The lost princess

Summary

The revolution that followed Bjeria's defeat in The Mage War culminated in the ritual execution, not just of the king, but of all surviving members of the royal family and the establishment of the present Bjerian Republic. The theory of the Lost Princess holds that, as the tide of the war turned against the Bjerian alliance, the eldest daughter of the Queen Consort, six-year old Princess Berchta Signise, was sent away from the capital and into the care of her materal cousin, Prince Theobald of Kirh. It further alleges that the princess, having survived the revolution, is living in some foreign land, either deliberately concealing her identity or suffering from some form of amnesia and unable to recall her true identity.
Even before the end of the war, a number of pretenders to the title have emerged, often living in distant countries, with varying degrees of believability. Before his death, Prince Theobald disavowed each of them but his refusal to deny that Princess Berchta survived has only fuelled the effort to find her.

Cultural Reception

The story is the lynchpin of the royalist claim that the Bjerian royals are still god-favoured, and efforts to re-establish the monarchy centre around finding the legitimate princess.
Escalating tensions between royalists amnd republicans threaten to destabilise the young country. If the royalists are able to find a plausible princess, real or otherwise, it may erupt into civil war.

In Literature

Outside Ewaes, the story of the lost princess of Bjeria has captured the imagination of playwrights, musicians and novellists, and she has become the central, tragic figure of the revolution.
Several pulp novels and radio dramas, and at least two opera have featured an age-appropriate princess (or a thinly-veilled allusion to her) either returning to restore the monarchy or eschewing her royal duty to marry for love and live in anonymity. A princess-like figure, Betta, is the primary love interest in the Zalian radio drama Sage and Apollo. A number of songs and poems have also been written about her; some theorising about the princess' final hours before the execution, while others have embellished her story to include a final, ill-fated, flight from the capital as the revolutionaries took the palace.

by Art breeder

Artist's impression of Princess Berchta Signise, aged 16