Gracilia Albanus
Elector Lord Gracilia Albanus, of Keltas
The sixth Elector Lord of Keltas, Gracilia inherited the role through assassination, plot, and the unique intervention of the Empire itself.
She has ruled Keltas for 29 years, but as a condition of her lordship, none of her children are eligible for the position on her death. Now 69, jockeying has began to place lesser nobles in position so succeed her when she dies.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Gracilia's mother, Leta, inherited the position at age 59, when her father died in 1858 aged 85. In good health, everyone expected Leta to live many years like most in her family, and with two daughters, her lineage appeared secure.
Her firstborn, Mnemosyne, was childless, largely assumed to be a fertility issue, and rumours grew that Leta was intending to pass over her firstborn in favour of her second child, Gracilia, who had 2 children by this point. Whether this was true or not became moot when Leta was killed during an inspection of some new docks in Rodess by assailants widely assumed at the time to be disgruntled colonists.
Mnemosyne took the lordship of Keltas and the issue of her succession was quietly avoided for the moment. Evidence began to emerge very quickly that Mnemosyne was not blameless in the death of her mother, and Imperial interest was piqued. Agents soon uncovered a plot by Mnemosyne to take the throne, and in 1876 she was summoned to Belyos to answer the charges. Whilst she initially refused, the arrival of a large number of ships of the Imperial Navy convinced her to submit.
After a trial lasting a year, she was convicted her mother's assassination and executed soon afterwards by beheading. Gracilia was initially implicated in the plot; popular conspiracies had her encouraging her sister to kill their mother, then hand her own sister over to ensure her own succession, but no charges were ever brought against her. However, suspicions against her family meant that as a condition for Gracilia taking the lordship of Keltas, her children became ineligible to inherit it.
Whilst she is entitled to appoint her own successor, she is yet to do so, and many of the lesser nobles in Keltas have been working hard to place their own in positions of authority near Gracilia, in the hope she will finally relent and pick one.
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