The Shadow Dictator




There are relatively few confirmed pictures of Director Pierconn.
This undated capture is believed to have been taken around the time
of the Galena Affair, the event which ultimately catapulted Pierconn
to leadership of the Hecatan Ministry of Internal Security,
and ultimately, to the Directorship.

 Internal Hecatan politics are poorly understood by outsiders, and most insiders for that matter.  Even though there is a Hecatan Constitution, it has been amended and re-interpreted so many times that it is essentially dead.  That being the case, there is no clear method of succession to determine the head of state., or even a clear means to determine who the actual chief executive is.  Since Hecatan politics is so murky and corrupt, supreme authority has been exercised by several different posts in the past, from the Prime Minister, to the Head of the Executive Council, to the Defense or InSec Ministers. 
This trend has potentially come to and end with the ascension to power of a young and ambitious new supreme ruler, Robert Pierconn,  who has taken for himself the unassuming title of Director.  After the so-called Galena Affair, in which the previous regime had been badly humiliated, the ruling faction was forced to acknowledge the charismatic young politician by appointing him to a top-level ministry position, specifically the Minister of Internal Security.

From this vantage point, Pierconn used the extensive resources at his disposal to expose the indiscretions of those standing in his way, while blackmailing those who could be of use to him.  After less than two years he supplanted the last of his rivals and consolidated his power as the unquestioned leader of the Hecatan state.

Now his rule is marked by a decided and unwelcome increase in the confidence and competence of the Hecatan system, he initiated purges of the military to remove the worst of the incompetents and cronies, and eliminated some of the most egregious and unpopular of the public safety measures, thereby reducing the amount of domestic tension.