Kalvin Tau (regnal name Kalvin II) (11 November 1856 - 29 October 1927) was the penultimate emperor of the Antares Imperium from his ascension in 1898 till his death in 1927. His rule saw through Antares' initial expansion in the Centauran Wars, as well as its mostly benevolent nature as part of the Pax Edict (Kalvin's Law). Kalvin Tau is part of the House of Tau which rules over Antares.
Early Life[]
Kalvin was born in the family’s ancestral manor in Kharon. His birth came shortly after the Imperium’s defeat in the Pistris Plains War, and provided some much-needed morale to the realm.
As he grew up, Kalvin loved history, especially that of the Libran Empire. He was an avid reader of war stories, which his father often told a sanitized version of based on his experiences fighting in the Pistris Plains War. His mother, whose family once ruled over Lupus before it became a part of the greater Imperium, taught him to hate Aquilans for the Triplum War. Kalvin was also raised with a dislike of Cetans, seeing them as thieves who stole the southern Andromeda Islands from Antares.
The years following the Pistris Plains War were a period of trouble for Antares. Popular sentiment towards the military was mixed, especially after losing a land war to Cetus of all places. A young Prince Kalvin watched his grandfather, Emperor Aran III, struggle against growing discontent throughout the Imperium. On December 15th, 1873, the old Emperor passed away, and Kalvin’s father ascended the throne as Emperor Silvius II.
After finishing his schooling in 1874, Kalvin considered attending university or a military academy, as was custom, until his father informed him of plans for the coming war. He eagerly accepted, putting higher education on hold.
1875 War[]
Following the Aquilan Revolution in the 1850s, Silvius II observed an apparent decline in their old enemy’s strength after it abolished conscription. The Aquilan Army was smaller than ever, and thus, the Supreme Kouncil planned a war intended to restore the Imperial Army’s prestige and curry favor with the Empress Consort’s home region of Lupus. The plan was to retake the territory lost in the Triplum War.
While his father planned the war, Kalvin’s mother described to him how horrible the Triplum War had been for her people. She filled his mind with images of refugees fleeing the cruelty of the advancing Aquilans, who burnt down villages wholesale and slaughtered those who remained. His mother’s words moved Kalvin, who, anticipating a short war, decided to forgo attending a military academy to enlist straight away in 1875.
The war was nothing like what Kalvin anticipated. The Imperium had grossly miscalculated the state of the Aquilan Army. The Aquilans were all volunteers, each one eager to defend their homeland and well-equipped. Aquila had also heavily fortified its southern border with the finest artillery of the time. Instead of glory, Kalvin witnessed his compatriots annihilated in front of his very eyes by an onslaught of shells as they battered themselves against an impenetrable ring of fire. Against all odds, he survived until the armistice five months later. His recovered journals showed signs of spiritual agony and survivor’s guilt regarding his time at war.
When his son returned home, Silvius II held a parade in honor of the Crown Prince’s courage and service. However, the festivities did little to placate the masses. In Lupus, the people feared the possibility of an Aquilan counter-invasion, and all across Antares, the Imperial Army looked utterly discredited after losing its second war in the span of twenty years.
Faced with crisis after crisis, Silvius II spent a decade pacifying a damaged realm. He announced that considerable reforms would be made to the Imperial Army. In the Pistris Plains and Aquilan Wars, military organization had been troublesome, with the bulk of forces maintained as regional forces while the common army fought for leftovers. This arrangement made command and control difficult, as well as encouraging regional forces to hoard equipment and manpower. Their consolidation into a singular, shared army was paramount, as the Emperor recognized that blending units together was instrumental in weakening armed secessionism. He began this project by merging all of the units of Skorpius and Ara, presenting a united front that pressured Norma and Lupus into compliance.
Outside of the military, a crucial factor that allowed the Imperium to survive was the role of the Astranist clergy. For the past several decades, Antares experienced rapid industrial growth, urbanization, and cultural secularization. Priests, taking on their role as scholars and the medium between the gods and the people, engaged in a long campaign to spark religious revival.
Throughout the towns of the Imperium, from plains to jungles, sermons were given on every street corner. The faithful claimed separation from the heavens was the root of society’s ills and that Antares must cleanse itself as a nation. Inspired volunteers initiated a movement to rid their cities of urban decay and squalor while organizations backed by both faith and state rallied leagues of supporters against vices like alcoholism and gambling. Women’s rights in the Imperium experienced a marked improvement during this time as the faith called for their mobilization in all facets of society. The arts were also greatly affected, with literature, artwork, and even music from this time being noted for their religious outlook and almost comical patriotism.
