Joseph LöwengerJoseph Löwengerb. 2 October 368
d. 22 August 393
384 - 393: Emperor of the Terran Empire
Joseph was the first child of Virginia Carroll and Mark Löwenger. He was educated in conventional schools, surrounded by the children of other Noble Families. Joseph's training for the Throne began early, and by age 10 he was working with Virginia in the day-to-day governing of the Empire.
The primary figure in Joseph's life was his sister Denise, four years his junior. Denise was a prodigy, as brilliant as her mother, and she rather dominated her older brother.
Joseph passed his adulthood tests at age 15, and within a year he became Emperor when Virginia died in battle.
Joseph inherited an Empire at war; although the Patalanian Union had been driven out of the Laxus Province in 383, the Union was still strong and Imperial forces suffering defeats in the Transgeled.
Joseph did his best, constantly traveling around the Empire to boost sagging morale. In the search for more efficient weapons that might give the Empire an edge in battle, he increased funding for various research institutions on Borshall, Hafen, and Laxus itself.
After his sister Denise achieved her majority in 386, Joseph appointed her as his foremost advisor, and it is now known that Denise effectively took over running the Empire. Joseph remained the popular, public figurehead, but increasingly Denise made all of the decisions.
The Carroll Coalition, which had ruled the Imperial Council since c. 300, began to fray as alliances shifted among the Noble Families. The Elendan Family, in particular, became a focal point for opposition to the Carrolls. There was growing sentiment in the Imperial Council in favor of bringing the war to an end by coming to some sort of agreement with the Union.
In 393, having lost his majority in the Council and facing an increasingly-hostile legislature, Joseph began to move publicly toward a policy of mutual co-existence with the Union, appointing a commission to examine alternatives for peace. This Denise and the remainder of the Carroll Coalition could not allow. The Peace Commission was scheduled to make its preliminary report in October 393; in late August, Joseph died while under the Memory Crown.
Although suspicion fell upon Denise and her associates, a series of public investigations and trials were held, and the (Carroll-dominated) High Court convicted several Union agents of conspiracy and murder of the Emperor.
Joseph was immediately succeeded by his sister, Denise. Considerable resistance in the Imperial Council was silenced under threat of investigation for conspiracy and treason.
The Carroll Emperors
The Terran Emperors