Aaron Thomason

Compromise of 2141

When Jaques Gerard ascended to the throne as Gerard IV in 2140, his priority was to find a way to end the Imperial War with House Thomason. House Gerard was decisively losing both militarily and in the Convention of Houses, and the loss of prestige was leading to calls for House Gerard to be demoted to Major House status. He would engage in negotiations almost immediately, and the “compromise” that was reached was short of a complete capitulation. House Gerard was forced to permanently surrender the worlds it had lost to House Thomason, a blow from which they would never fully recover. He was also forced to accept a member of House Thomason as his Prime Minister and heir to the throne, but could not choose which member of the family it would be.
  Rather than name himself Prime Minister, as head of House Thomason he would nominate his son Aaron. At twenty-seven he would seem to lack experience, but like most members of the Thomason family he had been involved in the operations of Thomason Holdings from a young age. He would agree to serve under Gerard IV’s tutelage, and the Convention of Houses willingly agreed to his appointment.
  However, the Compromise of 2141 failed to defuse the ongoing succession crisis. By focusing his attention solely on the Imperial War, Gerard IV had overlooked the underlying causes, specifically House Gerard’s continuous violation of the agreed upon order of succession. Under the Agreement of Succession of 2095, it was now the turn of House Carruthers to take the throne, something both Donovan and Aaron Thomason would have been acutely aware of. Their unusual failure to address this issue suggested that they were already considering options.

   

Prime Minister under Gerard IV

Aaron proved to be a quick study, and by 2145 Gerard was largely leaving him to manage the affairs of government as he saw fit in keeping with the tradition of House Gerard. Thomason likewise kept himself apart from the growing crisis with Alexander Carruthers regarding the succession. His decision to recuse himself from the issue in many ways exacerbated it by openly relying on the legal decisions set between 2124 and 2136, and the precedents set by the Convention of Houses in regards to the Imperial War. Those decisions had given House Thomason the ability to openly assail the order of succession, and in standing by them he both gave House Carruthers the same opportunity while also pointing out the absurdity of the situation. When pressed on the matter, Thomason would reply that technically Carruthers was correct and that the Agreement of Succession was being violated by Gerard remaining on the throne, but that such matters were for the emperor to solve. This subtle suggestion of support did not go unnoticed by Alexander Carruthers.
  Using the essentially blank check afforded him by Gerard, Thomason would start correcting many of the flaws that had developed under the loose oversight of House Gerard. While the corporate retreat constructed by Leon Thomason on Belle Isle served as the official Imperial Palace, it remained largely unused for anything but ceremonial purposes, and the Imperium still lacked an official capital. Officials worked wherever they chose, causing the entire bureaucracy to move whenever an official was changed. Even the Convention of Houses lacked a meeting space and was forced to take out leases on theaters for every session.
  Thomason would begin a massive project to construct a new Imperial Capital, settling on a location offshore of Alexandria, Egypt. An immense, three kilometer wide coffer dam was constructed to support a complex of administrative and public buildings. Sediment was removed clear to the bedrock, where tunnels were dug to provide secure storage for imperial records. While most records were digital, Thomason recognized that these were easy to corrupt or falsify and he required that physical, printed copies be created to avoid fraud.
  While appearing from the ground level to be a complex of buildings, the new Imperial Capital was actually a single building of immense size, and Thomason paid careful attention to every detail of the project. It would later be noted that the project had a remarkable lack of cost overruns or corruption involved, and involved contractors associated with virtually every Imperial House.
  The Imperial Capital would officially be located at Alexandria in 2154 in spite of much of the work not being completed until 2163.

   

Coup of 2158

While Carruthers would pointedly refuse to meet with Gerard, he did meet numerous times with Thomason in his capacity as Prime Minister. During these meetings they would gradually come to an agreement on the removal of House Gerard from the throne. Thomason would make clear that not only had House Gerard violated the Agreement of Succession multiple times, but that they were decisively mismanaging the Imperium. He would explain to Carruthers that while the emperor had originally been intended as largely a figurehead invested primarily with judicial authority, the Gerard emperors had rarely exercised it and this had emboldened the Imperial Houses to assume greater power and immunity from prosecution than they were allowed under the Imperial Charter. It was his opinion that the Imperium was at risk of fragmenting into a confederation of fractious, warring Houses. Carruthers would agree that there needed to be a more proactive emperor to reign in the excesses of the Houses, and serve as a focal point.
  Thomason and Carruthers would take advantage of Gerard’s frequent vacations to hold a secret meeting of the Convention of Houses where Carruthers would move to depose Gerard IV. Carruthers successfully used House Gerard’s frequent violations of the Agreement of Succession to suggest that they could not be relied upon to honor their own agreements with anyone. This argument would sway many of their allied Houses to switch their support to Carruthers, and joined by House Thomason and their allies they were able to successfully pass the deposition.
  Carruthers would quietly take all members of House Gerard hostage and relocate them to territories held by House Carruthers. By the time Gerard returned from Tranquilitatis, Carruthers was already in control. Arriving at the palace for the official return ceremony, Gerard was met by Carruthers and Thomason standing together before the throne. Carruthers demanded that Gerard abdicate peacefully, offering a carefully veiled threat to the Gerard family if he did not. Noting that Thomason was standing by with the documents of abdication and the imperial seal, Gerard realized he had been entirely outmaneuvered. He would sign the abdication, and the announcement would be made that he had abdicated, rather than be deposed by the Convention of Houses to allow him to save face.

