Mëranac 1e
From Almeopedia
Mëranac 1e (pere) [ˈmjɛ ra nak ˈpɛ rɛ] was King of Verduria from 3302 to 3316, the first king of the Abolineron dynasty.
Though the Eleďe dynasty freed Verduria from the wizard kings and ushered in a time of prosperity and innovation, it was a heady draft that the country didn't necessarily want to drink again. When Queen Andrea disappeared with no heir, the Esčambra waited a decent interval, then set about finding a replacement. There was little interest in selecting another monarch from the Arostrana family. With the conservative Caďin party in power, it was a sure thing that a conservative pagan would be chosen; it was not difficult to pick one of the most respected leaders of the faction, Mëranac cont Abolineron (3302).
Mëranac's first action was to reestablish Caďinorian paganism as the state religion; he also reduced the number of Esčambra seats reserved for Eleďe clergy from 15 to 9, increasing the pagan clergy's seats from 18 to 24. This approximately reflected the Eleďe and pagan population at the time, and signalled that the new king, though strongly for pagan rights, had no intention of persecuting the Eleďi, as some conservatives had hoped to do. Another sign was his assumption of the title Lon Enäronei “Honor of Enäron”, in place of earlier kings' Cumbrigec Enäronei, “Defender of Enäron”. The earlier title, however, implied authority over the pagan hierarchy, and the patriarchs made it clear that this was out of the question.
One of the chief pagan complaints about the Eleďi was that they had favored overseas trade, exploration, and force projection over the traditional river trade and developing Verduria's preeminent position in Eretald; the flashpoint of criticism was that no attempt was made to recover Ctésifon. At the same time an out-and-out military conquest was impolitic: somehow Verduria must attain control over the ancient capital while showing it due respect.
Mëranac sent an army into the city in 3304, occupied the Royal Palace, and declared his willingness to negotiate. The Ctésifoni king Ďumilenko, who was just 23, was sometimes threatened, sometimes plied with gifts and promises; his messages to his people were equally mixed. The Ctésifoni legislature, the Konselora, finally accepted Verdurian sovereignty, though it insisted that Ďumilenko be given the unusual title of suršoh (archduke).
Mëranac's next project was to turn Verduria city into a capital worthy of an empire. He carved out the grand boulevards so prominent on the city map, notably the four prosiî of Rafát, Enäron, Abolineron (now Vlaran), and Mëranac 1e (these form a continuous route from the High Court in Išira, southeast via Rafat to the National Theatre and Pelerin Library, northeast via Enäron to the Temple of Enäron and the neighbourhood of Nočii, southeast via Vlaran to Vlaran's Arch and the neighbourhood of Žeuro, and southwest via Mëranac 1e to the neighbourhood of Čümána). He also extended the prosiî of Hírumor (Verduria's major north-south street, from Ažimba to Žeuro) and Ilošora (a less prominent street, not shown on the map, leading east-west from the Mažtan-lagana through Petrei).
Most of these streets have large pagan temples as focal points, notably the Temple of Enäron. The new boulevards were faced with grandiose new buildings, or new fronts, and Mëranac rebuilt many temples and government buildings. He proposed to rebuild the Caďinorian ruins in the Bordë, but backed down in the face of broad opposition: ruins were already considered picturesque rather than shameful.
Realizing perhaps that glory required conquering the intellectual as well as the political terrain, he wrote an eight-volume history of Verduria (Bracsë plesčura verdúrii nažei, “The glorious history of the Verdurian realm”); the novelist Örnom Šmirulo mildly remarked that he might have advanced his cause more if he were able to find a single fault in any Verdurian ruler besides the Eleďi.
The ground prepared, Mëranac decided that it was time to bring the benefits of Verdurian rule to the rest of Eretald. In 3312, he conquered Vimínia, and spoke of moving on to Svetla. But in 3316 he unexpectedly died, without having named an heir— his son Caloton had died before him. The subsequent Abolinerons were disappointing, especially to pagans; as one supporter complained, “We would have surpassed the Prežeons if the founder had devoted more effort to heirs and less to streets.”
He began a project to reform the Ževuran's Great Code, the basis for Verdurian law, but this had not advanced far before his death.
| Preceded by: Andrea | Mëranac 1e 3302-16 | Succeeded by: Icëlana |
