Marcio Peccatrix (A1-0)
| Marcio Volesus Gaius Sertorius Peccatrix Whitehound | |
|---|---|
| His Imperious Majesty, Autocrat of the Ryccian Empire, King of the Ryccian Empire, High Duke of Northern Icelast | |
 | |
| High Duke of Northern Icelast | |
| Reign | 1040 BBT - 1032 BBT  1040 BBT - 979 BBT  |
| Heir | Cornelius Peccatrix (Ryccian Empire); Vettio Peccatrix (Imperial Remnant) |
| King of the Ryccian Empire (Imperial Remnant) | |
| Reign | 1028 BBT - 979 BBT |
| Heir | All issues as Imperial Prince/Princess |
| Born | 1075 BBT Icelast, Ryccian Empire |
| Died | 979 BBT Bastion, Imperial Remnant |
| Spouse | Aelina Ulpia Maxima Iulia Bellax Greyhound |
| Issue |
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| Dynasty | Peccatrix |
| Occupation | Military officer, statesman |
| Residence | Peccatrix Palace, Bastion |
| Education | Imperial Naval Academy |
| Height | 192 cm (6 ft 4 in) |
| Relatives | Cornelius Peccatrix (cousin) |
| Autocrat of the Ryccian Empire | |
| In office 1030 BBT – 979 BBT | |
| Monarch | Aurelia I |
| Preceded by | Position first established |
| Succeeded by | Aurispex Paldin as Chancellor |
| Military career | |
| Nickname(s) | The Last Grand Admiral The Dehorner of the Ibachi The Indomitable |
| Allegiance | Ryccian Empire Imperial Remnant |
| Service/ | Ryccian Imperial Navy |
| Active service | 1053 BBT - 1032 BBT 1032 BBT - 979 BBT |
| Rank | Grand Admiral |
| Unit | 4th Fleet |
"Throughout the history of the Ryccian Empire, none were as remarkable as Grand Admiral Peccatrix the Indomitable. He was the true embodiment of the Imperial ideals. Meticulous, loyal to the bitter end & unwavering. He personally carved out a new empire out of wild space by sheer force of will, laying the foundation of our current empire with his new found vision."—Historian Jaxus Farallus
Marcio Volesus Gaius Sertorius Peccatrix Whitehound, better known as Marcio Peccatrix, was a Ryccian aristocrat & military official in the Ryccian Empire shortly before the Democratic Revolution and statesman of the Imperial Remnant. Coming from a noble family from the core worlds, Peccatrix lived an affluent & lavish lifestyle with numerous connections which gained him the prestigious position of Grand Admiral. His tactical accumen would however come to fruition when he fled from the Democratic Revolution with an exodus of imperial aristocrats to found the Imperial Remnant. Peccatrix would become a founding father of this new remnant, re-organising the military, establish a governing council, carving out the stronghold of the remnant and found its new societal doctrine.
Peccatrix is remembered fondly by the Imperial Remnant for his numerous achievements in service to it. Nonetheless, records show he was a ruthless conqueror known for the brutal mutilation of his subjects and a zealous human supremacist.
Early life
Born to the affluent Peccatrix family on Icelast, Peccatrix grew up in a lavish environment of excessive luxury & pleasure that had grown stereotypical of the core world in the Ryccian Empire at the time. He was known from his early age to have a keen interest in military affairs & racing, attending military colleges in addition to winning racing championships across various worlds.
Peccatrix was ensured the best of education on his homeworld, learning to rule in the ways of the Old Empire. He was noted to have been peculiarly ruthless in ideological classes which was only further amplified by his household.
While pursuing his military career in his later teen years, Peccatrix became notably more dominant & intimidating with the people close to him. Always claiming the top of the social hierarchy, Peccatrix made sure no one would challenge his leadership. It was during this period in his life that Peccatrix forged many relationships that would help him climb the ranks in both social & military circles.
Peccatrix was also remarked to have been a womaniser, forming and breaking many relations with girls of his age. So much so that he was often caught having multiple relationships at the same time. This pursuit of romantic entanglements wouldn't be limited to just his own species however which brought him to clash with conservative elements of the aristocracy.
