Stefan Donox was born Stefan Donox Marcos in Sacia, Dannunifius on January 3, 1781 to Rosella Marcos, a common maid. Rosella’s parents were servants who, according to Dannunifian royal records, were employed by the Palace Royal in 1777 and assigned to the wing of the house that included the Prince’s study. Rosella was born into the palace servants in 1769, a year before Prince Carlos Acmedia was born. It is reported that Rosella and the Prince were raised together despite objections from the royal family.
In 1786, Prince Carlos married the servant girl in a closed ceremony at the Palace chapel. The marriage stayed a secret until the next year when Prince Carlos was to marry a Trelandic noblewoman. Prince Carlos refused to undergo the marriage citing Church rules that prevented polygamy and declaring his love for Rosella Marcos. King Carlos V declared the marriage dissolved and sought an annulment of the marriage through the Church. According to Church records, the marriage was never annulled. Stefan was born shortly after Rosella was expelled from the palace and deposited in an isolated section of Sacia. She and her child were kept under guard for two years. Prince Carlos was forced to marry the noblewoman, but never consolidated a line pf succession.
In 1790, King Carlos V died and Prince Carlos Acmedia was crowned King. Stefan and his mother, Rosella, eked out a meager existence without so much as a penny from the royal house. In 1796, at 15 years of age, Stefan met Gerald Carlo Stevens, a Jamsterdavanian actor, playwright and teacher that had made his fortune and moved to Sacia to retire. Stevens, who could not obtain land due to his common status, purchased a small house in Isolat, a burrow on the south side of Sacia known for its poverty.
Stevens employed Rosella and Stefan as house servants while he took to writing poetry. He listened while Rosella recounted her story to him. Stevens resolved to teach Rosella and Stefan to read and write Dannunifian and Jamsterdavanian. Stefan learned quickly and began to read the works Stevens had among his collection. Stevens died in 1800 and willed his property to Rosella and Stefan.
Stefan, now somewhat well off, entered the Universitat Danneo, an established university in Carratez, Dannunifius. His studies were completed in 1803 and he became a novelist and wrote political commentaries about events in Jamsterdavania for the Crown newspaper.
In 1805 Dannunifius was stunned by the death of King Carlos Acmedia and in political chaos since he had no heir apparent. Stefan remained reserved and withheld his petition on claim to the throne until Janos Degarto, the Crown Protectorate, approached Stefan with a sealed warning not to pursue the claim under penalty of arrest. Constitutional Monarchists and advisors to the throne threw their support to Stefan in hopes of gaining control of the crown and making him a “puppet ruler.” Hard-line Monarchists rejected the idea of Stefan’s claim, but were appalled by the idea of a foreign royal in charge. Since Stefan was the true heir of King Carlos Acmedia, they began to reluctantly support his petition.
1806 was a critical year for the Dannunifians; a democratic council calling itself the Legion of New Sacia had redrafted a new Constitution, Stefan Donox had presented his petition to the ruling Crown Protectorate and rebellion was brewing in Treyland and Nordanis. The 1807 adoption on the Constitution of the United Kingdom of Dannunifius was made official in return that Stefan Donox would be made King of the new United Kingdom of Dannunifius. On January 20, 1808 Stefan Donox was crowned King and Emperor of the United Kingdom of Dannunifius, Treyland and Nordanis. These actions sparked the Trelandic Revolution in 1808.
After the True Monarchists assumed command of the Royal Danis Army of Treyland stationed on the island and marched on Carlone on May 4, 1808, King Stefan Donox began a two-year campaign against the forces in Treyland and Nordanis. Deutscheslavania, however, was quick to capitalize on the Dannunifian Civil War by moving to acknowledge Treyland diplomatically as well as extending a link to the ruling Houses by offering Princerina Gretchen Von Arthor in marriage to King Trevor Bunbenic. The pact resulted in diminished fighting and eventual armistice between Treyland and Dannunifius. This uneasy peace, based on the King Stefan’s unwillingness to enter in a costly war with Deutscheslavania, lasts for 20 years.
The Trelandic Revolution occupied the opening years of King Stefan’s reign and distracted him from several domestic issues on the continent. King Stefan made all attempts to remain neutral in the Royals War of 1812 where Stenfine’s royalty plunged Stenfine and Fineland into a six-month civil war. The second decade of the 19th century was spent mostly trying to win the people of Dannunifius over to his side. Opponents and True Monarchists who remained loyal to rejected his claim to the throne and disrespectfully dubbed him the “Bastard King.”
King Stefan, in an attempt to end the bitter feeling his detractors had generated, finally ceded Treyland on June 18, 1818 and recognized Riosland as part of an early Alliance of the North Catlantic powers. This officially ended the war with a Treaty of Carlone that established a mutual non-aggression pact renewable at five-year intervals. This action freed up his attentions and he began a five-year cycle of domestic programs and building. In 1819 he married Carla Maestros de Paul, with whom he four children.
In 1825, King Stefan made an historic visit to New Cork, Jamsterdavania. Citing quotations from his one-time teacher Gerald Carlo Stevens, he made a three-month tour of Jamsterdavania; marking the first time a foreign monarch had ever visited Jamsterdavania. A treaty of amity was signed at Stevensville, Jamsterdavania that would serve as the basis for relations between the two countries for the new three centuries.
1827 saw the Dannunifian Catholic Church open the Council of Sacia to discuss matters of the Church that had not been addressed since the 1670 Council of Elix, King Stefan allowed the various clerics from around the world to congregate at the Royal Palace. Also, at about that time, Dannunifius made overtures about joining the North Catlantic Maritime League, which was a trade agreement between Treyland, Riosland and Jamsterdavania. In 1828 Dannunifius entered the league prompting a withdrawal from Treyland.
In 1830, Treyland and Deutscheslavania waged war with Dannunifius over fishing rights in the North Catlantic Ocean. King Stefan ordered the Pope to interrupt the Council of Sacia since Deutscheslavanian Cardinals threatened to split from the Church. Pope Sylvestrius agrees and, in 1840 after reestablishing the Council of Sacia, will later decorate King Stefan as a Cardinal Knight of the Church. By 1841, Dannunifian Armies had occupied the Southern Portion of Treyland. Riosland enforced a blockade of Southern Treyland to dissuade any further military advances by Dannunifius in Treyland. King Stefan, in a political strategic move, enters in an alliance with Stefanfang that incites a Second Rios/Stenfine War that loosens the blockade. In 1850, however, King Stefan ordered his troops to withdraw from Southern Treyland in return for unobstructed fishing and trading rights on the sea-lanes and backed out of his agreement with Stefanfang.
In 1852, President Sidney Carlton Whitney of Jamsterdavania visited Dannunifius. Whitney, a cousin on Gerald Carlo Stevens, complimented the dying King Stefan on his years of service to which King Stefan replied his famous, “Only a President could say such a nice thing about a King, everyone else just lies.”
King Stefan Donox died on November 23, 1854 from a fever and chill, he passed the scepter to his son Prince Daniel Donox who followed him as King Daniel IV.