JAEHAERA

20 HC, Tsenkher 8 in King Lucerys' Kingdom - 40 HC, Shiremun 7 in the Bastion
QUEEN OF THE BASTION PRIDE (28HC-33HC)
QUEEN REGENT OF THE BASTION PRIDE (30HC-33HC)
QUEEN MOTHER OF THE BASTION PRIDE (33HC-40HC)

SUMMARY: Queen Mother Jaehaera was born as a foreign princess in 20HC and given in marriage to the Crown Prince Khachiun, 7 years her senior. Though she disliked these circumstances, she grew to cultivate her own ambitions and cunning in promoting her blood within the Bastion, embedding herself and her family into politics. Most of her litters, except her last one, were not fathered by her husband.

The cunning leopon manipulated politics behind the scenes, first by suggesting Tsenkher allow his son more power to rule so that he could step back. Furthermore, the obvious future queen grew a network of supporters within the Bastion and its allies, sending off her daughters to marry and gain political allies. After Tsenkher’s death in 28 HC, Jaehaera finally became Queen. In 30 HC, the long awaited heir to Khachiun’s line, Prince Jaehaerys Shiremun, named after her, was born to Princess Meraxes. She would tutor the young prince, hoping to mold him into a proper ruler. At this point, she knew her work paid off, as her line would be in power for the next generation. In 33 HC, her husband died of a heart attack, and Jaehaera and her daughter, Meraxes, made moves to secure the throne for Shiremun.

Jaehaera was retitled as Queen Mother alongside her daughter Meraxes and played a more prominent rule in politics to ensure that her family had a secure hold on power. After a few years, in 37 HC, she retired from public life, leaving Meraxes to handle the major day to day politics of the Bastion, though she was still consulted on major decisions. Despite her age, she was still quite a lively member of the court, overseeing the education of her granddaughters and great-granddaughters. However, in 39 HC, her eldest leopon daughter, Khojin, was poisoned, and her condition seemed to deteriorate visibly. She died early in 40 HC, in the 7th year of her grandson Shiremun’s reign.

Despite her naked ambition, Jaehaera’s enemies had to admire her political acumen and wit that had such an impact in the politics of the court. Even though she was a foreign princess, she managed to leave a lasting mark on her new home in the Bastion kingdom. She is honored for her role as an adroit political player during the reigns of Tsenkher and Khachiun and in stabilizing the early reign of Shiremun and greatly mourned by her numerous descendants.

KING: KHACHIUN
DAUGHTERS: BUUDAN, KHOJIN, DAENYS, NAERYS, SYRAX, MERAXES, VHAGAR, MELEYS, GUNJU, ABIKA

The Princess Jaehaera was born to Queen Rhaenyra in 20 HC of the Bastion in King Lucerys' Kingdom. Unbeknownst to Lucerys, the young leopon princess is not really his daughter, though he believes it so and no one, except Queen Rhaenyra, is any wiser. Despite the fact that Jaehaera did not inherit her mother's mottled rosettes, the princess is still stunning with her pale black-striped pelt and her 'dawn' colored eyes.

At a young age, the Princess was offered as a possible wife to the heir of the Bastion, Khachiun. The Bastion accepted her father's proposal and Jaehaera, barely five moons old, who always had a rebellious streak, fumed and complained, though there was little that could be done on her end. Once she was old enough to be weaned, the young Princess was shipped off to the Bastion to be warded there under King Tsenkher.

Jaehaera despised her situation but knew that complaining would only earn the ire of the others around her. After bitterly whining to her mother during the first month, Rhaenyra, who was to stay there for a bit to help her get adjusted, slapped some sense into her daughter, saying that this was one of the best possible futures for Jaehaera. In their old home, Jahaera would just be one of the many princesses vying for the attention of her father, but here, she was to be the principal queen of the future heir. She would have power, glory, and her sons would be kings and princes, Rhaenyra had told her, so she'd better behave if she wanted to stay in her father and Tsenkher's goodwill. At this, Jaehaera kept her thoughts to herself and not wanting to become just another daughter in her father's growing brood, the leopon princess vowed to herself that she would become queen.

She married the Crown Prince in 22 HC and resented Khachiun's treatment of her. Though Jaehaera fulfilled her duties to her new husband, that did not stop her from secret dalliances with other lions. The Crown Prince had not warmed to his wife yet, as he saw her still as a air-headed young lady and Jaehaera resented how Khachiun treated his young wife 'like a child' to be minded. When she went off to hunt by herself, she took it as an opportunity to indulge herself with other males and by the end of the year, she became pregnant, unsure of who the father would be. Jaehaera kept her pregnancy secret, feigning sickness so that when she retreated into seclusion, people would not bother her too much--she had already made up her mind that if any of the cubs looked nothing like her or her husband, she would smother them and dispose of them discreetly in order to protect her secret.

