Biography
Basileus Zikhmerius IV "Silvermask" of Rivadis
Zikhmerius IV "Silvermask" is one of the more interesting Rivadi Emperors. He has been viewed as one of histories greatest villains by many historians in Igoria today, and there is great reason for him to be viewed as such. He was a cruel and savage tyrant who brutally executed anyone who opposed or questioned him. Yet at the same time, he was a skilled and determined ruler who prevented the Rivadis Empire's collapse in one of its darkest episodes in history. The aim of this brief biography is to introduce the ordinary reader to his life and doings.
Zikhmerius was born in 689 AD on his father's estate in the countryside surrounding the city of Sorsonopolis in the Rivadis Empire. He was the son of Nikephoros Coroilano, a blue-blooded nobleman with several rich estates scattered around the Empire. He was tutored by the historian and thinker Anathemes of Taractul, who taught him history, literature and the values that all Rivadi nobles had to uphold. Zikhmerius early life was spent in the twilight years of the Rivadis Empire's Silver Years, an age of prosperity and great power that was not to last. As a result, he lived a blessed childhood, never wanting for anything, and yet his father was cautious not to spoil him too much. When Zikhmerius came of age (16) in 705, his father set him to managing parts of his estates. For four years, Zikhmerius did just that. Aged 20, his father found him a wife, a lovely young lady called Evantia, whom Zikhmerius married. At Nikephoros' command, Zikhmerius moved to Katopsis and became a part of the complex Rivadi bureaucracy, within a few years becoming a secretary to the Master of Justice, Lysandros. However, Lysandros soon fell out of favour with Emperor Atikan VI, who had him executed, and Zikhmerius was sidelined to become what was the Rivadi equivalent of Secretary of Agriculture. Soon after, Nikephoron Coroilano died, and Zikhmerius inherited most of his estates, though some were left to his younger brother Theodore.
From the age of about 25 until the age of 28, Zikhmerius held the post equivalent to Secretary of Agriculture. All this while, as was not uncommon for many politicians and courtiers, he began to find allies and patrons in the capital, all for one reason: to be in a position to seize power when Basileus Atikan VI died. Atikan was in his fifties, past his prime, and childless. The Rivadis Empire had a strong belief in ability before blood when it came to their Emperors, so the squalling two-year-old niece of a deceased Emperor would be out of the question to inherit. Some successions were relatively bloodless, when the candidate ascended with mutual consent from all those holding positions of power, others would last for years and would see much bloodshed.
Zikhmerius was fairly lucky with his choice of allies. His greatest ally would be the Master of the Household Cavalry Eutropius, the commander of a part of the Emperor's elite bodyguard.
Then, in 717, the Emperor at last died. But he died in the midst of one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the Rivadis Empire, which seemed to distract most people from the succession crisis that was developing.
In late 716, a trading ship landed in Denator. On board the ship were infected rats carrying a plague. By 717, this plague was ravaging the Empire, striking down people regardless of rank and status. The ageing Emperor fell victim too, as did a quarter of the population of Katopsis. All in all, it is estimated that 15-20% of the entire population of Rivadis perished in this plague in the next few years. But that was not all that befell the Empire in that fateful year, which was named the "Year of Sorrow" and "Year of Judgement" by many Rivadi historians writing about it. The Empire experienced floods in some parts, simultaneously to droughts in other parts. Hostile invasions from the north ravaged the northern provinces. All of this contributed to a state close to famine in many places, which was prevented only by Zikhmerius' successful management.
While the Empire was being ravaged and ruined by invaders, weather and pestilence, Zikhmerius remained in Katopsis plotting. The cavalry commander Eutropius was taken ill with the plague, but he would recover. In the meantime, Zikhmerius seized command of the elite cavalry force, and used it in turn to seize command of the Imperial Palace and proclaim himself Emperor. He sent a trusted eunuch, with a bribe, to the city garrison, who too went over to Zikhmerius and accepted him as their Emperor. With his post secure, Zikhmerius had the Patriarch of Katopsis crown him and set to remedying the Empire's problems. His first order of business was to dispatch the by now healthy Eutropius north with an army to confront the invasion. Eutropius was successful in doing so, crushing the invaders in several bloody battles. Zikhmerius also took steps to reduce the food and supply problems. He used his agronomical expertise as "Secretary of Agriculture" to personally inspect the dry/flooded farmland and had experts try and solve the problems to prevent this failed harvest from recurring. Zikhmerius also nigh on emptied the treasury to try and import food from abroad, but there was still not enough. Even despite his best efforts, the nation was still greatly weakened. Another invasion in 718 and then another in 720 and yet another in 723, which lasted until 726, prevented him from diverting the money that was necessary to pay troops to import food or try and combat the plague sweeping the Empire.
