Cesarina Louise
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Cesarina Louise (3rd of the Sun’s Smile, 1697 - present), also known as Cesarina of Marna, is the mother of the Orenian emperor, Alexander II. She currently styles herself as the Empress-Mother of Oren, and is the indisputable leading lady of her son’s court.
The woman is renowned for her controlling nature, haughtiness, and complete lack of respect for traditional Orenian patriarchy.
Early Life
Cesarina Louise was born to John Horen-Marna and his Savoyardic wife, Margarita de Falstaff, on 2nd of the Sun’s Smile, 1697, in Shafei, Khalestine. Due to a sizeable age gap between herself and her two older siblings, Joseph and Ernesta, it is believed that Cesarina was the product of an accidental pregnancy. Another factor that supports the aforementioned belief was that at the time of her birth, her family was still living in exile, and did not necessarily have all the funds necessary to support a third child.
Nevertheless, her family simply had no choice but to accept the young Marnan and attempt to raise her the best they could. As stated prior, Cesarina’s parents did not have much wealth, so most of her lessons on things such as etiquette and womanly graces were passed down to her by her mother and elder sister. In addition to receiving homemade teachings on decorum, Cesarina was also taught how to read and write by her very own father. Her upbringing would only become more grand after she became a court favorite of Emir Abbas al-Hrun, he apparently liked Cesarina for her witty nature, and he later had her installed in his harem, so that she may be educated by his multiple wives and learned eunuchs. While Cesarina received an education befitting a Qalasheen princess, her family was obtaining multiple important positions in the courts of various emirs.
Unfortunately for the young Cesarina, she never found Khalestine’s very hot climate agreeable, and had many bouts of illness in her youth. After she suffered a severe heat stroke when she was eleven, it was decided by Emir Abbas and her family that she should reside elsewhere. Her family wished to marry her off to some rich merchant that resided in northern Aeldin, so that Cesarina could fund her family’s many ventures, but the Emir did not wish for her to take part in a lowly marriage. He wanted a title and a royal life for someone he had raised as if she were his own daughter, so he went about offering her hand to many Aeldinic royal houses. Many ruling families wanted the Horen scion, and eventually she was betrothed to a Banardian prince, Duke Benoît-Clément of Angoulême.
First Marriage
After undertaking the long and arduous journey from Khalestine to Banardia, Cesarina was wed to Prince Benoît-Clément in a ceremony full of great pomp and extravagance. At the time of her wedding, she was twelve, and her bridegroom was fifty-six. It is known that Cesarina opted not to wear white, and instead wore a blood red sack-back gown with one foot panniers, Qalasheen bangles, and a gray powdered wig.
Her time in the Banardian court was largely controversial, seeing as she commonly quarreled with her mother-in-law, Queen-Regnant Marguerite, who was just as headstrong as her, and her many arguments with her husband. Cesarina and Benoît’s relationship was extremely erratic: some days they were best friends, some days they were the greatest of enemies. One day, during a salon, Cesarina even went so far as to publicly accuse her husband of taking male lovers. After such a bold claim, she was apparently sentenced to a week of solitary confinement in her apartments by her mother-in-law. However, Cesarina’s words about her husband hardly came as a surprise to many, seeing as it was widely known that Benoît-Clément was abnormally close with his fellow courtier, Raphaël-Rémy de Vinlet.
Shortly after Cesarina was granted permission to reenter court life, Queen Marguerite promptly accused the Marnan of having an affair with Crown-Prince Roland, Benoît’s elder brother, and banished Cesarina from court. It is unknown if Marguerite’s accusation was true or not, but it is known that the young Horen left court quickly with no complaints, and she was also pregnant at the time.
Months after Cesarina’s dismissal from court, Benoît-Clément died of gout. At the time, she was still pregnant, and installed herself as the Duchess-Regent of Angoulême in attempt to protect her unborn child’s inheritance. Her ducal reign would only last for a mere few days, due to her being quickly deposed by troops of her mother-in-law. Quickly after Cesarina’s regime was couped, Queen Marguerite gifted the duchy to her only daughter, Princess Renée, who apparently did not want it.
Second Marriage
During her brother’s bid for the imperial crown, she sent him a lot of funds from the estates she still had control over in Angoulême. Contrary to popular belief, Cesarina was not penniless at this point in her life, and lived rather comfortably in her late husband’s lands, regardless of her deposition. It was actually her notoriety as a wealthy young widow that attracted her distant cousin, Alexander Frederick Horen.
The aforementioned cousin of Cesarina’s made frequent visits to her estates, and eventually he proposed to her after a long courtship. Even though Alexander Frederick was forty-two years older than her, it is alleged that Cesarina did not mind the age gap, since all she had ever known since the age of twelve was relationships with significantly older men. At the age of sixteen, Cesarina Louise was married for the second time in her life in the Aeldinic capital city of Nova Horas. The ceremony was organized solely by the bride, and it was an egregiously expensive affair. She also opted to not wear a traditional white wedding dress again, instead wearing a tyrian purple sack-back gown with two foot panniers, a white powdered wig, and a mile long lace veil.
Alexander Frederick and Cesarina’s union was not a conventional one, the couple did not even reside in the same lands for the majority of the year. It was more of a partnership than a marriage apparently. Nevertheless, Cesarina gave birth to three sons: Alexander, Francis, and Robert. She did not play a big part in her eldest son’s upbringing, since her husband claimed Alexander as primarily his.
When her eldest son was created the Orenian emperor in a successful attempt to stabilize the chaotic land, Cesarina was ecstatic, and even began to style herself as Empress-Mother while still in Aeldin. A mere month after Alexander came of age and his regency council was disbanded, Cesarina suddenly arrived in her son’s court on an opulent yacht, and aggressively installed herself as the grande dame of the imperial court.
Empress-Mother
Death
Issue
The Marnan has married twice in her life, both to men more than twenty years her senior. Her first husband was a Banardian prince, Benoît-Clément Anion, and she had one child with them. After Benoît's death, she married her relative, Alexander Frederick of Alstion. With the Alstion, she had three children. In total, Cesarina has had four children.
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diane Renée Anion-Marna | 1712 | -- | Unwed | |
| Alexander II | 8th of the Snow's Maiden, 1713 | -- | Unwed | Emperor of Oren. |
| Francis, Prince of Ponce | 1714 | -- | Unwed | |
| Robert Louis, Baron of Sedan | 1720 | -- | Unwed |
