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Kaiseress Noor

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Kaiseress Noor
Noor as-Salaam bint Daniyal Umra Suleiman Ayreon-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed al-Osman bin Sathrati Umm Zahir al-Din of Waffel-Paine
Former Kaiser of Shireroth
Began 8.XIV.1644 (elected by Landsraad)
Ended 15.IV.1650 (death)
Predecessor Landsraad rule
Successor Kaiser Ayreon IV
Steward Daniyal Dravot (1645–1647)
Altea Lomax (1647–1647)
Isabella Simrani-Kalirion (1647–1648)
Kyle Kilynn (1648–1650)
Regent or Ruling Steward see above
Imperial Bloodline Ayreon-Kalirion (Osman)
Physical description
Gender Female
Species Human
Race Babkhi
Hair color and style Long brown-to-black hair
Eye color Green
Skin color White
Biographical information
Father Daniel Simrani-Kalirion
Mother Fatima al-Osman
Spouse(s)

Nathaniel of Elwynn and Natopia (m. 1629, died 1632)

Noah of Elwynn (m. 1633, wid. 1650; annulled 1656, restored 1722)
Issue Adam Anushiruwân
Aldin
Rostam
Arn
Vilhjálm
Fatima (Esther)
Date of birth 1604
Place of birth Ardashirshahr
Date of death 15.IV.1650 (murdered)
Place of death Ura'Bos
Resting place Valley of Mors

Noor as-Salaam bint Daniyal Umra Suleiman Ayreon-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed al-Osman bin Sathrati Umm Zahir al-Din of Waffel-Paine (born as Noor bint Daniyal Umra Suleiman Simrani-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed bin Sathrati in Ardashirshahr, 1604, died (murdered) in Ura'Bos, 1650) was the Kaiseress of Shireroth from 1644 until her murder in 1650. She was also Queen of Goldshire (1635–1650) and the Elian Lands (1644–1650), Emira of Sathrati (1633– 1650), and was, through her marriage to King Noah (in 1633), the Queen consort of Elwynn and of Uppland until her death. Her marriage to Noah was declared annulled in 1656 after the Auspicious Occasion, on the grounds that Noah was believed to have remained married to the Pseudo-Elwynn of the Konungstekja. The discovery of Kunâ A in 1719 AN, later identified as Thóra Njálsdóttir, led to the marriage being relegitimized in 1722, since Thóra had died immediately after the Konungstekja and Noah had therefore been a widower when he married Noor.

She was succeeded to the kaisership by her grandson Vidar who ascended the throne as Kaiser Ayreon IV.

Family

Noor was the only child of Daniyal Simrani-Kalirion and his second wife, Lady Fatima al-Osman, daughter of Kaiser Aurangzeb. Through her father she was a member of the Ayreon-Kalirion bloodline, and through her mother she belonged to the House of Osman. She had two half-sisters from her father's marriage to Esmeralda Erinamoor: Isabella and Miranda.

Noor was married twice. Her first marriage was to Nathaniel of Elwynn and Natopia in 1629. Although the marriage later ended in divorce shortly before Nathaniel's death in 1632, Noor inherited the Emirate of Sathrati from him and remained closely connected to the Waffel-Paine dynasty through their children.

Her second marriage was to King Noah of Elwynn in 1633. The marriage made her Queen consort of Elwynn and Uppland, and politically bound her to the House of Ettlingar Freyu. After the Auspicious Occasion, the marriage was annulled in 1656 on the grounds that Noah had allegedly remained married to the Pseudo-Elwynn of the Konungstekja. The discovery of Kunâ A in 1719 AN, later identified as Thóra Njálsdóttir, led to the marriage's relegitimisation in 1722.

Noor had six children. By Nathaniel she had four sons, identical quadruplets born on 2 Filadin 1630: Adam, Aldin, Rostam, and Arn. By Noah she had two children: Vilhjálm, born in 1635, and Esther Fatima Gudrid, later known as Fatima of Arbor, born in 1638.

Her eldest son Adam became the central tragedy of her later life, being responsible for the murder of Rostam and Arn, and ultimately for Noor's own murder. By contrast, Aldin, who became Pentheros of the Dozan Bovic Church, remained one of Noor's closest and most trusted children. Through Adam's son Vidar, Noor became ancestress of the later Ayreon-Kalirion Kaisers of Shireroth. Thus, all kaisers following her have been her descendants:

Other important descendants of hers include:

Biography

Born in 1604 and given the full name, in Babkhi style, of Noor bint Daniyal Umra Suleiman Simrani-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed bin Sathrati, Noor was the only child of the psychiatrist Daniyal Simrani (later Prince) and Lady Fatima al-Osman, the daughter of Kaiser Aurangzeb and second wife of Daniyal. She has two half sisters, Isabella (born 1603) and Miranda (born 1604) through Daniyal's other wife Esmeralda Erinamoor. Her uncle is Tokaray al-Osman.

The father was not present for most days during Noor’s childhood. Her mother Fatima and stepmother Esmeralda lived with Noor and the sisters, but the constant bickering between the Simrani wives caused Noor and her sisters to be brought up by nannies instead. The three sisters had a close relationship throughout the early childhood. Their closeness in age gave a seemingly egalitarian character to the interactions between the three. However, it was always evident that the eldest of them was the most dominant one. Miranda always copied her eldest sister, though Noor often explored her own interests. Noor was particularly interested in Elwynnese mythology.

The family relocated to Eliria in 1607 when Daniyal was named Prince of Elwynn. Noor and her sisters led a secluded and protected life in Krull Palace.

In 1613, the Elwynnese communist revolution was inevitable. Noor's father had been incarcerated in a mental asylum along with his wives. It was Jadocus Badius, then aged 26, the father's catamite, that led the three Simrani sisters in escaping to Natopia. Jadocus's bonded servitude and place in the household instilled loyalty in the young man, which caused him to serve and remain loyal to his master’s daughters. The sisters never regarded Jadocus as a father figure, in fact no more as a family servant, but they did treat him nicely and trusted him to the greatest extent. It was with Jadocus that Noor first confided that she was not heterosexual.

While in Natopia, Noor felt homesick. In an effort to "stay Elwynnese", she began identifying as a Babkhi Elwynnese and mimicked Babkhi mannerisms and habits. She became an active worshipper at the Lindström Zurvanist Temple, which, in line with Natopia's love for Elijah and Elwynn, had adopted the Elwynnist rite (Lady Elwynn as an avatar of Zurvan).

Once the Democratic People's Republic of Elwynn was replaced with the government of Prince Nathaniel in 1618, the Simrani household attempted to return to Elwynn. Jadocus flew to Eliria and asked Prince Nathaniel personally for his permission for the return of the Simrani sisters. Relations between Prince Nathaniel and Prince Daniyal had, since the latter's attempts to kill Nathaniel and then hold a state funeral for him, been somewhat frosty. Nathaniel and Jadocus were alone in a room in the Krull Palace for almost 48 hours before Nathaniel gave in and permitted the return. Nathaniel's only condition was that the Simranis would not engage in anything political.

Return to Elwynn

Shortly after the return to Elwynn, Nathaniel died. The household decided nonetheless to honour the condition imposed by Nathaniel. The new prince, Jonathan, was as naïve as his predecessor (also uncle), but received the sisters in 1620. Following the establishment of a friendship between the sisters, particularly Noor, and Jonathan, the Simrani estate (which had been appropriated by the State during the Vigeland era) was restored. The sisters had now more means, and Noor used her share to invest in the post-communist booming Elwynnese market.

Despite her new-found interest for economics and brokering, she decided against studying the topics in university. When she enrolled to the People's Academy Adabistaan campus in Ardashirshahr (in 1621), she decided to study history and philosophy.

At university, Noor fell in love for the first time. Her non-heterosexuality was confirmed in her attraction and love for the Elfinshi student and rights activist Aviel Muur. The two young women had a passionate relationship for the first two years of the degree. However, the relationship ended unexpectedly when Aviel broke it off without citing any reasons. Three days later the stabbed body of Aviel was found in the Blue Elwynn. No perpetrator for Aviel's homicide was found. Despite the grief, shock and the many questions resulting from her girlfriend's death, Noor completed her degree with honours later the same year, just before Roqpin 1624.

