Kaeso Taitan

Kaeso Taitan was the first Senator-President of Romau, appointed by Arantigos the Great to watch over the "crown jewel of his new Empire". Kaeso was appointed the leader of a sprawling senate, which included griffons from all classes and cultures of Arantigos' empire, to "represent the unity of the children of Boreas". While this position was largely ceremonial and Kaeso mostly answered to Arantigos and his family, when Arantigos died soon after the founding of the Eternal City, Kaeso took the initiative - and urged the senate to declare him dictator. With all the full powers of dictatorship, Kaeso quickly returned Romau to its fortress-like status, and soon beat back even the sons and brothers of Arantigos when they tried to conquer his city.

Kaeso soon went on the offensive, overwhelming Arantigan successor states and garrisons across the northern Heartlands. Most of southern Bronzehill and Strawberry, along with swaths of Yale and Pythagorea (modern Greifenmarschen) made up his Empire during its peak, and many believed that Kaeso would declare himself Emperor of Romau and the rightful successor to the Arantigan Empire.

However, in 626 BLB, during a series of massive revolts in his Empire, Kaeso suddenly fell ill and was pronounced dead within days of his mysterious illness. Due to lack of knowledge of medical practices and lack of written record about the time, it is unsure what exactly killed Kaeso, and as the history is so ancient, there are many different theories on the matter which each have their own legitimacy. Many believed he was poisioned with some kind of concoction by his son or an ambitious member of the senate, but the most common belief is that he was afflicted with some kind of unpreventable plague.