In order to increase the Empire's revenue to pay for food and soldiers, Zikhmerius doubled, then tripled taxes. He also cracked down hard on any corruption within the ranks of his tax collectors by hanging or enslaving any caught helping themselves to peoples' taxes.
In 719 came the first major rebellion, when hungry, disgruntled peasants marched on Katopsis demanding bread, a decrease in taxes and the sacking of corrupt officials. Emperor Zikhmerius was having none of it. The garrison of Katopsis marched out of the city and formed up for battle. Zikhmerius commanded them to charge, and the disciplined, heavily armed soldiers cut through the peasants like a knife through butter. Many threw down their weapons and yielded, but Zikhmerius had them slaughtered anyway. More than 20,000 people died that day.
Even though Zikhmerius did his best to solve the problems that ravaged the Empire, the living standard and general prosperity of the Rivadis Empire still steadily decreased. All the while, angry mutterings, dissent and anger among both the lower classes and the nobility were steadily increasing and Zikhmerius' enemies were getting all the more and more outspoken against him.
In 721, some of Zikhmerius' closest allies as well as fiercest enemies conspired to have him removed from power, following his brutal punishment (blinding) of a rich an powerful Senator who had been arrested for treason. But an informer let Zikhmerius know. He had the traitors dragged before him, and condemned them all. He was particularly shocked when among them he found a childhood friend, one of the men that had helped him rise to power in the first place. But Zikhmerius would offer no clemency. He had them all crucified or buried alive.
Zikhmerius wanted to be clear that no treason would be tolerated. He wanted people to simply tighten their belts and get on with the long and hard process of healing the nation. But his cruel treatment of those he convicted only resulted in more treasons and betrayals.
In the end, it made him crack. He had done the best he had to save the Empire, and indeed he had possibly saved it from collapse, but the constant treasons and rebellions were too much for him. In 721-23 there had been dozens of uprisings from angry client kings, governors and political rivals as well as simple aggravated peasants, all of which needed to be crushed at a great cost in both money and men. Yet the Emperor had toiled on to try and salvage the desperate situation the Empire remained in.
From 725 to 727, Zikhmerius had hundreds of people tortured and executed for opposing him, and did little and less to try and rule. His cruelty climaxed in ordering the arrest and execution of the Patriarch of Katopsis in 727, who had been preaching against him. He had the dead Patriarch's body displayed for all to see. It was enough to throw many people over the edge. His executions of nobles, senators and commoners had been bad enough, but this was an affront against the Ethreist God. A huge crowd gathered in the city centre. When Zikhmerius sent the city guard to suppress them, the city guard turned against the Emperor. They'd had not only their pay, but also their rations cut in order to provide for the frontline troops who were fighting against invaders. This crowd of townfolk and angry soldiers stormed the palace, overpowered those men still loyal to Zikhmerius, and seized the Emperor himself. Zikhmerius at this point had given up on life. He had become unusually pessimistic in the last few years of his reign, and he probably welcomed an end to it all. The crowd had been egged on by those nobles and senators who opposed and hated him. When Zikhmerius was seized, they proclaimed a young senator, Allis, to become the new Emperor Allis I.
Allis was the son of one Andronikos Malahion, who had been a popular senator whom Zikhmerius had executed on the charge of treason. Allis had Zikhmerius stripped of his crown and regalia, and gave him to the crowd to do with as they would. As expected, the mob dragged Zikhmerius down into his own dungeons and tortured him.
The vengeful plebs cut off the former Emperor's nose and cut out part of his tongue. They also tried to blind him. But before they could do so, one of Allis' representatives rescued him, bandaged him up and dragged him back up to face the new false Emperor. The Emperor decided to be "merciful" and had Zikhmerius exiled.
The next seven years Zikhmerius would spend in exile on the remote, stony and fairly bleak island of Dirnthir, the Empire's furthest outpost, pitched out in the Tyrophelian Ocean far from the mainland. The island had been unaffected by the tragedies that had befallen the metropolitan Empire, but it was bleak anyway. Trade was the main, well, trade of many of the islands inhabitants, as well as fishing. Any officials on the island expressed a desire to return to mainland Rivadis as soon as possible.
