Vance Vicarion. Fifty-two years ago, born on the UPMW-separated planet of Lazarus, which orbits the star Galilee. Lazarus was fragmented into various nations competing for galite, a rare and valuable crystal used in medicine and for general life extension. He was the prince of one of these nations, Syleth, not the most powerful but not the least powerful either, just a middling state of not any particular note to the others. While it wasn’t ubiquitous, archaic traditions like monarchy are commonplace on Lazarus for reasons sociologists are still debating over.
The Vicarion family is an interesting one. Their motto is “Luck and Tenacity”, the two qualities that they believe separate the greats from the rest. They considered their family to exemplify these qualities more than any other; they believed any misfortune or loss was a necessary setback that would contribute to their eventual success. This belief helped to motivate their armies. Going along with that, another strongly held belief is that they value the members of their family above all else. They’re probably one of the only royal families to never have any familial regicides for personal power gain. They think that by losing a family member, they’re losing a significant source of the luck and tenacity required to lead their nation to greatness.
Vance had decided long before his coronation that he was going to conquer the rest of the planet by force. As soon as he took power, he began building a more powerful military and plotting. He motivated his troops with promises of eventual glory and power.
Several years into his reign, he began his campaign, starting by using his alliances and then breaking them when they were no longer useful (of course, he had to break them all at once or the others would get suspicious, so the timing of this was very important). Under his orders, his military used terrible nerve-destroying weapons and tactics like slaughtering medical staff, reporters, and surrenderers.
His horrific war went on for years. Roughly fifteen years ago, the handful of desperate nations still resisting his armies pleaded to the UPMW for help. Normally, the planet would be precluded from such assistance due to its separation. But a vote was held and, due to the crimes against humanity, the UPMW senate and high council agreed to intervene. UPMW warships descended on the planet, smashing and scattering Vicarion’s armies and invading his capital to arrest him.
When they arrived in his palace, they found his corpse, having shot himself before he could be captured. The rest of his family was evacuated before the capitol was breached and their whereabouts are unknown. Except, as of the last few days, one. Gabriel Vicarion, who was found by me, and subsequently killed by his own men.
Following the actions of the UPMW, the planet fell into an uneasy peace, with the remaining nations getting some of their borders back, the conquered nations becoming reincorporated back to themselves, and the nations surrounding Syleth getting chunks of it so that it was no more. Sylethian officials and military personnel are relegated to a lower class and shunned, but not on an official level as per the UPMW’s agreement to help. Tired of fighting, the planet will likely remain at peace for a generation or two before the competition for galite resumes again.