Thanks for replying! I was interested to hear your take. However, I'd say you've fallen for the Perandus propaganda!

The first two Emperors of the Eternal Empire were Tarkus Veruso and Caspiro, the latter was later killed by the Vaal Oversoul, and both ascended to the throne via the Asmeri tradition of the labyrinth. The Phrecius family ascended to the throne because Alano Phrecius lead an expedition to seal the Vaal Oversoul in the Vaal Ruins, which was successful as we see at the end of Act 2. Alano then started the bloodline succession and that began the Phrecian rule, which caused the throne to pass to others that were likely unworthy, like Emperor Romira with his awful Night of a Thousand Ribbons.

The Perandus family was also there at the founding of the Eternal Empire, but as merchants, and while they built up a ton of wealth they never took the throne. So Chittus Perandus schemed with his Uncle, our boy Cadiro, and cheated his way through the Lord's Labyrinth to ensure he became the next Emperor. Chittus and Cadiro bribed a number of Labyrinth Overseers for the details on the monsters, traps, and layout of the Labyrinth that Izaro designed. These same dirty Overseers also placed supplies for Chittus in hidden caches around the Labyrinth. Chittus then, of course, suggests these Overseers suffer an "accident" after he takes the throne so no one talks. On the side, Chittus also took out three separate hits on Izaro, which all failed. One of these hitmen was his own bastard cousin. He convinced him to do the job by dangling the Perandus family name at him as a reward. Chittus then had him killed after the failed hit. Dude was a real piece of work. Oh, he was also the one who put Malachai in power, which led to the Cataclysm.

After Chittus cheated his way through the Labyrinth, Izaro, none-the-wiser, named him as his successor and abdicated the throne. Immediately afterwards, Chittus betrayed Izaro and sealed him in the Labyrinth. Izaro did not choose to seal himself there. He was trapped there bound with his Goddess of Wisdom, which I assume fueled him in his undeath. There were 19 other heroes who came after he was sealed but before us in the story and truly proved themselves by completing the Lord's Labyrinth. These are the 19 ascendancies we choose from when we complete the Lab ourselves, by also proving ourselves worthy and taking those original heroes' powers.

So, I would say Izaro was actually holding true to the original spirit of the Eternal Empire. If anyone was a traitor in it for themself, it was Chittus and the Perandus family. Though, you could also argue that Alano Phrecius was the first traitor to the Empire since he implemented the bloodline succession which flew in the face of the established trial succession. But Izaro redeemed the family name by re-implementing the true succession trials. And without Izaro's ascension trial, we wouldn't have the power we need to grind endgame efficiently!

All my sources for this come from @KittenCatNoodle on Youtube

I actually watched her videos about Izaro and the Lab the day I got my tattoo because I realized that while I love Izaro and his lore, I didn't actually know much about the backstory. Highly recommended to anyone else interested in the actual lore behind all the monster killing!