Empress Richilde
Reign: 36YE to 69YE
Called: the Sun Queen
Early life and Election
As with many of the early Empresses and Emperors, facts about Empress Richilde are a little difficult to pin down. She is well represented in poems and stories, but many of the details of her life come from the surviving works of troubadours and bards rather than historians.
Born in 9YE, Richilde was a Dawnish noble of House Cassilon in Astolat. From an early age, she was exceptional - witty, charismatic, with an indomitable spirit. According to the troubadours she had a natural talent and ability to turn her hand to anything that is often considered a consequence of a strong connection to her past lives. Along with her siblings and cousins she received a fine education, benefiting from tutors brought from as far afield as Urizen and the Brass Coast, paid for by the Earl de Cassilon. She was well versed in politics, music and literature, enjoyed hawking, hunting, was a mistress of the harp, and had composed at least eight well-received heroic poems by the time she was twenty-one. During her youth and early adulthood, she served as an advocate, which gave her a broad understanding of the Imperial political process when she later served as the Senator for Astolat.
Richilde passed a legendary Test of Mettle; the Earl of Cassilon told her she must bind the dawn to the dusk if she wished to become a noble. She responded by calling the nobles of House Cassilon to join her in the gardens just before dawn, telling them they should leave when they were bored. As the sun rose, she began to weave a tale of such compelling beauty and grandeur that the nobles lost track of time. Not one of them left, and as she completed her tale they realised to their surprise that they had spent a whole day lost in the wonder of the tale she told.
During her early life she travelled extensively, finding allies among the artists and politicians of the other nations, especially in The League, the Brass Coast, Highguard and Urizen. After the death of Emperor Giovanni, she parlayed this network into political influence and with the support of her fellow Dawnish senators and the voice of the troubadours in the Synod, she was elected Empress.
Reign
From the beginning her court was a place of splendour; she surrounded herself with musicians, artists and scholars from across the Empire. From the scops of Wintermark to the bards of the Marches, anyone with a tale to tell or a song to sing was welcome to perform before Empress Richilde. Those who impressed her received endowments or the benefit of her patronage in establishing themselves. While her love of art and music was seen initially as indulgent, it became clear that it served a greater purpose. By encouraging the nations to appreciate each others' stories, history and art, she helped them gain a greater understanding of each other.
In private, she expressed the concern that if the Empire was simply a machine for making war against barbarians it would fail; no matter how complex and developed its bureaucracy might be, it would ultimately prove a hollow achievement unable to stand the test of time. Only by celebrating, by taking joy in its achievements and its citizens, could it hope to survive more than a few centuries, weather the inevitable failures and crises that would come, and emerge as something greater than the sum of its parts.
Throughout her reign, she encouraged the celebration of the deeds of heroes, both past and present. She encouraged the nations to take pride in their history, but also to see the achievements of the Empire as a whole as being their achievements. In 39YE, with the assistance of advisors from Highguard and the League, she established funds, overseen by the civil service, to support bards and artists across the Empire, creating the tradition of the Imperial bards who have inspired the Empire ever since.
Poems and stories suggest she was as capable a warrior as she was a politician, but Urizen historians suggest that this is likely to be the fanciful exaggeration of minstrels and poets rather than fact. Rather than being a great warrior, or a great general, she is remembered as having an ability to inspire trust and to recognise ability in her Generals, leaving them a free hand to act as they saw fit in the service of the Empire. This led to a series of invasions that expanded the Empire, adding the territories of Karsk, Semmerholm, Redoubt and Reikos. While the Empress herself did not fight in any of the major campaigns, she accompanied the armies in the manner of a living banner - inspiring and exhorting her troops and firing them to achieve victory.
Death
At her funeral, after a thirty-year reign, it is said the entire Empire mourned. She was carried with great ceremony from her home near Auvanne in Semmerholm, via Anvil, to the Necropolis and interred in a great tomb built at some expense by the finest stonesmiths of the day. Over the centuries since it has become a great honour for a hero, especially a Dawnish hero or troubadour, to be interred in the Ring of Champions, a series of tombs and mausoleums that surround Richilde's resting place.
Shortly after her death, the Synod recognised Richilde as an exemplar of Pride. 150 years later, the troubadours of Dawn finally succeeded in having her recognised as a paragon, making her the first paragon of the modern period.
Recognition
Empress Richilde was recognised as an exemplar of Pride by the Synod in 72YE. She was eventually recognised as a paragon in 219YE. It was during her reign that the Empire truly began to understand the meaning of Pride - not only in an individual nation, but in belonging to an Empire.
Empress Richilde in Play
The Songbirds
The Songbird tradition began during the life of Empress Richilde. Many of those she patronised took to wearing the symbol of an oriole - a golden songbird. The orioloe was usually worn as a piece of jewellery, but embroidery and applique were also popular. Supporters of the Throne claimed the oriole was emblematic of their devotion to the arts, cynics suggested it was a way for individuals to let others know that they enjoyed the patronage of the Throne.
It was the songbirds that fought to have their beloved Empress recognised as an examplar. Prominent members of the group had made the attempt twice during Richilde's life. Each time the Synod demurred, keeping to the prevailing view at the time, that no living person should be made an exemplar. That resistance was swept aside by the outpouring of grief that swept across the Empire following Richilde's death. Membership of the songbirds declined in the years that followed but peaked again many years later when Dawnish troubadours pushed for Richilde to be recognised as a paragon. That has been the pattern ever since, the popularity of the songbirds waxes and wanes, but tends to surge when there is interest in the arts.
Not all songbirds are musicians, artists or performers. There are wealthy patrons of the arts, especially in Dawn, Highguard, and the League who take the golden oriole as their symbol. These individuals seek to emulate Empress Richilde by supporting the arts; either becoming a patron of one or more favoured artists, or seeking to fund public works of art. There is rarely much organisation among Richilde's followers, but some of these wealthy songbiards occasionally try to work together to achieve political goals that advance the arts.
For those songbirds who are artists and musicians, wearing the oriole can be useful, serving as a reminder of the importance of the arts and the importance of supporting those artists who create it. Street performers will occasionally put out a plate or a tankard patterned with yellow songbirds to encourage passers-by to donate generously. Most such artists prefer to work alone, but there are League troupes that revere Richilde, and sometimes songbirds will come together for an important musical or theatrical performance or important celebration.