Triumvir Vibius Sestius
| Name | Vibius Sestius |
|---|---|
| Title | Triumvir |
| Date of Birth | 25.03.31107 |
| Planet of Origin | Umbria |
| Affiliation | Triumvirate |
Vibius Sestius would be the last individual elected to the Triumvirate before the beginning of the Ascomanni War. A crusader for good governance, he would run a campaign which eviscerated the greed and corruption which had become endemic amongst the Republic's leadership. Pointing to the too-cozy relationship between Umbria's largest corporations and the people's elected representatives, Sestius would find his invection was well received by an increasingly weary public.
As a youngster, Vibius had no desire to pursue a career in politics. Instead, he focused on a career in business, where he launched a very successful startup which sought to give people greater power over the copious amounts of personal data that they produced in the course of participating in the Republic's advanced society.
Sestius's solution allowed Umbrian citizens to understand which companies collected certain data about themselves, and automated the process for managing changes to user consent. In a truly revolutionary step, it also allowed users to monetize their own personal information by choosing which information they wanted to sell to Sestius's company, which then turned around and provided aggregated information on customer preference to the Republic's consumer products companies.
Almost overnight, the company boasted of having over a billion users, and before long, some established players began to see Vibius and his company as a threat. After launching a successful IPO, Vibius would find himself entangled in a number of specious lawsuits which argued he'd misled investors. While ultimately successful in proving his innocence, the experience soured Sestius's outlook on the Republic.
Using the wealth he'd earned, Vibius launched a charitable legal fund which sought to provide resources to poor and middle class Umbrians who found themselves in the cross hairs of the Republic's powerful.
Over the span of a decade, Vibius would get a first-hand education in the underhanded and dirty tactics used by Umbria's elite to maintain their status and privileges, and the corrupt nature of their relationship with the central government. He became incensed by the blatant exploitation of power he witnessed.
Believing that nothing could be done from the sidelines, Vibius dove into the political arena. An initial attempt at earning a seat in the Senate failed. Undeterred, Sestius used the opportunity to build a network of supporters to continue his attempts at securing a position in government.
His opportunity would come during the election of 31146. Vibius would pour all of his substantial resources into the race for an open seat on the Triumvirate, the Republic's executive body. Promising to root out corruption and return power to the people of the Republic, Sestius would pull off an upset victory, defeating half a dozen more well-known politicians.
While his platform had been full of fiery rhetoric, Sestius proved himself to be an ideal politician, quickly establishing a strong and warm relationship with both of his peers. Sestius would immediately press his advantage, using the bully pulpit afforded to him as Triumvir to push through a number of meaningful reforms to campaign finance and government transparency.
His political trajectory would be fundamentally altered by the arrival of the Ascomanni. Shocked by the brutality reported from the survivors of the Republic's first encounter with the brutal race, Sestius began to withdraw inward. He began to appear in public less, and observers began to note that his ambitious agenda began to flag.
In time, the pressures of wartime leadership would render the once promising champion of the people vulnerable to the very graft and corruption he had promised to root out. The public was shocked as his appearance grew gaunt and haggard. Burdened with such tremendous responsibility, Triumvir Sestius, a man in his early forties, had aged before their very eyes, losing the spark and vitality that had defined his ascension to power.