Basil SquarePantis

Basil SquarePantis (1425-1525) was a human Byzantine government official who, as a human-fish hybrid, founded the House of SquarePants in Bikini Bottomshire, after escaping Constantinople when the Ottomans attacked it in 1453 and led a long march which lasted until reaching Bikini Bottomshire in 1456. Basil was known for his adherence to the idea of chivalry. He spared all his enemies and their subjects, and they became loyal to Basil, further strengthening his power in the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire, which he ruled.

In 1495, Basil left the throne of Bikini Bottomshire. He remained in the kingdom until traveling to Rome in 1515, where he died in 1525, at the age of 100. His tomb in the Lateran Palace is a major pilgrimage site in Rome.

Early life to Fall of Constantinople
Basil was born in 1425, to a dynasty of Byzantine government officials, of the family of SquarePantis in Byzantium. Knowledge about Basil's exact birth date was lost when the Bikini Bottomshire Archives building was accidentally burnt down in July 1607. Only his year of birth was known.

After graduating from the University of Constantinople in 1445, Basil became an official in the court of Emperor John VIII Palaiologos. After the death of his father in 1449, Basil gained considerable influence within the royal court to the point when Emperor Constantine XI tried to depose Basil in November 1451, resulting in hostility between the emperor and Basil until it was settled in December 1452. However, in early 1453, Basil became a dominant power in the court, rivaling only the emperor, who was worried of Basil's wide influence within the empire.

In April 1453, Ottoman troops besieged Constantinople. Emperor Constantine chose Basil to coordinate the Byzantine defensive strategy, and smuggle senior government officials out of Constantinople to the Kingdom of HunGary. On May 29, Basil was involved in the Byzantine resistance against the Ottoman offensive action shortly after midnight. At around 3 a.m., Basil and 300 followers, using stolen Ottoman uniforms as a disguise, left the fighting. After a small fight with Ottoman soldiers, Basil and his followers took control of 4 ships.

March to China
Basil and his followers arrived in Georgia on July 2, 1453. They established tents along the Black Sea shore and rested there. It was here that Basil began to write the Testimonies of Basil. On July 8, Basil and his followers left the Black Sea shore and marched to the Timurid territory, reaching it in early October 1453. Along the route to the Timurid territory, Basil gained more followers. While taking a rest in Samarkand, Basil asked God to give him a place among fishes and build an underwater kingdom. The next day, Basil encountered a black tiger who turned him and his 380 followers into human-fish hybrids, creating sensation in the Timurid kingdom.

In November 1453, Basil and his followers decided to escape the Timurids, and walked all the way to Tibet, reaching it in February 1454, after a 11-day stop in the northeastern, outlying part of the kingdom, where the aforementioned black tiger disguised them as normal humans. They had difficulty in facing the harsh weather in Tibet, and only managed to escape it and enter China in July 1454, with guidance from new Tibetan followers. Upon arrival in the city of Beijing in August 1454, Basil and 567 followers, including those gained during the journey, were greeted by the Jingtai Emperor.

Basil and his followers rested in China until November 1454, while still gaining more followers. Finally, on November 20, 1454, Basil and his followers dived into the ocean floor of the Pacific Ocean.

Route to the destination
Soon after diving into the ocean floor, Basil and his followers encountered several small underwater kingdoms off the Chinese coast. They were friendly to Basil and his followers, and accommodated them. They also gained followers there. in February 1455, Basil encountered the Yalomites, 404 km to the east of Luzon. The Yalomites did not permit Basil's convoy to pass through its territory, so Basil and his followers went along the Yalomites' southern border, to the eastern border and moving away.

In March 1455, Basil and his 2300 followers encountered the hostile Komamite giants. They defeated the Komamite army in the Battle of Ezliik, Battle of Yabquil and Battle of Kudapu, before forcibly entering the capital city, Cajazii and killing King Kamilu. Basil replaced the Kingdom of Komamite with the Kingdom of SquarePantis, with Basil as the king. He treated his Komamite subjects fairly, and soon he was popular there.

However, after addressing several administration issues, Basil was forced to face the Yaolites, Gamites and Kuntamites before securing a safe position. In June 1455, Basil and an army of 25.000 troops defeated the Yaolites. The Gamites were conquered in August, and the Kuntamites were forced to surrender in December. Basil spent the next few months stabilizing his position as the King of SquarePantis, before marching to the east in April 1456.