Rise to political power

In the late summer of 1624, the Court of the Prince invited Noor to a grand ball to celebrate the one year of Noah's rule in Elwynn. Noor met the Steward Hallbjörn Haraldsson during the function, and the two found each other easy to trust. They met several times during the autumn, and in Qinamu the same year, Hallbjörn appointed Noor to Emira of Alalehzamin and Utasia and to the Council of Eliria.

She took her newfound roles seriously. In Alalehzamin and Utasia, she quickly decreed a census for the population, that later inspired the Elwynnese government to do the same across the Union. She held legislative elections, and the elected assembly became the only democratically elected legislature among the Elwynnese precincts.

However, in the winter of 1625, Noor fell ill with depression that also took the shape of a religious crisis. She had difficulties believing in the divine in the same way as she did before, and decided to travel and explore the world without constraints. She stayed several months in Alexandria at the invitation of Elwynnist scholar André Koeurdélan who was later to become Third Consul. Despite the many discussions on religion and theology, she did not manage to come back to her faith. She left Koeurdélan and travelled more. First around the wilderness of Stormark, then minor stays were made in Craitland, Hamland and Gotzborg. Her last stop was in 1627 in Natopian Elijah's Rest.

At the very same time, Nathaniel was renanimated (by former Prince Jonathan) in Athlon. The reanimation intrigued Noor. The religious significance for the Bovinists in Elijah's Rest was so evident for her, and she decided to return for the first time since her childhood to Lindström. A few weeks later she met Nathaniel at a function hosted by Emperor Naian, and the two started an intimate friendship.

First marriage

Nathaniel and Noor were both heirs to great estates and lands, and neither of them had heirs. They decided that despite their sexual leanings, they would marry one another. Their friendship, trust and respect were the foundations of happy marriage. Nathaniel instructed her in Bovinism, though none of Nathaniel's endured miracles could sway her to become a true believer again, despite how much she wanted. She conceded, however, to have the marriage solemnized in the Bovic rites in the Church of Eternal Slumber in Elijah's Rest in 1629.

Noor became pregnant shortly after by artificial insemination, and gave birth to four identitical sons on 2 Filadin 1630: Adam, Aldin, Rostam and Arn.

The strong emotions that Noor felt for her children made her desire other strong emotions. Ever since Aviel's death, her emotions had been mellow and low-key. But strong, happy, passionate emotions now became a drug for her. She desired to seek them out.

She had several sexual encounters with women, but felt that they did not give her the passion and happiness she longed for. She began looking at men, and decided that all her Leonid guardsmen would have the bare-chested uniform (which they have in her and her children's household been ever since). For the first time in her life, she felt herself attracted to men. She had sex with several of her guardsmen, and the resulting competition among them for her provided her with both pleasure and power.

Nathaniel and Noor drifted apart, and while Nathaniel called upon her to remain loyal to her family, he never asked her to refrain from sex (on the contrary, he himself had sex often with other men). He simply wanted her time and devotion to the family. Noor, however, was often not there. After several rows, the pair decided to divorce. Noor was tasked with filing a divorce in Elwynn, and a court decree of divorce was issued on 24 Kusporin 1632.

Shortly after, however, Nathaniel died, and Noor inherited the Emirate of Sathrati from him. His other titles were inherited by their eldest son Adam, held in trust by Noor until his majority.

Simrani breakdown

After enjoying her newfound divorcéehood (which she herself termed widowhood) for a while with a slew of successive bedmates, suitors became to approach her for her hand. She was a rich woman, of imperial bloodlines (on both her parents' sides), and politically powerful. As such, many rich people, both men and women, approached her. Among them was King Noah and his sister Princess Fjǫrleif Llængjarla of Amokolia.

At this time, Noah and Fjǫrleif made manoeuvres to sway her. Noor found Fjǫrleif to be the more attractive of Hallbjörn's children, but she was too wild for her. Noah, on the other hand, she found handsome, and a marriage to him would be conducive. She would become Elwynn's queen, and her next child would one day be next ruler of Elwynn. However, he was far too young, and frankly, at the time she did not want him. She wanted a woman or an older man. When the King asked the question in public, Noor hinted that the king ought to ask Isabella instead, as a way to get Noah to go away.

That hint infuriated Isabella. She cut off all communication with Noor. Although they hadn't had much contact with each other since they both attained adulthood, the decision to cut off contact was one that shook Noor. In a letter terminating all correspondence between the two, Isabella wrote about Noah to Noor: I will not be available to marry one of Harald's half-trained house-elves and if you wish to ingratiate yourself with our insufferably smug masters I suggest that you bed the wretched boy yourself.

Noor felt crushed. Her family had disowned her, and Isabella had withheld the death of their father for a period of time in retaliation of Noor’s previous actions.

Ascension in Goldshire

Coat of arms of Noor as Ruler of Goldshire (the coat of arms of Ayreon-Kalirion escutcheoned with the seal of Goldshire)

Ryker Everstone, then Grand Duke of Goldshire, announced in late 1632 that he would pick a successor among volunteers. Noor, lacking direction and motivation in her life, decided to volunteer to become Grand Duchess of Goldshire. She thought that if she gained a position of significant political power in Shireroth, her sister would finally respect her again. However, Duke Ryker decided that among the volunteers, there would have to be duel. Noor did not hesitate. She prepared for a duel, took on martial arts training, practiced swordsmanship, and published a last will and testament, in which she bequeathed a large proportion of her estate, including the title Emira of Sathrati, and the custody of her children, to her sister Isabella, in the event of her death. This decision seemed to thaw the relationship between Isabella and Noor, perhaps because Isabella had calculated that her sister Noor would in any case be dead by the end of the year.

Noor's contender in the duel was Jacobus Loki, the personification of the loss of Elwynnese sovereignty. At that time he reigned as Kaiser as Kaiser Raynor XII. Noor had many grudges against the Kaiser, despite (perhaps also because of) having sworn allegiance to him upon becoming Emira of Sathrati. The grudges, she reckoned, be good fuel in the duel. The Kaiser, however, backed down, saying "no one shall die".

The Grand Duke Ryker then considered Noor to have won the duel by walk-over, and hailed her the new Grand Duchess of Goldshire.

In her position as Grand Duchess of Goldshire, she began immediate legal reforms. She called a constitutional convention to revise the legal structure of the state. While in Goldshire she was struck by how different, confusing and inefficient the civil service of Goldshire was. Instead of beginning the time-consuming process of reforming it, she dissolved it and outsourced most civil-service powers to the ESB-Jörmungandr Group, and policing powers to the Leonid Guard.

Second Marriage

Now, as head of the Imperial State of Goldshire, her powers increased. She received envoys from far and wide, and more suitors came to her. Once more came Noah to her and asked for her hand. Noor was in a much stronger political position to agree to a marriage with Noah this time. Such a marriage would be between two equal spouses, both rulers of different states. Noah was now 16, and ruled Elwynn in his own right. He would soon be 17 and Noor found him more attractive. It would be a marriage she could endure, and perhaps, also find herself happy in. She sent a missive to Eliria agreeing to the proposal. Along came negotiators to decide on the contract of marriage.

The ceremony took place at Cashma House on Cashma Island in Lake Cashma in Lakkvia (then belongint to Craitland) with Sir Vilhjalm Kormak, who was the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Temple of the Lakes, at Haraldsborg, as officiant, on 20 Laemill 1633.

At the time of the marriage, neither Noor nor the Shirerithian authorities appear to have treated Noah's prior Konungstekja union as an impediment. Only after the Auspicious Occasion did the question become politically and legally significant, when hostile authorities reinterpreted the ritual marriage to Pseudo-Elwynn as a continuing marital bond.

