Empress Dateriä II

Empress Commodore Dateriä II Helkoaldeiä Ewyrraül di'Sforza Calinezzi was a noblewoman, naval commodore and great ruler of the Euluskan Empire. She was notable for being one of the only emperors of direct dual nobility heirage, taking over after the 1260 Azoälda succession crisis, as well as reigning during the early colonisation of Lakay. She was a controversial figure - despite leading the Empire during a period of prosperity, she declared the Great Lakayan Rebel War on the native Lakayans, spearheading a crushing wave of Euluskan imperialism and colonialism.
== Life ==
=== Early Years ===
She was born the elder of two daughters in 1232 TE in the city of Sanctum in the Fallo, to parents Maria di'Sforza and Ryberto Calinezzi - it was notable because her parents' marriage, officiated in the Holy City, united two of the greatest noble houses of the Empire for the first time in generations. She was showered with gifts and praise by other nobles growing up, for she was the first child that represented the union between the Disforza and Calinezzi families. She was given the name Dateriä Helkoaldeiä, with the dual unhyphenated surname di'Sforza Calinezzi (and her younger sister was named Lyzareäna Maria). Growing up, Dateriä was given a full nobles' education in politics, rhetoric, history, languages, swordplay, riding, shooting, sailing, and the like. She showed keen prowess at sailing and graduated top of the class at the prestigious Sanctum St. Emeli Naval Military Academy. She then joined the Imperial Euluskan Navy at the age of 16 as a commissioned deck officer, helping to defend the Gap of Luska seaway from piracy aboard a ship called the Cliffs of Caliveri.
=== Maria's Death & Shift to Politics ===
When Dateriä was 23, serving as a Commodore of the navy in the Gap (so in 1255), her mother's cousins Galeatzus & Torio di'Sforza were falsely accused of being usurers by drunken Xantic mercenaries in the Deralth city market. The two men challenged the mercenaries' leaders to a duel, greatly humiliated them by winning it, and then left. In anger, the mercenaries found them in a tavern that evening and clubbed Torio with a stone, killing him. Galeatzus drew his sword and fought back, but was ultimately slain. Dateriä's mother Maria was distraught by the news. Unable to track down the guilty mercenaries by normal means, she secretly turned to the Devil Prince Ormander, contacting him with a seance and offering a pound of her flesh and a pint of her blood in return for, as she worded it, fiery power equal to thine own. Ormander, a cruel trickster, granted her an internal body temperature as hot as his, which killed Maria in moments. Her husband Ryberto witnessed this event, having intended to help her, and was traumatised - for the rest of his life, he became a mute and never remarried. The event shook the family, but Ryberto never elucidated the details. The family covered up the shame and said it was a house fire.
When she returned from the seas, Dateriä went to live with the di'Sforza side of the family, whilst her sister and Ryberto went to live with the Calinezzi side of the family. Dateriä threw herself heavily into politics after this event, focusing on making the Fallo safer, regulating the actions of the famed Xantic mercenaries, She became quite a notable figure in the Lyskeiön Capital Territory. Her mother's death and her father's enfeeblement really marked a turning point for her, shifting from a whimsical life of privateering into a focused life of politics. 
== Succession & Ascension ==
In 1260, the previous emperor, Rómlaz XII Volkotti Azoälda, fell gravely ill without any direct heirs (he had a niece, the famous explorer Madaleneä Wolcott, but she had been born into a non-noble family so she was ineligible). During his reign, Rómlaz had spearheaded the Euluskan colonisation of the Wolcott Straits. Anyway, this caused a minor crisis because it was the end of the noble lineage of the ancient noble Azoälda family's direct lineage (the surname and family persisted, but the unbroken lineage back to the year 0 had ended). The council of the main Euluskan noble families (six now, since the Azoälda line had been broken) scrambled to choose the next ruler. They settled upon Dateriä. Rómlaz gave her his blessing before his death in 1261, and Dateriä ascended the throne as Dateriä II di'Sforza Calinezzi. She was a merciful but firm and well-educated ruler who ruled from 1261 to 1289. 
=== Colonisation of Lakay ===
Under Rómlaz XII's thirty year rule, the Euluskan Empire had successfully established several colonial settlements in the Wolcott Straits, marking the beginning of the Euluskan imperial expansion toward the "Southern Continent" as it was called. Under Rómlaz XII, the ports of Heather's Vineyard, New South Bracken, Anchorage, and Pharox-Thas were established, and a flourishing trade in the 'big three' - sugar, coffee, and cocoa - began.
Under Dateriä, further expeditions pressed inland south from the Wolcott Straits, as well as on the eastern coast of Lakay and inward across the Great Steppe. Several notable settlements founded during her rule included Fort Saint Aurelia, New Lyskeiön, Huckleberry, Lilac Springs, King's Stead, and the two capital ports - Caraway and Port Dateriä. (In the 1390s, Port Dateriä was renamed to Fort Helena under Empress Elena II de'Ferrva when the Euluskan Empire established Lakay as a penal colony, sending convicts there.)
=== Great Lakayan Rebel War ===
Some of the settlements in Lakay received violent opposition from the native Kaneeyi confederacy, including various clashes inland that ramped up heavily. I mean, fair enough, it was their land. In 1270, the Kaneeyi Nation and the Uiyet Horde declared open war against Euluskan settlement in the Great Green Valley and the Steppe- they did so by burning homes and massacring settlers at towns like King's Stead and Huckleberry, sticking bodies on sticks and burning flags. Dateriä responded to this provocation with a famous declaration of war, which has been quoted and re-quoted by many Euluskan imperialists throughout history. It is at the top of the page. She declared the Empire would crush the insurrections, and proclaimed it the Great Lakayan Rebel War. The Euluskan Empire, the most rich and powerful state in the world, poured its resources into crushing the uprisings, beating back the Kaneeyi and Uiyet brutally. It was not a very fair war. 
== Death and Legacy ==
In 1289 with the war ongoing, Dateriä fell severely and rapidly ill. She died from a flu-like sickness at home in Sanctum, and her daughter Grima Ylna di'Sforza succeeded her as Empress Grima X. Grima won the Lakayan Rebel War and declared it over after the end of the uprisings in 1299. The Kaneeyi and Uiyet would not take part in an organised revolt until 1512, when the Lakayan Liberators would stage a continent-wide revolution. Interestingly, the hero leader of the revolution would be Machavellio di'sforza; Dateriä II's great-great-great-grandson!
Dateriä also had a younger son, Ennio di'Sforza, who later became a condottiere (mercenary) who assisted the noblewoman Estrik de'Ferrva in displacing her usurper uncle in 1333 so she could regain power, eventually becoming Empress Estrik I Vitelerya de'Ferrva.
Dateriä's II daughter Grima had a daughter, also named Dateriä, who became Empress Dateriä III. Dateriä III famously fought a war against the Vortic Mercatorium over the northern Wolcott Straits, which established which parts would be Vortic and which parts would be Euluskan.
Dateriä II was posthumously dubbed with the epithet Emwyrraül, meaning "the mercy" or "the merciful".
All in all, she was quite a controversial figure. She was a cultural cornerstone of imperialism and colonialism.
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