Emperor Jarethan III | ||||||||||||||
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Melataren, later Emperor Jarethan III was one of the Emperor's advisors and forms an inner core of secretive rulers who help maintain order in the Emperor's absence. He later would become the third Emperor to bear the name Jarethan.
Early Career
Melataren like most other Imperial Advisors was not a soldier, but a bureaucrat and a politician. He had to know how to maintain his own influence and expand it while making a network of allies that would support him in his time of need who also relied on him to maintain their own influence. Melataren was a courtier of the King. One of the few of central noble blood, a family known as the Sunseekers, Melataren was given the opportunity to serve in the Farstriders, a group of elite rangers who guarded the Eversong Forests. He declined this in exchange for an opportunity to serve in the Royal Court of King Anasterian. At the time of the first war, Melataren had risen to the position of Magister of Duskwither.
As Magister, Melataren was given authority over a core of High Elven mages that fought later against the Scourge. In a show of his more pragmatic attitudes, Melataren was also one of the few who accepted the first few Warlocks into his forces. This move was greatly shunned by many but the King saw a usefulness in their magics though disturbing as they may have been at the time. When the undead invaded, Quel'Thalas was almost destroyed, but the mages and warlocks under Melataren's control did their best to combat the scourge.
Refugees
Melataren along with several who would become the Emperor's Advisors such as Kiratanos would eventually join Prince Kael'thas in outland. Being a part of the bureaucracy, Melataren and Kiratanos were with the Prince's entourage of officials and high ranking bureaucrats. Melataren was under the command of Pathaleon the Calculator and thus he was made well aware of the vast amounts of arcane energies that the Blood Elf Forces were taking back to Silvermoon. Melataren and Kiratanos were seeing the efforts of one Jarethan and Metachronos in their efforts to rebuild the capital city, were impressed by what the leaders in Silvermoon City were doing.
Switching Sides
When Melataren saw before his eyes the corruption and influence of a foreign yet sinister force was doing to the Prince and his closest advisors, he had serious questions about the leadership of his people. The triumvirate of leaders in Silvermoon did not seem to be doing much to quell the people's thoughts that the Prince was falling to corruption at the hands of a more powerful and sinister evil force. Melataren took this opportunity to gain all the knowledge that he could, learning of strategic troop movements and locations of all fortified Blood Elven forces in outland. Whilst in communication with Jarethan back in Silvermoon, the emperor-to-be recommended that those loyal and willing to make a better future for their people return to Silvermoon.
Declaration of the Emperor
Jarethan was crowned the first Emperor of Silvermoon and one of his first acts was to make Melataren and Kiratanos his advisors. As Advisors they were not given official imperial authority but they had significant influence. Melataren used his vast knowledge of the military structure that Kael'Thas had put in place to specifically trigger a great number of victories for the Empire. Secretly and quietly the Emperor handed more control of his empire's day to day runnings to his advisors while he himself handled only the most important of situations.
The Bloodless Coup
Shakrenaar decided to resign the throne, by retiring on the spot. He handed the Imperial Crown to Meletaren, who then declared himself Emperor Jarethan III.
Despite his unpopularity, Shakrenaar was an Emperor by right and thus entitled to all the titles and positions there of. He retired to Shattrath where he lived a life of isolation after his reign. As be his title and rank, Shakrenaar created the Starlight Guardians as a contengient of soldiers to protect his home and be his personal bodyguards.
Reign
Emperor Jarethan III began his reign by halting all assistance to the Alliance forces and continued the abandonment of the Yimoan Imperial Declaration. The Emperor grew infuriated at the Alliance's encroachment of the Alliance at Western plaguelands. The Emperor, like the previous ones respected the sovereignty of the Tauren and thus pledged immediate imperial armed support to Thunderbluff. The Emperor realized that the Cataclysm was the opportunity that the Alliance, in particular Stormwind was looking for, to expand their territory.
The Emperor formally declared war on the Stormwind Nation, not the Alliance, and cut all diplomatic ties, and mobilized the Imperial Armies. However, he was not above seeing the obvious rifts that were taking place within Orgrimmar, that Garrosh Hellscream was alienating the other Horde Leaders such as Vol'jin and then killed Cairne Blodohoof in a duel.
The Emperor and the Empire as a whole was enraged when news of Cairne's death reached them at Silvermoon. In a vast show of power and threat, the Emperor almost ordered the Sunstar Elite to assassinate Garrosh, thanks to the calming of some tea, the Emperor reconsidered but went to Orgrimmar himself. It was quite a sight to see the Emperor reprimand the Orc Warchief and even repel him with a series of spells in retaliation for the murder of such a respected leader. The Emperor made it clear that if the Tauren revolted against the Orcs, that he would support them, and the trolls against Garrosh.
The Emperor dispatched ambassadors to Orgrimmar to inform Varok Saurfang that should he wish to take over the Horde as Warchief, the Empire would support him and rejoin the Horde.
