Historians of the Laurasian Empire

This page lists the Historians of the Laurasian Empire and the Laurasian civilization, from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries AH. Laurasian historiography is one of the most distinguished in extra-galactic civilization, and has origins extending back to before the First Laurasian Space Age. Laurasian historians write in three ways: the biographical tradition, the annalistic tradition, and the monographic tradition. The first revolves around detailed biographies and accounts concerning individuals important in galactic or Laurasian history; the second comprises year-by-year histories, covering periods of time, or extending through all periods of galactic history; the third comprises non-chronological accounts of events and circumstances in Laurasian history. This page notes the significant historians, gives some details about their lives, and their major works.

=The Historians=

Sir Flavius Josephus (1437-1501)
Sir Flavius Josephus (January 3, 1437-March 21, 1501), was a renowned Donguarian-Laurasian scholar, historian, and hagiographer. He was born on Donguaria Prima, as Joseph bin Hayyah, the son of the Donguarian Prince Rudolph bin Hayyah (1390-1461) and his wife Tamaya (1412-75), who was herself a member of the powerful Heshruddia family. Educated on Laurasia Prime, graduating from the University of the Empire in 1460, Josephus became the commander of Donguarian forces of Jotapata, and surrendered to General Vespasian when that stronghold was overrun by Laurasian forces. Josephus used old Donguarian prophecies to claim that Vespasian would become Emperor; Vespasian, in return, decided to give him his freedom and to employ him in his service. In 1470, he changed his name to Flavius Josephus. He became the friend and advisor to Vespasian's son, General Titus, and was rewarded for his services in 1475 by being made a subject of the Empire, knighted, and appointed to the Governing Senate. He had already established his residence on Laurasia Prime from 1471, and resided there for the rest of his life. Settling in as an average Laurasian gentleman, he devoted all of his time and effort to works of historical value. The two most important works produced by him were The Donguarian Rebellion (1488) and The Antiquities of the Galaxy (1491). The first work contained a brief outline of the history of the Donguarian Stellar Empire, the Kingdom of Polonia, and the Polonian-Donguarian Commonwealth. It then discussed about, in detail, the Commonwealth's weakening and fall to the Laurasian Empire in 1434, and from thence, further developments related to the beginning of Laurasian occupation. Its most important focus, however, was on the Donguarian Rebellion of 1466-73, describing the campaigns of Vespasian and Titus, and the relationship of the events in the rebellion to events in the Empire at large. Josephus's second work, The Antiquities of the Galaxy, was a twenty-volume historiographical work focusing on ancient galactic history, from the formation of the galaxy (c. 13 billion BH) to the conquests of the Marauder Empire in the fifth century AH. It contained valuable materials on the Founders, Cree, Shapeshifters, Metasians, Paulines, Old Robertian Empires, Old Huntite Empires, the early Stellar Republic of Laurasia, the Arachosian and Marauder Empires, the Millian and Neo-Cadarian Empires, and the emergence of such civilizations as Kalbacha, Venasia, Polonia, Rasdalla, Briannia, Homidinia, Lacia, Donguaria, Xilania, etc. Josephus drew extensively upon archeological findings, primary and secondary sources, and upon the histories of previous writers to compile his work.

He died on March 21, 1501, in Christiania, Laurasia Prime, and was interred at St. Colombia's Cathedral. His body would be translated to the Westphalian Cathedral in 1535, and in 1782, he would be among the individuals honored in the Gallery of Historians, during the reign of Aurelia the Great.

Sir Decabulus Aoari (1456-1520)
Sir Decabulus Aoari (November 9, 1456-June 3, 1520), was born on Caladaria, in the Laurasia Prime Purse Region. He was the son of Sir Cornelius Aoari (1407-81), who served as the Senatorial Procurator of Goldaria from 1447 to 1462, and was one of the most respected regional administrative officials in the Empire. His mother was Lady Demonstratia Aoari (1431-97), who was a quarter of a century younger than her husband. From youth, Aoari was raised in a privileged, prestigious household. He lived primarily on his father's estates in the Goldarian Provinces, such as at Yularen, Constantia, Stenbock, Daala, Natasi, and Pellaeon, thereby developing an appreciation for the customs and the cultures of the peoples of the southern Central Core. His father, when not attending to his duties as Senatorial Procurator, also took his family on trips to various regions of the Empire; Aoari visited worlds from Horacia, to Donguaria Prima, to Clancia, to Morgania Major, and so forth, thereby gaining a further awareness of the diversities of languages, cultures, and customs within the Empire as a whole. This was to have an influence upon him in his historical works. In 1474, upon his graduation from St. Nicantius's High School on Goldaria, from whence he graduated as salutatorian of his class, he won a full-ride academic scholarship to attend the University of Caladaria. There, he came under the tutelage of the renowned Professor of Dialetics and Rhetoric, Sir Quintillian Fabius (1435-1500), who was one of the most renowned rhetoricians in the Empire.

Aoari came to develop a passion for oratory, for history, anthropology, sociology, archeology, geology, astronomy, and for languages. He mastered Arachosian, Lacian, Dasian, Halegothican, Brestord, Kuevian, Ashlgothian, and Jarjanican, and developed a literary knowledge of Marauder, Homidinian, Torfian, Amelianian, and Melorkian, thereby being able to grasp and to understand the works of the past. His passion for the political sciences and for legalistic thought was also to pervade his works. Upon graduation from the University in 1478, Aoari entered the Imperial Civil Service, joining the staff of the Imperial Bureau of Correspondence and Bureaucracy. He showed much merit in his work, and by 1481, during the reign of Emperor Titus, had advanced to become a Quaestor of Ralina Vixius. In 1488, he was named Praetor of Caladaria, and then a quindecimivir, an honorary civilian official of the Imperial Almitian Church, as relating to its secular processions and observances. In 1492, he accepted a seat as Adjunct Professor of Rhetoric and Political Science at the University of Chancia, where he remained for twenty-six years. In 1499, he was named to the Governing Senate by Emperor Antigonus, and in 1501, became Chief Correspondence Clerk of the Inns of Christiania, one of the Empire's premier law chambers. From 1497, he also served as a suffect of the Cities of Christiania and Constantinople on Laurasia Prime, and adjunct of Barsoni City, Briannia. It was in 1494, the year after the death of his father-in-law, General Agricola, that he began writing his historical works.

Between 1494 and 1517, he produced five major works of significance: the Life of Agricola (1498); the Origins of the Kuevians and Halegothicans (1500); the Dialogues of Laurasian Oratory (1502); The Annals of the Laurasian Monarchy (1509); and The Histories (also 1509). He also wrote a number of epigrams, communiques, poems, essays, and legal briefs, comprising some twenty volumes. In Agricola, he explored the life of his father-in-law, and his campaigns in the Hypasian and Angelican Provinces. In this work, he included a comprehensive account of the Empire's advance in those regions, and the original circumstances of the conquest of 1443, under Claudius II. In his Origins, he provided valuable material about the Barbarian Invasions of 1106, about King Genseric of Kuevia, Theodoric the Great of Halegothica and his predecessors, and the origins of those peoples from their original galaxies. He included tales and legends which they had passed down, along with pointed analysis of their actual development, and the influence of the Founders on them. His Dialogues expounded upon oratory, poetry, and the importance of both in dialetics, in law, and in the other social sciences. This included accounts of speeches given by such great ancient Laurasians as Cicero and Livy. The Annals contained an comprehensive account of all Laurasian monarchs in the Space Age, from Arasces the Founder himself down to Emperor Antigonus I; the Histories covered the Theocratic Republic of Laurasia, the Galactic Confederation, and the early days of the hyperdrive. In all of his works, Aoari employed sharp irony and witty observation; he placed a heavy emphasis upon original sources, quoting from a variety of earlier historians and contemporary accounts.

Aoari served as Governor of Goldaria from 1512 to 1517, which was his last great post. He then retired following the death of Emperor Antigonus to Mordan, and died there on June 3, 1520, at the age of sixty-three. He was interred at his family's plot on Caladaria.

Sir Cassius Dio (1555-1635)
Sir Cassius Dio, 1st Baronet Dio of Charasia (April 29, 1555-April 30, 1635), also known as Dio Cassius, was a Laurasian statesman, gentleman, and historian. He was born on April 29, 1555, in Nicaea, Constantine I, in the Constantine Cluster. Dio was the only son of Sir Cassius Apronianus Dio (1529-1601), and his wife Pantadoria (1533-1614). The elder Dio, who claimed descent from King Gu'starai I of Briannia (1155-60), and was a member of both the Laurasian and the Briannian hereditary nobilities, was also one of the most respected courtiers at the Imperial Laurasian Court. In fact, he was greatly favored by Antioninus Pius and by his successor, Antigonus II; in 1554, he had become a member of the elite Praetorian Guards, and a decade later, was named to the Governing Senate. Dio was also one of the wealthiest gentlemen in the Empire, owning estates on Constantine I, Mercedes, Andriana, Chesrone, Chesham's Star, Americana, Aquilionia, Briannia, and on major strongholds of the Rebeccan Galactic Trade Route. His wife, Lady Pantadoria Dio, was the heiress of Sir Lysimachus Tereius (1501-60), who owned Tereian Architectural Firm, one of the most prominent design and architectural firms in the Laurasian Empire. Their son, the younger Dio, was therefore raised in the best of conditions. He grew up on his family's varied estates, toured through the Core Regions, and had the chance to visit the Imperial Court on Laurasia Prime.

