Yenise Löwenger

Yenise was the second child of Virginia Carroll and Mark Löwenger. She was a prodigy, especially in spatio-temporal perception, and was completely at ease in groups of children twice her age.

In her relationship with her older brother, Yosef, Yenise behaved as if she were the older sibling, rather than being four years behind him. With her quick mind and ability to charm adults, she rather dominated Yosef throughout their childhood. Curiously, she did not similarly dominate her younger half-brother, Henry Castiligoni.

Like Yosef and Henry, Yenise was educated in secular schools; unlike the boys, she quickly moved ahead and spent most of her time in the company of children two or three years older.

Yenise was 12 when her mother died and Yosef took the Throne. At once Yenise became his constant shadow and confidant, often displaying a much firmer grasp of Galactic politics than Yosef did himself. Yenise took and passed her adulthood tests in 386, at age 14; Yosef immediately named her as his foremost advisor. For the rest of Yosef's reign, Yenise made the majority of decisions while her brother maintained the public pretense of being Emperor.

Yenise was acutely aware of the dissolution of the Carroll Coalition in the Imperial Council, and struggled to maintain the Idara's power. A new coalition, headed by Idara Elendan, opposed Yosef and the Carrolls. At age 17, in 389, she made a political marriage with Eduardo Tattersall, gaining the Idara some much-needed allies. In 390 she gave birth to Mery Tattersall, and accepted the Imperial Council Succession Act of TE 291 which made Mery the Heir's Heir. The same Act, incidentally, named Eduardo Tattersall as Mery's Regent in case the girl was too young to succeed. This provision, viewed by all as a mere incidental formality, was to have important consequences for the Empire.

In late 383, as the Empire suffered further defeats from the Patalanian Union, Yosef began to stray from the Family's stated goal of defeating and reabsorbing the Union. Instead, he began to move publicly toward a policy of mutual co-existence with the Union, appointing a commission to examine alternatives for peace.

Yenise and the rest of the Family were alarmed. Before the Peace Commission could make its report, Yosef was found dead. Although many in the Empire and the Council were convinced that Yenise was behind the murder, a series of public investigations and trials were held, and the (Carroll-dominated) High Court convicted several Union agents of conspiracy and murder of the Emperor.

Yenise's most vocal opponents in the Council were threatened with personal investigation; the clear implication was that they would certainly be found guilty of treason, and so they shut up. Yenise's succession passed the Council, but many delegates abstained and the vote was hardly a ringing endorsement. In fact, a sizable opposition began to coalesce in support of Henry Castiligoni.

Yenise, meanwhile, grew suspicious and paranoid. As the Empire's defeats continued and opposition in the Council grew, she hit upon a way to neutralize the strongest of her opponents, the Elendans. The planet Elendan, along with roughly a dozen other worlds economically linked to it, was declared semi-autonomous. The Idara's leader, Elsje Elendan, contiunued to use the title Adjutor. The Treaty of Elendan (TE 394), which created this new status, was vague and many of its provisions took years to work out -- but the immediate effect was the removal of the Elendans from the Imperial Council and from the Empire's government.

In 395 Odonia was similarly removed, and Sedante and Teleskany were made semi-autonomous in 397.

No matter what Yenise did, however, the Empire continued on a downward path. The Provosts, half of whom were opponents of the Crown, were increasingly unwilling to release ships, troops, and materials to other Provinces. The economy suffered a major depression, hitting a low point in TE 399.

By TE 401 Yenise had become completely unstable. Enraged at the lack of cooperation among the Provosts, she drafted orders to remove half of them and replace them with members of her own Family.

Yenise Löwenger, however, was no Maj Thovold -- she lacked the political and military might to carry out those orders. After a particularly contentious Council session on June 24, 401, Yenise retreated to her rooms and closed the doors. The next morning, June 25, she was found dead in her bed. When an autopsy was finally produced, it merely stated that she had died of natural causes. Her murderers, if indeed she was murdered, were never found.

Yenise had died at age 28. She had ruled the Empire, first in her brother's name and then in her own, for 17 years.

According to the terms of the Succession Act of 391, Yenise was succeeded by her daughter, Mery Tattersall. Mery, however, was only 11 and still had years to go before she would be ready to pass her adulthood tests. According to the Act, Eduardo Tattersall acted as Regent for Mery.