Maya of Muldav

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Maya of Muldav Baroness of Antioch Maya of Muldav, commissioned by Andrew IV Peter c. 1746. Queen-Consort of Hanseti-Ruska Tenure: 9th of Amber Cold, 1746 - 22nd of the First Seed, 1753 Coronation: 10th of the Grand Harvest, 1747 Predecessor: Milena of Adria Successor: Viktoria of Metterden Born: 13th of the Sun's Smile, 1730 Reza, Haense Death: 18th of the Grand Harvest, 1762 Reza, Haense (aged: 32) Spouse: Andrew IV of Haense (m. 1746-1753) House: Alimar Father: Kazimar I of Muldav Mother: Sofiya of Haense

Maya Valeriya (Common: Mia Valera) (13th of the Sun's Smile, 1730 - 18th of the Grand Harvest, 1762), known regally as Maya of Muldav and monikered The Brazen, The Crow Queen, The Lily, was the twelfth Queen-Consort of Hanseti-Ruska as wife to King Andrik IV. She was a princess of Hanseti-Ruska as the daughter of the Grand Prince of Muldav, Kazimar Lazar, and Princess Sofiya of Haense. She served as Grand Lady of the Queen Milena’s royal court from 1744 to 1746. Later, Maya would go on to found the Royal Academy of Saint Catherine during her tenure as Queen Mother. In 1762, she was assassinated by a Ruberni assailant at the young age of thirty-two with her sudden death causing a series of chaotic events.

Biography

Early Life

Maya Valeriya Alimar was born in the royal city of Old Reza to the Grand Prince of Muldav, Kazimar Lazar, and his wife Princess Sofiya Theodosiya. Her birth was far from celebrated, as it was premature (having been born eight months from their wedding) and caused rumors to spiral claiming Princess Sofiya to have been pregnant out of wedlock. She was the eldest of three, Karina and Dmitri, and named after Maya Vladov and Sofiya’s mother, Valera of Adria.

Early into her youth, she was introduced to bloodshed and harsh, bitter realities as her father had her attend an execution by beheading when she was five years old. Her mother was similar with strictness and beliefs, as she was convinced that her daughter was cursed by her grandmother’s alleged incestual blood. The allegations laid out in Emperor Augustus’s final will, claiming to have had two children with his sister Alexandria (one being her mother and the other her uncle, Paul), resonated with Sofiya and onto her own children.

Maya, although in princely standing amongst nobility, was not given a high education until she was eight years old. She, through coincidence, had been acquainted with the Haeseni Queen, Milena of Adria, who saw great potential in the Alimar child. Milena took her under her wing and apprenticed her, soon accustoming Maya to courtly matters and skills in leadership. Many times she accompanied the Queen in hosting and planning festivities and other revelries for the kingdom. Thus, through Milena, her interest in politics and the royal court was sparked.

The Alimar Sisters, 1738, by Dominika of Reza

During the Great Fire of Reza, Maya would nearly perish in her attempt to escape the enclosing palace engulfed in smoke and flames. She, burnt by the fires within, was only rescued by one of the soldiers who dragged her from the fumes and to the Basilica of Fifty Virgins, where all the others had begun to gather and pray. Many gathered in circles to pray as screams could be heard outside and Maya had reunited with her sister and her mentor, Queen Milena. To quote one Haeseni citizen who witnessed the fire; “... There were screams from dusk until dawn, and all we could do was listen and lie in wait, hoping the flames would never reach the cathedral.” Maya, among hundreds of others, were confined to a small, suffocating space in the crypts as the fire spread and people feared it spreading to the cathedral’s interiors.

Maya was assigned duties of a chamberlain, and in all but title she was. To her father’s dismay, she was given the role “Queen’s Deputy” and taken on as an official ward of Milena when she was eight years old. She received little education elsewhere, and by all means was described as unintelligent in her youth. Maya was quiet, reserved, and anti-social in most public settings. When away from the queen’s lessons that secretly prepared Maya for queenship, she secretly snuck away from her family’s manor to be trained in the art of swordsmanship and axe-wielding by her uncle, Prince Vladrick. He, as the Prince of Rubern, invited Maya to seek asylum in his Principality of Rubern from the abusive nature of her household.

