Lorena of Cascadia
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Lorena Christina Cascadia, (13th of Owyn’s Flame, 1714 - 1767) born “Laurentina Julia," was the only daughter to Duke Romulus Horen of Cascadia and his wife, Anabel I of Curonia. As the sister of two reigning emperors of Holy Oren, Lorena was Princess Imperial throughout her eldest brother’s reign, and held the most definite claim to Oren after her twin brother, John VII, abdicated not shortly after the eldest did; she would inherit John's title as Duchess of Augustin after he'd been proclaimed as missing indefinitely. Lorena would commit herself to the empire through her involvement in the city government, taking the mantle of First Lady of the Exchequer in the year 1735, which allowed her to preside over the ever changing body of the City Council of Helena as a point of continuity.
Her coordinated marriage to the heir pretender of the deposed Empire of Man, Antony Helane, produced a daughter with an uncontested claim to both Holy Oren and Man, which came into usage when Lorena was elevated to Empress-consort upon Antony's ascension as Peter III, Holy Orenian Emperor in the year 1737.
Contents
Early years and adolescence
Born minutes before her twin Achilius to Imperial Prince Romulus, Duke of Cascadia, and his wife, the then Queen of Curonia, Anabel Devereux, Lorena was bestowed with the high imperial name of Laurentina Julia on the 13th of Owyn's Flame, emulating the style of past pertinaxi princesses in their flexian naming. The twins' imperial birth was witnessed by all those who graced the walls of the Rubrummagnus on that most beauteous day in the year of 1714.
War of the Two Emperors
The strife of the War of the Two Emperors immediately led to Horen loyalists elevating Laurentina's elder brother, Godfrey, to a new throne as the Emperor of Renatus in order to destroy Joseph Marna's chances to reform the Holy Orenian Empire under House Marna. As a direct result of the war's conflicts, Laurentina took up constant studying at the age of 6 as a means of entertainment, taking interest in the acquisition of culture and language. Both were taught to her by a mix of her mother, Anabel, her sister in law Empress Adeline, and Adeline's mother (the Princess of Alstion) Vivienne's teachings, three ladies who would evolve to become her closest confidantes. She spent most of her time alongside the older trio, with the exception of time spent with twin brother Achilius, which regularly consisted of despot banter that was resolved only at the behest of their mother. Regardless, the two showed a unique bond, described only as one developed from the womb itself.
Laurentina acclaimed the orenian title of Princess Imperial upon Renatus' victory in the war, when it would adopt its defeated enemy's name as the 8th iteration of the Holy Orenian Empire. On the 11th of Owyn's Flame, 1720, she along with Achilius were baptized by Frederick Guillen, the Bishop of Pembroke, to symbolize their unwavering faith in the righteousness of GOD, and his salvaging of the Horenic dynasty. Laurentina later witnessed her eldest brother Godfrey's abdication unto Achilius, whose name was then changed to John as Holy Orenian Emperor in the year 1723.
Brother's Abdication
Laurentina had only turned 10 after the war was over, and was finally free to travel without fear of capture. Her mother, who'd recently become the minister of foreign affairs, assigned to her a task to record the exploits of all foreign courts on behalf of the empire. Laurentina, adept in each vassals' culture and language due to her studies, readily agreed. Her first (and last) travel was in the year 1724, and was to the Duchy of Westmarch, where she would remain for but a saint’s week. From Westmarch, she was informed of John's decision to abdicate from the imperial throne, additionally disowning himself from the House of Cascadia and granting himself the title of Duke of Aenus. She witnessed the sudden death of the ladies of her youth, Adeline and Vivienne, as well as that of her father, Romulus.
No longer a princess, she was forced to become matriarch of the house of Cascadia at the tender age of 11, abandoning her tour of the empire, while being advised by the Duke of Westmarch away from any brash movements, causing her to wallow irremediably. Her childhood was undeniably in a state of despair, causing her to adopt a dulled, cold-blooded demeanor for the majority of her teenage years.
Upon her return to the city of Helena, Laurentina was christened with the name “Lorena Christina” in order to assume the new Johannian regality, and was to remain in the Imperial Palace, stripped of all her titlings and royalty. She was destined to life as a simple noblewoman of the court.