Dio received his education from private tutors, the most prominent of which was Sir Lucian Merello (1512-75), who was the Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Constantine I. He became proficient in ten languages, and with Merello's encouragement, developed a lifelong love for philosophy, rhetoric, sociology, and psychology. He also became imbued with a passion for the political and historical sciences, and determined to look into the facts of the past. In 1573, Dio entered the University of Laurasia Prime, and quickly rose to the top of his class. He served as President of the Philosophical Debate Club, won the Galactic Tournament of Knowledge on Caladaria (1575), and was elected, in his senior year, to be President of his class. Upon graduating from the University of Laurasia Prime in May 1577, Dio took a position with the College of St. Anthony's on Constantine I, and became involved with the affairs of the Historical Preservation Society in that star system. His father, moreover, promoted his son's rise in the civil and political sphere; he became a sub-Aedile in Nicaea, was elected to the Noble Chamber of Constantine in 1581, and in 1584, became an attache to the Heraldmaster's Office of the Governing Senate, a position secured for him by his father. By 1586, moreover, Dio had moved to the University of Constantine I and embarked upon his doctoral studies. He was awarded his PhD in Galactic Antiquities and Historical Philosophy in 1589; his dissertation, On the Influence of Cicero and Terence, proved to be a milestone of Laurasian historical scholarship.

In 1591, Emperor Commodus appointed the younger Dio to the Governing Senate, persuaded by the entreaties of his father. Dio was to serve in the Senate for the rest of his life. The following year, he was made President of the Historical Preservation Society, and promoted to the rank of full Professor at the University of Constantine I. It was during this time that he published his first historical works: The Destruction of Americana (1592), Cliethus the Great: A Man and His Legacy (1594) and The Hyperdrive Calendar: Its Origins, Context, and Influence (1597), the last of which was praised for its analysis of the early, pioneering centuries of the Hyperspace Era. In 1599, Dio became Dean of Historical Philosophy at the University of Constantine I, and was responsible for the organization of the Constantine Archives, collating works and dissertations from philosophers and other social scientists, from across the Galaxy. In 1602, moreover, he became Chief Aedile of the Constantine Provinces; three years later, Emperor Severus made him a proconsul. From 1601, moreover, with the death of his father, Dio inherited the family estates. In 1604, he finally married, to Lady Anastasia Merasania (1571-1619), who was sixteen years his junior. They were to have two children; Athanasius (1606-77), who was to inherit his father's title and estates, and Theodosia (1609-98), who was to become the great-grandmother of Sir Rudomentus Sadielus, one of the Empire's leading officials in the eighteenth century.

In 1606, Dio became Chancellor of the University of Constantine I, and was to serve in that position for the next twenty-four years. He was also made an honorary member of the Praetorian Guards, and admitted to the Noble Chamber of Laurasia Prime. From 1609 to 1615, moreover, Dio was to serve as President of the Galactic Society of Philosophers. He had also earned additional praise, and a St. Belisarius's Prize for Merit, for his Analysis of the Wiccas (1607), a penetrating philosophical treatise. In March 1608, however, Dio embarked upon what was to become his life's work: The General History of the Laurasian Civilization. This work, published in twenty-two volumes, took him twenty-two years to complete, and marked a milestone of historical labor. In it, he sought to cover the whole of Laurasian history from c. 100,000 BH, with the genetic modifications of the Founders on Laurasia Prime, up to his own time (it eventually covered all events through AH 1629). Dio consulted an extensive number of sources for his work, becoming respected for the vigor of his research. He scoured libraries, monasteries, universities, archives, and electronic collections throughout the Empire, gathering together manuscripts, letters, state documents, holo recordings, video recordings, voice recordings, books, biographies, oral testimonies, archaeological surveys, and other works. He consulted several of his prominent predecessors, including Polybius and Livy (for his studies of the Stellar Republic of Laurasia), Abbott Athanasius (for his study of the Dasian Yoke), Ulagrai, Tranquillius, and Aoari (for his studies on the Empire), and Josephus (for his analysis concerning the wider history of the Core). Moreover, he traveled to many of the locations on which he wrote: in 1614, he embarked upon a journey to Samarkand, Hunt Major, and Hunt Minor, to gather materials on the Carolyne and Huntite Khanates, and in 1619-20, toured Istantius, Venasia Prime, Polonia Major, Saray, and Melorkia Major, seeking facts about former core neighbors or enemies of Laurasia.

When published on January 19, 1630, the General History received immediate, and wide-spread praise. Dio was congratulated by the Association of Imperial Universities for his feat, and in March of that year, was granted a special audience with Emperor Alexander Severus. Severus in fact, made Dio 1st Baronet Dio of Charasia, granted him extensive properties throughout the Laurasia Prime Purse Region, and in March 1631, awarded him the Order of St. Arasces Arcacius, which had become the highest civilian honor in the Laurasian Empire. In December 1630, Dio would be awarded the St. Gregory Prize for Historical Merit, the highest literary award for a historian in the Empire. The General History, which would be published in twelve editions from 1630 to 1715, became renowned for its clear, concise style; its use of rare and invaluable historical material; and its emphasis on historical accuracy. It was also noted for its systematic bibliography and endnotes; Dio listed more then 4,000 sources. Volumes I to VII covered the history of Laurasia from 100,000 to 1045 BH, with the launch of the first Laurasian probe into space. Volumes VIII to XIII covered Laurasian history from 1045 to 1 BH. Volumes XIV to XVIII covered Laurasian history from AH 1 to AH 840, and Volumes XVIII to XXII covered Laurasian history from 840 to 1629, his own time.

In May 1630, Dio retired from the University of Constantine I, and retired to Thucarian Mansion on Idyll, which he had constructed from 1617 to 1626. The death of his wife Anastasia in 1619 had been a blow to him, but he was satisfied by his children; his son Athanasius married Lady Halimaria Theros (1609-1703), daughter of the Duke of Mariana Prime, in July 1628, and by 1632, they had had two children of their own, Demetrius (1629-1714) and Cleopatra (1631-1719). Dio's daughter Theodosia was to marry in April 1633, to Sir Athanasius Themos (1605-93); their first daughter, Olympias (1634-1721), was born in May 1634. They were to have two more children, Athanasius (1635-1700), and Minerva (1636-1726, born after his death). Dio delighted also in his grandchildren, and continued to engage in correspondence with many of his intellectual peers. In November 1634, however, he suffered the first of a series of heart attacks. His health rapidly declined, and in January 1635, he was admitted to the Hospital of St. Nestor on Charasia. It was there that he died on April 30, 1635, one day after his 80th birthday. Dio was buried at his family's plot in Nicaea, next to the bodies of his parents. His General History was to be consulted by the great historians after him, including Victor, Marcellus, Vergil, Monompahlaus, Vassalina, and Gibbeoneous.

Sir Aurelius Victor (1620-90)
Sir Aurelius Victor (April 16, 1620-January 1, 1690) was a renowned Laurasian historian, anthropologist, and statesman of the seventeenth century. Victor was born on Hammenor, the son of Sir Thucydides Victor (1584-1643), a Praetorian Guard and Major-General in the Imperial Laurasian Army, and his wife Jocasta (1592-1674). The Victor family, which traced its lineage back to the reign of Marcus Aurelius in the eighth century, was one of the most respected "military gentry" families in the Empire. Sir Thucydides, in fact, became Vice-Prefect of the Praetorian Guards in January 1632; four years later, he was made Commander of the Garrison of Hammenor, helping to maintain order in the Nexus Route region. He would eventually die on March 7, 1643, while in action against Organian pirates near Uber-Commerce, aged 59. The younger Victor, however, was not destined for the military life. He did not have to be in any case; he was the third of his father's sons, with his elder brothers Fabius (1614-76) and Florus (1618-51), both entering the Imperial Laurasian Army, each in his stead. Both of his brothers would die in combat; Fabius during Demetrius Severus's Vectorian War, and Florus at the Battle of Arbitus against the Vectorian Empire.

The youngest Victor was raised on his family's estates, and from an early age, displayed a passion for the historical sciences, and for education and learning in general. He was, like most Laurasian noblemen, educated by private tutors, in particular Sir Mucianus Derius (1589-1679), who was a respected historian of the Almitian Church in his own right. Victor entered the University of the Laurasian Empire in May 1638, distinguishing himself in athletics (such as shockball, track, and hockey), and in academics, becoming Treasurer of the Historical Sciences Club, a member of Phi Theta and Phi Gamma fraternities, and Chairman of the Student Body of Volunteers. Graduating summa cum laude with degrees in pre-law, anthropology, and historical science in 1642, Victor then entered the Graduate School of Political Science at the University. He eventually obtained his master's degree in 1646, and his PhD in Galactic Antiquities and Historical Science in 1653; his dissertation, the Horacian God-Kings: Bond with the Universe, constituted a significant study of historical anthropology.

Victor served on numerous anthropological expeditions throughout the Galactic Borderlands and Wild Marshes, becoming a member of the Imperial Colonization Survey and of the University of Laurasia Prime Scientific Research Team in 1648. He eventually was made Vice-President of the Team in 1658. At the same time, Victor taught in the historical faculties of the Universities of Laurasia Prime, Caladaria, and Darcia, gaining especial notice for his lectures on Horacian, Zutagian, Zennethian, and Ivorian antiquities. He published his De Viris Illustribus (Illustrative History of Species), in 1657, thereby establishing his preference to write in High Galactic Standard, considered a language of the elites in the Empire. This would be followed with Epitome de Caesaribus (1661), which constituted a brief analysis of significant Core monarchs and leaders of the Pre-Hyperspace Era, which earned additional praise. Yet at the same time of his academic endeavors, Victor also saw an advance in his personal life. In 1645, he married Lady Cassandra Themos (1625-1716); they were to have six children, including Cassandra (1646-1719), Aurelius (1649-1711), Theseus (1652-1725), Demetria (1654-1720), Thucydides (1656-1730), and Messalina (1659-1736). Five years later, Victor was named to the Noble Chamber of Laurasia Prime. And in 1652, he became a member of the Board of Imperial Anthropologists, aged 32.

