Maya of Muldav
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Maya Valeriya Casimirovna (Common: May Valera, Flexio: Maia Karovius Alimius), known regally as Maya of Muldav or Maya of Antioch, was the twelfth Queen-Consort of Hanseti-Ruska, and earlier the incumbent Grand Lady of the Queen Milena’s royal court from 1744 to 1746. She posthumously was monikered the Brazen. She was a princess of Hanseti-Ruska as the daughter of the Grand Prince of Muldav, Kazimar Lazar, and Princess Sofiya of Haense. Through her father, she was a paternal granddaughter of Josef of Bihar and Aleksandra of Antioch. Through her mother, she was a descendant of King Marius II and his first wife, Valera of Adria. She founded the Royal Academy of Saint Catherine during her tenure as the Queen Mother, and passed in 1762 at the age of thirty-two.
Contents
Early Life
Old Reza of the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska was the birthplace of Maya Valeriya, where she was raised for a majority of her childhood in her family’s manor. Early in her youth, she was introduced to bloodshed and harsh realities as her father had her attend an execution by beheading on her fifth nameday. Whilst her mother was not far off, with her strictness and beliefs. Her mother was of no convincing when it came to whether her daughter was cursed. Sofiya believed her daughter corrupted from her grandmother’s incestual blood, the allegations of her mother’s parentage taking a great toll on the woman. It was also, to note, that the premature birth of Maya caused panic upon her and allowed for beliefs of curses to seep through. Nonetheless, Maya was bestowed a high education because of her noble standing, and thus, was of a maturity higher than her age. She frequented courtly matters and festivity plannings with Milena of Adria, the then Queen Consort of Haense. Her endeavors would lead to an eventual interest in politics and the royal court.
Due to her apprenticeship under the Haeseni Queen, she was caught within the walls of the Prikaz when the royal city caught fire through mystical means. She managed to escape from the grasps of the growing fire as it overtook the palace, being one of the last to exit the palatial building. Both Maya and Milena waited out the fire in the crypts of the Basilica Cathedral, alongside her sister Karina whom she would later be reunited with. To quote one Haeseni citizen who witnessed the fire; “... There were screams from dusk until dawn, and we could not do anything about them. It was horrific. Terrifying.”
The traumatizing events that unfolded with the fire of Old Reza left the young noblewoman to indulge heavily within the studies and duties similarly to a Chamberlain. She was, in officiality, the ward of Queen Milena, at the age of eight. Her ventures led toward her tasks of event planning within the newly built city; holding a numerous amount of festivities in spite of only being in her premature years. In the midst of her chamberlain-like duties, she covertly trained in the art of swordsmanship with her paternal uncle, Richard I of Rubern. She made trips often to the Rubern city where he presided over, to see him and her beloved cousin Anabel Alimar. Alongside her cousin, she befriended the crown prince of Haense, Andrew Peter, through accidental meeting. Their friendship continued throughout the course of her adolescence, with her assisting him in his youthful stuttering as well as his letters to his betrothed, the Kaedrini princess, Arianne Helvets.
She dodged capture when she was near her adolescent years, although garnered scars from it. Upon a bandit raid on the royal city, both she and later the Queen Milena were knocked unconscious for a period of time and dragged away, escaping only when they returned to a coherent state. Maya, in the attempt to free herself, was stabbed at the waist before she ran into the safety of the Ekaterinburg Palace. The incident allowed for great stress to befall her father, which in turn strained the correlation between the two. It is said, although only in rumor, that her father nearly drowned her in Carrion Black, and that she was struck frequently as the eldest of three siblings.
At the beginning of the Rubern War, the princely house of Alimar was split two either side. Those of the Alimar name whose ties mainly lied with Rubern fell on the side of the Alliance of Independent States and Morsgrad. However, Maya’s cousin Aleksandra Alimar would later go on to openly declare her allegiance with the Imperial State Army, and thus the Holy Orenian Empire. Maya, with strong patriotism for her homeland, did not falter and stayed within the Haeseni walls. Consequences would later follow because of her loyalty to Haense; once leading to her nearly being beheaded in the Ekaterinburg courtyard by Morsgradi-aligned bandits. She was rescued in the moments before her head could be removed, by her cousin Godfric Alimar.