Duchess of Augustin
Lorena was discouraged from imperial affairs with the exception of days spent with her cousin Vespira, as well as the niece of the newly crowned Emperor Alexander II, Julia Alstion. She remained in the palace until she neared 15 years old, when she'd receive a letter from her bastard brother, Marcus de Rubrum, who beckoned her to a private council concerning the disappearance of Lorena's legitimate brothers and the status of their respective fiefs. The product of this meeting was that Lorena was aptly promoted to become Duchess of Aenus, succeeding the absent John in his fief. It was additionally proclaimed that the title would then be known as 'Augustin', after Lorena's grandfather and the Emperor of Man, Augustus I.
It was decided by Marcus that Lorena would embark on a visit to the lands of Aeldin, from where she would allow a council of Horen ancestors to assess her title's right of existence. Here, she'd be introduced to her grandmother, the aged former empress of Man, Helen Horen. Helen presented Lorena with the bearings of a red sash knitted by Princess Ophelia Horen, Helen's sister-in-law. Lorena, seeking gentility, chose to then adorn the sash of Ophelia as a symbol of her titular ascension. She'd return to the court of Emperor Alexander II as a Duchess, turning now to the comforts of the aforementioned Julia Alstion, who herself was a titular Duchess.
Under the Lord Protectorate ; 1731-1737
Government
In the year 1731, a Lord Protector was chosen as the leader to Holy Oren from among it's vassals when it was discovered that Alexander II was not in fact of Horenic origins, but instead a bastard of the dastardly Empress-Mother Cesarina. Lorena had for a time been close friends with said Lord Protector's wife, Mariya Barbanov, due to the Barbanovi woman frequenting the Imperial Court as the wife of a large vassal. Through Mariya's close connections, Lorena met the likes of the Secretary of Interior, Peter de Vitus (P.Vitus), and the Secretary of the Treasury, Peter de Sarkozy (P.Sarkozy), who she'd offer various pieces of advice in matters of scripture and documentation, things she'd heavily studied in her solitary youth. P.Vitus, especially, provided her a platform for movement that she'd use to later balance both their offered positions.
It was during the city of Helena's shift from it's high imperial alternative to a more Carrion-resonant architectural style that P.Vitus first offered her to become the Head Steward of Helena, which would later evolve into the title of First Lady of the Exchequer when the city, and thus the city government, was finalized. In the position, she'd preside mainly over property, taxation, and urban design, as well as the financial sectors of the city government, which directly entailed to what P.Sarkozy offered her as his second-in-command, otherwise known as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, though she would largely drift away from the department of the treasury upon P.Sarkozy's resignation in 1737.
As First Lady, she presided over every city council assembly within the new elective government of the city of Helena, being the single constant in the ever changing political atmosphere of the board of Ward Liverymen. This entrusted her with the task of managing the city's lawmaking body beside the elected Lord Mayor. When P.Vitus had leisurely stepped away from the forefront of affairs concerning the interior, Lorena was obligated to assume a majority of his responsibilities, being temporarily placed as the head of the interior until the crown selected a successor to the position of Secretary.
Contest for marriage
Immediately following the Lord Protector's rise, Lorena was summoned by her distant cousin, Titus Tiber, the Prince of Beaufort. He'd omit to her an idea concerning the marriage of her to Charles, the Prince of Alstion; he was the same man who'd contested the Lord Protector as a claimant to the imperial throne. Titus stated it was for the purpose of uniting the lines of Horen. Lorena, hesitant yet much obliged, agreed.
It was not a year later that Marcus de Rubrum reappeared, urging Lorena to marry her cousin; he was the firstborn son of the deposed emperor Antonius of Man, bearing the name Antony Sigismundic. This idea had been drafted by the Lord Protector to consecrate his regime; he implored the two greatest claimants in Oren to produce a daughter of behemoth claim who his son could in turn marry, and detested the idea that one of the claims would go to his rival for the throne. Lorena, having created an acquaintance in Charles, was appalled at Marcus' petition. Charles asked her to run from Oren to the renatian-infested Morsgrad, where he stated they'd be wed secretly. However, Lorena had by then built for herself a people to guide in the Department of the Interior, so she was forced to accept Marcus' proposal in order to remain within Oren.
Duchess Lorena and Antony Sigismundic Helane were married on a summer's day in 1734, within the cathedral of St. Adrian in the city of Ves, where Antony had for a time been protected by the friendship of the King of Kaedrin. Being cousins, Lorena insisted they keep their distance after the wedding, and was even quoted by attendants as stating that she'd "never been placed in such an awkward position in her life." Despite this, they'd go on to produce two daughters to carry on the imperial bloodline: Anne Augusta, the first ever heiress of Oren, and Lorena Antonia, a Countess by Marriage into House Helvets.
