Amelya Valeriya of Haense
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Amelya Valeriya Barbanov (Common: Amelia Valera), was a significant public figure of the royal city of New Reza and the overarching Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska as a princess of the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska and member of the royal family. She was bestowed the titular honor as princess through birth as the daughter of Andrew IV of Haense, King of Haense, and his consort Maya of Muldav. She was the youngest of the triplets, or the set of triplets known as the Triplets of Reza, and often referred to as the Ruby of Reza as she and her sisters all garnered nicknames regarding various gemstones. She would go on to also be called "the knight princess" after her help in the revitalization of knighthood in Haense, and the battles she would fight in during the conflict with the invading Scyfling warriors.
Biography
Early life
Amelya Valeriya Barbanov was born on the 14th of the Amber Cold, 1750, as the youngest of a set of triplets to the King of Hanseti-Ruska, Andrew IV, and Queen Maya of Muldav. Although her birth was during a time of war, the Rubern War, it was largely celebrated throughout the kingdom. Her mother would nearly pass upon bestowing the three, but survived through the night - as well as all three girls. Shortly after the unknowing period of whether the Queen passed from childbirth or not, Amelya and her sisters were kept away from the public eye for the first years of their childhood.
Her mother, oft paranoid, did not allow her free roam outside of the Ekaterinburg Palace until the celebratory event bringing forth Amelya and her sisters into the royal court. The revelry, renown titled Dance of the Crows, was the initial beginning of Amelya's public life as a figure and symbol within the royal city of New Reza and the overall Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska. The ball came to an abrupt conclusion with the announcement of her father's passing, and the kingdom thereafter being sent into a state of regency. Amelya was sent into a state of shock and turmoil, as she was rather young and unaware of such cruelties. Her reaction was on public display, for all of the Haeseni courtiers to witness and accumulate.
Growing up, Amelya garnered a fine education and mirrored her assigned royal governess and tutor, Isabel Stafyr, in her kindness. She was later tutored within her mother's royal academy, the Royal Academy of Saint Catherine. Among other things, she was educated in etiquette, history, music, and theology. The generosity of the princess, in spite of her royal upbringings, was praised greatly amongst the commonfolk and nobility alike. To quote Viktoria Ruthern, "[...] not a day went by where the princess was not seen amid the crowds of passing people in the city. She was, by all means, their princess." Although she lacked paternal figure, the correlation amongst the royal family was notably superlative.
In many ways, she was frequently said to have presided in her father's scholarly traits over her mother's. Amelya had a growing interest in politics at a young age. She became the ward to the President of the Senate, Lauritz Christiansen, as per her mother's request. This brought her relevance as princess further into the empire in its entirety, as she lived and spent a majority of her time in the imperial city of Helena during her tenure.
She would return home fully after a multitude of years spent in the imperial city, where the war was coming to a close. Over the span of several months, a flourishing amount of treaties from the opposing side would come declaring peace and non-aggression with the Holy Orenian Empire. It was not long before the only enemy of the kingdom was Rubern. Amelya and her sisters, Analiesa and Alexandria, sought further education from etiquette and governmental studies in hindsight of the war they had been born into. The three princesses were educated in basic swordsmanship by their relative Prince Godfric Alimar who the three would often refer to as 'uncle' despite him being a second cousin. In place of the missing paternal presence, Godfric became a father figure for her which she valued greatly. The Lord Regent and Palatine, Otto Alimar, gained the favor of the princess as well. Although the man was old in his years, he was a grandfather to her that she never had, considering her grandfathers Kazimar Alimar, Grand Prince of Muldav, and King Andrew III both passed gruesomely before her birth.
The royal family, by many, was marked with misfortune and cruel fates; the first of many which she would witness as her brother, Sigismund II of Haense, was shot with a crossbow bolt through the neck. In the midst of court, she was seated directly to the right of him and splattered with his blood. Terrified and frightened, she and her sisters were ushered away by their mother. Her sister Princess Analiesa was nearly lost in the chaos that erupted after the assassination attempt, but was quickly carried to safety. The girls were sung to by their mother, Queen Maya, while their brother was saved by miracle and fine work of the kingdom's surgeon-general in the room over. Public appearances were not made for some days after and Amelya tended frequently to her brother's bedside to ensure his well-being.
Amelya's life, which was primarily all in the public eye, would go on to prove the tragic tales often remarked of Barbanov princesses in her later years of adolescence. For the time being, however, she was provided with luxuries, and the royal family - despite with no proper paternal figure - was in a notably content state. To her luck, obtaining friends was easy for her, with a numerity of parties in her exclusive group being thrown within the palace walls. Amelya would befriend the ward of her mother and future queen of Haense, Viktoria of Metterden at one of these many parties; one of her acquaintances being a boy named Johann, who was later taken on as a ward to Godfric Alimar.
