Reforms in the Reign of Aurelia the Great

As explained in The Eighteenth Century, Part III: 1750-1775, The Eighteenth Century, Part IV: 1775-1785, and The Eighteenth Century, Part V: 1785-1800, the reign of the Laurasian Empress Aurelia the Great (1758-1803) was the Golden Age of the Laurasian Empire. During the Empress's 44-year reign over the Laurasian Empire, the Empire's economy, territory, military power, and political influence all expanded considerably, so that it became transformed into the leading power of extra-galactic civilization. The Empire's territory arose from forty-five million to seventy million star systems; it incorporated more than 100,000 light years span of territory, encompassing the Galactic Borderlands, the Angelina Spiral, and the Great Tesmanian Cloud; and its economy expanded sevenfold. Making much of this possible was a series of administrative, legal, religious, economic, military, and cultural reforms, which considerably strengthened the Empire and solidified the authority of the Imperial Laurasian Government. These reforms will be described below.

=Reforms of Empress Aurelia the Great (1758-1803)=

Education
The Empress Aurelia considered education to be the means of maintaining the Laurasian Empire's political, economic, and cultural dominance over its rivals and neighbors in the Great Amulak Spiral. She admired the educational accomplishments of her predecessors, in particular of her half-brother Demetrius II (whose reign had seen a three-fold increase in the number of educational institutes within the Empire), and of her father, Antigonus III, whose establishment of the Cadet Corps had raised standards among the officers corps of the Imperial Military, and of the magnates of the Imperial Household in general. Aurelia believed that a "loyal, faithful Laurasian subject" could be created by promoting the further spread and diversification of the Empire's education system. This meant developing individuals both intellectually and morally, providing them knowledge and skills, and fostering a sense of civic responsibility. In that way, she could change the hearts and minds of her Empire's subjects, both Laurasian and alien. The Empress found that she had much to work with from the beginning of her reign. When she acceded to the throne in 1758, the Laurasian Empire had more than 250,000 universities; one million colleges and higher educational institutes; and countless millions of preparatory academies, community colleges, high schools, and lower institutions of education. Among the Empire's most prominent educational institutes were the University of Laurasia Prime; the University of the Empire; the Imperial Academy of the Sciences; the Imperial Academy of the Arts; the Peter and Paul Ecclesiastical Academy; the University of Caladaria; and the University of Darcia, the Christiania Inns, and the Imperial Jurisprudence Academy, among many others. The Cadet Corps were open to only the elites and officer corps of the Empire, but provided another base to the Empire's overall educational system. As mentioned in the Eighteenth Century timeline, the Empress Aurelia relied upon Dr. John Deesius (1727-1800), who became Chancellor of the University of Laurasia Prime (1778-98), as one of her leading educational consultants. Another was Sir Honorius Betkrania, 2nd Baronet Betkrania of Heliotrope (1704-95), who served as Chancellor of the Imperial Jurisprudence Academy (1764-95) and as Minister of Education (1778-95).

Through these two officials, the Empress collected information from across the Empire, and from foreign powers in the Great Amulak Spiral, about educational institutions. In 1762, she established the Educational Review Commission in the Ministry of Education, comprised of Chancellor Cecilis, Minister Betkrania, Dr. Deesius, and the Earls of Meehan, Manzo, and Melarnaria, in order to provide recommendations about further improvements in the Empire's educational system. She consulted renowned Archuletan and Murphian academics, such as Dr. Hans Revert and Sr. Lope Martinez. In 1765, Sr. Martinez would be appointed to the Educational Review Commission. The Commission studied the reform projects which had been first proposed by Chancellor Gardinerius and by Didymeia I's Minister of Education, Sir Willanius Haranius. They submitted recommendations for the reform of the Empire's academic standards; for the elimination of "unnecessary" or "excess" programs and curriculum; and for a renewed emphasis on community service, discipline, and morals among the Empire's students. In 1764, the Empress had commissioned the General Program for the Education of Young People of Both Sexes. This report emphasized the importance of shorter but fixed class schedules; of teacher evaluations; and of the proper relationship between teachers and their pupils, thereby confirming their disciplinary powers. By the mid-1760s, the Empress was also already engaged in preparations to strengthen the Empire's educational system. In 1766, she sponsored the establishment of the St. Catherine's Institute for Ladies, one of the Laurasian Empire's first state-sponsored institutes geared specifically for the education of women. The Institute admitted teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18; it stressed the importance of etiquette, of social graces, and of language skills, but also of athletics, practical subjects, and community service activity. Enforcement of strict discipline was central to its philosophy; all students had to adhere to a code of conduct, were forbidden access from without the Institute unless if given specific permission; and were required to wear uniforms.

Between 1766 and 1796, the number of women's preparatory academies and schools in the Empire would rise from 24,000 to 100,000, with the most prominent being established on Monderon (1768); Ruttum (1772); Phyllis (1774); Claer (1776); and Natalie (1791). Educational spending increased dramatically during the Empress's early years; by 1768, it was exceeding more than €500 hepmillion dataries per annum. In 1766, Aurelia reformed the Cadet Corps. Previously, the Corps had admitted only young men, and from the age of 17. Now, the Corps would accept female applicants, and the age of admission was lowered down to 9. They were now to be educated until 21; merchants, businessmen, and Laurasians with a certain property value were now permitted to register; and the curriculum was broadened. It now covered professional military subjects alongside the sciences, philosophy, ethics, history, and intergalactic law. The Cadet Corps found itself undergoing substantial expansion; it opened thirty more training academies by 1772, and saw its enrollment numbers increase from 7,000 to more than 45,000. The standards of education in the Corps also improved, and the Empress implemented further reforms to the Navel Cadet Corps, the Imperial Engineering Corps, and the Imperial Artillery Corporation (1772-1773), thereby widening the curriculum of the Empire's specialist officer corps. Furthermore, Aurelia sponsored changes to state funding, parochial aid, and to state examinations. Already in 1761, requirements for admission into the Empire's mathematical, scientific, and legalistic academies had been tightened; in 1764, all imperial students in Laurasian high schools and preparatory academies were submitted to the same schedule of classes, with the credits for science, mathematics, social sciences, and physical education becoming universal; and in 1766, the Ministry of Education issued new instructions to the Dioecesial Boards of Education, requiring for teacher evaluations to be based both upon student exam scores and upon student academic progress.

In 1767, a tax credit was offered to any educational guilds or non-profit organizations which provided funds for the establishment of intramural sports and community activities between parochial schools and general academies; in 1769, a new rating system for teacher performance was established, with Classes A and B receiving bonuses for achievement; and in 1772, uniform procedures for certificates of technical education, obtained in the Empire's specialist academies and practical schools, were introduced. In 1774 and 1775, the Ministry of Education required all private and public educational institutes in the Empire to adopt a uniform dress code; the Imperial Statute of Regional & Provincial Administration (1775), granted each gubernatorial and provincial board of education the power to censor, or to close, any institutes which failed to adhere to imperial standards. The Statute of Administration also required the Boards of Education to demand reports from all educational authorities from their jurisdiction on test examinations, administrative standards, and discipline measures. In 1778, the Imperial Jurisprudence, Botany, Archaeology, Digital Sciences, Communications, Navigation, Astronomy, and Transportation Academies were placed under the jurisdiction of a uniform Board of Imperial Academies, subjected to the authority of the Imperial Ministry of Education. In 1779, the SAI examination was mandated as the new standardized college preparedness test for all students in the Empire. And in 1782, the Empress Aurelia re-instituted the Educational Review Commission, with Dr. Deesius becoming chair of the body. He and the Archleutan mathematician, Franz Aepinus, proposed that the Empire's educational system be reorganized a tier of trivial, real, and normal schools at the municipal, planetary, and provincial levels, with the Empire's universities and colleges operating on a regional and galactic basis. Over the course of the next four years, they worked out the specifics of their plan.

On August 5, 1786, the Imperial Statute of National Education was promulgated. The Statute reorganized the Empire's entire public education system along the models proposed by Aepinus and Deesius. Education was made mandatory for all those between the ages of four and twenty-four. Trivial (elementary) schools were to be attended by those between the ages of four and eleven; real schools, of those between eleven and fourteen; and normal schools, of those between fourteen and eighteen. The subjects to be taught at every age, the methods of teaching, disciplinary regulations, administrative regulations relating to the overall conduct of teachers and personnel, and guidelines relating to school programs, opportunities, and clubs, were provided in detail. The Statute provided for the publication of a common "Guide to Educators", in order to keep them attune with the demands of the Imperial Ministry of Education. This guide, divided into four parts, dealt with teaching methods, the courses and subjects, the behavior of the teacher, and the running of the school. The gubernatorial boards of education gained responsibility for dispensing financial aid; for maintaining graduation standards; and for coordinating the activities of all lower educational academies. Normal school curriculum would be a four-year combination of required courses in the social sciences, mathematics, sciences, physical education, and practical subjects; the procedures for graduation, test examinations, advanced courses, etc. were provided. At the end of their graduation year, students were to be divided into two classes, with the higher-ranking students to attend the universities, and the lower to attend the preparatory academies, technical schools, and practical institutes. Those in the lower class who demonstrated academic achievement would be upgraded to the first; all university and school education was to be free, with free meals provided, and all textbooks, materials, & course costs covered by the governmental authorities.

The University Statute (1792), completed this program of reform. Each university gained an autonomous Council of Professors and Chapter of Deans, with the Chancellor as head of that particular institution (appointed and dismissed by the sovereign, or by the Imperial Ministry of Education); each college, a College President and Board of Trustees, to be elected by the respective teacher facilities and sponsors of that respective institution. The same statute provided procedures for teacher relations, administrations, admission procedures, courses, grants, and university operations. All in all, the Empress Aurelia's extensive educational reforms greatly strengthened the Empire's academic system. Between 1782 and 1799, the number of universities and colleges in the Empire increased by more than 250%; examination scores on mathematics, sciences, literacy, and social sciences rose by more than 5,000 points on average; and the Empire's educational expenses exceeded €40 hepmillion dataries. The number of public schools and institutes in the Empire increased by more than 7000%; the rate of drop-outs, and of academic failures, was cut by nearly three-fourths; and the quality of instruction among teachers, the availability of textbooks, and of student attendance rates, all rose by more than 2000%. The Imperial Academy of Sciences, the Universities of Laurasia Prime and the Empire, the Cadet Corps, and the Specialized Academies, all saw spikes in attendance; by the end of the century, the University of the Empire had an enrollment of more than sixty million students per annum; that of Laurasia Prime, more than forty million; and the Academy of Sciences, more than twenty million.

The Judiciary and the Codex Aureliana
Empress Aurelia's reign witnessed the emergence of the present judicial system of the Laurasian Empire; in accordance with this, it also witnessed the compilation and publication of the Empire's organic legal code, the Codex Aureliana. It is expedient to cover the origins of that codification, the means by which it was drafted, and what it comprised. At the beginning of the Empress's reign, the Laurasian Empire relied primarily upon the two codifications of the Emperor Neuchrus the Reformer's reign: the Codex Gregorianus (1692) and the Codex Hermogenianus (1696). These codes compiled all of the laws, edicts, constitutions, prescripts, statutes, and other enactments of every Laurasian Emperor back to the reign of Lysimachus I (1517-38). Empress Aurelia, and her ministers, in particular Chancellor Cecilis, believed that these legal codifications were outdated and inefficient. No record was provided of the imperial statutes which had been enacted prior to 1517; the first two centuries of the Laurasian Empire's legal history, including the enactments of the Empire's founder, Seleucus I the Victor, were effectively absent. Consequently, there was no complete set of statute books. In the more than six decades which had passed since the enactment of the two legal codifications, thousands of new laws had appeared, often without reference to previous laws on the same subject. Imperial decrees by successive rulers conflicted; ministers and officials promulgated Crown Instructions which contradicted earlier laws without the latter being annulled. The result of all of this was that government departments had become disorganized; a conflict of interest existed among the Empire's various social classes, such as the nobility, clergy, and middle class; and the Senate, along with other judicial bodies, had to work through a complicated series of precedents. Emperor Antigonus III had several times attempted to form a commission for the reformation and codification of the Empire's laws, but his distraction with the "Great Matter" of his marriage, with foreign affairs, and with his ecclesiastical reforms, meant that such projects never went through.

The Empress was determined to clarify and complete what her father, and grandfather, had begun. She concluded that the remedy for many of the laws in the judicial system would be a new legal code. Her plan, therefore, was to establish a special commission comprised of members of the Councils of State, the Imperial Court, the Imperial Almitian Church, the nobility, and the leading officials of Laurasia Prime, alongside officials from the Empire's respective dioceses, guilds, and organizations. They would conduct an exhaustive study of the Empire's legal system; prepare recommendations for her approval; and work on the compilation of the final code, in accordance with the instructions that she herself would provide. These instructions came in the form of the Instruction to the Legal Commission. It would be this work that the Empress would consider to be one of the greatest intellectual achievements of her life, and central to the further reform of the Imperial Laurasian Government. The Empress began work on the Instruction in November 1761 and continued this work for more than two years. The Instruction was ultimately published on January 2, 1764. Comprised of five hundred and twenty-six articles, which were organized into twenty chapters, Aurelia presented her view of the nature of the Empire and how it should be governed. Her Instruction dealt with a considerable range of political, judicial, social, and economic questions. It discussed the situation of the Empire at the time of its compilation, and what it should be; how society ought to be organized, and how government and the administration of justice should be conducted. The tone of the Instruction was in many ways that of a teacher, rather than of a autocrat.

The preamble declared that the Almitian religion teaches its followers to perform good deeds whenever possible, and to abstain from sin. She expressed the belief that every subject wished to see his Empire happy, glorious, tranquil, and safe, and that subjects sought to live under, and to obey, laws which were clearly defined and clearly expressed. From these opinions and principles, she asserted that the Laurasian Empire was a galactic empire, thereby underlining its position in regards to the powers of the Amulak Spiral. She then moved directly to the need for absolutism in the Laurasian Empire; the sovereign was absolute because "there was no authority but that which centers in his single person that can act with a vigor proportionate to such a vast dominion." Any other form of government risked weakness. She affirmed her respect for the "inherent customs and traditions" of her Empire. These were Imperial Almitism, the laws of succession, and the existing rights and privileges of all the Empire's social classes. From there, the Empress affirmed that all of her subjects should be subject to the same laws. The Empress provided a firm defense of the death penalty, declaring that subjects who threatened the tranquility of the state, committed treason, engaged in rebellion, or threatened her life, and the lives of her ministers, deserved no mercy. At the same time, however, Aurelia qualified the definitions for les-majestie and sedition, declaring that a thorough investigation of all alleged crimes and offenses should be conducted first. The Instruction therefore provided a overall analysis of the different categories of crime and the appropriate punishments. Crimes against property should be punished by deprivation of property; due process should govern all procedures in lower courts, and lower-ranking defendants should be permitted defense counsel; attention should be paid to the role of judges, the truth of evidence, and the quality of proof required in reaching verdicts.