In 1663, Victor became President of the Scientific Research Team, and began a program of reorienting its mission, securing additional funding, and sponsoring vigorous anthropological expeditions to the Wild Marshes. He himself compiled accounts of the Thayians, Rio, and Gorn in the Metarcca Systems (1665); these would eventually be combined into the Anthropologia et ex species Gornae (Anthropology of the Gornae Species), published in 1671. In 1669, Victor organized the first annual Imperial Conference of Anthropology in Christiania, Laurasia Prime, and in 1674, became Editor-in-Chief of the Imperial Historical Anthropology Journal. That year, he began work on his milestone, De Casesaribus (The Sovereigns), which was to be an analysis of Laurasian sovereigns, from Seleucus I to Aurelian, from an anthropological perspective, focusing especially on the evolution of the culture and customs of Laurasian and Core civilization under their rule. Published in 1679, it earned praise from all intellectual circles, and led to Victor being awarded the St. Gregory's Prize for Merit, membership in the High Society of Historians, and the Order of St. Arasces Arcarius. In 1683, Victor became honorary Chancellor of the University of Hammenor, and embarked on a lecture tour through the Core Regions. In 1685, he published his Praecipua anthropologica (Anthropological Notes), which became a guiding work for his discipline. In 1687, Emperor Neuchrus made him a member of the College of Education, and gave him an honorary seat on the Governing Senate.

Victor's health entered into decline from November 1686, when he was involved in a collision on Arias, and he retired, in May 1689, to his chief estate, Hausarian House, on Hammenor. He died there on January 1, 1690, aged 69, and was buried with honors at the estate. His wife Cassandra outlived him by twenty-six years, dying on April 25, 1716, in Christiania, Laurasia Prime, aged 90.

Sir Ammianus Marcellus (1625-91)
Sir Ammianus Marcellus (June 5, 1625-September 29, 1691), was a Laurasian soldier and historian who obtained great prominence among intellectual circles during the seventeenth century. He was born in Bryan City, Drennan, along the Kimanian Trade Run, on June 5, 1625. His parents were Sir Julian Marcellus (1600-64), who eventually became Governor of Drennan and Vice-Secretary of the Imperial College of Regional and Provincial Administration, and his wife Ancharia (1602-75), daughter of Sir Titus Usronia (1582-1645), the founder of Usronia Foodstuffs. Marcellus was from the first raised in a comfortable, lower-upper class family, which enjoyed a position of some prominence among the Laurasian gentry. His father had mining, real-estate, and technology business interests, and he owned estates in several star systems throughout the Core Regions, the largest of which were on Caladaria, Zutagia, and New Nosauria. Marcellus was the third child of his parents; his elder siblings were Drusilla (1621-79) and Gratidia (1623-86).

Educated in his earliest years by private tutors, Marcellus eventually graduated from St. Arian's High School in Kolaria City, Meaganian, in 1643. Soon after his graduation, he was enrolled by his father into the Imperial Naval Academy of Laura. Marcellus, who had already been noted for his athletic and academic skills at St. Arian's, gained further prominence during his time at the Academy. He was a member of the football and shockball teams, eventually becoming co-Captain of the former; led the School Forensics Club to victory at the Galactic Speech and Debate Tournament of Universities (1645); and worked as an assistant for the Dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the Academy, Major-General Dr. Gratian Surius (1592-1667), who eventually became one of his greatest advocates. Graduating from the Academy in the top 5% of his class, in May 1647, Marcellus promptly entered service in the Imperial Laurasian Navy as an ensign. He was to remain in the military for more than two decades.

Marcellus served during some of the most tumultuous conflicts of the Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. This included the Second Laurasian-Vectorian War (1648-51), the Shapurian Marasharite War (1653-64), and the Third Laurasian-Scottrian War (1654-60). Marcellus distinguished himself during the course of these conflicts. He participated in the Battle of Arbitus (1651), in which Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus fell before the hands of their Vectorian adversaries. Marcellus distinguished himself by combat actions in the Battle of Rani against the Marasharites (December 25, 1653), and then contributed valuable services to his immediate superior, Rear-Admiral Sir Lucius Crevius (1604-72), in particular at a confrontation with Marasharite troops near the Straits of Upper Blackria (May 15, 1655). In 1657, Marcellus married Lady Justina Puria (1626-89), while on leave, at Big Twinny; they were to have three children, Ammianus (1658-1722), Justina (1661-1727), and Pulcheria (1663-1719). In 1659, Marcellus single-handily held off a Marasharite assault against the bridge of his service ship, the IMS Helena, himself piloting a transport and using it effectively against enemy starfighters. Thanks to these feats of bravery, and to his effectiveness in battle, he arose gradually within the ranks, rising to Lieutenant (1652), Lieutenant-Commander (1655), Commander (1657), and then, in 1662, being promoted to Captain. He then engaged in confrontations with the forces of the rebel Macrianus, winning a victory at Zoe in July 1662.

Following the end of the Shapurian Marasharite War in 1664, Marcellus retired from front-line military service, was promoted to the rank of Commodore, and assigned to the Imperial General Headquarters. That same year, he inherited the Marcellus Knighthood Hereditary with the death of his father, thereby enhancing his own personal position. During the next several years, he resumed his education, intent upon using his own unique experiences in the service to establish himself a definite academic career afterwards. He took classes at the University of Chancia, and distinguished himself by his performance. In May 1669, he was awarded his M.A. in Galactic History, specializing on Laurasian and Core studies. The following year (July 1670), Marcellus, having reached the rank of Rear-Admiral, and gained further respect for his role in reorganizing the operations of the Naval Academies Communications Center, retired from the imperial forces. He now took a position with the Imperial Academy of Laura, becoming Associate Dean of the History Faculty in 1673, and eventually Dean of the entire Faculty in 1682. In 1674, he completed his doctoral studies and was awarded, at the age of 49, his PhD in Laurasian History and Antiquities. The following year, in May 1675, Marcellus published his first work of note, A Military History of the Shapurian War, the first major scholarly work to be published on that conflict. He then followed it with the Gangs of Cleo: Their Impact on the Core (1678) and A History of the Wars of the Second Laurasian Period (1680), in both of which he utilized his unique military perspective, and for the latter, earning a St. Gregory's Prize in Historical Merit.

In 1682, the year he became Dean of History at the Academy of Laura, Marcellus embarked upon what was to become his definitive work: A Military History of the Laurasian Empire, a ambitious undertaking by which he sought to cover all military conflicts waged by the Empire from the time of its inception (1321), to his own time. In this work, he focused especially upon the interactions between Laurasian military forces and foreign neighbors; within the forces themselves; and between the forces and the Imperial Laurasian Government. He sought to incorporate, therefore, a operational and strategic perspective of the great conflicts of the Empire, and to observe how these trends evolved over time, reflecting themselves in the military sphere, and radiating to the civilian sphere. This work took him the remainder of the decade to complete. He consulted a great variety of sources, making especial use of Cassius Dio, Ulagrai, Aoari, and Nicomedia, among others of his forbears. During that time, Marcellus advanced further, and in 1686, he was made Civilian President of the Faculties of Laura. From 1681 to 1687, moreover, Marcellus served as President of the Galactic Society of Antiquities.

The death of his wife, Lady Marcellus, on July 8, 1689, at Bristalai did not deter him, and on August 2, 1690, his Military History was published. Comprised of twenty volumes, it earned immediate praise for its extensive use of eyewitness testimony, military accounts, and prior operational histories, for its clear, concise style, and for its precise explanation of Laurasian military jargon, weapons terms, and the like. It also gained notice for its incorporation of civilian and governmental affairs into the tales of conflict, and for its extensive description of many of the most pivotal battles fought by the Empire. Marcellus was awarded a second St. Gregory's Prize, given the Order of St. Arasces Arcarius by Emperor Neuchrus, and admitted to the Imperial Academy of the Arts. He was also, in January 1691, made a member of the Board of Regents. Marcellus now began work on his Military History of the Dasian Empire. However, he died suddenly, after a short bout with fever, at Durglais on September 29, 1691, aged 66. He was buried at his family's plot on Drennan, next to the bodies of his parents and sisters.

Sir Polydorus Vergil (1670-1755)
Sir Polydorus Vergil (July 31, 1670-April 18, 1755), was one of the most renowned Laurasian scholars, historians, and clerics of the eighteenth century in the Laurasian Empire. Born in Ostia, Laurasia Prime, on July 31, 1670, he was the son of Georgius Vergil (1640-91), who was a respected businessman and medicinal practices handler on Laurasia Prime, and his wife Faustina (1642-1711), regarded as the "greatest beauty in the city of Ostia." His grandfather, Antoninus Vergil (1622-96), had been a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Christiania, as would his own brother, Cassius (1666-1741), at the Universities of Constantinople, Oxia Vixius, and Augis IV. Vergil was from early on taught the value of hard work, ethics, and loyalty to one's peers, and he held on to these virtues throughout his life. He was educated at the University of Laurasia Prime, from whence he obtained his bachelor's degrees in theology and in political science in 1692. Four years later, following service with the Imperial Jurisprudence Academy, he was ordained a priest in the Imperial Almitian Church, in which he would remain for more than forty years. Vergil now decided to continue his education at the St. Peter and Paul Eccleasticial Academy, from which he obtained his MA in Theology and Comparative Sciences in June 1700; he would work towards his PhD in Speculative Theology in due course, receiving it from his former alma mater, the University of Laurasia Prime, in 1710.

