Prince of Ceres - Xander III Alcantar

 

Xander III is the youngest son of Victor I and ascended the throne when his older brother, Victor Alejandro, crowned Victor II was assassinated.
The hand behind Victor II's assassination has never been identified, and not a few rumours, half-heartedly (talking about it too much and too loudly would attract the attention of the political police) say that Xander was behind his brother's death.
What is certain is that Xander is a cold and calculating person. Capable, with a cold mind, of organising the disappearance and murder of members of the opposition and internal dissent.
However, it would be wrong to believe that the Prince of Ceres is a sycophant and tyrant. His methods are brutal and ruthless, but his actions are dictated by the idea that without a strong personal grip, the principality would fall into ruin and be shaken by revolution and possibly civil war.
If it was indeed he who organised the assassination of his brother, whose death, to be fair, he never regretted too much, he only did it because he felt better suited to rule Ceres, where Victor II would, instead, have pushed for liberalisation.

Xander recently turned 45, is not married but has many mistresses and, it is said, just as many male lovers.
During his reign, he abolished the few reforms attempted by his brother. He dissolved the cortes (which were only convened once, by the way) and banned any kind of association between workers, even dissolving the corporative organisations established almost two centuries earlier by the CAB (Ceres Agri-Business).
It strengthened the power of the army over civil society, instituted even tighter censorship of media content and newspapers, so much so that in 303 AN there was a major crisis with the Lunar league known as 'The War of Souls'. Ceres had in fact banned the broadcasting of several Lunar animation series, considering them 'degenerate and misleading to the spirit of Ceres and his people'. Under him, the DSI (the political police) reached the height of its power.  

The Prince is, in reality, a man of moderate tastes. He does not indulge in partying or drunkenness, his only real weakness is a penchant for gallant adventures, which, however, more scandalous, are the talk of the townspeople.
Although he is a dictator, unlike other rulers who have preceded him, he is tolerated by the people, if not loved (although it is practically illegal not to cheer the prince nin one of his public outings).
The fact that he has not yet found a wife, and especially not fathered an heir, distresses him greatly.
It is said that he has chosen two successors, should death catch him childless.
His cousin Arnan Sergius, who commands the principality's fleet. Or his great-cousin Tito Xavier, who controls the DSI.