Augustan II (Orethan Emperor)
Augustan II, styled the Wealthy, was an emperor of the Orethan Dominion who reigned approximately 780 years before the present era. A grandson of Tiberan III, he is remembered primarily for the institutional decay that flourished under his rule and for the long shadow his reign cast over the Dominion's later history.
Overview
According to A History of Rislandia, Augustan II was "not evil—merely indulgent." That indulgence, however, proved consequential: the precedents he set for corruption within the Senate of the Orethan Dominion and the guild masters of the Dominion contributed materially to the long decline that followed his reign.
Reign
Augustan II raised taxes to fund lavish palaces and public games, diverting resources away from the Dominion's administrative and military needs. Rather than appointing guild masters on the basis of merit, he accepted bribes in exchange for appointments, a practice that corrupted the guild system at its highest levels. Corruption was similarly permitted to spread through the Senate of the Orethan Dominion, which lost much of its integrity during his tenure.
Augustan II also moved against the Church of the Great One, openly mocking priests as "superstitious fools" and thereby weakening the Church's influence throughout the Dominion. According to A History of Rislandia, it was also during his reign that blood magic experimentation began among guild members—a development whose consequences would outlast the Dominion itself.
Also notable is the account in A History of Rislandia that Sethran Corvus first appeared in Oretha during the reign of Emperor Augustan II, though the text does not elaborate on the nature or significance of that appearance beyond the bare fact.
Legacy
Augustan II's indulgence established a precedent for further corruption within the Orethan Dominion's institutions. The weakening of both the Senate and the Church during his reign left the Dominion structurally vulnerable, and the blood magic experimentation that began under his watch would prove to have lasting consequences. He is counted among the figures whose failures contributed to the conditions described on the Fall of Oretha page.