A year later, in 23 HC, Princess Jaehaera gave birth to the twin princesses Buudan and Khojin. To Jaehaera's relief, both princesses looked similar to her, and even then, seeing that leopons were rare, many were unsure of how appearances passed from parent to child. Princess Buudan inherited mottled spots, either from her unknown father or her maternal grandmother, Rhaenyra, and Princess Khojin was almost a spitting image of her mother, except for her slightly darker-toned colors. The birth of the twin cubs were celebrated and they were presented as royal princesses to the Bastion, daughters to Crown Prince Khachiun.

Buudan and Khojin, despite being twins, grew further and further part. Buudan resented Khojin because everyone favored her striking leopon looks, and Khojin was more than happy to play to her advantages. Eventually, fearing that their fights would go from words to claws, Jaehaera arranged for Buudan to be sent to the Crownlands, to be raised by her mother, Rhaenyra, with Khachiun's permission. She also successfully convinced Tsenkher to step back slightly from his official duties and hand some responsibility down to her husband, the Crown Prince Khachiun.

In 25 HC, Tsenkher 13, Crown Prince Khachiun and Princess Jaehaera had another set of twin princesses, Daenys and Naerys, both with mottled spots. Princesses Daenys and Naerys were both claimed by the unknowing Crown Prince as this litter was the result of yet another tryst. About mid-year, the Crown Prince revealed his intentions to have his daughter Princess Daenys warded in the allied kingdom of the Veldt. The young princess was already aware of her fate and wasn't too surprised and accepted with grace. She was barely an adolescent when she was escorted to become the ward of the Veldt king, leaving behind her twin sister, Naerys. Soon after, her daughter, Khojin, gave birth to the Princess Verdandi.

Princess Jaehaera had been away visiting her mother in the Crownlands when the incident between the Crown Prince and Prince Hiroshi occurred. Upon hearing the news of what transpired, Jaehaera scolded Khachiun, telling him that this was what fermented dissent among the populace and led to cracks in the steadiness of his reign. Despite the fact that she never had much experience actually ruling, as Khachiun never asked for her opinion in matters that he was allowed to rule on, the cunning princess already had an eye for politics through observation. She was an astute spectator of the court while her father-in-law and her husband made the decision and though she wasn’t a member of the Tsenkher’s inner meetings, Jaehaera cunningly wheedled information from her friends who had attended.

Khachiun did not take his wife’s words kindly and returned with a beratement of his own towards his wife. Jaehaera had been hoping to use this as a teaching moment for her daughter, Naerys, but the young princess was terrified by her father’s sudden outburst and Jaehaera coldly removed herself and her daughter from Khachiun’s rooms within the Bastion. The departure of the two from the Bastion to stay in the Highlands with Princess Alaghujin was noted by many members of the pride and only intensified whispers about the state of Khachiun’s mind--was he coming down with the same madness that later afflicted Kharzud? It had been 13 years since the fall of the tyrant and he had all but faded from living memory, except for the oldest lions of the pride. Kharzud had become a bad memory, intensified and vilified, as a sharp contrast to the reign of the good Tsenkher, and so, many lions, who had not even been born then, still balked at the thought of Khachiun returning the kingdom into a state of madness.

Though Jaehaera was pressed for details about the incident, she knew that Khachiun had enemies in the kingdom and said nothing that could be used against her husband, merely saying that she wanted a change of atmosphere from life at court. Despite her increasing dislike of the Crown Prince, the leopon princess knew that her fortunes were tied with that of Khachiun and held her tongue in public criticism of the primal.

Princess Jaehaera found herself pregnant yet again in 26 HC, Tsenkher 14, unsure of who the father was. Her cubs were born mid-year, four princesses, all with unique mutations or patterns. Princess Syrax, the oldest, was born pure white with pink skin and eyes. Princess Meleys was pale with mottled rosettes all over her pelt. Princess Meraxes had the leopon looks of her mother and grandmother and the youngest, Princess Vhagar was born with two tails. Khachiun, despite being the absent father, was quite proud of his ‘achievement.’

In the next year, 27 HC, Tsenkher 15, she was blessed with another granddaughter born to her daughter Khojin, the Princess Brynhildr, a handsome dark cub with mottled rosettes.