Dimitrios Zenōn

Basileus Dimitrios Nikolaos Victor Zenōn

When one looks at the history of our glorious empire, one can point to its origin with the declaration of Loukas Aristenos' status as the 'first among equals', but the time our empire was truly born was during the reign of Dimitrios the Great.

— Excerpt from Joannes Zannetou's History of the Empire

Dimitrios Zenōn, the first basileus not to come from Loukas Aristenos' direct family and the only to be remembered as "the Great", solidified Lapara's prominence in Eudokonian affairs by subjugating their longstanding rivals in east, and, with his fostering of the arts and appreciation for modern technology, ushered in the Golden Age of Zenōn.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Born into an influential senatorial family supported by a variety of trading interests, Dimitrios was educated in the Aristenian Lyceum, and became good friends to the young imperial heir, Loukas II Aristenos, to whom his sister was betrothed. It was this friendship with his brother-in-law and his status as the maternal uncle to the sickly Manuel II Aristenos, that Dimitrios Zenōn was chosen to serve as regent in the final days of the Aristenos dynasty, and when the last of the Aristenoi succumbed to his long-term illness, it was the shrewd and capable regent who succeeded him on the throne.

Accomplishments & Achievements

In the early days of his reign, conflict with the empire's traditional rival, the Ardhéans, whose history and claim to an earlier empire threatened the legitimacy of the rising power in Lapara reached a head and a full-scale war as Ardhéans threatened to push into the eastern territories. It was scouts in the Ardhéan deserts that discovered, and brought back to the imperial city of Lapara, the relic that would be confirmed to be the Hammer of the World Anvil, which which Amphitrion forged the first tools that lifted mankind from its humble origins.

For years, imperial engineers studied the Hammer and the power that emanated from it, until they came across a discovery that would change the face of the empire: the power to utilize Rhodionite crystals to open The Shining Path, sending an individual across the vast stretches of the empire in mere minutes. The focus of the war in Ardhéa changed to one of conquest, as Dimitrios Zenōn was eager to lay claim to as much Rhodionite as he could.

With the empire's rival subjugated, and significant quantities of the crystal harvested, the basileus began a series of building projects. Each city in the empire was to house a small, domed, structure in the governing district that would house a carved crystal to facilitate communications. Within a few years, communication throughout the empire strengthened, and imperial control in the furthest reaches strengthened.

Personality Characteristics

Likes & Dislikes

Dimitris Zenon was a avid supporter of the arts, and a hosted weekly forum in the imperial capital with others who supported or produced arts. Two of the greatest writers of the imperial age, Procopios and Athanasius, were sponsored directly by the largess of the basileus. While the literary success of the Golden Age of Zenon was largely due to the emperor's support, work was also heavily censored by the Basileus and never reached the level of literary freedom that was enjoyed in the Republican Age.

Species

Human

Ethnicity

Laparan

Life

79 AFE 154 AFE 75 years old

Circumstances of Death

Natural causes associated with age

The Origins of Triumthelitism

Although the empire under Dimitros' reign continued its policy of religious syncretism, the uncovering of a relic belonging to the god Amphitrion and his increased veneration within the empire would lay the foundation for the eventual rise of the Triumthelite faith, which would one day be declared as the only religion permitted within the empire's borders.