First in a series of biographies of the most powerful women in The World is Yesseraê Willunnô, Empress of Auntimoany.
Yesseraê Willunnô, born 12th Summerhome by fortnight reckoning or of Wodamath by moon reckoning in the year of the Wicker Badger, which also hight 1984, is a princess of Morotuncaê, fifth surviving daughter (and thirteenth and last surviving child) of the line of Aro-aro the Wise (1953-1999), previous king of that land (r.1977-1999), Morotuncaê being a land in Alaria. Since 2002, she has been queen consort of Auntimoany and wife of emperor Handfast; since 2010, Empress Regent, made so by an Act of Parliament that made Handfast Emperor Coregent.
1. Early life
2. Marriage
3. Early reign
Crisis I: Constitutional struggle
4. Later Reign
Crises IJ & IIJ
5. Titles, styles and arms
6. Ancestry
Early Life -- Yesseraê was born in the seaside latifundium village of Torquanwe, along the western coasts of Morotuncaê. Her "left eye name", Yesseraê, is composed of syllables from her ancestors' names: Ayyessaê, Seriano, Rallano, Esserinaê; while the "right eye name", Willunnô, was given by her sisters and schoolmates and means something like "travels far". During her youth and school days, the name perhaps seemed romantic and wishful to her consoeurs and perhaps also seemed ironic for a girl who had never travelled any further than the neighbourhood of her native city, except undoubtedly in her dreams. And now in retrospect, it might perhaps better be seen as prophetic, for she has gone all the way across the ocean to become be a queen!
The lives of children of nobility in Morotuncaê is little different than the lives of those of lesser station. Early on, children of nobles, craftsmen, soldiers and burgesses alike are corralled into local schools where from the ages of six to twelve, they receive their primary education. This consists of lessons in letters, numbers, reading, arithmetic and writing. The reading and writing divisions are spent working on basic texts of geography, history and natural lore.
Once this early education is completed, children of craftsmen and soldiers will enter training for a trade while those of the nobles and burgesses may be prepared for more scholarly pursuits. They will study grammar, rhetoric, poetry, comportment and the nine lesser arts. Only the most brilliant pupils will take longer courses of study in the subtle arts.
Courtship and Marriage -- In the year of the Dissheveled Solstice, which is 2002, Yesseraê having completed her studies, was, shortly after her 18th birth anniversary, sent by her father on a great voyage across what is called in Morotuncaê the Narrow Ocean, which hight in the Eastlands, the Ocean of Sunrise. Coming hither with a delegation of scholars, poets, diplomats and merchants, it seems that the main hope of Aro-aro was simply to marry his youngest daughter off to a suitable foreign prince.
She met and courted with a young man who seemed the likely successor to the Throne of Auntimoany. Indeed, later that year, Handfast was elevated to the emperorship and the couple were duly married a year later upon which occasion Yesseraê was crowned queen consort.
Early Reign -- Yesseraê quickly became noted for her acuity in dealing with petitioners to the Throne and for her wisdom in handling both her husband and the various factions that sought his ear. Key Magisters took note how she clearly overshadowed Handfast in all matters of statecraft.
The First Crisis: Constitutional Tensions rose through the early 2000s as Magisterial supporters of Handfast clashed with supporters of Yesseraê. The latter, due in no small part to the confidence of both the Lord of Treasury and the Magister of the Exchequer, became ascendant by 2006 or 2007. Thereafter, with the tacit approval of the First Magister, Yesseraê assumed ever more critical and central roles.
Strife between the imperial couple began to grow only late. Handfast had long preferred the more ceremonial roles of emperorship and the excitement of court life. Much of his time was spent hunting or tramping with a favorite warband. He little realised how much power Yesseraê had been given (or, truth be told, had quietly seized) until too late.
In the year of the Incrusted Woodpecker, which hight 2010, a crisis in Parliament (the Knownothing Crisis, which centered itself upon the Constitutional roles of the Hall of Worthies and the Deanery of Arbitrators came to a head and stalled further action of the whole House. Emperor Handfast was out in the Hill Country traipsing with his warriors and could not be immediately located. Parliament became paralyzed and Yesseraê yet again demonstrated her wisdome, for she had long studied the roles of the Seven Houses and resolved the issue amicably.
It became clear that the Emperor was not as fit for the Throne as the Kingmakers had thought nearly a decade before; and an Act was passed making the queen consort the Empress Regent and the Emperor became the Emperor Coregent. Technically, the Act did not remove any powers from the Emperor, about which he seemed quite relieved. For example, Parliamentary Acts and Orders of Merit and Chivalry still required one of the various Seals of State. But also, technically, the Act duplicated all his powers within the person of the Empress who somehoe managed to gain access to the said Seals of State.
After this period of time, Handfast seems to admitted to the coup and came to terms with it by going on ever longer hunting expeditions and tramping through the wild Hill Country of the Arnals.
Later Reign -- Yesseraê's later reign, though marked generally by peace within the Seven Houses of Parliament and domestic tranquility within her home, nevertheless suffered its share of woes.
The Second Crisis: Assassination! During the year of the Broken Calendar (2012) alone, three separate plots against the Empress's life were foiled. Various noble factions were accused in the broadsheets; the Kingmakers were accused by many key parliamentarians; even the Emperor Coregent himself was not above suspicion. One plot, an old fashioned poisoning of the Empress's favourite fruit, a small kind of golden apple called Fruitbatty Sweets, at least came very close to implicating Handfast personally, but conflicting evidence, missing witnesses and the Emperor Coregent's absence from the City during the crisis served to shift blame away from his person. A close confidante of the Empress witnessed a "dark hooded figure" in the Rooftop Gardens of the imperial Palas, messing about in the fruit tree garden. The fruits of the suspected trees were ordered to be examined by the colleges of Alchemists, Thaumaturges and Potionmongers alike. No suspicious poison could be discovered, though a small cache of the apples was found in an alley several streets over from the Palas. It seems the bizarre case of the Poisoned Apples was a false alarm.
