graal Military Community (GMC) that we will be fighting for a new era for Sarovia, and revolutionize the old and obsolete Imperial Monarchy to a much more modernized Constitutional Monarchy. This shall be remembered as the day Sarovia and its people finally awoke to the tyranny under the hands of the Constantine roleplayer and incapabilities from Brianna, freeing Sarovia and its people from it, and revolting."Taunting Alexander's lineage and loyalty to Constantine VI, Prime Minister Alexander hastily assembled a loyal force to the Queen. He began the first drill reforms in Sarovian history that are used to this day, and effectively created what was known as the "Statist army". He also effectively put down the rebellion through a mixture of force and persuasion, allegedly citing the words of William I in a speech to the rebels proclaiming Brianna as the proper heir, and invoking their former loyalty to the Emperor to convince them of the error of their ways. Zacline was executed on the illegal order of the Prime Minister and the remainer were pardoned, but effectively frightened into submission. In honour of this, Alexander finally received his own title not inherited by his father: he was awarded the title of Viscount Lochland after his estate in Kiev. He would be known as the Viscount Lochland or Lord Lochland from now on.
The Constantists did not die off with this rebellion however. On the advice of Constantine II, Empress Brianna, Lord Lochland and State officials would meet in November of 2019 with Francis with an attempt to fix the situation. Weeks of negotiations led to even further disagreements when Francis publicly argued that he should have legally inherited the throne of New Sarovia due to his father's investiture as Prince of Kiev. Lord Lochland recommended to his Empress that she subsequently counter-claim the State's crown, which she did unceremoniously. Lord Lochland merely considered it posturing but Constantine II took it as a declaration of war and, only on the intervention of Jacob II, did both sides arrange a truce. By avoiding war, Lord Lochland was seen as a hero and by December, nobody would run against him, allowing him absolute control over the Chamber.
By December, Brianna had two sons: Jacobus and Piers George Constantine William, who served as army commanders under her reign. During this period, her niece Lelia of Oxeria would become the Crown Princess of Oxeria, and the two would become great friends on the recommendation of Lord Lochland, which brought Oxeria and Sarovia into a brief period of reconcilement. The War of the First Coalition ended after the disasterous defeat with Field Marshal Moonee, and Brianna and her husband launched a second offensive to regain lost Sarovian territories against the advice of Lord Lochland. The War of the Second Coalition would be a disasterous defeat for the Sarovians and forced the Oxerian Empire to join the Imperians against Sarovia, isolating Sarovia and Sacro and convincing Lord Lochland that he needed to step in and control the Empress before anything else got out of hand.
Due to the disaster, Sarovians began entering a period of chaos. Dissatisfied Sarovians began to form their own militias and political parties in an attempt to enact change against Sacro's ill fated war. The Prime Minister would channel the frustrations against the Empress and use them to convince her to grant him more extraordinary powers, such as control over the armed forces and unilateral control over diplomacy. Through this, Lord Lochland would begin paying Sarovian soldiers himself to gain their loyalty, always done in the name of the Queen-Empress. Whenever someone dissented against the Queen-Empress, he would bring them under their wing, legitimise their concerns, and propose a solution only he could handle which usually resulted in the Queen-Empress giving him more and more extraordinary powers. The power made him the most influencial member in the Empire and the Queen-Empress knighted Lord Lochland into the Order of the New Sarovian Empire. The Mathiveas Code of Law was recreated and amended to include laws against critiquing the Prime Minister, which allowed him to order the arrest and exile of political rivals. This did not always work.
The cousins of one of Brianna's earlier friends came to Sarovia to pledge allegiance to the Queen-Empress, and formed the Strauss Triumvirate in order to protect Sarovian interests. Much to the frustration of the Prime Minister who constantly threatened to resign if nothing was done about them, though never carried out his threat, the mysterious Strauss brothers waged a war against Sarovian dissenters as the Queen's own secret police, which led to dire consequences, such as the attempted assassination of the heirs of the duchy of Poltava and their subsequent self-exile. The disappearence of the dissenters ultimately culminated in the Prime Minister being unable to achieve more and more power. In January (265 AS), the Strauss brothers petitioned the Empress Brianna to sack Lord Lochland and re-take absolute control over the nation. Some reports and rumours even indicated they desired the end of the Sacrovian union. The Prime Minister rushed with his key allies and, perhaps illegally (as the Constitution had no clause for regencies), unanimously declared the Queen-Empress mentally ill and unfit to hold her positions. On the command of Lord Lochland as commander of the Army, the Empress was locked under house arrest. The Strauss brothers began campaigning against the Prime Minister and continuing to crack down on dissenters, assassinating a close ally of the Prime Minister. By March (267 AS), Lord Lochland assembled and formulated a meeting of truce between the Strauss brothers and the Government. Lord Lochland violated this presumably as the three were never seen again in New Sarovia.
Assembling the Army[edit | edit source]
Under the command of the so-called "Lord-Regent", Lord Lochland would begin to toy with the idea of a Sarovian Commonwealth and Confederation which could finally triumph over the Imperians. In previous wars, Arcadia and Maveria would both aid Imperia against New Sarovia. In a simple Saro-Imperian War, Sarovia would outnumber their enemies, but the diplomatic isolation Sarovia suffered was enough to cause significant defeats. Despite all his aims, Lord Lochland could not achieve a diplomatic breakthrough. He would need to find new friends and allies, or raise a bigger army himself.
Both of those objectives he tried. In late 267 AS, Lochland announced the Confederation of the Nafets. Lord Lochland's plan was to maintain the Imperial Army while also increasing its size, but also create a series of subservient vassal states with the sole objective of achieving numerical supremacy. Lord Lochland dispatched his best diplomats to woo Oxeria by May 21st, the date of Lochland's offensive. Lord Lochland had a son and a grandson by this point: Frederick and William. They were given senior officer commands due to Lord Lochland's power as Regent, and all together, the family introduced larger martial reforms. With the approval of the Chamber, merely a formality, they began to plan for the creation of the "Grand Army". The plan would not be finalised and reached its climax months later, but the foundation was established.