Military career
Having learned a lot of the imperial military in his later teen years, Peccatrix became a prodigy student at the Imperial Naval Academy. He would always be the leader in group works and tirelessly push his subordinates to achieve his own ambitions. During an oral exam, he convinced his teacher to give him the full score by charismatically appealing to his pride. Additionally, he often challenged fellow students & even teachers to strategic battle simulations. It has been noted that he developed a hyper competitive fixation at the Imperial Naval Academy as he meticulously pursued total victort, challenging opponents, students & teachers alike, who defeated him untill he eventually defeated them thrice in a row. This gained the attention Admiral Demetrius Bellax, the uncle of a close childhood friend, who would become his mentor.
Once graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy, Peccatrix was commissioned to serve under Admiral Bellax where he rapidly rose through the ranks by using his close connection with Admiral Bellax and similar officers. It was also during his early military career that he acquainted a niece of Admiral Bellax, Aelina Bellax, whom he married in 1019 BBT.
Butcher of the Imperial Rim
By 1043 BBT, Peccatrix had risen to the rank of Admiral and was in charge of the 4th Fleet. Interspecies tensions had begun to grow as alien sympathisers gained popularity within certain political factions. This led to several rebellions in the Imperial Rim. Peccatrix used his charisma & connections within Imperial High Command to be assigned to quell these rebellions. With his flagship, the super star destroyer Vindicator, at the helm of his fleet, Peccatrix bombarded thousands of rebellious settlements from orbit on dozens of worlds. The mere sight of the Vindicator made rebelling worlds plea for mercy which were promptly ignored by Peccatrix. His ruthless & indiscriminate bombardment led to the extinction of certain ethnic groups of subject species as well as the destruction of various religious temples of significant cultural importance to the subject species, thus erasing the history of subject species.
Promotion to Grand Admiral
This display of ruthlessness gained him the nickname of 'Butcher of the Imperial Rim' as well as considerable media attention. Heralded as a hero of the Empire, Peccatrix used his amplified gravitas to persuade Imperial High Command through his proxies to grant him the newly freed position of Grand Admiral Cartesius.
From this puissant position, Peccatrix began to influence Imperial Naval Doctrine as well as crackdown policies against subject species while also gaining renomation with the highest imperial officials. His steadfast belief in human supremacy not only clashed with officials sympathetic to alien subjects, but he also challenged those who in his eyes were too lenient with them.
Imperial Exodus
The Democratic Revolution saw the ideological stance of the Ryccian Empire change from xenophobia to xenophilia. Peccatrix however remained firm in his belief of human supremacy, appealing to fellow officers to start a campaign of terror as civil unrest grew. The historical tide would however change when Crown Princess Alice sided with the xenophilic political factions, throwing loyal military officers in disarray as she began the revolutionary war itself. Peccatrix & like-minded individuals however rejected any pretense of their order being overthrown.
During the armed conflicts of the revolution, Peccatrix never lost a battle and showed no quarter to his enemies, despite them often being of the same race. Through the projection of superior firepower, Peccatrix made short work of experimental multispecies crews. Peccatrix was the only loyalist officer to have kept revolutionary forces at bay while the Ryccian Empire at large gradually switched to Crown Princess Alice's side as the war went on, either out of self-interest or persuasion due to the rebellion's excellent propaganda campaigns.
It was only when Admiral Bellax was captured and torn apart by alien rebels that Peccatrix considered an insurgent victory. Shortly after, he was approached by several high-ranking military officers & governmental officials to devise a plan to ensure the Empire's continued survival. Peccatrix would leverage his position as Grand Admiral to rally loyalist forces around him and amass experimental technologies while his allies at court sought out a royal heir who agreed with the humanocentric imperial way.
When imperial defeat was inevitable, Peccatrix enacted the Imperial Exodus with loyalist forces shortly after the abdication of the Ryccian Emperor. Using experimental wormhole technology, his forces fled persecution by the revolutionaries and fled into unknown space.
Founding of the Imperial Remnant
After several days, Peccatrix and his forces found themselves in unknown space. After several more weeks of trying to triangulate their location, it had become apparent that the experimental wormhole technology wasn't reliable for distances larger than 50 LY. Facing no way back home, Peccatrix ordered his forces to scout nearby star system to call colonise and began the continuation of the Ryccian Empire through the formation of the Imperial Remnant.
