This will be the first in a series on the Star Queens of Kaeshana. An unbroken chain of rule of 40 Queens can be seen back 3132 years, or starting in 2293BBY in galactic terms. Since that time, with some temporary hiccups, the Queens have ruled all the Eldorai people.
The tradition for these Queens is to either take the names of their mother if she was Queen, or to take a name which emphasised what they wanted their rule to be remembered for. Aside from the first Queen, no one has kept their own name as their Regnal name. As my birth name is Anya Venari, my crown name is Tirathana VII in honour of my mother.
Before the Star Queens, Kaeshana was divided into many small nations and states, many of them mutually hostile to each other. In the years before the crowning of Tassaria I the Kar'zun had launched a concerted campaign to conquer much of Kaeshana, and it was the leader of the successful counter attack who was acclaimed Star Queen or 'Queen wherever the stars shine', we thought we were alone in the galaxy at that time.
Part 1 – Foundation and the Cytani Dynasty
The tradition for these Queens is to either take the names of their mother if she was Queen, or to take a name which emphasised what they wanted their rule to be remembered for. Aside from the first Queen, no one has kept their own name as their Regnal name. As my birth name is Anya Venari, my crown name is Tirathana VII in honour of my mother.
Before the Star Queens, Kaeshana was divided into many small nations and states, many of them mutually hostile to each other. In the years before the crowning of Tassaria I the Kar'zun had launched a concerted campaign to conquer much of Kaeshana, and it was the leader of the successful counter attack who was acclaimed Star Queen or 'Queen wherever the stars shine', we thought we were alone in the galaxy at that time.
Part 1 – Foundation and the Cytani Dynasty
- Tassaria I ‘the Liberator’
- Birth name: Tassaria
- Reign Start: 0 (2293BBY)
- Reign Finish: 45 (2248BBY)
- Summary: A period of anarchy on chaos led to the fall of the old order. The old system of many small states had worked well for a time, but under the onslaught of the Kar’zun the system collapsed. The last Queen of Santaissa was killed in the sack of the city, and no central authority could be found to replace her. Into this stepped the High Priestess of Ashira, Tassaria Cytani. Rallying the people of the northern Larquis region she drove back the Kar’zun and was acclaimed Queen and High Priestess. The remainder of her reign was a ceaseless battle to assert her control over the provinces and hold back her enemies. She passed the crown to her oldest daughter Mylae.
- Tassaria II ‘the Unifier’
- Birth name: Mylae
- Reign Start: 45 (2248BBY)
- Reign Finish: 154 (2139BBY)
- Reign Length: 109 years
- Summary: With the death of Tassaria I there was much uncertainty. Many nobles, chafing under the unfamiliar control from Santaissa, sought to free themselves. Meanwhile there were many in the priesthood uncomfortable with a Queen also being their leader. Mylae took her mother’s name for her crown name, starting a pattern which still remains to this day. Tassaria II was not forceful like her mother, but was an extremely good diplomat and administrator. Whilst effective control slipped from some regions on the fringe, Tassaria II forged the institutions and laws of the new Matriarchy and ensured it’d survive. She passed the crown to her eldest daughter Vania.
- Tassaria III ‘the Pious’
- Birth name: Vania
- Reign Start: 154 (2139BBY)
- Reign Finish: 294 (1999BBY)
- Reign Length: 140 years
- Summary: Vania was again very different from her mother and siblings. From childhood she was painfully shy and withdrawn, viewing her older brother Ardivan and her younger sister Esterlea with a mix of suspicion and awe. Some even suggested that either of her siblings be given the crown before Vania, but precedent was fixed and she took her mother’s name. Once Queen, Tassaria III continued her mother’s policy of integration, though usually her sister would negotiate on her behalf. Tassaria III meanwhile became something of an ascetic, living very frugally and becoming extremely pious. The common people loved her, even though they never saw her because of her justice, generosity and conscience. Tassaria III never married and in her later years after her brother and sister died she left much of the running of government to her niece Kaida and retired more and more to the palace. When she died, said niece inherited the throne.
- Esterlea I ‘the Vain’
- Birth name: Kaida
- Reign Start: 294 (1999BBY)
- Reign Finish: 415 (1878BBY)
- Reign Length: 121 years
- Summary: Whilst her aunt became more and more lost in pious obscurity, Princess Kaida assumed the reins of government with her husband Vaedus. When she became Queen she took the name Esterlea after her mother. Esterlea was everything her mother was not; outgoing, spendthrift and ostentatious. For many this was a welcome change after the dull piety of her predecessor. Soon though problems started to arise. Esterlea was a vain and rather weak-willed woman, with her husband driving much of what happened whilst his wife lived in opulence. Bad harvests and serious seismic activity caused discontent, not helped by the disputes between the Queen’s children. For an Eldorai, the union of Esterlea and Vaedus was unusually productive, resulting in eight children, five of them girls. As soon as they were old enough they all began to intrigue against each other and their mother. The first real internal discontent begun in this period, and the oldest daughter Ilyse even attempted to overthrow her mother. Esterlea survived though after her husband died she became somewhat reclusive herself. In the end she chose her second daughter Elana to succeed her. The rest of the family were not happy, and trouble soon came of it.
- Esterlea II ‘the Sarix’
- Birth name: Elana
- Reign Start: 415 (1878BBY)
- Reign Finish: 579 (1714BBY)
- Reign Length: 164 years
- Summary: Of all the daughters of Esterlea I, Elana seemed the most unlikely to become Queen. She was somewhat wild and disobedient as a child and had been sent to the Angelii when young to make a woman out of her. It certainly succeeded, and Elana spent most of her formative years with the Angelii, fighting Kar’zun and rebels. A powerful Sciian and respected soldier, she was chosen as successor out of the blue. Her older sister Ilyse immediately fomented trouble against the one who had stolen ‘her’ crown, but Esterlea II easily defeated her. To the shock of all the Eldorai, Esterlea made a cruel example of her sister by cutting off her right hand and putting her under permanent house arrest, thus her nickname. This did not entirely end problems, and she was permanently estranged from her family, but despite this she ruled well and strongly. Esterlea II never married, but became lovers with her Chancellor Rinnea. In the end she left the crown to her lover and chief minister, if only to spite her family. Her family obviously resented this but could not end the new dynasty’s grip. Thus ended the Cytani dynasty, which had ruled for 579 years.