Empress Eliciana
1116-1127
Empress from 1119-1127
The 'Infant Empress' was born outside the core of the Imperial House of Antaurus. At the time of her birth, she was ninth in the bloodline to become ultimate ruler in the southern kingdoms, and since the time of General Cassius Dumus the Empire had become accustomed once more to the succession, but nobody had considered her to be a realistic candidate to succeed to the throne.
In 1118 and early 1119 the plague reached Mercunum, and the Emperor's household and the Senate suffered terribly. In six months, there had become a shortage of experienced politicians, and even the Emperor himself died after watching all his own family die before him.
The politicians were struggling to cope with the change, and the Empire rocked. As there was still an eligible heir, and that heir had appeared immune to the effects of the plague, the discussions in the Senate centred on elevating the youngster to her inherited position. But clearly a two-year-old ruler was no use to the Empire - so emergency steps were taken. The responsibility of the Emperor was divided up among senior politicians, and handled by small committees - all this was driven on by Emperor Victus II's senior advisor Calvino Angelus, who also proposed a delay in crowning the new Empress until Eliciana was 21 years old.
Despite the decimated Imperial Senate's attempts to keep the child safe, they were up against a formidable and growing enemy among their own people. Greed took hold among the merchants, and with no clear Emperor in place and the slow decisions of the committees, commerce was suffering. It was only a matter of time before one of them took their chance to seize the crown and put himself above the young Empress in waiting. In reflection, it is thought that Hastus Cuellet himself was behind the killing of the young girl. At the time, he made himself appear as the great saviour of the Empire - when in reality he'd engineered it for himself to become the top of the tree.