Isaac III Phocas
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His Imperial Majesty Emperor Isaac III was the son of Sir Peter Phocas, leader of the Third Pantocratorian Crusade. He was a contentious choice to be made co-emperor, given the blackened name of his father, but Isaac was chosen precisely because of his family's blackened name. Emperor John IX knew that Isaac wouldn't be able to establish a mini-dynasty independent of the primary imperial line like Emperor Constantine XV Angelus had done because of his family's unpopularity.
Isaac III reigned from New Constantinople, and ruled most of northern Pantocratoria until Emperor Demetrius VIII became senior emperor and bade him retire to the Despotate of New Constantinople, which he ruled until he died of the plague in 1689 at the age of 51. He was survived by his two children, Isaac and Theodora, and his descendants include Emperor Constantine XXI, First Lord Admiral Phocas of the Bosphorus and his grandson, and Isabelle d'Amboise (the consort of Emperor Manuel V), and thus through her the rest of the imperial line. Although there would be no line of emperors bearing the name Phocas, Isaac III's blood still flows through the veins of Pantocratoria's ruling class.
