Kings and Queens
Ibhafidon by DMFW with Art Breeder
There came a time in the Age of Lost Memory when the fey were ruled over by king Ibhafidon, and his consort, queen Efeomo.
The king had been born shortly after the end of the Age of the First Wars and he was still relatively young. He had fathered a son and a daughter with his wife, the formidable Efeomo and he had expected to rule for many years to come on the day that he realised he was suffering from the Fade. Even worse news was to follow within a few short years when it became apparent that his son Nowamagbe, had been afflicted with the same condition.
Efeomo and her daugher had to watch both of them die. The Fade did not take them quickly as mortals measure life spans and they all had many years to reflect on their misfortune as a family, but it was swift enough from the perspective of the fey. When Ibhafidon died, Efeome became queen. And now, inevitably she placed more and more of her hopes for the future on her daugher Ayi Nehizena. The queen felt that it could be no coincidence that the fade had struck down the men of the family and left the women untouched, although in truth there seems to be no known pattern as to who the affliction will affect. In any case, she grew sick of the High Seat of the King with its long associations with the kings from the Age of the First War.
In more peaceful times, the fey had always prefered the wooded delights of their summer palace at Shaldarenen to the windy hill top of the High Seat of the King. Efeomo took the decision to move permanently to Shaldarenen and the High Seat of the King was allowed to fall into ruin whilst the palace in the woods was expanded to become the new capital and centre of the Fey Court.
Ayi Nehizena by DMFW with Art Breeder
Of perhaps even greater significance, was her ruling to change the laws of royal succession to favour women over men. Since the fey had taken their first king, they had always selected male heirs before female ones, rather in the way that most early mortal kingdoms did. After Efeomo's reign the preference was reversed, because she thought that male lines of descent may be more vulnerable to the fade.
Kings and queens can arise under either set of succession rules, of course, but fey kings were more likely prior to Efeomo's reforms and fey queens have been more numerous since. This is why the years prior to Efeomo's ruling are sometimes known as the era of kings and the ones since as the era of queens.
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