The Emperor of Imperia

The Emperor of Imperia is the absolute monarch and leader of the Emperian Empire. Regarded as the greatest statesman and political figure in the Andromeda Galaxy if not the known universe since his founding of the Empire and official coronation over three thousand years prior. The Emperor is perhaps the greatest Emperian figure to have ever lived; although, his life span alone defies all logic in its expanse, and rumors exist of the Emperor not being Emperian at all. Instead, many of the rumors speak of the Emperor being one of the legendary Ainarphem, the primogenitor race that supposedly went extinct millions of years prior; of course, even then these are just conjectures as no evidence directly correlates to the end of the Ainarphem, and thus hinting that the majority of the race vanished rather than went extinct.

Origin Theories
While the exact birth of the Emperor has never been known, let alone recorded, or exactly where about the being that sits on the Throne of Imperia originated from; only, that it predates the Empire by some extant. Imperial Archeologists and Scholars often argue on even the broadest of theories pertaining to their Imperial leader, with a variety of sources and different stories ranging from coherence to vast differences on almost every detail. However, several of the most popular theorems postulated by a group of archeologists and scholars known as the Originists paint a coherent tale.

From Originist sources the common theory is that the Emperor is not in fact an Emperian. Rather, the Originist's theorize that the Emperor is in fact an Ainarphem, even so far as saying he is a Valaphem (one of the twenty-five mightiest of the Ainarphem). This would put the Emperors age well beyond one million years. Though, it is often theorized that the Ainarphem life-cycle is entirely different at the basic level than that of most species, as the idea of aging seems to be entirely different in recorded texts found at Ainarphic archeological sites. The Originists later go on to postulate that the Emperor might have been a member of the Venerable, the Valaphem, and therefore explaining the Emperor's great leadership and intellect. This in mind, recent Originist councils have hypothesized that the Emperian species is a genetic off shoot of the ancient Ainarphem species; therefore, approving the concept of a continuous genetic genealogy, and that the Ainarphem did not go wholly extinct. Instead, the Ainarphem over the course of countless millennia changed into the first Emperians naturally or artificially.

Another powerful academic group are the Co-Sanguists; believing that the Emperian species was already evolving on its own on Imperia, and that a group of Ainarphem interbred with them. However, since no Ainarphem corpses have ever been found this can be just conjecture. Only texts and pictures left behind in their ruins show them for what they where, and several images vary wildly.

From these two theories (by far the most popular) it can be assumed that the Emperor either arrived on Imperia just over thirty centuries ago, or was there from the beginning and simply inhabited the world without ever making any marked changes of his own.

During Pre-Imperial Times
This relatively short period covers roughly a century before the declaration of the Emperian Empire. The being that would become the monarch of the Andromeda Galaxy's most powerful nation starting out as a wanderer whose renown steadily grew. From loner to rebel leader the Emperor went by a variety of names: Tor, Odan the Wanderer, and Drakon the Conqueror to name a few. All of these names were references to past heroes and native Imperian folklore, but were given to show the increased weight of his deeds. As the Emperor slowly conquered Novaheim, and the rest of the planet after the former was achieved, plans were laid out to expand to the stars. The Emperor knew that the Emperian species would not last long as a unified species on their home world, past grievances being too great, and so sought to focus their energies externally.

The Emperor's conquest of the Home System was swift and brutal, exterminating all opposition (stark contrast to his noted forgiving attitude on Imperia), and establishing an industrial base. Gradually building up resources while sanctioning 28 Legions that organized the various warrior orders, factions, and groups under the Emperor. Forming the basis of the Imperial Military, while establishing the Emperian Guard (to originally protect the Home System and later into the modern Imperial Army) and Navy to supplement the Warrior-culture of the Legions. With these at his back the Emperor set about conquer and retake every Emperian colony and system of importance that had been lost during the Dark Era. A side result being the incorporation of the Aetherians and a large number of Human colonized worlds in the process.

Imperial Era
The Emperor during the modern Imperial Era is one who has shed the mantle of the General and Warrior, to the statesman and symbol of unity. Since the Fourth Century of the Imperial Era the Emperor has seldom left the Home System, instead opting to keep a watchful eye on his dominions, perhaps waiting for a time when to venture out and finish uniting the known universe under one banner.