Her father saw through the lessons with Queen Milena and caught wind of her plans. Meanwhile, Maya befriended the heir to the kingdom, Prince Andrik, who had been introduced to court that year. The pair were said to have become quick close friends as Maya and Andrik would meet in the capital city’s library on each eve. There, Maya attempted to assist Andrik with his stutter by having him read through a series of passages in various novels and helped him draft letters to his betrothed, Princess Arianne of Kaedrin.

At home, familial relations grew far more strenuous. Kazimar had not been fond of her wardship under Queen Milena or her friendship to Prince Andrik, and punished Maya severely for her whimsical dreams of greatness by striking her across the face. She had a tendency for danger, too, which her father sought to reprimand her for. She was stabbed and captured on one occasion, only to be saved by her own youthful agility where she ran to the palace for safety. Childish mistakes were met with fierce repercussions; the height of it all leading to her nearly being drowned in Carrion Black by her own father when she was eleven. Additionally, her family was split in two as war ravaged the lands. The Rubern War erupted, and the two princely brothers, Kazimar and Vladrick, were forced to divide the family with their opposing allegiance. Before the fighting began, Maya confronted her Uncle Vladrick for being a traitor to the Haeseni realm after claiming he would attempt for peace during a session of duma. The two never spoke again and her confidential sword fighting and axe-wielding lessons came to a close.

Small skirmishes and battles began against the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska by the group that called themselves the Alliance of Independent States, or AIS, led by the Duchy of Morsgrad. The call to battle beckoned Maya to take up arms of her own and defend her nation, leading to the strong patriotism she held until her dying breath. She and her cousin, Princess Aleksandra of Rubern, would work together to cause as much havoc and mishap for the Ruberni by exploiting their imprisonment and mistreatment of child captives. After having assisted imperial soldiers free Empress Lorena of Augustin, Aleksandra came to Maya to draft a document publicly declaring her allegiance to the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska and denouncing her family’s actions as well as that of Godric, Duke of Morsgrad. Maya drafted the renowned To My Homeland for her cousin, who went on to publish it to the world. The open letter to Godric, threatening and condemning his actions, became one of the most famous pieces of literature from the Rubern War from the Ruberni princess and allowed direct insight on the occurrences within Rubern, an AIS-aligned state. Maya and Aleksandra’s loyalties came at a great cost, even leading to Maya’s near beheading by Morsgradi-aligned mercenaries in the courtyard of the Ekaterinburg palace as she offered compliance in place of Aleksandra being freed. She was forced to her knees and her head lowered onto a makeshift wooden block, until her cousin Godfric Alimar cut down the four individuals and saved her life.

Maya, through mere coincidence, advanced herself politically by garnering friendships in both the Haeseni, Curonian, imperial courts, including the future heiress to the empire, Princess Anne Augusta, who later became known as Empress Anne I and the Princess Royal of Curonia, Elizabeth Devereux. Through her aunt’s leadership in the Kingdom of Curonia, Ester of Avalain, the ease of travel was far less of a danger.

Her secret travels, once revealed to her father, led to more strife at home alongside her parent’s abrupt divorce. Her mother left without a word and, unbeknownst to Maya, was murdered on her travels away from the kingdom. More disdain was held for Maya by her father as she refused to tell him of the contents of her lessons between herself and the queen. During that time, Maya was in fact being urged by the queen to do the opposite and speak to her father so he may arrange a meeting with her husband, King Andrik IV, and break the betrothal between Princess Arianne and the heir. However, Maya never mentioned this scheme to her father and remained silent on the matter.

In 1742, Queen Milena was assassinated by an unknown assailant. Maya’s education plummeted after the consort’s sudden and gruesome demise and she took it upon herself to continue her learning by reading the late Queen’s journals, archives, and other documentation. She found a half-finished letter addressed to her, where she was given the coronation robes of her aunt Princess Mariya of Haense, Milena’s regal wedding gown, and the crown of her grandmother the Grand Princess consort of Kusoraev, Valera. Maya was yet again urged to take the queenship for herself as a last wish from her mentor, and for once decided to speak to her father on the matter of queenship (and her desire to fight in the war). She was hit ‘til she fell to the ground and dragged by her hair to her chambers where her father kept her locked to nothing but the confines of those rooms for three days.

