Svante I Shiroko
Emperor Svante I Shiroko
Svante I is most famous for his reoganization of what would become the Department of the Treasure. Along with his, he negotiated the standard conversion rate between the currencies of Yzel and Eoion.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Svante I was born in 469, the second of five children, one year after his mother, Empress Catarina I Shiroko, married her younger brother, Diman. His parents represented the first implementation of the Doctrine of Dea-an Heritage set in place by his grandfather, Timof II Shiroko in order to keep the family line pure and ensure that no one outside of them learned Stitching. Svante's aunts and uncles were also married to one another based on Timof II's new doctrine.
Through his childhood, Svente saw how unhappy his parents were and, as he gained younger siblings, he became convinced that having to marry one of them would end in the same fate. However, he found no way to get out of it and resolved to simply knuckle under for the sake of the family line.
As the second child, he was not meant for the throne and would be passed over for tsudaeba in favor of his younger sister, Olha. Homosexual relations were not forbidden by Eoin law. However, a male could not produce the heirs that were needed by the family. Plans changed when his older brother, Ilya, died from an infection in a wound he sustained during combat training. With his brother dead, Svante was suddenly thrust into the role of High Prince (tajanji).
His education in how to rule came mostly from his mother, who became baejan when Svante was seven years old. He was taught a great respect for art and literature from her, along with military history and international politics. After his Attunement Test revealed his abilities as a lu-esh, he was also educated in the making of the Ilyannoi. Religious education was done almost entirely by his grandfather, who was very strict about Svante learning everything about Ilya Shiroko and he grew up with a sense of awe surrounding the founder.
Even so, with his mother's education, he found flaws in his ancestor's system as he grew older, particularly in the negotiation of currency exchange, which had become worse after Vasyl I Shiroko's loss in the Second Great War despite Timof I Shiroko's attempts to stabilize it. Like his great-grandfather, he took a distinct interest in the economics of the empire and began learning about every major industry in Eoion. He traveled for much of his teens with noble families whose business lay in commerce and learned a great deal of Yzel from his frequent journeys across the border.
The most lasting impression came in the form of the slightly different conversion rates used between cities in Eoion and the country, which he also found in Yzel as well. While in the position of tajanji, he was unable to change this, although he pushed for his mother to consider working with Yzel in search of a unifying exchange rate. Her other projects kept her away from this and Svante dove into the Treasury Department for the remainder of his time as the tajanji.
His mother insisted that he marry his younger sister, but he refused and instead worked out a compromise in which he married one of his cousins, the daughter of his Uncle Taras and Aunt Yeva. This would keep the Doctrine in place, but not have him marry a sibling. The decision put a strain on his and Olha's relationship for the rest of their lives as she felt he had rejected her and given when she saw as her rightful position as Royal Consort to another member of the family.
In 510, after the retirement of his mother, Svante took the title of baejan and immediately began working on what he saw as a currency exchange system headed toward failure. He first began looking at how products were sold between Eoion and Yzel, using staple products such as bread as a starting point and then moving up to gold. His theory was to compare what such things were sold for in each country and come up with a conversion rate that reflected the prevailing trends. This became difficult as the demand for each good could fluctuate independently of one another and held very little correlation.
He exchanged many letters with the ruler of Yzel, seeking a compromise on what supply and demand related good could be used to renegotiate the exchange rates. Both countries wanted something that they had in abundance to be highly valued. Through these negotiations, the idea of both gold and jewels were floated, but eventually discarded as the disparity in the amount of each in the two was very different. In the end two staple crops, wheat and rice, came to the forefront of negotiations and Svante traveled to Yzel in order to discuss the matter further.
On the road, his caravan was attacked by the Daji. By the time reinforcements arrived from the nearest Yzelian base, Svante, his tsirin, and the Eoin soldiers had driven them off. However, the attack outraged the royal family and nobility of Eoion and forced the Yzelian monarchy into a corner. Their negotiations were tainted by the attack even though the Daji had not officially been part of the main military for approximately a century. Svente agreed to set the conversion according to wheat, a larger crop in Yzel, but the rate was set in favor of Eoion, which two Yzelian pavacs equaling one Eoion sasqushir. These negotiations earned Svante the moniker 'Coinmaster' upon his return and he has continued to be known by this name since his death.
Over the course of his reign, he had seven children: Kuza (500), Timof III Shiroko (502), Fedir (505), Urari (510), Natalay (513), and Zora (515). During time of the attunement tests, he passed over his eldest son, Kuza, in favor of Timof due to Kuza's lack of ability as either a lu-esh or pyr-esh. This decision soured his relationship with his son completely and it never recovered. Instead, he focused his attention on Timof, who later took the throne as Timof III after Svante's retirement in 530.
He lived another fifteen years, travelling between Niuus and Parishi, where he and his cousin-wife spent their time working with the temple and the children of the cities through charity programs. They became known for their generosity and compassion in their later years. Svante died at the old Shiroko mansion in Parishi and was buried with the other previous rulers in the mausoleum underneath the Gandenye temple. His was the first funeral to be attended by those who worshiped the imperial family as divine since the institution of the Doctrine of Dea-an Heritage.
Life
469
545
76 years old
Birthplace
Place of Death
Children
Gender
male
Eyes
very pale violet
Hair
long, heavily braided, white
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
pale white, red undertone
Height
6'1"
Aligned Organization
Comments