The Empress wrote the Instruction in High Laurasian, which was translated by the Imperial Chancellory into Laurasian and into thousands of other languages, such as Dasian, Arachosian, Briannian, etc. The Empress worked in private until April 1763, when she began to show drafts, first to Lord Antiochus Dudley (future Earl of Leicesterius), and then Chancellor Cecilis. Dudley provided a laudatory opinion of the Empress's work; Cecilis, on his part, proposed revisions, although he supported the Empress's overall thrust. The Empress herself, upon the final publication, made no claim to originality of authorship, having drawn inspiration from scholars and historians such as Sir Antiochus Foxius, Lady Vassalina, and the Laurasian legal scholar Sir Caelius Beccrania (1737-94), one of the most renowned scholars of the Imperial Jurisprudence Academy. Yet upon its publication in January 1764, the Instruction received much praise at the Imperial Court, and among the Councils of State. With this work having being completed, she now felt confident to move on to the legal commission to actively revise the Empire's legal code. On February 17, 1764, the Empress formally established the Legal Review Commission. This commission was comprised of thirty members: twelve from the Councils of State, twelve from among the clergy of the Imperial Almitian Church, and the remaining six from the Empire's leading officials. The commission was chaired by the Procurator-General of the Governing Senate, Imperial Privy Seal, and Minister of Justice, Sir Nicholas Bagonius. The Commission first convened on March 2, 1764; the Empress herself, flanked by Chancellor Cecilis, by the Imperial Privy Council, and members of the Imperial Court, opened the first session. All members of the Commission were presented with a bound copy (in red leather) of the Instruction, a medal bearing the Empress's likeness, and a honorary banner of state. Following this session, in which Aurelia found herself compared to Gordian I (compiler of the Codex Gordansius in the fifth century), and to Honorius the Liberator (Codex Honoriusius of 1097), the Commission proceeded to its work. Over the course of the next three years, the Commission would review the Imperial Legal Archives, the Codification Archives of the Governing Senate, the Privy Council Archives, and the Empire's prior legal codifications, including those of Neuchrus the Reformer's reign, the Digest of Ulpian, the Codex Iuradius of Lysimachus I, and the Codex Aristobalnus of Antiochus the Great. Finally, on July 14, 1768, the Codex Aureliana, the complete codification of the laws and legal "norms" of the Laurasian Empire, was completed and presented to the Empress, by the Commission, in an audience at the Quencilvanian Palace.

It was formally promulgated four days later, announced to the Empire's subjects from the Imperial Court, and issued to all imperial administrative, judicial, and court institutions. The Code was divided into eight books, compiled under fifteen volumes. The books of the Codex Aureliana were: the Institutions of the Empire, the Military and Religious Laws, the Treasury and Financial Laws, Estate Laws, the Civil Laws, the Laws of Public Service, the Laws of Public Provision (these two categories concerned all laws relating to healthcare, welfare, education, social aid and provision, transport, local government aid, grants, etc.), and the Criminal Laws. The Codex covered everything from laws concerning the basic operations and procedures of the Imperial Chancellory and the Councils of State; to laws relating to taxation, tariffs, customs, commercial regulations, transport regulations, product standards, and duties; to laws concerning currency, bankruptcy, counterfeiting, and the banking system; to laws concerning the Almitian Church, and other denominations within the Empire; and to laws on passports, industry, agriculture, the rights and privileges of social estates, the nobility, and the Imperial Household. The Codex Aureliana proved to have a significant effect upon the legal system of the Laurasian Empire. It compiled all relevant imperial statutes, constitutions, rescripts, codes, charters, decrees, edicts, ministerial instructions, civil service orders, judicial rulings, verdicts, precedents, and other enactments which had been passed since the emergence of the Stellar Kingdom of Laurasia from the Dasian Yoke (1080); it explicitly repealed, or overrode, all laws which contradicted with the later enactments of sovereigns or of the Imperial Government; and it provided a detailed registry of explanations on how the law was to be interpreted and how it was to be applied. Annotations and references were included with all the laws, so as to make it clear which derived from whom. All statutes of repeal were noted, and sections of those statutes that had been struck down were clearly indicated. The Codex made all of the Empire's estates and subjects aware of their obligations under law, and it systematized the operations of the Almitian Church, and of the Empire's judicial system.

Administration of the Laurasian Empire
See Laurasian Empire for detailed information on the administrative reforms of the Empress's reign

Religious affairs
At the beginning of her reign, the Empress Aurelia the Great had to contend with the situation in the Imperial Almitian Church of the Laurasian Empire. During the course of the preceding four decades before the commencement of the Empress's reign, the Almitian Church had undergone much revolution and much change. The travails of the Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (1635-85) had dented the Imperial Laurasian Government's position, as regards to the Church, and had loosened it of many of the controls which had been applied since the reign of Seleucus I the Victor. Ecclesiastical courts, which had found themselves narrowed due to the reforms of Emperor Antiochus I the Great in the 1360s and 1370s, again restored their jurisdictional boundaries. They had the right to decide on cases relating to divorce, adultery, deposition of wills and testaments, heresy, sexual offenses, and "offenses against the Law of Almitis." All religious clergymen and officials of the Church, regardless of their rank or their position in the church hierarchy, had the right to seek "the benefit of the Church", whereby they could be tried by ecclesiastical courts. The Church's wealth and influence in affairs of state had also increased. Chief Procurator Willanius Warhamius (in office 1703-32) was one example of a clergyman who acceded high to a position at the Imperial Court: he served as Procurator-General of the Governing Senate, the Empire's highest judicial council, between 1703 and 1715. His successor to that position, Cardinal Thomasius Wolesius of the Purse Region, also happened to be Chancellor of the Laurasian Empire and in 1718, was given the honorary rank of "President of the Holy Synod". These were just examples of the far reach of the Church's influence.

The Commission of Monasterial Administration, established by Seleucus I in 1305 for the maintenance of the Church's estates and of their financial obligations, was abolished in 1676 under Emperor Demetrius Severus II; the Church authorities, therefore, had regained autonomy over their own properties and finances. The creed of the Church, ultimately to be known as Traditionalism, relied upon indulgences; upon the concept of grace; and upon the sanctity of the Almitian Mass, for the services of those "followers of Almitis." The title of Pontifex Maximus, claimed by Laurasian sovereigns from 1370, had been abandoned by 1686; the Church, although still owing allegiance to the Emperor, as sovereign and as the ultimate representative of Almitis, seemed nevertheless to not have a single, effective leader in its own right. Corruption was rampant among the Church's dioceses and officials; many lost touch with their faith. It was all of this which had been struck against by Aurelia's father, Antigonus III the Extravagant, in the course of his major religious reforms between 1729 and 1742. This was accomplished through the Heretical Ratification Decree, the Declaration of Submission, the First Statute of Supremacy, the Statute of Monasterial Administration, the Suppression of the Shrines of the Almitian Church, and the Six Articles of the Almitian Church. As a result of these policies, implemented with help of Chancellor Sir Thomasius Crownapoulos, Earl of Estatius, and of Chief Procurator Thomasius Cranmerius, the Church had been deprived of nearly half of its estates and landed properties; the Commission of Economy had been restored; the title of Pontifex Maximus, and the Emperor's absolute position as "Viceregent of Almitis", reasserted; the Church's theology defined, and heresies struck against; and the authority of the ecclesiastical courts subjected to the jurisdiction of the Imperial Privy Council, though they were not totally abolished at this point. The Almitian Reformation, as this series of events became known, became even more vigorous during the reign of Antigonus's son, Demetrius II (1747-53). Under the guidnance of the increasingly radical Chief Procurator Cranmerius, of his regents (Lord Protector Seymouris and the Lord President of the Privy Council, the Duke of Northumberlais), and of his own tutors, such as Sir Johanius Chekius, the Emperor came to support a series of theological, liturgial, and organizational reforms within the Church structure. The Book of Common Prayer (1749, 1752), abolished the Traditionalist Mass and instiuted new worship services, prayer schedules, and religious processions for the Church. The Imperial Laurasian Government confiscated all remaining revenues belong to the Church chanceries and cells (1752), and in that year, the Second Statute of Supremacy again underlined the Church's administrative reorganization, ordering for the removal of all Traditionalist ornaments, vestaments, and references within the official Church. The Emperor's government repealed the Six Articles and the traditional Heresy & Sodomy Laws, but tightened the penalties for non-conformity and for rejecting the Emperor's religious authority and prerogatives.

Furthermore, the Emperor's regime sought to purge all traces of Traditionalist influence from the Empire's education system and from its communications, culture, and public festivities. All of these policies had helped to provoke a series of rebellions, such as the Disturbance of Teth, the Kettius Rebellion, and Dunsey's Rebellion (all 1749). When Demetrius II died in 1753, a substantial portion of the Laurasian population remained loyal to the Almitian Church. After the short, ill-fated reign of Minerva Greysius, Demetrius's older half-sister, Didymeia, became Empress. She was an ardent Traditionalist, having clashed with her brother and his protectors over the question of her faith a number of times. Empress Didymeia took action from the first to reverse the reformations passed under her two predecessors. Archbishop Stephanius Gardinerius of Winchestrius, a ardent Traditionalist and one who had been deposed from his position in 1751, was restored, becoming both Chancellor and Procurator-General. With the help of Gardinerius and of such Traditionalist Archbishops as Edwardis Bonnerius, Nicholas Heathius, and (after Gardinerius's death in 1755), his successor as Chancellor, Chief Procurator Reginaldius Polsius, the Empress Didymeia instigated what became known as the Traditionalist Counter-Reformation. In 1753 and 1754, by the Statutes of Repeal, all of the religious measures passed during the preceding quarter-century were overturned; the Imperial Almitian Church was restored to its pre-1729 administration, properties, privileges, services, festivals, and beliefs. The Empress also restored the Heresy and Sodomy Laws, established the High Court of Heresies of the Almitian Church, and had many leading Reformists, among them former Chief Procurator Thomasius Cranmerius, Rogerius Perles of Darsis, Perciles Latimerius of Katie, and Sir Johnanius Chekius, arrested, imprisoned, and eventually executed. The Didymeian Persecutions (1755-58), resulted in the deaths of more than 700,000 Reformed Almitian personages throughout the Empire. Wyatta's Rebellion (1754) and the Blackria Revolt (1757) displayed the collapse in Didymeia's popularity.

Therefore, when Empress Aurelia acceded to her throne in 1758, she sought to take a moderate position, to restore many (but not all) of the measures passed by her father and half-brother, and to provide for the final administrative reorganization of the Imperial Almitian Church. This became her first goal. The Empress, within the month of her accession, suspended all currently ongoing Traditionalist services, festivals, and prayer sermons; suspended many of the most prominent Traditionalist officials and clergymen, including Archbishops Heathius and Bonneris (eventually deposed al-together in 1759); and called for moderation in manifestos to her subjects. In January 1759, following her coronation, she established a special commission, comprised of members of the Councils of State, Almitian Church, Imperial Court, and the Empire's nobility, in order to "review the situation of the revenues and properties of the Almitian Church; to conduct a evaluation of the measures passed during the reigns of our late siblings and father; and to propose recommendations as to the measures which should now be introduced." This commission was chaired by the Archbishop of Organia, Demetrius Novagradia (in office 1758-71), and by the Acting Chief Procurator, Sir Nicholas Thorckmortonia. Ultimately, the commission completed its work on April 23, 1759, and formally presented its report to the Empress Aurelia; then on May 17, 1759, she implemented the Imperial Statute of Religious Administration, the first major reform measure of her reign, constituting what became known as the "Aurelian Religious Settlement of 1759". By the terms of this extensive statute, the 1752 Book of Common Prayer, with the exception of the Ordinal, was reinstated as the chief liturgy service document of the Almitian Church. Vestaments, ornaments, and chalices in the Almitian Church were to retain their Traditionalist form; the Almitian Mass was also retained, but the principle of transubstantiation was revoked.

In accordance with the procedures of the Book of Common Prayer, it was now declared that the bread and wine of the Lord Paul of Almitis, were representations, symbolic representations, of his will, and not the actual vehicles of his body. Church attendance was now to become compulsory for those who professed themselves to be in communion with the Almitian Church; however, Traditionalists were to retain the right to their own clergy and services, would be permitted to operate their own churches and estates, and would also be allowed to retain all Traditionalist icons in their own personal residences. It was explicitly forbidden for the Holy Synod to conduct any investigations of practicing Almitians without the express consent of the Privy Council, or in extraordinary cases, of the Empress herself. The Heresy and Sodomy Laws, under which homosexuality had effectively been made illegal, and harsh penalties provided for defiance of the Church's creed & authority, were officially repealed. The Commission of Ecclesiastical Economy was also established by the Empress. All private tithes, offerings, and incomes of the Almitian Church were abolished, and the revenues generated by the Church's monasteries, abbeys, cathedrals, and estates transferred to the control of the Commission of Economy. The Commission was to be comprised of twelve members, including both laymen and clergymen; the Chair of the Commission was to be a member of the Holy Synod, and under the Empress's direct supervision. The Commission was now charged with providing for the salaries and expenses of all members of the Church; of monitoring church revenues, annuities, and benefits in the future; and of supervising the imposition of state taxes, requisitions, and levies upon the Church.