After 1742, Maya was charged with the tutelage of the royal children: Princess Antonia, Princess Alexandria, and Prince Otto (more commonly known as “Rupert”). Meanwhile, her father abdicated the title as Grand Prince of Muldav and disputes of heirship swiftly arose. Kazimar deemed Maya as his heir, to be Maya I of Muldav, yet these desires were denied by laws of agnostic primogeniture. The title by right should have fallen to her younger brother, Dmitri, yet was denied this as her great uncle Otto took the title. He denounced and disinherited all of Kazimar’s line and any other Alimars associated with the AIS, including Maya. Changes were made to the disinheritance and Maya no longer had false, traitorous allegations.

The Grand Lady Maya Alimar, 1745, by an unknown artist.

In a mere day, Maya was informed of three deaths in her family; her father’s brutal murder by Ruberni attackers, her mother’s murder from years ago, and the suicide letter from her cousin Princess Anabel detailing her great strife of a family divided by war. However, the suicide was rumored to be a hoax later on. By fourteen, she was orphaned and taken under the protection of her great uncle. Her sister had been sent away years prior to receive medical treatment for her chronic illness and her brother Dmitri sided with the Ruberni aligned Alimars, declaring himself a Stibor.

Maya’s royal responsibilities as mentor to both Princess Alexandria and Prince Otto consumed her daily activities from dawn ‘til dusk, and filled the space of her lost family members. She was granted the position of Grand Lady of the Court after the retirement of Lady Tatyana, and sought revitalization in old Haeseni customs and traditions. These endeavors would become vital to her health and served as her distraction from the brutal stabbing and murder of Princess Alexandria when she was only nine years old. Courtiers often described Maya’s meek and weak-willed characteristics as slowly diminishing during this period in exchange for a stoic exterior.

Her interest in politics heightened with regular attendances to duma and attending what meetings she was allowed in on by palace goers. Although only fourteen, Maya became a rising figure in Haeseni politics and was preparing to become the first Lady Palatine of Hanseti-Ruska. She was to be palatine under her confidant, Prince Andrik, when he ascended to the throne. However, these plans changed in the following year after the disappearance of Princess Arianne. She was presumed dead after a multitude of search parties sent by both royal families of Haense and Kaedrin, Barbanov and Helvets. Hastily following the announcement, Maya was engaged to Prince Andrik and told she would need to step down from her apprenticeship for Lady Palatine in place of her position as the future Queen consort.

Marriage

In 1746, Maya was married to Prince Andrik in the Basilica of Fifty Virgins surrounded by the ruins of Old Reza. The engagement of Maya and Andrik was widely celebrated as cheers of good health and many children were echoed throughout the kingdom. Maya’s attire was entirely fashioned to honor her predecessors and family. She wore the wedding gown of her mentor Queen Milena, the crown of her grandmother Princess Valera, and styled her hair similar to her aunt’s wedding coiffure— Princess Mariya. Her entourage consisted of her half-sister Miss Katerina Barrow, Lady Maer Kamilla Stafyr, and her handmaiden Miss Maela Thorfinn. As almost all her direct relatives were deceased, her great uncle Prince Otto Alimar walked her down the aisle.

As Queen-Consort of Haense

Maya would serve as Grand Princess consort of Kusoraev for almost two months before Andrik III passed after a hunting incident. The queen was described as by chronicler Dmitry of Reza “[…] hopeful, and unafraid and ever-excited to ascend her newfound royal responsibilities.” These excitable attitudes were met with relentless, unending work that would take her many years to accomplish. The royal court of Hanseti-Ruska was dead and the consort had no established responsibilities outside of the birth of princes and princesses, and the hosting of events. She, notably ambitious, sought to bolster the power of the consort higher than it ever had been before.

Maya’s first actions were seen in the renovation of the Ekaterinburg Palace to be more accessible for the royal family and palace-goers. She worked alongside her cousin as she had many years prior, Princess Aleksandra, to strip the insides of the palace and create them anew. A palace chapel was made to promote religious activity in the kingdom and the gardens were cleared from their overgrown state. Now the palace was befitting to hold the royal family in her eyes, and to be a suitable place for court life.

