Carles Castiligoni

Carles Castilgoni was the grandson of Virginia Carroll through Leo Castiligoni and his son Henry. Throughout the reigns of Yosef and Yenise Löwenger, opposition forces had supported Henry, a popular Naval officer, as a rival claimant to the Throne. During the Regency (401-406) Eduardo Tattersall managed to placate the opposition and agitation for Henry weakened. When Mery Tattersall took the Throne in 406, she agreed to a Succession Act naming the 14-year-old Carles as her Heir. (The same Act, as a major concession to Carroll forces, named Thomas Carroll as Heir's Heir.)

Carles moved into the Palace and began his training as Imperial Heir in 406. He proved an able student, and showed particular talent in the financial arena. (Carles' mother, Lynn Cepeda, was Chief Financial Officer for Rockwell Interstellar, and was a major influence on young Carles.)

The relationship between Mery and Carles was, by all accounts, a friendly one. Mery, childless due to the Succession Act of 406, positioned herself as Carles' loving aunt; she established apartments in the Palace for the boy's parents, and encouraged them to remain part of his life.

Carles met Beki Jakobbsen, of the politically-neutral Idara Jakobbsen, at a Palace function in 408; the two fell in love and began seeing one another frequently. On Year Day 410, at Mery Tattersall's urging, the two were ed in a ceremony that caught the fancy of the Galaxy. Their son Marrc was born on September 4, 410. At once, Mery engineered a new Succession Act naming Marrc as Heir's Heir in lieu of Thomas Carroll. This move, which might have cost Mery considerable political capital under other circumstances, was made easier by the enormous popularity of the Royal Couple Carles and Beki.

Carles' father, Henry, was a Navy officer; he was killed in action in 416, at the age of 41. As the son of an Empress and the father of the Heir, Henry was given full Imperial honors in a spectacular memorial ceremony.

On July 6, 419, Mery Tattersall passed the Crown to Carles, then died peacefully. After a tenday mourning period, Carles began his reign in earnest.

Carles continued Mery's middle-of-the-road politics, but coupled them with astute financial policies that resulted in an economic boom throughout the Empire. The Patalanian War continued, but just like Mery, Carles maintained a "defense only" strategy, and by and large Imperial losses were kept to a minimum during his reign.

Historians generally count Carles' reign as an extension of Mery's -- a period of relative peace and goodwill in the Empire. Both opposing parties in the Imperial Council -- long known as the "Carroll Coalition" and the "Opposition" -- continued to lose power during this period, and by TE 425 the opposing parties were called "Bubs" (i.e. those who preferred a more offensive strategy toward Patala) and "Tarcs" (i.e. those who wanted to make peace with the Union.) These terms came from the names of two characters in a popular holodrama of the time, The Lambency of Kipanga.

Carles continued to balance the two, neither making peace nor going on the offensive, in a de facto recognition of the status quo.

Carles continued to rule strongly, despite failing health, until the autumn of 430 when he began to succumb to old age. (At the time, he was chronologically 38 but physiologically three times that age.)

Carles lingered until the morning of 17 November 430, when after a modest breakfast he went to sleep, and died a few hours later. His mother, Lynn Cepeda, and his , Beki Sanceau were both with him at the end.

Once again, this time for the last time, the Empire mourned for the loss of a beloved ruler.

Carles was succeeded by his twenty-year-old son, Marrc Jakobbsen.