The marriage began promisingly and soon enough, in late 1634, Noor was able to quietly confide in her husband, as an aside when discussing otherwise mundane court matters - some petition pertaining to the Royal Parliament - that she was expectant with child. Naturally, although the news was not made widely public, every attention was lavished upon her. For Noor however childbirth was a familiar ordeal, and in order to better face it she retired to the Grand Ducal palace of Goldshire Hamlet (actually a major metropolis in spite of its name) with its breathtaking sea-vistas that she found so relaxing.

Every thought had been given to her comfort, but not enough consideration had been given to her safety. Somehow, something as a blatant as an anonymous parcel addressed to the Grand-Duchess containing, of all things, a cake, managed to pass through the hands of a postal courier, the scullery maid, the butler, housekeeping supervisor, the correspondence officer, two footmen, another butler, the Steward, the Grand-Duchess' Press-Secretary, the correspondence officer again, another footman, a Leonid Guardsman, a pair of guards from the Order of the Golden Spear, finally ending up in the hands of another Leonid Guardsman. Here the parcel was held for an hour while the Ducal and Personal Guards argued over which guards detachment had the right to carry a parcel to the royal chambers. This question of protocol was resolved by amicable fisticuffs and it was the Leonid Guard who carried the box to the Grand-Duchess' private apartment.

After the guard had delivered the package and departed the glimmer of a doubt clouded his mind, and he made his way towards the kitchens to find one of the tasters who had been employed by the Dukes of Goldshire as a custom dating back to the days when you couldn't move for titled Yastreb's who had been poisoned by the over-mighty Avakair Mint. Regrettably, by the time the Guard had found a suitably sober food taster (most customarily branched out into wine sampling, as a precaution) and returned to the royal apartments, Noor had already tasted the delicious desert-berry cake laced with Misoprostol and suffered a miscarriage.

Hardly a day passed and yet in the time it took for King Noah to arrive and take charge of his wife's security and the investigation into the attack on her person, the postal courier, the scullery maid, the two butlers, the housekeeping supervisor, the correspondence officer, the three footmen, the Steward, the Grand-Duchess' Press-Secretary, the pair of Leonid Guardsmen, and both of the guards from the Order of the Golden Spear had all been impaled in the Palace courtyard for failing in their duty to the Queen. Although her strength had not yet recovered, Noor was sufficiently spirited to demand that her husband find her assailants, kill their children in front of their eyes and then cast them into gaol to rot for the rest of their lives. Instead, offered as a compromise, the King promised that justice would be served in accordance with Elwynnese Law.

Subsequently the finest minds of the Mango Rangers, the Leonid Guards, the Avakair Mint, the Union Defence Force, the Order of the Golden Spear, the Suthergold Defender's League and a couple of private detectives provided pro bono by the ESB-Jörmungandr Group, have met and, having examined the crime scene, agreed that the dark blue glass orchid delivered with the cake and engraved with the name of the Dark Orchid Society, is possibly a clue. The assayers of the Avakair Mint however maintain that this is too blatant to be credible and are continuing in their process of testing members of the household for impurities in their own inimitable fashion, suspecting an insider job.

Queen of Goldshire

Queen Noor with her favourite Leonid Guardsman, Ahmed ibn-Faruk, c. 1735

In the year 1633, Noor, in her capacity as Grand Duchess of Goldshire invited the nobles of Goldshire to a constitutional convention where matters of governance could be discussed. Being still regarded as somewhat foreign among the natives of Goldshire, the constitutional convention was a way for Noor to show that she cared about her new kingdom.

The constitutional convention discussed two items mainly, the matter of the future of the monarchy and whether slavery should remain legal. As the convention carried on, the effective compromise was that slavery would remain legal under strict regulation, and that, in order for Goldshire to appear equal to Elwynn and Lichbrook in the Imperial Republic, Goldshire was to become a monarchy too. In the early days of 1635, the new constitutional framework was implemented, and Noor was hailed Queen of Goldshire.

Fifth child

Another joy struck Noor about this time as she found out that she was once again pregnant. Unfortunately, her gynaecologist, Dr Abdullah al-Zaraqi, had been a Tegong agent of Jingdao (with a total change of personality following), something that Noor did not quite appreciate until she was visiting him at the Tokaray al-Osmani Hospital in Allswell. Al-Zaraqi cut her hospital room off from anyone else. Noor's husband, King Noah, was appalled by reports received by him concerning the treatment and safety of his Queen Consort Mortal. It appeared to him that the treatment of his Lady Wife Mortal in the Tokaray al-Osmani Hospital was in contravention of the laws and customs that govern Elwynns Konungurs Hirð as well as that Noor was in peril. Thinking about what happened to his Lady Mother, who was murdered, the King of Elwynn took quick action and issued the Royal Decree of 18 Araroqpinu 1635: Queenly Damsel in Distress which ordered the Groupe d'intervention et Tireurs d'Elite of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard to liberate Noor from the hospital. The aforesaid Royal Decree also ordered the arrest of Dr Abdullah al-Zaraqi and all other staff of the Tokaray al-Osmani Hospital by the Gentlemen-at-Cudgels and be brought over to His Riverine Majesty's Prison Dragonsfold for interrogation concerning transgressions of Article 10 of the Princely Decree of 11 Fasmas 1624: Elwynns Fyrstes Hirð until His Riverine Majesty's further pleasure was signified.

The Alalehzamini government, led by Arandur Thorgils Tarjeisson, had learned about the Royal Decree to save Noor from the Tokaray al-Osmani Hospital, understood the seriousness of the situation, and sent the Emirati Riddare to the hospital as soon as they could, arriving shortly before the Groupe d'intervention et Tireurs d'Elite of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard reached the hospital. Noor was shortly after found safe, al-Zaraqi was arrested, and so was the rest of hospital staff most of whom later turned out to be the agents of al-Zaraqi.

Noor's husband, King Noah, was very keen of keeping Noor safe in Elwynn, where, he thought, she could be protected, but Noor would not listen to him on those matters. She defiantly flew - however, in 'Orchidée en Ciel Un', the Kingly helicopter which had been awaiting Her Riverine Majesty at a nearby field, and in the company of the Lady Yumi Zotrasdóttir of the House of Kviteseid, Lady Secretary of the King's Court as well as escorted by a flight of attack helicopters of the Groupe d'intervention et Tireurs d'Elite of the Fleur de Lys-Longships Guard - to Goldshire Hamlet after the hospital incident, and then to Natopia, for meetings in Lindström and later in Leng. To her surprise, in Leng, she was elected Queen following the sudden resignation of the incumbent queen, The Timeless Shadow. Thereafter followed more meetings in Lindström.

On her flight back to Goldshire from Lindström, she understood that her water had broken. The plane landed in Teldrin, where with the assistance of Thorgils Tarjeisson, she delivered a son, Vilhjalm, on 19 Qinamu 1635.

Goldshire timeout

Following the birth of Prince Vilhjalm, Noor took leave of her government in Goldshire, and let the ESB-Jörmungandr Group tend to the details of government as a corporate Chancellor of the kingdom. Instead, Noor focused more on her family, spending more time in Elwynn, as well as dealing with her interests in Natopia, where, she was the new Queen of Leng, and had been named to the government of Natopia. Privately, she was concerned with the education of her children with Nathaniel. They, being part Natopian, needed some Natopian education. She therefore sent Adam to boarding school in Walstadt, Aldin to boarding school in Athlon, and Arn and Rostam to boarding school in Flaventia.

Meanwhile, the first all-Elwynnese elections since the reign of Prince Nathaniel were held, and the Royal Parliament of Elwynn was opened, albeit later than scheduled, in the early weeks of 1636. Being a royal governor, she was named by her husband, King Noah, to sit as a Sænator (Senator) in the upper house along several other esteemed governors of Elwynn. In the first session of the Senate, Thorgils Tarjeisson nominated Noor to be the presiding officer of the Senate, a nomination which both surprised and pleased Noor. She withdrew, upset and rejected, however, when her brother-in-law, Audun Joel, countered by nominating his sister (and sister-in-law of Noor), Fjǫrleif Hallbjörnsdóttir. In the end, Fjǫrleif was elected unanimously by the Senate.

