Empress Estrik de'Ferrva

Empress Estrik I Vitelerya de'Ferrva (Vitelerya being Middle Euluska for the Magnificent), was a ruthless political schemer and banker from Cessalia who was regarded as the first major member of the de Ferrva family. After orchestrating the removal of many of the pretenders to her late father's fortune and making deals with mercenaries and daemons, she seized power in her city, and was elected Euluskan Emperor from 1336-1384. By her actions she also helped the later prominence of the Disforza family in a way. 
== History ==
=== Early Life ===
She was born in Cessalia in 1312 as the eldest daughter of the de'Ferrva imperial family of ironmongers. The family name quite literally means 'Of the Ironmongers'. Cessalia was a wealthy port town close to the heart of the Empire. During the time Estrik was growing up, Cessalia was ruled by several noble families. The de'Ferrvas were one of numerous Palatines of the island, Maestrien. The town's polemarchs were the Eminyerë dynasty, who were famed as condottieri. Estrik saw the wealth disparity in Cessalia with her own eyes and saw how her father strove to solve this issue, and the Eminyerë became more and more wealthy in its pursuit. The de'Ferrva family saw a large boom in its wealth in the 1320s because of the iron trade becoming more lucrative as the Empire shipped more and more goods to the rapidly industrialising Felonil.
=== Succession Crisis ===
When her father, the elderly Yovanë de'Ferrva passed away of natural causes in 1332, there was much in the way of a battle of succession, to seize his tithes, titles and influence. This was because by then, the family had become one of the richest in Cessalia from this iron boom. The 20-year-old Estrik schemed against her two cousins Alena and Vereya, her uncle Bello from the other side of the family, and many other claimants. Many of them threatened her stake in her inheritance or were false claimants with lesser relation to the estate, so she did the only reasonable thing, and began plotting against her own family. 
Her cousin Vereya Kontessa held a serious claim to the dynasty. Vereya was also a keen vintner. To solve this, one of Estrik's late father's closest servants, an old Vortai man named Ûto'o, was ordered to sneak into the Kontessa vineyard at night and brush the favourite grapes of Vereya with a clear gloss made of crushed water hemlock. Vereya went to taste them the following day in preparation for the upcoming harvest, and ended up falling deeply ill, dying a few days later. Estrik's other cousin Alena Kontessa also attempted to claim the estate of the late Yovanë. The elder sister of the late Vereya, she had to be dealt with. Estrik had one of her close allies ruthlessly and secretly murder a wealthy Lyskeiän tinmerchant visiting Cessalia, an elderly man named Kurë Yeren, and then Estrik framed Alena for the merchant's death. Alena was arrested and thrown into a tower to rot, where she later died of prison fever some three years later. The last claimant to her late father's estate was her uncle Bello de Ferrva. However, he successfully cast Estrik out of Cessalia and actually seized full control of the family's assets and manor for some months. 
=== Exile ===
Whilst in her short exile, Estrik found herself captured near Caledfwlch one day by the charming, bearded, long-haired condottiere Ennio di Sforza, the son of Empress Dateriä II di'Sforza Calinezzi and the uncle of the contemporarily reigning Empress Dateriä III. Silver-tongued Estrik offered Sforza the promise of power and money if he helped her, and like any good condottiere, he listened, intrigued. Estrik had no money to give him, but stalled for time. In a small town named Cahay that the army stopped off at to trade vegetables, she studied in the library beneath the monastery, and practiced a ritual to contact a daemon, an ifrit named Sephnet. Estrik struck a bargain with Sephnet for her own weight in pure silver, with which she paid Disforza handsomely, and they set off toward her home. Sephnet's condition for the deal was that each month, her or her descendants had to sacrifice a hundred silver florins (100ƒ) to her. 
During her time with Disforza's army, she met the knight who she would later marry, a raven-haired elven cavalrywoman named Vaoä Isenza. The two shared their fire and tent on the march from Caledfwlch to Cessalia. The winter after she had been exiled, Estrik returned to Cessalia to lay siege upon the town with Disforza's mercenaries. Their terms were simple; that uncle Bello relinquish his claim to the de Ferrva estate and fortune, and leave Cessalia to never return. The siege was not lifted for several tense weeks. The worried populace and the looming threat of Disforza's mercenaries drove the Eminyerë family in desperation to raid de Ferrva manor and forcibly bring Bello out in chains to the city gates, where he was handed over to Estrik and Ennio. Estrik banished him from Cessalia forever and had him magically branded by one of Disforza's war mages so that he would never be able to step near Cessalia without someone noticing. 
=== The Magnificent ===
The gamble paid off. Estrik acquired her late father's funds, power, and estate. She immediately offered Disforza more silver if he stuck around and used his men as the new armed guard of Cessalia. They accepted gladly, eager to settle down with warm beds, tile roofs, and home-cooked meals for once, compared to tents and dried rations. With the weight and power of Disforza's mercenaries and the fortune of her father, Estrik slowly but surely replaced the Eminyerë family from rulership; not through aggression, but by making the people love the de'Ferrva way. She spent much on charity and helping the poor, and Disforza's army kept Cessalia safe. She was also a great patron of the arts, funding such Romantic painters as the legendary Vanyaretta. Through these acts she was eventually known as the Magnificent. Her and Vaoä Isenza married after the city was secure, and they raised two children together; a daughter who would become Admiral Adryna de'Ferrva, and a son, who would be Grand Duke Sipolasku of Cessalia. Estrik was chosen as Empress of the Euluskan Empire from 1336 to 1384; she had Vanyaretta design a crown for her. She passed away of old age in 1401 in the city of Navara. 
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