Over the course of the next few weeks, Renarra would begin to visit the temple more and even attending gatherings that they did. And while it wouldn't happen overnight, her actions revealed that she was slowly starting to welcome the Imperial faith into her life.
And it wasn't just her, but across the former Theocratic space, millions of people faced the same situations. But that was just one side of things. On the other hand, you had the millions who refused to get rid of their faith and fought for it.
But because of the war, and Daimon's directive to oust the Theocratic faith, any worship of their faith was forbidden across Imperial worlds. All texts or any archived information relating to the religion were destroyed as part of the Imperium's mission to completely eradicate the faith over the next few centuries.
The Theocratic faith also became the first faith to be officially banned throughout the Imperium. As it stands now, there are numerous faiths throughout the Imperium that are accepted, but a vast majority of people follow the Imperial faith as it is embedded into Imperial culture.
The two go hand and hand with each other making it difficult to do one over the other. But due to this, the Imperial faith remained the dominant faith throughout the Imperium and would remain so for the foreseeable future.
———
Veldari - Capital of the Veldari Imperium
Daimon had just arrived back from his long one-year stay on Coruscant. And the one thing he missed was how nice and clean Veldari was. On Coruscant, it had a distinct smell to it, that wasn't entirely bad, but it just rubbed him the wrong way every time he stepped outside.
And then when he secretly visited some of the lower levels, it got worse. So, it was nice to be back home where he belonged.
Stepping onto the landing pad, the first thing he saw was his beautiful Queen, Elara. Behind her stood several palace attendants, mainly women who had served Daimon for at least a century or less depending on what species they were. And as palace attendants, they weren't allowed to have children unless it was from Daimon himself. Though Daimon had yet to impregnate any of them.
Elara walked towards Daimon and stopped in front of him, looking up with a worried expression. "You look tired," she said.
"I am tired," he replied.
"Good. That means you'll actually sleep this time instead of sitting in the study until the morning reading reports."
"I make no promises."
She took his hand and walked with him toward the palace entrance. Lord Maxim followed behind, reviewing some of the deployments of the Empyrean Guards across the Imperium.
The palace was exactly as Daimon had left it. That was one of the things he appreciated about Veldari. Things stayed where you put them. Coruscant had a quality of constant motion, institutional restlessness, where nothing ever quite settled because the political machinery that ran place required perpetual agitation to function.
Veldari moved differently. It had the stillness of a world that had its own importance and the Imperium did not need to announce it to the galaxy.
The attendants bowed as they passed through the hall. Daimon acknowledged each of them briefly as he remembered their names and some small details that he learned about them during their time together.
"How are Luna and Vaelora?" he asked Elara as they moved through the corridor toward their private quarters.
"I talked with Luna three days ago. She and Vaelora are doing well. The situation in Hutt space has apparently stabilized enough that Luna has taken to redesigning the administrative capital's central district."
"She's building again."
"She's always building. Luna is trying to turn the territory you gave her into something amazing. And with Vaelora there, the two of them will be able to handle anything that is thrown at them."
Daimon smiled. Luna had been trying her hardest since he had given her such a massive responsibility. She had to govern billions of people, not only that, she also had to ensure the integration process of the freed slaves went smoothly. It was a lot to do, but Daimon had no doubt that she could handle it.
"That's good. I know the two of them will take on whatever challenge is thrown at them. What about Malrik?" he asked, curious on how his son was doing.
"Malrik is still helping out the Kingdom of Rylothis with their rebellion. The last report I received was that the Rebels held less than a dozen planets and he should be done rather quickly. But also, he talked about how the Princess has sought comfort in him since her husband betrayed and kidnapped her. If he takes after you, then he might have a few wives sooner or later."
Daimon laughed hearing that last part. "A few wives huh. But I only have the one so far."
"Exactly, so far you only have me. But that's only because you haven't tried to pursue any others yet. Do you know how many women out there would kill to just lay with you, one of, if not the most powerful person in the galaxy?"
"Maybe a few thousand." A few thousand was just a stretch even for him. He didn't often focus on things like that as there were other more important things that he would rather do. But then again, he was probably just saying that because he had Elara and his attendants who took very good care of him.
"A few thousand!" She almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. She quickly pulled up one of the popular Imperium social media sites and scrolled to a forum titled 'Daimon's Wives.' The forum had been active for over two hundred years and currently had 4.7 billion subscribers across Imperial space.
Daimon stared at the number for a few seconds, in disbelief.
"That's," he paused, "a lot of people with a great deal of free time."
"Read some of the posts," Elara said, holding the holopad up toward him. She had an expression on her face showing that she had already ready them and now she just wanted to see his reaction.
He took the holopad. The first post he saw was from a Twi'lek woman who had written a three-thousand-word argument for why the Emperor's bloodline should be expanded across as many species as possible for the genetic benefit of the Imperium. The post had twelve million upvotes.
The second was from a Mirialan woman who had apparently composed an entire musical dedicated to the subject.
The third was a formal petition, signed by over forty million people across six systems, requesting that Daimon establish what the petition's authors had titled "The Emperor's Wives" with clearly defined application criteria and a transparent selection process.
He set the holopad down, rubbing his eyebrows.
"The petition has an application process," he said.
"A very thorough one," Elara confirmed. "They included a proposed vetting protocol. Background checks, medical history, psychological evaluation, and a three-stage interview process. Whoever wrote it clearly has administrative experience."
"I'm almost impressed."
"You should be. She submitted it to the planet's lord for it to be submitted to the High Council. The Lord in question gathered his advisors and debated it, but only after 4 hours was it ruled outside of their jurisdiction."
Daimon rubbed his face with one hand. A year on Coruscant managing the aftermath of a galactic war, overseeing the reformation of an ancient religious order, monitoring the restructuring of the republic, and the most when he gets home, he finds out that there was a forty-million-signature petition about marrying him.
"Elara."
"Yes?"
"I'm going to bed."
She laughed while tucking her arm through his as they continued walking down the corridor.
"You realize this will only get worse," she said. "You've spent a year on public broadcasts. The treaty coverage alone ran for three months. Every major news network in both the Republic and the Imperium has been showing your face daily. You are, at this particular moment in history, the most recognized individual in the known galaxy."
"I was already the most recognized individual in the known galaxy."
"Yes, but before you were recognized the way people recognize a force of nature. Something vast and distant that you respect and don't approach. Now they've watched you sit across from senators and argue philosophy with Jedi Masters and personally pin medals on soldiers who admitted they got lucky. You've become someone people feel they know."
"That," Daimon said after a moment, "is either very useful or very dangerous."
"Probably both," Elara replied. "Simultaneously."
They had reached the doors to their private quarters by then. The attendants who typically stationed themselves nearby had made themselves scarce. That night, Daimon had slept longer and much better than he did in months.