Valerian - The Mad Emperor

Reason? Why do I need a reason? Because it is more comforting for you? Because it helps you "understand"? No, there is no reason. I do this because I can.

— Valerian in Tacitan's "Dance of the Mad"

"Villains of History - How Monsters, Madmen and Murderers shaped the World" by Ga An'Jian

"Although often treated with more diginity than fiction, history does share a number of things with the realm of romance and tragedy. Like with a theatre play, there are heroes and villains, tragic fates and glorious deeds. And how they are seen by the outside world also follows a very similar line. This becomes especially interesting when one looks at the so-called "villains" of history...

Chapter XVII - The Mad Emperor

by Baptiste Forey

"The age of the Diarchy presents all number of individuals that one might consider for a list such as this. Taraneas the Erudite, Valeria Hestis, Atrik Vallen. Sadists, thugs and maniacs. But they all fail to stand out, are too normal for the age to really be considered. Their actions follow a certain logic. A brutal one without question but logic nonetheless. Valerian Valentinian, however, is a very different story."
"To be infamous in an age of infamy requires a special kind of nature. Valerian's is obscured by the scarcety of sources. His reign is nevertheless seen as the event that finally broke the Fourth Tarquinnian Hegemony, a decade that caused over a century's worth of damage. Writers unanimously agree that he was the product of madness, the bearer of some illness of the mind. How else can one explain his genocides and self-destructive hatred?"

by Miłek Jakubiec

"...In this chapter I will try to present another option. Namely that Valerian was not mad. That he knew full well what he was doing, but simply did not care. Feran writers love to attribute a certain hollowness to the Vardanian soul. And while their declarations often boil down to analogies about a lack of faith, they are not entirely unfounded. Vardanian mentality is a rather cold one, a way of thinking that tends to place the ends above the means and often puts humans as others would tools or weapons..."
"...Additionally, conflict without purpose is known to create empty humans. People that see no sense in anything and react to the world with apathy. And in the history of Vardania there is no conflict more wrought with senselesness than the Diarchy...So what if Valerian was not a madman but rather one so broken by the world that he simply no longer cared? A man who sees no worth in anything is perhaps more dangerous than anyone else..."
"Granted one might argue that a man that believes in nothing is one without a drive. But that is not necessarily true. They might rage against this state of the world, torture those around them or themselves out of spite. Or they might simple treat the world like they perceive it: as without meaning or purpose or worth..."
"My readers might reasonably ask why I would create this alternative when a perfectly fine explanation already exists. Madness! Insanity! A clouding of the mind! What else could move someone to such senseless acts of monstrosity? I agree that it is the easiest explanation, but therein lies my issue. It is too easy."
"A simple excuse that removes any agency from a person and in some way, however unintentional it might be, excuses them of their deeds. We do not know much about Valerian and can therefore never make a definitive statement on his character. But I do not view his actions as the product of madness. Rather they were the rational reaction of a man realising the harshest truth of his age: nothing matters. And a man like that is far scarier than any madman could ever be."

I will not have this piece of trash in my archives! Burn it in the streets, wipe your own ass with it, I don't care! It will not enter my halls of knowledge.

— Senior Archivar Titus Labiena

Ethnicity

Gedariane

Life

3070 DA 3114 DA 44 years old

Circumstances of Death

Execution via Decapitation

Family

House Valentinian

Aligned Organization

Fourth Tarquinnian Hegemony

Living On

Valerian Valentinian is arguably the most famous emperor produced by the Diarchy. His memory has survived in various tales, most presenting their own version of his mad reign. The vague nature of the sources had left much room for speculation and embellishment. The two most famous examples of such accounts are Tacitan's "Dance of the Mad" and Ga An'Jian's "Villains of History".
The former is a theatre play following the guard Julius as he fights for love and survival in the Made Emperor's shadow. First staged in 3207 DA, it has enjoyed over a century of popularity. The second account is far more controversial. An'Jian's portrayal of Valerian made great waves when the book was published in 3270 DA, being torn apart as "revisionist" and "fantasy" by established historians. Several archives even banned the book, yet it remains one of the more popular pieces among casual readers.

by Chris Ostrowski