Walstadt riots

The introductory session of the Senate having ended, Noor flew to visit Adam and Aldin in Natopia. First visiting Aldin in Athlon, she was pleased to see how his education had progressed quickly. Already Aldin could read and write in three languages. Thereafter, she went to Walstadt on the beginning of the latter half of Vixaslaa 1638, where she was hosted by Welf, the "Great Enlightened King" (as he called himself) of Walstadt, who was also hosting his close relative and confidante, the Kettei emperor of Jingdao, Heinrich, at Adam’s ancestral mansion at Zauberförde, where they spent the next few days together. Welf departed the company early, though, to attend to business in Walstadt.

At the same time, due to the free-trade treaty between Shireroth and Natopia, the barque Seahawk from Goldshire arrived at Walstadt, citing the treaty, and demanded to trade with the Natopian derelict outpost. The commander of the barque, Avid Jaggery, sent out missives to the King, and brought with him a number of cossacks with guns. This naturally frightened the local population. The king dismissed Jaggery's request, and in turn, Jaggery's men attacked the king’s palace, and looting and arson around Walstadt followed.

Managing to make an alliance with Walstadters of the Elijahn rite of the Bovic religion, the combined forces continued throughout Walstadt, even unto Zauberförde, where they broke into the mansion, looking for the Kettei emperor. Noor protested to the intrusion, but she and her son were carried away by the invaders. The house was then ransacked until Heinrich, the Jingdaoese Emperor, was discovered in his chambers. The Emperor was dragged by the mob out into the street where he was thrown down into the muck of the gutter, only to be snatched up by the howling mob and carried away to Mandible Hill, where Adam's station saw him dispensing justice, ordering beheadings of various persons, on the instigation of his secretary and his grand almoner. Here, the Kettei emperor was brought, and he, too was executed, and set up on a mock cross.

Noor and Adam were for a short time separated from one another in the unfolding chaos, but managed to find each other before the final evacuation of the Seahawk. They were immediately exiled from Walstadt by the King, and Noor was surprised that the King let her and her son live. She surmised though that there would have been a total annihilation of Walstadt from the Natopian armed forces if harm came upon her and her son. On the penultimate day of Vixaslaa 1638, they sailed on the Seahawk back to Tapfer.

Returned in Tapfer, she and her son were hailed as heroes by the common folk, though by anger by the Imperial Service. The emperor, Naian, was troubled by the acts, and tried in vain to alleviate the situation. Walstadt demanded independence, and, while parts of the Natopian government was somewhat content with that notion, the matter never received sufficient support from the government as a whole. Noor concerned herself with spending more time with her children and paperwork from her various domains. From 19 Gevraquun to 6 Gevrader 1637, Noor hosted in the Ribat Ayreon-Kalirion in Lindström a meeting of the fractions of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion to decide on the proper cause of action after the total meltdown of relations between the Blutwasser faction of the house and the other factions allied with Adam and Noor. After lengthy discussions and deliberations, the Council of Elders] of the house removed all Blutwassers from the house and lineage.

Exhausted with these dealings, she brought her children with her to Elwynn, where they stayed. Noor, having been long gone from Noah, reconnected with her husband. On 18 Oskaltequ 1638, in Saint Harald's Mount, she gave birth to her first daughter, and sixth overall child, Esther Fatima Gudrid.

Civil War in Goldshire

After a short period of maternity leave, Noor began travelling in the late summer and early autumn of 1638 to Stormark, where she was named Jarla of the Longships Isles and member of the Althing, and to Natopia, particularly to Arboria, where the Prince, Lord Erion, had invited her. His object was to acquire the Duchy of New Aquitane (held by Adam, with Noor as regent). After a round of negotiations, Adam's dukedom was transferred to Lord Erion, and Noor was named the new Duchess of Istvanistan instead. She travelled to Istvanistan where she developed relationships with the Neridian prince Janus Eadric Sr and political leader Benjamin Meir, and began negotiations for the integration of Istvanistan to Natopia.

She returned in the early days of 1639 to Elwynn where she began a campaign for constitutional amendments. Her intentions with the amendments were to codify a separation of powers there. Her husband and the major echelons of the Elwynnese ruling class objected heavily to the proposal. Distraught, and upset, Noor left Elwynn to Goldshire. She invited her four Nathanielian sons to come see her in the early spring. However, upon them arriving in Goldshire, she had immediately to attend to government business, sending Adam, Aldin, Rostam and Arn to a skiing resort in Suthergold instead until she could find the time to give them her undivided attention.

During the skiing trip, Adam had unbeknownst to anyone else procured poison that he had brought with him there, with which he had planned to kill his brothers there, so that he could be the sole heir to Nathaniel's estate when his mother would pass away. As matters progressed during the trip, he realised that Aldin’s unwavering love and belief in him could be used to his advantage. In the end, he poisoned cake that killed Arn and Rostam, after which he faked his sorrow. At this point, Adam had, to hide his own culpability, planted "evidence" that hinted that the murder of his brothers was actually the doing of the Leonid Guard.

Upon hearing the news of the deaths of Arn and Rostam, Noor immediately flew to Suthergold where she met her two elder sons, one genuinely grieving (Aldin) and one who to Noor and everyone else appeared to grieve.

Queen Noor as depicted by Goldshirian artist Raul Benedict, who was subsequently fed to a herd of pigs in the Kingsgate Fighting Pit.

Angered with the seeming evidence of the culpability of the Leonid Guard in the deaths of Arn and Rostam, she ordered the imprisonment of all Leonid Guardsmen, and pushed for the extradition of Leonids from other parts of Shireroth, from Natopia and Stormark to Goldshire.

She then held a funeral in the Bovic cathedral of Smjörkýr for the slain children, officiated by The Timeless Shadow, as Metrobosarch of Benacia, attended by all her children, her husband Noah, her brother in law and then ruling Kaiser, Hjalmar Redquill (Audun Joel), her children’s uncle Emperor Naian of the Natopians, and several other members of the Ayreon-Kalirion and Waffel-Paine dynasties.

Upon this, Noor, grief-struck, appeared to have found evidence, with the help of Adam, of cooperation between the Leonids and the anti-royalist Assayers. She then ordered a full-scale war upon the Assayers and their supporters, and requested the support of the Imperial Government in what became the civil the war in Goldshire.

The war dragged on, to the dismay of Noor, and she decided to stay out of Goldshire until the situation had calmed down. She took on duties in Natopia and Elwynn, and drafted a new law in Elwynn that reformed the organization of bailiwicks in the country. She returned to Goldshire in the end of 1640 to oversee the trials of the Leonid Guards, of whom almost all were found to be guilty of treason, and sentenced to death.

In early 1641 she addressed Goldshire in a direct speech, where she announced that of all Leonids tried, 341 had been found to be not guilty. Before their arrests the Leonid Guard had a strength of 56,000 men. She vowed that the fight, however, had to go on, as the Assayers were occupying large parts of Goldshire, and Goldshire needed to be liberated from their tyranny.

She then left Goldshire and spent more time in Natopia and Elwynn. In Natopia, she was by now the most senior member of the government after the Emperor and Chancellor Erion. Upon his disappearance on 23 Oskaltequ 1641, she was therefore proclaimed Acting Chancellor of the Bovic Empire of the Natopian Nation. She oversaw the government until the elections that saw Benjamin Meir elected the next chancellor 133 days later on 2 Gevrader 1642. She then returned to Elwynn, where she spent a few days with her family, before going into the Cedrist Temple at Cabbagefall, at a desperate attempt to seek the favour of the Shirerithian gods in the war in Goldshire.

End of civil war

During her self-imposed confinement, she attended to very little business of state, but was in somewhat regular contact with Aldin and Adam, though she often declined to take calls from them. Adam and Kaiser Dominus took on the task of conducting the war. After a final push, the enemy agreed to an armistice on 15 Nomeziooqu 1643. Noor was skeptic toward the armistice and decided to stay in the Temple until she was sure that proper order had been restored all over Goldshire. At this time, she began receiving a small number of visitors, amounting to her children, Kaiser Dominus, and Armin Jamal-Arminzadeh. It was also in the temple that Kaiseress began covering her hair with veils.