Yet she was not only seen in the palace and was hailed for being a queen of the people, posthumously. More often than not, Maya was recorded as being outside of the palace in the capital’s town square, mingling with the people from all walks of life. As a woman raised in war and a queen reigning through it, Maya was devoutly patriotic to the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska and kept an intense traditionalist, centralist political stance. When inquired of her royal duties, she said, "To many, the crown may very well be a burden. Though I love my people, and have been willing to give my life for them since my early youth. It is a blessing, if anything."

She sent in a flurry of initiatives and reformed the entirety of the royal court structure. Initiatives included food drives, ward acceptances, and the election of the stone statue of King Marius II in the capital city’s town square. The overhaul of the royal court led to her writing her own etiquette pamphlets, which would be used as a guideline for consorts and courtiers alike to follow for decades to come. Maya, thus having built a foundation of strength and hard-work as a consort, formulated the Queen’s Council as her way of pushing the role to the forefront of civil affairs. She desired to establish an institution for the queen to maintain for years to come. The Queen’s Council consisted of three main offices including the office of the Grand Lady or Lord, the office of the Chamberlain, and the office of the Queen’s Secretary. Palace life and events were under the jurisdiction and management of the Grand Lady or Lord along with servantry and courtiers. Chamberlain was charged with the responsibilities to host large-scale, city-wide events and keep in contact with the Royal Curator, the High Steward, and any other fundamental institutions in the capital. The Queen’s Secretary, or more commonly called the Secretary of the Queen, was to formulate a newspaper and act as the Queen’s manager of meetings and interviews. The Queen’s Secretary often served as the royal courier as well, and kept a schedule of court ongoing proceedings.

Maya sat on the Aulic Council as Queen consort and remained at the side of her husband throughout these meetings and other diplomatic affairs, a power not always afforded most consorts. She was often described as “more of a palatine than Lord Markus Kortrevich himself” in the frequent absence of the king’s right hand man. Maya and Andrik’s close relationship and trust in one another allowed Maya to flourish in her brazen ambitions, even going as far as to allow her to have the right to trial place courtiers for misdemeanors without any outside judicial intervention. The senator Sir Terrence May once said, "She had a strong work ethic, an ability to inspire and lead unapologetically . . . [a] model of maternal care, compassion for duty, and the strength to do what is necessary for the common good. . ."

Her energetic approach to queenship slowed in 1749 at the birth of her first child and son, Prince Otto Sigismund. Maya set aside formalities as a consort to embrace the duties of a mother and cared for her son without governesses. She kept her son with her while traveling the kingdom or during her council’s meetings, and hadn’t allowed the boy to leave her side for other caretakers. She held an unwavering love for her firstborn child and son. Not long after, Maya would give birth to three healthy daughters, triplets; Princess Analiesa, Princess Alexandria, and Princess Amelia. This birth was met with great strife by the young queen who had barely made it through the night. Rumors had spiraled that the queen had died but were swiftly diminished by royal notice of Maya’s slow return to health. Maya’s pride was no match for her inability to care for four babies on her own, with her husband ever-busy and her own responsibilities beckoning her during a time of war. She hired several governesses and set aside her grievances with the mere thought.

A portrait of the princesses Analiesa (left) and Alexandria (right), circa 1754.

The war still was ongoing, but had made a considerable stalemate after the failed Siege of Reza. Although most major battles were no longer, the Rubern War held a profound effect on Maya. “Gone was the queen who drank with the townsfolk and sang songs in the taverns, for it seemed she was long dead,” wrote the chronicler Dmitry of Reza. Her subdued anger could not be maintained any longer. She was bitter, cold, and met traitors and enemies to the realm with ruthlessness. During one occurrence after an assassination attempt on her husband’s life, Maya “removed the sword from His Majesty’s sheath and took the matter into the hands of her own. […] She removed the man’s head in one stroke” according to Dmitry of Reza. She would go on to orchestrate the execution of a Morsgradi official who attempted to marry her half-sister, Miss Katerina, and behead the Duchess of Lorraine after her capture.