Adolescence
Although the war was straining and seemingly never-ending, Maya made political advances and friendships within the varying vassals and allies of the ISA. She became a courtier of not only the Haeseni royal court, but of the Imperial and Curonian courts as well. There, she befriended the princess imperial and heir-presumptive of the Holy Orenian Empire, Anne Helane, and later the princess Elizabeth Devereux, daughter of Pierce I, King of Curon. She frequented travels to both the cities of Avalain and Helena to meet with the two, as well as many other varying courtiers.
In 1742, the Queen Milena was assassinated by an unknown assailant. Thus, Maya’s tenure as a ward and apprentice of the Queen came to a sudden end. In the few months before Milena’s untimely death, Maya was urged to take the position of Queen-Consort from the Kaedrini princess in which her son, the crown prince, was betrothed to. There were letters later discovered by Maya that contained the same message, as well as the coronation gown used during Milena’s ceremony– as she was the first Queen to be coronated. The Alimar did not openly pursue the position of consort, however, as the betrothal between Prince Andrik and Princess Arianne was set in place as a form of foreign diplomacy between the kingdoms Haense and Kaedrin. It is said by servants to the Alimar family that she did inquire her father of his opinion of her potential queenship, but in response locked her within the confines of her room for approximately three days.
Changes began after the year of 1742 and Her Majesty’s death, leading the Prince Andrik to ask for Maya's assistance in raising the remaining royal children. With her acceptance, she became a primary guardian of Princess Alexandria and Prince Rupert. Other shifts in her family were that of her father’s abdication, as he stepped down from his title as Grand Prince of Muldav. There were disputes over the heirship and who would succeed Kazimar. Due to the succession laws being agnatic primogeniture, Maya was not given the title of Grand Princess of Muldav, but instead garnered her grandmother’s title as Baroness of Antioch. The line of succession led to Otto Sigmar, her great uncle, to take up the position in leading the family. Maya’s youngest brother, as well as any Alimars who were sided with the AIS, were declared as disinherited.
Her father passed two years after the death of her mentor, Queen Milena, in the year 1744. The war still continued to wage, with Maya sneaking off in her youth to fight in a multitude of the battles. On the same night she learned of her father’s passing through murder, she learned of her mother’s death that occurred four years prior to her being informed. She received another letter alongside the informative of her mother’s assassination, which was written by her cousin Anabel Alimar. The latter letter described Anabel’s torment and overwhelming stress due to the war, and that she, by the time of Maya receiving the letter, had drowned herself. However, the suicide was rumored to be a hoax later on.
Maya had fallen into a depression around the time that most of her family members and friends began to pass, as she was in her early adolescence and the grief anew. As a pastime to keep her mind from the consistent mourning, she focused on her duties to the royal twins, Alexandria and Rupert. Woefully, the nine year old princess was executed by stabbing, and Maya’s grief grew into anger. In spite of the events she did not fail her responsibilities to Rupert and continued to be a maternal figure for him. Maya was granted the position of Grand Lady of the Royal Courts in 1744 through the previous holder and sought for a revitalization of Haeseni customs and traditions in her events she oft held within the royal city. One of the events in particular was Barovifest– a customary revelry of her people.
The following year, the Princess Arianne of Kaedrin was deemed as missing and presumed dead. The betrothal officiated between the Kaedrini and the crown prince of Haense was no longer with the declaration. In place of the missing princess, Maya was betrothed to Andrik hastily following the announcement. Knowing her future, she concluded any plans to fulfill in her tenure as Grand Lady. In her stead, she briskly apprenticed her cousin, Aleksandra Alimar, into the role.
Marriage
In the year of 1746, Maya was the age of majority and thus was set to marry the crown prince as stated through their haste betrothal. Celebrations were held in the tavern and cheers were given of good health for the royal pair as the ceremonial day drew nearer. The wedding ceremony was held within the Basilica of Fifty Virgins on the outskirts of New Reza. Her entourage consisted of her half-sister, Katerina Barrow, and her handmaiden, Maela Thorfinn. She was also flanked by the Lady Maer and Chamberlain, Kamilla Stafyr, and assisted down the aisle by her great uncle, Prince Otto Alimar.
Her raiment gave a nod to her predecessors, as she donned the wedding gown of Queen Milena, and her coiffure was styled to be particularly similar to the Princess Mariya Barbanov. She wore a headdress made of chiffon, with a long gown of velvet white. A furred golden robe embellished with designs of roses in various colors was draped about her, additionally with a train of a foot in length.
Queen-Consort of Hanseti-Ruska
From the moment she ascended the position, Maya drafted plans of what she wished to accomplish within several years of her reign. Hopeful at this point in her life, she chalked together the possibilities of how to achieve her want to expand and revive the royal court, and integrate traditional and customary Haeseni culture back into the daily lives of the people.
