Inara Gorasilli

Inara Gorasilli (567-638) was a married empress consort to emperor Kharan II, mother to emperor Marasa II reigning for his minor son between 597-615 AGV. She married the emperor in 586 at the age of nineteen, having met him some months prior. Her stewardship started the fast eroding of the Hadašhim Empire after the age of conquest. A clever girl, all around well concentrated with good intentions, she was brought into the imperial family against her will, into an environment she wasn't prepared. Later, without outside support, betrayed by trusted advisors she moved on a bound track choosing between bad and worse options. Posterity wasn't kind to her, she was regarded as the most incompetent ruler, although the two centuries after her regency have brought ample example of more wicked leadership. Later scholarship after the Deluge reevaluated her role, and found that some blame should have been put upon emperor Kharan II who forced Inara into an impossible situation that never existed before. Contemporaries atribute most event to sheer unluck, as the emperor could have been well alive until his sons reaches an acceptable age, if not for the slippery saddle that caused his death. Suffering a civilian coup while bed-ridden after she gave birth to Marasa II, Inara relied upon professional soldiers to rule that caused several ramifications in the later times. Under the regency, Hadašham started to be governed as a more federal unity of several entities, but it wasn't until some eighty years later that the local forces proved themselves more important than the center in Kartam.

Few things are known about Inaras birth or early life. She lived in a village near Lurrak until 586 where she met the emperor in a forest why on a walk. He has lost his escort when he went astray chasing a roedeer. Inara immediately caught eye with her pretty stature, rounded face, tiny lips, elegantly angled nose. After the initial questions she gave a cheeky, witty answer to the unknown rider, that quickly turned into a badinage between them. Kharan found something remarkable in the girl, and decided not the reveal his identity. He left the maiden on the road and rode in front of his entourage not to get caught, but tasked a hunter to follow the maid home. As he felt something special in the days after, he ordered some soldiers to pay off the father of the Inara while taking the girl into one of his estates. There, the frightened damsel was presented to the emperor, but she put up a ferocious resistance when she was left alone with him in a bedchamber at nightfall, before recognising the face from the forest. No violence has happened to that point, nor afterwards because Inara accepted the fate in some time.

Infuriated was however the empress mother, who feared the popular repercussions of the marriage. It took her some time to accept the haphazard marriage, but she was a strong supporter of Inara, almost pushing his son into her bed to get her much-desired grandchild. Inara suffered three miscarriages in a row during 587-590 what left imperial advisors wondering whether she is capable bearing a child. Her mother-in-law also turned against the empress, first advising, then asking, finally threatening her son to divorce the women, or to count on her countinued support no more. Kharan decided for the latter, thus Faile declared her immediate retirement from state matters, and the executives started to unravel in the following months. Corruption, patrimonalism, nepotism, patronage became once more common, all of which had serious implications for the empire, although the ruler did not notice much of that as he relegated the governance to lesser men.

During this period the queen-consort developed a maniac fear of sexual relations to the point, that he asked his husband not to visit her but to call for a night in his mansions. At such nights she cried for hours before getting ready for his man. Five years long she was unable to conceive, what had a lasting impact on her psyche. Furthermore it inflicted a crisis of confidence unseen in imperial history, as everyone braced for a doomsday event should the royal couple remain childless. Gold was hoarded, only the most secure investments were sought after, besides the rampant corruption this was the strongest influencer of the Public mood, not for the better.

In 596 however, she was once more blessed with a child after a supper spent together relaxed their nerves. Kharan died two months later, on the same week Inaras pregnancy was announced. Epinu Khorbaraš, first suffet of the state has kept the news hidden from the empress. Although the ruler slipped and fell, smashing his head against cobblestones and dieing some hours later, Inara received the story in a slowly to avoid damage to the fetus. She was for some ten years in the belief that his husband died after three days of coma, until she heard some servants gossiping about.

Great effort was put into the covering measures, that were ultimately effective the now-empress-widow managing to keep the fetus. However presenting the facts and burying the late emperor was only the first half of the tasks. Two factions started to rivalise in the imperial administration, both supported by powerful officiers. One wished to wait if the empress-widow was capable to carry the child until full term, and seat the kid upon the throne as the prevalent legal opinion has prescribed. Other favored a restoriation of the Rakhonid line. Prince Rakho was then the orhana kulum supreme priest of Hadašham uncle to the late emperor Kharan II. He killed his older brother, crown prince Harko in a drunken quarrel at the wedding of their younger brother, Tudhan IV father to Kharan II in a case of apparent self-defense. As he could not been punished otherwise, his father demanded a brief from Rakho, in which he renounced any claims to the throne both for him and for his descendants. Apart from this, he was appointed as the orhana kulum a lifelong office without the chance abdication. He would have been an octogenerian on the throne, as per Hadašhim legal tradition his grandsons did not qualify until he wasn't crowned an emperor.