From 1702, he had once again entered governmental service, and came to the favor of Emperor Neuchrus. In October 1704, he became Dean of St. Verone's Cathedral in Ostia, and by 1713, had accumulated a number of other church benefices; Archdeacon of Ostia Monastery, Prebend of St. Langston's Church at the Cron Drift; Prebend of St. Colombia's Cathedral; and Precentor of the Almitian Monasteries of the Holy Order of Fontrevrault. In April 1715, he was briefly imprisoned on the orders of Emperor Antigonus, after a dispute with Cardinal Wolesius, but was released in due course and resumed with his duties. In 1720, he became a full Professor at his alma mater, the University of Laurasia Prime; he would be promoted to Vice-Chancellor of the institution in 1726, and ultimately Dean of the College of Theology in 1731. In 1735, Vergil would become a Suffect of the City of Christiania, and in 1739, a Councilor on the Holy Synod for Education. He would be made a member of the Commission of Economy in 1743. He maintained this imperial favor through the coming vicissitudes, and would serve both Demetrius II and Didymeia I loyally, though obliged to switch his religious allegiance a number of times.

Vergil published over thirty significant works during the course of his lifetime, but three were of the most importance: The Inventions of the Space Age (1699), which contained an extensive account of all significant scientific, technological, and other innovations since the commencement of the Laurasian Space Age in 1045 BH; The Collected Legends of the Wild Marshes (1725), with an extensive analysis of the tales and legends of Merlin, Gunevere, Lancelot, Arthur, Morgania Major, and the associated fiends; and the most important of all, The History of the Laurasian Civilization (1734). This work, originally commissioned by Emperor Neuchrus in 1705, was published in a number of different editions; these included those of 1713, 1734, 1746, and 1755. In his work, Vergil drew upon earlier historians, such as Cassius Dio, Marcellius, Ulagrai, Aoari, Josephus, Victor, Tranquillius, Kamanius, and Abbott Athanasius. He also drew upon contemporary sources, ranging from biographies and memoirs to manuscripts, religious scripts, technical and diplomatic documents, private and state correspondence, holofilm recordings, microfilm recordings, oral testimony, and visual records. He divided his work into twenty volumes. The first seven described the history of the Laurasian species, from its earliest beginnings (pre 100,000 BH) to the end of the reign of Demetrius the Great in 2186 BH. The next five described events from Demetrius's death in 2186 to the invention of the hyperdrive in AH 1. The remainder described the history of the Laurasian species from AH 1 to 1755, when the latest edition was published. Vergil's work was to prove a valuable source for the period 1660-1737, and he provided considerable detail about the state affairs of the reigns of Neuchrus I and his son, Antigonus III.

Vergil himself retired to Ettleman in his waning years, and died there April 18, 1755, at the age of 84. He was interred at St. Agapius's Cathedral on Manzo.

Sir Antiochus Foxius (1698-1787)
Sir Antiochus Foxius (August 9, 1698-June 22, 1787) was among the five major and prominent historians of the eighteenth century in the Laurasian Empire; the others were Lady Vassalina, Sir Antigonus Gibbeoneous, Sir Polydorus Vergil, and Sir Demetrius, Baron Monompahlaus. Foxius himself had the most humble origins of all of them. He was born on August 9, 1698, at Sremis Colony, Nicator, in the Laurasia Prime Purse Region. He was the son of his namesake father, Antiochus (1647-1739) and of his wife Livia (1660-1709). Antiochus had a younger brother, Antigonus (1703-52), who would in time become the Dean of St. Regullor's Cathedral on Huerta Mongol. His father, Antiochus, owned a local shipping business on Nicator, and was involved in the affairs of Sremis Colony, and of other communities in the star system and its immediate vicinity. His mother, Livia, had a background as a special education and linguistics instructor. Both parents were hard-working, religious, and moral; they were devoted to their children and to their family. Consequently, Antiochus was raised in a good, wholesome environment from the beginning. The family, although they were, at best, of the upper middle class, nevertheless engaged in numerous activities, both on Nicator, and farther afield, when they could. When he was eight years old, Antiochus and his family visited Christiania, Laurasia Prime. His impressions of the Universities of Laurasia Prime and the Empire, of the Academies of Arts and Sciences, the Old Royal Palace, and the Quencilvanian Palace, inspired in him a passion for the past, and a desire to build himself up. He was encouraged in this by his parents, who were very strict and impressed the importance of hard work, independence, and effort from an early age.

His mother died in August 1709 from an attack of Marsian fever, when he was just eleven years old; their father Antiochus then moved the business operations, and their residence, from Nicator to Elizabeth, on the Rebeccan Galactic Trade Route. Three years later, in 1712, he would remarry, to Antiochus's stepmother, Messalina (1665-1751). His new wife had master's degrees in Political Science and Sociology, and taught these at the University of Elizabeth. With her firm encouragement, combined with that of his father's, Antiochus excelled in school and learned practical trades. He worked as an apprentice in his father's shipbuilding business, learning skills of survival; between 1710 and 1714, he would accompany his father, on weekends, to business excursions into the Wild Marshes and the Solidaritan Provinces. He attended St. Xelenia High School in Helen, Elizabeth. The young Antiochus became a member of the track and field and swimming teams, excelling on both. He also became a member of the Student Council, and in 1714, helped to organize a student project for Dejanican Jewrians and Solidaritan Mirahs on Rebecca. This earned him notice from his teachers, and from his classmates. He also excelled in the classroom, taking advanced courses in macroeconomics, microeconomics, political science, Laurasian history, galactic history, geography, and psychology. All of this motivated him further. In September 1715, he became Vice-President of his senior class, and graduated the following year as the third highest-ranking member.

He then won a full-ride academic scholarship to attend the University of the Empire. There, he earned a place on the Dean's List, took advanced courses in the political sciences and in sociology, and helped to establish the Ethics and Comparative History Club. He also competed in historical tournaments, and in 1718, won the Imperial University Tournament of Knowledge on Osama. For this, he was invited to the Imperial Laurasian Court, and met with Chancellor Wolesius. Wolesius now became a mentor to the young man and encouraged him in his further studies. Foxius worked vigorously, and in 1719, he was elected President of the Student Body. He also served as Chair of the Chancellor's Class and as the Head of the Student Advisory Board. He graduated summa cum laude, as Valedictorian of his class, in 1720, with his degrees in administration, political science, and pre-law, having improved upon his academic performance from his high school years. He had also become a star member of the University Swimming Team, advancing to senior finals that same year of graduation. Foxius was then employed as an intern by Chancellor Wolesius, and worked for the Imperial Chancellory at Osama, Janesia, and Augis V for two years. Then in 1723, Foxius entered the Imperial Jurisprudence Academy. He was there for a year, but became bored with the study of law and decided to transfer to the College of Political Science and Civics, at the University of the Empire. He completed his MA in 1726, and that year secured a position as Secretary of History at the University of Katherine. He then became the Vice-President of the Kamania Foundation on Kondchura in 1728. Then, from 1729 to 1732, he embarked on a tour to the Great Amulak Spiral. He visited Pruthia, Austarlia, Haxonia, Franconia, Durthia, and Vendragia, becoming acquainted with the intellectual currents in that galaxy, neighbor of the Caladarian. He became friends with such luminaries as Francois Dubois, Professor of Languages at the University of Tournai, and with Frederick Duskerr, Vice-President of the Pruthian Academy of Sciences.

Upon his return to the Empire in June 1732, Foxius entered the service of the Imperial Laurasian Court, and was assigned to the Imperial Archeology Corps. He embarked on missions to Pauline, Cortlia, and Robert Minor later that year, helping to uncover information on the Shapeshifters. He then embarked on another tour through Homidinia Major, Dion, and Brlla, gathering materials for the Imperial Court on the Homidinian Stellar Union. In May 1733, he returned once more to Laurasia Prime, and was made a poet luminary of the Household. With the patronage of Chancellor Crownapoulos, he and Sir Nicholas Udallia (1704-56), composed verses for the occasion of Empress Consort Anna Boleyenia's coronation in June of that year. The Empress Consort herself then patronized Foxius, and in August 1734, he became an Adjunct Lecturer at the Imperial Academy of the Arts. Foxius, however, desired more, and he now resumed his historical studies. He enrolled at the University of the Empire, this time in the Doctoral Program. He embarked on this program in October of that year, and worked on his dissertation for nearly four years. Finally, in May 1738, he passed inspection, and he was awarded his PhD in Galactic History and Antiquities. His 190-page dissertation, The Metasian Mind, gained notice for its comprehensive analysis of the boasts and claims of that race in their chronicles and accounts.