Quickly it became apparent that existing primitive species inhabited the space and Peccatrix saw the foundation of a reforged Ryccian Empire. One with his vision of the imperial way. He persuaded his fellow aristocrats to settle a lush world with a primitive species on it as the seat of the Imperial Remnant. A brutal subjugation campaign followed and once the initial foundation of the new colony was set, Peccatrix immediately went out to conquer the neighbouring primitive star nations as to bring a new workforce to build the Imperial Remnant.
Military campaigns
The first target of Peccatrix was the Ibachi Hegemony, a feudal society that had become interstellar. Peccatrix found little military resistance in his subjugation campaign of the Hegemony due to an immense technological advantage. However, it was during planetary invasions that the Ibachi held their ground firmly. This only further infuriated Peccatrix who after the conquest of Galbak, cut off the horns and burnt the horn buds of 95% of the adult Ibachi population while sparing those that had easily accepted him as their ruler. As such, Peccatrix used the cultural perceptions of the Ibachi to cement his dominion as the Ibachi found hornless Ibachi stripped of their honour. Peccatrix brought generational trauma within the Ibachi as he continued this practice on the remaining Ibachi worlds he conquered.
Later on, Peccatrix's dehorning of the Ibachi fuelled his local infamy to other star nations in the vicinity. When he eventually conquered those as well, he was met with less resistance and used similar mutilation to a lesser degree than with the Ibachi.
Political dominion
With the loyalist forces scattered, Peccatrix also set to reform the Ryccian Empire with his new vision that would ensure human dominance over their newly subjugated species. He formed the Patriciate Council, an oligarchic amalgamation of the ten great aristocratic houses (Actorius, Dellius, Metonius, Bellax, Varenus, Tariolenus, Paldin, Calandrin, Peccatrix & Alameda), that would serve as the government of the Imperial Remnant. Naturally only humans would be part of these families which in turn gave access to government positions.
With the subjugation of several species, the ratio of citizens to subjects meant that the humans would be vastly outnumbered and thus would need excessive use of force to ensure the subject population to remain in line. The practice of branding & marking was reintroduce to break the will of subject species which would serve as servants and labour force for the human aristocrats.
Peccatrix amassed a lot of power in the early years of the Imperial Remnant. It was said that orchestrators of plans brohght to the Patriciate Council immediately agreed with Peccatrix when he refuted their plans. So much so was his hold over the political landscape that he made every loyalist human an aristocrat in the Imperial Remnant with a dozen slaves serving each human. To that end, Peccatrix also published the New Order book stipulating how one controls the subject population.
Legacy
Peccatrix is regarded as a hero within the Imperial Remnant and an escaped criminal by the Ryccian Empire. His dedication to forge a new Ryccian Empire in what the Imperial Remnant perceived as lawless space was unmatched by fellow officials in the exodus. Peccatrix's name remains a lasting legacy in both the military as well as the political bodies of the Imperial Remnant.
His name is used to instill nationalistic zeal in the Imperial Remnant's citizenry and terror into its subjects.
Peccatrix Doctrine
Peccatrix formulated a new central doctrine for the Imperial Remnant to ensure its survival given the new realities of their exodus. Given the limited resources of their new found territory, Peccatrix argued that every resource should be optimally used. Every mineral, energy source or slave should be squeezed until nothing else remained to serve the human aristocracy. To that end, Peccatrix was a fierce human supremacists who vouched for all humans of the imperial exodus to be considered nobility and form a large caste of subservient slaves to constitute his economic model through continuous territorial expansion.
Peccatrix's naval doctrine would also diverge from the centralisation of resources in enormous super dreadnoughts. While these large flagships had been successful in bringing terror into subjects, Peccatrix believed this no longer to work for the Imperial Remnant. Instead, he believed that by using the resources to make one enormous super dreadnought into ten dreadnoughts, the Imperial Remnant would still achieve its goal of terror, but also gain much more flexibility to expand on multiple fronts necessitated to create a lasting stronghold for the Remnant. As such, modern Imperial Remnant naval doctrine still prefers the use of its Victrix-class dreadnoughts through Peccatrix's doctrine of symbolic pragmatism