By 268 AS, the Grand Army was finalised. It would consist of thirteen regiments of various languages such as English, Portuguese, Filipino and Turkish. This would be created to meet Alexander's martial reform known as the "Line", which stated that a line from the north to the south of the continent had to be established to move from west to east in order to defeat the Imperians and their allies. The Grand Army reached eleven regiments strong, all relatively at full strength, putting it well over 500 Sarovian members. It is estimated to have around 160 foreign auxiliary units in the Nafets Confederation as well.
By the end of 267, Empress Brianna would be declared dead and Lord Lochland began to approve the ascension of her son, Piers George, as King. However, Constantine II of the State, upon hearing the news, would march to Sarholm and announce himself as the King of the Sarovians, while Brianna's son Piers George prepared a counter-coup. Lord Lochland hastily assembled the Grand Army which stopped Constantine II in his tracks. Lord Lochland sent himself and a few diplomatic envoys, as well as Piers George, outside the city on a boat to discuss the terms. After days of negotiation, Lord Lochland had a dilemma. He wanted to keep his title of Lord-Regent and supervise the upcoming offensive against the Imperians. Constantine II allegedly would allow this, whereas his son George wanted to execute authority by himself. Lord Lochland instead pulled a genius diplomatic manuever of appearing to side with Constantine II, who styled himself as Constantine VII of New Sarovia, until George agreed to accept Lord Lochland as Regent for two Stefanic years or until the homeland was reclaimed, whatever came first. Lord Lochland privately remarked he had little intention of giving up his position until George was experienced enough to lead, something he said "would never happen." Constantine II was rebuffed, but George and Lord Lochland agreed in the treaty to acknowledge Constantine as the legitimate successor to Brianna in New Sarovia as Constantine VII, but that he also agreed to immediately abdicate to George. All parties were satisfied: Constantine got the prestige of officially being a Sarovian monarch, George was King and Emperor, and Lord Lochland maintained himself as Regent.
War of the Third Coalition and Death[edit | edit source]
With New Sarovia Day arriving, Lord Lochland ordered the assault against the Imperians without the aid of the Oxerians. The primary battles seized the Imperian capital and won decisive battles at Kiev. Lord Lochland's great grandson, Charles Alexander, would fight in these series of battles. Lord Lochland did not personally join the combat. He was jubiliant the first few days during the initial victories. George I officially led the army, though it was de-facto led by experienced soldiers handpicked by the Regent. When George overruled his commanders and issued orders without their consent, he led an army to Sorrel and Narva and lost an earth shattering defeat. The defeat forced many Sarovians into leaving, including both Lochland's son and grandson Frederick and William. Upon hearing this, Lord Lochland withdrew into a deep depression. His failure to turn Oxeria to his side, as well as the new monarch wiping all of his successes off the board combined with the departure of his entire family except his great-grandson made him a better and broken man. He would resign as Regent immediately and abdicate his title of Prince Royal and Viscount Lochland to his grandson, and would be shortly declared dead soon thereafter.
Politics[edit | edit source]
Alexander Vasa was a traditionalist conservative, and most likely would have supported the modern day Tory or Hats parties. He was a strong and relatively effective leader through his absolutist and autocratic nature, willing to do whatever whenever to achieve the end goal, even if it happened to be illegal. He was not an effective diplomat and shunned foreign affairs, preferring to send diplomats and envoys. He was relatively calm unless agitated, which could cause him to blow into a fit of rage. He was deeply afraid of losing control like he did under William I, and as such, proudly labeled himself as a reactionary "in all but martial affairs". He was extraordinarily competitive and hated challenges to his rule. He is noted to have said that "change is inherently rooted in disaster, so the least that must change, the better."
Lord Lochland, since his birth, was a strong representative of the Sarovian peerage and despite his distaste for the Prince Royal title, would proudly showcase his Vasa blood if it won him votes. Some even accused him of manuevering himself for the throne, calling him "Caesar Lochland", but no evidence has surfaced to support this. He desired a stronger upper class to promote the class and glamour of the days of his cousin Constantine VI & I, and would actively promote and offer positions in line with nepotism. He actively reformed the Peers of the Empire into his own model, something that has survived to the current day albeit with some reforms.
Lord Lochland was more concerned about withstanding what he called "Imperian toxic liberalism." To him, this was defined as a loosening of the traditional social classes and traditions of Estos: a strong military and respect for civil bureaucracy and a key faith in not only Stefan but in monarchism as a whole. The Imperian style of liberalism caused people to forget their roots and their allegiances to the respective crowns of Estos. To him, republics and strengthened democracies were bound to change common and, as such, rooted in disaster. He believed that Imperian style liberalness corrupted monarchies absolutely. A common phrase of his was "for Crown, for the House of Constantine and for the Empire." When asked "what about the people?" his response was "the people be damned."
Honours[edit | edit source]
Throughout his life, Alexander has received many different honours, decorations and titles.
- Honours
Knight Commander of the Order of the New Sarovian Empire- Star of Carolus (awarded by Brianna for his service against Imperia before he was discharged)
- Star of Constantine
- Imperial Vasa Star
- Decorations
- Sarovian Cross
- Order of the Sarovian Crown
- Order of the Lion
- Order of the King
- Victory Cross
Coat of arms[edit | edit source]
As the Viscount Lochland, Alexander's arms were approved by the Empress Brianna.
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| Arms of Alexander Vasa as the Viscount Lochland. |
