The Journal of Emperor Killian Xerxes

"The greatest enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic." — John F. Kennedy

1) Preface

Killian Xerxes was the emperor of the Empire of Nor'Ova during the First Era, from the years 1999 to 2038, when he was killed during the Great Magic War. For long he has been vilified by history as the "Mad Emperor" and as "Xerxes Zodo", however history is always written by the victors and often times the victors vilify their enemies to justify their actions. Was Killian Xerxes a villain, or was he simply unfortunate enough to lose and then grossly defamed to support the atrocities of the Great Magic War? No one can really be sure, however recently a journal written by him was uncovered. This journal may help to shed some light into one of histories most unknown yet most infamous villain, allowing you to answer for yourself if he is truly deserving of such infamy.

2) Entry One: Beginnings

My name is Kilian Xerxes. I am an ascian elf male, son to Kumas and Vera Xerxes - though my mother passed away during my birth and my father, ever faithful, has never remarried. While I would consider myself an average among my peers, it has been said that my intelligence and charisma were exceptional. My family has always been in good standing in both wealth and society, with my father working for the government of the Republic of Maya and having inherited a great deal of money from his father who in life was heavy in the now defunct oil and natural gas business.

I went to the University of Azeria, where I got my doctorate in economics in my masters in behavioral sciences. You see, it was always my dream to follow in my father's footsteps and become a politician.  It was there that I met the love of my life, Kira Mullen, a young yet exceptionally intelligent human woman who was working on becoming a pediatrician. We married the day after her graduation. After the honeymoon I went to work in the Ministry of Economic Development and she went to work for the University of Azeria Medical Center. We both agreed to put off having children until we were further along in our careers and could afford to give them the best life possible.

We lived happily for the next decade, until in 1995 when we as well as the rest of the world were rocked hard by a massive solar flare that took out the Multiuser Information News and Data (MIND) network. Within a week all of the global financial markets crashed and tensions were high. The solar flare damaged everything and it would take time to repair all of the fried circuits, yet the nations of the world couldn't seem to come together to find a way to deal the economic restructuring needed to bring relief to the people. They were all more absorbed in blaming others than helping each other, truly it was a sad state of affair and it made me ashamed to be called a Nor'Ovan.

In 1997, I was sent to the Federation of Nations in Xenopolis. As a leader in the field of economics and one who helped to bring some economic stability to the Republic, I was asked to develop a strategy to revamp and recover the global markets and end the Great Depression. The MIND network, version 2, was already coming back online and it was deemed necessary to develop a strategy to help speed up the economic recovery and find a way to prevent a future disruption. I worked with the other leaders and we laid out a plan that would bring needed stability. It would require greater cooperation between nations, secondary systems for storing financial data, greater transparency, and a development of global relief funds and social security nets to bring immediate relief and future relief if needed.

Needless to say, it worked to a degree, with only one stumbling block - international cooperation. Never would I believe that so many nations would be unable or unwilling to work together for their people. Instead, they continued to accuse each other and sought only to prop themselves up. "Me" seemed greater than "we". Later that year I made a speach to the grand assembly that was televised stating that a divided Nor'Ova can never hope for a full recovery. Instead we must erase the invisible barriers that separate us and become united if we ever wish to fully come out of the depression that has for too long plagued us. It wasn't as well received by the leaders, with many of them storming out. However the populace of Nor'Ova latched onto it. They were tired of the lies and false hopes and wanted real change. After seeing the broadcast, they rose in great force and a great global revolution was underway. The global leaders attempted to put down this resistance, but the militaries were all made up of normal civilians with families of their own, and they sided for once with the people.

By the end of 1999, 75% of Nor'Ova was united into one country and I was elected by the will of the people as its first ruler. I was elected as Emperor.

3) Entry Two: Tragedy and Heroism

For the first decade things were wonderful. Some smaller nations didn't join our global community, and that was ok - I always knew that there would be some holdouts. Those that did come into the fold experienced a great economical revival and regrowth with us. The people were happy, my wife was happy, and I was happy. We decided it was time to try to have a child. Unfortunately, my dear wife would not live to see the birth of our daughter. Due to a mysterious complication, she went into a sleep and wouldn't awaken. Foul play was suspected but no real leads ever came of it. Perhaps I was too worried about my wife and my unborn daughter to care about any investigations. All I know is I wanted them both to be ok, I needed them to be. The doctors feared that whatever affected my wife would also affect our daughter so they preformed an emergency c-section and delivered her three months before her time. My daughter is strong, she was able to overcome her premature birth. My dear wife though could not survive the c-section, with her heart failing during the operation. I left the government entirely in the hands of the senate for the remainder of that year, while I grieved. The beginning of the next year I met my daughter for the first time, and I named her after her mother, Kira, and vowed to ever be by her side.

Scandals began to rock the nation soon after that, with some even accusing me of my  wife's death. There were some people calling for an end of the empire, despite the empire being largely a constitutional monarchy than anything really.

Still writing this...