In May 1456, Basil held a campaign against the Alaorites, who denied access for Basil's army to the east. In July 1456, after defeating the Alaorites, Basil marched to the east with his army of 75.000 troops (no one was killed in the campaign against the Alaorites). In early October 1456, Basil sent an envoy to the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire, located 300 km to the east. King Lanton V met with Basil in December 1456, and an union between the Kingdom of SquarePantis and Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire was confirmed in April 1457, after a lengthy debate in the two kingdoms.

However, in August 1457, Basil instructed his troops to attempt a coup in the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire. In September 1457, King Lanton V was overthrown, and Basil took over the kingdom. He considered himself as a king of Bikini Bottomshire, and announced a decision to incorporate the Kingdom of SquarePantis to the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire in December 1457.

King of Bikini Bottomshire
Under Basil, the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire significantly expanded under Basil's loyal military commanders. Basil himself also led some of the campaigns against enemy forces. Under Basil, the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire extended from China and Korea, across the Pacific Ocean, the kingdom's underwater possessions and Luzon to the Baja California peninsula.

As the King of Bikini Bottomshire, Basil had 300 wives, 530 concubines, 600 mistresses and over 2500 children. They formed the massive House of SquarePants and its cadet branches. Basil was busy at making political, military and social reforms in the kingdom. In April 1465, Basil formed the Congress of the People. He passed some of the political and legislative power to the 100-member congress. In June 1469, the Equality Act was passed. It gave equal rights to men and women. In May 1480, the Equal Power Act divided power equally between the king (Basil) and the Congress of the People. For the April 1485 congressional elections, Basil supplied 50 seats to the Congress of the People, making it a 150-member congress.

Basil also continued to write the Testimonials of Basil. The narrative started with Basil being appointed to the court of King John VIII Palaiologos in 1445, and gave detailed accounts about Basil's march from Constantinople to Bikini Bottomshire, his military career and tenure as the King of SquarePants and then King of Bikini Bottomshire. Under his leadership, both Christianity and Islam spread through the eastern parts of Eurasia and into the Pacific Ocean.

On December 31, 1495, Basil announced his abdication, and passed over the throne to his eldest son, Theopalius. The account written by Basil about his abdication ended the Testimonials of Basil.

After king
After renouncing the throne, Basil retreated to the Villa Bottomshire, located on the outskirts of Bikini Bottomshire. It was based on Basil's Villa SquarePantis, which was burnt down when the Ottomans occupied Constantinople in 1453. However, Basil still held power over the military of Bikini Bottomshire. In January 1498, Basil led an invasion of India. It lasted until June 1500, and the conquest of India was celebrated by a 7-day party upon Basil's return to Bikini Bottomshire. It was Basil's last military campaign. In March 1501, Basil transferred military power to King Theopalius.

Basil turned to science. He began to write letters and books about science. In June 1504, The Philosophy of Science was published. It became famous throughout Eurasia and the Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire's territories. Basil continued to write about scientific topics. In 1509, Basil invented the first telescope. It was followed by the first microscope in 1510. Basil became a honorary citizen of the Papal States in 1512.

In July 1515, the elderly Basil went to Rome, in the Papal States, and continued to write about science there, while meditating in a small hut on Vatican Hill. In 1524, Cat and Rat, a book about cat and rat, was published by the papacy.

After this work, Basil, keen on adhering to asceticism, slowed down. His health grew worse. He died of pneumonia in 1525, at the age of 100. Pope Clement VII honored him with a burial in a crypt inside Lateran Palace.

Legacy
The Kingdom of Bikini Bottomshire continued to prosper under Basil's descendants. Statues of Basil were created throughout the world, and paintings of him were made. The House of SquarePants ruled the kingdom, which became part of the new Holy Pacific Empire in 1548, which resulted in its monarch becoming Elector (member of the empire's electorate college), until Ameti Malmokos was defeated and killed in the Battle of Bikini Bottomshire against the barbaric Loizer warriors in 1784. In 1892, SpongeBuck SquarePants of the House of SquarePants gained control of Bikini Bottomshire, that time reduced to a small village named Dead Eye Gulch, and rapidly developed the city into a large Bikini Bottom. SpongeBuck erected the Temple of Basil near the Bikini Bottom Library in 1917, in honor of Basil.

Since 1950, every New Year's Eve celebration in Bikini Bottom begins with one minute of silence in remembrance of Basil SquarePantis.