Convinced that peace had truly be restored, on the last day of Laemill 1643, she left the temple and declared in a speech to her nation that peace had been brought to Goldshire. She then crossed the bridge to Shirekeep and declared the same to the Landsraad.

By now, she had assumed the epithet as-Salaam ("of the peace") to follow her given name, to signify that peace had come through her reign. She then returned to Eliria to spend more time with her husband and her youngest children, where she stayed until hearing of the events of the Oustfest Massacre.

The greatest betrayal

In an article in the Daily Mail & Telegraph of Eliria, journalist Jeremi Belami disclosed a leaked tape recording a meeting of the Shirekeep City Defence Committee. The relevant parts of the tape included a conversation between her son Adam and Tokaray al-Osman where Adam not only admitted to killing Arn and Rostam but also boasted about it. She managed to quickly procure the tape, and scientists at the People’s Academy were, after some analysis, convinced of its authenticity.

Heartbroken, Noor distanced herself from Adam, and adopted a final last name of Umm (“Mother of”) Zahir al Din of Waffel Paine to support her son, the Pentheros.

As the Landsraad by now [[had after the occupation of Tokaray of Shirekeep relocated to Alejian Castle, Noor was present for its session, where she was offered the Golden]] Mango Throne of Shireroth, which she accepted. In her acceptance speech, she vowed to bring an end to war in Shireroth, to bring all evil-doers to justice, and to make Shireroth great again. On 8 Rugaall 1644, by a vote of 8–2, the Landsraad elected her Kaiseress of Shireroth, and on her authority, forces loyal to her reconquered Shirekeep and Cabbagefall.

Kaisership

Our Lady the Radiant Sun amidst the Ruin of Shirekeep: A devotional oil painting issued to the legions to be carried as the Imperial Icon. The exposed upper-torso was purportedly intended as a concession to the Froyalanish aesthetic. Some Babkhi regiments insisted upon veiling the icon.
A rare candid picture by the Court Photographer, taken in early 1647 when news of her son's escape from confinement was received.
Still from a video released by the Office of Information as part of a propaganda campaign by the Imperial Government to prepare Shireroth for the implementation of permanent dynastic rule. The media campaign focused upon an appeal to sentimentality by stressing the bond between Noor and her grandson, Vidar.
A rare, tense, family meeting between (from left to right) Noor, Isabella Simrani-Kalirion, Noor's reluctant daughter in law Liv Dravot and Miranda Simrani-Kalirion.

First year

A few minutes after the bells ringing in the new year 1645, Noor entered Shirekeep in a procession. She proclaimed her ascension to the throne an hour later, and decreed her government a few hours later.

Not long after the capture of Shirekeep, Noor's forces also captured Cabbagefall. In Cabbagefall's catacombs, her forces found her son, Adam, and his wife, Liv. They were arrested and brought to the imperial capital. Noor decided to meet Liv (but refused to meet Adam), and it became apparent that not only was she an abused victim of Adam (and not a willing partner to his evils) but she was also pregnant. Not long after, on 8 Gevraquun, 1645, Liv gave birth to a son, who Noor, being the grandmother, named Vidar Salim Livarson.

Politically, Noor focused the first year of her actual reign on "tidying up the rubble" from the Oustfest Massacre, which for her included the banning of Cedrist cannibalism and ritualistic sacrifice. The banning saw a lot of loud protest and an exodus of extremist Cedrists from Shirekeep.

Meanwhile, the fate of Adam was in her hands. Although Tokaray al-Osman, her uncle and usurper of the throne, was still at large, she nonetheless sentenced him, in absentia, to death. Adam, too, she sentenced to death, though after protests from Adam's only remaining full sibling, Aldin, she commuted Adam's sentence to monastic existence at Saint Joelle's Monastery in Athlon.

News had reached Shirekeep about the same time that Tokaray's usurper successor, Marcus Myksos, was being protected by the authorities in Voltrue. After several negotiations for the handover of Marcus Myksos to the Imperial authorities broke down, Noor declared Voltrue to be in rebellion, and military rule was placed over the desolate area of the far west of Benacia.

In late 1645, she arranged for and hosted the funeral of her predecessor Kaiser Dominus. A few of his regurgitated remains had been found and identified and placed in a jade coffin. Among the foreign guests were the ailing Emperor and Empress of the Alexandrians – Edgard II and Iphigénie, the High King of Stormark – Harald – and the Empress of Natopia – Asara Sisu. Several other international and Shirerithian guests were also present.

Second year

The opening months of 1646 were marked by diplomacy rather than war. Envoys from Jingdao approached the Imperial Court with proposals for the reunification of Kildare with Shireroth. Noor received the initiative favourably in principle and convened the Imperial Advisory Council on several occasions to consider possible constitutional and administrative arrangements for reunification. Despite prolonged discussions, however, the Shirerithian and Jingdaoese delegations failed to reach agreement on the terms of integration, and Noor eventually terminated the negotiations. Although disappointed by the outcome, she avoided allowing the failure to damage broader relations with Jingdao.

By this point, the burdens of government had begun to weigh heavily upon the Kaiseress. The first year of her reign had been consumed by reconstruction, judicial reckoning, and the suppression of religious extremism, while her private life offered little respite. Her marriage to King Noah, though politically indispensable, had become increasingly strained. Noor found herself at odds with both her husband's personal and sexual conduct and the increasingly radical direction of his government in Elwynn, tensions she generally concealed from public view in the interests of dynastic stability. As she had done during earlier periods of emotional crisis, she sought refuge not in courtly life but in religious contemplation.

On 18 Gevrader 1646 she departed Shirekeep on a pilgrimage to Mount Yaanek and thereafter to Athlon, entrusting the government to Steward Daniyal Dravot. During the little more than seventy days of her absence, Dravot oversaw the day-to-day administration of the Empire and introduced a number of financial reforms in the field of imperial law. Noor's pilgrimage appears to have had both spiritual and personal significance. Contemporary sources suggest that, while in Athlon, she met her imprisoned son Adam for the first time since learning of his betrayal, although the contents of that meeting remain unknown. When she returned to the capital on 19 Nomeziooqu, contemporaries remarked upon a noticeable change in her demeanour. Declaring herself spiritually renewed, she immediately ordered the construction of the Atash Behram Der Bareber Sathrati, a monumental Temple of Fire within the grounds of Raynor's Keep to house the Eternal Fire of Victory. The project reflected both gratitude for her safe return and an increasingly public expression of her Zurvanist faith.

Noor's renewed sense of religious purpose was soon tested. Reports reached the capital that Cedrist recusants, expelled from Shirekeep and other cities after her prohibition of ritual cannibalism and human sacrifice, had regrouped in Tellia. Interpreting the uprising not merely as a political rebellion but as a direct challenge to the moral and spiritual order of the Empire, Noor described the campaign as a religious duty. Once again she delegated civil government to Steward Daniyal Dravot and personally assumed command of the Palatini Corps. The ensuing counter-insurgency achieved its principal objectives, dispersing the organised Cedrist resistance and re-establishing imperial authority throughout the region. Returning triumphantly to Shirekeep later that year, Noor inaugurated the Temple of Fire by personally lighting its eternal flame and ordered permanent military garrisons to remain in former Cedrist strongholds to deter any future insurrection.

The latter months of 1646 were comparatively peaceful and allowed Noor to turn once more to dynastic and diplomatic affairs. In recognition of his longstanding friendship towards Shireroth she created Emperor Edgard II of Alexandria Baron San Juan. She also entrusted the administration of her Marquessate of Zy-Rodun to her husband, King Noah, appointing him Seneschal after he publicly swore an oath of allegiance to her authority in that dominion. Towards the close of the year, Noor departed on a private journey to Natopia accompanied by her younger children, Vilhjálm and Esther, seeking to strengthen familial ties while once again leaving the conduct of imperial government in the hands of Daniyal Dravot.

