Vladimir II

Vladimir II, King of Motherland, was a cunning, manipulative monarch. He believed that the most effective rulers did whatever it took to hold onto power. Fortunately for his subjects, he also believed that the key to retaining control of one’s country was to keep the people happy. The army most of all, but civilians too whenever it was possible.

Born in 182, early in the reign of his popular grandfather, Vladimir lived a relatively carefree life at court. As he came of age, the only thing he truly worried over was how his shy, conflict-averse mother would handle the crown when it was her turn to rule. And so, he studied the art of politics—first at Yesterland Academy and then on his own in the stacks of the Edenian Athenæum. And it was there, in the Athenæum, where he came across countless copies of the works of Niccolo Machiavelli—from across numerous iterations of reality.

In the pages of Machiavelli, Vladimir found a kindred spirit. Though he only found the phrase “the end justifies the means” in one version of The Prince from one version of reality, Vladimir took on those words as his personal motto. He sought always to, in the words of the man who inspired him, “be the fox to avoid the snares, and a lion to overwhelm the wolves.”

During the early years of his mother’s reign, the unscrupulous Vladimir was kept away from the queen by her closest advisors. They feared he would be a malicious influence, and they were right to be afraid. Later in Catherine’s reign, after she was robbed of the ability to seek advice from her father’s ghost, she turned to Vladimir. She turned to her son, and then she turned over the running of the kingdom to him—years before it was officially his turn.

The years that Vladimir ran Motherland, both as his mother’s surrogate and as king in his own right, may have seemed like glorious times to his subjects. But if they had known the evil Vladimir had done to keep them happy, both at home and abroad, perhaps they would not have judged him so gently.