Despite these positive developments, the imperial government was also willing to resort to authoritarian and unsavory measures. Major seditionists often found themselves subjected to a visit from the Kustodes Viatoris, the ever-faithful guardians of the Tau Dynasty. Many were threatened into silence. Others disappeared, sometimes for months at a time until they returned with a strangely positive view of the Emperor, and occasionally, never to be seen again. Dissenters were subjected to surveillance, with the Kustodes swift to act at the sign of any threat. Ultimately, the external threat the people felt from Cetus and Aquila, as well as the crushing of any revolutionary sentiments, ensured the survival of the Tau Dynasty.
As heir to the throne, Kalvin was deeply moved by these efforts. In 1877, he started attending the Kharon Imperial University, a respectable institution many of his ancestors had matriculated at, and concentrated in theology, graduating in 1881. His faith in Astranism grew stronger through those years as he wrestled long and hard with the contradiction that to end the cycle of violence, the Imperium would have to win a decisive victory over all of its enemies. After much soul-searching and speaking with priests, he realized that while he would have to wage a war, he could do so while minimizing the cruelty as much as possible. He remembered his mother’s stories of the suffering the common people experienced. He thus resolved that his war would be different. His army would seize the continent from end to end, not in conquest, but in unity.
Marriage[]
When he was just seven, Kalvin’s grandfather arranged a betrothal between him and Alma, a daughter of the noble Reseda family. Alma Reseda, born in 1858, was a year and a half younger than Kalvin. The two were close friends growing up. In their childhood games, she enjoyed playing the role of a princess, while he always took on the role of a brave knight rescuing her from whatever dangers they invented. Even after his experiences in Aquila, Alma was someone Kalvin was comfortable showing strength in the presence of.
The two were married in 1882 in Ananteria, their wedding met with muted celebration due to the ongoing crises in the Imperium. Although they were initially happy, having their firstborn Aran in 1885, their marriage grew colder as Kalvin engrossed himself in his work as heir. It would be another five years before they had a second child, Andrew, in 1890. Kalvin was notably absent in his sons’ upbringing; he allowed his work to consume him. When Alma passed away in 1893 from a sudden illness, he channeled his grief further into his work. The family rarely spent time together, leaving an aging Silvius II as the primary male role model for Aran and Andrew.
Kalvin was known to have a notably close relationship with his grandson, Prince Kaden, which annoyed Prince Aran, considering how absent his father had been in his youth. The accepted consensus is that the Emperor tried to comfort Prince Kaden regarding his childhood trauma of witnessing violence, seeing him as a kindred spirit. Kalvin notably fought against Aran’s efforts to send Kaden into the military.
Early Reign[]
|
On April 7th, 1898, Silvius II passed away after a brief illness. As the undisputed Crown Prince, Kalvin immediately assumed the throne as Emperor Kalvin II and began to carry out his work of preparing for the coming war. He focused his efforts on infrastructure, expanding the Imperium’s railway network and ensuring every major city had the means to mobilize the nearby garrison within days of notice. He also gave special consideration to improving the country’s healthcare system, largely out of the grief he had for his wife’s passing, and because he knew the war would see an influx of wounded. One organization established during this time was the Imperial Society of Medicine, otherwise known as the Red Staff.
Kalvin’s reign prior to the start of the Centauran War was considered pragmatic. He inherited a stabilized economy and a society that had largely mended itself. Life under Kalvin II was generally pleasant for the subjects of the Imperium, with most considering it a stable rule following Silvius II’s tireless work to restore the vitality of the country. However, those in the higher positions of the military knew their Emperor was also working tirelessly to fund, equip, and organize them for a future war. Kalvin finalized his drafts for what would become his famous Pax Edict.
In 1907, when Prince Aran graduated from St. Felix University, Kalvin assigned his son to work in the Imperial Army Direktorate. This decision was intended to serve two purposes. The first was the Emperor’s belief that Aran would be satisfied with his dreams of military service if put in charge of some portion of the Imperial Army’s decision-making body, and the second was because the Emperor expected his son to help him keep tabs on Imperial Army leadership when the war started.
After Prince Andrew graduated from St. Felix University in 1912, Kalvin assigned him to the diplomatic corps under the Direktorate of Foreign Relations. He saw a kind of symmetry in these appointments, where one brother would help initiate a conflict while the other would finish it.
Centauran War[]
Shortly after the start of the South Corvus War in 1908, Kalvin issued a memorandum to his officers that there would be a new set of regulations imposed upon them. These regulations, formally titled the Pax Edict and commonly known as Kalvin’s Law, consisted of two parts. The first was a codified set of regulations that were integrated into Antarean military law, carefully stipulating the actions that troops could not take. The second was from his address given in 1912, shortly before the invasion of Cetus. This address explained the spirit of the regulations he was imposing, why they were being imposed, and how officers and NCOs should seek to enforce them.
