Mats Rönnlund
| Mats I | |
|---|---|
 Posthumous portrait by Olof Dahlquist, 1917 | |
| Emperor of Keppland | |
| Reign | 20 October 1820 – 11 February 1852 |
| Predecessor | Monarchy established |
| Successor | Monarchy abolished |
| Born | Mats Rönnlund 19 June 1787 Anitashamn, First Kepplandic Republic |
| Died | 23 September 1864 (aged 77) Vajki, Second Kepplandic Republic |
| Burial | 30 September 1864 |
| Consort | Marie Hellstedt |
| Issue | Gunnar, Crown Prince of Keppland Princess Caroline |
| House | Rönnlund |
Mats Rönnlund (19 June 1787 – 23 September 1864), 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 merchant family in the port city of Anitashamn. He was commissioned as an artillery officer in the Kepplandic Army in 1807, leaving the military three years later to pursue a career in business. Mats moved to the capital city of Gunnarsvik, 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 an insurrection 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, introducing liberal reforms to stabilize and modernize the country. During his more than three decade long rule, Mats abolished slavery, invited foreign investment from Euclea, conquered the Chanuche tribes of Keppland's interior, spearheaded the adoption of modern technologies such as the railroad and electrical telegraph, and moved the nation's capital to the inland city of Vajki. 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 X 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 X Coalition captured Vajki after a six month long siege. The coalition dismantled the Kepplandic Empire and established a new republic, forcing Mats into exile in Blostland. In 1861, President X permitted him to return to Keppland and live out the remainder of his life in Vajki, where he died in 1864 at the age of 77.
Mats is highly regarded in modern Keppland, and frequently tops lists of the greatest Kepplanders of all time. His reforms brought about an unprecedented period of prosperity and stability to the nation, transforming it into the regional power which it remains today. However, his legacy outside of Keppland is more controversial due to the destruction wrought upon Asteria Inferior by the X War, and he has increasingly faced criticism within Keppland itself due to his treatment of the indigenous Chanuche people. Supporters of his legacy often refer to him as an enlightened absolutist, while critics deride him as a tyrant and mass murderer.