Anyway, as soon as the disgraced, exiled and mutilated Emperor arrived he was already planning a return to power. His first action was to seek out a renowned Britarian silversmith and have a full face mask made out of silver, which Zikhmerius would wear to the end of his days. This resulted in the island's governor, a man called Lysandrochon, calling him "Silvermask". The name stuck, and Zikhmerius would be called that by many of his enemies and what few friends he had.
Zikhmerius' life on Dirnthir is little known. But it is suspected that for the next seven years, from his exile in 727, he contacted mercenaries and found himself allies and pawns among the island's population. The Dirnthiri had little love or loyalty to the Rivadis Emperor in Katopsis, who they were certain cared little to nothing about them. Many of the islands officials felt like they had been sent to this island to die. As such Governor Lysandrochos threw his full weight behind Zikhmerius, laying his sword down at the ex-emperor's feet and swearing an oath of loyalty.
It is commonly said that Zikhmerius spent the next seven years sustaining himself on little more than bitter anger and a desire for revenge. Then at last in February 734, he took action. Zikhmerius was by now 45, fairly old for the time, but he still moved with vigour and grace. He crossed the Tyrophelian Ocean and landed in Centulas a month later, and marched on a northern provincial capital with a force of Dirnthiri soldiers and mercenaries. As luck would have it, who should be commanding that province's military forces but his old friend Eutropius? Eutropius was a skilled military commander, which had made him a valuable asset in this time of the Empire's weakness, but his support of Zikhmerius had lead to him being excluded from any political role under Allis I, and eventually lead to him being all but exiled to one of the northern provinces, where he was to far away from Katopsis to be a danger. In reality, it had the opposite effect. So far from Katopsis, Eutropius, had not been idle, gathering all those who opposed Allis. As it turned out, there were many. Zikhmerius may have been a cruel ruler, but he had been a skilled ruler. Allis was hardly so. He had gone back on his promise to lower taxes, realising that it was impossible given the Empire's precarious financial situation. Furthermore, Allis had sacked many of the officials appointed by Zikhmerius, many of whom owed their posts to their ability rather than their political loyalty or influence, and replaced them with lickspittles and those who had supported his ascension.
Anyhow, Eutropius gathered those who opposed Allis around himself. When Zikhmerius returned, it was like christmas had come early for Eutropius. He threw open the gates when he saw Zikhmerius approach, bearing his own banners, which Eutropius recognised, though he did not recognise the figure in white robes and a silver mask riding beneath them. He welcomed Zikhmerius, and when he truly recognised him, he fell on his knees, believing he saw a ghost. The reason for this was that Emperor Allis' men had often spread the tale that Zikhmerius was, in fact, dead. When he realised that Zikhmerius was alive, he ordered the governor of that province brought to him. That governor was corrupt, lazy and incompetent, but he was loyal to Allis. In front of Zikhmerius, he drew his sword and cut the governor's throat, then lay the bloody sword at Zikhmerius' feet, fell to his knees and swore his loyalty to Zikhmerius with the words, "Accept me, Undying One!"
Zikhmerius swept south toward Katopsis, taking every city that he came upon, and later on a very pro-Zikhmerius court historian described him at this time as being a "Hurricane of Justice". If so, than it was a cruel, savage sort of justice. Anyone who had supported Allis in the cities that he took, Zikhmerius executed, as well as anyone who had refused to bow before him and accept him as the rightful Emperor.
Within a few months, he had arrived right in the heart of the Empire, to Katopsis. The Garrison of Katopsis opened the gates, and the garrison commander personally knelt before Zikhmerius and begged for pity for his inability to control the garrison nearly 8 years earlier. In a rare stroke of mercy, Zikhmerius granted the man clemency, but instructed him to round up all those in the city that had betrayed him by that evening. Zikhmeriys lead his mean to the palace then, and found the gates open and Emperor Allis and several leading senators and noblemen in the forecourt on their knees, impeaching mercy. They received none.
