Jamez Carroll

Jamez Carroll was the great-grandson of Emperor Anna Leonov. His grandfather, Thomas Carroll, was the chief voice among the Carroll-led Bubs who wished to pursue an offensive strategy against the Patalanian Union during the reigns of Mery Tattersall and Carles Castiligoni.

At the instigation of Thomas Carroll, Jamez spent much of his childhood in the company of Marrc Jakobbsen, a year his senior. The two boys became fast friends and occasional lovers.

Jamez was an easygoing, sociable child, and kept those qualities into adolescence and adulthood. He made friends easily and inspired loyalty in others. Jamez passed his adulthood tests at age 16, and the next year ed Karen Wuorio, another scion of the Idara. Marrc Jakobbsen became an informal member of their extended family, and when the couple had a daughter, Kythran, in 428, they named Marrc as her godparent.

Politically, Jamez was a firm believer in the Bubs ideology. In his mind, there could be no peaceful coexistence with the Patalanian Union; the Union's very existence was an affront to the Empire. The only way to preserve the Empire and keep the Galaxy from falling apart, he beleived, was an all-out effort to defeat Patala.

Thomas Carroll died in 428, leaving Jamez' father Frederik Carroll to inherit the leadership of the Bubs. In a private family ceremony, Jamez vowed that he would carry out Thomas' vision for the future of the Empire.

When Carles Castiligoni died in 430 and Marrc Jakobbsen took the Throne, Marrc named Jamez as one of his chief advisors and, in the Succession Act of 431, as his Heir.

Jamez immediately made himself an integral and invaluable part of Marrc's government. Indeed, Jamez became the de facto ruler of the Empire, especially when Marrc proved incapable of dealing with the challenges of the Hlekkarian Plague. In the wake of the Plague, Jamez was the driving force behind building up the Navy and the war effort.

Marrc Jakobbsen died on 24 March 444 while swimming on Promethia. Although Jamez was not present, there was speculation that Marrc's death had been arranged, or at least helped along, by the Bubs.

Jamez gave such speculations little time to flourish. As soon as he ascended to the Throne, he became a whirlwind of activity. He increased the Navy's budget and appointed a Bub Admiral, Julieta Tzomides, as Supreme Admiral. Tzomides shifted forces from one area to another, pursuing a dual strategy of containment in the Transgeled, and offense on the Credix-Patala border. The ultimate goal was to drive Imperial forces into Patala and take the Patalan Star Cluster itself.

Unfortunately, Imperial forces proved unequal to the challenge, and the Credix-Patala advance stalled. The great expense of the effort sent the Imperial Stock Market plunging, and the Galactic economy entered a depression phase that lasted throughout Jamez' reign.

In order to get Council support for his plans, Jamez had to make a number of concessions granting the Provosts more power and influence over their Provinces. In particular, the Tarc opposition forced through the Act of Provincial Sovereignty, which recognized the sovereignty of the Provinces as superior to the sovereignty of the Empire, thus establishing the right of the Provinces to secede from the Empire under certain circumstances.

As soon as Jamez was confirmed on the Throne, the Imperial Council passed the Succession Act of TE 444, which named Kythran Carroll as Heir. When Kythran's first son, Jonn Kuchta, was born, he was named Heir's Heir immediately.

In general, Jamez' reign was marked by increasing dissension among the Idara, the worst economic downturn in centuries, and a contraction of Imperial power. When he took the Throne, there were a total of 11,215 settled planets in the Galaxy; by the end of his reign, fifteen years later, there were only 11,136.

In 450, Jamez went on a triumphal tour of the Empire along with Kythran and her son Jonn. During the next few years, the strain of rule took its toll, and Jamez aged rapidly. By 454 he was weak and his mind was starting to go; Kythran took over most of the day-to-day governance of the Empire. Jamez lingered for five more years, growing progressively weaker. He died on 9 September 459, at the chronological age of 48 and physical age in excess of 120.

Jamez was succeeded by his daughter, Kythran Carroll.