During the first years of her reign, she began renovating the Ekaterinburg Palace with her Grand Lady and confidant, Aleksandra. From the inside, the entirety of the royal apartments were stripped and redone. The two furthered their plans into the main section of the palace, where they refurbished many of the rooms– although their focus heavily persided on the throne room, to which the pair of friends constructed a dais in place of a high table. Aside from palatial duties, she tended to numerous revelries and other happenings of the city. She regularly frequented the tavern to befriend newcomers or converse with familiars. She sported a patriotic personality with a passion for her people, and thus was often among them in the capital city’s square. When inquired of her newfound duties, she quoted;
❝ 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. ❞
As she sought to renew the courts, she studied the initiatives and reforms implemented by her predecessor. Thus, she instated new ones in their place, such as the ward initiative originally enacted by a preceding Grand Lady, Mariya Barbanov. Her observation of the precursory court under Queen Milena led to her formation of the Queen’s Council. The Queen’s Council consisted of the palatial offices of the Chamberlain, Grand Lady, and the Secretary of the Queen. She soon found herself seeking more relevance for the Haeseni consorts, for her and her future successors. She garnered the right to trial courtiers herself with her council members, although only if it were nothing of extreme dire nature. Her reformations and revival included an overhaul of the etiquette and mannerisms of Haense, which she completely rewrote and released to the public. Her retinue of ladies was known to be rather expansive after her reformations, with a numerity of ladies-in-waiting. To quote the Senator Terrence May regarding her queenship, "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. . ."
On the 10th of the Deep Cold, 1749, the young Queen of nineteen was bestowed with her first child and the heir to the Kingdom of Hanseti-Ruska, Sigismund II. She set aside the formalities of a queen and instead accumulated her responsibilities as a mother. Despite having read that most consorts adorn a nanny or other varying royal servantry to care for the children, Maya refused to do so in the first few years of his life in spite of her weighing duties of queenship. She held an unwavering love for her firstborn child and son.
Her obligations to the royal court were halted as Maya was nearly unable to recover in the year succeeding the birth of Sigismund. She, soon after her first child, bore three daughters as triplets. The princesses were named Analiesa, Alexandria, and Amelya. Alexandria’s second name, Karina, was a namesake for her missing sister. Rumors spread that the Queen had passed in the birth, but news quickly was heard of her recovery. With four children to care for, she settled her pride and pursued royal governesses to assist her. The burden of war, the Rubern War, was draining on her, and she struggled with an overwhelming onslaught of accountabilities. Her opinion of the war was still bitter and cold, with a subdued anger. It was no longer subdued at the first assassination attempt of her husband, where she took the King’s sword and beheaded the assailant herself. Her actions in beheading the terrorist gained her the respect of many. In the same evening as the execution, Maya orchestrated the death of another; who was a Morsgradi governmental official.
The occurrences prior and the ongoing war fed into Maya’s growing paranoia and fear of assassination. Her children grew by the day, and she did not want to leave them without a mother like she was. She insisted that she was to be a better parent than her mother or father. Soon would come another assassination attempt on Andrik, and further threats were made. The court’s activity had slipped from her grasp in her deteriorating state of mind, but after several months she returned to her previous happenings. She expanded the royal court and created the office of the Princess Royal and Royal Architect. She also formed the role of Royal Events Administer to assist the Chamberlain, Maer, and Grand Lady. During the time of her second renewing of the court during her reign, she had a second son– Prince Nikolas.
On the 18th of Snow’s Maiden, 1752, terror awoke all of those in the royal apartments in the midst of the night. Maya, Andrik, and their eldest son were ambushed by assailants seeking to capture one of the royals. She and her son were held with knives to their throats, although she pleaded for the life of her son should she go with the men willingly. Her son was freed and she dragged away. It was too late by the time guards were able to rush to the balcony where she was taken from.
❝ 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. ❞
For two months following, she was held in captivity and confined to a small room in a keep unknown to her. She received a minimal supply of water and bestowed little to no food. As the Haeseni forces approached, Maya was brought into the courtyard of the old keep, beaten, and had her onyx hair cut off. At the arrival of Andrik and the army, she was unable to fend for herself as she could not even manage to stand without collapsing to her knees as a result of her malnourishment. As soon as she was out of enemy hands, Maya was rushed to the city to where she could be tended to. Amidst the fighting, she was stabbed deep into her stomach. A crowd gathered exterior of the clinic, while the Pontiff, Pontian III, prayed at her and her husband’s side. She would manage to break through her weakened state after weeks of urged rest, but Andrik would not.
