August II

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August II (Japanese: アウグスト2世) was the 14th kaiser of the Galactic Empire. He took the throne at the age of 27 and reigned from Imperial Year 247 to Imperial Year 253. He was named "The Bloodletter."

He was in poor physical health and morbidly obese already at the time of taking the throne due to a life of excessive alcohol, indulgence in fine food, debauched pleasures of the flesh, gout, and use of opiates for pain relief from gout. He was likened to "half-melted lard" and was forced to use a wheelchair to move around due to his skeleton and muscles being unable to support his great weight. His father had been repulsed by his state but he was the eldest son, his mental faculties appeared to be intact, and his 3 younger brothers were not clearly superior in their talent and behaviour so his father did not strip him of his title of Crown Prince. At the time of his enthronement, there were no particular positive or negative opinions from the court.

His first decree was to move all of his late father's concubines to his inner palace to form his own harem. According to prescribed tradition, the concubines of the deceased former kaiser were to have been given a large sum of money and released from the harem. Therefore this decree shocked his ministers and angered his mother, the empress dowager Irene. August II explained his actions as helping his mother get back at the concubines for competing for his father's attentions. He brought his mother to the inner palace and soon after, her attendants heard screaming and then the dowager empress running out and vomiting. She had seen the bodies of hundreds of concubines. Legend has it they had all been skinned. August II's mental state had been deteriorating even more so than his physical body and the last vestige of rationality vanished after gaining unlimited power.

His three younger brothers were all executed on charges of plotting to usurp the throne. Their bodies were then cut up into pieces by a laser knife and thrown into a pit in a cave where wild animals were kept. The dowager empress was called to account for the crime of having brought his 3 brothers into the world and was forced to commit suicide. None of the cabinet ministers were left alive within a week of his enthronement. His Imperial Guard arrested of "rebels" based on his intuition, and the extended families of the accused were also arrested, with not even babies exempted. The sentencing and the confiscation of assets was all conducted equally regardless of whether the accused was commoner or noble. While subsequent tales of him dining on human flesh or drinking wine mixed with blood are almost certainly exaggerations, many people were killed by the brutal method that came to be known as "August's syringe". This involved sharpening diamonds into thin needles and piercing the eyes and skull of the victim so as to inflict brain damage and death. The number of people he slaughtered is said to be between 60 million and 20 million.

He was betrayed and killed in Imperial Year 253 at the age of 33. After his cousin, Marquis Rinderhof, rose in revolt, August II sent a punitive force but this was decisively defeated, with large numbers of soldiers surrendering. While August II was feeding his wild animals raw meat, the commander of his Imperial Guard, sensing the situation had become hopeless, pushed him into the pit, killing him. The remains were devoured by the animals. The victorious Marquis Rinderhof returned to the capital and took the throne as Erich II. The Imperial Guard commander was promoted 2 ranks to Admiral for ridding the Empire of the tyrant August II. Immediately after awarding this promotion, Erich II had the commander arrested and executed for having killed so many commoners nobles alike while serving August II.

Of all of the Goldenbaum Dynasty Kaisers, he had the worst reputation. (Encyclopaedia Die Legende der Sternhelden)