Third year

The year 1647 proved one of the most turbulent of Noor's reign, as international war, dynastic tragedy, and domestic tensions unfolded almost simultaneously. Shortly after departing on a private visit to Natopia with her younger children, the outbreak of the War of Jingdaoese Immolation forced her to abandon the journey. She was taken, together with Prince Vilhjalm and Princess Esther, to a secure undisclosed location within the Imperial Republic while Steward Daniyal Dravot exercised the executive powers of government. During this period, Dravot directed Shireroth's diplomatic response to the conflict, authorising negotiations with Gerenia aimed at ending the blockade of Gerenian ports and reducing tensions in the North Sea.

Having resumed direct rule later that year, Noor turned her attention to the Imperial Court itself. Concerned by disputes that had arisen during her absence, she issued a series of sweeping constitutional and ceremonial reforms. These codified the order of precedence within the court, prescribed elaborate rules of etiquette and ritualised displays of respect according to rank, and clarified arrangements for the succession and administration of the Empire should she die while reigning. Although intended to reinforce harmony and stability at court, the reforms also reflected Noor's increasingly formal conception of monarchy, in which hierarchy and ritual were regarded as safeguards against political disorder. The tensions underlying these measures soon became apparent when the Countess of Amarr, Nostalgia, openly denounced Noor as "a little dictator" during an audience. Noor immediately dismissed her from all offices, banished her from court, and appointed the young Lord Zakyyr Moonoak as Chamberlain of the Imperial Household instead.

The most significant development of the year, however, occurred within Noor's own family. Encouraged by her son Aldin, Pentheros of the Dozan Bovic Church, she accepted an invitation to Athlon to observe the progress of her estranged eldest son, Adam. The visit marked the first sustained contact between mother and son since Adam's crimes had shattered the Imperial family. At first Noor refused even to acknowledge him, but after many weeks spent observing his conduct and his interactions with Aldin, she gradually began speaking with him again. Though far from forgiving him, she came to believe that redemption might yet be possible and departed Athlon having taken the first tentative steps towards reconciliation. Privately, she acknowledged the profound guilt she carried for Adam's upbringing, believing that she herself had helped shape the man he had become.

Those fragile hopes collapsed almost immediately. Shortly after Noor's departure, Adam abducted his cousin, Empress Asara of Natopia, from the Pentheral Palace in Doza and murdered her during his escape to Walstadt. Horrified by the news, Noor immediately travelled to Natopia, once again entrusting the government to the Steward while she assisted the Natopian authorities and supported the succession of the young Emperor Zakyyr. Upon her return to Shirekeep, she reorganised the Imperial Household, appointing Zakyyr as an Imperial Advisor while releasing him from his duties as Chamberlain, and replacing him with Altea Lomax. Domestic affairs remained unsettled, however. Public opposition to restrictions on alcohol sales forced Noor to repeal the reforms after widespread unrest in the capital, an episode that became known as the "pub strike". Holding Steward Altea Lomax politically responsible for the crisis, Noor dismissed her from office and appointed her half-sister Isabella, Khanum of Erianamor, as the Empire’s new Steward.

Fourth year

In 1648, Noor increasingly turned her attention from immediate crises to the long-term durability of the Imperial state. The relationship between Shireroth and the newly associated State of Talenore was formalised through the establishment of imperial courts, revenue authorities, marshalcies and a High Commission, while Altea Lomax was appointed Imperial Envoy to oversee the new institutions. Shortly thereafter, Noor departed on a state visit to Alexandria, combining diplomacy with a renewed attempt to assist the Alexandrian authorities in locating her fugitive son, Adam, whose escape following the murder of Empress Asara continued to cast a shadow over the Imperial family. The search proved unsuccessful, and Noor eventually returned to Shirekeep, declaring that her foremost obligation remained the governance of the Imperial Republic.

During her absence, Steward Isabella issued a landmark constitutional decree proclaiming the permanent rule of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion and criminalising public advocacy for Noor’s abdication except on grounds of ill health. Although Noor later accepted the acclamation with characteristic humility, she soon complemented it with a broader constitutional settlement of her own. Following a major reorganisation of the Imperial Government, she clarified the laws of succession, replacing the previous system of designation with hereditary primogeniture among her legitimate descendants while providing for stewardly regency during the minority of a sovereign. In a separate decree she irrevocably excluded her eldest son, Adam, from ever succeeding to the Golden Mango Throne, ensuring that the succession could never again be imperilled by the man she now publicly described as her "wicked son." Together, these reforms marked a decisive shift in Noor’s reign away from the uncertainties of personal rule towards a dynastic and institutional order intended to endure beyond her lifetime.

Fifth year

By 1649, Noor's reign had entered a more settled phase after the upheavals of the preceding years. Although she continued to travel abroad – undertaking a state visit to Stormark at the invitation of her grandfather-in-law High King Harald before enjoying a short family holiday – her absences were brief and uneventful, reflecting growing confidence in the imperial administration and the institution of the Steward. At home, her attention increasingly turned to consolidating the dynasty and strengthening the structures of government that would outlive her own reign.

Questions of succession occupied much of Noor's attention throughout the year. Determined to secure the future of the Ayreon-Kalirion dynasty, she amended earlier succession arrangements and assumed personal guardianship of her grandson and heir apparent, removing him from the custody of his mother on the grounds that the child would receive a more suitable upbringing under her direct supervision. She further reinforced his dynastic position by granting him the Goldshirian title of Khan of Caer Lum'ruush, ensuring that the future sovereign possessed a substantive dignity within one of the principal kingdoms of the Imperial Crown. These decisions reflected Noor's increasingly paternalistic understanding of monarchy, in which the upbringing of future rulers became a responsibility of the state itself.

In foreign affairs, Noor continued to cultivate Shireroth's principal alliances. She reorganised the empire's representation within the Shirerithian–Alexandrian–Natopian Entente (SANE), appointing Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson as Shireroth's representative to the Joint Military Council while entrusting the Natopian Empress Consort, Lady Li, with the office of Chamberlain of the Imperial Household. She also welcomed the appointment of Felicia Sánchez Sánchez as First Consul of Alexandria and pledged continued cooperation in both the SANE alliance and the ongoing international search for her fugitive son, Adam.

Relations with the young Natopian Emperor Zakyyr also evolved during the year. Having previously relied upon him as an Imperial Adviser, Noor quietly removed him from the Imperial Advisory Council, while nevertheless maintaining close family ties. When Zakyyr issued a controversial decree placing new obligations upon the Natopian line of succession, Noor privately admonished him in unusually maternal terms, urging him to heed wiser counsel and instructing his wife, Lady Li, to help guide his judgement. Zakyyr replied courteously, acknowledging her experience while politely reaffirming Natopia's sovereign right to regulate its own internal affairs.

Meanwhile, Noor’s long-running conflict with Lady Nostalgia reached its final rupture. Citing renewed acts of lèse-majesté, she stripped Nostalgia of the County of Amarr, banished her from the Benacian dominions, and reassigned her to the isolated island of Ura'Bos as what she described as an act of "Radiant Mercy". When rebellion subsequently erupted in Lichbrook, Noor offered her estranged courtier a final opportunity to surrender and seek forgiveness before ordering military intervention should she refuse. Any remaining possibility of reconciliation disappeared when Nostalgia responded with a deliberately insulting letter directed personally at the Kaiseress. By the end of the year, Noor's tolerance for perceived disloyalty had become markedly diminished, and personal fidelity to the Crown had become an increasingly central feature of her rule.


Sixth year

The final year of Noor's reign began with comparatively routine affairs of government. She undertook a final reorganisation of the Imperial Government, exchanging the portfolios of Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson and Princess Fjǫrleif Hallbjörnsdóttir and appointing Lady Li Naomiai as Governor of Lichbrook.