   

Prime Minister under Alexander

Like Gerard IV, Alexander would give Thomason a free hand to administer the government as he saw fit. Unlike Gerard, he requested that he be briefed on the actions of the government so he would be able to effectively wield his judicial power over decisions. Thomason and Carruthers would meet at the beginning and end of each day to oversee the administration of the Imperium jointly, and were often in contact multiple times a day. Inexperienced in government, Carruthers would rely heavily on Thomason in these matters and quickly realized who actually held the power in their partnership.
  Thomason supported the purchase of Constantinople for the location of the Imperial Palace in spite of the immense cost for both cultural and strategic reasons. Numerous attempts had been made to find a new location for the palace that were not beholden to one of the Terran national states, and the position of Constantinople when combined with its history made it ideal. While Carruthers was more than willing to demolish everything and start anew, Thomason took great efforts to preserve historic buildings. Virtually every historic building slated for demolition in the project was relocated elsewhere, often to the areas around Istanbul while others, like the Topkapi and Dolmabahçe Palaces found new homes off world. In many cases the buildings were sold, the proceeds used to defray the immense building costs.

   

Succession of 2161

The unexpected death of Alexander in 2161 suddenly placed Thomason in a difficult position. Under the Imperial Charter, he was to become emperor. However, he realized that he was far more effective as Prime Minister than he ever could be after taking the throne. He would serve as Lord Protector of the Imperium until a new emperor could be named. Howard Carruthers, the only son of Alexander was under immediate consideration by the Convention of Houses, but the deposed Gerard IV suddenly made an unexpected move. Gerard would formally announce that under the Agreement of Succession of 2095, it was the turn of House Gerard to take the throne. This would reverse his abdication and put him back in power. Thomason considered this possibility as a disaster, because Gerard would likely fall back to the disinterested, unengaged rule that had enabled the corruption and abuses of the Imperial Houses that he was only now able to begin addressing.
  The Convention of Houses would be split between Carruthers and Gerard and was unable to reach a decision. On the morning of April 16, Gerard awoke violently ill, and it was discovered that he had been poisoned. The dosage had been carefully calculated to not be fatal, and was clearly intended as a warning. Gerard would withdraw his claim to the throne and support Howard Carruthers, who had always treated him fairly in his captivity.
  Thomason would seem to take the poisoning seriously, launching an immediate, thorough investigation into the matter upon Gerard’s request. While the full resources of the Imperium were thrown into the investigation, it finally settled on a member of the Gerard household staff who had retired immediately after the poisoning and who could not be located. Officially the matter could not be resolved, and Gerard remained convinced that House Carruthers had been behind the attempt. Later research under the reign of Rauschning I would find evidence that the poisoning had been ordered by Aaron Thomason to avoid backsliding into the rudderless rule of House Gerard. During the investigation he would simply erase the location of the retiring staff member from imperial records and claim they had vanished.

   

Prime Minister under Alexander II

Taking the throne as Alexander II, Carruthers was utterly unprepared to rule. While he had his own intentions and vision for the Imperium, he would rely heavily on Thomason during the first years of his reign, often delaying decisions until he could confer with the Prime Minister. It was during this period that Thomason would be given the nickname of “the Shadow Emperor.” While many emperors would balk at this open attack on their power, Alexander embraced it, suggesting that they were more like Roman Consuls than emperor and Prime Minister.
  Recognizing that ritual could be used as a binding force on the Imperial Houses, Alexander II established court ceremonies with an almost obsessive attention to detail. Arriving at a diplomatic reception in his usual simplistic uniform as Prime Minister, Thomason was ushered aside and invested with the silver regalia used by the emperor during his enthronement. Pleased with this improvised solution, Alexander II personally designed a new set of regalia to be used by the Prime Minister. Agreeing with the emperor that ritual was effective, Thomason accepted the regalia and would wear it for all formal occasions, standing beside the emperor as a near equal.
  Like his father, Alexander II made the division between the two clear. As Prime Minster Thomason was responsible for the administration of the Imperium, while the emperor was charged with ensuring it governed fairly. The two established clear procedures for how appeals were to be heard, whether the emperor would personally hear the case or if a member of the newly established Board of Appeals would do so. The thorough procedures established would ultimately be followed until the fall of the Imperium.
  Alexander II would propose an “Open Door” policy to Thomason in 2162, where all those still located in Sanctuaries since the fall of the Second Republic would be granted residency status in the Imperium. This would give them freedom of travel and the ability to return to worlds if they chose. Doing so would also dramatically increase the available tax base and provide much needed skilled labor at a time the economy was beginning to stagnate from lack of innovation. Thomason carefully crafted this and submitted it to the Convention of Houses as an imperial edict, judicial in nature as it extended existing rights to an overlooked population. Doing so reinforced the position of the emperor as the supreme judicial authority while also raising Alexander II’s prestige.

