Liliya I Shiroko

Empress Liliya I Shiroko

Liliya was born in 883, the daughter of Vasyl III Shiroko. Despite her surrender in the Sicru Battles, she became famous for her formation of the first state run postal system and the improvements of the roads in the empire. She also claimed to have destroyed the treason trial records of her father, but instead used copies to blackmail nobility into backing her more exploitative plans.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Born in 883, Liliya I was the oldest child of Vasyl III Shiroko. She grew up around her father's strange behavior despite his attempts to hide it. In general, she noticed his bouts of severe sadness, although there was no diagnosis for his specific condition. Most simply referred to him as having a less severe case of the Shiroko Dynasty madness. Fear that she would follow the same fate followed her throughout her life, although she attempted to keep it at the back of her mind rather than the forefront.
When she was one, in 884, her father was temporarily forced out of the position of baejan (emperor/empress) through the use of the doctrine of Induced Regency. While she did not remember this occurring, the fact that it had been used before made her wary of her younger brother, Ilya, whom her father had decided she would wed when the time came.
Through her childhood, she spent a great deal of time with her father in order to learn how to rule the empire. From him, she learned history, military strategy, politics, internal affairs, and many other subjects. After her Attunement Test showed she was a pyr-esh, he also taught her how to create the Ilyannoi. While Vasyl III did teach her a great deal of useful information, she also found his method of refilling the empire's treasury to be depraved and wrong. Her father created 'treason trails' for various nobles in order to seize their assets for his own projects, something Liliya found horrible.
However, the use of money to construct public buildings was a goal she agreed with. Her focus moved toward the Department of Architecture and the Department of State. With them, as tajanji (high prince/princess), she devised improvements to the infrastructure of the empire, although she could not implement them without the power of the baejan behind her and her father was much more occupied with his trails.
When her father retired in 914, Liliya I took the throne and married her younger brother soon after. Her first order of business was to ingratiate herself to the nobility. As such, she burned the records her father kept of his treason trails and the 'evidence' he had used for them. Unknown to the aristocracy, she had agreed to allow Ilya to create copies in case they were ever needed, a decision that plagued her conscience for many years. Even so, her actions worked and the nobility became strong allies toward her, assisting with her goals of improving the roadways.
During her reign, she and her brother/husband had five children. The first two were miscarriages that nearly stopped Liliya from trying for more. However, she and Ilya continued. Eventually, they had Krystanya II in 928. More miscarriages followed for twelve years until another child was born, Vaareki.
In 933, a series of battles began in the eastern area of the empire, along the Sicru River. Yzelian troops began moving across the border to deal with raiding nomadic tribes. This led to encounters with Eoin soldiers and more skirmishes. Most of the fighting was done on the river, a terrain that was not conducive to Eoion's strength. Liliya pulled her army away from the river, giving up ground in an area that the empire had not held much of anyway. This left Yzel to fight mainly the nomads. The only time the Eoin army became involved was if they crossed the border. These skirmishes became known as the Sicru Battles.
When the battles ended in 935, she sent scouts to determine what had changed and found that at the border, the defenders has split from Yzel, forming a separate new unit, the Daji. Immediately, she sent spies to gather information on them and their tactics. These operations continued until the Fourth Great War and into the present under the reign of Taras Shiroko.
After pulling the troops away, she returned to her work, but also was flummoxed about how to improve communication throughout the empire aside from roads. Before this point, mail was delivered by private couriers and the rich could afford better security and service. Liliya determined that these were far too for profit for her liking and she used the copied treason records to blackmail the nobles who owned them into selling many to the state. This created the first state run postal system. Some of the postal businesses were then sold to members of the royal family and the wealth privatized, a move that even some within the family saw as hypocritical.
Throughout her reign, her transportation endeavors continued and by the time she retired, the empire had completed an overhaul of its roadways, creating a much safer, smoother way to transport good and military personnel from one end of the country to the other. This led to more efficient use of the public transport instituted by Ilya V Shiroko. Trade increased even with the addition of tolls on the major roadways. These tolls were used to replace the treason trial blackmail to maintain the roads and increase imperial revenue.
In 950, she retired, leaving the empire in the hands of her daughter, Krystanya II. She remained in the Gandenye until the death of her husband, after which, she spent thirteen years touring the empire. As her age began to make her less and less able to travel, she settled in the Shiroko family mansion in Parishi. In 963, she passed in her sleep and was transported back to the Gandenye where she was buried in the family mausoleum.

Life

883 963 80 years old

Birthplace

Gandenye

Place of Death

Parishi

Parents

Vasyl III Shiroko

Children

• Krystanya II Shiroko

Eyes

light violet

Hair

past waist, braided, white

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

pale