The defining event of the year came with the extradition of her eldest son, Prince Adam Anushiruwân, to Shireroth following years spent beyond imperial justice. Adam, whom Noor had publicly denounced as "the Kinslayer" and "Enemy of Humanity", had dominated the latter years of her reign after murdering Empress Asara Sisu and launching a rebellion against the Crown. His return brought to an end an international pursuit that had involved close cooperation with the Alexandrian and Natopian governments. Noor consulted her family and senior ministers before pronouncing sentence, ultimately condemning her son to death by burning before the assembled Imperial Family. The decision reflected both her conviction that Adam was beyond redemption and her belief that justice for his victims took precedence over maternal affection.

Despite the overwhelming personal tragedy surrounding Adam, Noor continued to pursue an active foreign policy until the very end of her reign. Following the collapse of the Minarboria, she proclaimed Shireroth a place of refuge for Minarborian exiles, extended imperial protection over Tellia under the Treaty of Gloomburg, and incorporated Karalakh into the Imperial Dominion of Lichbrook. These measures, contained in Imperial Decree 934, would become the last decree she ever signed concerning the governance and territorial development of the Imperial Republic. Her last decree was the death warrant for her son, entitled Marg bar Adam.

Only days after issuing Adam's death warrant, Noor travelled with her son Aldin to the prison on Ura'Bos to inform the condemned prince personally of his fate. During the meeting Adam, having secretly been released from his restraints by one of his guards, Major Ahmed ibn-Faruk, seized a concealed knife and fatally stabbed his mother. Aldin immediately killed his twin brother in the ensuing struggle.

Noor died aged forty-five, ending a reign that had profoundly reshaped Shireroth's institutions, territorial extent and imperial identity. She was succeeded by her four-year-old great-grandson, Kaiser Ayreon IV (Prince Vidar), with Prince Kyle assuming the regency as Steward. In accordance with Zurvanist custom, Noor's body was first exposed upon a Tower of Silence before her purified remains were interred beneath a monumental obelisk in the Valley of Mors.

Legacy

Character and personality

Noor's contemporaries frequently remarked upon the striking contrast between her private warmth and her public severity. In personal relationships she could be affectionate, playful and deeply devoted to those she trusted, particularly her children and close family. Yet as a ruler she cultivated an image of distance, dignity and almost sacred authority. Throughout her reign she increasingly came to regard the person of the sovereign as inseparable from the stability of the Imperial Republic, and believed that monarchy functioned best when surrounded by elaborate ceremony, hierarchy and visible reverence.

Her childhood had a profound influence upon her character. Raised largely by servants while her parents were absent or preoccupied, Noor developed an unusually independent temperament at an early age. Throughout her life she sought close emotional attachments, but these relationships were often intense and vulnerable to disappointment. The deaths of those she loved, periods of political exile, repeated betrayals, and above all the crimes of her eldest son Adam left lasting emotional scars which became increasingly evident during the latter part of her reign.

Intellectually, Noor possessed wide-ranging interests. Although educated as a historian and philosopher, she displayed curiosity in theology, constitutional law, economics, administration and military affairs. She preferred mastering subjects sufficiently to make informed political decisions rather than becoming a specialist herself. Her reign was characterised by constant institutional reform, reflecting both an analytical cast of mind and a tendency to seek permanent structural solutions to immediate political problems.

Her emotional life was equally intense. Noor experienced joy, grief, anger and affection with unusual depth, and these emotions often shaped her political actions. The murder of her sons Arn and Rostam, the revelation of Adam’s guilt, and later the murder of Empress Asara profoundly altered her outlook. During the final years of her reign contemporaries observed that she became less trusting, more formal, and increasingly inclined to view loyalty to the Crown as the supreme political virtue. While she never entirely abandoned compassion—as demonstrated by repeated attempts to secure Adam’s repentance—she also became convinced that mercy without justice endangered both the dynasty and the Empire.

By the end of her life, Noor had become both a revered sovereign and a deeply tragic figure. Her determination, intellect and capacity for decisive leadership had restored imperial authority after years of upheaval, but these same qualities were accompanied by an increasingly uncompromising view of justice and duty. Her death at the hands of the son whose redemption she had sought for years came to symbolise both the greatest personal failure of her life and the ultimate sacrifice made in service of the Imperial Republic.

Religion

Religion occupied a central place in Noor's life, but her convictions were neither static nor uncomplicated. Her faith underwent several periods of crisis during early adulthood before eventually returning with renewed intensity in the form of Elwynnese Zurvanism. At the same time, her first marriage to Nathaniel had brought her into close contact with Bovinism, and the later elevation of her son Aldin to the office of Pentheros of the Dozan Bovic Church ensured that the religion remained intimately connected to her own family. Noor never appears to have regarded these loyalties as mutually exclusive. Zurvanism provided her personal understanding of the divine and increasingly shaped her conception of monarchy, while Bovinism remained inseparable from the memory of Nathaniel, the vocation of Aldin, and the Natopian branch of the Ayreon-Kalirion dynasty, all of which she continued to honour and support.

Her religious convictions also informed her views on culture and public morality. Noor increasingly came to regard the preservation of traditional Elwynnese and Babkhi customs as a personal duty of the sovereign. She viewed with growing alarm what she perceived as the cultural influence of Storish and Vanic court society, particularly the increasingly overt sexualisation of women and the erosion of older Elwynnese ideals of dignity and reserve. These concerns were sharpened by her own marriage to King Noah. Although she respected Noah as a capable sovereign, valued his political judgement, and retained genuine affection for him at various periods of their marriage, she was privately disturbed by his reputation for sexual excess and by what she regarded as his increasingly corrosive influence upon Elwynnese society and court culture. Their marriage consequently remained one of mutual political respect and intermittent personal tenderness, but was also marked by profound ideological disagreement.

In conscious contrast to prevailing fashions elsewhere in Benacia, Noor adopted the Babkhi practice of veiling her hair in public following the conclusion of the Goldshire Civil War. The headscarf became both an expression of personal piety and a deliberate political statement, symbolising modesty, dignity, and resistance to what she regarded as the objectification of women. During the remainder of her reign she appeared unveiled in public only once: during her state visit to Stormark in 1649, when, at the insistence of King Noah and in deference to the customs of his homeland, she reluctantly laid aside her veil for the duration of the visit before immediately resuming it upon her return to Shireroth.

Political legacy

Noor is generally regarded as the founder of the hereditary Ayreon-Kalirion Dynasty. Although she neither established the Imperial Republic nor created many of its principal institutions, her reign permanently transformed the Kaisership from an office dependent upon political election into the hereditary possession of the House of Ayreon-Kalirion. Her constitutional reforms concerning dynastic succession, regency and stewardship survived her death and remained the foundation of imperial government for generations.

Her reign also marked the emergence of a more sacral conception of monarchy. The sovereign increasingly came to be presented not merely as head of state, but as the moral guardian of the Empire and protector of its peoples, a conception that profoundly influenced later Shirerithian political thought.

Historical reputation

Few Shirerithian rulers have attracted more varied historical assessments than Noor. Traditional imperial historians portrayed her as the restorer of Shireroth following the chaos of the Oustfest, the architect of lasting dynastic government, and a sovereign whose personal determination preserved the Empire during one of its gravest crises. Her devotion to duty, constitutional reform, and personal sacrifice became central themes of official historiography.

Later historians adopted a more critical view. While generally acknowledging her administrative ability and political courage, many argued that the increasingly ceremonial and personal nature of her monarchy strengthened the authority of the Crown at the expense of older constitutional traditions. Her emphasis upon dynastic legitimacy and personal loyalty arguably weakened those broader institutions that had previously balanced imperial authority.

Some historians have further argued that Noor's uncompromising centralisation of power and her preference for personal rule contributed indirectly to the constitutional fragility that became evident after the assassination of her grandson, Kaiser Ayreon IV, during the Kalirion Fracture of 1671. Although the crisis occurred two decades after her death, critics have suggested that the Empire she created proved too dependent upon the personal authority of exceptionally capable sovereigns. Others have instead argued that Noor merely delayed an inevitable constitutional collapse and that the Imperial Republic might well have disintegrated much earlier had she not restored effective government after the civil wars of the 1640s.

Memorials

Noor rapidly became one of the most widely commemorated rulers in Shirerithian history. Numerous monuments, buildings and institutions bear her name, while official iconography frequently depicted her under the epithet "Our Lady the Radiant Sun."