By the decree of June 7, 1762, the Commission would also be granted the authority to issue reports about the financial affairs of the Church's clergymen, and to terminate government funds to any monasteries or estates found deficient in their spiritual duties. The Empress Aurelia herself, during the course of the decades following the promulgation of the initial Statute of Religious Administration, legislated on matters relating to the Church's dissident sects, to its educational system, and to its welfare functions. By the decree of January 8, 1763, the Commission of Education and Welfare was established, responsible for dispensing financial aid to secular universities, guilds, institutions, and organizations from the Church's coffers; maintaining the Church's charity, welfare, and community service operations; and providing for the administration and regulation of all ecclesiastical institutes of education. In 1766, the Empress sponsored the establishment of the College of the Holy Trinity on Alicia, which became one of the leading ecclesiastical institutes for education in the Empire; during the course of her reign, more than 30,000 additional Almitian academies, preparatory schools, ecclesiastical institutes, and spiritual colleges would be established.

The decrees of June 9, 1769, and January 3, 1771, concerned the administrative reorganization of these institutions, creating the position of Vice-Minister of Religious Instruction in the Imperial Ministry of Education, responsible for the supervision of all Church educational efforts; in 1776, the Holy Synod, under the direction of Chief Procurator Demetrius Grindalius, promulgated the Twelve Curriculum Regulations, dealing with the subject matter to be taught in Almitian academies; the programs and courses to be offered; and the requirements for further progress in the Church's educational ranks. Empress Aurelia also maintained her promise of toleration towards the Traditionalists. In 1764, the Empress issued a manifesto promising religious toleration to all who decided to convert from Reformism to Traditionalism. Two years later, she explicitly forbade municipal authorities from imposing any license fees upon those who wished to establish Traditionalist benefices. The Imperial Statute of Regional and Provincial Administration (1775), confirmed the right of Traditionalists to sit upon the Gubernatorial Council; the decrees of April 7, 1776, June 8, 1777, and January 9, 1778, provided for the grant of colonization and transit privileges to Traditionalist merchants, and groups who wished to maintain their own congregations at the Empire's colonies. In 1785, the right of religious toleration was guaranteed for all who wished to settle in the Empire. The Empress also proved her benevolence as relations to the Empire's minority religions and cults. In 1770, 1775, 1782, and 1796, she issued reconfirmations of the Venasian Matrons' privileges, including their right to polygamous marriage (among the Venasian circles) and to the divinity of the Motherly Order. In 1767, the Dasian Order received a charter conferring it the right to construct temples and mortuaries to the Dasian faith in the Galactic Borderlands and in the Hypasian Provinces; five years later, the Empress permitted Solidaritan Mirahs to conduct their pilgrimage to the Galactic Void, which had been denied them under Didymeia I.

The All Faiths Toleration Edict of 1774 granted universal religious toleration to all sects, denominations, and cults within the Empire. In 1775, Dejanican Jewrians were absolved of the responsibility to pay taxes to the Holy Synod, and all of their churches were granted exemption from enumerations imposed by the Imperial Laurasian Government. The following year, Aurelia ordered for the release of Roastafarian Cultists and of Anastasian Athornics who had been imprisoned at Nathaniel, Sanegeta, and Hooper; in 1777, she permitted the Atheist Foundation of Kane to establish a center of non-religious communication on Caladaria. In 1779, the Empress ordered the Holy Synod to take all necessary actions to suppress cults or traditions "who sought to harm the authority of this government, or to damage the integrity of other religions or such organizations." The Westarian Fanatics, one of the Empire's more infamous speciesist religious sects, was suppressed on her command in 1781; the following year, Empress Aurelia included Haynsian Karatists, Marasharite Sultanists, and Pruthian Militarists under the privileges of the Christiania Municipal Statute, granting them the right to construct edifices and to hold prayer sessions in the squares of the Empire's capital city. The following year, she granted recognition to the Wiccas of Hypasia Minor, and in 1784, lifted restrictions upon drudist rituals. In 1790, the Empress established the position of Hamba Lama, as the chief religious authority over the Mauryan Buddhists; the following year, she provided for the organization of the Orenaria Spiritual Huntite Assembly, and in 1792, sponsored the publication of the Brestord Imam, by Mullah Attila Crim, on Hunt Major. The Empress also offered generous terms for any Franconian Huguenots, Durthian Calvinists, or Masacavanian Orthodoxics who migrated to her Empire; the rate of immigration, of these Amulak sects, increased more than 400% during her reign.

The Economy
The reign of the Empress Aurelia the Great witnessed the substantial expansion of the Laurasian Empire's economy and commerce; the period from 1758 to the end of the century witnessed more economic growth, and economic expansion, than in any previous period in galactic history. The Empress's reign was characterized by the massive expansion and stabilization of the Empire's hyperoute system; by the intensification of commercial ties with the powers of the Great Amulak Spiral, in particular the Great Kingdom of Masacavania, the United Durthian States, and the Serene Kingdom of Franconia, among other powers; by substantial rises in disposable income, income equality, standards of living, the number of middle and upper-class households, and personal financial stability; and by a heavy drop in rates of poverty, homelessness, or financial defaults. From the beginning, the Empress and her ministers, in particular Lord Treasurer Winchestrius and his chief subordinate, Minister of Finance Sir Walterius Mildmay, sought to stabilize the Empire's banking and currency system. In 1759, the Lord Treasurer, in order to prevent inflation and to continue the drive against peculation which had begun during Demetrius II's reign, forbade the exchange of rilleite for silver; as a result of this measure, rates of inflation dropped from 7.9% to 3.2% by 1762. The following year, on Winchestrius's recommendation, the Empress abolished three of the chief monopolies which had been relied upon by the Imperial Treasury throughout most of the eighteenth century, but nevertheless stifled competition: those on cranium salt, tibournite ore, and mineral bactas. She offered subsidies and annuities to any businesspeople who would assume a share in these monopolies; by 1767, the Narrian Mines, St. Xenophus's Corporation of Ralina Vixius, and Tagge Corporation had all taken roles in the exportation of cranium salt; Christiania Pharmaceuticals widened its activities into mineral bactas. The Empress then focused her attention upon the development of agricultural and mineral resources within her realms. She authorized survey expeditions by the Imperial Ministries of Energy & Planetary Resources, Space & Transportation, and Agriculture in order to study the soil of agricultural colonies and habitation outposts throughout the Empire, and to propose suitable crops for cultivation at those colonies.

She offered grants and annuities to any who sponsored the development of agricultural resources in the Empire's most recently colonized star systems, and for those who introduced new technologies, methods of cultivation, and crop strands unto their own properties, estates, and businesses. The Imperial Ministry of Labor & Commerce provided subsidies to those factories which developed new agricultural resources for their products and services. She encouraged the introduction of methods, introduced in the Laurasia Prime Purse Region, for the breeding of agricultural beasts, such as rancors, nerfs, cattle, sheep, and agricultural steeds. The Empress, by the manifestos of January 9, 1762 and February 1, 1763, continued with the policies of her predecessors, extending all the way back to Honorius the Liberator, of introducing liberal terms of free transportation, freedom of religion, freedom to petition authorities, and freedom of economic development, for those who immigrated to, and developed the resources, of the Empire's colonies. These offers were aggressively promoted on the Holonet and in holopublications throughout the Empire. The Imperial Ministry of Energy & Planetary Resources worked with mining firms, survey corporations, foundries, and mineral refineries throughout the Empire to survey, and make more effective use, of the Caladarian Galaxy's natural resources. The Imperial Academy of Sciences dispatched its geologists to all galactic regions; in 1768, the Imperial Metallurgical Academy of Oxia Vixius was established, complete with its own artificial mining operations, in order to refine mining technologies and methods. Three hundred more metallurgical academies would be established by 1796. The Empress also encouraged the further production of velvets, silks, and of other garments, sponsoring the establishment of clothing plants and refineries on Laurasia Prime and elsewhere during the 1770s and 1780s. As early as 1762, the Imperial Ministry of Labor & Commerce had eased the requirements for the operation and maintenance of new factories and plants, permitting for a array of businesses in textiles, household goods, electronics, industrial and mining tools, and miscellaneous equipment to arise. Linen, pottery, leather goods, and furniture were among the luxury industries which blossomed within the Empire.

The Chancellors' Corp of Engineers was organized by imperial charter in 1774; by 1798, it had become a prominent producer of barometers, thermometers, and mathematical instruments. Aurelia granted numerous annuities and loans to guilds and universities that expanded their mathematical, practical arts, and engineering programs. The Empress herself founded numerous factories for the Imperial Household, including linens factories on Kacee, Englestrom, Dromund, Alyssa, Wakino, Drake, and Rutherford; a metallurgical plant on Gilestis V; industrial goods factories on Narra, Breha, Offshora, Christopher, Chobania, Dorothea, Lange, Leseur, Bookman, and Rolle; a furniture factory on Venasia Minor; and numerous factories for mining tools, starship components, engines, and weapons systems on worlds from Arachosia Prime, to Kalbacha Major, to Bucharina, to Scanlan, to George, and to Melorkia Major. Between 1758 and 1803, the number of factories, mines, and industrial facilities in the Empire increased by more than 4000%; more than 75,000 new industrial firms and corporations were organized; and all of the Empire's industries recorded substantial rises in profits and production. The military, industrial equipment, luxury goods, and mining tools industries all increased considerably; agricultural yields increased to an average of 7.3 billion tons per inhabited star system by 1796.

The Empress's foreign trade and navigation policies also played a major role in the expansion of the Empire's economy. As mentioned in the timeline, her sister, Empress Didymeia, had sponsored the establishment of commercial and diplomatic ties with the Grand Duchy of Masacavania (1757), as sealed through the Treaty of Moscow. Grand Prince Ivan IV, and his successors, his son Feodor I (1784-98), and grandson Dmitry I (1798-1805), established very positive relations with the Imperial Laurasian Government, promoting the further widening of ties between the two realms. The Masacavanian Corporation, which was formally incorporated as such in 1764, played a major role in the intensification of the Empire's economic relations with Masacavania. From 1759 to 1772, Sir Antonius Jenkrania (1729-1800), served both as the Economic Consul of the Masacavanian Corporation and as the Ambassador of the Laurasian Empire to the Court of Moscow. It was due to his efforts that, in 1761 and 1767, Grand Duke Ivan issued the Slobeskie Capitulations, by which he confirmed the rights of Laurasian merchants, navigators, and starhoppers in Masacavanian realms to travel "unmolested by the jurisdiction of my authorities, or of my agents; to conduct their commerce, and their trade, in all of my star systems, and at my outposts, garrisons, relay centers, terminals, and dockyards without harm; and to transport goods between this realm and the Galactic Void." Two years later, the Empress Aurelia herself confirmed the monopoly of the Masacavanian Corporation on trade with the Grand Duchy; the Imperial Ministry of Space & Transportation provided it a generous financial aid package to sponsor its further activities. Sir Jerome Bowerius, who served as Ambassador in 1783-86, gained reconfirmation of these privileges from the new Grand Duke Feodor.

In 1787, a Treaty of Commerce and Amity was signed between the Laurasian Empire and the Grand Duchy of Masacavania, thereby providing for duty-free commerce between the two realms for a period of ten years. The Treaty was duly renewed in 1797, on an indefinite basis. By 1800, the volume of Laurasian-Masacavanian trade had exceeded more than €8.2 hepmillion dataries on annum. Yet the relationship with the Grand Duchy of Masacavania was not the only special one enjoyed by the Imperial Laurasian Government. Laurasian commerce with the Autocratic Pruthian Empire increased substantially following the conclusion of the Treaty of Berliania III (1764). In 1766, Pru'a IX invited Christiania Pharmaceuticals, Katherine Drive Yards, Tagge Corporation, and the House of the Denrmanians to establish operations in Brandenburg, Silania, and Pomerania; two years later, he authorized for the Imperial Ministry of Space & Transportation to provide for the establishment of economic consulates at Stettin, Potsdam, Magdeburg, Ravensburg, Cleves, and Mark; and in 1769, Pru'a granted Laurasian merchants in the Duchy of East Pruthia "favored nation" status. Empress Aurelia reciprocated by abolishing all tariffs on Pruthian commerce in the Caladarian Galaxy (1771); granting a charter to the Krupp Cooperation of Mainz (1773); and in 1773, sponsored the establishment of customs posts at Danzig and Torun, to coordinate commercial relations with the Pruthian corporations transient in that system. In 1776, the two governments agreed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, providing for duty-free commerce between the two realms for ten years; by the time of Pru'a IX's death in 1786, in spite of increased tension with the Imperial Laurasian Government over such matters as the conquest of Scottria, the annexation of the Haynsian Despotate, and the Durthian Rebellion, the volume of Laurasian-Pruthian commerce had increased to more than €1 hepmillion dataries per annum. A second Treaty of Amity and Commerce would be signed in 1799, after the death of A'rua III the Lazy, who was not particularly fond of the Empress's personality attributes. The Laurasian Empire's commerce with the Marasharite Empire increased substantially between 1774 and 1787, partly as a result of free-transit privileges granted by the Treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarca.

Laurasian corporations such as Hemmelian Factories, the Imperial Works of Christiania, and AstraZeneca Commercial Firms, conducted much business in the Barbary States, Grecian Provinces, and Syria; a Treaty of Amity and Commerce (1775), was signed, negotiated by the efforts of future Grand Vizier Halil Hamid, reconfirmed in 1794 after the end of the Fifth-Laurasian Marasharite War; and in 1799, the first Laurasian customs post in the Palestinian Territories, at Tel Avira, was established. Commercial treaties were also signed by the Imperial Laurasian Government with every other power of the Amulak Spiral and satellite galaxies. This included Vendragia (1766, 1779, 1787, 1792); Haxonia (1761, 1774, 1786); Austarlia (1764, 1781, 1790); Bavaria (1777, 1794); Saxony (1778, 1789); Dejanica (1775, 1780, 1793); Spamalka (1760, 1769, 1794, 1798, with the Asientos capitulations granted in that last year); Morocco (1778, 1789, 1795); Tripoli (1774, 1798); Tunis (1775, 1792); Algiers (1776, 1796); Portugallia (1771, 1789, 1799); Scottria (1760, 1773); Haynsia (1775, 1778); and Durthia (1785, 1790, 1797). In 1799, the Laurasian Empire made first contact with the Kimite Colonies in the Felix Galaxy, concluding the first Treaty of Diplomacy and Commerce with them the following year. Overall, the volume of Laurasian exports increased to more than €550 hepmillion dataries by the end of 1798; imports were at more than €175 hepmillion dataries. Furthermore, the Empress sought to reduce the number of foreign monopolies; by 1763, all preferential trade rates for Laurasian navigators and corporations in the Galactic Void had been abolished, compounding the earlier abolition of inter-galactic tarriffs and charges in 1752. In 1765, the Empress sponsored the formation of the Free Economic Society, to promote ideas of free trade and to sponsor studies on commercial and navigational affairs; it was headquartered in Osraninpolis. The following year, a new customs tariff was introduced on imported goods from the satellite galaxies; this was followed by the reduction of protective rates to 30% on essential products by 1782. Aurelia's reign also saw the revision of the Empire's taxation system.

