Queen Alliona IV Character in Ulskandar | World Anvil

Queen Alliona IV

9th ruler of the Kingdom of Sharisar, Queen Alliona is a direct descendent of Khojin Sharisar, the founder of the nation. Like her predecessors, she has continued to support, promote and defend the Sharisian’s traditional nomadic lifestyle, whose origins lie long before the beginning of the Settlement Era. Under her rule, Sharisar has faced a growing diplomatic storm that is threatening to move in and bring war once again to the Övsnii Sea. Sharisar’s northern neighbours, the Kingdom of Dazscor and Aramore and Korinthos both threaten the integrity of her Kingdom’s northern border, and it is only a matter of time before she is forced into making a decision over whether or not to lead the horsemen and women of Sharisar to war, as Khojin her ancestor did.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Queen Alliona stands at around 5’10” tall, and has a frame that speaks for itself about her life spent in the saddle, and the regularity that she uses the lance and bow. That is not to say that Alliona looks overtly muscle bound, as she does not undergo specific training to improve her muscle mass or density. Instead, her body is a reflection of an active and practical life, rather than looking carefully cultivated.   Facially, Alliona’s oval face bears some features that betray her Half-Elf nature, notably her pointed ears, and slightly more angular features. Her blue eyes are a stark contrast to her light brown skin and her dark-brown/black hair that she wears tied back behind her head in a loose ponytail.   In terms of her posture, Alliona tends to overarch her back slightly, as if trying to maintain a stable platform on horseback, even when she is on foot. People have also commented that her legs look slightly bowed, as if they have moulded and adapted themselves slightly to being on horseback a lot of the time, a feature that is said to be common amongst Sharisians in general.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Amongst the tall grass of the Övsnii Sea in 519S.E., Alliona Sharisar came into the world amongst the tents and livestock of the Royal Caravan. The only child of Queen Jaliqai I, and her Elven father Colia, Alliona was placed in the saddle almost as soon as she could walk, and began a life of great freedom when compared to the rulers of other nations. As is the Sharisian way, Alliona learned about the world and gained experience of court and nomadic life through directly participating in all the activities of the Caravan as it moved through the lush landscape. Even though she was the only child of the monarch, Alliona was not closeted in any way, and indeed her mother insisted that she be treated as any other child in the caravan. Not only did this stop Alliona from growing up and thinking that she was somehow different to those around her, but it also gave her a deep connection to her people, especially those with whom she interacted with the most regularly in the Royal Caravan.   As Alliona’s father, Colia was an Elf who originated from beyond the borders of the Kingdom of Sharisar, and had travelled much in his long life, he passed onto his daughter a great deal of knowledge about the world beyond the Övsnii Sea, that the majority of other Sharisians tended to ignore, or declare was not useful information. Mostly this involved him telling her stories of peoples and nations long passed on, but also the origins of many of Turoza’s current kingdoms and nations, along with tales of the nomadic peoples that had once travelled all over the continent.   Alliona’s more freeform education, began to become more shaped towards the business of ruling such a unique kingdom as Sharisar when she was 14. This involved not only being taught how to read and write by her mother, through the medium of official proclamations and letters that Alliona had to copy and read out, but also involved her undertaking a tour of as many of Sharisar’s itinerant caravans as could be found, to introduce her as the heir apparent and get her more familiar with the country she was to rule. Alliona underwent this journey accompanied by her father and a small escort of guards, leaving after the festival of Midsummer in 536S.E., and spending an entire year in the saddle. During this year, Alliona covered countless miles, connected with almost every one of Sharisar’s nomadic Caravans and saw every corner of the Kingdom, including riding along every inch of Sharisar’s northern and southern borders. In the summer of 537S.E., Alliona returned to the capital Uighurtai for the beginning of the Midsummer Games, and on her arrival she was officially named as Queen Jaliqai’s heir.   For the next five years, Alliona acted as her mother’s main point of contact with the other Caravans, which saw her spend a lot of time away from the Royal Caravan and the capital Uighurtai. It was during one such embassy to the port town of Dalain, that Alliona learnt of the death of her mother. In 542S.E., Queen Jaliqai had been ambushed and killed by a band of Lupines that had been responsible for raiding several Sharisian caravans over a period of several months. Enraged by the news, Alliona and her bodyguard set off from Dalain to track the Lupines, and gain revenge. It took nearly two months, but after arduously tracking the Lupines through the Övsnii Sea, they finally seized their chance to attack near the border of the Union of Mishtoon in the south. Alliona and her 50 riders attacked and destroyed the Lupine band, that is thought to have been nearly three times their number. With justice served, Alliona galloped at breakneck speed north to the Salkhin Hills, where her mother had been laid to rest, to pay her last respects.   On arriving, Alliona found that the ritual of Exposure had already been carried out, with her mother’s body having been laid out on the hillside to be reclaimed by nature. There she found her father, who had been waiting patiently ever since the ritual was complete, for Alliona to arrive. Colia presented his daughter with Sharisar’s Royal Diadem, an elaborately embroidered cloth band, worn around the forehead with detailing picked out in golden thread., the symbol of the monarch’s rule. After the presentation, Colia left his daughter to rule Sharisar alone. The loss of his wife being too much to bear, Colia set off to wander the world until he had come to terms enough with Jaliqai’s death to return.   For the last 11 years, Queen Alliona has ruled over her people, and has proved to be a competent, though impulsive monarch. Since her mother’s death, the Kingdom of Dazscor & Aramore has continually been testing the patience of the Sharisians by making moves that indicated they are looking to settle people within the borders of the Övsnii Sea, and incrementally push Sharisar’s border further south without them realising. Equally, the warlike Hobgoblins of Korinthos are looking more threatening than ever, though for the moment they seem to have their eye’s elsewhere. Tensions are rising with both neighbours, as small border clashes break out between them and Queen Alliona’s forces. Whilst Korinthos is content to ignore such skirmishes, and not acknowledge their existence, Dazscor & Aramore are growing continually more heated in their condemnation of Sharisar’s attacks, which Alliona sees as the simple defence of her borders. The time will soon come, when Alliona will have to make a decision as to how to deal with her northern neighbours, a decision which may well cast the caravans of Sharisar into war.

