Chistibor, Neritsy Emperor

꧁ⰝⰠⰔⰕⰉⰁⰑⰓⰟ ⰁⰖⰓⰡ꧂ Chistibor, Burya
Universal Prophet and Emperor of the Vesnites
Reign	1697–1700 (3 years)
Period	Neritsovid Empire
Election	21 Animare 1697
Born	1 Fabricad 1638(1638-05-01)
Died	14 Fabricad 1700 (age 62)
Predecessor	Spytistan II
Successor	Borovest II
Dynasty	Neritsovid (Ratiborovid)

Chistibor Burya (High Secote ꧁ⰝⰠⰔⰕⰉⰁⰑⰓⰟ ⰁⰖⰓⰡ꧂, Čĭstiborǔ Burja; 1 Fabricad 1646 – 14 Fabricad 1700), styled 'the last' (High Secote ⰝⰠⰔⰕⰉⰁⰑⰓⰟ ⰒⰑⰔⰎⰡⰄⰠⰐⰟⰉⰠ, Chistiborŭ poslědnyi), was Prophet-Emperor of Great Neritsia from his election in 1697 to his death in 1700. He was the last Emperor of a united Vaestdom.

Chistibor was the son of Ratibor II and the half-brother of his predecessor Spytistan II. Despite being the older brother, he was passed over for the succession because his mother was a 'unified', i.e. second, wife, which meant Spytistan was the priority heir. His childhood was thus spent primarily at the Prysostaia, where he was trained to take up an elite Scholarly career. During his brother's early reign he became a prominent court figure associated with the reactionary 'Voivode Party' surrounding Rostimir Yazimov. This group agitated against the reorganisation of taxation under the New Rates, which they felt undermined the privileges of the High Nobility, and in the late 1680s he was made Plenipotentiary in Mirokrai, sending him into effective political exile.

After the Sealing of the Gates in 1691, when Spytistan's position was dramatically strengthened, Chistibor was allowed to return to court, and he remained in Great Pestul until early 1697, when he was dispatched to the Lutoborsk on a diplomatic mission by an ill and wary Spytistan eager to guarantee his son Ratibor's succession. Instead of travelling north, however, he went south to the court of Prince Vladimir I Yazimov in Lefdim. The Yazimov party did not have to wait long to make their move; Spytistan died within a month of Chistibor arriving at Chiklar, and Chistibor was hurried back to the capital. By the time he had arrived, the Yazimovs had arrested his nephew and secured a small number of Elector Scholars, and he was elected and acclaimed under dubious circumstances on 21 Animare, despite attempts by so-called 'Lestrianisers' to disrupt proceedings by challenging his candidature.

Chistibor's short reign was a troubled one. Although he had planned to abolish the New Rates and instead reduce the ballooning expenses of the Procuratorate of Anabbah, his brother's death led to an almost immediate resumption of hostilities in the west (the Third Cinnabar War), and he was forced to delay these reforms and in 1698 to secure a further major loan from the Banks of the Prysostaia, a policy that was deeply unpopular with the Voivodes. The third Scholastic Emeute, much more serious than the previous two, saw trainee Scholars across the Empire run riot in protest at the circumstances of his election, and even the more quiescent members of the official Scholarchate were heard to express their disapproval in private. The Polcovodes of Mirokrai and (perhaps more reluctantly) Lutoborsk took the opportunity to boycott Chistibor, stopping short of outright rebellion but refusing to explicitly recognise him as Prophet-Emperor.

It is easy, however, to overstate the threat to Chistibor's authority. Challenges as serious as these had been met and overcome by other 17th-century Emperors, and there was nothing to indicate that the imperial system itself was about to totally unravel. But Chistibor was an old man – already in his 60s when he was elected – and his health was failing. In 1700 he died, setting off a fateful string of events that would culminate in the Great Imperial Restoration.