Zikhmerius' second reign was even more despotic than the first. Zikhmerius neither forgave nor forgot, and all those that had cast him down were cast down in turn. Zikhmerius had been rendered unable to speak clearly as his voice was muffled by his mask as well as impeded by his mutilated tongue. As such, he spoke his guttural, unclear commands through a specially trained eunuch interpreter who would repeat his usually cruel orders to those for whom said orders were intended. A Britarian ambassador to the Imperial court described his throne room. "The braziers burning at either side, armoured guards lining the hall, the Emperor Zikherius sat on his throne, elevated above the rest of the hall by a pedestal, splendid and terrifying in his purple robes, crown and silver mask. The eunuch stood nearby, leaning in to his master's face, to hear and relay the Emperor's cruel commands." Zikhmerius' relations with the Britarian Kings was one of the key elements of his second reign.
Although the first few years of Zikhmerius' reign were peaceful, by 740 hostilities had broken out with the Kingdom of Britaria. This conflict was an escalation of a long line of slights and wrongs that the two nations did each other. The Rivadi were wary of the rapid rise and expansion of the Britarian nation, and were determined to reassert the Empire's position as the de facto rulers of the continent. Zikhmerius had long sought a casus belli against King Carathian III, and in 741, Carathian gave him the perfect reason: hedeclared war on Eranguard. Eranguard and Britaria had had a complex relationship worthy of its own article, but to put it in simple terms "Carathian wanted Erangard's clay". Tensions between the two states had been long building, but in 740 Carathian finally stormed across the border and began to occupy Eranguardian territory. Unfortunately for the Britarians, the Rivadis Empire had for the preceding 20-odd years had a treaty with Eranguard, granting the latter the Rivadis Empire's protection, and Zikhmerius was determined to uphold this treaty. However, Silvermask was none to eager to engage in a potentially destructive conflict with the small but strong Britaria.
Zikhmerius had been prepared to mediate some kind of settlement between Britaria and Erangard, but Carathian's incursion into a state under the Emperor's personal protection was too much for the prideful Emperor to tolerate. Silvermask raised his armies and marched to the relief of Eranguard. In the spring of 741, Emperor Zikhmerius met the King of Eranguard in a field somewhere, and before long received news of the Britarian army's approach. What was to come was Zikhmerius' only moment of military glory in his entire life.
Silvermask had with him some 30,000 Rivadi soldiers, nearly a third of them cavalry. He was joined by the battered, but nonetheless fairly numerous, Eranguardian army of thousands of men. Against them Carathian fielded 20-25,000 men. The numbers of this battle remain a controversy even today. Although primary sources listed Zikhmerius as commanding 30,000 troops, the accuracy of this boast in doubtful, as the Rivadis Army only payed wages for 118,432 men earlier that year. Taking a quarter of his men on campaign was too risky. Even so, there is evidence to suggest that Zikhmerius left a significant garrison at his crossing point across the River [name], which was essential for him to retreat safely should the battle go ill. Therefore, many historians assume that Zikhmerius fielded some 20-25,000 men, similar to the Britarians. The Eranguardian numbers are completely mysterious, but historians estimate several thousand men at most.
Although outnumbered, Carathian was a skilled commander who had defeated the Eranguardians several times previously, and knew their tactics as well as the Eranguardians themselves did. Zikhmerius was too cautious to risk engaging Carathian in a full frontal attack, even with his superiority in numbers. The Britarian king was an admirable leader whose men would fight to the death, and Zikhmerius was not nearly so inspiring. He could only enforce loyalty through fear. So Silvermask decided to play sneaky. He hid several thousand of his best and most mobile soldiers in a convenient nearby wood, and told them to lie in wait for battle to be joined. Then they were to take the Britarians from behind ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Zikhmerius was also careful to keep back an ample reserve of his elite "Spatharioi tou Basileus" in case the Britarians broke his main lines. The remaining Rivadi and Eranguardian soldiers were formed in two lines of battle, the Eranguardians in the first line and the Rivadi in the second.
That afternoon, the ground quaked to the sound of advancing Britarian soldiers, their banners streaming in the wind. Carathian himself lead the centre, and he formed his battle lines opposite the Rivadi and Eranguardians. At the sound of a war-horn, the Britarians surged forward, spears bristling from behind a wall of studded shields, cavalry raising up a dust storm as they charged. After a fierce battle, the first line of the allied army, the Eranguardians, were broken, and the Rivadi troops marched forward, shield locked, swords drawn and faces grim, to face the Britarians. The momentum of the Britarian attack had slowed down, and a savage grind ensued. Many of the Eranguardians rallied and returned to the fight, but still the battle ground on. Just then, the Rivadi ambush force appeared in the Britarian rear. They charged with a savage roar into the back of the Britarian army. Even when they were encircled, the Britarians fought on valiantly. Then Silvermask threw his reserve at them, and the Britarian force was cut to bloody ribbons. At the battle's end, thousands of corpses lay on the field, among them that of King Carathian. A Rivadi Cataphract had cut his way through many of the king's bodyguards and killed the royal. Zikhmerius had his head hacked off and put in a chest, carting it off to Katopsis as a spoil of war.
