Doan Pendouris (AU)
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Doan Pendouris Guardia I |
|---|---|
| Born: | September 28, 2237 AD |
| Birthplace: | Arris, Guardia |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Hair: | White, balding (was black) |
| Eyes: | Blue |
| Height: | 5'9" |
| Weight: | |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | Widower of Kay Lynn Talman |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | Spekkian |
| Title: | Former King of Guardia |
| Nicknames: | The Restorer King; the Defeated King |
| Hobbies: | Model shipbuilding, writing |
| Known skills: | Adept pilot (Jetbikes and Epoch fighters), Diplomacy, knowledgable in military tactics |
| Favorite color: | |
| Inspiration: | |
| Motto: | |
The alternate universe double of Doan Pendouris. As such, much of his history is identical to that of the Doan from Kupopolis. However, after a point in time, that history begins to diverge.
In 2297 AD, Doan's wife Kay is severely wounded in a Trann Syndicate attack on her motorcade that is meant to kill Doan. At the time of the attack, Kay is seven months pregnant with Doan's son. Doctors at Truce Medical are advanced in their techniques by this stage, but they cannot save both the mother and the child. They ask Doan to choose.
In the Kupopolis timeline, Doan has the doctors save his son. But in the alternate timeline, Doan asks the doctors to save Kay instead. The result of this operation is a failure; both Kay and Derik die anyway. Doan is profoundly affected by this event, and is unable to let it go. He has cell samples from Derik's fetus preserved and directs the efforts of his scientists toward cloning his child. The result of this project is the birth, in 2299, of Elektra Pendouris, a perfect genetic (if female) clone of her dead "brother" Derik.
In 2300, Doan prevails in the Syndicate Wars and becomes King. And in 2305, Doan begins a political battle over the succession rights of his daughter, whom Guardian law would prohibit from ascending the throne without being married to a suitable Noble male heir first. The Nobles and Royalists' principle objection is grounded in the notion that Guardia's patrilineal monarchy requires a King to inherit the throne, and strictly speaking a girl can never be "King." Doan passes off this reasoning as thinly-veiled sexism and demands that his daughter be accorded the full rights of her heritage. Doan's opponents refuse. As a result Doan breaks with the Nobility and the Royalist Party.
Doan's supporters form the Restorationist Party in Parliament, but this draws off mostly from the already weak Conservative minority and does nothing to jostle the entrenched Royalists. So in 2306, Doan's military loyalists lay siege to the Parliament building in Trann, siezing control of the Parliament floor on the eve of a vote on a resolution to divest Elektra of her royal status. A campaign begins to strip away the assets and wealth of the Noble houses that are enemies of Doan's crown, and several Royalist party leaders are expelled from Parliament. A public referrendum is held, from which Nobles are barred from contributing campaign funds, and the Restorationist Party siezes a comfortable majority over the other parties in power. History would know this series of decidedly anti-democratic acts as Doan's Final Restoration.
Following the Final Restoration, Elektra is named the first female heir to Guardia's throne.
In 2311, the Grand Army discovers the Gate Dimension, as normal. The KMT War happens, and Guardia begins making plans for the first manned inter-dimensional spaceflight.
In 2312, when Doan suffers an assassination attempt and is incapacitated, Doan's Noble enemies resurface and keep Elektra from serving as Queen in her father's place. Instead, Archbishop Meres is appointed by Parliament with the powers of Regency.
Meres spends the entirety of his regency assailing Tasnican corporations, and deploys the GDF to forcibly remove Kuat from Guardian soil. In an attempt to be concilliatory, Rhodes Palmerston attempts to have the Senate repeal the Extraterritoriality Act, but the larger part of the Conservative party (and especially Frank Yeats) refuse to budge on the issue of ET. Yeats and the Conservatives begin the process of re-incorporating a sovereign Tasnican military, to defend Tasnican assets from Guardian aggression.
Also in this year, the Hivans launch their invasion, but Celiose and the Grand Army handily defeat them in a few days.
In 2313, Doan recovers from his coma, and resumes the throne. There is a falling out between the Throne and the Church over some of Meres' actions as Regent. Doan issues a royal edict forbidding members of the clergy from serving in a similar capacity ever again, and makes a goodwill trip to Tasnica in an attempt to repair the damaged relations between the two countries.
In response, Meres excommunicates Doan and Elektra from the Church of Spekkio. Not one to back down from a fight, Doan puts forward a measure in Parliament to remove the Church's tax-exempt status, but Meres is able to solidify his voting bloc and repel the attack on the Church. Fearing another Final Restoration-like move from Doan, the leaders of Parliament pass a resolution of censure against Archbishop Meres, compelling him to sign a writ of apology to the Tasnican government. Parliament also compels Meres to allow Doan and Elektra back into the church, but Doan refuses re-entry into the religion without a formal, nationally-televised ceremony presided over by the Archbishop himself. Meres initially declines, but his Templars urge him to comply, and so the ceremony takes place.
Also in this year, Doan and Rudra hold an emergency peace summit, and a deal is brokered between the two leaders. OmniSent Infocenters open in Guardia, and much of the free Web follows suit. Later, in 2314, Roland Boderick's part in the attempt on Doan's life is uncovered when Surlent foils an assassination attempt against Rudra. Roland is turned over by Rudra to Guardian custody, where he is given a fair trial for all the Web to see. He is sentenced to life imprisonment, after all sides are heard and all evidence presented. Roland declines the opportunity to speak on his own behalf following the issuance of the verdict.