On Ura'Bos, the site where she was murdered by her son Adam became a place of remembrance. During the Arcadian period, Margaery des Vinandy commissioned a memorial on the spot as an expression of devotion to her fiancé, King Noah, Noor's widower. Visitors commonly leave orchids at the monument in memory of the late Kaiseress, a tradition that helped establish the island's flourishing orchid-growing industry. A short distance away lies the place where Adam himself died; visitors traditionally spit upon the ground there as a symbolic condemnation of his crime.

Within Raynor's Keep, the monumental Bâb-an-Nûr ("Gate of Light" or "Gate of Noor") was constructed in her honour. Reserved for the highest dignitaries of the Empire, it serves simultaneously as a ceremonial entrance and as a place where imperial justice is publicly manifested.

Construction of Noor's own monumental tomb had begun during her lifetime. The subterranean complex beneath the Valley of Mors combines funerary architecture with religious symbolism, portraying the Kaiseress both as sovereign and as servant of the gods.

Cultural legacy

Beyond politics, Noor came to symbolise a distinctly Babkhi-Elwynnese conception of monarchy. Her deliberate adoption of the veil, emphasis upon dignity and ceremonial restraint, and patronage of Zurvanist architecture became closely associated with the imperial court she created.

Later writers often contrasted Noor's ideals of modesty, discipline and sacred kingship with the more openly Vanic court culture associated with King Noah and the Vanic Elwynnese monarchy.

Posthumous status of the marriage to Noah

In 1656, six years after Noor's death, Shirerithian authorities annulled her marriage to King Noah of Elwynn, arguing that Noah had already been married to the Pseudo-Elwynn of the Konungstekja. This decision cast retrospective doubt on Noor's status as Noah's lawful wife and on the courtesy titles he had borne through her.

The discovery of Kunâ A at Raynor's Keep in 1719 AN reopened the matter. The remains were later identified as those of Thóra Njálsdóttir, the woman who had appeared as Pseudo-Elwynn in 1632 AN. Since forensic investigation established that Thóra died immediately after the rite, Noah was no longer considered to have been married to her at the time of his marriage to Noor in 1633 AN. The marriage between Noor and Noah was consequently relegitimized in 1722.

Government

Role Holder Tenure
Steward Daniyal Dravot, Khan of Cabbagefall 1645–1647
Altea Lomax 1647–1647
Isabella Simrani-Kalirion, Khanum of Erianamor 1647–1648
Prince Kyle Kilynn 1648–1650
Minister of the Interior Prince Kyle Kilynn 1645–1648
Altea Lomax 1648–1650
Minister of the Exterior Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1645–1648
Princess Fjǫrleif Hallbjörnsdóttir 1648–1650
Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1650–1650
Minister of Military Affairs Daniyal Dravot, Khan of Cabbagefall 1645–1648
Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1648–1650
Princess Fjǫrleif Hallbjörnsdóttir 1650–1650
Prefect of Shirekeep Lady Mira Octavius-Aryani, Count Palatine of Kezan 1645–1650
Imperial Inquisitor-in-Chief Professor Heath J. Belledin, Lord in Shirekeep 1645–1650
Imperial Inquisitor Captain Jeremy Archer, Lord in Shirekeep 1645–1650
Imperial Inquisitor Benjamin Kern, Lord in Shirekeep 1645–1649
Imperial Inquisitor Count Armin Jamal-Arminzadeh 1649–1650
Chamberlain of the Household Lady Nostalgia, Countess of Amarr 1645–1647
Lord Zakyyr Moonoak 1647–1647
Altea Lomax 1647–1648
Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1648–1649
Empress Li Naomiai 1649–1650
Imperial Envoy to Goldshire Daniyal Dravot, Khan of Cabbagefall 1646–1648
Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1648–1650
Imperial Envoy to Lichbrook Prince Hallbjörn Haraldsson 1646–1648
Count Armin Jamal-Arminzadeh 1648–1650
Imperial Envoy to Elwynn Heath Belledin 1648–1650
Imperial Envoy to Talenore Altea Lomax 1648–1650
Imperial Advisor without Portfolio Emperor Zakyyr Moonoak 1647–1649

Titles

Note: only titles held in her own right.

Queen Noor's full titles (including those as consorts) were when she died:

Her Imperial Magnificence and Radiance Noor as-Salaam bint Daniyal Umra Suleiman Ayreon-Kalirion ibn al-Majeed al-Osman bin Sathrati af Ettlingum Freyu Umm Zahir al-Din of Waffel-Paine, Our Lady The Radiant Sun, The Kaiseress of Shireroth, Kaiseress in Kildare, Empress of Kildare, Queen of Goldshire, Queen of the Elian Lands, Queen of Talenore, Queen of Elwynn, Amokolia, and Uppland, Imperial Princess of Shireroth, Emira of Sathrati, Princess of Hvalafell, Princess of Arietta, Mishalan, Anglethyr, Bondegard, Bosworth, Gascogne and Gascony, Guernsey, High Queen Asa Land, High Queen Hervör Isle, Humlebæk Island, Lady Gudrun Isle, Los Bananos, Lyngelan, Marthunia, Merlaide, Old Sea Fortress, Østfold, Sicilia, Suðreyjar, and Thydtwinster, Imperial Chieftainess and Jarla of the Longships Isles, Emira of Alalehzamin and Utasia, Duchess of Istvanistan, Duchess of Froyalan, Northshire, Lady Esther Isles, and Robland. Marchioness of Zy-Rodun, Countess of Cape Farewell, Countess of Dracoheim, Countess of Istvan, Jarla and Grand Electress of Jorvik, Jarla of Benicia, Countess Shishin, Countess of Old Araxion, Old Cimmeria, Elsenar, Storborg, Hoheit Town, and Ancient Wintergleam, Býurgreifynja of Eliria, Llængjarla of Elwynn, Baroness of Running Bull, Baroness of the Elw, Fórntida Kærleikalanden, and Opplysta Smørvirket, Lady Mayor of the City of Vladagrad, Lady of the Two Sacred Rivers and the Twelve Peoples, Lady Triumphant in All Four Quarters, Lady in Jorvik, Wardeness of the Flower of the North, Royal Consort of the Blood-Unifier of the Jewel of Many Facets, Lady Imperial on All Continents, Lady of the Holy Lakes, Thane of the Shirelands, Keeper of the Apollo Legacy, Wielder of the Sword of Vengeance, Grand Master of the Orders of the Dragon, Griffin, Phoenix, and Chimera, Sovereign of the Golden Mango Throne, Scion of the King of Kings.


Heraldry

Period Picture Right Comment
1604–1624 As a member House and Imperial Bloodline of Ayreon-Kalirion, abandoned in 1624
1624–1650 As Emira of Alalehzamin and Utasia
1633–1635 As Grand Duchess of Goldshire
1633–1650 As Emira of Sathrati and Marchioness of Zy-Rodun
1635–1650 As Queen of Goldshire
1633–1650 As Countess of Cape Farewell
1639–1650 As Duchess of Istvanistan
1644–1650 As Kaiseress of Shireroth

Ancestry


Preceded by:
Landsraad Rule (de jure) 		Kaiseress of Shireroth
1644.6371–1650.6546 		Succeeded by
Kaiser Ayreon IV
Preceded by:
Nathaniel 		Emira of Sathrati
1633–1650 		Succeeded by
Kaiser Ayreon IV
Preceded by:
Ryker Everstone 		Grand Duchess of Goldshire
1633–1635 		Succeeded by
herself as Queen
Preceded by:
herself as Grand Duchess 		Queen of Goldshire
1635–1650 		Succeeded by
Kaiser Ayreon IV
Preceded by:
Lord Erion as Chancellor 		Acting Chancellor of Natopia
1641–1642 		Succeeded by
Benjamin Meir as Chancellor
Preceded by:
Nathaniel Ayreon-Kalirion 		Marchioness of Zy-Rodun
1632–1650 		Succeeded by
Vidar Ayreon
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