Winslow Kennes Townshent
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Winslow Kennes Townshent was the Prime Minister of Carle Palmgren's Sirian republic, and later became dictator of the Sirian Empire. Townshent was born in 2666 CE and died in 2707 CE at the age of 41.
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Biography
Early Life
Winslow Kennes Townshent was born in 2666 on the colony world Rondolina, in the Sirius Starzone. When the United Earth Government attacked Rondolina in 2689, the then-23 year old Townshent worked as an accountant for a metallic radium mine, and also served as a secratary to a labor union.
One day, while watching the occupying UEG forces march down the street from his apartment window, a drunken Space Force soldier noticed his stare, turned, and opened fire on the building. Though Townshent himself was uninjured by the attack, his mother, who had been standing beside him, was killed by the gunfire.
Townshent later attempted to sue the United Earth Government for his mother's wrongful death, but his lawsuit was ignored. Instead, the UEG military authorities framed Townshent for his own mother's murder, and he was forced to flee into Rondolina's underpopulated mountainous region. (LOGH: 'To Earth')
Military Career
Furious at the United Earth Government for both his mothers death and his own unjust persecution, Townshent quickly found his way to the Anti-Earth Movement and joined the colonial cause in the Earth–Sirius War. In 2691 CE, Townshent met first met with Carle Palmgren, Joliot Frankul and Chao Yuiling on the colony world Prosperina in the Proxima Starzone. Together, these four men would quickly rise to the upper ranks of the Anti-Earth Movement and would form the notorious Black Fleet.
Townshent was placed in charge of organizing the Black Fleet's finances and supply lines: a task at which he evidently excelled, as the Black Fleet was frequently able to defeat the better-armed and more numerous UEG fleets, eventually gaining the upper hand in the Earth–Sirius War after the 2nd Battle of Vega in 2703.
In 2704 CE, the Black Fleet emerged victorious over the United Earth Government's Space Force at the Battle of Sol. Following the destruction of the UEG, Carle Palmgren established the Sirius Republic, a representative democracy including all or most of the Colony Worlds. Townshent was appointed Prime Minister of this new government. (LOGH: 'To Earth')
Political Career
In 2706, Carle Palmgren died of a heart attack at the age of 42, leaving the newborn Sirian Republic to the care of Townshent and Joliot Frankul, who had served as the Black Fleet's military commander. (Chao Yuiling had retired to Rondolina where he founded a music conservatory).
Townshent and Frankul disagreed over how to best run the government, and their bickering soon escalated beyond the point of no return. Three months after Palmgren's death, Joliot Frankul prepared to assassinate Townshent in a military coup d'etat, and assume total authority himself. Townshent was alerted to Frankul's plans moments before the coup was to occur, and was able to successfully prevent it. Frankul was killed in the failed attempt.
Townshent fully exploited the coup to declare himself the dictator of the Sirian Empire. Increasingly paranoid, one of Townshent's first acts as dictator was to orchestrate the death of his former comrade, Chao Yuiling, whom he believed might one day become a threat to his power, despite Chao's apparent disinterest in the affairs of state.
Townshent's empire survived only slightly more than a single year: in 2707 a neutron bomb exploded in the capital, killing Townshent. The Black Flags, their central leadership vaporized in an instant, fractured. Individual leaders fought against each other for power, tearing the empire apart. (LOGH: 'To Earth')