   

Retirement

Alexander II would become increasingly aware that Thomason was considerably older than him, making him unsuitable as heir. This was something Thomason himself was well aware of, but was unwilling to discuss. The emperor would finally propose a solution, where his younger brother Samuel Carruthers would become Prime Minister and heir, while Thomason would become the emperor’s personal advisor. Aware that his brother was just as unprepared to be Prime Minister as he had been to become emperor, he suggested additional legal powers be given to Thomason to ensure a smooth transition of power.
  The two would agree upon this solution, and immediately after announcing his retirement in 2172, the emperor proposed two special dispensations to the Convention of Houses. The first gave Thomason the “power of supremacy,” where he could overrule the Prime Minister if he felt a decision was in error. The second was the “power of summons,” where Thomason could summon any government official to meet with him for any reason. The combination effectively made Thomason Prime Minister in fact, but not in name.
  As if to emphasize this, Alexander II also transferred the regalia designed for the Prime Minister to Thomason personally, decreeing that only he was entitled to wear them. He would also continue to stand at the emperor’s side during imperial functions.

   

Imperial Advisor

Rather than diminishing the power Thomason wielded, his becoming advisor only increased it. No longer busy with daily management of the government, he would meet more often with the emperor. In 2182 Alexander II would delegate equal authority to hear appeals to Thomason and he was often used to defuse conflicts within the Convention of Houses.
  When Alexander II died of a sudden stroke in 2189, Thomason strongly urged the new Alexander III to name Roman Carruthers his Prime Minister and heir. Thomason had overseen his education and he was immensely popular with the public and the military due to his service. He tactfully left out that Roman was married to Thomason’s granddaughter Irene and had several children together.
  Alexander III was acutely aware that there had never been a solution to the Imperial Succession Crisis, and sensed the same opportunity that Thomason now saw. The children of Roman and Irene would be both Carruthers and Thomason, something the couple themselves had emphasized in hyphenating their children’s names. If Houses Carruthers and Thomason were to combine, the weakened House Gerard would have no choice but to relent.
  Roman would become Prime Minister, with Thomason remaining Imperial Advisor and mentoring both the new emperor and Prime Minister in their roles. Recognizing the time spent in this, Alexander III would exempt Thomason from having to attend imperial functions, allowing him to use his time more effectively.

   

Alexander IV

The sudden death of Alexander III in an industrial accident pushed Roman Carruthers to the throne far earlier than expected. This would cause him to rely heavily on the far more experienced Thomason, yet he showed a degree of independence that none of his predecessors had. He would unexpectedly name his wife Irene Thomason Prime Minister, the first and only woman to hold the role. This was a surprise to everyone, including Aaron Thomason, but she was able to show the Convention of Houses that she was prepared and capable to gain the confirmation.
  Alexander IV would reissue the previous dispensations given, and add another granting Thomason personal immunity from Imperial Edicts. He was also given another title, alternately “the Imperial Voice” or “the Voice of the Emperor,” where it was understood that he was speaking for the emperor. The emperor also had a second throne added to the dais, indicating that he considered Thomason a co-emperor. When they disagreed, he would defer to Thomason, often bowing to him in public, revealing who he considered to be the senior member of their partnership.
  Together they would craft the Home Rule proclamation, where predominantly non-human worlds within Imperial space would be considered protectorates of the Imperium, subject to taxes, but not to any Imperial House. They would be subject directly to the emperor and able to form governments in any way they chose. These worlds would also be granted citizenship, rather than the usual residency status given to new worlds, as well as co-equal representation in the Convention of Worlds. The proclamation also opened the door for non-human participation in government for the first time in Imperial history and would later be considered one of the most important Imperial Edicts ever issued.

   

Death

Aaron Thomason would pass quietly in his sleep on June 30, 2197. When told that in one of his last conversations, Thomason had rather whimsically stated that he had “ruled five emperors,” Alexander IV is reported to have merely smiled. The emperor would order a full state funeral on imperial scale, with Thomason laying in state on the imperial dais before being moved to the Hagia Sophia for the formal funeral. Alexander IV would read the funeral oration himself, adding one last flourish to Thomason’s already long career by modifying his official imperial title:
  Prince Aaron Leon Thomason,
Lord of House Thomason,
Governor of Remus, Silinia, Campania, Centadi, Alexandria, Achaea, Tychos and Erytos
Prime Minister of the Terran Imperium
The Voice of the Emperor
Ηγεμόνας πέντε Βασιλέων (The Ruler of Five Kings)
Ο Αιώνιος Αυτοκράτορας της Σκιάς (The Eternal Shadow Emperor)
Ο Ιδρυτής της Εποχής μας (The Founder of Our Age)