Vana Dandreal

Her Beneficience The Matron of the Acronian Empire
Portrait of the Matron painted in 2015
37th Matron of the Acronian Empire
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 December 2009
Preceded by	The 36th Matron
High Priestess of Zaram Province
In office 14 April 1996 – 23 December 2009
Preceded by	Šela Davras Alandai
Succeeded by	Mena Indral Devražon
Priestess of North Dravai Parish
In office 4 November 1982 – 13 April 1996
Personal details
Born	Vana Nevran Dandreal (1950-01-19) 19 January 1950 New East Harbor, Acronis
Residence	New Temple of Administration, Zaram, Acronis

The 37th Matron of the Acronian Empire is the current leader of the Elders, the governing body of the Church of Akrona, and therefore considered to be the presiding officer over the church and leader of the faith. According to custom, upon their election to office, a Matron is only referred to as "the Matron." If needed to differentiate, a Matron can be identified as "the current Matron" or by their number. It is generally considered impolite to refer to a Matron, whether living or dead, by her birth name, but it is not technically forbidden by any Church doctrine. The 37th and current Matron was born Vana Nevran Dandreal in New East Harbor, Acronis on January 19th, 1950.

Early Life

The 37th Matron was born in New East Harbor, the largest Acronian city on the eastern coast of the island of Avnatra. Her parents, Leina and Doran Nevran Dandreal, both worked at Eastern Shipworks, the largest shipyard in the country. On her birth certificate, her parents' occupations are listed as "custodial worker" and "clerical worker." Her upbringing has generally been described as "working class," and the Matron herself has spoken of how she became drawn to the Church after eating at Church-run public food kitchens because her house did not have any food.

The Matron's mother passed away in 1961 when she was 11 years old. In the course of her work as a custodian, Leina Nevran Dandreal was exposed to a particular kind of caustic cleaning chemical that was sold under the brand-name Numinol, which was found to cause lung cancer in people exposed regularly to the chemical. The story happened to catch the attention of a local newspaper reporter who launched an investigation into Numinol that found that executives at Eastern Shipworks had known as early as 1954 that custodial workers were passing away from lung cancer but continued to use Numinol because it was the cheapest cleaning chemical available on the market. This created a national controversy and Doran Nevran Dandreal would file a lawsuit against Eastern Shipworks in 1965. The lawsuit was delayed significantly by the Shipworks filing several motions to move the suit from civil to religious courts, and then back again, as well as filing numerous appeals. It was not until 1997 when the Supreme Civil Court finally ruled against the Shipworks. Doran had died the previous year, and the Matron, who was then serving as the High Priestess of Zaram Province, was awarded the largest ever payment for damages in a non-class action suit in Acronian history: 750,000,000 Nashdat, as she was the only living heir of her mother, who had died 36 years previously. The sum, which bankrupted the shipyard, was donated to the Church in its entirety.

Religious Positions

The 37th Matron is known as a much more "activist" Matron than her closest predecessors. A motto of hers as Matron has been that "our Church is a powerful force for good." She is on the record stating that the Church should take more action domestically as well as internationally to ensure the well-being of life on Urth. On her initiative, the Church began a project of funding the construction of hospitals abroad, leading to more than 50 hospitals being built between 2012 and 2020. The current Matron has traveled more internationally than any other Matron in history, which is notable in part because it requires formal approval from the civil government before the Matron can exit the country. She has encouraged the faithful to "speak out against injustice whenever you see it, whether it comes from a stranger, your family, your government, your boss, or even your church" and has made statements herself in opposition to what she sees as violations of human rights abroad.

While historically most Matrons are known as very reserved and formal figures, the current Matron has relaxed many of the formalities that have traditionally bound her office. For instance, she regularly appears in public wearing "non-religious" clothing while not performing religious ceremonies. While her clothing is still conservative by any standard, with her skirts regularly reaching to the ankles, she is considered to be something of a fashion icon in Acronis. She also favors the usage of more contemporary language in ceremonies, and encourages clergy to focus on preaching in ways that reaches out to their temple-goers rather than focusing strictly on formal rituals. She has said that "it is far more important that we do work out in the world - feed the hungry, shelter the exposed, welcome the outcast - than it is for us to earn a perfect attendance award from the local temple." In a more blunt quote, one of her most famous, she has also said "I would rather you sleep in on the full moon and enjoy your day off work rather than come to the Temple if all you're going to do is balance your checkbook and hum along to the hymns. You can try again in the next life."

Her style has led to some friction within the Church, as more conservative clergy resist the Matron's urges to move away from established tradition. However, she is far and away the most popular Matron in modern times, with approval ratings regularly over 80%, compared to an average before her term in office of 64%. Of the people who approve of her work in office, 40% report that they feel either "inspired" or "very inspired" to be active in the Church. Despite her famous quote regarding people staying home from temple, in her term in office monthly temple attendance has increased by 14%. Given her popularity, the Church has largely accepted the current Matron's changes with very little public opposition from members of the clergy.

Pre-Tavari Burial Site Controversy

In 2020, a Pre-Tavari burial site known as a necropolis was unearthed at Joint Defense Facility Two, the most secure military base in the country. An international agreement signed in 1894 between Acronis and Tavaris called the Joint Executive Agreement on the Repatriation of Cultural Heritage mandated that upon the discovery of Tavari remains in Acronis, the Acronian government was to notify Tavaris and make arrangements for the Tavari to come to Acronis to inspect and return the remains to their country. However, the civil government announced that it would not give formal notification until an "independent investigation" could be conducted to confirm that the remains were Tavari. This would have taken several months, where the Agreement called for notification in three days.

In response to this decision, the Elders issued an Edict that directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give notification to Tavaris within seven days. This was the first time in history where the Elders had mandated a particular action in foreign affairs, and it is believed that it was primarily by the Matron's urging that the Elders issued the Edict, and is understood to have taken the civil government by surprise. It was speculated that, if the civil governmenmt had refused to follow the Edict, the Matron herself would have to deliver notification herself, perhaps by ordering the commander of a military aircraft to fly her to Tavaris without formal permission from the civil government.

However, before the seven day deadline could be reached, the King exercised the rarely-used power to overrule the Matron, declaring the Edict unconstitutional and null and void. The King's declaration, in part, stated that the Matron's office "is a domestic authority, not an international one" and that "the authority of the Matron has always been understood, and most continue to be understood, as to allow for the principle of 'morality' to be used to overrule the civil government only in circumstances in which the moral character of the civil government is in mortal jeopardy." It was the first time King Mital II had ever overruled the Matron, and only the tenth time any monarch had done so since the turn of the 20th century.

The Matron's office had no official response to the King's action other than to say that it would comply with the order. However, privately, the action has been reported to have soured relations between the Church and the civil government.