Her tenure as the consort concluded with her final event, the Dance of the Crows, in honor of her three daughters' introduction to the public eye and for her husband’s eight years as king. Attendance was astounding, and music was boisture until it’s untimely end. Maya was rushed out of the ballroom and informed of her husband’s unrecoverable state. She stayed by his side until the end, and the dance came to a short end with the announcement of the King’s death.
Queen-Mother of Hanseti-Ruska
The beginning year of her tenure as Queen-Dowager, or styled ‘Queen-Mother’, led to her keeping away from the public eye, and within the walls of the Ekaterinburg palace. She was known to have a strong relationship with her husband, even if they were unable to see each other due to their duties as monarchs. To her, it was the loss of a childhood friend as well. She would blame herself for the death of her husband on multiple occasions, especially as seen within her diary, as he fought saving her from captivity. During the year of her disappearance from court, she focused on the education and raising of her children, as she had five children all under the age of six. At one point, the royal children had twelve tutors and three royal governesses, as Maya wished to gift her children all she could not have when she was young. She frequented visits to the imperial city far more often than she did during her tenure as the Queen-Consort. However, her visits were soon lessened when she was urged to stay in the city of Reza after fear of assassination rose. Her paranoia and distrust only garnered with each year. Her grief became a driving force of her actions, and assassination worries were reassured with the death of her friend, Valentina Ruthern. She feared to travel on the roads again, after the Lord Regent, Tiberius Barrow, was captured and executed by Rubern. His execution would send her into a deeper solemn persona, with the woman rarely known to smile at that point in her life, as she and the party sent to rescue him failed to do so.
The once flourishing court of Queen Maya fell from its lively state as she focused furthermore on the ongoings of her children and other matters of the Haeseni government. However, she would return it to its prior state with a revitalization in 1760 with her confidant, Tatiana of Alban. She ousted numerous courtiers and servantry who were not fulfilling their duties within her royal court, with the woman bluntly excusing them of their duties or place in the court if they did not wish to contribute anything to it. Her entire council, the Queen’s Council, was redone with another wave of staff members being removed from their palatial offices. With the revival of the court, she - in addition - was granted the position of Headmaster on the Aulic Council. At first, the position was almost denied as she did not see herself as an educator in any way, considering her lack of proper education as a child. However, after many days of consideration, Maya would accept the role. She dissolved the College of Saint Charles and created the Royal Academy of Saint Catherine in its place. Her academy was an educational system not yet seen before, as it was solely tutor-based. It would become a focal point of education and an interest to many, with the High Elves extending book exchanges to her and offering a partnership.
She too worked closely and diligently with the Lady Maer and her life-long friend, Aleksandra Stafyr, until her eventual murder. The two held a numerity of events together and expanded the royal city. Her last architectural outline was for Maya’s upheaval of the Haeseni educational system; the facility for the royal academy. Aleksandra’s death dealt a great blow to Maya. She found her in the night, and held the bleeding Aleksandra until she passed in her arms. Near the time of Aleksandra’s death, Maya obtained three wards; Viktoria Ruthern, Elizaveta Ruthern, and Maryia Ludovar. Rather than delve into the many times of grief, she kept emotions at bay and focused on preparing the next line of Haeseni governmental officials, politicians, and the like. Her interest became bolstering the life of the court and educating Haense’s future. She sought for who would be her successor as her son grew older. She did not wish for the position to be held by someone who was weak, but strong-willed and would rule greatly at her son’s side.
Tragedy stuck in the royal family during a court of 1762, where the young King and Maya’s son, Sigismund II, was shot in the throat by a crossbow bolt. Similar to his namesake, the Exalted Sigismund, he was injured in the throat but survived miraculously. All of the royal children had witnessed the event, for the assassination attempt was done publicly. Maya sang to her children as their brother was surrounded by medics in the room over. However, she returned to her son’s side and held his hand once the girls were a tiny bit at ease. Sigismund would spend the next month within her room. She received his guests, which included the Archchancellor Simon Basrid, the Princess Imperial Anne Augusta, and the Emperor Peter III. They claimed her son to be a child of destiny, but her lack of believing in fate struggled to allow her to think it. She was never one for believing in anything like that, and was sometimes thought to be lacking in strong faith. The next several months of her life were consumed by his recovery, as she stayed at his bedside, fixed the bandages, and did minor medical treatments to him– which she had learned years before under the apprenticeship of Chesna Kovachev.