The second plot, a discharge of crossbow quarrel into the Empress's tram car, was no false alarm, and seems to have been an earnest attempt on Yesserê's life. Seemingly involving disaffected Mentolatian nobles, various agitators from Angera all but claimed responsibility. Again, unclear evidence seems to be the culprit in mudying the waters. Conflicting reports had come to the Empress's attention in the days before the attempt: one citing an attempt in the tram she was expected to take, another at an early morning speech to be delivered at Quay Royal to the newly admitted naval officers and a third at a luncheon in a local popina.
Determining that the most likely plan of attack would be in the tram, for she had delivered the speech already that morning the reports came in and the luncheon timing and place were off, she sent in stead an armoured knight to be veiled while riding in the tram. Although the shootist was never apprehended, it became clear that better security arrangements would have to be made!
The third plot, late in the year, was discovered early and foiled before it could be carried through. An agent was apprehended with a curious thaumic device but refused to give evidence or confession, even under torture. The agent, it is said by certain Palas insiders, was working for the Kingmakers. Publically, the Empress laid blame on "Tana Seperatists" and, rather than shake up the now settled Government any further, seems to have let the matter lie.
The Third Crisis: Racial Strife Yesseraê has long been suspicious of the Tana population of Auntimoany, though has refrained from making any direct statements to that effect in public speeches or executive Acts. While the various kindreds of Daine living within the Empire have long seemed content with their lives as they are, the underlying fear and unease regarding their usually taciturn presence has never left her heart at peace.
Fears turned to alarm as Handfast, who has long loved to hunt with the Tana nobles, assented to several apparently innocuous but key pieces of pro-Tana legislation. One, an Act in the year of the Brass Waterpot that granted electoral rights to "the several disadvantaged peoples of Our Empire" suddenly granted sufferage to nearly forty percent of the population who had never previously complained that they had no voice in the Government as constituted by the Men of Auntimoany. Shortly thereafter, a Tana girl by the name of Velendallay won a seat in the Freemen's Moot standing for Auntimoany City itself.
It turns out that some of these fears are shared by others in Parliament and the Magistracy as well. For example, a large number of seats in both the House of Nobles and the House of Divines were anciently allocated to Tana nobles and monks by tradition, though few ever sat in working sessions of Parliament. Occasionally, one or two will show up for a high ceremonial moot, such as the opening or prorogation of Parliament; several more tend to sit for the New Year Throne Speech. Possibly, even from the earliest times after the arrival of Men into the lands by the sea, the Tana felt it best to leave the government of the land to the rule of Men, while largely ignoring that same rule domestically deeming that it concerned them little enough.
Other Issues of State Yesseraê's main concerns are the great Daine realms to the north and west of Auntimoany: Withwandiê to the north and Harathalliê to the west, beyond Angera, and that land also hight Westmarche. The latter's powerful and standoffish Greatqueen being the greater of her two worries. It is thought by many in Auntimoany that the Greatqueen Serendârzhan is eagerly looking for any pretext to renew the ancient war between the two realms, and a war that she herself fought in in her youth.
Domestic issues (Hotay and Trolls amssing forces in the Hill Country; curious unknowns of domestic economy & trade; piracy on the seas) all seem to swirl around the Tana Question: what is to be done with a race of people who are only recently considered legal Persons, yet have shown no obvious interest in the affairs of Empire and also constitute a very large minority of the Empire's population?
A series of skirmishes and border throubles in the marchlands between Auntimoany and Harathalliê have prompted Yesseraê to strengthen the fortifications along the border in that region. Her great fear is an invasion from that direction, but she must not neglect to descry the hearts of her own Tana population. Her Magisters can give no firm answers one way or the other to her questions: will her Native Tana fight for Auntimoany in case of a war? Or will they side with their cousins in Westmarche? Or would they remain neutral?
Titles, Styles and Arms -- Until 1st Wodamath 2003: Princess Quint-Minor of the House of Brussom-Toncat Thereafter and until 14th Thrimmilco 2010: Queen Consort of Auntimoany Thereafter and until the present time: Empress Regent of Auntimoany; Archon of Angera
Her complete style is: Yesseraê Willunnô in Whom Resides the Commission of Heaven: Empress of Auntimoany, Archon of Angera, Empress of the Woodland Realm Oversea, Dread Lord of Justice and Defender of the Right.
Her symbol at arms is a ship sailing west bearing apples and flowers in its holds and a great broad leafed tree for its mast and sails. Her personal seal bears the device of an apple tree in blossom.
Ancestry -- The noble line of Yesseraê's father, Aro-aro the Wise, can be traced back first through the House of Brussom, whose founding lord was a princely ruler in Morotuncaê during the 17th century of the present age. Fourteen Houselords descend from Brussom to Aro-aro in paternal succession. Before the time of Brussom, who rose from the ranks of the warriors of the Toncat dynasty of eastern Alaria. That house is most ancient indeed and Brussom was the son of a noble who had engaged in a liaison with one of the Dynastic House's highest ranking Sisterwives of the Emperor. After which time, a period of uncertainty ensued, though it appears that Brussom and his captured lover fled south into Morotuncaê and settled there.
The noble line of Yesseraê's mother, Lammasut, can be traced back to the earliest & most noble Houses of the realm. Her earliest maternal ancestor was none other Ghershannayê, the founding Queen of Morotuncaê, who reigned in the ninth century of the present age.