Zikhmerius had one more notable accomplishment to his name. A few months after the brief conflict with Britaria, a barbarian king invaded the northern Rivadi provinces and sent a message to Zikhmerius, demanding payment of "Two chests, one filled with gold and one with silver".
Zikhmerius' reaction to this was recorded by Ingvar II's court eunuch and historian, Patronicus.
"The Emperor commanded that such chests be brought forth to the throne room, much to the delight of the king's envoys. Upon hearing this command, Silvermask's interpreter fell to his knees and begged the Emperor to reconsider. But the Emperor commanded again, and the interpreter translated the Emperor's garbled command. Two chests were brought forth, and the Emperor commanded his guards to empty the gold and silver. He then commanded his men to bring forth the heads to all those Zikhmerius had had killed, among them the heads of King Carathian, cleaned of all flesh by scarab beetles, a the heads of many nobles and generals. Zikhmerius commanded the heads to be put into one of the chests, and into the other he placed a great many masks of iron and silver, that had been forged for his own use."
The following events are not fully accurate, as they were only first recorded by the eunuch Patronicus in 870, over a century after they had taken place. Patronicus' source was according to rumour, "an serving girl whose sister had slept with a man who knew a guy who knew a guy who had heard from a guy whose great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather had been there."
"Silvermask lead an army north, and told them to hold a league from the barbarian camp, and commanded them to advance once the sun had reached its zenith. An hour before noon Zikhmerius rode into the barbarian camp under the banner of peace, and came to the king's tent with guards bearing the two chests. The king threw open the first one, eyes glowing with greed, and when he saw the contents he did stumbled back, as he was frightened, for within lay the severed heads. Zikhmerius spoke, and the interpreter translated his garbled speech, 'This is what befalls those that defy me.' Silvermask said. He raised one skull, and spoke, 'This is the head of Carathian, a king who dared challenge the Emperor and Autocrat of Rivadis, the Lord of Centulas.' He set aside the skull and threw open the second chest, the chest filled with silver masks. 'I brought you the silver,' said Silvermask, raising a mask, 'for you will need to wear these once I have finished with you.' The king spoke, 'And how do you mean to chastise me so? You have four score men, and I have a myriad.' Then Silvermask seized the king by his arm and threw him outside, where the sun had reached its zenith. The king did gaze upon the field, and beheld the armies of the Rivadis marching forth. 'I have a myriad,' said Silvermask, 'and half again as many.'"
The phrase "A myriad and half again as many" means "A myriad and a half," implying that Zikhmerius had at his disposal 15,000 men. Many have questioned the authenticity of this account, as they claim that the barbarian king would have slain Zikhmerius on the spot for this insult.
Yet one must remember that these were superstitious times. There was a strong superstition that Zikhmerius was a ghost or indeed a demon from the deepest circle of hell sent to punish mortal men for their sins. How else could he have survived such mutilations and torment? Even in the Rivadis Empire there was a rumour among the common folk that after Zikhmerius' return, a man loyal to Allis had snuck in to the sleeping Emperor's chambers and had cut off his head while he slept. Come morning, Zikhmerius simply woke up, stuck his head back on and had his guards hunt down the would be assassin.
Zikhmerius' second reign was fairly uneventful, except for the few brief conflicts. For the most part, it saw Zikhmerius continued his repression and attempt to further stabilise the Empire. Zikhmerius had become a very fearsome figure by the time of his death, and his image helped shield the weakened Rivadis Empire from further hostile attacks. Zikhmerius died in the spring of 749, aged 59. His death is considered natural, as there was no evidence otherwise. Yet there is always the possibility that at long last one of his numerous enemies had succeeded in bumping him off. He was buried wearing his iconic silver mask.
Zikhmerius would not rest in peace for too long, though. In the middle ages, his remains were dug up, and his silver mask pinched by some nobleman claiming to be a descendent. The mask passed from hands to hands, eventually ending up in the hands of an art collector in the 18th century, who proceeded to donate it to the Glopurg Imperial History Museum, where it is displayed to this day, although tarnished.
