Lyrra ai-Shunra

> "There is grace to ascent. The sun does not just jump into the noon hour, it sails up and over, gentle and unhastened. I am patient. My place is in the sky, it is simply not yet the proper time."
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**Lyrra ai-Shunra** is one of two Neaams of the Canveri Shuridanno, the daughter of a fraternal pairing. Her twin brother is Lyrros.

## Biography

After the successful Conquest of Canvary, Empress Fayza chose to ingratiate her sizable new constituency by incorporating the Soliflor bloodline into the House of Ushar. The invasion of Tarasin wiped out the main branch of the royal family, forcing Fayza to court a cousin Eledrios ti Beilin, a prince from an off-branch Canaveran clan. After a year, Fayza gave birth to twins, Lyrra and Lyrros, which was celebrated as an auspice throughout the empire, the Canveri especially, who looked up to the twins as darlings.

Because of her sex, Lyrra was eligible to one day become the next rumsa, and the subjugated Canveri oligarchs took special interest in her growth and development. She is the heir to two dynasties, and potential inheritor to both. Eledrios her father personally invested in her education and would visit his "Little Sunflower" regularly in the Wirashom, grooming her for success.

## Involvement

Despite Baharra's ascension to the imperial office, Lyrra was the prime candidate selected by the Cabal and her ambitions have not faded in light of the new sun, it has only made her own desires burn brighter.

Lyrra has been known to hold her own private audiences within the Wirashom for petitioners, querents, and even political ambassadors, including Palatine envoys from Canvary.

Lyrra was annoyed with Mascad for wanting to marry Baharra, infuriated at his declaration to perform the Seven Signs of Love and Devotion for the empress's favor, clearly shifting the Cabal's priorities of putting her into power. In light of this, Lyrra opened back-channels to the Palatine Order in Canvary, hoping to secure her home country's allegiance in secret if she needed to make a move against the Kailar.

## Behind the scenes

Lyrra was the true culprit behind Empress Mizaara's assassination, discreetly fulfilling on Loriv's failed Operation Eclipse and avenging her brother's castration. After Mizaara's death and Himasser's disposal, Lyrra expected to take power, but she was obstructed by the brief return of her sickly grandmother Fayza.

## Notes

* I see her more composed; the world is already in her hands, only titles and ceremony obstruct her. The Cabal is already in power, and has complete control over he army, and her father has been assuring that once the anti-emancipation revolts have been put down, the empire would be able to tolerate a third dead empress in five years.
* Lyrra has things handed to her, and she's been promised the empire by people who want to get her there, so she's comfortable letting them be creative. Seeing Baharra in action gives her confidence that she doesn't have to wait long before she's disgraced and a replacement is needed, but Keyara's competence as an advisor throws a wrench in this.
* Her country was conquered and enslaved by the Ushanrans, and as a gesture, the royal bloodline was incorporated into the imperial blood and the previous empress mothered twins, a boy and a girl, which was seen as an omen of the subjugated elves' eventual rise to power. Her father and the other elven nobles have been schooling her to be their ultimate empress one day, inheriting both the old kingdom, the Sunflower Kingdom, and all of Ushanra, and the common elves adore her as their "Sunflower". So she has a big destiny ahead of her, one she and everyone around her has been wanting since she could talk.
* The Cabal, the dictatorship with the support of the elves, has Lyrra all set up to be their candidate to succeed the close-to-death empress, and she sees the power play all too well and distrusts their hand in her daughter's death. Knowing Lyrra has the harem in her grip, anyone she chose from her own family could be intimidated or controlled. So against all expectations, Fayza picked this random granddaughter living in exile to be her heir, Baharra, and took the rug out of the Cabal and Lyrra. While frustrated, she's convinced that being empress is her destiny, and Baharra's ascension is just another setback by an envious world and that it's "just a matter of time" for her.