Okungyi: Illegitimacy

Summary

During the time of Keyrit occupation of Irewa, Tatrig II, rightful ruler of Wlitowa was away from his palace on a military excursion into Yatkaugo for an entire year. During this excursion, out of protest for the king leaving her, the Kauaru Queen Tatka locked herself in her spacious quarters, never to leave again. The excursion failed, and the king's first action upon returning home was to see his queen. After two hours of privacy with the queen, the king returned with a baby girl. The king proclaimed that the queen had died in his absence, and that her one remaining vestige was the daughter she had borne him: the Princess Ongyaku. The rumor goes as follows: while he was away, King Tatrig II had an extramarital affair with a tribeswoman from Yatkaugo. The tribeswoman conceived, likely dying in the process, and the king brought the newborn back as his own. He showed it to the queen and, the queen having none of it, made her "disappear." Thus, Princess Ongyaku was illegitimate and not a Kauaru.

Historical Basis

Royal records show that the queen was suffering from an illness induced by staying locked up in a confined space for the solid part of a year, and that could easily excuse why the queen never left her room. No records show the king with a child at any point of his voyage home or appeal to the queen, but he did bring home many spoils of war. It is possible that a child was buried in the gold and jewels brought presented to Queen Tatka. What seemed to be more damning evidence against the conspiracy theory, however, was the use of the Kroror on Princess Ongyaku's direct descendant by matrilinearity, Princess Gykta. The Kroror turns only Kauaru into giants, and Gykta grew to such enormous proportions that she must have had several Kauaru in her genealogy, which would match her royal lineage. In response, proponents of the theory made several trips to Yatkaugo, making massive finds that revolutionized Yatkaugo archeology forever. Most applicably, though, they found strong genealogical ties between the Kauaru and the non-Keyrit-Welokyi tribes of Ugo-yt, placing the theory back into "plausible" territory.

Spread

At first, the conspiracy theory had a strong reaction from the populace, though quelling from the king put the notion to rest. For centuries, it was passed around in circles of gossip. "I heard the Queen uses the flag of Wlitowa as a rag to blot out stains!" "Well, she's not really Wlitowan royalty, you know." Over the centuries, the rumor took on less of a gossip appeal, and scientific hobbyists began to give the rumor more of an objective weight. While professionally the conspiracy theory couldn't be taken seriously, mounds of evidence began piling up, including genetic information, historical records, and logical reasoning. It brought passionate laymen from all corners of academia together.

Variations & Mutation

The nature of the Ugo-yt tribeswoman is in question. Some say that she was the chieftain's daughter, while others say that she was a lady of the night. Similarly, theorists have made cases for the king killing the queen, and the queen leaving for a foreign land. Several candidates have been brought up for both the escaped queen and for the tribeswoman. Ultimately, however, the backbone of the theory, that the modern royal family is illegitimate.

Cultural Reception

While honest skeptics joined the bandwagon and contributed vastly to the underlying research, a larger band of revolutionaries hijacked the conspiracy theory to push propaganda. The rumor, if true, would de-legitimize the Wlitowa royalty, and the Wli-Tou-Rah was always looking for ways to undermine the authority of the king. The theory was watered down and yet still blown far out of proportion.

Related Ethnicities