The newly minted Dr. Foxius was then employed again by the Court, this time by Emperor Antigonus, and became Head Historian for the Ministry of Culture and Communications. He was assigned to duty at Melarnaria in January 1739, and spent his time examining the remains of Torfian and Ecreutian monuments in the Western Central Core. When his father died in November 1739, he returned to Nicator for the funeral. It was while at Nicator that he, at the age of forty-one, met Didymeia Semilla (1705-65). She was the daughter of Sir Athansius Semilla (1679-1759), President of Christiania Pharmeceuticals between 1736 and 1745. They quickly fell in love, and married on Rebecca, on August 17, 1740. They had one child: Antiochus (1741-1803), named after his father, who would be born on July 22, 1741. It was at this time that Foxius, having focused to this point mainly on academia and on archeological work, finally began his literary career. In August 1741, the month following the birth of his son, he published The Collections of the Ecreutians, a comprehensive analysis of the Ecreutian remains and of their civilization. He followed this with his Evolution of Galactic Linguistics (1743), employing his knowledge of Shapeshifter, Metasian, Ancient Homidinian, Arachosian, Dasian, Cadarian, and Lacian to great effect. In 1746, he was promoted to full Professor at the University of Elizabeth, and was to remain on the faculty staff until 1779. The previous year, he published his Itinerary of Imperial Laurasian Monuments, and dedicated the work to his patron, the Emperor.

In 1749, Foxius gained permission to access the archives of the Monastery of Windowia Photis, and decided to embark upon an extensive study of Laurasian religious history during the Dasian Yoke and Third Laurasian Period. This work took him three years to complete, during the course of which his stepmother, long a supporter's of his, died; The Almitian Church under the Dasians, Honorians, and Leonidians  (1752), which contained an extensive analysis of the evolution in the Church's status under Dasian rule, its great ascendancy in Laurasian society, the monastical and heysachist movements, and the clashes of Popes Philip and Nikon with their respective monarchs, gained much praise. The following year, however, Foxius was imprisoned on the orders of Empress Didymeia, for having written into his works "hostile views" about Traditionalism. He remained in prison until June 1755, and was, on the intercession of Chancellor Gardinerius, able to escape the Didymeian Persecutions. Foxius laid low during the next three years, confining himself to his academia duties. He became President of the Nicator Society of Antiquities in 1756, and was named to the board of the Academy of Hierarchy on Venasia Prime the following year. After Aurelia I's accession in November 1758, Foxius felt himself freer. He encouraged his cousin, Sir John Foxius, to publish his Book of Martyrs; he himself produced An Analysis of the Almitian Reformations (1761), which explored those of the Early Modern Era, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and that of his own century. Then from 1762-65, he embarked on a series of travels throughout the Caladarian Galaxy.

These travels took him to Samarkand, to Arachosia Prime, to Way'tosk, to Hunt, to Lacia, to Varta, to Venasia Prime, to Istantius, and to many other worlds of note and significance across the Empire. He gained access to the libraries and archives of numerous monasteries, educational institutes, and private families, and became ever more fascinated with the antiquities of the galaxy. It was thus his ambition to publish accounts on the artifacts and local histories of the galaxy's major species. He began with this endeavor in January 1765, upon his return to Elizabeth, where he had his chief residence. The sudden death of his wife Didymeia, in September 1765, saddened him, but he decided to push on. His first work, The Antiquities of the Lacians, appeared the following year, was dedicated to his wife, and earned immediate praise. His work focused on the Lacian subjection to the Marauders, the reign of Devlet-Giray, his sweeping conquests, and the collapse of the Lacian civilization. It contained insights on Lacian martial customs and beliefs. He then published Observations on the Customs of Venasian Matriarchy (1769), with a penetrating analysis of Venasian gender roles, the Queen Mothers, Venasian marital customs, and the organization of Venasian government, nobility, and religion. In 1770-71, there appeared Observations on the Brestords: Their Legends of Attila, The Antiquities of the Polonians and Donguarians, and The Antiquities of the Lavellans and the Subject Peoples, all of whom organized and described manuscripts, documents, and artifacts previously obscure to intellectual circles. He then embarked, in 1772, upon another visit to the Robertian Regions, to compile another account relating to the Robertian Empire of Ximar the Despot. He drew extensively upon the Ximar Chronicles of the 1st century BH, and upon the Accounts of Boontha. In 1775, there appeared his magnum opus: The Despotica: Ximar and His Dreams, with authoritative accounts of Ximar's origins, his conquests in the Upper Regions, and the Battles of Vontor, as well as his humiliating defeat by Boontha the Huntite and his captivity on Hunt Major. This work, the largest of his itineraries, earned praise for its clear, concise style, organization and clarification of the conflicting Huntite and Robertian historical accounts, and the use of contemporary photographs, holofilms, and other recordings to signify its points. For it, he was knighted by Empress Aurelia in June 1776, elected to the Imperial Academy of the Sciences, and made a Fellow of the Galactic Institute of Archeology. He also became a trustee of the Imperial Jurisprudence and Literary Academies in 1777.

He maintained an extensive correspondence with Baron Monompahlaus and with Lady Vassalina; with the latter, he cooperated on producing the Accounts of Royal and Noble Artifacts, and their Significance in Galactic History, covering such items as the Gird of Erutugul, the Sword of Timur the Devastator, and the mare of Sargon the Conqueror. This work appeared in 1778. The following year (May 1779), Foxius retired from the University of Elizabeth, at the age of eighty-one, to devote his energies to his historical accounts, though he remained a board member and trustee until his death. In 1780, he published his next two itineraries: his Antiquities of the Burglais Arm and Account of the Shapeshifters and Paulines. In 1782, there appeared his Reflections on the Works of the Celestial Dynasty of Kimania. He was awarded the Order of St. Alexander in January 1783, and in April 1783, began work on his final itinerary: The Definitive Analysis of the Dasians and Arachosians: Marital Species Alike. This work was published in 1786, and won him three additional Literary Prizes. Foxius published his Recollections in 1784, and in 1785-86, produced his Letters on the Barbarian Peoples, which summarized, annotated, and synthesized over sixty earlier accounts of the Galactic Dark Ages, and interlaced them with scholarly interpretation and comment. Foxius suffered his first stroke in December 1785, and in August 1786, was forced to resign as President of the Nicator Society of Antiquities. He retired to Nicator in November of that year, and in January 1787, published his last work, The Architectural Achievements of the Sixteenth Century in Laurasia. He also left unfinished another work, The Architectural Antiquities of Ancient States in the Core, which would be completed and published by Lady Vassalina in 1791. Foxius himself suffered a final stroke at the end of May, and died on June 22, 1787, aged 88, on Nicator, world of his birth. He was interred at the family plot there, next to the bodies of his wife, parents, brother, and stepmother. His son would eventually be interred there also upon his death in 1805.

Lady Athena Vassalina, Baroness Vassalina of Krayia (1703-99)
Lady Athena Vassalina, Baroness Vassalina of Krayia (September 2, 1703-March 13, 1799) was one of the most prominent historians and biographers of the eighteenth century in the Laurasian Empire, alongside her contemporaries Sir Demetrius Foxius, Baron Monompahlaus, Sir Antigonus Gibbeoneous, and Sir Polydorus Vergil. Among the major historians she was the only woman, and gained renown as one of the most educated and sophisticated women in the Empire, comparable to figures such as Empress Consort Katharina Parsius and Empress Aurelia the Great. Born as Athena Masadaravia in Esteronia City, Blackria, she was the third of the six children born to Sir Thomasius Masadaravia (1671-1740) and his wife Lady Aurelia Masadaravia (1674-1734). Her siblings were Aurelia (1696-1769); Agrippina (1700-87); Katharina (1705-96); Sistheria (1707-71); and Crassus (1711-83). Of the Masadaravia siblings, all but Sistheria eventually became published authors in their own right. Athena, however, was to outshine them all by her literary achievements, and was to obtain the most recognition within the Empire. Her father, Sir Thomasius, was a firm believer in education, and sought to obtain the blessings of it for all of his children. His social status and economic position allowed for him to do so. He was one of the wealthiest gentlemen on Blackria, owning more than 100,000 square miles of property; operating the Esteronia Casino and Tourist Resort; and sitting on the board of directors of Palymanes Colonization, one of the preeminent economic development, aid, and colonization firms in the Empire. Sir Thomasius also had a stake in the Imperial Bank of Caladaria and owned properties of real estate value throughout the Laurasia Prime Purse Region; he was, in fact, a founder of the Imperial Association of Real Estate Brokers and Agents in 1716. He arranged for all of his children to be privately tutored on his estates.

Athena, in particular, benefited from this, and received a solid education from Sir Aetius Alathius (1665-1733), who was imbued with a passion for learning. Under his tutelage, she came to develop a passionate interest in numerous fields of interest, particularly history, theology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, geography, anatomy, linguistics, the law, forensics, and political science. She became fluent in ten different languages (Laurasian, Dasian, Arachosian, Venasian, Melorkian, Spamalkan, Franconian, Haxonian, Ashlgothian, and Briannian), and gained an intimate awareness of more than twenty others, including the ancient Marauder, Millian, and Cadarian tongues. She delighted in the works of literary giants such as Cicero, Vo'rill, Plutarch, Boethius, Virgil, Abbott Athansius, Ulagrai, Josephus, Aoari, Dio, Juvenal, Tranquillius, Arrian, Plotinus, and numerous others, and became capable of quoting at length from classical and ancient works of the social and practical sciences. She also developed a fondness for music, the arts, and theater, delighting in the history of cultural evolutions, of cultural movements, and of the relationships among peoples. In 1721, upon the end of her private studies, she entered the University of Venasia Prime, one of the most congenial environments for women in the Empire. She progressed further in her Venasian language studies, particularly under the direction of the Venasian Chancellor, Madame Luxarnia (1650-1735). Luxarnia was a strong-willed, independent-minded woman, and she sought to encourage a spirit of independent thinking, of inquiry, and of intelligent reasoning into all of her students. She maintained strict personal standards, and expected the best from all of her students, especially the women. With her, Athena built a strong relationship and learned invaluable advice on how to conduct oneself and how to use one's education to their own advantage. She distinguished herself, academically and athletically, at the University. She was on the Chancellor's Roll for all four of her years at the University. She became the President of the Women's Service Club, a captain of the Forensics Team, and one of the chief participants of the Customs and Philology Club. She also was a distinguished member of the university lacrosse, swimming, and track teams, earning records at competitions throughout the Venasian Cluster and the Eastern Core. She also competed in Venasian reach-ball, one of the most demanding sports in the Caladarian Galaxy.

