Dread Emperor Terribilis I

"Those who withstood the sword, I laid low with ink."

―Words carved into the tomb of Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Lawgiver

Unknown
General information
Name	Dread Emperor Terribilis I
Faction	Praes, Villains
Species	Human
Status	Deceased

Terribilis the First, also known as the Lawgiver and the Thorough, was a former Dread Emperor of Praes. He ruled sometime between 10 and 282 AD (After Declaration). He’s considered one of the best Tyrants to rule Praes along with Maleficent the First and Second, Sorcerous and Maledicta.

Reign

As a Tyrant, Terribilis was an accomplished general and lawmaker. He penned a famous military treatise known as Ars Tactica, still read nowadays, over a thousand years later. In it, he outlined how spellcaster superiority would affect assaulting fortresses among other military tactics.

The following sayings are attributed to him:

• “Fight no battle save that which you must, for war is best won away from the field.”
• “Power is the ability to see your will done”

He significantly strengthened the power of the Imperial bureaucracy.

Epigraphs

“Taxes. Taxes and triplicate forms.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, upon being asked what powerful sorceries he would use to humble the High Lords

“It was written in faraway Mieza that law is what separates men and beasts. We know better, in Praes: law is what separates the beasts wild and tame.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Lawgiver

“Doubt is the mother of failure.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Lawgiver

“Only if it’s ‘being executed’.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, upon being asked for a last request by a hero

“An enemy may suffer a hundred defeats yet avoid being defeated; seek not victories, only victory.”
– Extract from the 'Ars Tactica', famed military treatise of Dread Emperor Terribilis the First

“Victory in war comes by three parts: fighting, diplomacy and strategy. No single third is sufficient to bring victory alone, and each is neglected at great peril.”
– Extract from the 'Ars Tactica', famed military treatise of Dread Emperor Terribilis the First

“The best defence is to have killed all your enemies.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Thorough

“In the conduct of war offence is commonly preferable to defence; for in attacking a general acts according to their own designs, while in defence they act according to the designs of the enemy.”
– Extract from the ‘Ars Tactica’, famed military treatise of Dread Emperor Terribilis the First

“A plan of war is the inevitable victim of circumstance; methods of war are superior, for they are the mother of many a plan.”
– Extract from the ‘Ars Tactica’, famed military treatise of Dread Emperor Terribilis the First

“Those who withstood the sword, I laid low with ink.”
– Words carved into the tomb of Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Lawgiver

“It is a shallow soul who fights to the cry of ‘might makes right’. The truth is more concise: might makes.”
– Dread Emperor Terribilis I, the Lawgiver

Trivia

• Cordelia Hasenbach read Ars Tactica