Little is truly known about the Second Emperox of Acheron Rho, the sands of time and the black hole of information, The Scream, has obscured what happened between the years 2315 and 2415 of the Imperial Calendar. The official histories, collected in the Great Library and spread to the sector, show a benevolent Empress who reformed the tax code, funded massive infrastructure projects, professionalized the bureaucracy of the Empire, and brought prosperity to all. However, some Eridanii tell another tale. A tale of three Emperox ruling as one, or three in quick succession, or that there was no Emperox at all and the empire was run exclusively by noble administrators. Whichever it was the exact facts are not known and has left much for speculation.
The Official History of Empress Eridanus Juliana (b. 2297, r. 2315-2415, d. 2429)[]
Early Life[]
At the age of twelve, she developed a system to calculate the tax rate of a planet given various statistics such as population, hectares of arable land, GDP, etc. Juliana’s Formula is still used today in the offices of the Taxarch. A simplified version of the equation is sung as a nursery rhyme to Eridanii children. The formula resembles both the Drake Equation and the Quadratic Formula.
- ♫ Gross income lest allowable deductions multiplied by planetary tariff rate lest tariff modifiers plus tax penalties, with the resulting faction being reduced by offsets and then increased levies. ♫
Maternum Pax et Prospera: The Maternal Peace and Prosperity []
The complete story of Empress Juliana is known only to the Vaultkeeper and the Triumvirate and held as a warning of pushing the powers of tax collectors too far. Records kept in the vaults of the Imperial Bank divide her reign into three acts. Publicly available histories are scrubbed of many of the acts committed during the second act of her reign.
Seizure of the Means of Taxation[]
The early days of the Empress’ reign saw a general increase in revenue for the empire. The efficiency of an Eridanii bureaucracy allowed for increased trade, greater profit margins for landowning nobles, and increased revenues for the empire as a whole. Taxation practices were increased and the Empress promised that a small financial burden now would achieve unprecedented dividends in the future. Nobles across the sector agreed to this, they were seeing their on wealth increasing with the opening of more markets and the freeing of trading fleets. As well the aristocracy saw that their serfs were achieving greater financial autonomy as the sector’s economy boomed and needed to be kept in their place.
Fall of the Ideal/ Exploitation of the Masses[]
Higher taxation rates brought the heavy hand of the noble class on the common people of Acheron Rho. Despite the increased revenues, the Empress desired more from the sector, consumption taxes and shipping tolls were enacted to extract even more credits from the flourishing economy. These credits were invested in further development of infrastructure and territorial expansion.
The general history ends here, however, a select few, notably, the Vaultkeeper and Triumvirate are aware of what is believed to have followed.
Money alone could not build the empire that Empress Eridanus Juliana desired. Financial reforms and complicating the tax code were aided by social reforms. During a brief period of her rule, various types of corvee labour, labour camps, universal food rationing to nonimperial houses, and even slavery were used to build our glorious empire. The imperial bank was pushed both fiscally and morally to the point of implosion. Spending was rampant and revolution was believed to be on the horizon.
The secret history warns Eridanii leaders what may have happened if economic and financial development were placed above all other factors. The Empire almost died in its second century, but wise counsel and dumb luck abated the crisis.
Dawn of a Golden Age []
Colonization and Infrastructure built and managed during the era of extortionate taxation policies eventually, some may say miraculously, turned a profit. The Empress’s plan was successful: a small amount of pain up front for the reward of a stronger and greater empire. Many of Empress Eridanus Juliana’s reforms were pulled back or reversed and stability alongside steady financial growth would reign over the empire for generations to come. The foundation of a glorious millennium was the work of the erudite and efficient Empress Eridanus Juliana, second Emperox of Acheron Rho.
Memory of the Eridanii Empress[]
Most Eridanii know how her judicious use of increasing taxes which allowed for a flourishing of trade, wealth, and general prosperity. The Golden Age of Humanity was in-fact a perfect world where no-one suffered and all was right in the world.
Many who believe that raising taxes would solve many issues in the Empire are called Julianans or Julianians and an entire field of financial study is dedicated to her policies. Julianan Economics is taught to all Eridanii nobles and is a vital portion of Educatos teachings. If all members of the empire pay their taxes, the empire will prosper, and everyone will benefit. In Julianan thought, increased taxes equates with increased prosperity and thus increased happiness. Through the transitive property, taxation, whether exercised on others or on oneself makes Eridanii Nobles who prescribe Juliananism happy.
Unofficial Histories[]
Based on a series of ancient busts and statues found in the Canals of Mesop which are inscribed with the name of the second Emperox look distinct from each other. The passage of time has marked as scratched away many of the features from these stone and marble faces. A few such statues appear to be made by the same mason and bear the same descriptions, often come in threes and look nothing alike. The archaeological discoveries of the busts of the second Emperox have led to many questioning the official chronicles of the pre-Scream Empire. Various interpretations exist among the Eridanii of exactly how this came to be. Below a sample are described.
La Familia Eridanii[]
Gathering a consensus of pre-scream histories and conspiracy theories is almost impossible and the theory of the Emperox Familia is full of various interpretations. It is proposed that three members of a nuclear family who each reigned as Emperox in the period of the second Emperox. The exact structure of the family is unknown. Whether it was a father, a mother, and a child or, a parent and two children who succeed one another us up for debate. The names are likewise contentious however many agree at least one member had a name akin to the official Empress Juliana. Be they, Jules, Julius, Julia, or Julie, the name and variations on it seem to be shared throughout all interpretations.
The First Triumvirate[]
Similar to La Familia Eridanii, the understanding of the second Emperox as a group of three siblings is the most widely accepted unofficial history of the Eridanii Emperox. Based on a series of ancient busts and statues found in the Canals of Mesop which despite looking nothing alike are described as “Emperox Jul II of Acheron Rho” A Triumvirate of siblings, some say all brothers, some say sisters, others propose triplets, ruled Acheron Rho as one. Using the combined wits of a trio of Eridanii, the Triumvirate was successful in pushing tax and economic reforms. This arrangement has survived in the organization of the modern Triumvirate of Taxarch, Transactions, and Trivox.
Theological Debate over the Triumvirate Theory[]
This proposition of three concurrent Emperox has received considerable backlash from the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperox . They would state that God only chooses one Emperox to lead the Empire. It would follow that three individuals were embodiments of the Messiah at once is a fact clearly not evident in The Sacred Texts. If not the Messiah actively deceived their flock and conspired with lesser nobles than the Emperox to govern over the holiest and devout of thrones.
Era of the Code (aka the Republic of Bureaucrats)[]
2315 to 2415 is also believed to be a time ruled not by a divine Emperox, but by a shadowy senate of bureaucrats who conspired to build an impenetrable history of regulations, policies, and norms to ensure that an Eridanii would forever hold the throne. Evidently, this was not the case, near the end of the first century of the republic, trouble started brewing for the bureaucrats. The nature of the troubles are forever speculated upon, even have been made into a drinking song, but whatever they were the republic is said to have hastily destroyed the records of the government. An error rumored to be hidden away in the thousands of pages of the Galactic Tax Code is said to be a vestige of this last act of the republic.
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