Amazkwen of Masich

**Empress Amazkwen I** of the Masich reigned for forty years, from 845 to 879 AS (202-168 BCE). She was arguably one of the most important people of the ninth century, taking over the entirety of Bewyndr and even bringing civilization to the faraway island of Kewitew (Britain). Her conquest of Bewyndr would mean the blocking of Fénic expansion to the north, forcing them to spread their influence into the Jewish land of Phut.

Amazkwen, also known as **Queen Gwen** to the Bewyn people she conquered, was born in the Later Masich town of Taurit to a poor family of peasants. She was later recorded to have extreme levels of knowledge, showing extreme advancement. Managing to rise up the ranks of command, she quickly became the consul for her small city in the northern fringes. She witnessed the growth of the Féni firsthand, and was a conservative in the aspect of wanting to push them away. However, she was more progressive than backwards, seeing a brighter future if she were to block off the barbaric practices of the Féni. By the time she turned eighteen, she had become powerful enough to volunteer for war, going against most of the Masich and Yhudaic practices of male domination. By 840 AS, she had left the lower class entirely, something most people were never able to do in their *lifetimes*. In 842 AS, the current King of the Masich was in bad health, and all his heirs were squabbling amongst who would get the largest rule over the kingdom. Amazkwen, having been an advisor for the King for nearly eighteen months, slowly plotted to overthrow him. While the King lied on his deathbed surrounded by his children, she stabbed them all, ruining the line of succession. She assumed the throne, controlled the army, and defeated a three-year civil war against her. She was autocratic at first in order to keep herself queen, but she slowly lowered her strict policies to gain the trust of the people. By 855, she was very popular amongst the women, having lowered some of the harsh laws against their rights. She implemented a basic set of laws known as the Amazkwen Code, something that had never been used in the history of Western Maravia.

As time went on, she secured the support of the public, either by negotiation or force. She rallied the people against the Féni, showing them to be the same people they fought nearly sixty years earlier. There was no sense of nationalism amongst the Masich just yet, but she evoked a feeling of a united culture and equal stature. The army grew vastly, with plans being made to keep the Empire from expanding. The Ieskale had broken the allyship of Masich after they lost their last war, but that didn't keep them from invading. They quickly subjugated the growing Ieskale Kingdom of Aranigoyim, killing the young king and moving to the ocean. Amazkwen continued by blocking off shipments of Fénic trade to Jówanghos and Gwanon, attempting to keep the mysterious source of gold from flowing. In 865, she thought of a somewhat ingenious way to keep them from expanding any further. By blocking off the connection to the rest of the Fénic tribes, it would allow a disuniting of cultures. A few months later, she began to subjugate the tribes of Bewyndr, a semi-mythical land to the far north, above the northern border of the Féni Empire. While it was difficult to travel ships back and forth, their technology managed to greatly increase with the seizing of sea-faring Féni vassals. Her plan succeeded with full force, and she would reign over Bewyndr with an iron fist for years until her death of old age. She ended up increasing trade to the mysterious island of Kewitew, as well as ordering the first detailed map to be made of Western Maravia. The first kingdoms developed there nearly decades after her first exploration of it, something that has been directly connected to her reign. Her kingdom was passed on to her daughter, beginning something of a woman-dominant society in Masich.