Rumors grew around herself into her thirties, surrounding the suitors that were interested in Maya. The proposal of an arranged marriage between herself and the Governor-General of Curon was short lived in reports, but another was a peak of interest in the Haeseni court. Speculations surrounded the visits of the Emperor and his interest within the Queen Mother. Mary d’Arkent would be sent to ask Maya to court the Emperor, but she never received the notion within her final days. It is generally believed that Maya did not want to marry him, let alone leave Haense after her declaring it in front of a multitude of Haeseni courtiers when asked if she wanted to become the empress.
Earlier on the saint’s day of the Grand Harvest, 1762, Maya watched as her son was crowned as the King Sigismund II. She was overwhelmed with pride and contentment as she saw the kingdom slip away from regency once more. The attendance of the coronation was outstanding with people barely able to have standing room in the Basilica of the Fifty Virgins. She, in days before, set an arranged marriage between Sigismund and her ward, Viktoria Ruthern. Before the coronation, she ordered a multitude of royal seamstresses to create white coronation gowns for her daughters, herself, and Viktoria. Maya would ask for Viktoria to sit beside her family in the royal family's booth as a warm acceptance into what her life would soon be. At the feast, it would be announced to the public who the next Queen of Haense was to be.
Death
The Queen Mother, Maya Barbanov, was assassinated within the palace walls and found by her successor, Viktoria Ruthern on the 11th of the Grand Harvest, 1762. She had received a singular fatal blow to the chest, but it is also of note that the assailant was too found dead at her side with Maya’s sword through his heart - the Queen having killed her assassin before she died.
Her abrupt death caused a series of chaotic events across the Holy Orenian Empire, with a multitude of people attempting to barge into her chambers. News of her assassination spread rapidly to varying nations throughout Arcas. The occurrences within the Ekaterinburg Palace after her time of death were in utter disarray, with even the Emperor attempting to see her amidst it all. It is said that he threatened her daughters, the princesses of Haense, and burnt down her chambers within her deceased assassin. Shouts and screams from the palace did not halt until hours after everything unfolded.
Her son issued the royal decree Zwem unein fitsk, thus declaring a state of mourning for the Queen Mother and suspending the entire kingdom from imperial affairs until stated otherwise as a result of her death and happenings surrounding it.
Legacy
After her death, Maya was buried within the crypts by the side of her husband and other ancestral monarchs of Hanseti-Ruska. Her funeral was massive in attendance, with an appearance from the imperial government and the Princess Imperial Anne Augusta, and included a myriad of eulogies;
❝ For her, being Queen wasn't just 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 rolemodel to us all, 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. ❞
The hospital within the city of Reza - previously known as Saint Michael's Hospital - was reconstructed and named after her several years thereafter the assassination. The Surgeon-General directed for the new hospital to be styled as 'The Valeriya Hospital'. In the same year, a rendition of her most famous gown in her tenure as Queen was displayed in a museum known as the Northern Geographical Society along with details of her contributions to Haeseni fashion in the historical exhibit. Her son, Sigismund II of Haense, would go on to dedicate an entire district of Reza in her honor, with the streets Maya Avenue, Valeriya, and Queen's Corner in her namesake.
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 Valeriya Barbanov, Queen-Consort of Hanseti and Ruska, Baroness of Antioch
Style as Queen Mother
Her Royal Majesty, Maya Valeriya Barbanov, Queen-Mother of Hanseti and Ruska, Baroness of Antioch
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Marriage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sigismund II of Haense | 10th of The Deep Cold, 1749 | Alive | Unwed | Firstborn son of Andrik and Maya, King of Hanseti-Ruska. |
| Princess Analiesa Reza, Princess Royal | 14th of The Amber Cold, 1750 | Alive | Unwed | Firstborn daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Alexandria and Amelya. |
| Princess Alexandria Karina of Haense | 14th of The Amber Cold, 1750 | Alive | Unwed | Secondborn daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Analiesa and Amelya. |
| Princess Amelya Valeriya of Haense | 14th of The Amber Cold, 1750 | Alive | Unwed | Thirdborn daughter of Andrik and Maya. Triplet to Analiesa and Alexandria. |
| Prince Nikolas Stefan, Duke of Alban | 5th of Sun's Smile, 1751 | Alive | Unwed | Secondborn son of Andrik and Maya. |
