The period of the Jacini emperors was a time of constant trouble for the empire notwithstanding its relative stability and wealth compared to the periods immediately preceding and following it, and the emperors were constantly on the lookout for signs of treason and conspiracy.  Although most of these conspiracy scares served mainly as pretexts to execute and jail political opponents and heretical sects, a few were real, and the most dangerous of these real plots was that hatched in the year 602 in the seaside village of Drakna.

Drakna's main claim to fame was as the site of the primary imperial naval base, and the eponymous conspiracy was the brainchild of Admiral Targlarn, the commander of the Second Fleet, which was based in Drakna and charged with defending the western seacoast from pirates and the (very unlikely) chance of an invasion by sea.  Targlarn was a very ambitious man, however, and he felt this duty beneath his station and that of his fleet.  He would have preferred to have the Second Fleet accompany the First in its more glamorous posting in the Eastern Sea, where naval battles with increasingly bold foreign adversaries did happen from time to time, though the overwhelming superiority of Uzdumalian naval armament left the outcomes of such battles rarely in doubt.  After repeatedly lobbying Emperor Arghar I to change the Second Fleet's mission, Targarn grew discontented with the emperor's continued evasion and decided that he would never acquiesce to the change.  Taking matters into his own hands, the admiral convened a secret meeting of high-ranking officers in the Second Fleet at a tavern in Drakna and laid out a plan to kidnap the emperor during his upcoming visit to Drakna to inspect the fleet, carry him off in Targarn's flagship to the Island of Hands off the Kreyinten Peninsula, and hold him there while sympathetic forces in the army seized the capital and placed Arghar's 14-year-old son Jaklu on the throne.  Targarn had been in contact with Jaklu and had obtained from him assurances that he would reassign the Second Fleet if he became emperor.  The plot apparently didn't involve any plan for what to do with Arghar at this point, but Targarn's thinking may have been that he would be sufficiently intimidated to not put up any effort to keep his throne.  If this is what Targarn was thinking, however, he was dangerously and puzzlingly naive about the character of the famously strong-willed emperor.

When Arghar arrived in Drakna for the inspection, he was immediately welcomed aboard Targarn's flagship and given a tour.  While he was inspecting the upper deck, the engines suddenly kicked in and the ship began to pull away from the dock.  Realizing Targarn's treachery, the emperor jumped from the deck into the water and swam to shore, where a group of loyal sailors pulled him from the water and brought him onto their boat to give chase to Targarn's ship.  When Targarn realized what had happened, he panicked and ordered the ship turned around and brought back to Drakna, although he probably could have made it to safety in an enemy port since his ship was much faster than the one Arghar was chasing him in.  When he arrived back at the dock, a company of imperial guards quickly boarded his ship and arrested him and his crew.  After intensive questioning, twelve other high-ranking members of the conspiracy were identified among the officers of the Second Fleet and the First Army.  Although the crewmen of Targarn's ship were swiftlly put to death, the twelve officers, who retained a great deal of popularity among their forces, could not be dealt with so easily, and they were sentenced instead to life imprisonment in the Air-Palace of Leontalos.  Given the popularity of mutinies in the various armed forces at this time, Arghar could not afford to alienate the rank-and-file by executing their most popular officers.

As for Targarn himself, he was paraded through the streets of Jacina in chains before being executed by means of the Pleasure Choke, the type of execution reserved for incompetent traitors.  Jaklu, as a member of the royal family, was entitled to be executed by means of the more dignified Donkey Grasp.  Arghar watched the proceedings with great satisfaction, pleased with having averted the greatest threat to his authority during his reign so far.

See also:

Air-Palace of Leontalos

Execution

Heretical Sects of Uzda