Editing Imperator crisis

{{Infobox Conflict
|image             = Thessalia.jpg
|type              = {{il|Constitutional crisis|Interplanetary war}}
|part of           = Lead-up to the [[War in Heaven]]
|only cs           = The Book of the War (novel)
|location          = {{il|[[The Homeworld]]|[[Spiral Politic]]}}
|result            = {{il|Execution of [[the Imperator]]|Rise of the [[Celestial Intervention Agency|interventionist groups]]}}
|leader1           = [[The Imperator]]
|leader2           = [[Thessalia]], [[High Council]]
|strength1         = [[The Imperator]]'s [[cult of personality]] and [[mercenary|mercenaries]]
|strength2         = [[Order of the Weal]], [[Great House]]s
}}
{{you may|Civil War}}
The '''Imperator crisis''' ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}}) was ''[[The Book of the War]]''{{'}}s name for the crisis which surrounded the rise, dictatorial rule, and downfall of [[the Imperator]]. 

The ''Book''{{s}} account of the crisis had notable similarities to ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)}}) other accounts' chronicles of [[Morbius]]'s [[President of the High Council|Presidency]] and the subsequent [[Gallifrey]]an [[Civil War]], ([[TV]]: {{cite source|The Brain of Morbius (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cite source|Warmonger (novel)}}, etc.) with one account suggesting that Morbius had adopted the alias of "[[the General (Warmonger)|the General]]", ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|Warmonger (novel)}}) a synonym of "Imperator". 

The crisis was also considered a portent or "retro-treflection" of the [[War in Heaven]] by some, being, at any rate, a "moment of catastrophe" which led directly to the Houses' rearmament phase and their participation in the war. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

== History ==
=== Lead-up ===
The primary cause of the Imperator crisis was widely understood to be a mysterious anomaly within [[the Imperator]]'s [[biodata]], which resulted in him being constructed by the [[breeding-engine]]s in such a way as to possess a [[personality]] and willpower completely unlike the sterility of the archons of the past [[10000000 (number)|ten million]] [[year]]s. He was considered one of the four most important mutations of this "[[broken generation]]", alongside the future [[The War King|War King]], [[Grandfather Paradox]], and a fourth renegade who would similarly influence the wider universe via his interventionism, ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}}) [[the Doctor]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|Lungbarrow (novel)}}) The flaws were detected right from the off, but the [[Ruling House]]s, having no experience of worrying that something might be wrong, did not worry overmuch, assuming that the minor personality deviancies exhibited by the new archons would be smoothed over by [[Time Lord Academy|the academies]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

=== The Imperator Presidency ===
{{main|Imperator Presidency}}
According to ''[[The Book of the War]]'', the Imperator came to the Presidency [[300 (number)|300]] [[year]]s after being synthesised by the flawed [[breeding-engine]]s. He immediately took a number of unprecedented decisions, installing himself as a "brutal, mono-maniacal [[God]]-[[Emperor]]" in stark contrast to the largely ceremonial and symbolic role that the Presidency had become. His demands included direct military interference in the affairs of the [[lesser species]] via the recruitment of [[mercenary|mercenaries]] and followers, as well as the "preemptive" deconstruction and reconstruction of [[History]] itself according to newly-rewritten [[Protocols of the Great Houses|Protocols]] which would more directly facilitate the aims of the Houses in general, and the Imperator's own family [[House Dvora]] in particular. To support himself, the Imperator had the [[Order of the Weal]] and a [[cult of personality]] he formed around himself. Eventually, however, the Order of the Weal realised that he was unstable and denounced him to the [[Ruling House]]s. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

=== The Imperator goes rogue ===
Undeterred by his loss of the Presidency, [[the Imperator]] simply took his followers and mercnaries off-world and continued his war against the rest of the Universe. There, the Imperator committed a number of war crimes, causing "among hundreds upon hundreds of foreign cultures". Throughout it all, despite the ruthlessness of his methods, he continued claiming that he was acting "for the greater good of universal [[civilisation]]", sometimes with justification, sometimes not. Either way, he made no secret of his [[species]], which caused various alien authorities to turn their attention to [[the Homeworld]] for the first time in its history. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

=== Downfall of the Imperator ===
Eager to disassociate themselves from the Imperator's crimes before the "[[lesser species]]" banded together to attack [[the Homeworld]] itself, the [[Ruling House]]s decided to fight back against the rogue Imperator directly and capture him. Wanting to be seen to have "a sense of justice", they had him very publicly [[execution|executed]]; this was, at least officially, the first time in ten million years that a member of the Houses had been deliberately killed beyond [[regeneration]] by one of their own. Though it brought a final end to the Imperator crisis, the act shocked the other Houses to their core, being seen as, in some respect, precisely what the Imperator would have done. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

=== Aftermath ===
In the centuries following the Imperator's rule, despite the reaction aaginst his more obviously violent reforms, House society adopted many of the broader changes in ideology which he had spearheaded, including a willingness to abandon traditions for the sake of a strategic advantage, and indeed, to accept the idea of participating in violence and military action. As such, it foreshadowed and set up the [[War in Heaven]]. It also gave rise to a climate during which other interventionist movements arose, including, down the line, [[Faction Paradox]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cite source|The Book of the War (novel)|namedpart=The Imperator Presidency}})

[[Category:Time Lord conflicts]]