In 1761, the tribitum peona, imposed on contributions from Almitian congregations, was reintroduced and universalized, so that both Traditionalist and Reformist congregations would have to contribute; the tax rate was raised from €500 per annum to €2,000 per annum by 1785. In 1766, on the recommendation of Lord Treasurer Winchestrius and Minister of Finance Mildmay, and after an investigation of imperial revenues by the officials of the Imperial Ministry of Finance, Aurelia imposed new uniform capitations, of 5% equity, upon military provision (militiae cibaria), insurance (certissimum), sales of commercial products (mercatorius salum), withholding of income (subtractionem), and nonconformity of morals (morum nonconfirmis). The first was a tax upon the profits and the services of arms manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, and supplies manufacturers, authorizing for a 10% cut, for the Imperial Treasury, from these weapons of war. The second tax concerned home insurance, life insurance, vehicle and starship insurance, funerary insurance, and income insurance, providing that a third of every annual premium be deducted by the Imperial Internal Revenues Service. All profits from this tax were to be devoted to the educational, health care, and social welfare systems. The third tax introduced a uniform sales capitation on all transactions and product purchases in the Empire; in 1775, local sales taxes and charges would be abolished, and subordinated to the Imperial Treasury. The fourth was an automatic payroll deduction; the last was a penalty, ranging from €400 to €50,000, per basis, upon any who engaged in "lewd conduct" in public, including public exposure, and was also deducted from criminal fines and processing fees. In 1770, a tax on spaceport docking (the portus) was introduced, requiring a fee for all Laurasian ships docked for more than three days and with a metric weight in excess of 25,000 tons.

Estate and license taxes (praedium licencia et tributa) were imposed upon commoner properties in 1773; two years later, nobles and gentry were subjected to the same rate of taxation as commoners. Ecclesiastical taxes were mentioned earlier. The two chief ones, by 1780, were the tributum clercius (clerical tax) and the tributum monasterium (monasterial tax). The former was imposed as a capitation directly upon clergymen; the second, upon the revenues of monasteries and estates. Governmental revenues increased to €150.6 quadrillion dataries by 1776; and to €189.9 quadrillion dataries by 1797. The capitis lucra (capital gains tax) was reformed in 1769, 1779, and 1789, making it more equitable and raising the cap to 20% of all excess capital sales gains. The donum was increased to 20% of rewards (1780), and in 1782, the Imperial Board of Lottery and Games Revenues was established to ensure the collection of revenues and taxes from all such rewards, lotteries, and grants made throughout the Empire. The Statute of Regional and Provincial Administration provided for a vast increase in the number of decurions, quaestors, and sub-decurions for tax collection; and in 1782, the Imperial Edict on Tax Evasion and Fraud revised the procedures to be followed by the IIRS in cracking down on peculation and on evasion of obligations. Four years later, the capita and iugera values were reformed, so that they were now tied to incomes and to personal net worth value, rather than to property and heads. In 1790, the office of rationales was abolished, and replaced with the domicile prates, who now assumed responsibility for maintaining records of all taxes collected.

Finally, as regards to trade, the Empress implemented two main measures: the Code of Commercial Navigation and the Spice Trade Code, both in 1781. The Code of Commercial Navigation concerned the procedures and regulations that all navigators, merchants, and star-hoppers in the Empire would have to adhere by. The Code provided for the responsibilities and jurisdiction of the Imperial Bureau of Ships and Services, which had been established under Neuchrus I in 1707. The Bureau was now entrusted with keeping records of starship registrations, transport codes, flight certifications, and weapon load-out permits. It was entrusted with updating the Imperial Laurasian Government's databanks on the commercial lanes, and on the Empire's astrogaphical, as well as navigational, information. These banks were to be transmitted to starports and enforcement agencies of the Empire on a routine basis. Every legitimate and registered starhopper in the Empire was to be issued a datapad; all port officials and government boarding parties would be obliged to ask for these datapads. Anyone who did not possess the proper documentation was to experience the full penalties of imperial law, through fines, imprisonment, community service, or confiscation of all properties. For those who violated imperial law, the Code provided for the Imperial Penal References. These would determine the punishments for certain transgressions in navigation. Class Five infractions would concern violations of import-export laws, regulations, and orders by the Imperial Laurasian Government and by the various gubernatorial, provincial, and planetary administrations; lack of emergency equipment would also account for a violation.

Fines, of not more than €150,000, were to be imposed for such violations. "Personal benefit fees" and other corruption mechanisms were explicitly forbidden and could be punishable by a term of imprisonment and confiscation of property; the Imperial Court of Pleas would assume responsibility for all appealed suits relating to such offenses. Class Four violations would concern expired licenses, minor tax evasion, or transport of narcotics without an authorized permit (per the terms of the Spice Trade Code). Class Three infractions would concern bribery or illegal transport of higher-value goods. Class Twos would concern illegal transport of luxury goods, industrial hardware, specialized narcotics, and weaponry; these offenses would incur imprisonment, confiscation of property, and fines. Class One offenses would concern assaults on other space-navigators, firms, or starhoppers; aggression against the Laurasian Empire's governmental authorities, representatives, diplomats, and military forces; possession of cloaking devices or other prohibited high-end technology; and conspiracy or treason against the Imperial Laurasian Government, all of which would carry the death penalty. The Code of Commercial Navigation also concerned regulations for docking of goods; spaceports and dockyards, with their operations; commercial transport; taxes and levies related to transportation; and rules concerning navigation along the galaxy's lanes. The Spice Trade Code, on its part, regulated every aspect of the narcotics and spices industry in the Empire's realms, concerning production levels, purity, uses, transport, and taxation. Harsh penalties and enforcement mechanisms for black-market activity were provided; and all manner of guidelines for the activities of pharmaceutical companies, mining corporations, and of noble houses were outlined. The Imperial Ministry of Justice gained responsibility for enforcing the Empire's regulations; the Imperial Narcotics Enforcement Agency and the Customs Service for cracking down on narcotic rings, on supervising all spice mining operations, and for interdicting, arresting, and punishing all smugglers, illegal shippers, and criminals who tried to engage in the trade. As a result of the Spice Trade Code, the rate of illegal drug crimes decreased; by 1797, the Imperial Laurasian Government's taxation revenue from the spice trade had more than quadrupled.

The Empress Aurelia's Character
The reign of Empress Aurelia the Great was a time of great cultural renaissance and fruitfulness for the Laurasian Empire. The Empress herself was the epitome of the Empire's new-found intellectual, martial, and political vigor. In November 1801, in her famed "Golden Speech" to the Laurasia Prime Chamber of Nobility and her Councils of State, the Empress remarked: "To be a Emperor and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is a pleasure to them that bear it." At the same time, she revelled in and jealously guarded the principles of sovereignity: "I am answerable to none for my actions otherwise than as I shall be disposed of my own free will, but to the Almighty alone." Almitis, she believed, had preserved her through many trials to bring her to the throne of her Empire, and she was convinced that she reigned by his special favor. As "Almitis's creature", a divinely-appointed Empress, hallowed and sanctified at her coronation, Aurelia believed that she alone was able to understand fully the complexities and mysteries of Church and State. She declared: "Princes transact business in a certain way, with a princely intelligence, such as private persons cannot imitate." If she felt that anyone was encroaching upon this sacred privilege, she was quick to reprimand them. One of the Empress's courtiers, Sir Antiochus Naurantia, remembered that "She was absolute and sovereign mistress", while Lord Northius affirmed that "She is our god in the Universe, and if there be perfection in flesh and blood, undoubtedly it is in Her Majesty." What was more important to the Empress than anything, however, was that she reigned with her subjects' love. She proudly pointed out her pure Laurasian blood, and constantly proclaimed that she was as a mother to her people, and cared deeply for the "safety and quietness of you all." Sir Walterius Raleghia would remark to Emperor Lysimachus II that his predecessor was "Empress of the small as well as the great, and would hear the complaints of any of her loyal subjects." Sir Antiochus Harrinigtia, the Empress's beloved godson, made much note of her relationship and her connection with her subjects.

It was important that she be on show as often as possible; Aurelia, throughout her reign, ensured that she was highly visible, traveling on near-annual progresses, progressing frequently through the streets of Christiania and of other cities on her capital world, and attending public festivities as often as possible. She also thought it important to justify her actions and policies to her subjects in a series of carefully composed speeches, Holonet pamphlets, and proclamations from the Imperial Court. She was a gifted orator and actress; her style of writing became more extravagant, "florid", and bold as the years passed. As Antigonus III's daughter, the Empress expected instant obedience and respect; she was a vigorous defender of the Empire's autocratic system, and once asserted that "Majesty makes the subjects bow." She was fond of talking about her father, and reminded her councilors often about the sternness of her father. She nevertheless admitted that her style of government was more "moderate and benign" than Antigonus's had been. Aurelia's command of politics and statesmanship was considered "as exceptional as her intelligence was formidable": she was astute, pragmatic, hard-working, and never afraid to compromise. The Empress's chief concern, as was seen through the reforms described above, and through her foreign policy, was to provide the Empire with a stable, orderly government. She had the gift of knowing instinctively what was right for the Empire, with her priorities being to maintain the law and the Almitian Church, to preside over the expansion of the Empire's territory and economy, and to prevent uprisings against governmental authority. She told her justices and Senators that they must stand pro veritae (for truth) rather than pro regina (for the Empress).

In spite of all of this, still remained, among the Empress's Laurasian subjects, a deeply ingrained prejudice against female sovereigns in general. The Scottrian theologian John Knox, in his infamous work of 1758 (The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women) stated: "I am assured that the Lords of the Universe have revealed to some in our age that it is more than a monster in nature that a woman should reign and bear empire over man." Women, he asserted, were naturally weak, frail, impatient, feeble, and foolish, being covetous and susceptible to evil influences. The Empress herself, aware of the past history of female rulers over Laurasia, spoke of herself as a woman "wanting both wit and memory." She even thanked Almitis for "making me, though a weak woman, yet Thy instrument." To combat prejudice and underline her position, she referred to herself as a prince, comparing herself to her male predecessors, and her male contemporaries. In 1802, she would tell King Hensios IV of Franconia in a private communique: "My experience in government has made me so stubborn as to believe that I am not ignorant of what becomes a Prince." She was fond of saying that she was a "lion's cub" and had many of its qualities. She exploited the "weaknesses" of her gender and converted them into strengths, using her femininity to manipulate the men who served her and make them protective of her. Her calculated flirtatiousness kept her courtiers loyal, and she thereby preserved a balance of power at the Imperial Court. She proved to be so effective a ruler that she managed to overcome the prejudice, and to assume her place as one of the most successful and most beloved monarchs in all of Laurasian history.

Being a woman was to the Empress's advantage when it came to creating her own legend, for she could then assume the allegorical and mythological personae assigned to her by chivalrous courtiers, writers, and poets. She was known as the Rosa electa, the chosen rose, around whom a cult of adoration flourished, and who came to be regarded as little less than divine. By the late 1790s, she would often be referred to in imperial decrees, statutes, and proclamations as "Her Most Almitian and Sacred Majesty". The composer Sir Johanius Dowrania would write a song entitled "Vivat Aurelia for an Ave Messalina", which showed how the Empress's memory had become associated with the old Brethalian myths. Aurelia herself promoted the image and cult of the Virgin Empress, wedded to her Empire and subjects. She took for her own personal emblems those which had been associated with the Lady Oriana, mother of the Lord Paul of Almitis: the rose, the moon, the ermine, and the phoenix. She also, like Neuchrus I, made much of her alleged descent from Arasces the Founder, thereby connecting herself to the first Laurasian monarch. The poets and dramatists of the Imperial Court did the most to promote Empress Aurelia's court. Sir Philotas Spenserius referred to the Empress as "Gloriana" and "Belphoebe"; Sir Willanius Shakesperius, Sir Walterius Raleghia, and Sir Polyperchon Johanius called her Cynthia or Diana. Other poets referred to the Empress as Virgo, Pandora, Oriana, or Astraea, while clerics of the Almitian Church called her Judith, Deborah, or Leah. Throughout her reign, poems, songs, ballads, and madrigals sang her praises and called upon Almitis to preserve her from her enemies, or commended her for her virtues and chastity. No Laurasian sovereign had ever before captured the adoration of their subjects in such a manner. The Empress could be infuriating, particularly to her advisers. A mistress of procrastination, she was adept at delaying and dissembling; her courtiers, lacking her subtlety and not understanding her motives, because she did not normally disclose them, were driven mad by her behavior, but were forced to concede that her caution served her Empire better. The Empress's stubbornness increased as she got older. One of her mottoes was Video Taceo-"I see all and say nothing" in High Laurasian; she kept her own counsel. The Empress had learned that it was not wise to show her hand too freely.

She could be resolute and tough when it was required, and did not shriek from authorizing torture or interrogative techniques when it was deemed necessary for her own security. Nevertheless, she was not too fond of executions, and sought to disassociate herself from them. In many ways, she was a conservative, although she viewed it necessary to strengthen her Empire for the travails of the future. Her councilors, on their part, found her unpredictable. In spite of her geniality, the Empress was also fully aware of her superior position. All of the rules of etiquette were strictly adhered to. They required that all individuals bow (or curtsey, depending on gender), whenever the Empress entered or exited a room; that they remain in that position until given leave to rise; and that they keep their eyes lower than those of the Empress. Furthermore, no one could sit while she stood. She could only be addressed as: "Your Majesty", "Your Highness", "Your Grace", "Madame", "Ma'am", "Highness", or as "My Lady", and no one could raise conversation with her unless it was on her initiative. To accompany this, the Empress proved herself an extravagant monarch, observing that she was "set upon a stage in the sight and view of the Universe." Pomp and splendor were necessary for the glory of the monarchy. Therefore, no expense was spared on court ceremonial, furnishings, and entertainments, nor on the Empress's wardrobe, for these were all aspects of sovereignty meant to impress foreign ambassadors, visitors to the Court, and the Empress's own subjects. Nevertheless, the Empress could still display humanity through it all. Nor was she above interrupting addresses and sermons: yet she would praise orations which she liked. Sovereignty, in the Laurasian Empire, was nevertheless viewed as a mystical institution. The Empress adhered to the practice of the "Emperor's Evil", by which she would touch her subjects and pronounce her blessing upon them. In April of every year, clad in an apron and with a towel, she would preside over the Imperial Maundy ceremony, wash the feet of commoners (which had already been cleaned by her almoners), and distribute to them portions of cloth, fish, bread, cheese, and wine. Tradition decreed that the towels, aprons, and robes be given to the commoners, but the Empress replaced this with the custom of giving out Maundy money in red purses.

