Zenoristore VIII

Zenoristore VIII (Dagoș Răzvanni Odobricci) was Imperator of Caphiria from 1328 to 1341. A member of the Odobricci Estate, Zenoristore VIII was a wealthy senator and a prominent aristocrat, having secured the throne by taking part in the Salgrate conspiracy, an assassination plot against Zenoristore VII, his elder brother and Imperator. Despite reigning for 13 years, Zenoristore VIII's reign was highly complex and impactful: he built 121 Agras (rest houses) every fifteen kilometers along raised highways for travellers and citizens, was victorious in numerous military campaigns, and strengthened the Imperium's western provinces through great projects and personal investment. However, Zenoristore VIII was considered highly controversial even by ancient standards: he began his political career by forcing a rival Estate's widow to marry him and forcing her daughter to marry his (yet to be conceived) son, he was involved in frequent sex scandals during his terms as a Senator, his role in the Salgrate conspiracy made him wildly unpopular as an Imperator, and in his later years converted from Catholicism to occultum occidens cursite, a pagan religion originating from the Western provinces.

Zenoristore VIII was labeled an apostate by the Catholic Church in 1339 after attempting to issue decrees that would legitimize occultum occidens cursite. It was around this time that Zenoristore VIII became addicted to opium ,which he had been introduced to by "Oghjus", the mysterious shaman of the religion. Oghjus is said to have been one of the first individuals to smuggle opium into Caphiria, saying that it "enhanced the art of alchemists, sex and court ladies". Zenoristore VIII's lucidness sharply declined and peaked on 14 June 1340 when he accidentally caused the death of his younger brother and heir apparent, Zenoristore IX. The grief of this pulled Zenoristore VIII into more dissolute behavior, and was reportedly planning to legally adopt Oghjus as his new heir. Upon hearing this, Zenoristore VIII's wife Natalicia Santúnez-Bălani desperately thought of solutions; after some thought, the solution she came to was assassination.

On his 50th birthday, in early 1341, Natalicia poisoned Zenoristore VIII's wine and he died in a violent spasm. Before his death could cause a power vacuum, Natalicia had forged an edict that transferred Zenoristore VIII's imperium maius (supreme executive power) and auctoritas principis (primary legislative authority) for 90 days. This effectively made Natalicia the legal ruler of Caphiria in all but name. In her first month with her emergency powers, she managed to imprison and execute Oghjus and posthumously re-convert Zenoristore VIII back to Catholicism. Her final decree was to establish her own estate, the Santúnez-Odobricci Estate, and to transfer ownership of Castra Marriză to her Estate for 99 years.