Graduating from the University of Venasia Prime summa cum laude in 1725, Lady Masadaravia (as she was then known), moved to Venasia Secondary and obtained a position as an intern with the Ladies's Institute of Education in that star system, helping to train female instructors and tutors for service in other regions of the Empire. From thence, she became the secretary to the Tenala Foundation of Ruttum (1727), engaging in philanthropic and other missions up and down the Rebeccan Galactic Trade Route. It was during her voyages to the Trade Route that she met Sir Tacitus Vassalina (1699-1790), who was at that time the Chief Surveyor for Christiania Aeronautics in the vicinity of Robbay and Bolgrahay, and a Captain with the Imperial Merchant Marine of Christopher. They quickly fell in love with each other, and on May 3, 1729, they were married on Blackria, with the bride's father giving her away. They were to remain married for the next sixty-one years, and were to have seven children: Lysimachus (1731); Aurelia (1733); Athena (1736); Tacitus and Laurentius (twin sons, both in 1738); Modestus (1740); and Theodosius (1742). One of those who attended the wedding was a young Sir Demetrius Hanarania, who had known the Masadavaria family, and become acquainted with Lady Athena; they were to remain good friends for the rest of their lives, and he would be godfather to her last three sons. Establishing a domestic household on Durglais, where her husband owned Medestan House, a large 15,000-acre property complete with its own docking and storage facilities, and living on her other estates, Lady Athena now took to writing. She had always been fascinated by history, and sought to apply herself to that task. With her husband's encouragement, and while taking care of her growing family, she engaged in personal studies of the Archives of Durglais, Blackria, and Nezbit.

In 1732, she published her first work of significance, Sketches of the Evolution of Society on the Lower Rebeccan, which utlized materials, holofilms, and other documents dating back to the early centuries of the 1st millennium. This work, with its penetrative insight into the customs of worlds such as Rebecca, Katherine, and Briannia, gained much praise in literary circles throughout the Empire. She then applied herself to compiling the historical accounts of the concubines and wives of the Dasian Khans, focusing especially on Sorghathagani, the broker of the mid-ninth century among Berke and Mongke. This resulted in The Dasian Women: Their Influence in the Empire of Genghis Khan (1735), which earned additional praise. She then followed it up with Accounts of Almitian Female Saints (1736) and Observations on the State of Venasian Society (1738), focusing especially on gender roles and the impact which they had upon religion, culture, and customs in the Almitian Church, and in the framework of Venasian civilization. In 1734, she had resumed her studies at the University of Durglais, balancing these with her domestic duties; in 1739, she earned her PhD in Social and Galactic History, with her 175-page dissertation Venasian Cultural Values: The Female Paradigm, which was a penetrating analysis of Venasian gender roles, Venasian cultural mores, and religious ideology. Dr. Vassalina, as her courtesy title became, then set herself to work, in 1740, upon what would become the greatest production of her life: Lives of the Queens and Empresses of Laurasia. With only one more child remaining to be born (her son Theodosius, in 1742), she could devote herself more to her works. She now assembled a variety of materials from archives, including oral testimony, manuscripts, state documents, domestic reports, financial dossiers, state correspondence, holofilm recordings, earlier chronicles, and the annals of the household of Laurasia Prime. She consulted the Imperial Archives on Laurasia Prime and the State Collections; she also gained permission to obtain materials from the library of Emperor Antigonus. Her work took her three years to complete, in the course of which she was encouraged along by her husband, siblings, and by her former classmates and instructors at the University of Venasia Prime; in 1744, in fact, she took a position as Professor of Social History there, and quickly gained a high reputation among the academic faculty.

Finally, in 1748, the first two volumes of Lives appeared, chronicling, in full detail, the personal lives and careers of all Laurasian consorts from the beginning of the First Laurasian Period, in AH 412, to the commencement of the Dasian Yoke in AH 840. This work earned high praise in the Empire; she was congratulated by her colleagues, made a member of the Imperial Academy of the Arts, and in 1750, awarded the St. Gregory's Prize for Historical Merit. Her account of the Queen Consorts Octavia Seslais and Andrea Septimia, which was sympathetic yet authoritative, helped to change opinions among the Empire's male elites about the merits of female rule. Vassalina became a guest lecturer at universities throughout the Empire. She brought out Volumes III and IV of her Lives in 1752, covering the period from 1080 to 1321, and earning additional praise for its depiction of the sufferings of Honorius the Terrible's wives, of his mother Queen Elena, and of Regent Theodora. Volume V would be published in 1756, covering the period 1321-1517, and Volume VI in 1761, covering 1517-1757. Vassalina also produced other, smaller works. In 1754, there appeared her Translations of the Works of Ulagaria, one of the most renowned Venasian poets and authoresses of the 1st millennium BH; this was followed by her Analysis of the Dasian Yoke and Its Effects on Laurasian Customs (1756). In 1758, the year of Empress Aurelia's accession, there appeared her Treatise on Female Monarchs, examining the roles of such varied women figures as Venasian Queen Mother Christiana, of the thirteenth century, and of Tardina, the famed Clancian Queen of the fourth century AH who defied Sennacherib. In 1761, her husband was made 1st Baron Vassalina of Krayia; she thereby became Baroness Vassalina. She was by then at work on her Lives of the Venasian Queen Mothers; Volumes I and II, covering the period from c. 700 BH to AH 1, appeared two years later; Volumes III and IV, covering the period AH 1-700, in 1768; and Volumes V and VI, covering the period AH 700-1506, in 1771. In 1763, her Letters of the Laurasian Consorts appeared, followed, in 1765, by her Account of the "No" Consorts, concerning wives of Laurasian sovereigns before they acceded to the throne.

These years also brought increasing honors for Vassalina. In 1755, she became Vice-President of the Christiania Historical Society; received the Order of St. Alexander in 1760; and in 1763, was named Dean of the College of History at the University of Laurasia Prime. She participated in the foundation of the Free Economic Society two years later, and in 1766-67, published her Letters on Legal Reform, supporting Empress Aurelia's moves to establish a uniform legal code for the Empire. In 1768, Lady Vassalina was named to the board of the Society of Social Antiquities on Taurasia, and in 1774, she published her Dossiers on Objects of Female Monarchy, concerning the Venasian Consortium's numerous artifacts, and the objects belonging to the Queen Mothers. In 1776, her Account on the Histories of the Burglais Arm Societies appeared, relating especially to the high status of women among the Coronadians and Edmundians; in 1778, she cooperated with Sir Demetrius Foxius on Accounts of Royal and Noble Artifacts, and their Significance in Galactic History. In 1780-81, there appeared Lives of the Queens of Franconia and Scottria, Lives of the Princesses of Laurasia, and Lives of the Wives of Beys, all of whom were marked by the witty, engaging style, but with historical precision and accuracy, for which Vassalina was renowned. In 1783, she reached her eightieth birthday, and was honored by the Venasian Matrons with a sword of virility, an honor rarely accorded outside of the Venasian circles; the following year she and her husband moved to Duris, establishing their new residence there. Her husband's health, however, had entered a serious decline by this point, and in November 1786, she retired from the University of Venasia Prime, the Society of Antiquities, and the Christiania Historical Society. In 1788 and 1789, she published her Lives of the Arachosian Empresses and Freia Kallea: Story of a Legend. Her husband's death, on January 19, 1790, was a blow to her, one from which she never fully recovered.

Later that same year, in July 1790, she, along with Sir Gibbeoneous and her long-time friend Lord Monompahlaus, was made a honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. The following year, Vassalina completed and published Sir Demetrius Foxius's The Architectural Antiquities of Ancient States in the Core. Her Lives of the Millian Empresses appeared in 1792, and in January 1793, she published her Autobiography, which was to be her last completed work. From 1787 until 1793, she also served as co-Editor of the Literary Magazine of Durglais, one of the chief academic publications in the Empire. In September 1793, however, whilst Empress Aurelia (who had granted her annuities, properties, and the Order of St. Alexander as reward for her efforts) was celebrating her sixtieth birthday at Jasonia, Lady Vassalina suffered a stroke. The stroke left her speech slurred, and her body partially incapacitated. She was able to attend Sir Gibbeoneous's funeral in January 1794, and experienced a temporary resurgence in health. In 1795-96, however, she suffered another round of strokes, and in March 1797, had to undergo an emergency surgery operation. She could not attend the funeral of Lord Monompahlaus that month, and in June 1798, had to retire to St. Bartholomew's Hospital in Christiania, Laurasia Prime. She died there March 13, 1799, aged 96, and was surrounded by her surviving children. She was buried at St. Nestor's Church on Blackria, next to the bodies of her husband and parents.

