Museum of the Empire, Eveari, Ananto

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IV.15 and IV.16
ANANTO-GADURI 15 AND HULANEVEK 1
Emperor Fredrick II Ananto and Empress Pavlina I Ananto


Emperor Fredrick II Ananto and Empress Pavlina I Ananto, the future Black Empress, at coronation

Fredrick II Ananto's early reign
Emperor Fredrick's reign was the last of the direct line of Anantos stretching back to Fredrick Guerra. His reign initially focused on strengthening his mother's recent reassertion of claims to Crown Lands. Lacking any political opposition during the early part of his reign which had plagued his predecessors, most were quick to call the realm settled. The Emperor himself had little inclination to reign at first: He was thrust into the role of Emperor unprepared due to the early death of his mother, and the relatively lengthy caretaker regency of his foreign born father. He oversaw deeper Kalistani integration in Gaduridos, and began a close, if brief friendship with both Kazulia and Kundrati, the latter as part of an overall reaction to increased Luthorian incursion into Seleya.

In 5550, while discussing Northern Seleyan economic integration in Likatonia, the Emperor was introduced to Pavlina Hulanevek, the scion of the Hulanevek political family of Kundrati. She was in Likatonia consulting on a separate matter. The two quickly fell in love and were married two years later. The engagement of the Emperor to a foreigner, especially an Artanian was very controversial in Kalistan and the Government faced immense backlash by nationalist groups that, it turned out, were being stoked by foreign agents who were using nationalist anger to attempt to undermine the Imperial regime. Violent demonstrations against the foreign born Consort broke out and eventually overwhelmed the Police. Numerous threats were made on the Consort's life, and ultimately, in 5553, the Government was ordered to pass Kalistan's Lese Majestie law to make it illegal for Kalistanis to harm or threaten members of the royal family, including royal spouses and children. The goal was to protect the Princess Consort and her adopted daughter, the Minor Princess Carolina Hulanevek.

The nation was shocked in 5554 when the Duchess of Odufaray was murdered in Eshar by anti-government radicals ostensibly demanding democracy. Just as Kalistan was poised to emerge as the sole hegemonic power in the entire Anantonese Basin, following the dissolution of Lourenne, they were wracked with civil disorder at home. Following the acquittal of fourteen defendants who had threatened the Princess Consort in Lese Majestie's first legal test on grounds that the law only covered Royal family members, not spouses or unadopted children that were brought into the family from outside, the Emperor ordered that his wife Pavlina be crowned Empress and Co-Sovereign of Ananto and Kalistan. He then formally adopted the minor princess Carolina Hulanevek and named her Crown Princess, to bring her into the Lese Majestie law as well.

The Co-Monarchy
The Reign of Fredrick II Ananto and Pavlina I Ananto was short, lasting only twenty one months. Most of the time, the Empire experienced massive civil disorder, as pro-democracy forces, being stoked by foreign agents hostile to Kalistan's monarchy, continued to battle the police. Democracy forums began popping up and the Empress opted to attend several of them with the aim of trying to understand the people's grievances. She felt that she could understand it better because she had grown up in a liberal democratic society, and was not automatically hostile to democracy. Her efforts were for naught. New rounds of violence broke out on the mainland in December and lasted through January of 5557. The Emperor and Chancellor of the Empire, Dame Lindsay Ontiveros, themselves decided to attend a Democracy Forum in Nevaras City on the night of January 30 5557. There he listened to an out of control crowd, and even announced that some concessions to the pro-democracy movement were being considered. But the crowd, whipped up once more by outside agitation, chased him and the Chancellor from the forum.

As the two entered the car, the vehicle was ambushed and was riddled with bullets. The Chancellor was critically wounded, but survived. The Emperor did not, assassinated by radicals in Eshar. The Emperor was declared dead at 4:23 am on January 31. Dame Ontiveros would never return to public service, and her rehabilitation took nearly a year. Meanwhile the nation exploded into civil war.

The Black Empress
Left as sole Monarch, IBSI and the Government, being tended by the Foreign Minister, Dame Jacqueline DuMont, became convinced that the Empress had been the real target of the assassination and reported to Wilson House in Kaliburg to rush the Empress and the still juvenile Princess Carolina into hiding. They turned up at the home of Duke Mark Ananto in Vespiano Gaduridos, where it was believed that they would be safe from the violence in Kalistan. A brief and bloody civil war was fought between foreign backed nominally pro-democracy elements being used by profascist actors seeking to remove the last institutional hurdles to fascism in Kalistan on one side and Kalistani Regulars, militia, and foreign agents sent to Kalistan as auxiliary forces, most notably from Kundrati on the other. The rebels were eventually crushed, and the Empress and Crown Princess were called back to Kaliburg.

Pavlina Ananto took time to perform National service in Eshar before returning to Kaliburg. She helped the city clean up from the destructiveness of the civil conflict. She did this first to show she was not afraid to work next to Kalistanis, despite the general bad feelings the Nationalists had shown her since she arrived. She also did it to perform nominal National Service, which is expected of every Kalistani, but which nobody expected of her. Pavlina knew that Kalistanis see National Service as the obligation all Kalistani nationals owe to their nation, and if she was ever not going to be viewed as an outsider, she had to demonstrate her desire to assimilate into Kalistani society. In all she performed voluntary labor in Eshar for five months, earning the good will of the people of the City and of the entire Empire through her work and efforts on direct behalf of the people of Eshar.

Once in Kaliburg and reunited with the Minor Princess Carolina, the Empress, still in deep mourning for the loss of her husband, very quickly earned a reputation for her dark attitude, and earned the moniker "The Black Empress" while she still reigned. She would be referred to as the Black Empress from then on, not only for her mourning (she was almost never seen in public dressed in anything other than black in memory of Emperor Fredrick II Ananto,) but also for her ruthlessness in defending Kalistani's reputation abroad and the Royal Family's privilege and authority at home. Her new government was complementary in this effort, and Kalistan's general hatred of democracy and political pluralism springs from this era.

Under the Black Empress, Kalistan commissioned the 4th Fleet, became emmeshed in Artanian politics (not least because Pavlina herself had come from Kundrati less than 5 years prior) and asserted its influence over the entire Anantonese Basin. She also oversaw the beginning of the Kalistani Space program, presided over an explosion of Kalistani Pop culture, regional financial institutions, and scientific and technological development. Her aborted attempts to form a Northern Seleyan Union to stop Luthorian cultural and political influence into Seleya may have failed at the outset, but laid the foundation for deeper integration between Kalistan, Lodamun and Gaduridos, and ultimately accession of those three nations into the new Anantonese Empire as equal Constituent Nations.

Toward the end of her reign, The Black Empress came into possession of a rare and priceless diamond that her family had held possession of for centuries. The diamond, called in Kalistan the Hulanevek Diamond was a perfect Oval cut diamond weighing 127carats. It was given to Pavlina to pass on to Carolina as a wedding present, but more to keep safe, given that trouble was brewing in Kundrati which would consume the next three Anantos. The diamond itself was rumored to be cursed, but would stay in the possession of the Anantos for over 100 years before being sent to Hutori. The Black Empress herself soon developed dementia, and chose to abdicate in favor of her daughter, the twice adopted foundling, Carolina Hulanevek, who would found the Fifth Ananto dynasty. The Black Empress' abdication formally ended the Fouth Ananto Dynasty.