The court slipped from Maya’s grasp and began to follow into silence as it had before her ascension to the throne. Her mind was deteriorating and her paranoia caused her to remove herself from many friendships she had prior. Assassination attempts were made frequently on her life, her husband’s life, and her children’s. What occurred to bring Maya out of such a state of mind is unknown, but she swiftly recovered from her brief depression. She created powers for the Princess Royal and established the role officially and created another position on her council, the Royal Architect, while expanding the Queen’s Council to include the Lady Maer and Royal Events Administer (later changed to event administrators). Around this time she was pregnant with her final child and gave birth to her second son, Prince Nikolas.

Terror awoke the Ekaterinburg Palace on the eve of the 18th of Snow’s Maiden, 1752, with screams from the royal apartments. The queen had been taken by a group of captors. It was said that she and her son were held at knife point, and that she pleaded to go willingly if they released her son. Her diary later reveals her maternal desire and necessity to protect her son, but also her patriotism to save the heir of the kingdom before herself. She wrote, "That is the way of a monarch, is it not? To sacrifice one's life - one's personal life in its entirety - for the sake of the people. For the sake of peace and righteousness."

Maya was held in captivity for two months where she was exposed to malnourished conditions with minimal water and food. King Andrik rallied the troops to come to her rescue and came as swiftly as scouts spotted the location of her confinement. As the Haeseni forces approached, Maya was brought before the men and women where she was beaten to her knees. There, her hair was cut to her scalp to further remove the queen’s dignity in a display before her people. Out of blind rage for the brutal mistreatment and capture of his wife, Andrik charged into battle against the captors. Maya would be stabbed repetitively before being freed by a Haeseni soldier. However, her freedom came at a great cost. Andrik was dealt fatal wounds during the fighting. The couple was rushed to the capital to receive proper medical treatment. Citizens gathered outside in prayer from the empire and the kingdom alike. The pontiff blessed her and her husband and prayed for their swift recovery. Maya, after several weeks, healed from her wounds; Andrik would not.

After months of no recovery, Maya feared for the worst. The public was reassured of their king’s health while the royal family was given their last days with Andrik. The wounds would consume him with Maya and her great uncle Otto at his side.

As Queen Mother

At twenty-three years old Maya’s titles as consort were exchanged for the styling of dowager, and furthermore Queen Mother. Maya and Andrik were described by Dmitry of Reza as “[a] pair inseparable and devout to one another by vow and love, with loyalty incomparable to the monarchical figures before.” The death of the king struck the royal family with intense grief that led all the five children and Maya to remain in the palace without any moment spared to the public eye.

A bout of depression overtook the dowager with the loss of her husband and confidant. Her children became the focal point of her life when she was informed she would not be regent. She, along with Lord Tiberius Barrow, were considered for the role. Due to the war, the council decided upon Lord Tiberius as best suited for the role. The pair were mere acquaintances yet the regent took on a fatherly role for the children in place of Andrik— especially for the young King Sigismund II. Maya kept a heavy influence over her son and was said to have been a “mirrored image of the dowager” by chronicler Dmitry of Reza. Yet like Maya, he grew independent and immensely stubborn as years went on. He, along with the other four royal children, were granted a high education from twelve different tutors and three royal governesses. Together they frequented the imperial capital of Helena where Maya met with her childhood friend, Princess Anne, and was acquainted briefly with the Emperor Peter III.

These travels swiftly halted after Maya’s attempt to voice corruption in the legal system when the wrong man was convicted for the assassination of the pontiff, Pontian III. Her children were among the crowd crying out for justice after hearing their mother’s words. Maya was said to have burst out onto the courtroom floor with Lady Valentina of Vidaus and presented a vital piece of evidence proving the man’s innocence, which was swiftly denied and ignored. She was later told cryptic messages from the judge about the occurrences surrounding the trial, suggesting corruption. People would go as far as to attempt to sway her silence through money and jewels. Along with her bold outburst, the regent Lord Tiberius was beheaded at the hands of the Principality of Rubern. Her great uncle, the palatine, would take his place.

