High Queen of Merras Berea Alonna Arkan (a.k.a. Bloody Berea)
Berea is a former Zalarite turned mercenary and bold opportunist. After leading a band of mercenaries on behalf of the former King of Merras she overthrew him in a brutal coup in which most of the male members of the royal family were slaughtered, though the King’s oldest daughter survived. With an eye toward legitimizing her rule, Barea promptly forced the princess into marriage. Since then the Queen Berea has acquired several other wives. Despite her violent rise to power, Berea has proven to be a fairly effective queen. In the more than two decades that she has ruled in Kingdom she has avoided major conflicts, built alliances with neighbors and fostered trade.
The core of the Queen’s support is her royal guard consists of four hundred former sect warriors, many former Zalarite and Alyite warriors.. The warriors wear green surcoats over silver three quarter plate. All of them are trained cavalry and have high quality warhorses. They are supported by a half-dozen mercenary sorceresses some of whom have married the Queen. Additionally she has granted the Zalarites a small fortres holding in her capital in exchange for the Sisterhood's military support.
The Queen has become increasingly concerned that the former queen, Varriya may have survived her coup and is making plans to retake control of the Kingdom. This has caused Berea to hire numerous spies to try to track down rumors about the former Queen's whereabouts and engage in discussions with the Salyite Sisterhood about eliminating her rival if and when she is found. In the meantime, the Queen has been repairing the defenses of her major holdings, strengthened her royal garrisons and has opened liens of communications with various mercenary units in case she needs to quickly hire them.
Mental characteristics
Berea became a Zalarite officer at age 17. By age 25 she had risen to the rank of Captain. After the fall of Zareb, she started her own mercenary unit and built a reputation as a highly effective commander of medium horse. Her greatest success was the seizure of the thrown of Merras and the establishment her family as the Kingdom's rulers.
Berea is a planner. Whenever possible she takes the long view.
Order must be maintained at all costs and loyalty should be rewarded. Have no mercy for those who are treasonous or weak.
Personality Characteristics
To rule her kingdom and hold on to power. She has become increasingly interested in building her personal legacy and eliminating threats to her families continued rule of Merras.
Berea is very charming when wishes to be, especially around women she finds attractive. She is very generous to people she sees as supporters who have done her a favor. She believes loyalty should be rewarded.
She has a virulent dislike of Southrons, who she considers shifty and generally untrustworthy. She has a very short temper with any upper class man who seems dismissive of her.
Berea is a carefully planner and is not prone to rash action. She generally allows her anger to smolder quietly until she is ready to act. She knows how to avoid over-extending herself both personally and politically. She has an excellent eye for knowing who she can trust.
Very vindictive towards anyone who crosses or threatens her. She has has several enemies imaginatively tortured to death. A snub from the former King of Merras was what eventually propelled her to overthrow the king and slaughter much of his family.
Social
Although Berea has left the Zalarite Order, she is still a worshiper of Zalara and several other northern gods.
Wife (Vital)
Towards Queen Berea Alonna Arkan
Wife (Important)
Towards Annika Varriya Merkhana
History
Annika was forced into marriage after Berea assassinated her father and brother.Berea used the threat of torture and death to get Annika to submit to her demand for marriage. This is a completely coercive relationship in which Annika lives in fear of her spouse's displeasure. Annika is a political pawn in Berea's hands and she has no illusions about this. However, her fear of what Berea might do to her forces her to play the role that Berea demands of her. If she could see some means of escape she would take it. She has made two attempts to runaway, both of which ended badly with Annika suffering prolonged abuse at Berea's hands.
Relationship Reasoning
Berea sees political advantage of having married in to the royal family that she overthrew, thus giving her some aura of legitimacy. For her part, Annika is fears bringing Berea's displeasure down on herself and thus follows her demands. She has suffered enough misery at Berea's hands to know her spouse is capable and willing to carry out any threat she makes.
Legal Status
Married
Wife (Vital)
Towards Queen Berea Alonna Arkan
Wife (Vital)
Towards Aferra Tannora Vellis Arkan
History
The two women formed a relationship while they were both serving with the Zalarite Sisterhood. Together they chose to leave formal service with the Sisterhood, but maintained close ties with the Order and remained members of the Zalarite faith. The two women worked together to form a mercenary band. After several years of successful mercenary work their growing company came under the employment of the Kingdom of Merras. Believing the that employer was both weak and vulnerable. Aferra broached the idea of seizing power from Merras ruling Merkhana family. Aferra encouraged a coup that would dispose of all of the Merkhana family except one of the princesses. The idea was one Berea could marry the Princess as her first wife, thus maintaining the fiction of continued Merkhana rule and thus legitimizing her siezure of power. After this was done, Berea took Aferra as her second wife, effectively making her the real co-ruler of the Kingdom. Aferra played an important role in selecting Berea's third and fourth wives amking sure they were both acceptable to her and strengthened her spouse's position.
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