Initial responses to Kalvin’s Law were mixed. Most officers accepted their Emperor’s will, while others saw them as micromanaging. Kalvin countered these accusations with claims that the men were using brutality as a crutch and that doing so perpetuated hatred for them from defeated populations. He believed, sincerely, that benevolence would ensure a smooth occupation.
Kalvin’s Law was first put to the test in 1912 when the Imperium intervened in the South Corvus War. As the first Antarean troops stepped foot onto the Pistris Plains, Kalvin held his breath.
Aside from a handful of incidents, most officers were willing to uphold the Law out of respect for their Emperor. However, Kalvin was particularly vindictive towards those who disobeyed his regulations, believing that failing to uphold them was to mock Scorpius itself and delay the grand unification of the continent. Officers caught breaking the Law were often relieved of command and reassigned to a lesser position, while enlisted troops could expect harsh punishments.
After the capitulation of Cetus in 1912, Kalvin had a brief dispute with King Oliver Khorin of Corvus. The Corvun monarch showed resistance against ceding his sovereignty in foreign affairs to the Imperium. After applying much pressure, including a few threats, Oliver Khorin was made to abdicate, his son Henry, born 1885, ascending to the throne of Skorpii Corvus.
After the 1912 Aeminiva-Ananteria Express attack, where his wife and sons were nearly assassinated by a group of Cetan insurgents, Crown Prince Aran demanded that his father enact retribution against the Cetans. Kalvin refused to do so, saying there was no point in issuing punitive measures against the populace when the perpetrators were all captured or killed already. Aran frustratedly pointed out that sentiment was still largely against occupation, especially with Exercitus Maris holdouts continuing to stage landings against the Cetan mainland. Kalvin ended the discussion, saying he would not compromise on his goal to win the war without cruelty. However, he took on a keen interest in his grandson Kaden’s well-being after learning he directly witnessed a firefight and the deaths of several men.
Much of the military’s discontent towards Kalvin’s Law stemmed from what they considered unrealistic stipulations being implied any time there was an attempt to do something that could potentially endanger civilians. During the invasion of Aquila, Kalvin reluctantly authorized a controlled burn on the forests to try and root out the Aquilan Army and deny them forage. However, he issued an order that the fires could only be maintained for a week. Military personnel were flabbergasted by this, considering it not only impossible but also pointless. One Lieutenant Kolonel was relieved of his command after issuing an order to his men to burn the forest as long as needed, citing the presence of a division-sized unit of Aquilans dug in within the woods. Ultimately, the Scorch proved to be a moment of collective pushback by the Imperial Army against Kalvin’s Law.
Kalvin responded angrily to the Scorch by ordering a mass restructuring of the officer corps. Most of the senior leadership, loyal to him, rooted out officers who were seen as unsupportive or critical of the Law. However, this purge resulted in a rift forming between Kalvin and his heir, as Aran lambasted his father in private for constantly meddling in operations. Kalvin fired back that he knew what war was like and was trying to conduct one as closely to humane as possible. Aran refused to dignify the response, saying his father understood nothing about actually commanding a war. After Kalvin’s passing, many of the officers removed in what was dubbed the Ashen Purge were reinstated by Aran, including General Thaddeus Murdoch, who later became the new Emperor’s Arbiter of Military Affairs.
The conquest of Cetus and Aquila was met with jubilation by the Imperium. Kalvin was hailed by the populace as the Emperor who did what his predecessors were unable to do. For a brief moment, after evaluating the Scorch, the attack on Aran’s children, and the resistance he was facing from parts of his army, Kalvin considered ending the conquest there. He reasoned that Vega and Grusa presented little threat, the former feeling secure behind the Murus Plateau, while Columba and the other northern nations showed little willingness to fulfill their duties to their gods. However, his priests reminded him of how the peace between the Cetan Empire and Antares lasted centuries, and that if he did not fulfill his duty now, it would inevitably fall upon his descendants to finish the task. The Emperor refused that possibility and decided to continue with his mission.
Throughout the campaigns in Grusa and Vega, Kalvin continued to have his loyal officers in the Imperial Army Direktorate monitor incidents of his Law being broken. However, many of the younger officers began showing discontent with the progress of the two campaigns. The old guard, led by Arbiter Earl Markius, did its best to stymie these issues. The worst backlash against the Law began to emerge in the Columban Campaign. Columban irregulars proved to be a highly disruptive force against Antarean forces, cutting off supply lines, bombing roads, and retreating far into the mountains where they couldn’t be reached. Officers on the frontline demanded that the Law be partially relaxed so that the Imperial Army could target villages suspected of assisting Columban forces. Kalvin steadfastly refused, ordering any officer who violated the Law to be dismissed.