When it came to the governance of the Empire, Aurelia was blessed in her ministers, whom she selected herself for their loyalty, honesty, and abilities. She was not bound by the advice of her Council (as explained on the Laurasian Empire page), and frequently shouted at them, or banned them temporarily from court, if they disagreed with her. Many were prepared to risk this minor punishment for the sake of putting their views across. The Empress also did not care if her ministers were inconvenienced, expecting them to be as hard-working, efficient, and devoted to duty as herself. She would demand why if they did not, and proved an exacting mistress. Every day from the beginning of her reign she held successive private consultations with her ministers and advisers, read communiques and Holonet dispatches, composed or dictated others, received petitions, and reviewed state memoranda, financial reports, & governmental publications. She kept communiques, memos, and notes in a pouch, and in her bedchambers. She rarely attended the daily Council meetings, delegating routine administrative matters to her Council and taking the credit when things turned out well. Her temper was notorious, for she was not above throwing her slipper at Walsingis's face (as in the incident with Estatius's unlawful departure from the Empire), boxing the ears of her ministers, or leaving a meeting in a rage. She was also reluctant to apologize, and could be ruthless towards those who defied her. Lord Treasurer Burghley, as the Empress's chief minister, learned quickly how to deal with tantrums. She expected the highest standards of personal service from her ministers, and had a great respect for her nobility. The Empress, furthermore, was a complex personality.

A studious intellectual who would spend three hours a day reading historical novels and watching nonfiction holomovies if she was able, and who to the end of her life would for recreation translate works by Ulagrai, Boethius, Plutarch, Horace, and Cicero, she was also capable of swearing and of making oaths. Like her mother, she was fond of jests and practical jokes; could be amused by vulgar comedies; and would laugh uproariously at the antics of her courtly jesters. Yet her table manners were perfect, and she was parsimonious. The Empress had wit, possessed sex appeal and self-confidence, and charmed men. Even into her latter years, she retained a semblance of her youthful beauty, and delighted when her courtiers pointed out the fact. Riding, hunting, and dancing were among the favorite pastimes of the Empress; during the latter years of her reign, she was normally a spectator to dances and masques at the Court, rather than a participant. She enjoyed holomovies, plays, jousts, gladiatorial contests, simulated wild beast hunts, festivals, parades, and table games in equal measure. The study of philosophy was another consolation; in 1793, she spent two days translating the Consolations of Philosophy by Dr. Hennik Redrick of Tyleria Perea, a renowned fifteenth-century philosopher and sociologist. She had a passionate interest in education; her Statutes of General and University Education, and her expansion of the Empire's educational system, were evidence of this. Music was another passion, composing her own ballets and music; playing various instruments; and promoting the greatest musicians of the late eighteenth century, such as Sir Willanius Byrida and Thomasius Tallia, 1st Lord Tallia of Branchia. Dr. John Deesius, Chancellor of the Laurasian Empire, was the Empress's favored "academician", and in 1775, she paid a visit to his estate, Mortlanian House, on Lusuculum, known for its vast library facilities. The Empress could also be compassionate and kind, as demonstrated by her comforting of Harringtia's widow and of the Norrias upon the death of their son, Field-Marshal Sir Demetrius Norria, in July 1797.

Throughout her life and reign, the Empress enjoyed remarkably robust physical health, which allowed her to indulge in rigorous daily exercise. She ate abstemiously, lived to a good age (she was the fourth-longest lived sovereign in Laurasian history, surpassed by only Tiberius I, Demetrius Severus II and Antoninus Pius), and retained her faculties, as well as her grips on the strings of autocratic authority, to the last. She expended a great deal of nervous energy, and displayed an extraordinary ability to remain standing for hours, much to the discomfort of her courtiers, officials, and foreign ambassadors. The Empress, however, had suffered from numerous attacks of nervousness during her childhood and teenage years. These problems abated somewhat when she came to the throne, but reemerged in later years. Following menopause, Aurelia became subject to anxiety states, hysterical episodes, obsessiveness, and attacks of increasingly profound depression. She hated loud noise, and she had a limited sense of claustrophobia. She suffered intermittent panic attacks: once, while waking in procession to her private Chapel, she was "suddenly overcome with a shock of fear", according to Spamalkan Ambassador Ruyes, and had to be carried back to her apartments. These ailments were neurotic. The stresses and strains of the responsibilities she carried, and her constant awareness of threats to her security would have overwhelmed any lesser person. Her contemporaries believed that by denying herself the fulfillment of marriage and children (virtues dear to Laurasian society), she was living a life against nature. The Empress was also a fastidious woman, and despised certain smells, including coolants, jet fuel, or the burn of industrial machines, compactors, and repulsorlifts. As she grew older, Aurelia became plagued with headaches, eye-strain, and some physical rheumatism. She suffered from an open ulcer in July 1769, which would recur at intervals throughout the 1770s; in 1770, she was briefly immobilized in her personal bedchambers. Nevertheless, Empress Aurelia delighted in morning walks and hikes; she would not let any ailment deter her. Her physical complaints, overall, were chronic rather than serious, and on many occasions, she refused to succumb to them. She had an abhorrence of illness, like her father, and did not wish her subjects to think that she was ill. This was evident in 1777, when the Empress refused to drink medicinal herbs sent to her by Leicesterius from Idyll, fearing that her subjects would think ill of it; in 1779, she was reluctant to undergo a routine dentistry operation; and in 1797, Chancellor Cecilis reported that Aurelia did not wish to talk about a pain afflicting her right hand (ultimately treated with simple pharmaceuticals).

Nevertheless, Aurelia trusted her physicians implicitly. Dr. Burcot, the irascible Archleutan physician who many believed saved her life, when she suffered from Marsian fever (October 1762), was later granted an honorary Knighthood of the Imperial House, the position of Head Professor of the College of Medicine at the University of Caladaria, and was elevated to chief physician of the Imperial Household (1765). He remained in the Empress's service until his death on June 2, 1774. He was then succeeded by Dr. Athanasius Maldaria, who remained chief physician until his retirement in 1786, when he succeeded by the ill-fated Dr. Lopacia (Maldaria died in 1798). Lopacia, in his turn, was succeeded by Dr. Karanus Hiticus (d. 1799). Hiticus was in turn succeeded by Dr. Georg Rogerson, a Vendragian emigre to the Laurasian Empire, who was Aurelia's final Chief Physician. As regards to the imperial image, magnificence was regarded as being the same as power and greatness. Ever since the reign of Arasces the Founder, Laurasian sovereigns had been renowned for their splendor and extravagance; the sovereigns of the Neuchrian Dynasty were renowned for this most of all, and also for their personal charm. This was seen by the properties owned by the Imperial Household and by their public dress. The Empress Aurelia's wardrobe, rumored to contain more than one million dresses, six million gowns, ten million pairs of shoes, and a unlimited number of accessories, became legendary during her lifetime, as her costumes grew ever more flamboyant and fantastic. Throughout the reigns of her half-siblings Demetrius II and Didymeia I, Aurelia had cultivated the image of the "godly Laurasian virgin", wearing garments of sober black and white. As soon as she acceded to the throne, this gave way to an altogether more colorful and showy image. The Empress wore dresses made of silk, velvet, satin, taffeta, or cloth of gold, encrusted with real gems, countless pearls, and sumptuous embroidery in silver, gold, or bronze thread with starched ruffs and stiff gauze collars that became ever more elaborate. Her favorite colors were black, white, and silver, worn with transparent silver veils. Many dresses were embroidered with symbols and emblems such as roses, suns, rainbows, monsters, spiders, fruits, ears of wheat, or pansies (native to Sarah), and various flowers. Some of the Empress's dresses and other items of clothing were presented to her as gifts by her courtiers, officials, or subjects; most remained unworn. These, with other discarded dresses, shoes, and accessories, she would give to her ladies, and on occasion, to her female subjects at large (who would congregate near the Household for the purpose). However, the Empress appreciated every gift given to her by her courtiers and subjects: in 1775, the Countess of Aretha learned that "Her Majesty has developed a great fondness for the blue cloak with the carnation velvet that you gave her, more than anything before, and she has made much talk about Your Ladyships's virtues and friendliness."

The Empress herself had naturally wavy, dark red hair, and preferred to wear it long during the early years of her reign; by the late 1770s, however, she had cut her hair short and wore it bunched up for the remainder of her reign (although occasionally she would wear long wigs or high coiffures). As regards to her toilette, it was extensive and long. It took her ladies two hours each morning to get the Empress ready. The Empress was a fanatic for cleanliness. She had massive, elaborate showers, spas, and baths at all of her residences; her personal flagship, the IMS Laurasiana Galactica, also possessed a massive onboard bathing and hygiene chamber for Her Majesty's leisure. She would shower on most days, and once a week would take an elaborate bath. Aurelia was also found of saunas and of heat baths. Her teeth were treated with high-quality flouride brushes, made of gold and enamel; she would buff them with a velvet tooth-cloth (with strong built-in ingredients for killing germs); and would rinse with a specially treated mineral juice, with safe agents to stop cavities, holes, and other tooth problems. The Empress also had state-of-the-art perfumes, colognes, deodorants, and breath-fresheners. Her gowns and dresses were cleaned with a rare bleach agent, caylium, and by protocol droids. They were as comfortable as they were magnificent; Aurelia's clothes were made by only the best jewelers and designers in the Empire. Her handkerchieves were edged with gold and silver thread; she wore lavish Venasian silk stockings, the best-quality articles in the Empire; and her shoes were designer-made, made for durability and comfort as well as for reinforcement. She had innumerable cloaks, mantles, coats, and jackets, all of whom were made with rain and snow-absorbent materials; with thick linings to protect against the elements; and flexible coverings. The Empress's cosmetics were very lavish; she used Takranian lotion, made from alum, borax, mill water, white-creams, and lavender; marjoram and rose water were also used for skin treatment. Her shampoos and conditioners were made of lye, for thorough cleaning and protection against lice, scruffy hair, and other such ailments; her mirrors and combs were kept in jewelled cases. The Empress's collection of jewellery was extensive, better than any others in the Empire, and possibly throughout extra-galactic civilization. Many were inherited from her parents: she had her mother's famous initial pendants, and an enormous sapphire encircled by rubies, commissioned by her father, Antigonus III.

Many others were gifts; Sir Christopheus Hattonius and the Earl of Leicesterius gave her more pieces than any other of her courtiers. Many others of the Empress's jewels were of foreign origin: Vendragian, Haxonian, Franconian, and Spamalkan makes figured in her collection. She also possessed jewels once owned by the Haynsian Despots, the Kings of Scottria, and (after 1795), by the Kings of Dejanica and Dukes of Northania. Furthermore, many of her other jewels were designed and produced by the goldsmith and minaturist of the Imperial Court, Sir Nicholas Hillardia. Several were engraved with one of the Empress's mottoes, Semper Eadem (Always the Same). The Empress also owned numerous jewelled watches, fashioned as crucifixes, flowers, pendants, or animals; she also had innumerable gem-encrusted bracelets, girdles, collars, pendants, earrings, armlets, buttons, pomanders, and aglets. She had fans of rare toverich feathers with jewelled handles (the cost for one fan normally reached the tens of millions, due to the great expense for hunting toveriches and skinning their hides), and several novelty pieces with symbolic meanings, or were based on a pun. Her favorite jewels were fashioned as starships, stellar objects, or animals; her pearls, the symbols of virginity, were magnificent, and included the long ropes once owned by Queen Mariana. She considered a ring with a cameo of herself and her mother to be her most valuable jewel. The Empress would often give away jewels to courtiers, ladies, and subjects. The Empress put on her extravagant costumes primarily for state occasions, court festivals, personal appearances, the receiving of ambassadors, and official portraits. Her everyday dress was rather simpler, and she was fond of spending mornings in loose gowns. Her clothes and jewels were the outward symbols of majesty, and essential for the preservation of the mythology of the Virgin Empress. No one else might aspire to such magnificence: the Empress issued orders and decrees regulating the dress that her household, and prominent subjects at large, could wear.

The Imperial Court
The Empress Aurelia's display of such splendor and magnificence, as was fitting to the ruler of a galaxy-spanning Empire which, by the end of her reign, controlled more than seventy million star systems across 200,000 light years of territory, was played out amongst the most magnificent palaces and residences of any sovereign in extra-galactic civilization. These residences were spread over the length and breath of the Empire's territory, including residences once owned by the various independent states successively subdued by Laurasian might over the course of the centuries. The Empress's most important residences, however, were located in the Laurasian Purse Region, the original territories of the Stellar Republic of Laurasia, and of the Stellar Kingdom. These residences, no less than the Empress's personal wear and the ceremonial which marked every aspect of her life, were the outward symbols of personal monarchy. In these palaces were displayed the massive artwork collection of the Imperial Court, amounting to well over sixty million different items, many of whom had been acquired by Aurelia's father, Antigonus III. Tapestries, portraits, official photographs, works of art; all prevailed. The Imperial Laurasian Court, on its part, was nomadic: at any one time, more than a million individuals would be in attendance. The complexity of the Court meant that a residence would have to be vacated so that it could be completely cleaned and sometimes remodelled. The Empress was constantly on the move, determined to display herself to her subjects as often as possible, and not to always remain rooted to Laurasia Prime, the most populous world of extra-galactic civilization. The Empress's residences and palaces were splendid and luxurious, indeed, but Aurelia was also a fanatic about financial moderation and prudence; the Chief Comptroller of the Imperial Household was always under orders, and scrutiny, from Her Majesty, to adhere to the annual budget of €475 hepmillion dataries per year, allocated for the expenses of the Imperial Household. The maintenance of the Empress's residences came from the imperial budget; from the incomes generated by Her Majesty's industrial, agricultural, and space-holding ventures, businesses, and operations; and from the taxes, levies, and requisitions imposed on noble properties by the Chamber of Heraldry and the Imperial Court of Wards, among other agencies of the Imperial Government. Aurelia, however, was also one concerned for the fair wages and working conditions of her innumerable servants: she raised their wages annually, and granted many of her most trusted and favored servants additional bonuses, annuities, and vacation privileges.

