Emperor of Maravel Dies At Age 97
CICIGAR, MARAVEL — The Imperial Household announced early this morning that Emperor Yongkiyaha-Shenxu of Maravel has died following a long battle with an illness now identified as Fry’s Disease.
After a reign of over fifty years, Maravel’s Emperor Yongkiyaha, also known by his personal name that he carried as Crown Prince: Shenxu, passed away earlier today at 97. The Prime Minister of Maravel, An Seong-Gi broke the news at a special address early this morning, eulogizing the beloved Emperor for his commitment to both his people and the entire Federation displayed in a lifetime of public service.
“The name of our dear departed Emperor will live forever in the annals of history as a name synonymous with humility in the face of duty, service before the self and moral rigor in a world sometimes ambivalent to it. The Era that bares his name will forever be known as a time of great trials but also carry the memory of many great triumphs despite them.”
Emperor Yongkiyaha’s 54-year reign encompassed some of the most tumultuous events of the past century including Wars with Cardassia, the Tzenkethi, and the Dominion, the Destruction of Romulus along with several domestic crises on Maravel itself like the collapse of the Akitori Government, the I-Shen Insurrection, the Bajoran Refugee Crisis and personal tragedies like the death of his youngest son Prince Fiyanggū. Through all of it Emperor Yongkiyaha maintained his famous stoicism, his way of preserving Imperial Dignity as a symbol of stability through trying times. This stern, fatherly exterior is what most on Maravel and in the wider Federation will remember about Emperor Yongkiyaha, something many admired him for.
“Maravelians, young and old, have lived through very turbulent times over the Emperor’s reign. The Emperor, the late Emperor, was like a big father to us,” said Taketa Ryutaro, the President of the Federation Chamber of Commerce.
Born the eldest son of Emperor Badarangga, Emperor Yongkiyaha, then known as Prince Shenxu, lived the entirety of his early life cloistered in the Imperial Palace in Cicigar before undertaking his first public duties at 13. For the next five years he made military inspections, opened hospitals, visited the sick and attended charity functions before he followed in his Grandfather’s and Great-Grandfather’s footsteps to attend Starfleet Academy and become a Starfleet Officer. Even then, the Prince’s reserved demeanor and rigid composure were noted by everyone who met him, as was his commitment to his own personal excellence and sense of duty. He would serve in Starfleet for twenty years before resigning his commission to take up the office of Crown Prince to his father.
It was during these years after his career in Starfleet and his own accession to the throne that Prince Shenxu met his wife and future Empress Anna Rzhevskaya, known affectionately as “Anya”. Markedly different in temperament from her husband, “Princess Anya” presented herself as warm and approachable, even boisterous but with elegance and bearing befitting of a future consort. His choice of wife was not without controversy however, and it was long rumored that the late Empress Meisho almost disowned her son after Princess Anya did handsprings at a state dinner. Regardless of their differences, the marriage was a happy one that produced five children.
When Emperor Badarangga abdicated considering his declining health, Crown Prince Shenxu succeeded him, taking the name “Yongkiyaha” at his coronation. His reign would see Maravel through some of the most trying periods in its history, but through it all Emperor Yongkyaha never let down his dispassionate exterior, serving as a beacon of stability to his people and the entire Federation.
Today, on Maravel, the planet prepares to enter a month long state of mourning before the accession of Crown Prince Hiowan. Ostentatious decorations are being removed from storefronts, though they remain open, and many industries are slowing production as a means of tribute to the late Emperor. In contrast to the man’s trademark exterior, many citizens of Maravel are teary eyed at the departure of their late beloved leader. While subdued, crowds of mourners have gathered outside the Imperial Palace to pay their respects, with masses of Noble Orchids, the symbol on the Imperial Seal of Maravel, beginning to pile up outside.
Some sees the outpouring of emotion as the signal of a new era, one that will officially begin at the end of the month after the elders of the Aisin Gioro clan, the ruling family of Maravel, confirm the Crown Prince’s accession. While some have called for the abolition of the monarchy like they did at the end of Emperor Badarangga’s reign, these remain a small if vocal segment of Maravel society which by-and-large is not ready to see the end of its ancient monarchy which traces its heritage back to the Qing and Jin Dynasties of China on Earth.
The funeral of Emperor Yongkiyaha is supposed to be an elaborate affair in that tradition and will take place early next week on the only official day of state mourning, after which they will put the late Emperor to rest in the Imperial Mausoleum outside Cicigar.
With elections scheduled for early next year, the accession of a new Emperor truly marks the beginning of a new era for Maravel and not just in name. It remains to be seen what tenor Crown Prince Hiowan will bring to his father’s office and how Maravel politics, for so long moored by an unshakable rock of indomitable calm, will react to the loss of Emperor Yongkiyaha but for now, the planet mourns its fallen Emperor that saw them through so much and whom many looked to as a father.
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