Melora II: Difference between revisions

'''Queen Melora II of Tavaris''' (Melora Nuvo Navandri ''née'' Vetra; b. January 7th, 1617 CE, d. November 9th, 1714 CE), often called '''Melora the Brave''' (Tavari: ''Melora vat Tanavi''), was the 15th monarch of [[Tavaris]], reigning from 1640 until 1710, a 70-year period that is the country’s longest. She was the first monarch in the Navandri family of Line Nuvo, having founded the family upon her marriage to Chief Vandri of Nevran, 9 years her senior, in 1635. Unusually for a Tavari monarch, Melora abdicated the throne, citing "inability to perform the work of state" due to her age. She is one of the most fondly remembered Tavari monarchs, frequently ranking atop surveys of favorite historical monarchs in Tavaris. She led the country through the [[History of Tavari-Banian Relations#Third War|Third]] and [[History of Tavari-Banian Relations#Fourth War|Fourth Tavari-Banian Wars]], by far the most brutal and deadly of the six, and also reigned over the peak of Tavaris' colonial empire. For this reason, the Tavari colonial empire is often poetically (or sometimes derisively) referred to as "Queen Melora's Empire" (Tavari: ''Erevat Meloranar Eredan'').

 

==Early Life==

 

 

As a child, Melora was often called “brash,” “stubborn,” “obstinate,” and “insistent” in the notes of her royal tutors. She was known from a young age as someone who, in the words of her father in 1623, “insists always on taking her own course of action, refusing any outside attempt to cause her to take some other action, unless suitably convinced according to her own standards or physically prevented.” While in 1623 the King noted “the former was far, far rarer than the latter,” he is known to have remarked in private later in life that he had become very proud of how his daughter had matured and had learned to better heed the expertise of others.

 

===Emerald Coast and the Fourth War===

In 1668, Tavaris established a colony, Emerald Coast (Tavari: ''Enaro Etražakavi'') much closer, this time on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Northwest [[Gondwana]], just south of the Raonite Spur, the southernmost segment of the Danvreas Range. At that time, the New Ranites had not yet settled the Lower Loko River Valley, so the Banian border was a significant distance from the Tavari colony, but the Banians still viewed the Tavari settlement of the Gondwanan mainland as an immediate, severe threat. The land on which the Tavari settled had previously been part of the core territories of [[Ni-Rao]]. However, after that country’s [[Ni-Rao#Decline|significant decline of the 15th century]], it had since withdrawn from the territory into their smallest ever borders, which corresponded to portions of what is now [[South Ni-Rao]]. The Tavari viewed this land as unclaimed, but Ni-Rao considered the Tavari settlement as an invasion.

 

In response to these events, the single greatest military defeat ever suffered by Tavaris, Queen Melora declared a national emergency and ordered a “national impressment” of every single able-bodied adult in the country, regardless of gender, into the Royal Tavari Armed Forces. While for most people this meant mandatory service in local militias to defend from Banian attack, or in some cases as a laborer in rebuilding efforts, several thousand Tavari were drafted from the general citizenry to the front lines of the war. This had never before been done in Tavari history, not even during the 15th century Raonite invasion, but there was no coordinated public opposition to the move, and those few people who did refuse to serve were imprisoned and, in some cases, exiled to [[Vultuca]]. During the war, the Queen served personally as a commander of troops both on land and at sea, which unlike in other monarchies had never traditionally been an inherent power of the Tavari monarch. In this capacity, she was granted the titles “General of the Armies” and “Commodore of the Navies,” and she is generally credited with securing the defense of Nuvrenon in a 1679 Banian invasion attempt.

 

 

===Later Life===