Empress Richilde(34-74 YE)was To be the subject of song at court had always been a great honour in Dawn, but first Wintermark, then Varushkan, then even some Marchers sought this fame as the the fashion spread.


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Reign: 36 YE to 69 YE TBC

Called: the Sun Queen

Early life and Election

Born in 9 YE, Richilde was a Dawnish noble of House Cassilon in Astolat. From an early age she was exceptional - witty, charismatic, with an indomitable spirit. According to the troubadours she had the natural talent and ability to turn her hand to anything that is often considered a consequence of a strong connection to her past lives. Along with her siblings and cousins she received a fine education, benefiting from tutors brought from as far afield as Urizen and the Brass Coast, paid for by the Earl de Cassilon. She was well versed in politics, music and literature, enjoyed hawking, hunting; was a mistress of the harp; and had composed at least eight well-received heroic poems by the time she was twenty-one.

Following her Test of Mettle she served first as an Advocate and later as the Senator for Astolat. She traveled extensively, finding allies among the artists and politicians of the other nations, especially in the The League, the Brass Coast, Highguard and Urizen. After the death of Emperor Giovanni, she parlayed this network into political influence and with the support of her fellow Dawnish senators and the voice of the Troubadours in the Synod, she was elected Empress.

Reign

From the beginning her court was a place of splendour; She surrounded herself with musicians, artists and scholars from across the Empire. From the scops of Wintermark to the bards of the Marches, anyone with a tale to tell or a song to sing was welcome to perform before Empress Richilde. Those who impressed her received endowments or the benefit of her patronage in establishing themselves. While her love of art and music was seen initially as indulgent, it became clear that it served a greater purpose. By encouraging the nations to appreciate one anothers' stories and art, she worked to help them gain a greater understanding of each other.

Throughout her reign she encouraged the celebration of the deeds of heroes, both past and present. She encouraged the nations to take pride in their history, but also to see the achievements of the Empire as a whole as being their achievements. In 39 YE, with assistance of advisors from Highguard and the League she esablished funds, overseen by the civil service, to support bards and artists across the Empire, creating the tradition of the Imperial bards who have inspired the Empire ever since.

Poems and stories suggest she was as capable a warrior as she was a politician, but Urizen historians suggest that this is likely to be the fanciful exaguration of minstrels and poets rather than fact. Rather than being a great warrior, or a great general, she is remembered as having an ability to inspire trust and to recognize ability in her Generals, leaving them a free hand to act as they saw fit in the service of the Empire. This lead to a series of invasions that expanded the Empire, adding the territories of Karsk, Semmerholm, Redoubt and Reikos. While the Empress herself did not fight in any of the major campaigns, she accompanied the armies in the manner of a living banner - inspiring and exhorting her troops and firing them to achieve victory.

She married three times; to Sir Gerhault of Astolat who died in battle during the final assault into Semmerholm; to the Higborn scholar Solon of Salisport who disappeared during an exploration in the east; and finally (to the mild scandal of her fellow Dawnish and her court) to the Marcher general Herrick of Sallow, over twenty years her junior. who nearly lost his position as general as a consequence.

Death

At her funeral, after a thirty year reign, it is said the entire Empire mourned. She was carried with great ceremony from her home near Auvanne in Semmerholm, via Anvil, to the Necropolis and interred in a great tomb built at some expense by the finest stonesmiths of the day. Over the centuries since it has become a great honour for a hero, especially a Dawnish hero or troubadour, to be interred in the Ring of Champions, a series of tombs and mausoleums that surrounds Richilde's resting place.

Shortly after her death the Synod recognised Richilde as an Exemplar of Pride. 150 years later, the troubadours of dawn finally succeeded in having her recognised as a Paragon, making her the first Paragon of the modern period..

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