Pressorah Bashti
From Mizahar Lore
 The Power to Reign | |||||||||||
| Race | Eypharian | ||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 479 AV (aged 44) | ||||||||||
| Place of birth | The Burning Lands | ||||||||||
| Title | Ruler of the Eypharians and Ahnatep | ||||||||||
| Skills |
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Pressorah, Queen, Bashti is the reigning monarch over the city of Ahnatep and all Eypharians. She is the most powerful figure in Eyktol, surpassing the Benshira's Prophet. She is beloved by her people and has restored pride to their culture through ritual and pomp. Her strengths lie in her persuasive combination of femininity and iron will, and her unwavering loyalty to her subjects.
However, heavy is the head that wears the crown. Doubting nobles of the Houses of the Four Winds question her ability to rule due to her tenuous connection to royal blood and her common upbringing. Such nobles are always poised to offer their solutions to supplement the depleting line of royal blood.
History
The previous Pressor, King, Teremun was Bashti's father. A man of great ambition, he had begun the reconstruction and unearthing of some of Ahnatep's finest monuments. He also managed to push Ahnatep's criminal element into a small section of the city and stomp out the Scorpion Organization.
At the height of his popularity, though, Teremun began to grow decadent. Eypharians are great lovers of feasts and adornment, so his habits were tolerated for years. However, when the Pressor siphoned workers from the reconstruction of public works to the improvement of his palace, there was murmuring among the people. To improve his standing among the populous, Teremun declared that his first wife would be chosen from the common Eypharians. He would then hear their petitions through her and strive to be the greatest ruler they had seen.
While the average Eypharians were dreaming of their daughters becoming Queens, the Pressor was bewitched by a member of the noble House of the West Winds, Dimourla. Uncommonly beautiful, Dimourla had been groomed for the Queenship from birth. She was the gate to the West Winds' increase in power and standing. No peasant would steal that chance from them. With a hundred wiles from decades of preparation, Dimourla enticed Teremun's interest.
Betraying his promise to his people, the Pressor was wed to Dimourla. Disappointment grew among the Eypharians and they wondered what had become of the young ruler they had esteemed so highly.
Shortly after Dimourla was with child, Teremun died under mysterious circumstances. The most told story was that he choked on a pheasant bone while dining alone. However, the other noble houses began to suspect Dimourla and the West Winds of treachery. There were rumors of poisoning and the Westwinds claimed to have proof. Fearing for her life, Dimourla fled Eyktol, taking the only known heir to the throne with her.
Without the Queen or her son to inhabit the throne, the Houses began to fight amongst themselves as to what house should begin the next dynasty. The head of the House of the Northwinds, Sadiki, was loyal to the line of the Pressor's. He scorned the pettiness that existed among the Houses of the Four Winds and believed a single benevolent monarch was Ahnatep's best chance at a return to power. In hopes of finding an illegitimate heir, Sadiki began to look among the Pressor's concubines.
The royal concubines swore before the gods that one of their number had borne the Pressor two daughters, but she had been sold by Dimourla. While illegitimate, the eldest of these daughters was the firstborn of Teremun, the nearest thing to royal blood left.
Sadiki sought out the concubine, finding her in the tents of a wealthy nomad. It was then Sadiki saw Bashti and her younger sister Iris. The eldest was obediently tending goats while the younger wandered. The girls bore the striking likeness of their father tempered by the grace of their mother.
Sadiki learned the sisters had been raised in the Garden of Concubines, taking various lessons until they were banished. Iris had excelled at dance and song, while Bashti was an apt student of history and poetry. In her ensuing life in the harsh Burning Lands, Bashti became an excellent rider and adept with Sai. The latter, she claimed, was learned to protect her lovely younger sister from wild desert men.
Despite her mother's protest, Bashti agreed to risk her life in a gamble for the throne. She told Sadiki that she would rather die then see her people oppressed by Dimourla's ilk. She was only sixteen, but steady in mind and purpose.
Bashti rode into the city on her Eyktolian Desertbred, with Sadiki behind her. Her seat on the beautiful animal inspired admiration as did her ability to command an audience. Under the gates of the city she began to speak to the people. As the crowd grew and the hours went on she heard petitions and gave vows as the Pressor's daughter and heir. It was in these hours she said: "The gods have seen fit to give you what the nobles would not, a Pressorah made strong by the blood of the people and wise by the blood of the Pressors. Now let the gods place me on the throne or let me perish in the attempt."
Armed with the people's goodwill, the lineage of her father and the support of the Northwinds, Bashti descended on the meetings of the bickering Houses and successfully asserted her right.