Sir Demetrius Hanarania, Baron Monompahlaus (1710-97)
Sir Demetrius Hanarania, 1st Baron Monompahlaus (July 14, 1710-March 22, 1797), was, along with Sir Antigonus Gibbeoneous and Lady Athena Vassalina, one of the most prominent Laurasian historians of the eighteenth century. Similar to his two contemporaries, Baron Monompahlaus had gentle origins. He was born in Cruzania City, Kigonia, on July 14, 1710, the son of Sir Festus Hanarania (1683-1716) and his wife Cornelia (1685-1716). His father, Sir Hanarania, was the heir to Hanarania Corporation, which was one of the largest industrial technology firms in the Caladarian Galaxy. Established in the late sixteenth century by Sir Eutropius Hanarania (1544-1609), it owned two hundred major industrial facilities throughout the length and breath of the Empire; dealt with factories, commercial firms, and shipping lines across civilized space; and had contracts with the Imperial Laurasian Court and with many other noble families in the Empire. Hanarania was the third of his parents' children; his two elder siblings were his brother Seleucus (1708-16) and his sister Placidia (1709-16). The early years of his childhood were spent on Kigonia; he and his siblings were doted upon by their mother. His father, in the meantime, worked in conjunction with his grandfather, Sir Zosimus Hanarania (1647-1728), on the commercial activities of the corporation. In later years, Baron Monompahlaus was to recount his memories of his parents and siblings, such as they were. He recalled the tranquility and stability which seemed to prevail in the Hanarania household. But on June 9, 1716, a horrific accident occurred.

Sir Festus and Lady Cornelia, along with Seleucus and Placidia, had been traveling on a repulsorlift to retrieve young Demetrius from the household of his grandparents, where he had spent time with them. Along the way, their repulsorlift was engulfed in flames, killing all on board. Hanarania was only six years old when he lost his parents and siblings. Now an orphan, he was taken into the care of his grandfather, Sir Zosimus, and his grandmother, Lady Justina (1652-1734). Both of his grandparents were moralistic, hard-working, but kind-hearted individuals, determined to raise their grandchild (who had inherited his father's hereditary knighthood) and to provide him with the semblances of family life, now that the rest of his inner family was gone. They pushed him both academically and athletically. He excelled in school; in 1723, the elder Hanaranias moved their chief residence to Laurasia Prime, and enrolled their grandson at St. Agatholica's High School in Christiania. The young Hanarania participated in cross-country, shockball, and fencing; he also became a member of the forensics, historical sciences, and legalistic clubs. He established strong relationships with all of his peers, and graduated in 1728 as valedictorian of his class. From thence, he was easily admitted to the University of Laurasia Prime. His mentor came to be Polydorus Vergil himself, who was Dean of the College of Theology. Though the young Sir Hanarania was shaken by his grandfather's death just days after his high school graduation, he nevertheless persisted. He became a member of the Dean of Political Science's list; Co-Chair of the Chancellor's Leadership Class; and a star athlete on the shockball team. In 1730, he and his classmates won the All-Galactic Championship on Laurasia Prime. For this, they were invited to the Imperial Laurasian Court. Hanarania therefore got to meet Emperor Antigonus himself, and the Lady Anna Boleyenia. Both were impressed by the young man, and praised his merits. Given a financial reward, he returned to his studies. In June 1732, he graduated, magna cum laude, as salutatorian of his class (something which he would come to regret), and from thence became an intern with the Christiania Historical Society.

In 1734, the year of his grandmother's death, Hanarania inherited the family business. He had, in college, developed a passion for economics, and proved his business acumen. Between 1734 and 1741, therefore, he focused most of his efforts on expanding Hanarania Corporation. To this end, he had to travel extensively throughout the Caladarian Galaxy, and to the Great Tesmanian Cloud. Yet at the same time, he secured the post of Associate Lecturer at the University of Belkadan, where he served from 1735 to 1743, and helped to upgrade the reputation of that institution. He also became a senior clerk with the Historical Society and a member of the Capitalist Association of Gardner in 1744. On August 7, 1736, he married his childhood sweetheart, Lady Pulcheria Maravania (1713-98), to whom he would be married for sixty years, until his death. They did not have any children, however. It was his wife, in 1741, who convinced him to turn his attention to his literary and historical interests, as he desired. He therefore handed over daily administration of the Corporation to his cousin, Sir Olympodorus Hanarania (1715-81), who would handle the affairs of the business for thirty years. Hanarania did, however, retain his seat on the Board of Directors. In 1742, he came to the Imperial Laurasian Court, having accepted the post of Vice-Archivist of the Personal Library, and remained at that post until 1751. Thus, he witnessed the execution of Katharina Howardis; Emperor Antigonus's marriage to Katharina Parsius; and the turmoil of events around his death, as well as in Emperor Demetrius's early years. In 1748, Hanarania would complete his doctoral studies at the University of the Empire, and was awarded his PhD in Galactic and Civil History. His 50-page dissertation, Genseric the Great: The Impact of One Man, would be published in a revised format in 1759, and ranked among the 4% that passed first inspection by the doctoral panel. In 1745, after two years of work, he published his first work of note, A Study of Historical Science, an analysis of the field of history itself. It was the first of more than fifty works which he would publish during the next half-century. There followed, in succession, The Life of Grand Princess Constantia (1748); The Battle of the Bosworthian Fields: An In-Depth Analysis (1750); The Spirit of Laurasian History (1752); and A History of the Empires of Mesia and Gatheria (1754), all of whom established his reputation.

In 1749, he became an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Caladaria, eventually being promoted to full Professor in 1755. He survived the Didymeian Persecutions, diligently switching his allegiance to Traditionalism during Didymeia I's reign; in 1756, he would publish two works, The Errors of the Almitian Reformation and The History of Paul and the Angels of Almitis, ingratiating himself with the regime. Upon Aurelia I's accession in 1758, however, he changed course, and in 1759, published The Essays on the Necessity of Reform in the Church. In 1757, he became a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Caladaria; of the Galactic Association of Historians in 1759; and of the Christiania Historical Society in 1762. It was in 1763 that he published a seminal work, Seleucus the Victor: Great Reformer and Emperor, an exhaustive, 800-page account, of the founder of the Empire. This earned him accolades from all throughout the Empire, and he was awarded the St. Gregory's Prize for Historical Merit the following year. In 1765, he accepted a position with the Galactic Holonet, and began hosting The Hanarania Commentaries, which would continue until his death. In 1764, he had published The Structure of Society in the Time of Seleucus the Victor, this was followed by The Reforms in the Age of Antiochus the Great (1766); The Great Revolt (1767), concerning the revolt of 1373 against that Emperor; and Josephus: The Man and His Legacy (1768), about the famed Donguarian-Laurasian historian. In 1769-70, he published The Arachosian Essays, with analysis about the Wars of the Arachosian Diadochi, and their relevance in current politics. In 1771, Hanarania became Chancellor of the University of Caladaria, and the following year, President of the Galactic Guild of Academia.

He held both positions until 1785. In 1772, his next seminal work, The Third Laurasian Period: A Time of Turmoil and Revival appeared, a very authoritative account on the reemergence of the Stellar Kingdom of Laurasia. He followed it with Honorius the Terrible: Tyrant or Savior? (1774), which earned him universal acclaim for its biting, but accurate portrayal, of that Laurasian despot. In 1775, he was made a baron by Empress Aurelia, being created 1st Baron Monompahlaus of Kigonia. The new Baron became a honorary member of the Free Economic Society in 1777, and in 1779, would publish his Economics of the Seventeenth Century, exploring the Empire's financial troubles during that century, and their relevance to historical events. Beginning in 1780, he would enter the lecture circuit, ranging from Laurasia Prime, to Kalbacha, to Hunt Major, throughout the early 1780s. In 1781-82, he published three more works: The Culture of the Dasian Yoke, Vespasian: A Man and His Legacy, and Caligula's Follies, which earned additional praise. He began conducting a correspondence, from 1777, with Sir Gibbeoneous, and in a series of communiques, would praise him for his exhaustive studies on the Dasian Empire. He already enjoyed, from 1729, a good friendship with Lady Vassalina, and was in fact godfather to her three younger children. Baron Monompahlaus also contributed his services to numerous archeological expeditions, and in 1784, would publish his Reflections on the Shapeshifter Monuments, which included a authoritative translation of their surviving transcriptions. In September 1785, he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander, the highest civilian honor in the Empire. He retired from the Guild and the University of Caladaria; in 1786-87, he would publish The Patriotic Treatises, denouncing the aggression of the Holy Spamalkan Empire. It was in 1788 that he began his magnum opus, A Complete History of the Laurasian Empire. This work, which would not be published until 1796, the year before his death, would earn further praise. Like Gibbeoneous, he consulted all prior historians, and dug extensively through primary sources. The work, published in six volumes, and covering Laurasian history from 1321 to 1795, would become the authoritative state history of the Empire, sealed as such by the Empress in January 1797.

In 1790, on his eightieth birthday, Baron Monompahlaus, along with Gibbeoneous and Lady Vassalina, was made an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences; in 1791, he was made Chairman Emeritus of the University of the Empire. Between 1789 and 1795, he published a number of smaller works, while continuing to work on his Complete History. These included The First Laurasian Period (1789), The Lacian Overlordship and its Consequences (1790), and Laurasian Relations with the Core from 412-1434 (1793), which was an abbreviated version of the history of the Empire's interactions. In September 1795, he published his Autobiography, which included his reflections on his works and on the tragic fate of his parents and siblings. When the Complete History was published on July 14, 1796, his 86th birthday, the Baron was congratulated by his colleagues, and treated to a party in his honor at the Galactic Opera on Laurasia Prime. Prominent nobles, gentlemen, magnates, and performers from throughout the Empire attended. The Complete History was praised for its witty, engaging, and entertaining style, its visual format, and its chronological organization. Monompahlaus's depictions of such great monarchs as Seleucus the Victor, Antiochus the Great, Antiochus the Conqueror, Demetrius the Fat, Antigonus the Conqueror, Lysimachus the Cultivated, Aurelian, Neuchrus the Reformer, Antigonus the Extravagant, and Aurelia the Great, mixed with his incisive portrayals of the debaucheries of Tiberius; the madness of Caligula and Antiochus III; the tyranny of Antiochus IV; the cruelties of Caracalla; and the perversity of Commodus and Elagabalus. He gave insight into prominent female figures, especially Grand Princess Constantia, Anna of Commagenos, Messalina, Agrippina, Pompeia Plotina, Faustina, Julia Maesa, and the wives of Antigonus III, and neglected nothing of the favorites such as Loncharania, Serjanius, and Cleander, among others.