Maya, after her revitalization of the court with her cousin Princess Tatiana of Alban in 1760, was granted an official position on the Aulic Council in spite of her regular attendances nonetheless. Her son and the regent offered Maya the duties of Headmaster. This offer was met with near denial for Maya, although being a princess, had been given a very minimal education for someone of her standing. Yet she took the position and was said to have taught herself all sorts of fields hastily in the time period between her being offered the role and officially pursuing the duties entailed. She dissolved the College of Saint Charles and formed the Royal Academy of Saint Catherine with a new building opened up thanks to her cousin and the then Lady Maer, Aleksandra. The academy was renowned for its ability to garner the students attention through its unique educational system of tutors rather than large class sizes and lecturers. It was a popular institute across the empire and became known across the continent, with the High Elven people of Haelun’or extending offers of book exchanges and a partnership.

After the building for the academy was built, Lady Aleksandra passed away from a stabbing on the streets of New Reza. The death was detrimental to her health but she persisted onwards without her right hand man and confidant at her side. Her emotions were kept at bay as she took up the mantle as a ‘motherly figure of Haense’, many times being referred to as ‘Lady Haense’ as she prepared the next generation of governmental officials in the kingdom; furthermore, she was in search of a successor. On her person at the time, it was stated by Sir Demetrius Ruthern that “for her, being Queen wasn't [only] her duty, or something she had to do. [...] She didn't hide in the palace or only interact with other nobility, but was a Queen of the people. She was a role model, and it is our duty now to carry on that legacy. We are all one people, no matter our standing, and she helped prove that.”

Three wards were placed under her care for her to scrutinize as best for queenship. Lady Viktoria Ruthern caught the eye of Maya, who she then began to prepare for the regal role unbeknownst to the young girl. Maya’s potential choice in successor was remarked as “absurdly unusual for the stark contrast betwixt that of the dowager and the Lady Ruthern,” according to Dmitry of Reza. Life had begun to fall into place with all the missing pieces coming together for Maya until 1762.

A series of assassination attempts befell the royal family more frequent than ever before as a band of goblins and bandits planned to kill as many of the government officials and royals as possible. In the midst of court, Sigismund was shot in the throat by a crossbow bolt. He survived miraculously after chaotic events erupted thereafter while Sigismund was bombarded and surrounded by numerous medics, most notably including Sir Otto the Tarcharman. This event, traumatizing in of itself, would cause for an acquaintanceship to expand between Emperor Peter III and Maya after his visit with his Arch-chancellor, Sir Simon Basrid, the heiress Princess Anne, and other courtiers. The meeting was remarked as “strange” by Maya in her diary, as the officials discussed the similarities between the prophet Exalted Sigismund’s nearly fatal wound to his neck and her son’s. He was said to have been remarked as the “child of destiny”. The imperials were thanked for their monarch’s show of kindness towards the young king and they swiftly departed.

In the same year, rumors spiraled of the various suitors who pursued the young widowed dowager. These suitors included the Governor General of Curonia, a Halcourt lord, and attempts from the previous palatine Sir Markus Kortrevich. Most spoken of was the frequent visits of Maya to the imperial court, where she would be at the side of the emperor. These speculations heightened after he visited Haense more as well and letters were exchanged between the pair. A flock of Haeseni girls were said to have questioned the queen along with her youngest son, Prince Nikolas, who wished to know if she was to become empress. These inquiries were met with fierce denial where she reiterated that her place was in the empire’s vassal, not its capital with due respect to the emperor.

As the year came to a close, Maya watched her son’s coronation and crowning as he came of age to rule the kingdom entirely on his own at fourteen. “The queen was bursting with pride,” wrote Dmitry of Reza, “[...] for the kingdom was no longer under the guise of regency. Then began her son’s rule.” Her successor was secured as the next queen through her own diplomatic arrangements between the Rutherns and herself. A betrothal was solidified, her son was on the throne, and her daughters and youngest son flourished in friendships, city life, and education.

Death

At only thirty-two years old, Maya was found dead in her chambers of the queen mother in the late hours of the day after Sigismund’s coronation. She was spotted by Lady Viktoria and her daughter Princess Amelia. At her side laid the assailant, presumably only one, who had her sword through his heart. It is assumed from the scene that she was attacked from behind, stabbed, yet killed her assassin before passing away.