The number of residences owned by the Empress of Laurasia was simply astounding. She possessed more than six million different residences throughout the Laurasian Empire: this included palaces, mansions, imperial houses, hunting lodges, country estates, preserve estates, fortresses, castles, villas, private retreats, and resorts, among others. The Empress obviously did not reside at the vast majority of these properties, and leased many of them to her favored officials or courtiers. This included the Christiania Charterhouse, the Livadian Resort, Durhamian House, and Baynardian Castle. The Diplomatic Palace in Christiania, Laurasia Prime, was placed at the disposal of foreign ambassadors, personages, and of other special visitors to the Imperial Court; the Empress did stay there several times per year, however, and considered it to be one of her favorite residences. The Byrnes Palace and the Old Royal Palace in Christiania were both employed by the Imperial Privy Council and Ministries as government headquarters and administrative offices (although the latter became home to the last King of Dejanica, Stanis Vorrust I, during the last two years of his life on Laurasia Prime), and the Christiania Government House served as the office of the Empress's Champion, the Master of the Revels, the Master of the Court of Wards, and the Imperial Chamberlain, among other household officials. The Priory of St. John's served as a private religious retreat for the Empress's household, and the Lycian Krellite Palace was where the Empress's excess wardrobe, accessories, and personal goods were maintained. The Empress's main residence was the Quencilvanian Palace; she stayed here more than at any other palace, and it was by far the largest, most lavish, and significant of all her residences. Originally the Dasian Orda, where the Dasian Beys of Laurasia Prime had resided from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, it had been converted, and expanded, into the Celestial Palace by King Honorius the Liberator in 1085-96. The Palace was expanded by successive Laurasian sovereigns during the next seven centuries, and became officially known as the Quencilvanian Palace during the reign of Seleucus the Strong (1332). It grew from its original size of about five hundred rooms (1096), to 1,000 rooms (1330), to 7,000 rooms (1400), to 25,000 rooms (1506), to 30,000 rooms (1601), and to 40,000 rooms (1701). By the time of Empress Aurelia's reign, it covered an area of more than forty-five square miles, and soared sixty miles into the air. The Palace had many glories, such as the Family of Antigonus III (1737) by Sir Hansius Holbienus; the Empress was fond of standing in front of this painting when recieving visitors, so as to remain every one of whose daughter she was. Furthermore, the Imperial Corridor, wrapping around the main floor of the residence, served as the gateway into the Palace; cafes, restaurants, and the Imperial Servant Quarters were linked to it. Persons of suitable attire could gain access to all of the Palace's public rooms and quarters; the Senate Hall, Assemblage Auditorium, Imperial Kitchen, Palatial Balcony, Palatial Information Center, etc. all dominated within the Palace's confines. Tours were offered by the Palace Command, and such tours were processed through the Information Center. The Empress's personal bedchambers, the private Privy Council Chambers, and the chambers of her servants, as well as her private library and entertainment complex, were located on the Residential Floor, and closed off to all visitors except for those permitted by Her Majesty. The Pruthian Paul Hentzner, on his visit to the Court in April and May 1798, was given the privilege to tour her personal chambers. He recorded that her bed was "composed of woods of different colors, with quilts of silk, velvet, gold, silver, and embroidery", its draperies being of Solidaritan painted silk. There was a silver-topped table, a chair padded with cushions, and silver cabinets with a holocommunications panel, data-pad chests, and a computer terminal. Adjoining this chamber was a massive bathroom, with a shower stall, baths, private sauna, and spa; a conference room, filled with elaborate furniture; a private viewing center, for Holomovie showings, small plays, comic performances, and other such antics; a private balcony and viewing room; the Empress's private library; and a private escalator system, as well as a Holotransmissions chamber and a holodeck entertainment set. Private dining chambers, working offices, and a private kitchen were also among the Empress's rooms. Among the Palace's many other chambers and amenities were the Palatial Gardens (the Seleucid, Antigonid, and Didymeian Gardens), the Delorum Avenue, the Palatia Imperium, the King's Guest Floor, and the Lower Levels (a more comprehensive description is provided at the Quencilvanian Palace page).

The Palace of Placenta on Darcia was another favored residence of the Empress; it was here that she proceeded to in January 1759, in accordance with Laurasian coronation custom, and from thence to Laurasia Prime. It, along with the Gilbertine Palace on Tudoria, the Fountain Palace on Venasia Major, and the Quencilvanian Palace itself, was one of the residences that the Empress lavished much effort, and much expense, in expanding and in redesigning. In 1772-76, the Empress constructed a massive arbourite stone terrace (imported from Gilestis, Narra, Dorothea, and Leseur), which ran beneath the windows of her apartments on the northern side of the Upper Ward, and it was on this terrace that the Empress enjoyed taking the air in the evenings, or would stride along briskly each morning that she stayed at the residence (during one of her visits or progresses). Below this nestled the Placenta Gardens, which was designed as an elaborate ladybrinth maze, similar to those which had been prominent in old Brethalian and Tatianian myths on Laurasia Prime. In 1783, the Empress constructed an indoor gallery (which became known as the Aurelian Gallery), more than ninety feet long, complete with athletic equipment, where she and her chief servants could exercise at their leisure; she also constructed the massive Placentan Fireplace Room, complete with an antique Darsian-style fireplace and central ventilation system. She also constructed the New Placenta Chapel, the Aurelian Bridge, and the Aurelian Banqueting Pavilion; all together, Aurelia added more than 1,500 rooms and 125,000 square ft to the Palace of Placenta during the course of her reign. In 1767, the Empress also constructed a massive mausoleum, dedicated to her father and to her grandparents, at St. Georgius's Chapel. The Great Park of the Palace of Placenta, on its part, was where the Empress could indulge her passion for hunting and for outdoor athletic competitions. She was not a squeamish woman, and she hunted with as much enthusiasm as the most prized male hunters at her Court. In latter years, the Empress would shoot game from specially built stands in the Great Park, although she still preferred to venture into the preserves with her male courtiers. Likewise, her apartments at the Palace of Placenta were luxurious. She would sleep in a huge, ornate bed "covered with curious hangings of tapestry work". She had a "curious" bathroom chamber with its walls covered completely by crystalline mirrors. The Great Hall of the Palace of Placenta, almost as large as that of the Quencilvanian Palace, was the setting for plays, banquets, and recitals by the Players of the Chapel Imperial, the Empress's personal ecclesiastical and musical choir. The Palace of Placenta's other major chambers included the State Rooms (preserved as they had been during the time of Antigonus III's marriage to the Empress's mother, Anna Boleyenia), the Curiosity Rooms (which included a rancor's husk and a unicorn's horn), and the Tapestry Rooms, where prize Franconian, Durthian, Germanian, Haxonian, and Austarlian works of art were displayed.

The Palace of Harmony on Clancia, another of the Empress's favored residences, was also one of the smaller ones: by the end of the eighteenth century, it had only about 3,000 rooms, a mere fraction of the size of the Quencilvanian Palace. Nevertheless, this Palace, once the residence of the Kings and Queens of Clancia (it had been constructed during the reign of Tardina I, the Clancian Queen who defied the Arachaso-Sennacherid Emperor Sennacherib in the fourth century), was also known for its splendor and lavishness. It was built of rare azurite, borlite, aquarius, and tilentanium stone, which thereby gave it a shining rainbow glow, even in the day time. The Harmonic Orchards contained many exotic and rare plants, including a row of Talanian trees, known for their synthetic patterns and for their constant change in color, from green to blue to purple. The Palace was built around three courtyards, and was used by the Imperial Laurasian Government for ambassadorial receptions and other state occasions. The Palace was built alongside a moat, and possessed an imposing Riverside Gatehouse; the Empress, whenever she stayed at the residence, was found of having her official stage barge rowed on the Harmonic Streams, and of receiving guests at the Gatehouse. Benches, painted with the imperial arms and with the emblems of the Neuchrian Dynasty, were installed in the Orchards. Many of the Palace's chambers faced the Harmonic Streams, with massive windows and electomagnetic panels offering a panoramic view of the Streams, and of the vast, sprawling nature-filled lands in every direction. The Empress would watch exercises by her Guards and Marines, as well as displays and military reviews, from the Palace. The Placenta Chapel was renowned for the lavishness of its materials; its hangings were made of gold damask, and there was a gilded alcove in which the Empress would be able to receive, and partake, of Holy Communion. The Palace of the Greats on Americana was another massive residence. She liked to use the residence for Easter and Whitsun festivals; plays would be performed in the Antigonid Hall, constructed by her father Antigonus III, for the benefit of visiting foreign personages and of the Imperial Court.

The Paradise Chamber was an elaborate throne room, containing a twelve-foot elevated throne constructed of gold and bronze mantle, and with a massive set of Coat of Arms placed above it. Extending from the throne were lavish Solidaritan rugs, garnished with gold, pearls, and precious stones. The throne itself was upholstered in brown velvet, and studded with three great diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. One massive table, twenty-eight feet long, at the edge of the chamber was covered with a pearl-edged surnap of velvet, while another table, made from Shepharian wood, was inlaid with silver. On this was displayed a gilt mirror, a draughts-board of ebony, a chessboard of ivory, and seven ivory and gold flutes, which, when blown, reproduced various animal and technological sounds. Also on display was a backgammon board, with dice of solid silver, and a massive collection of various musical instruments. The Horn Room, adjacent to the Paradise Chamber, was where hunt spoils, including antlers and rhinoceros horns, were displayed. The Palace was also renowned for its lavish decorations; many of its rooms were embellished with "masterly" paintings, writing tables of mother-of-pearl, and musical instruments. There were fretwork ceilings with intersecting ribs and pendants decked out in gold, and all of the palace steelwork was either gilded or brightly painted in red, yellow, blue, or green. The Empress herself adored the residence, and intended for its display to be an unmistakable sign of her wealth. She took an especial interest in the Palatial Art Collections and in the Palatial Gardens, giving orders for all manner of foodstuffs and agricultural plants, such as the rare tabasco vegetables, as well as tobacco, coffee, peppers, Darcian potatoes, and Aquilionian leeches, to be raised there.

In 1770, she instigated a massive expansion of the Palatial Stables and Processing Works, transforming these facilities into among the most impressive on her estates. The Empress also constructed the Oatlands Range (1775-78), and filled the Park with a collection of rooks. The Gilbertine Palace on Tudoria, the favored, family residence of Aurelia's grandfather, Neuchrus I the Reformer, was cherished by the Empress. She visited this residence every year, and appreciated its charm; the gardens and orchards of the Palace, which had more than 15,000 rooms, particularly impressed her. The Gilbertine Palace was literally a fairytale palace, with numerous turrets and pinnaces crowned with bulbous domes surmounted by gold and silver weather vanes; it boasted fan-vaulted ceilings, vast oriel windows, a huge hall measuring five hundred by one hundred feet (which contained murals of many Laurasian monarchs, that of Emperor Antoninus Pius being the most famous), and a network of galleries and loggias, bisecting the Palatial Gardens. The Gardens were themselves a wonder, filled with numerous flowers, herbs and over two thousand trees, while the orchards yielded peaches, apples, pears, damsons, and nearly two hundred other varieties of fruit. The Palace had eighteen kitchens, more than any of the Empress's other residences except for the Quencilvanian Palace. Another attraction for the Empress was the Palace's elaborate plumbing system, constructed by her grandfather, which piped pure spring water into the Palace.

Nonsuchia Palace on Americana, "the place which Her Majesty likes above almost all", was a fantastic edifice, constructed by Emperor Antigonus III during the 1730s. Aurelia's half-sister and predecessor, Didymeia I, had leased the residence to the Earl of Americana, and he retained possession of it until his death in February 1780. Afterwards, it had been repossessed by the Empress Aurelia, and returned to the possession of the Imperial Estate. During her visits, the Empress would be out riding or hunting every day in the Palatial Parks. Whenever she received ambassadors at Nonsuchia Palace, it would be in rooms adorned with furnishings and hangings of very high-quality produced on Sarah, Martina Mccasia, Blackria, and Kamachina. The Palace had a massive network of dining quarters, more extensive than at many of the Empress's other residences. The state rooms were magnificent. There was a fine library, lined with statutes of figures of significance from the literary and cultural history of the Empire, and of the Caladarian Galaxy; in the inner courtyard, there was an imposing marble fountain, which soared one hundred feet into the air, and a clock tower. Nonsuchia Palace was also famed for its novel octagonal towers, while its walls were of white stucco with a deep relief pattern picked out in gold on plaster, and a vast array of classical statuery stood on the Palace's grounds, including the famous Grove of Diana. The Fountain Palace on Venasia Prime, on its part, was the Empress's favorite non-Laurasian residence. Constructed as early as the seventh century BH, the Fountain Palace had been the main residence of generations of Queen Mothers, and of Venasian Khans, until the annexation of the Neo-Venasian Consortium by the Laurasian Empire (1506). The Palace stood on crags overlooking the Queen Mother's City, and had for centuries also served as a armory, military fortress, and governmental administrative complex. The Palatial Hall of Masters, extending for more than four hundred feet in length, had red qashmel carpets (material produced only on Venasia Prime and Venasia Secondary), fine artwork, arched corridors, and white alabas stairways at both ends. Adjacent to here was the Royal Residence, once the private bedchambers of the Venasian Queen Mothers; a long corridor provided the entrance, manned by Valedictorian Guards and by Venasian Maidens (in the service of the Imperial Household), and an immense wind-crystal chandlier dominated the center of the Corridor. The Queen Mother's Special Salon was the private bedchamber within the Residence; the Empress particularly enjoyed its huge mirrors, lavish dressing boards, and many luxury amenities. The Royal Bedchamber, in which the Empress slept during her stays at the Palace, was dominated by a huge bed covered by a crown-shaped canopy, which was surrounded by other furniture, including lavish couches, armchairs, and writing desks. The Drawing Room, connected to the Special Salon, included an octagonal game table at the center of the room, directly beneath a Kamarian-crystal chandler, and surrounded by eight flow-cushion chairs. Finally, the Royal Hangar, one of the largest private hangars in the Laurasian Empire, abutted the other side of the Palace. In 1768, the Empress had her coat of arms placed above the Hangar Entry, supported by a carved lion and the red dragon of the Venasian Princess Caldrania, whose emblem had been adopted by the Neuchrian Dynasty. The Fountain Palace also had its own hunting ranges and a artificial lake, known as Tenel Ka's Pool. From this Palace, she could take in a sweeping view of the Queen Mother's City.

