User:Vjaarland/Sandbox3
| Mats I | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous portrait by Olof Dahlquist, 1917 | |
| Emperor of Keppland | |
| Reign | 11 February 1820 – 20 October 1852 |
| Predecessor | Monarchy established |
| Successor | Monarchy abolished |
| Born | Mats Rönnlund 19 June 1787 Åkapan, First Kepplandic Republic |
| Died | 23 September 1861 (aged 74) Vajki, Second Kepplandic Republic |
| Burial | 30 September 1861 |
| Consort | Anita Hellstedt |
| Issue | Gunnar, Crown Prince of Keppland Princess Caroline |
| House | Rönnlund |
Mats Rönnlund (19 June 1787 – 23 September 1861), later known as Mats I of Keppland, was a Kepplandic military officer, businessman, and statesman who ruled the Kepplandic Empire as Emperor from 1820 until 1852. One of the most significant and controversial figures in Kepplandic history, Mats is often referred to as the father of the modern Kepplandic state.
Mats was born to a wealthy family in the port city of Åkapan. He was commissioned as an artillery officer in the Kepplandic Army in 1807, leaving three years later to pursue a career in business. Mats moved to the capital city of Vajki, where he became a prominent member of the city's mercantile community. Dissatisfied with the instability and chaos of the First Kepplandic Republic, Mats leveraged his connections in the government, military, and business world to organize a coup d'état in 1820. Mats dissolved the republic upon seizing power and crowned himself Emperor, ruling as an absolute monarch. An ardent Euclophile, Mats sought to transform Keppland from an agrarian society into an industrial economy on par with the imperial powers of Euclea. He introduced liberal reforms to stabilize and modernize the country, abolishing slavery and inviting foreign investment from Euclea. By the 1830s, Keppland was among the wealthiest economies in Asteria Inferior.
During the 1840s, Mats adopted a more aggressive foreign policy in an effort to turn Keppland into the first Asterian great power. His military conquests led to the outbreak of the Great Equatorial War in 1848, raging for four years and killing more than one million people. At its height in 1850, the Kepplandic Empire controlled most of eastern Asteria Inferior. Mats's imperial ambitions came to an end in 1852, when the Equatorial Coalition captured Vajki after a six month long siege. The coalition dismantled the Kepplandic Empire and established a new republic, forcing Mats into exile. He spent the next fourteen years of his life in X, before he was permitted to return by the government of X. Mats lived the remainder of his life in Vajki, dying in 1861 at the age of 74.