King Thomas
1296-1358
King Thomas Usindus was the last Carrodian Emperor before Unification, and became the first King of Arthea.
He was born in the Imperial City of Morara 1296 to Junus and Beatrice Usindus; Junus was Prince of Nareth and heir to the Empire. When Junus was crowned Emperor in 1310, he named Thomas heir at the coronation ceremony. Thomas himself was made Prince of Nareth in 1317, on his twenty first birthday.
Thomas became Emperor in 1331, and picked up his fathers concerns for the defence of the Empire against a Ticetian army that had broken through Caldonacia. Junus' legacy to the Empire was an heir that had been well trained in the art of warfare, and Thomas' tactical and strategic skills were to be tested to the full over the next ten years. At first as the war progressed, Thomas concerned himself with just defending the Empire, but as time passed it became clear that many of the opposing armies were made up of Caldonacian conscripts, people who had no heart for a conquest, but would love the opportunity to liberate their own lands. Thomas used this to his advantage.
It was not until 1338 that Thomas recognised the opportunity before him. He understood King Hugo of Ticetia's ability as a military commander, and this had long been a thorn in Thomas' side. But Hugo became ill, and his son was well known among the nobles of the Empire - this was a man that was not cut out for the task of leading his armies to war. Thomas took advantage of the situation and changed his tactics from one of defence to one of attack. There were many Caldonacian's available to swell the ranks of his army, and in two years he had reached Carlow. The battle for Caldonacia was won; Thomas used the moment to his advantage. He turned his Imperial army west and began an immediate invasion of Ticetia. The bulk of this army were his trusted Imperial units, but there were some Caldonacians involved. The bulk of the conscripts he released from service, and handed back their lands, causing him a huge swell of popularity. His first act as regent of Caldonacia was to organise a 'search' for the rightful heir, a search that would last six months and turn up nobody. This gave his armies time to march deep into Ticetia, and Caldonacia hardly raised an objection when Thomas formally took their crown for himself in 1341.
Thomas crowned himself King of the Unified Arthea in 1342, and faced some difficult decisions about the constitution of the lands. Originally he had planned to add Caldonacia and Ticetia to the Empire with equal status to the other six kingdoms that had originally formed it, but he took political advice from senior Caldonacian and Ticetian peers, and decided it would be better to for a political structure that looked like it could be split three ways in case of disaster, but which in reality would be near impossible to do. His only option was to dissolve the Empire in favour of a unified Arthea. To appease the Imperial court, he established further political structures along the democratic lines that the Empire had enjoyed for hundreds of years; it turned out that the Imperial court was so politically mature that the loss of personal power didn't cause much friction, but the proposal to remove of debate and collective wisdom behind the throne caused near rioting. Thomas has been at war since his accession to power and had never been tested in a political court; he looked forward to the challenge.