The Empress hated the Fortress of Baureux. Her mother and various others close to her had died violently there; she herself had terrifying memories of her imprisonment there in 1754. She also detested the noises and smells emanating from the imperial menagerie emanating from within the Fortress. It is therefore, not surprising, that the Empress never used the state apartments there after the traditional visit prior to her coronation. Nevertheless, her rooms were always kept in readiness; in 1798, Hentzner reported that the state apartments were hung with tapestries worked in silk, gold, and silver thread, and furnished with grand beds and canopies of estate edged with seed pearls. One of the huge chairs, made for the aging Emperor Antigonus III, with its footstool, was displayed; several of the Empress's most extravagant dresses were stored there, along with chests full of rich materials. The Empress's official State Robes, used for public speeches and addresses, were kept at the Fortress and thoroughly washed every month. They were regularly sprinkled with scented powder to prevent their degradation. The crown jewels, including the Great Imperial Crown, the Smaller Imperial Crown, the Banner of State, the Sword of State, the Wreath of State, and the Coronation Robes, were all stored at the Fortress Armory, and put on display in the Fortress State Museum for tourists. The Empress also tended to avoid the Palace of Secrets on Paradine, where she had stayed during much of her sister's reign (following her release from the Fortress). The Old Palace of Hatlania (Melarnaria), Hunsadarania Palace (Andriana), Newhaltan Palace (Dramis), and Enfredian Palace (Hannah), were either leased, or rarely visited by the Empress. She did however favor Elsinge's House on Ecreutus, particularly enjoying its aquatic displays and the fishing lodge.

The Imperial Court was not only the seat of the Imperial Laurasian Government, but also the stage on which the Empress could make a magnificent display. It was also the cultural heart of the Empire, and a showcase for the arts, intended to impress foreign visitors. The Empress spent lavishly on her court, since she understood the political importance of visible wealth. Court taste in painting, music, costume, and other decorative arts, reflecting the tastes of the Empress, would set the tone among many of her nobles and gentlemen, and among the wealthiest personages in the Empire. The Empress and Court followed an annual routine which, for the most part, remained unvarying. In the autumn, the Court would normally reside at the Quencilvanian Palace (sometimes at the Fountain Palace, Gilbertine Palace, or other of the core residences). The Accession Day celebrations would take place on November 17, and the Empress usually kept Ascentmas on Laurasia Prime, except for when she was on another of her worlds. Twelfth Night, the Feast of the Epiphany, and Ascentmas Day were all important occasions for the Court; gifts would be exchanged, and the Empress herself presented offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in the Imperial Chapel. Aurelia normally spent much of Ascentmas Day itself in prayer. Male courtiers were expected to remain at the Court for all of these ceremonials. Dancing and card games such as primero were the chief pastimes; even the Empress would indulge in a modest wager. There were also numerous plays, masques, holomovie showings, and other performances staged for the leisure of the Court. While on Laurasia Prime, Aurelia was frequently seen in public, going to dine at the houses of nobles and government officials (as well as prominent personages), attending weddings, watching athletic competitions, and also enjoying military displays, fetes, and other performances, at the Academies, Universities, Opera, and other cultural institutions. The Empress's personal repulsorlift, which required twenty engineers to operate it, would always be kept in readiness in the Quencilvanian Hangar. Early in the new year, Aurelia would generally move to Nonsuchia, Gilbertine, Fountain, or Placenta, but would then return to the Quencilvanian Palace by March. In April, she might proceed to the Palace of the Greats, or the Royal Palace of Briannia. During the summer (and early autumn), there would be the progress, and then she would again return to one of her varied Core residences before again making her arrival back at the Quencilvanian Palace (or, as became increasingly common, return straight to the Palace).

The Empress, however, followed a strict daily routine. Aurelia would normally wake at five or six o'clock in the morning (the latter time became more common as she grew older). Dressed in her personal gowns, the Empress would go for a brisk walk in the Palatial Gardens (and sometimes in the Palatial Halls), before returning to her chambers for her morning shower and toilette. Sometimes, she would take some sort of snack with her, to hold her over until her breakfast. The lengthy toilette would then ensue, normally being completed by 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. At that time, she would be served breakfast in her personal bedchambers-which could be anything from meat porridge, bread, or wine, to a full-scale traditional breakfast. Following this, the Empress would proceed immediately to her duties of state, working in her offices and in the Private Council Chamber until eleven or twelve o'clock. She was a enthusiastic drinker, and would normally work with a cup of coffee, tea, or light wine in her hand. She would read official and personal correspondence (communiques, letters, memorandums, reports, Holonet transmissions, etc.); receive her ministers, advisers, military commanders, and numerous other government officials, listening or reading to their reports, and perusing or signing the official papers they had prepared for her. These were working sessions, for the Empress expected them to offer her ideas and to provide opinions on state matters. She would send out verbal and written orders, consider matters to be referred to the Council or Senate, and keep herself abreast of the affairs of her household. Then the Empress would have lunch, followed by a dancing routine, which would include music and singing (this constituted her midday break from the work). The Empress's hunting and entertainment would then follow during the early hours of the afternoon; by 3 o'clock, she would be back to her work. This would generally continue for two hours. The Empress would also read (or be read to), would amuse herself with her personal holodeck, or engage in pastimes such as sewing, embroidery, or in writing. Then at five o'clock there would be dinner. If there was a court reception, the Empress would throw herself into presiding over the festivities, which included interaction with guests, controlling the dancing and other entertainments, and of course engaging in such pastimes herself. Receptions would continue for four hours; pageants, masques, dramas, and plays would all be performed, along with other allegorical entertainments, Holomovie showings, demonstrations, speeches, concerts, etc. If there was no court reception, Aurelia would be entertained in her private chambers. She might watch a play, listen to a concert, or play games, including charades and card games. Then at 9 o'clock, an usher would formally call an end to the official ceremonies; snacks and drinks would be dispensed to the Court; and the Esquire of the Body would clear all state rooms. The watch would then begin their patrol of the palace precincts, and maintenance of the night security system. The Empress herself, however, would continue working for another hour, and, after being disrobed by her ladies, would retire to bed at 10 o'clock.

When the Empress entertained, she did so on a grand scale: her ceremonies and receptions were lavish, impressing visitors with their orderliness and solemnity. The Empress's reign was a very visible one. Every Sunday, she would go in procession from the Imperial Chapel to the Public Throne Room; individuals at the Imperial Court would crowd to see her, falling to their knees as she walked "grandly" past. She would often pause to speak to many of them. Lord Herbertius of Cherburania, when he was an aspiring young courtier, remembered the first time that he was present on one of these occasions (1794). He remarked that as soon as Her Majesty saw him, she stopped and demanded "Who is this?" Everybody there present looked upon him, but then Sir Jamsius Croftia, one of the Gentlemen Pensioners, would tell the Empress who he was, and that he had married Sir Willanius Herbetia's daughter. The Empress then looked attentively upon him and said "It is a pity he was married so young!" She then allowed him to kiss her hands, and gently clapped him on the cheek. Another visitor, the Pruthian Leopold von Vedel, witnessed this procession in 1784, describing Her Majesty's "graciousness and generosity" to her subjects. He also noted the easy familiarity of the Empress's manner. Hentzner, on his part, noted (1798), the elaborate preparations for the Empress's dinner. The table-cloth, salt cellar, and food were borne in to the Public Throne Room, to the sound of trumpets and kettle drums, by servitors escorted by guards, preceded by an usher with a ceremonial rod. Each officer bowed solemnly three times to the empty throne, both on entering the room and on leaving it. Gentlemen stood in attendance around the table while the ladies of waiting set it, laying the cloth and placing the food on it. Then a maid of honor, dressed in white silk, would enter with a lady in waiting, who carried a detection monitor; the lady would prostrate herself three times in front of the table and empty chair, before respectfully approaching it, and then made the "assay" to the guards and gentlemen, to ensure that none of the food had been poisoned or tampered with. More maids of honor would then appear, and would lift the food off the table, conveying it to the Private Dining Chambers. The Empress would always eat first; no one else would be permitted to eat until she had taken the first bite.

Aurelia normally ate alone in her Dining Chambers, and had her own private kitchen, separated from the Palatial Kitchen, where her food was prepared. Only on occasions of high ceremonial would she eat in the Great Dining Hall; the public would be allowed to watch from an elevated gallery, installed with blaster-proof glass. At Christmas 1784, Vedel was privileged to watch the Empress eat, and noted that she was served by young men who brought her food, offering them on their knees and remaining kneeling until she gave them bid to rise. Behind her, stood Lords Howardis and Knollysis, as well as Sir Christopheus Hattonius. She talked to them familiarly, although each one would kneel when addressed and rise only when bidden to do so. The musicians and symphony of the Imperial Court would play throughout the meal; when she was finished, her servants would bring a silver bowl and towel, so that the Empress could wash her hands. The Empress, as the wealthiest and most important personage in the Empire, was always offered an unlimited variety of dishes, of cuisines from throughout the Caladarian Galaxy, the satellite galaxies, and from the Amulak Spiral. She was, however, a moderate diner, preferring meals of chicken or game; in latter years, she would normally order thick soups and stews. The Empress's food was made of the highest-quality ingredients, cooked to perfection, and prepared by the best cooks in the entire Empire (all of her chefs were first-class and galactic-renowned for their work). The foods consumed by the Court ranged across a vast spectrum. Among the many deserts that the Empress and her courtiers had at hand were fruit mixes (and fillings), compotes, jellies, biscuits, tarts, sweet waffles, doughnuts, fritters, gingerbread, macaroons, ice cream, pastries, cakes, pies, sweetmeats, wafers, custards, crepes, and darioles. Cakes, sweetmeats, tarts, and fritters were the Empress's most favored deserts. Fish was another major part of the Court's cuisine, ranging from Aquilionian eels to Lornan mauldachs. Shrimp, lobsters, catfish, perch, buffalo fish, tarp, pike, trout, lamprey, herring, cod, oysters, sardines, scallops, dorados, red mullet, shellfish, and flying fish were all consumed in hefty portions by the Court; the Empress herself favored tarp. Stews, herb-favored omelets, and trenchers (bread-meat mixtures) were popular; all varieties of meats also abounded. Beef, cattle, lamb, veal, turkey, guinea fowl, mutton, pork, rabbits, swan, peafowl, quail, partridge, storks, cranes, larks, linnets, geese, ducks, and chicken were all in abundance. The Court had access to all possible vegetables and fruits, including lemons, citrons, limes, oranges, pomegranates, apples, pears, plums, strawberries, blueberries, melons, watermelons, apricots, figs, dates, grapes, plums, grapefruit, kiwis, pineapples, and peaches, besides everything ranging from potatoes, kidney beans, and tomatoes, to cabbage, beets, onions, garlics, corn, chili peppers, vanilla, cacao, and quinces, among many others.

The Imperial Court was also renowned for the variety of dairy products and of drinks available. The Empress herself was fond of several luxury wines, in particular Venasian mineral wine; amphorae (that is, traditional Laurasian wine served in jugs); olive wine; frascatis; white wine; and Aquilionian oceanic wine. Many other wines were also drunk by the courtiers of Her Majesty's Household, including mulled wine, the terroir, aged wines, pomace wine, lora wine, and posca wine, along with nearly two hundred other varieties. Wine was the most common drink at receptions, banquets, and dinners; it was renowned for its nutrition and for its taste, with many of the Empress's nobles and gentlemen considering themselves to be connoisseurs. Tyndaris, Ietas, Mariana Prime, Andriana, Wroona, Constantine I, and Condtella were among the most renowned viniculture producers in the Laurasian Empire; it was from the wine ranges and farms on these worlds that the Court derived most of its wine. Tea, chocolate, coffee, spirits, ales, and soft drinks were among other favored drinks of the Court: the Empress herself preferred sweetened green tea, black coffee, espressos, and vanilla-flavored chocolate; whiskey, beers, and alcoholic ales were drunk by most of the male courtiers; and many of the Empress's ladies favored lighter ales, ciders, and cream soda. All of these drinks were produced with only the best cultivated ingredients, and were drunk with much "solemnity". Empress Aurelia was also known for her tendency to extravagant displays from time to time: at her Accession Day's feasts in 1764, Her Majesty presented all of her guests with the rare guillermo wine, which was steamed with peppers and xillenium; four years later, every member of the Imperial Household received a pineapple pie treated with a shot of Kimanian jinx.

The Empress's courtiers always ate in the Great Hall of whichever residence she was residing at (except for those special guests whom she invited to privately dine with her, considered a very high honor); the chief Officers of the Household would sit apart at the functionaries' table. The ladies-in-waiting of the Imperial Household would sit at the Servant's Table, which was always located to the right of the functionaries' table. The Great Hall of the Quencilvanian Palace, the largest of Her Majesty's dining halls, contained, by 1800, enough room to sit more than 300,000 individuals at one time. Every nobleman, knight, and prominent "personage" (defined under imperial law as being a commoner or businessman with a certain net worth, and recognized influence, either through economic clout or through holding some government position), was permitted to bring their own servants and families to the Imperial Court; the Imperial Kitchens had to therefore provide "bouche" (that is, a full-course menu), for all in attendance at the Court. The Imperial Comptroller of the Household and the Ministry of the Imperial Chancellory cooperated to ensure the Household's efficient management and organization: the Empress herself implemented several reforms early during her reign, to streamline the command chain, to crack down on peculation, and to reorganize the Court servants and personnel, in accordance with their respective positions, and with regards to each other. Foreigners, on their part, were always impressed with the singing of the choristers of the Chapel Imperial (or Imperial Chapel), comprised of thirty-two men, twenty-four women, and twelve adolescents (normally in attendance at the Cadet Corps or the Imperial Academy of the Arts). One Vendragian ambassador said that divine service at the Quencilvanian Palace "was so melodiously sung and said, as a man half dead might thereby have been quickened", while a Franconian envoy claimed "In all of my ventures in Franconia, the Principalities, and Spamalka, I never heard the like: a concert of music so excellent and sweet as cannot be expected." The Empress also maintained her own personal orchestra, ballet act, and company of players, numbering well over 75,000 individuals and performers of all different stripes. In 1772, she abolished all charges upon music contests and festivals at the Galactic Exchange, Galactic Opera, and other public entertainment venues on Laurasia Prime, and in various other star systems of the Empire, so that her subjects could also enjoy her love for music.