By the end of this year, the Gate Three has colonized most of the dimensions in the Web of Worlds. Medinan frigates discover the Alter Dimension, and make first contact with the New Drogen Alliance. Also in this year, Doan fulfills a long-delayed promise and grants Chorras its freedom. The Republic of Chorras is founded in this year, and the power of its Governor restored to full sovereignty.
Most of the rest of Web history happens as one might expect, save that the tri-lateral diplomatic influences of Rudra Tairen, Doan Pendouris and Rhodes Palmerston ensure a prolonged era of lasting peace in the Web. All this while the major powers of Guardia, Esper, Tasnica and Scande begin to expand their power and influence. Tensions begin to mount between Scande and rival powers Tasnica and Esper. Together, Doan and the OmniSent are able to keep these tensions from escalating into all-out war.
In 2320 (37 WR), war finally breaks out for the first time since the KMT conflict. Tasnica, backed by the Esper Union, strikes northern Ticondera in response to a failed attempt on the King of Hyrule's life. The result is a partitioning of Ticondera into three pieces: the Ticonderan Tasnican Territories (TTT), Esperian North Ticondera (ENT), and the South Crescent Self-Governing Zone (which Tasnica and Esper rule jointly). Delvia is given its independence after this incident.
In 2323 AD/40 WR, mired in various scandals about the war and the rapidly failing peace process, Rhodes Palmerston announces he will not seek another term in office. Rudra Tairen offers him a job working as a peace broker with the OmniSent, but he instead retires to private life. In the elections of this year, Franklin Yeats narrowly defeats Populist candidate Kenny Brackhaven. As a result of this defeat, the Populist party crumbles; those that ran on the Populist ticket bicker their new party to death trying to sort out party leadership. It eventually ends up breaking back down into its disparate, fringe-party components.
Yeats stands unopposed as supreme ultimate prime minister of the Republic. And the twin evils of Guardia and Scande are his number one targets.
Throughout the 40's, tensions mount, fires stoked by Yeats' anti-Scandian, anti-Guardian rhetoric. When Doan attempts to intercede with diplomacy on Scande's behalf, Yeats accuses Doan and Travin of being allies. When Rudra intercedes on Doan's behalf, Yeats accuses the OmniSent of operating a covert Guardian spy ring, and orders all Tasnican infocenters closed down, and all foreign OmniSent agents deported. Yeats contemplates incarcerating all Tasnican OmniSenters, but Grover Steuber (Yeats' chief political advisor) manages to convince him that this would be political suicide.
Learning that the OmniSent fields a private security force, Yeats goes to the House of Lords in 43 WR and demands that the body force the OmniSent to disarm. Citing (ironically enough) the attempt on Doan's life ten years earlier, he insists that the OmniSent can no longer be trusted to field what he terms "a private, unaccountable goon squad that attacks anyone that doesn't agree with them." Doan and Travin, aided by the remaining nations of the Protectorate and Guardia's Fringe allies, put up a formidable voting bloc to counter the resolution, but with the Crystal states, combined with the Polian states and Ticonderan "republics," the Tasnican faction manages to edge out their vote. Celiose Cole, however, refuses to enforce such a silly thing. So Yeats puts forward a second vote to remove Celiose Cole from office. In his place, Esperian ally Snoutwit is placed in command of the Grand Army.
Snoutwit's GA willingly pursues disarmament of the OmniSent.
In an effort to stamp out piracy, Yeats and the House of Lords use the Sentry Stations to restrict space travel except under Sky Riders' supervision. This has the added effect of reducing the GSF's access to its colonies, and all but quarrantining SLCM-Space. This sets the stage in 45 WR for the Battle of Dragonreach, one of the Web's first major space sorties, where a Sky Rider patrol, testing its ability to enter Dragonspace, is set upon by the Scandians. In response, more Sky Riders arrive, followed by the Tasnicans, followed by the Guardians (on the side of the Scandians). The victory is handily won by the Guardians and Scandians, who have temporarily wrested control of the spacelanes away from the Sky Riders. They bolster their ranks by allying with the Unbound, but this doesn't last.
Apparently finished with the formalities of House of Lords votes, Yeats and Ceriz Altrega wage an all-out war against Scande and Guardia, commandeering Snoutwit's Grand Army soldiers when it pleases them to do so. This causes a schism in the Grand Army, and several officers (including the Soldierly Council) and their soldiers simply walk out on the Grand Army rather than be usurped by the Tasnicans. Still, enough of the GA enlisted remain on with Snoutwit to make this a decisive source of conscription for their alliance. It proves to be especially overwhelming for Guardia when Tasnica and Esper bring Medina (under Tyurin Cage) into their triad.
All of this comes to a head in 48 WR/2331 AD, with the Fall of Truce. Three years after Dragonreach, the war between Tasnica-Esper-Medina and Guardia-Scande has been a cold one, a war of words and economic and political maneuverings. It was Altrega's idea to launch a surprise attack on Truce, taking down the stronger of the two allies' space forces with one decisive strike against the Guardian capital. From there, it would be all-out war, but together the three triad leaders decided they were more than ready for it to finally happen.
Doan, Elektra and her husband Raju escaped from the Fall of Truce with Malcolm Quinn, winding up in the main Kupopolis timeline. Here ends what we know of the alternate universe's history.
