Cleon Zhunastu

Cleon I
First Emperor of the Third Imperium
In office 0 to 53
Preceded by	(Founder)
Succeeded by	Cleon II
Grand Duke of the Sylean Federation
In office -30 to 0
Preceded by	Felix Zhunasta
Succeeded by	(Extinct)
Born	Cleon Zhunastu -57
Died	53
Race	Solomani

Cleon Zhunastu also called Cleon I and Cleon the Great, was born as the inheritor to the family of the Zhunastu Dynasty and heir to the title of Grand Duke in the Sylean Federation. He went on to found the Third Imperium.

Description (Character)

Some say that Emperor Cleon was an extremist or fanatic. Others claim that he created the Imperium through a set of conspiracies and labyrinthine arrangements of evil and manipulative schemes.

What is indisputable in the eyes of most Imperial historians is that he produced peace, civilization, and prosperity for over a thousand years leading to the Third Imperium. Of course, some question whether the many wars and violent conflicts really constitute a true peace. However, subjectively speaking, the majority of Imperial Space experienced relative calm and a great increase in prosperity.

History & Background (Biography)

Cleon, following the custom of the nobility in the Federation, took a grand tour of the federation starting in -34. He spent a year studying at the AAB on Vland, returning to Sylea via a circuitous route through Amdukan and Antares. He returned to Sylea in -30 only a month before his father died.

Grand Duke of the Sylean Federation

In -30 Cleon ascended to the title of Grand Duke of the Sylean Federation and acquired controlling interest in Zhunastu Industries, one of the largest industrial conglomerates in the Federation.

With the combined political force of his title and the economic force of the conglomerate behind him, Cleon set about the mammoth task of reforming the Sylean Federation. Cleon's vision for the reformation was to disband the centralized government. Cleon believed that the only way to expand the Sylean Federation was to institute a decentralized government, reforming the Sylean nobility to oversee the government's interest in the distant areas of the expanding federation.

Birth of the Third Imperium

According to Sylean history, Francis Repzinski, one of the last claimants to the throne of the Second Imperium established the capital on Sylea. Cleon, and the Grand Senate, used this connection to establish the legitimate claim of the Sylean Federation as the heir to the First and Second Imperiums. In the Sylean year 651, the Grand senate crowned Cleon as Emperor of the newly-established Third Imperium. One of Cleon's first acts was to declare the current year to be Year 0 of a new Imperial Age.

One factor in the success of Cleon's campaign to establish a new Imperium was the existence of a rump state of the old Vilani Imperium that was centered around Vland. The region in and around Vland Sector had remained a beacon of stability and political cooperation throughout the surrounding chaos of the Long Night. Cleon negotiated an agreement that allowed for these Vilani to recognize and become a part of the nascent Third Imperium, in return for a broad array of security and cultural guarantees.

Personal Timeline

• (-57): Cleon born of Felix Zhunastu.

• (-49): Professor Aldin Zhunastu, a cousin of Felix Zhunastu, is appointed head of the Technological Redevelopment Division of Zhunastu Industrial Laboratories.

• (-44): The Sylean Federation and the Chanestin Kingdom sign a peace treaty, ending the Sylean-Chanestin war.

• (-34): Cleon begins a sabbatical tour of the rimward frontier, from Vland to Amdukan and Antares sectors and back to Sylea.

• (-30): Cleon Zhunastu succeeds Felix as Grand Duke of Sylea.
  • Cleon initiates a massive diplomatic campaign against the Interstellar Confederacy.
  • The Sylean Federation begins to reestablish trade between worlds, absorbing several surrounding worlds and increasing commercial interaction.

• (-29): Cleon reorganizes various Sylean Federation scout operations and consolidates them as the Sylean Federation Scout Service.

• (-25): The Chanestin Kingdom, seeing the threat posed by the expansion of the Sylean Federation, launches a deep strike against Shudusham). Fighting lasts until year 2.

• (-19): Professor Aldin Zhunastu is transferred to the Energy Division of Zhunastu Industrial Laboratories.

• (-15): Professor Aldin Zhunastu, inventor of Fusion Plus, mysteriously vanishes.

• (-10): The entire Zhunastu conglomerate shifts production to exploiting Fusion Plus, leading to technological improvements which allow it to dominate the Sylean Federation's military contracts.
  • Professor Aldin Zhunastu mysteriously reappears, with news of his newly developed miniature fusion plant, dubbed Fusion Plus (F+).

• (-7): Construction of the Grand Palace of Cleon begins on Sylea.

• (-3): The final offensive by the Sylean Federation in the Sylean-Chanestin war begins.

• (-1): Interstellar Confederacy collapses due to the apathy of its own dwindling membership.
  • Cleon Zhunastu has carefully increased the size of the Sylean Federation to the edges of Core Sector.
  • Day 302: Cleon Zhunastu meets with the political leaders of the thirteen Sylean worlds most opposed to his restoration movement.
  • Day 337: Seven of thirteen worlds expressing opposition to Cleon Zhunastu's restoration movement withdraw from the Sylean Federation.
  • Day 365: The Sylean Federation Grand Senate ratifies Cleon Zhunastu's "Warrant for the Restoration of the Imperium".

• (0): Third Imperium established.

• (2): The fleets of the Third Imperium conquer the Chanestin Kingdom, ending a 109 year conflict.

• (17): Cleon defines Imperial citizenship as "any sentient lifeform within the Imperial borders, regardless of its origins."

• (21): Birth of Cleon II.

• (53): Death of Cleon I.

References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Lester Smith. Milieu 0 (Imperium Games, 1996), .
• Marc Miller. Imperial Encyclopedia (Game Designers Workshop, 1987), 8.
• Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 10.
• Christopher Griffen. The Third Imperium (Mongoose Publishing, 2021), 69.