In August and September 1796, the Baron conducted a lecture tour in the Purse Regions, and in November, published his last completed work, The Commentaries on the Imperial Laurasian Government, a brief treatise concerning the operations and procedures of the Empire's government, and how they had changed over the course of the past century. By January 1797, his health was in serious decline, and he came to Laurasia Prime. He died at the Diplomatic Palace in Christiania on March 22, 1797. Given a state funeral by orders of the Empress, he was, due to his nobility, interred at the Westphalian Cathedral. Because he was childless, his second cousin, Sir Photius Hanarania (1741-1805), succeeded him in the barony. The Baron's widow, Lady Monompahlaus, died on August 9, 1798, on Darcia, two years following the death of her husband.

Sir Antigonus Gibbeoneous (1737-94)
Sir Antigonus Gibbeoneous (May 8, 1737-January 16, 1794) was one of the most distinguished and respected historians in galactic history. He was born in Purania Colony, Daramia, the son of his namesake father, Antigonus (1704-70) and his wife Julia (1709-46). He had six siblings, five brothers and a sister, but all of them died in infancy. Gibbeneous's father, who would become Knight Banneret of Daramia in 1756, was one of the wealthiest Laurasian gentlemen in the Solidaritan Provinces. He owned properties on Michael, Deanna, Wendy, Coen, Impania, Blackria, Nezbit, Sheryl, Laronn, Quanna, Massanay, Sassanay, and in the Istantius Region, as well as in other star systems besides. The young Gibbeoneous, however, suffered from poor health, and would reflect in his later years that he felt himself "oppressed and stifled by my Mother and by the attendants of the household." Nevertheless, he was an excellent pupil, and he did very well academically. He attended St. Kingria's High School on Daramia, and eventually graduated from there in 1754 as the valedictorian of his class. During his time there, he was the President of the Historical Studies Club; Vice-Captain of the Forensics Team; and a founding member of the Analytics Club, which dealt with rhetoric and with the application of history to daily life. He was also involved with the school journal and the Community Service Board. He then won a full-ride scholarship to attend the University of the Empire (from which he would graduate in 1758), dabbled between Traditionalism and Reformism, and from 1755 to 1761, had the chance to study and live abroad in Spamalka and in Haxonia, attending lectures and events at the Universities of Ravenna and Madrid. He also became acquainted with the works of Vergil and of all earlier Laurasian historians; he particularly admired the Annals and Histories of Aoari; the Summaries of Ulagrai; and the Chronicles of Abbott Athansius. He also studied The History of the Evolution of the Core Peoples by the ancient Murphian historian Vo'rill (AH 6-84), absorbing the information about the exploits of the earliest Laurasian and Murphian explorers in space, and the development of civilization on Horacia and on Murphy. He also became familiar with the works of Pascal, Seneca, Cicero, Burrus, Vigil, Boethius, Erasmus, Morius, and numerous other greats.

In 1761, following his return to the Empire, he published his first work, Essays on The Study of Literature, with an account of the differences, and the similarities, between Amulak and Caladarian Galaxy works. He then began work, in 1765, on a History of the Kingdom of Ashlgothia, but lost patience with it and never finished it. He then wrote (1768), the Memoirs of the Empire, which described the literary and social conditions then prevailing in the Caladarian Galaxy. This work gained little notice and was considered a flop. In 1770, his father died, and Gibbeneous, who had kept to his literary interests, inherited the estate. He became involved in the social clubs of the Empire, was admitted to the Imperial Academy of the Arts in 1772, and in February 1773, was named to the City Council of Purania on Daramia. Moreover, Gibbeoneous resumed his studies at the University of the Empire, and embarked upon his doctorate: in 1774, he passed inspection, and was awarded his PhD in Galactic History and Antiquities. His 120-page dissertation, Commentaries on Huntite Mysticism, which was published in universal form soon afterwards, earned him praise from literary circles. The following year, Dr. Gibbeoneous (now an additional courtesy title of his), became an investor in the colonization of New Vindictoria, which yielded profit. Yet from 1771, he had already been at work on what became the seminal piece of his life: The History of the Rise, Decline, and Fall of the Dasian Empire.

For this work, which would take Gibbeoneous twelve years to completely publish, he drew upon an extensive number of primary sources. Among the many historians he consulted were: Ulagrai, Aoari, Josephus, Abbott Athanasius, Dio, Victor, Marcellus, Arrian, Vergil, contemporary historians Foxius, Vassalina, and Baron Monompahlaus, Tranquillius, Kasanius, Asagius, Parrania (the great chronicler of the fifteenth century), Juyvani, Fuwati, Masarani (these three being Abbathian historians), Bletto (Brestord historian in Attila's court), Sharangai (court historian to Kublai Khan), Bede (historian of the Amelianians), Malemsetius (Laurasian historian of the eighth century AH), Cressius, Thamana (Venasian historian), Theuderic (Halegothican historian of the thirteenth century), Wosewski (Polonian historian), Clevius (Melorkian historian of the fourteenth century), and Umari (Dasian historian of Timur the Devastator). He was also granted special permission, by the Imperial Ministry of Culture and Communications, to access the Imperial Archives, the Monarch's Personal Library, and the official State Collections of Laurasia Prime. Gibbeoneous dug up holofilm recordings, visual records, oral testimony, state correspondence, state documents, communiques, war reports, war dispatches, guides, local histories, chronicles, annals, archeological collections, original manuscripts, religious documents, astrographic reports, news reports, and almost every other kind of document he could find. He would estimate that he consulted more than 20,000 different sources during a course of nearly twenty years.

On February 17, 1776, he published his first volume of Rise, Decline, and Fall. The reception to it was enthusiastic throughout the Empire. Gibbeoneous was praised for his heavy reliance on these original sources; for his writing style, with wit, irony, and detail; and for the chronological organization of his work. His footnotes, in particular, made very specific notes about every source and every historian whom he consulted. He was showered with accolades from throughout, and with financial reward. The first volume alone made him a profit of more than €5.5 billion dataries, and sold in excess of ten billion copies. Gibbeoneous brought out Volumes II and III in 1781, and Volumes IV, V, and VI in 1788 and 1789. These volumes, too, made billions upon billions of dataries, and sold countless copies throughout the Empire and even beyond, in the Great Amulak Spiral. In 1782, he would be knighted by Empress Aurelia, named a Suffect of the City of Christiania, and in 1785, he would become Chancellor of the Imperial Academy of the Arts, a post he held until his death. He corresponded with the great figures of his time, such as Lord Treasurer Burghley; the Earls of Leicesterius, Jadia, Hannah, Sarah, Estatius, Oxfadia, and Southerton; the Duke of Christiania; Chancellor Walsingis; Procurator-Generals Bagonius and Bromelius; Chief Procurator Whitshiftus; and even with a monarch, Joseth II of Austarlia. His fame spread throughout extra-galactic civilization, and from 1788 to 1794, he would be a guest lecturer at all of the major universities and institutes of the Empire. In 1790, he published his Autobiographical Recollections, describing in detail his process for formulating his work. The final edition of Rise, Decline, and Fall, compiling all of the respective volumes, was published in 1792; the foreword was written by Empress Aurelia herself. The work ultimately comprised some ten million words, across more than 2,000 pages, and was one of the most comprehensive Laurasian historical studies ever published. It began with the story of the Dasian subjection to the Torfian Hordes in the early 1st millennium AH, chronicled their centuries of exile in the Galactic Void, and then pushed into the Dasian intrusions of the eighth century, and thence, to the story of the ninth through thirteenth centuries, among the most eventful in galactic history. Genghis Khan, Ogedei Khan, Mongke Khan, Kublai Khan, Toghun Temur, Batya Khan, Chomaqan, Timur the Devastator, Dost I and Dost II, Tokugaistus the Great, Bodi Aligh, Genghis-Timur, Jebe the Last; all were chronicled, in full detail, in his work. Everyone from Alaric to Genseric the Great, to Wrangia Althia, to Ricimer, to Odoacer, to Theodoric the Great, to Theodoric II, to Attila the Brestord, found their place in his work. The work ended at 1300, to provide a framework of the half-century following the fall of the last Dasian Khanate. All told, it covered the period from c. AH 100 to 1300, a period of 1,200 years.

By the late 1780s, however, the great author's health was in serious decline. He had an emergency bypass operation in November 1789, and in 1791, was obliged to take the waters of Idyll. He then sojourned in the Wild Marshes and the Western Central Core, seeking to find solace at the resorts evident in many of those star systems. These efforts however, came to naught, and in December 1793, he went to Manzo. His health entered its final decline; by the beginning of the new year, he was on his last legs. He died on January 16, 1794, aged 56. His death was received with great mourning at the Imperial Laurasian Court and throughout the Empire. He was, on the orders of Empress Aurelia, given a state funeral on Laurasia Prime, and interred at St. Colombia's Cathedral. His fellow historians, Monompahalaus and Vassalina, both old enough to be his parents, but of which he had the same stature, both delivered eulogies at his funeral.