The Emperor himself visited the Orcs, with a grand entourage of officials, soldiers and nobility and personally told the Warchief that it was best for the Horde's cooperation with the Empire if he was less aggressive against his own allies. The Emperor pledged the support of the Imperial Armies to the Horde cause to oust the Alliance and strike for vengeance against the Stormwind insurrection against the Tauren and the Forsaken.
The Emperor also seemed to play an active part in gathering up resistance to Garrosh Hellscream's position as Warchief. The Emperor also made a secret pact with Vol'jin, to support the Darkspear Tribe regardless with their position as renegades to the Warchief, and sent secret agreements to Varok Saurfang, one of the greatest of all Orc Warheroes, and former Supreme Commander of the Might of Kalimdor. The Blood Elves within the Horde also were made known that the Empire was now in full support of the Horde and even assisted the Forsaken in their battles against the Alliance in Andorhal and the Western Plaguelands.
Rejoining the Horde
With the war against the alliance drawing to a stalemate with the Horde unable to break through the Alliance's armies, the Emperor declared formal alliance with the Horde. The United Armies of the Empire surged forth from Imperial Lands across the plaguelands to Andorhal, being the first target. The Empire's generals were ordered to occupy all alliance settlements, and not to surrender them to the horde. They were to become new buffer settlements against aggression. The Forsaken and the rest of the Horde were unaware of the Empire's motivations and thus allowed this as a temporary arrangement.
Rebuilding the Capital
Jarethan III was known as one who heavily rebuilt the Isle of Quel'Danas. Though much of the areas surrounding the Dead Scar were still tainted with blight, the vast majority of the isle was developed into livable lands. The sanctuary of nature around the island was kept safe and protected by a legion of gardeners. Additional pavilions and streets were made within the isle, branching out from the Dawning Square, to various residential areas for the bureaucrats of the Empire. In addition within the front of the Parliament, the Emperor errected a tower, which he used as his Parliamentary office, and surrounded the areas with vast gardens.
To celebrate the new birth of the Empire, the Emperor erected the Flame Spire, an enormous pillar which at the top, burned a vast and bright flame that doubled as a lighthouse at the Sunreach Harbour. Atop the Anchorage tower, the Emperor constructed and decorated a leisurely throne room, while below he also created a new throne room, one for more formalistic meetings with foreign heads of state. This was to centralize all power and functions to the Isle of Quel'Danas.
The construction of additional ships meant that Quel'Danas was protected by a fleet of Elven Destroyers, as well as long range weapons from Silvermoon City itself. The Emperor deployed numerous regiments of his new diversified Sunstar Elite guards to protect the isle as well. The old Regimental Guard and Imperial Guard were redeployed to Silvermoon City, while the Sunstar Elite would directly oversee all security measures on the Isle of Quel'Danas.
Return of the High Elves
One of Jarethan III's most lasting legacies was the return of the Quel'Dorei to the Isle of Quel'Danas. After the restoration of the Sunwell at the end of the Burning Crusade, the Sunwell was restored to its former glory. Relations between the Blood Elves and the remaining High Elves was still hostile, as the High Elves saw the Sin'dorei as traitors to their history. Despite this, the Blood Elves had little hostility towards the High Elves and were eager to allow High Elf pilgrims to visit the Sunwell. These were the only alliance forces that were permitted to enter Horde territory at the time. By the time of the Silvermoon Empire under Emperor Jarethan I, the relations had warmed significantly that High Elves were now a more common sight in the streets of Silvermoon. By the time the Empire was ushered in by Emperor Jarethan II, the High Elves had started to join in small numbers.
To welcome the High Elves back even more, Emperor Jarethan III ordered the construction of a High Elven enclave within the Isle of Quel'Danas itself. He ordered pavillions, towers and houses to be built with the old fashioned traditional colorings, of blue and gold, in a separate and distinctive section of the Isle, with their own small harbor facility. Blue Quel'Dorei ships joined the Imperial Armada in its protection of the Isle as the elven races were united once again. The Emperor ordered that a special standard be made, out of a purple, signifying the mergings of the Red Blood Elven banner, and the Blue High Elven Banner.
Life at court
The Emperor frequently held court, where the nobility would mingle and work deals with each other, while at the same time the Emperor would give directives to his officials to carry out throughout the ruler. The Imperial Palace was seen as far too formal, and so the Emperor built himself a retreat just outside the Sunwell Plateau's walls. The Imperial Retreat as it was called, was a sumptuously decorated, enormous silk curtains were sometimes the the only source of privacy amongst its vast open spaces. The Retreat was filled with musicians, singers and chanters, entertainers and other courtly pleasures. Relaxation couches and thick carpets and rugs allowed the nobility to relax and bathe in sunlight with an endless supply of wine and fruit to dine on as the courtesans danced.
The lavish luxuries of the court also impressed foreign dignitaries, and intimidated others. Well within the view of the Imperial Retreat was a flotilla of Elven Destroyers, and the skies were filled with phoenixes. Despite the informal nature of the lounges, the Emperor also maintained strict protocol when holding meetings with his ministers, never to be distracted from his duties.