Education

Like almost all other Sharisians, Queen Alliona has not undergone any formal course of education, but instead learned the skills of life whilst on the move with the Royal Caravan. Due to her status, this did involve learning to read and write, but again this was carried out in a rather informal setting, often through the direct tutoring of her mother, the previous Queen, who taught her letters using the official documents and letters that she had received as the monarch. Although this means that other monarchs look down on Queen Alliona, as they do on Sharisians in general, for being ‘uneducated’, Alliona is by no means work-shy, nor is she stupid. Unlike the other rulers of Turoza, Alliona is just as comfortable taking the stones out of a horse’s hoof as she is trading verbal blows in a debate.

Social

Social Aptitude

Alliona is well known for her tendency to make quick decisions and to begin to implement actions and plans almost immediately once they have been decided upon. However, she also very adaptable, and is very adept at altering plans and policies to take into account new information, or the discovery that a decision was made based on false, or misleading information. These characteristics mesh well with the military tactics of the Sharisians, which revolve around the execution of lightening attacks by their mounted troops, that seem to melt away before concerted resistance, only to reappear at a different point to exploit a weakness.   As well as this, Alliona is known for her compassion and kindness amongst her people, but this is not reflected to those from outside her kingdom who step foot in her lands. Foreigners from other nations, especially diplomats and officials are treated with the utmost suspicion, and many members of foreign embassies sent to Sharisar have reportedly found Queen Alliona to be quite rude and distrusting of their intent.

Wealth & Financial state

It is hard to quantify Queen Alliona’s wealth, especially compared to the rulers of other nations. This is because a large part of her wealth is made up of the Royal Herd, a huge heard of bison, cattle and horses, that accompany the Royal Caravan during its travels around the nation. If the animals of the Royal Herd were sold for coin, then it would add up to a significant fortune, especially the horses as equines bred and reared in Sharisar fetch a very high price in the other kingdoms.   In addition, as Queen, Alliona is the sole owner of the Royal Palace complex in Uighurtai, along with the modest state treasury of physical coin and precious items and commodities that are kept in the Treasury building, which is part of the palace complex. The majority of this coin, however, has been put aside for transacting national business, rather than to be spent by the Queen herself.
Species
Year of Birth
519 S.E. 34 Years old
Birthplace
Exact location unknown, but somewhere in the Övsnii Sea.
Children
Gender
Female
Aligned Organization


Cover image: by Chris Pyrah

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