Emperor Kalvin’s wits were said to have begun fading sometime in the early 1920s, evidenced by his approval of Lacertan weapons experiments on criminals and his approval in 1926 that allowed bombing runs against cities. However, in the case of the latter, he stipulated that bombing raids should only be directed towards industrial districts, something that bomber crews found utterly impossible to implement with the technology of the time. Aircrew casualties were exceptionally high as each one was expected to photograph and log their bombing runs, ensuring they were over the industrial area of their target when they dropped bombs. Failure to do so could, and often did, result in consequences.
By the time the Emperor’s health forced him to take on a lesser role, the military establishment was reduced to a stubborn old guard trying to enforce his Law, while the bulk of the officer corps and troops actively wished to undermine it for the sake of military efficiency.
Death[]
Throughout 1927, Kalvin’s strength began to waver, eventually rendering the aging Emperor bedridden. He was unable to prevent Aran from forcing Kaden to attend a military academy after his return from the grand tour of the Imperium with his uncle.
The Emperor passed away in his sleep sometime in the night between October 28th to the 29th. Immediately following the confirmation of his death, the Supreme Kouncil declared a period of mourning for the Emperor. Meanwhile, Earl Markius, the Arbiter of Military Affairs, ordered a ceasefire across the frontline. Markius’s order was immediately rescinded on Aran Tau’s authority. The old Arbiter, a steadfast keeper of Kalvin’s ways, was given one message from the soon-to-be Emperor: “Resign, or else.”
Kalvin Tau received the standard state funeral, a seven day lying-in-state followed by a march to the family’s ancestral crypt in Kharon. The Kustodes Viatoris escorted him as crowds flocked to see the late Emperor’s final journey. A young Prince Kaden, himself frightened by his looming matriculation at the Royal Ananteria Military Academy, eulogized his grandfather, calling him a man of great strength and kindness, whose work would be finished by the new Emperor. Aran Tau agreed with his son on the latter point, though he privately scoffed at the suggestion of the former.
Legacy[]
Kalvin's rule during his tenure as emperor would be tame for the conquered nations, as his humanist approach would allow the southern regions to enjoy more freedoms and prosperity not akin to those who endured Aran's rule.
Personality[]
Kalvin Tau was a staunch enthusiast of the ancient Libran Empire, an entity which used to rule the entire width of Forma before its collapse. He believed that if all the people were united under one ideology, it would more or less end war. He also believed that Centaura would constantly be in conflict because there were multiple empires competing with each other; if only one empire remained, there wouldn't be war. Thus, Kalvin jumped into the war was an opportunity to succeed his dreams, siding with Corvus and plunging the war into 4 decades of conflict.
Notably, compared to his son (and possibly some of his predecessors), he was a fairly reasonable and just emperor, ensuring that all conquered territories would be peacefully treated well by the occupying soldiers. He also attempted to enforce strict discipline within the army regarding unnecessary conflict and bloodshed, especially when it came to the occupied territories, which was a far cry from previous Antarean army doctrine known for sheer brutality, initiating Kalvin's Law.
Playing a huge role in the reforms of the Antarean military, he was a great and impressive military organizer, as the reforms made Antares the second best military power in Centaura (at least in 1908), only outshined by Riaa. The reforms would show their results in the early days of the Centauran War, where most of the southern Centauran nations fell to Antares under a decade. He also accepted women into combat roles in the AIA to deal with manpower shortages, fulfilling the Antarean promise of equality regardless of gender and demonstrating practicality in his rule.
Despite these traits, Kalvin was not a perfect man. He was incredibly stubborn about his ideals, especially regarding Kalvin's Law, as he did not allow for it to be modified or relaxed in times of war and strictly punished those that went against Kalvin's Law, even for practical reasons. He also made careless mistakes, such as giving unrealistic goals for The Scorch and possibly allowing the Columban campaign to stagnate. These would turn out to be a terrible mistake, alongside his adherence to the law, as they would indirectly lead to the death of more Antarean soldiers, tarnish his reputation in the Imperial Army, and most of all, fracture his relationship with Aran Tau, who saw his father as an ineffectual leader. Kalvin was also not an attentive father, as though he loved his sons, he did not properly take care of Aran or Andrew due to grief and workaholism; while Andrew would not be as affected (though still greatly upset), Aran would be deeply troubled by this neglect, not helped that Kalvin refused to allow Aran to join the army despite his wishes.
Trivia[]
- Though likely just a coincidence, Kalvin has some similarities to the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, who was remarkably kind and gentle to his subjects and ensured that his reign saw no major military campaigns or uprisings (except for some military disturbances). He was also very popular among the Roman Empire for his reasonable and effective rule and his skill at administration, both traits Kalvin is implied to share.
- On the other hand, Pius' lack of fighting is where their similarities end, since Kalvin was the one who started the Centauran War, and he died half way through said war.