Holy Orenian Empress
After inhibiting dreary symptoms of a fatal disease, Lord Protector Adrian immediately scripted his will in the Instrument of Coronation, a letter deeming Lorena's husband, Antony Sigismundic, the true and rightful heir to the throne of Oren. Upon Adrian's death nearing the end of 1737, Antony was coronated in a glorious baptism and coronation ceremony, thereby taking a new regal name as Peter III, Holy Orenian Emperor. By default as Peter's wife, Lorena was suddenly risen as Holy Orenian Empress-consort beside him, much to her surprise.
Start of the Rubern War
Just as Peter rose to power, so too did a force of opposition set entirely against the idea of an empire, which encompassed various external nations: the Alliance of Independent States (or AIS), a coalition lead by the Duchy of Morsgrad (a successor to Norland), which was hellbent on disrupting the unified and centralized power of Holy Oren. Amidst the chaos, Lorena began to oversee the construction of homesteads along the walls of Helena. One day as she meandered out of the city gates to ponder the possibilities for remodeling the bay of Helena, she was suddenly faced by a squadron of Morsgradi soldiers which had been ravaging the roads of Oren in search of men to hold ransom. Both parties stood momentarily in awe of the impossible coincidence, but regardless Lorena was taken hostage in front of her very own home, and carried to a cell underneath the city of Rubern, where she was interrogated by the Duke of Morsgrad, Godric. Despite the nature of her captivity, she was more-or-less easy going and held tender conversation with Godric about her marital distress. Many say it was perhaps the empress’ relaxed demeanor which would later lead to her quiet and undisturbed release, whilst others have rumored the involvement of the Morsgrad-affiliated Prince of Alstion, whose previous betrothal to Lorena had left him with unending responsibility and affection towards the young lady, thus ensuring his plead for her freedom.
However, whilst Lorena chatted with the enemy, the empire and the AIS erupted into various skirmishes as search parties were sent after her. One of these skirmishes succeeded in capturing Peter III, and landed him trapped beside the mocking Lorena. The disgruntled emperor hardly acknowledged her, leaving her to speak with Godric’s wife- and her cousin-, Eleanor. Just hours later, the Morsgradi soldiers removed Peter without any warning of their intention, forcing Lorena to watch helplessly as he was dragged away from her. She was made to walk into the gates of Helena with chains at her feet, and a mind plagued with the possibility of her husband’s premature death. Days later, Peter was ominously returned to the Palace of Helena in dire condition, possibly having succumb hours of torture. He and Lorena refused to speak for an entire month following the incident.
Plot for Curonia
Having overcome the first year of war, Lorena decided to remain domestically-inclined to keep herself distracted despite the limits on travel. Regardless of her status as empress, she vehemently insisted on continuing her work on the city council, as she harbored general distaste for the matters of court and ‘ladylike’ regulation. Her eyes were busied with the downpour of documents that flew in and out of the capital, all until she came across a poster openly declaring the lamentations of her distant cousin, Ester Devereux, against the defective ex-vassal of the empire: Curonia. Lorena was intrigued; she realized Ester’s innumerable influence within Curon, as the Devereux princess herself was just a hand’s reach away from being the primary heir to the once-great kingdom. The empress quickly hatched a plan that would have upheld Ester as a pretender to Curonia against the disloyal standing Regent who had opted out of the empire at the very mention of war. The two ladies convened in secrecy within the Palace of Novellen, and in just days the drafts of their plan were laid out bare for the imperial privy to witness. Letters were sent between the Privy and the regent of Curon which rightfully removed him of his right to hold the prestigious office, and doubly declared his cowardice in the face of war.
After a succession of private meetings which shamelessly excluded Lorena (much to her dismay), the Orenian Privy Council convinced the Regent to step down on the grounds of treason, and dutifully rewarded Ester with the title of “Governor-General of Curonia” as payment. This resulted in a new era for Oren: that of the Protectorates. After Ester’s untimely demise years laters, the Kingdom of Curonia would become a titular name for Peter III to wield alongside the illustrious title of emperor, following thereafter with the revocation of the ‘Kingdom of Kaedrin’ in favor of another Protectorate. This chain of events began the rule of Peter III as the first emperor to truly centralize his reign.
