Amelia the Bastard

She was quite an interesting personality. One of many. Such a shame that most writings of her and her age burned during the dark ages that followed.

— Illio Hagaris, Tarquinnian Archivar

Power or rather a desire for it, drives the world.

Purple Rags

Born in the twilight years of the First Tarquinnian Hegemony, Amelia had always been the black sheep of the Mecarian Dynasty, as ironic as that statement may seem. Although a daughter of Emperor Cosanas, the fact that her mother was nothing more than a prostitute from the streets of Tarquinnia meant that she was viewed as an unwanted appendage at best. She was allowed to live within the Old Imperial Palace and still enjoyed some of the wealth that the Mercarians pressed so vigorously from Vardania's peasantry. Aside from her birth and maligned status, not much is known about her life.

Shadow Empress

By 1473 DA, the Mecarian family had fallen on hard times. The ruling Empress, Hecaris II. was 92 years old and clearly on her deathbed. Worse was the fact that no heirs from the main family remained, the dynasty successfully having neutered itself through infighting and excess. Power over the realm had slipped out of the hands of the central government and into those of the Infitiare, four of which held a direct claim to the imperial throne. It is here that Amelia slips from the shadows of obscurity as she began to slowly gain influence among the members of the imperial court. When exactly she fully controlled matters of the state is not known, but the fact that several of Tarquinnia's most powerful noble families experienced a series of "lethal accidents" in a very short period of time, does indicate the reach of her power.
Historians face a problem in accurately representing her rise to power, as any and all matters concerning her where found on private documents, most of which were either destroyed or lost in succeeding centuries. Most of what is known stems from a single account of an unknown source. According to it, Empress Hecaris died in 1474 DA and not in 1485 as is commonly thought and taught. Amelia knew that her power and influence depended on the Empress surviving and so developed a complicated scheme. How exactly she accomplished it is not known, but Amelia kept the Hecaris alive for another eleven years. During this period she played the dutiful caretaker all the while ruling from the shadows. Her reasons for this are pretty simple to deduce. As a bastard, her fate was already uncertain, especially in a family as ruthless as the Mecarians were. Additionally, her power was based on the networks she had built in the Empress' shadow, networks which would surely be purged once a new Emperor took power.
During this period, Amelia did her utmost to keep the brittle Hegemony together. Mecarian rule was unpopular, large scale unrest had been present since the early 1420s, the economy was failing and the central government lacked authority. With great skill, she managed to play the realm's powerful nobles, governors and generals against one another, but would only divide and weaken the Hegemony further in the process. Her success stems partially from her unassuming presence. As a bastard without any claim to power many ignored her as a possible threat, the fact that she kept hidden and secluded from the wider court and skillfully mimed the dutiful caretaker only helped in cementing her status as a non-entity in the games of the powerful.

End of a Reign

The great play came to an end in 1485 DA. Who exactly was responsible is unknown, but the secret of Hecaris' death had slipped out. Within a few weeks, the Hegemony found itself in open civil war as multiple of its powerful generals openly grasped for the throne. Simultaneously, rebellions began to break out throughout the realm, the realm's many ethnicities pushing to free themselves from Tarquinnian rule. What is now known as the War of the Four Emperors would spell the end for the Bastard Empress, her power steadily dwindling and support completely evaporating. In 1487 DA, Cridas the Black, commander of the northern Legions captured the city of Tarquinnia and Amelia herself. The Shadow Empress would find her end a few days thereafter, ripped apart by a pack of rabid dogs for the new ruler's amusement.

It is rather unfortunate that Amelia's scheme imploded at that very moment. The ensuing civil war destroyed the Hegemony and made it a ripe target for the Barbarian Alevati to invade.

— Darius Kaseidis, Archivar of Tarquinnia

Ethnicity

Vardanians

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Imperial Caretaker

Life

1449 DA 1487 DA 38 years old

Circumstances of Birth

Bastard Daughter of Emperor Cosanas.

Circumstances of Death

Torn apart by rabid Dogs.

Aligned Organization

First Tarquinnian Hegemony

The Great Generals
One method by which the Mecarian Dynasty sought to establish its power, following the families ascension in 1391 DA, was by taking control of the Hegemony's military. The expansive family began to almost exclusively put its members into high ranking positions and it is estimated that by 1430, the majority of the military brass consisted of either Mecarians or their sycophants.
Most powerful of those where the Infitiare who led the Empire's great field armies. In the aftermath of Empress Hecaris' "true death", the four greatest of these would each try and gain the throne, throwing the realm into the War of the Four Emperors in the process. Each pretender would soon find their end either through the war or to the invading Alevati which would plague Vardania from 1497 DA on.

by Baptiste Forey