Furthermore the opinions, whether Rakhos renouncement is binding or made under the threat of violence and as such null and void, divided the scholars. Anyway, this case would have made Rakho extremely vulnerable to usurpation, as emperor Kharan II had four sisters, all married to powerful families on whose behalf they could have made a claim themselves. Initial opinion supported the ascension of an old man with guaranted successors, while most people were skeptical of the empresses child-bearing capabilities. As the weeks passed, and the birth a royal heir inched closer the empress began to gather public sympathy. She took the death of his man with unexpected grace, she remained neutral in the battle whether his child should sit on the throne or not, and she kept the fetus quite alive, as his frequent kicks announced it to the mother, to the doctors and by extension to entire realm. Labor started on a calm night in the early winter of 597, resulting in the birth of a large, healthy boy, named Marasa II.

Fireworks were still in flight, people still celebrated when the first suffet entered the royal confines and presented the exhausted now-empress-regent with a pre-written proposal. Inara read it to the end, becoming shaken to the core in the process as Khorbaraš demanded sweeping power that would have made him into a shadow empire behind the throne. With incredible resilience, Inara didn't even flinch, just told the administrator that she is too tired to understand the paper, so they should continue the conversation tomorrow. Before Khorbaraš could have objected, the empress had turned to the side imitating sleep. Furious, the official had parted for home, but he never reached his house. The regent sent one of hear trustees with a hand-written brief to the Soldier City, with the notion that only an erinmešar is permitted to read it. She asked the šurghans for help against the first suffet, who obliged by butchering his entire entourage. Next morning, the mutilated head of Khorbaraš was presented to Inara in a ceremonial manner, much to her pleasure.

From that point onwards, the empress-regnent relied on the military in governance, as she developed a deep distrust against the civilian bureucracy. This was disapproved by large segments of the population, but the sheer power of the armed forces ensured that no serious conspiracies have ever happened against her rule. Inara and the military were natural allies. With no remaining lands worth of conquest, the armed forces feared a loss of prestige alike to the rule of Tudhan IV. Under his son the winds have turned and they hoped for keeping it that way, turning Marasa into another warrior emperor.

Sweeping reforms were initiated. Erinmeši were permanently stationed in the recruitment provinces, with their commanders gaining a significant say in civilian matters too. Administration became a shared responsibility of clothed and amoured officials the latters having the last word. Hated by some, disliked by more this new method guaranted the emperors' and the regents security from revolts, but it came alongside frequent abuse. Soldiers were to that point zealous in eradicating corruption that the bureucracy was destroyed in several provinces, turning into a patchwork of detached clean officials who were connected neither to each other nor to a superior authority. To resolve the situation, military governors were allowed to fill the ranks with whomever loyal to the house and not too corrupt. This, without any kind of formal control led to a resurgence in bribery, nepotism and likewise practices, because the thinned central department could not supervise all the provinces at the same time with the same efficacy.

In this case, some kind of centralisation was introduced to prevent abuses. Captain generals were appointed, partitioning the state into five military districts. These were called the capitancies of Hadašham, Freelands, Ahargan, Westernlands and Ore Mountains respectively centered upon Tir-Našadar, Nakad-Birith, Ahar-Arath, Lurrak and Zobar Hakk. Captain generals were directly responsible to the empress regnent. Until 610, when the last reforms ended, widespread insecurity akin to the interregnum was common. After the military countercoup and the following wave of detentions led to an economic downturn what spread to the countryside with the provincial reorganisation. When chances sprang up, aristocrats moved into a new area doing everything they could to avoid getting labelled corrupt, what ironically included paying bribes and protection money to military leaders. The first signs of a ruralising nobility were visible alongside clientelistic chains that reached the level of the captain generals. They were appointed officeholders for now, remaining the same during the five-decade-long rule of Marasa but in time some titleholders gathered enough power to be semi-autonomous what emptied out imperial power at the end of the seventh century. The period was characterised by interregional rivalry of several interest groups known as the Pentarchy. Only Hadašham proper remained exempt from this development, as most landholders were small-to-middle peasanst. Public lands were in short supply, so the officials could not appropiate any territory where they could have centered themselves. Besides, corruption was always lower in the seaboard region, due to the stronger farmer-merchant middle classes who were interested in a good governance and had the means to enforce it through long-standing institutions.

Inara handed over the scepter to his son on his 18th birthday in 615, although he was given practical experience before. The Empire wasn't in immediate danger of collapse of downfall but the last two decade brought unexpected instability, from which the realm wasn't able to recover. The dowager empress remained a potent force behind his son during her later life. She arranged an early marriage to avoid a similar interregnum as before. She was delighted to get a large family of five grandsons and six granddaughters. Inara Gorasilli suffered a stroke in early 638 that confined her to her mansion. She was unable to speak, became paralyzed under the waistline and needed serious assitance even for mundane tasks. After six months of suffering she died in her sleep. Inara was buried below Kings Mountain in the same crypt as her husband whom she survived by more than fourty years. Inara Gorasilli was the most powerful women Hadašham has seen to date, and she inspired whole generations of female leadership alongside her mother-in-law afterwards.