Museum of the Empire, Eveari, Ananto

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IV.13
ANANTO-GADURI 13
Empress Nicolette I Ananto, The Great


President Nicolette Ananto-Knepp in 5457 and then Crowned Empress in 5458

Her Imperial Majesty, Nicolette I Ananto, known upon retirement as "The Great," had one of the most important reigns of all Anantos to date. It was during her time in office that most of the institutions associated with the modern monarchy were established, including the reimagining of the very office of monarch itself. Under Nicolette I Ananto's reign, the Empress not only moved to the center of Kalistani politics, but became the sole arbiter of it.

Nicolette as last Republican President
Nicolette Ananto was elected, or rather selected as President following her mother's departure from the office. During Catherine Ananto's Administration, the Institutional Party had passed a law to ensure that only a member of House Ananto may be named President of the Empire. Of the last four Presidents, three had been Anantos, beginning with Michael Ananto, and then after a short time, Catherine Ananto and finally Nicolette Ananto. The Institutional Party may have envisioned a return of the largely ceremonial Monarch of the first part of the 4th Dynasty, but both the Premier and the President had other plans.

The goal was simple: Ensure that no ephemeral Parties could ever abolish vital Kalistani institutions following a random outcome of an election. The move to cement Kalistani institution's into place led to the authors of the Enactment Articles dramatically increasing the authority and power of the future monarch. The new monarch would not be a disinterested businessman, entertainer, or instructor, but would instead be clothed in unlimited and unchecked political authority.

The first Enactment laws of 5456 restored the nobility, including House Ananto, to privileged status. The Republican Constitution was formally abolished in 5457. The same bill re-established the hereditary Title of Emperor, and conferred it in perpetuity upon House Ananto. These new acts were intended to maintain political power within the National Assembly, while guaranteeing the veto to the Empress. Johnson noted how important it was that the relationship maintain democratic characteristics, including the ability to freely vacate the title of Emperor, all the while designing a system where the Assembly would take its direction from the Empress. The democratic nature of the initial restoration Articles was soon swept away. Another Enactment Article re-established Duchies and Counties, making their members nominative, and reinstated the office of Grand Duke of Kalistan. These Articles were meant to protect the nominal independence of the National Assembly and the subnational Governments, but instead, hamstrung the National Assembly to act independently from the fiat of the Empress. The measures passed the Assembly with a clear majority and took effect on Dec. 1, 5457.

Nicolette I Ananto as Empress
Empress Nicolette I Ananto began, from her first words as Empress following her formal coronation on February 1, 5458, to establish new institutions that last in the Empire to this day. She is the first to begin using first person plural pronouns to refer to herself, a practice which is now one of the few laws that fully apply to the Monarch and the monarch alone. She immediately began working on Poverty and affordable housing on the Mainland, and championed the stalled Ananto MagLev program. She also started reaching out to Kalistan's neighbors and old friends to try to build new relationships across the Globe.

Her reign was greeted with friendship and support, both abroad and at home. She welcomed new members to the Non Aligned Movement as much of the rest of the world descended into conflict of what became known as the Hubris War. She loudly condemned the moves of the Lourennais Legislature to remove their Queen from office and declared neutrality in the Lourenne-Beiteynu conflict, eventually closing the Ananto Strait to use by foreign nations for transit from the Mad Dog to the west coast of Seleya. She then sent Kalistan as an observer to the treaty negotiaions known as Altatapec in Gaduridos. Kalistan remained entirely outside of this war, and consequently, did not suffer many of the negative effects that its participants did. In 5474, she married Victor Martin of Dahriel, and began building her family. Her first child, thew Future Nicolette II Ananto was born on October 1, 5475, and her second, Victor Joseph Ananto-Martin, was both on February 1, 5478.

The Empress also began work on developing a Terran Monetary Unit, or an extranational monetary regime against which to base national currencies to finally develop a single unified exchange rate in Terra. That discussion ultimately failed, as other nations lacked vision and refused to abandon currency pegs for political and ideological reasons rather than reason or logic. The Later part of her reign saw tensions rising between Kalistan and Luthori over Luthori's efforts to reassert its political and cultural influence in Seleya.

Nicolette I Ananto oversaw the end of petroleum production in Kalistan and the beginning of a shift to a green, sustainable economy, which continues to this day, siting eight locations for highdam construction that would see a dramatic and rapid shift to hydroelectric energy generation. She deepened relations with Lourenne and Hutori, and laid the political and diplomatic foundations for the incorporation of both Lodamun and Gaduridos into the later Anantonese Empire. She formally abdicated in favor of her daughter, Nicolette II Ananto on 5501, having served for 42 years. Nicolette I Ananto lost Prince Consort Victor before leaving office and she herself died in early August 5518.

Nicolette as a Person
Nicolette's official legacy is one of a monumental and important woman of the moment. She was known for her cynical and sharp outlook on the world. She was considered a woman of deep and abiding privilege, with a real sense of entitlement and an imperious character. She was also known for her care for the environment and for the poor. She was very cold, but she was universally loved in the Empire, because she used her power to help the least in the society lift themselves up. She was an uncompromising Kalistani Nationalist, a hardlined conservative Institutionalist, an unapologetic monarchist, and a relentless pursuer of her goals. Yet, she made efforts to appear to be more in touch with the people and get out among them, something future monarchs would neither be interested in or able to do, especially as imperial protocol began to firm up and coalesce into the House Laws, the Lese Majestie, and the Land Laws.

Her aloof nature was based in not only the institutions which protected her from people who demanded her time, but also from her genuine introversion that allowed her to share her innermost thoughts with only a few family members and close friends. One of her deepest friendships was with her Foreign Minister, Lady Diane Smith, with whom it was rumored that she maintained a far more intimate relationship (a far more open secret was that the Prince Consort was also a philanderer and had numerous affairs outside of the marriage).

She was also believed to have lived a decadent, hedonistic private life before being called to National Service as President of the Republic. There are no official confirmations of these stories but many contemporaneous "secret" accounts were written of her scandalous sexual proclivities and her obscene opulence. Nearly all of those lurid accounts were initially dismissed as pornographic, and have been suppressed by House Ananto through a number of means over the decades that followed her appointment as President, though some still exist in underground sources, and they paint the beloved Empress in a less than morally flattering light.