Ilya VI Shiroko
Emperor Ilya VI Shiroko
Ilya VI was born in 782. He succeeded his sister/wife, Zora IV Shiroko, when her delusions made her incapable of ruling. Under her, the governmental departments and civilian police had descended into corruption. He is most remembered for his rooting out of his corruption and reorganization of the government. His dedication to justice regardless of the rank of the offender led to him gaining the moniker 'the Just'.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Ilya VI was born in 782, the second child of Zora III Shiroko. His twin brother, Bayko, was born three minutes after him, but his birth order dictated that he would be the one to marry their older sister, Zora IV Shiroko. The boys grew up as rivals to one another, with Bayko attempting constantly to prove that it was he, and not Ilya VI, who should be the one to marry Zora IV. However, their mother had already decided she would marry Ilya VI. As such, he was taught by his second mother and father about how to act as support for the baejan (empress). He learned a great deal about the same things Zora IV learned, including military strategy and history. However, he also spent more time in the midst of the twelve departments, learning their inner workings. This was done because the baejan would need to see the bigger picture whereas the tsudaeba (royal consort) could be relied on for the finer details.
During his Attunement Test, it was found that he was a pyr-esh, a compliment to Zora IV's skill with light magic. Along with his sister, he was also taught how to make the Ilyannoi, although his tended to be smaller than hers. He practiced extremely hard and through his life was eventually able to create some as large a tigers, but this was his limit.
In 802, he and Zora IV were married, one year after his sister had taken the throne and their mother retired. He was twenty at the time and Zora III insisted that they begin attempting to make heirs. Their first child was born in 803 and they were extremely happy. Still, they continued with their attempts. Sadly, in 805, their first child died and all other children had been either miscarriages or still births. It wasn't until 808 that their first surviving child, Krystana, was born and after her, Ilya VII in 813, one year after Zora IV had abdicated the throne.
Through the early days of his sister's reign, the country was mostly peaceful. Ilya VI spent most of his time assisting her and traveling between Eoion and Yzel for diplomatic purposes, another traditional role for the tsudaeba. However, in 806, he began to notice something strange going on with Zora IV. She became erratic and spent increasing amounts of time inside the temple in the Gandenye. He tried to speak to her, but she claimed to hear the voice of Ilya I Shiroko and refused to listen to her brother.
No one had ever heard directly from the Divine Founder before and he was worried that the madness that had plagued the family for centuries had manifested in his sister. As she continued to make the decisions of the voices a priority, and drain the empire's treasury with an obsession in building race tracks, he worked with both Bayko and their younger sister, Galyena, to find a way to make Zora IV step down from her position. Even with his time away, he began to see how the departments were descending into corruption. This needed to end.
In 812, he and Galyena convinced Zora IV that she could better serve Ilya I as a priestess in Parishi where the old Shiroko family mansion still stood. It was the birthplace of Ilya I and the temple there was the largest dedicated to him in the empire. She agreed and the same year handed control of the empire to Ilya VI. From that day, he became the baejan (emperor) and created a Tsirin to show his new right to rule.
Once Zora IV was safely in a place where she could be cared for while not causing trouble with her delusions, he set to work on the departments. His intimate knowledge of them from his childhood education gave him a unique insight into how they were meant to work compared to how they were going while his wife/sister ignored what was going on. He called all heads and vice heads together. All of the heads were members of his family. Despite this, he deposed some who had taken advantage of Zora IV's delusions to advance their own agendas illegally. Some were even imprisoned and one was executed for treason when their crimes came to light.
Seeing a member of the Shiroko dynasty punishing their own family so harshly was a relief to those to had been trying to be honest in their work and a source of fear for the criminal within the ranks.
Ilya VI continued his work, reorganizing every department and installing new heads and vice heads where necessary. Some were part of his own family and others came from the nobility. He assigned each one based on experience and ability rather than simply for favors or because they shared a bloodline. Along with this, he restructured the civilian police force. Especially in the outer areas of the empire, due to the corruption in the capital, the police force had become corrupt in their own right, receiving bribes and harassing citizens.
He allowed the citizenry into the Gandenye and investigated each complaint made against law enforcement. In the end, many departments were found to be guilty and he punished all guilty parties. This caused a swell of support for him among the population, restoring a great deal of the trust that had waned under Zora IV due to her delusion fueled negligence.
Lastly, Ilya VI spent a great deal of his reign redoing the penal code, changing or updating punishments and laws to be in line with what he was seeing in reports. His work on attempting to make the government and empire at large a more lawful place and his dedication to rewarding or punishing the deserving, regardless of rank, led to many giving him the moniker 'the Just' both during his life and after his death.
His most controversial decision within the family was choosing his son Ilya VII over his daughter Krystana as the next baejan. This was due to Ilya VII's ability with magic. Krystana could only perform alchemy, which made it impossible for her to create the Ilyannoi. This was seen as a necessary practice for a ruler. The decision led to a sour relationship between Ilya VI and his daughter for his entire life, along with hostility between she and Ilya VII during their marriage, which eventually turned to them being merely cordial with one another. Ilya VI stayed in power longer than expected to assist his son in ruling during the first several years of his reign.
In 857, Ilya VI retired, although he stayed in the Gandenye. His wife/sister had died four years earlier and he found that he felt more useful in the imperial palace than he would in Parishi. For the remainder of his life, he spent his time working with the Departments of State and Law, continuing his desire for justice, although he was careful to leave all final decisions to Ilya VII and Krystana. His final year was a series of compounding health problems that forced him to remain in bed for the last few months of his life. In late 863, he died from heart failure in his sleep. He was buried in the family mausoleum with the previous Shiroko rulers.
Relationships
Life
782
863
81 years old
Birthplace
Place of Death
Spouses
Zora IV Shiroko
(wife/sister)
Siblings
Children
Hair
white, long, entirely in small braids
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
pale, pink undertone
Height
6'4"
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