Security around the Empress was tight. She was guarded by the Valedictorian (Yeoman) Guards (established by her grandfather Neuchrus I the Reformer) and by the Gentlemen Pensioners, which had been established by her father Antigonus III the Extravagant. The Guards numbered more than 850,000; the Pensioners, more than 220,000. The latter, whose captains included Sir Christopheus Hattonius and Sir Walterius Raleghia, were known for their athleticism and commanding physiques; many were military veterans. These regiments were the successors to the Praetorian Guards, those regiments established by Seleucus I the Victor in the early fourteenth century, and which had, by the seventeenth century, assumed a considerable role in the politics and administration of the Laurasian Empire. Neuchrus I had abolished the Guards in 1689 and dismantled their headquarters, following their revolt against his authority. He considered them too much of a threat to the sovereign, and to the stability of the government, and had thereby replaced them with the far weaker Valedictorians. Both guards regiments were under the direct oversight of the Autocrat; neither had their own separate military quarters, being instead stationed at the Quencilvanian Palace and the monarch's other residences; and both were under strict surveillance, with strict procedures for security and for admission into the ranks. They were inculcated to be utterly loyal to the Autocrat, and proved to be so, time, and time again. In spite all of this security (and the Quencilvanian Palace's elaborate defenses), the Privy Council feared that the Empress was still in danger, and that she might be assassinated (several attempts occurred throughout her reign). Lord Treasurer Burghley feared poison, and drafted a memorandum advising on "Certain Cautions for the Empress's Apparel and Diet", warning her against suspect gifts of perfume, gloves, and food. The Empress had a relaxed attitude towards her own safety, and was fond of taking risks, placing confidence in the love of her people-much to the dismay of her ministers and councilors.

Empress Aurelia had under her direct command a vast horde of personal servants and attendants. Besides the Valedictorian Guards and Gentlemen Pensioners, she had her Ladies of the Bedchamber (numbering more than 400); her Maids of Honor (2,000); her Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber (5,000); her personal grooms and attendants (more than 100,000); the footmen of the Imperial Privy Chamber (more than 200,000); the Esquires of the Body (50, with 2,000 servants attached to them); her entertainers (numbering in excess of 75,000); her personal comedians (400); her Imperial Protocol Droids (more than 300,000 units); and finally, her Household Servants (more than two million), who took care of the routine maintenance and operation of all her residences, of the court's food, entertainment, and energy needs, and of all other such concerns. She also had a reserve of more than six million part-time servants, attendants, and retainers, upon which she could draw at any time. This number was far in excess of any other nobleman or prominent personage in her Empire; and it represented only a small fraction of the government, and subjects, which she commanded.

The Imperial Court had a diverse character. Empress Aurelia ensured that it observed strict rules of decorum and etiquette, which set standards in manners for the rest of the Empire, and promoted the ideals of chivalry and gentlemanly conduct, as had been exemplified in the Courtier by the Venasian author and playwright Balthasar Castiligoni (1728). He asserted that the ideal courtier was a generous, witty sportsman who pursued his own advancement. The Virgin Empress expected her courtiers to maintain high moral standards, and would not tolerate promiscuity, knowing that it would reflect badly upon her own reputation. According to Sir Rudomentus Holisnhedia, "bad behavior was utterly expelled out of the Imperial Court, or else so qualified by the diligent endeavor of the chief officers of Her Grace's household, that seldom are such things seen there, without due reprehension and such severe correction as belongs to these trespasses." Scandals at court, when they did occur, were sensational. Aurelia's courtiers found that the worst thing about the Court was the frantic competition for places and preferment, and the stresses this engendered. The nearer one was to the Empress, who was at the center of a great web of patronage, the greater the rewards, which included court and government posts, annuities, pensions, wardships, loans, selective monopolies, peerages, and knighthoods. The Empress knew how to use her vast wealth and patronage to her advantage, and would keep everyone at a limb. There was much gossiping and back-talk, but violence was out of the question, for the Empress had imposed a penalty for dueling, and did not allow her courtiers to possess any weapons in her presence but decorative swords (only her guards and military personnel were exempted from this rule). Many courtiers learned that it was better to wait for the Empress in the public chambers, and to seek meetings with her, rather than indulging in something rash. Many courtiers spent lavishly to get the Empress's attention; many wound up in debt or in financial deficit. Few courtiers achieved their desire to speak to the Empress in person; many times, Aurelia would promise something and then delay or "conveniently forget" about that promise. Many courtiers did not like the competition for favor, but almost all found that it was necessary to attend or to visit it, lest they be left out in the lurch. Anyone with the rank of gentleman or knight, and above, was allowed to attend the Court. Many of the courtiers were related to each other, or bound by ties of marriage or loyalty. This did not, however, prevent frauds, nor the forming of factions around favorites. Aurelia proved adept at controlling these throughout her reign, although the task became more difficult in her later years.

A number of prominent courtiers were related to the Empress on her mother's side, but although she looked after these kinsfolk, she did not promote or ennoble them until they deserved it. She would not make her great-uncle, Lord Willanius Howardia of Effinghia, an earl because he was not wealthy enough, and Lord Husadarania was on his death-bed before she offered to make him Earl of Redia. Nevertheless, Boleyenia relations prospered under their illustrious cousin, including the Knollysises, the Sackranias, the Howardises, the Staffortdias, the Fortesias, and the Ashleuses. The Empress enjoyed a unique relationship with her courtiers, who vied to outdo each other in compliments to her: some even constructed buildings on their estates, shaped in the form of an A, in readiness for an imperial visit. Virtually every man who attended the Imperial Court was well-educated, cultivated, well-traveled, and multilingual. They had confidence born of wealth, and eagerly extended their patronage to the Empire's cultural and artistic circles. The Empress expected them to be well-dressed, laid down rules of conduct, and could react severely if they were not obeyed. The Empress herself favored male company, in spite of the fact that many of her most intimate friends or servants were women. As a result, she preferred to be the focus of attention at the Court: many courtiers did not bring their wives or fiancees, for fear of offending Her Majesty. Relations between the Empress and her male courtiers reflected the age-old ideals of courtly love, in which the lover pays hopeless court to his unattainable mistress, whom he worships from afar. Lord Norria, Sir Christopheus Hattonius, and the Earl of Aretha were all excellent examples of this. Aurelia did fascinate men, and exerted a compelling influence on them. Nevertheless, she could also be emotionally volatile, going from kind to harsh in one instant. Yet she also had an excellent sense of humor. The nicknames that Aurelia bestowed on those closest to her were a sign of affection: Leicesterius was her "Eyes", Hattonius was her "Lids", Burghley her "Spirit", and Walsingis her "Moor". However, she would not allow others to be over-familiar with her. In 1782, one of the younger courtiers, Sir Ligonius Presius, stood upon the carpet of the cloth of estate and came within close proximity of Her Majesty, sitting upon her throne in the Great Audience Chamber of the Quencilvanian Palace. Instead of reprimanding the offender, the Empress turned to the Chamberlain (the Earl of Jadia) and scolded him for permitting such behavior.

Aurelia was at all times attended by thirty of her Ladies of the Bedchamber, twenty maids of honor, twelve gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, and ten other personal servants: whenever she appeared in public, her ladies and maids accompanied her. This of course is only the small fraction of the Empress's total number of personal servants. She was rarely alone, as her servants attended her day and night. Duties were on a roster basis, and the most senior ladies would wait upon the Empress in her bedchamber, while the younger attendants would be on duty in the Entertainment Complex and in the Outer Chambers. Maids of honor performed errands, waited upon the Empress at her dining table, bore her train, and maintained all of her clothes, jewellery, and personal possessions. The Empress, as was previously mentioned, granted vacation privileges to her ladies routinely: they could not leave the Imperial Court without her permission, or the permission of her household officials (such as the Marshal or Chamberlain). The Empress's ladies and maids were selected from among her relatives or from the families of courtiers. Because serving the Empress was often a springboard to a brilliant marriage, there was intense competition for places. When Lady Leightonia was thought to be resigning from her post, twelve applications to replace her were immediately submitted. Like most male courtiers, the Empress's ladies were well-educated and well-read. Most studied, read various historical and fiction works, or translated. One of their tasks was to read aloud to their mistress during times of leisure from one of the many books or Holonet files at her personal library. The Empress's ladies and maids were also expected to be accomplished in needlework, music, dancing, and riding, so that they could share in their mistress's interests and entertain her as required. Aurelia demanded high standards, and was critical of any lapse. Lateness and slovenliness earned sharp reproofs, and discipline was strict, the Autocrat having no compunction about slapping or beating any girl who offended her, even for small offenses. Her rages were truly terrible and justly feared, and she would frequently insult or use profanity against servants who had offended her. On the other hand, she counted among her women some of her closest friends, and inspired in them selfless devotion.

The Empress required all her female attendants to wear black and/or white, so that the vivid colors and embellishments of her own dress stood out dramatically. Lady Didymeia Howardis violated this rule of Her Majesty's on one occasion; the result for her was a facial bruise, banishment from the Court for two weeks, and confiscation of all her dresses and gowns. Nevertheless, the Empress's women were the recipients of gifts from visiting digintaries, and Aurelia herself often passed on very costly and beautiful items of clothing to them. Many of the Empress's servants became prominent in their own right. Lady Meguilla Parsius, 1st Baroness Parrius of Welch (1708-90), was the Empress's longest serving female attendant; she served her from the moment of birth, first as a nurse, then as a lady-in-waiting, and finally (1765-90), as Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber and Mistress of the Robes (thereby making her the chief among all of the Empress's attendants and personal servants). Her predecessor in the position was Aurelia's childhood governess, Lady Katharina Ashelius, 1st Baroness Ashelius of Heliotrope (1702-65). Lady Olympia Markhamia, wife of Sir Antiochus Harringtia and mother of the famous godson and courtier of the same name, was another; she had attended Aurelia during her imprisonment at the Fortress of Baureux (1754), in the reign of Didymeia I. Lady Didymeia Radclyffia, 1st Baroness Radclyffia of Constantinople (1732-99), served Aurelia for forty years, from before her accession (in September 1758), until her death in June 1799, and turned down all suitors to remain with her beloved mistress. Lady Didymeia Sidronius, although ravaged by the Marsian fever, remained very close to Empress Aurelia until her death in 1786; she was the mother of Sir Philip Sidronius, and was herself a very intelligent and educated lady. Her daughter, also named Didymeia, became a Lady of the Bedchamber to the Empress in 1776, and served her for thirteen years. It was not unusual for three generations of the same family to serve the Empress as maids of honor. Anna Russalia (1748-97), who married the Earl of Sarah in 1765, was a maid of honor to the Empress from 1758 to 1769, and had been lauded by poets for her "virgin grace, genius, and charming voice." In later years, Aurelia became close to the Briannian Helenna Ulsdotter (1749-1835), third and final wife of the Marquess of Venusia, and when she remarried after the Marquess's death in 1771, Empress Aurelia allowed her to retain the title of Marchioness and the precedence it conferred; she was also granted the Fortunanta Mansion, birthplace of Antipater I, on Darsis.

The Empress became less tolerant of young people as she aged, and strongly disapproved of the romantic and sexual adventures of many of her female attendants. She was in loco parentis to many of these young women, and the guardian of their honor; furthermore, their parents hoped that their daughters would make advantageous marriages through being in Her Majesty's service, and the Laurasian nobility was especially concerned that a "deflowered" virgin was worthless to them. Aurelia went furious if her maids attempted to arrange their own marriages without her consent, since the responsibility of arranging suitable marriages for them rested with her. She was also conscious that scandal and the loss of a maid's reputation would reflect badly upon her own morals. Therefore, she was excessively severe with those who violated the rules. When one of her maids, Lady Mary Sheltonia, a distant cousin of the Empress, secretly married Sir Lysimachus Scaudmoria, the Empress was "liberal in words and blows", and Lady Scaudmoria was forced to go the hospital for injuries to her hands and arms. Later, the Empress apologized, and appointed her as a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. Lady Franconia Vasvoria incurred similar displeasure for the same offense, while her sister Anna, who gave birth to an illegitimate son of the Earl of Oxfadia's in 1781, was irrevocably disgraced, although Her Majesty commanded the Earl of Oxfadia to provide for the expenses of his former mistress and of his bastard child. In the end, though, Aurelia was not against her maids marrying, provided that they chose approved suitors. Eighteen of her maids were married to peers of the Empire. However, until such an opportunity presented itself, the Empress expected her maids to rejoice in their virginity, as she did. Harringtia states that the Empress would ask her maids "if they loved to think of marriage" and would enjoin them to "remain in a virgin state." The result of the Empress's restrictions was that the maids of honor were too terrified of their mistress to confide in her when they fell in love-which happened frequently in a court peopled with men-and were frequently compelled to conduct their often innocent "liaisons" in secrecy. Towards the end of her reign, as the Empress's intolerance increased, more and more illicit affais occurred among her maids; the 1790s proved to be a decade of court scandals. This was most clearly demonstrated in the case of Lady Aurelia Verania and the Earl of Southerton (1798), as covered in the timeline. Many of the maids found it hard to expend their nervous energy, and would often disturb others (such as Lord Knollysis). Often there were jealousies and quarrels among the women. Although the Empress did not tolerate open argument, she was not above playing off one protagonist against the other. Yet she often showed a human face to her ladies, and was especially kind when any of them had suffered bereavement or family problems.