Emperor Walter

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Called:The Ham-fisted

Early Life and Election

Emperor Walter Upwold was a Marcher naga of the Sweetroot Marrowdene family. The child of wealthy parents, he followed his grandfather, mother, and two of his aunts to serve as an alderman. In 368YE, following the death of Emperor Hugh, he set his sights on the Imperial Throne. Campaigning on a platform of economic reforms, he slowly gathered support and made his bid in in 371YE after the fall of Skarsind to the Thule.

Reign

Almost from the beginning, his tenure on the Throne was ill-starred. He had campaigned as a man who could turn Imperial fortunes around by treating the Empire like a business, or a farm. It became painfully clear that he was utterly unprepared for the complexities of juggling the competing powers of the Senate, Synod, Conclave, Military Council, and the Bourse. The Empire was still enduring a period of Senate corruption and Synod introspection, with a Military Council still divided by the disasters of |Giselle's reign and the failures of Emperor Hugh. Several of his supporters quickly turned out to have their own agendas that had less to do with restoring the Empire and more to do with lining their own pockets.

While he famously never went to the Senate, he did send his brother Edmund, equipped with an Imperial favour. Sadly, his brother proved to be unable to wield any influence over the experienced and selfish Senators. The first time he attempted to wield the power of the Power of Veto it created such an uproar that Edmund fled the chamber.

Rather than spend his time in the Senate, Walter spent his time desperately trying to make sense of the Imperial finances - and in that he was utterly thwarted by an uncooperative Master of the Imperial Mint. He attempted to influence the ambassadors ... which prompted the major world powers to close their embassies. He instructed the Conclave to sever all ties with any eternals who could not "do something for the Empire" ... which lead many eternals to pre-emptively cut ties with the Conclave. All in all, his approach to Imperial politics was to make demands that were simply unrealistic, and increasingly to try and back them up with clumsy threats, earning him the monnicker "Ham-Fisted".

Death and Legacy

His reign lasted only twenty months. During a meal in which he attempted to sway Marcher senators, he became ill and died. It is widely believed he was assassinated. According to eyewitnesses he became incoherent over the fish course - initially mistaken for a surfeit of fine Dawnish wines. When he broke a half-empty bottle over the head of the Senator for Upwold, Gareth of Ashill, and began to attack the guests it was clear something out of the ordinary was occurring. The Emperor died a few minutes into his apparent drunken rampage, suffering a fatal brain hemorrhage.

He is interred in the Necropolis in a small white granite tomb screened from view by a thick stand of yew trees. In some ways, Walter's ill-starred reign opened the way for Empress Britta. Even during the reign of Empress Giselle, the sheer self-serving corruption of the Senate had been at least partly concealed. Under Walter, some of the worst senators put aside their masks are revealed their true agendas making the need for some sort of reform absolutely apparent.

Emperor Walter in Play

Walter was a venal, corrupt, incompetent, narcissist of a man largely disowned by his own nation. He represents the worst failings of the Imperial system, and serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of a Senate and a Synod that lose sight of their responsibilities to the people of the Empire.

He lived and died only recently. It is acceptable for player characters to have met him, to have opposed him or suffered at the hands of his cronies - or even to have supported him or to benefited from his twisted patronage.