Eluvina Aeduvara was the favourite concubine to the king of the small kingdom of Brannovixia, due to her position, she was able to use her influence over the king to move her son into the position as heir over the daughter the king had with his queen.
Early Life
Born in 536 according to the
Imperial Calender in the small village of Kibracte, her father, a local baker and her mother helped in the bakery. Eluvine was the youngest of her siblings, she had two older brothers and two older sisters.
In 556, the king of the Brannovixia was passing through the small village when he spotted Eluvina and became interested in her, despite the dangers of the unknown it didn't take much persuasion to convince Eluvina and her parents that it was for the best if she joined the kings' party. Soon after returning to the capital, Eluvina became the concubine of the king and soon after, Eluvina had her first child, being the bastard son of a lowly yet favoured concubine, the naming of the child was left in the hands of Eluvina who named her son, Alisanos.
Around five years later, the King entered into a marriage with a neighbouring kingdom and with his new queen fathered a daughter, Aesiua.
The first entry into court politics
The king of Brannovixia had never been that shape when it came to politics and behind the scenes the real power of the kingdom was being held by the advisors of the king, Banuus and Dercillos, with Banuus as the favoured advisor of the king holding the true power while Dercillos working to undermine the influence of Banuus and secure it for himself.
It was when another concubine and her kids were removed without a trace that Eluvina began to get more involved in the workings of the court, her first actions were to gain the favour of the king and over the following years, Eluvina steadily gained the favour of the king and during the years gave the king another two children, two daughters, Veniena and Valicinia. With the favours of the king secured, Eluvina's next step was to work on her political faction, allying herself with Dercillos, they began to secure their factions' power at the court.
Faction build-up
Following a set-back in 564, Eluvina and her faction began to focus on intelligence gathering with the idea that while they didn't have the right hand of the king, which still belonged to Banuus, they with their spies could control the rest of the court and through the use of rumours, blackmail and murder they gained significant power
Murder and court civil war
Advisor Banuus had been found dead on the road between this home and that of the palace, it soon became clear that his death was anything but natural and soon enough the rumours began to fly with Eluvina and her faction being prime suspect but due to her being the favoured concubine of the king, all accusations towards her failed. With the death of Banuus, the road for Eluvina and her faction to claim the power where open but they had underestimated the influence the queen wielded and the week following the death of the advisor was followed by chaos at the court, several minor officials and nobles who had been dragged into the conflict disappeared and later found dead, some showing signs of torture.
Conflict of heir
While Eluvina and her faction had gained the position of the true power behind the throne, she could now begin on the true intention of her grab for power, making her son the next king. The fight for who the future king would be was fought all over the kingdom, with agents of both Eluvinas faction and the queens hunting each other down all over the kingdom or trying to disrupt the operations of the other side. Eluvina had the advantage that her son, was 5 years older than the legitimate daughter of the king and as the king was getting older and his health was beginning to fail, Eluvina used the argument that if the king elected her son as the heir, the kingdom would avoid the trouble that was a regency, whenever she was with the king.
In 572 the king became ill and within a week died due to a combination of old age and illness, Eluvina had spent the last few days with the king and when the king died, she rushed to announce her son as both legitimized son of the king and the new king.
Securing power
Her first after the death of the king was to place guards in front of the queen's chambers, effectively placing her and her daughter under house arrest. In the following days, her faction cleaned house and any supporters of the queen were removed, either banished from the kingdom or simply disappeared. Following the takeover the first time the new king's rule was rocky and Eluvina sought to secure an alliance that would both help her son and the kingdom. The choice for a political marriage fell on a princess belonging to the
House of Astalles The ruling house in the yet far away
Kingdom of Dercia
I like the idea that she was just living her life as a concubine, and then suddenly realised she really should be playing the political game when that other woman disappeared.
Explore Etrea | March of 31 Tales
She had to find a way to survive, for her and her kid(s) :)