Her death was not met with due peace and mourning; instead, it was the exact opposite. When news spread of the Queen mother’s death throughout the lands of Arcas, a multitude of Haeseni citizenry and imperials attempted to barge into the palace– the emperor among them. He shouted, with guards in tow, even when he reached the chambers of the deceased dowager. The emperor demanded the body of her killer; however, it was long gone. Princess Amelia and Lady Viktoria had pushed the deceased body of Maya’s assailant into the watery depths below the palace. This revelation led to his demanding of the body being fished out of Lake Milena. Sigismund was said to have been sent into a flurry of rage where he withdrew his sword and attempted to kill the emperor where he stood in his mother’s chambers. He was held back and Maya’s body was hastily removed as many of her items were destroyed, and later burnt, by the emperor. Whether his outburst was out of love, as many claim, or out of pure friendship and respect as fellow monarchs, is widely debated.

The entire kingdom was suspended from imperial affairs in a royal edict named “Zwem unein fitsk” where her son wrote, “[...] the Crown [suspends] the Kingdom temporarily from any affairs, both inter-imperial, and exterior. The Crown does do this on the basis of recent threats made to the Royal Family by the Imperial State, the desecration of the late Queen-Mother’s private chambers, and the disturbing of the peace.” These chaotic occurrences have often been said to be one of the leading catalysts for the growing anti-imperial sentiment held among the king and the kingdom after a rebellion had almost been incited due to her passing.

Legacy

Before Maya’s death, the dowager garnered as many of the Haeseni royal jewels and hid them under the floorboards of her chambers (further proving her incessant paranoia before and at the time of her death). These jewels included the crown of Princess consort Valera, jewelry from Queen Elizaveta, her own crowns and jewels, and the onyx horcrux of the first princess of Haense, Julia Barbanov. Her coronation gown that she inherited from Queen Milena would go on to be included in almost every single queen consort's crowning alongside their respective husbands. More importantly, Maya uplifted the position of monarch from its subtle and obscure position of event-hosting and child-bearing to a far more established role with powers and its own council. She passed on her brazen and defying demeanor onto her successors far past her death, including queens Viktoria of Metterden, Isabel of Valwyck, and Mariya of Aurveldt. The Queen’s Council would later be written into the lawbook known as the Haurul Caezk.

Six years after her death, Maya was posthumously monikered the Brazen, the Lily, and the Crow Queen after the establishment of the knightly Order of Queen Maya and the Lily. The scholarly order was dedicated to her as she was, as quoted by Sir Otto the Tarcharman, “a renowned patron of the arts during her tenures as consort and dowager, [sponsoring] countless writers and artists during the era of Sigmund’s regency. She was remarked as one of the most learned women in the entirety of Oren proper before her death.”

Titles, Styles, and Honors

Titles and Styles

• 1730-1762: Her Highness, Princess Maya of Muldav
• 1744-1762: Her Highness, the Baroness of Antioch
• 1746-1753: Her Majesty, the Queen of Hanseti-Ruska
• 1753-1762: Her Majesty, Queen Maya of Hanseti-Ruska

Style as Queen Consort

Her Royal Majesty, Maya of Muldav, Queen-Consort of Hanseti and Ruska, Baroness of Antioch

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Marriage
Sigismund II of Haense	10th of The Deep Cold, 1749	6th of the Grand Harvest, 1776	Viktoria of Metterden	Firstborn son of Andrik and Maya, King of Hanseti-Ruska. Posthumously monikered the Soldier.
Princess Analiesa Reza of Haense	14th of The Amber Cold, 1750	21st of Snow's Maiden, 1781	Kristoff Surány	Firstborn daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Alexandria and Amelya. Baroness of Antioch.
Princess Alexandria Karina of Haense	14th of The Amber Cold, 1750	Unknown	Konstantin Wick, Lord Palatine of Hanseti-Ruska	Second-born daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Analiesa and Amelya. Later the Royal Curator on the Aulic Council of King Josef I.
Princess Amelya Valeriya of Haense	14th of The Amber Cold, 1750	9th of Malin's Welcome, 1773	Unwed	Third-born daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Analiesa and Alexandria. Died in combat during the Scyfling Invasion of Hanseti-Ruska.
Prince Nikolas Stefan, Duke of Alban	5th of Sun's Smile, 1751	1802	(1) Catherine Annabelle of Cathalon (2) Tatyana Katerina of Metterden	Second-born son of Andrik and Maya.