Adolescence
The 9th of the Grand Harvest, 1762, Amelya would be dressed in a white gown with gold lining alongside her sisters and mother in the coronation of Sigismund II. Her brother, whose original name was 'Otto', would change his name in place of the regnal one as he was often referred to as Sigi even before the coronation. The fashion of the female royalty was highly praised, for it was the first time the princesses and Queen Mother donned particular coronation attire. The coronation was one of the largest of the Haeseni kings. Later in the evening of the coronation, Amelya was gifted a variety of heirlooms - including a cloak of a demigryph, gifted to her mother from Peter III that was hundreds of years old.
The next day, on the 10th of the Grand Harvest, her mother was found assassinated in her chambers with the dead body of her assailant nearby. She was the second to see the horrors, only twelve, with her newfound confidant Viktoria. The young pair threw the body of the assassin into the waters of Lake Milena below. What occurred after the announcement of Maya's passing would terrify Amelya entirely, and leave her in a traumatized state for a many days. A multitude of people attempted to see the body of the deceased queen-mother, all to fail but the Emperor Peter III. On accounts of the servantry in the Ekaterinburg palace, and the courtiers within, the emperor screamed through the halls until he was in the queen-mother's chambers.
When the body her mother's killer was nowhere to be seen, it is believed that the emperor threatened to kill both Amelya and Viktoria by hanging for tossing the body into the lake. The body was retrieved on his orders, while the two were shaking. Maya's chambers were burned with the body, but her mother's body was saved moments before the fire ensued. Amelya would find difficulty in her relations with the imperials and Helenians after the occurrence, and it would never fully heal.
What went on in the palace walls caused a great tension between the Helenians and Haeseni. The royal decree Zwem unein fitsk was announced by her brother. She was unable to travel to the imperial city, and a majority of foreigners were blocked from entering Reza. The entire kingdom was in a state of mourning with the decree. Because of the closeness of the events, Amelya, Analiesa, and Alexandria had their white coronation gowns adjusted to be the color of black in fabric for the mourning of their mother. At twelve, the triplets were without their mother or father; and to further extension - orphans.
Servants throughout the palace would notify the royals and other courtiers within it of various threats, all of which were usually engraved in the wood of the throne. Only rumored, the throne would have been allegedly burned a multitude of times when symbols of death were carved into the royal seat. Amelya's once bright and hopeful attitude would change with the continuous events, and lead to her personality remarked to be similar to her mother's. She matched in dedication and found things of solace in her life, such as she sought to revitalize the Haeseni culture. In her missive The Loss of Haeseni Cultures, she wrote; "I’ve come to realize that the culture within our great kingdom’s highlander roots has begun to fade away over time. This document I’ve written encompasses the loss of both recent and ancient cultural aspects that we’ve since forgotten; its aim is to remind the public of their ancestry and breathe their customs back to life." Around the time of release of the missive, Amelya and her sister Alexandria would take on the royal academy created by their mother, as they noticed an immense decrease in students and activity in the academy.
Threats were no longer uncommon, but the prophecy of the Crowslayer was one mentioned times before, during the Haeseni ventures to the past land of Athera. It was far different than any other danger to her family. In the exchange of battles between the Haeseni and the people known as Scyflings, also referred to as The Crowslayer Conflict, Amelya was seen alongside the soldiers of Haense in armor of her own. Though it was only a phrase meant to be used jokingly, the moniker of "the knight princess" stuck with her throughout the duration of her life. The moniker was fitting as well, considering Amelya's previous involvement with the revival of knighthood and defining what needed to be changed; a document written by a primary suitor of hers at the time, Johann von Remsberg.
Adulthood and Later Years
Amelya continued to oversee the Haeseni royal academy with Alexandria and her sister-in-law, Queen Viktoria but the academy faced another downfall in students with the Scyfling Invasion seeing no end. The academy later would be a key part of knighthood with the Order of Queen Maya and the Lily, but did not see any rise for quite some time.
During the invasion, Amelya remained adamant in fighting alongside many of her family members and the Haense Royal Army. This led to her near attack and injury, where the Kaedrini Princess Arianne Helvets saved her life and the life of her paternal figure, Godfric Alimar in 1768.
She became invested more so in her family as it grew, with the Princess Nataliya - her niece - being born as well as three other nephews to follow later on. Amelya was favored by her niece among all her aunts, and grew to be close with the young princess in Nataliya's early youth.
Death
The death of Amelya Barbanov and furthermore the triplet princesses was prophesied by a mystic at the Haeseni Court referred to as Klaus. She died first as predicted by the words of the prophecy, in the Scyfling Invasion by a fatal wound to her navel, mid-stomach.
Issue
Amelya died at the age of twenty-three, and never had any children as she never married any of her suitors.
