Queen Mythela of Etrand

Queen Mythela I of Etrand - also known by her childhood nickname Nanóca  which she later adopted as an artistic name - was the last Tondbertid ruler of Etrand, having ruled de jure from 718 to 744, reigning as queen regnant briefly in 718 (before her husband Bryant took control) and 744 (after Bryant died), being a de facto queen consort in the time between. She was the daughter of King Calder and wife of King Bryant.

A well-known fact about Queen Mythela was the fact that she both performed and composed music. She used her childhood nickname Nanóca as her artistic name.

She was the only ruler of Etrand - other than King Tondbert I of Etrand - to abdicate the throne rather than die reigning.

Early Life
Princess Mythela was born in Grandfolk, on 716.4845995893, as the one and only daughter of King Calder I of Etrand and his wife Queen Aryna of Etrand. She was remembered as being a playful and cute little girl with a strong fondness for cats and music. When ever she could, she would play in the royal gardens, in that "green-pink-blue land of paradise" - by her own words. When she grew older, her fondness for cats would be widened into a fondness for cute things in general, including but not limited to small children. Next to the cat, her second favourite animal was the Capricorn Beetle. Mythela's childhood nickname was Nanóca.

However, the years of games and playing quickly ended when she was considered old enough to let her education begin - when she was 6 years old. Being the only child of the royal family, she was given extensive care, near-infinite free time was replaced by a tight schedule. As the likely successor to the throne - or backup successor, as her parents have not given up on the hope of getting a son too - she was introduced to the mysteries of statecraft, the safety of numbers and the confusion of letters. Her fondness for the arts was not neglected either - her parents assigned her to be taught poetry, composition, classical singing and how to play the lute, harp and harpsichord.



By the time Mythela was 13 years old, she was already fully literate and capable of dealing with numbers in a way the ordinary citizen could not. That was also the time she fell unusually sick, which caught the whole royal family in surprise, as she was always a healthy and energetic girl. The Clerics could barely save the young princess from a disease of unknown origins. Mythela made an oath after that event that she would learn Healing Magic and would never let her health get in the way of her duties ever again - hence she began learning magic as well, adding Light Magic to her expertise, focusing on the curing of diseases and poisons.

The young Mythela was always described as a friendly and outgoing person who easily befriended commoners of her own age, and socialized a lot, much to her parents dismay, who would have strongly preferred if she didn't open herself that much to public view.

The princess was just 14 years old when she first met her future husband, Ladislaus Londbert. At the time, they did not develop any emotions towards each other, but Ladislaus was fond of the music composed by and played by Mythela, while Mythela admired Ladislaus's skills and wished she was as talented with state matters as he was. By the time Mythela was 15 years old, she may have already had an affair with Ladislaus. In that very same year, Ladislaus even asked for her hand, but her father King Calder rejected the proposal.



During the next 3 years during which her lover and future husband Ladislaus was away, she would spend her time either with her friends or studying Healing Magic, or composing music.

Succession Crisis
After her father King Calder died in 718, Princess Mythela unwittingly became a central figure of the political turmoil that followed. She was crowned Queen Mythela after her father's funeral, but her father's younger brothers - Kerlon, Symner and Zylf - refused to recognize her as the legitimate ruler of Etrand, and besieged Grandfolk.



Mythela and her loyalists escaped the city and evacuated to Etrancoast. In her absence, Symner, who has captured Grandfolk, had arranged for her to be declared married to her elderly former steward, so that no magnate could come to the aid of the unmarried princess with the motivation of marrying her.

Eventually, her final refugee in Etrancoast would be besieged too, but Pirothea Nelvarryl would smuggle weapons and food into the city to prevent it from being starved out. She would also be informed by the information sent by Pirothea's spies.

In the end however, the forces of Bryant liberated Etrand from the pretenders. That was when Mythela and Bryant got married. Even though officially, Mythela was still the de jure monarch of Etrand - and remain so until the crowning of her future son Cairbré -, she unofficially retired from politics as she got married, letting her husband be the de facto ruler.

Consort of King Bryant


Despite the 11-years of age gap between Mythela and her husband, their relationship was said to be harmonic. They had six children together: four daughters and two sons, out of which the younger son, Cairbré would end up inheriting her throne.

As the war has ended, Mythela returned to her older life of being a cheerful and friendly socialite who would not only invite her friends - many of which were commoners rather than nobility - to the royal feasts and fairs, but also play music at these events, accompanied by her well-known soft singing voice that fit to her own composed songs like butter to bread. Even though her relationship with her husband was said to be "near-flawlessly harmonic", Mythela's fondness for her commoner friends and tendency to invite them to places and events normally reserved for people of status did cause a bit of tension between the two early on. Another pronounced difference between her and her husband was the way of thinking: while King Bryant was a realist who - although with a heavy heart - sacrificed lives to solidify his reign and did not really care about magic, his wife Mythela was a more idealistic, pacifistic and charitable person would use her Healing Magic to make sure that no one in the royal palace ever got sick, a deed which made all her servants very fond of her. Despite these differences however, the couple got along very well and had a harmonic relationship.

It is said that during the times of bad harvest, Mythela even convinced her reluctant husband - who wanted to spend the money on dams to increase agriculture yield so famines would not happen in the future - to donate money from the royal treasury to starving peasants, so they could buy food.

Even though Cairbré wrote in his memoirs that Mythela was a loving mother who did everything she could for her family, some say that she was bitter towards her oldest son Eurenic, and openly favoured Cairbré, with whom she had more in common - both being magic-oriented and gregarious as opposed to the might-oriented Eurenic and somewhat-secluded Bryant. Some chroniclers claim that Eurenic has grown increasingly bitter due to his jealousy of his mother and younger brother getting along like a house on fire, and believe it may have contributed to him abusing his power and losing favour.

Final years and death
In 744 AEKE, King Bryant I of Etrand died, forcing Mythela to once again exercise her powers as the ruler of Etrand. Her only act was to name Bryant's younger son, Cairbré her heir, then abdicate almost immediately to let him rule. Cairbré's older brother Eurenic would rebel against his mother's decision and the new Cairbré-regime, but would be put down. For two more years, Mythela would have heavy influence in politics, teaching her son in the art of statecraft while gradually letting him exercise actual power.

By 746, Cairbré was considered ready to rule, so Mythela "took her hands off his shoulders" in regards of ruling the country. The same year, King Cairbré got married. Rather than marrying a Tondbertid like Mythela suggested, he married a princess from Artaburro. While initially, Mythela was suspicious of Cairbré's wife Muyian, they eventually have grown fond of each other. Mythela was impressed by Muyian's orderliness and have come to believe that Muyian was in fact a good match for her son. On most important occasions, Mythela and Muyian would help each other with putting on the make-up and doing their hair for the occasion.

Mythela would live the rest of her life peacefully, although - citing her advanced age as the reason - she would retire from performing music live and only compose music, which would be then performed by the various court musicians, many of them taught by Mythela's musician friends from her youth.

On 783.8376728268, Queen Mythela closed her eyes on her bed for the last time, and would not wake up. She was discovered dead in her bed, lying lifelessly, but with closed eyes and a smile on her face. Following the requests she made while alive, she was burried in the royal gardens where she used to play as a child. Her tombstone would not only be seen by royal children playing in the garden, but would also become a place of pilgrimage to bards who have gained enough favour to be let inside the palace.