The Empress' Trial
Years following the beginning of the war, Oren and the AIS seemed at a neverending stalemate. The AIS ravaged the land and terrorized Orenian citizens, yet the leadership of Oren refused to yield to those who they imprecated as ‘barbaric heathens’ who sought nothing but the collapse of humanity. Lorena watched as the world fell into another cycle of war, yet she refused to justify the means for another conflict squeezing the very essence of life and joviality from her, just as it had in her youth. However, an announcement came that challenged this stance and raddled her to her very core: the capture of her most beloved and youngest daughter, Lorena Antonia, as she returned to Helena from prayer at the Cloud Temple. Lorena watched as the men around her, frightened and reluctant, batted their eyes and reasoned that “they’ll have to release her someday”, or that “rescuing her will only weaken our forces”. The stalwart empress refused to allow war to take another thing from her, and in the greatest defiance, she penned a letter to Antonia’s captives, pleading to exchange herself with her 5 year old brood. They readily accepted.
In the dead of night, the captives sent for a horseman to guide Lorena from the gates of Helena to where Antonia was being held in Rubern. She wore the Sash of Ophelia over her head as a veil, disguising her as a commoner as she was led to the courtyard of the Ruberni palace. She was able to grant her daughter just one feeble embrace before the two were untimely separated. She was settled comfortably in a tower, where Lorena spoke with horen-blooded relatives that had sided with the AIS when war loomed over the horizon. They told her that she was to be placed on trial as a representative for the entirety of Oren; however, Lorena knew that the punishment for any guilt placed upon her would be nothing but a merciless execution. Her trial was later announced publicly by a scribe of the AIS forces.
See: [The Empress' Trial]
See: [Lady in the Hightower]
The announcement of the trial made waves in Oren, and dozens of bands began to plot for a way to quietly free the empress before the event could transpire. On that day, the ranks of Oren’s military intelligence would hold an emergency meeting that would decide the actions of the now famously revered “Operation: Lady in the Hightower.” It would oversee the freeing of Empress Lorena with precise and calculated movements made under the cover of complete darkness, and would almost be thwarted by the sudden appearance of a Ruberni princess, but was only made althemore successful when it was revealed that the princess, Aleksandra Alimar, was an Oren-sympathizer who would later go on to denounce her people entirely. With the operation successful, Empress Lorena would return home to both her daughters safe and sound, and would even happily embrace her husband (a thing unheard of).
Sickness, Death, and Rumor
Empress Lorena seemed a shell of her former self following the events of the trial. Perhaps because of the natural processes of aging, or an underlying disease worsened by the stress of captivity. However, it was evident that the empress no longer held her usual fervor. For some time, mild fatigue culminated in her bones, but was ignored by Lorena in favor of a new court reform project that she sought to implement. However, just as quickly as the fatigue came, so too did episodes of seizures that debilitated the 40-year old consort’s ability to work steadily. The court physician was beckoned by her daughters, and announced to the court that the empress suffered from a tumor in the brain. She was recommended to her bed chamber, where her mind would wither away without remedy until her death on the 4th of Tobias’ Bounty, 1767, at 53 years old.
During her sickness, Peter would forsake his marriage entirely, cementing theirs as one of lament and dissociation. It is often said that they both took on a plethora of secondary lovers in order to remain sane within their loveless marriage, though it’s also often rumored that Lorena had always remained faithful to Charles Alstion despite her marriage, and left a majority of her belongings to him in her death. The truth behind this has never been declared, for the empress’ mind had no recollection of neither Peter nor Charles at the end of her days. She was modestly buried in the Cathedral of St. Adrian within the Palace of Novellen, where she remains today.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
- 1714-1721 Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Laurentina of Cascadia
- 1715-1717 Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Laurentina of Cascadia, Princess of Curonia
- 1721-1724 Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Imperial
- 1729–Present Her Grace, Lorena, Duchess of Augustin
- 1737–Present Her Imperial Majesty, the Holy Orenian Empress
Full Title as Holy Orenian Empress
Her Imperial and Royal Majesty, Lorena Christina of Augustin, Holy Orenian Empress consort, Queen consort of Curonia, Renatus, and Salvus
Issue
Lorena and Peter III have as of yet produced two children, Crown Princess Anne Augusta, and Princess Lorena Antonia, named for her mother and father both.
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anne Augusta Helane | 12th of Owyn's Flame, 1735 | Alive | Joseph Clement, Duke of Helena | Firstborn child of Peter and Lorena. Princess Imperial and Heiress to the Holy Orenian Empire. |
| Lorena Antonia Helane | 13th of Godfrey's Triumph, 1740 | Alive | Richard Victor Helvets | Second born child of Peter and Lorena. |
| Ancestors of Lorena of Cascadia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
