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Description
High Princess Jeselin sen Devocheaux

Jeselin was born to High King Endor von Devocheaux and High Queen Lucrezia sen Devocheaux in the 438th year of the Antiquity Era. She was their first and only child together. From her birth to age four, she was confined primarily to her nursery with no less than twenty nursemaids. She ate off of silver spoons and drank from crystal goblets, and her parents took her on their monthly outings about Levani City to showcase the heir to the throne. She wasn't a particularly fussy infant or toddler, and her mental capacities grew at a normal rate.  Though her eyes eventually evened out to be the deep green that both her mother and father shared, her hair grew in as white as snow and straight as a pin; another trait inherited from her mother.
At five, Jeselin suddenly acquired large numbers of tutors, for although the High King and Queen were royalty, they were confused as to what their daughter should excel at, and thus opted for everything for her to choose from later. Her visits to Levani City stopped altogether, confining Jeselin in the palace for the next several years of her life. From the moment she got up in the morning to the moment she went to bed, her day was packed. For the first six hours of the day, she learned about protocol, the history of the world with emphasis on the Western Territories and the Antiquity Era, an art form of her choice (between painting and writing poetry – she chose the former), and how to speak with the inflections and word choices particular to her station as heir to the throne. She was allowed a short break for lunch, and then her afternoons consisted of horsemanship, gymnastics, dance, and martial arts.  Following that would be dinner with her parents or the entire court, depending upon what season it was. Dinner was often a three-hour affair; long by anyone's standards, and even longer for a child. It left her about two hours before she was sent to bed, and hour of which was spent preparing for bed. During her elusive free time, Jeselin read a great many books, some smuggled in from the outside capitol city.
Despite her packed schedule, Jeselin thrived under the pressure and learned new material at an alarming rate. She was a shrewd child, outspoken and unafraid of questioning confusing or contradictory material. When she was nine, her parents allowed her to accompany them on rides about the palace grounds, increasing the girl's interest in horsemanship.
Not long after her eleventh birthday, Jeselin hit puberty. The vibrant and well-behaved child who obeyed her elders' wishes with minimal grumbling suddenly became willful, headstrong, and outspoken about everything that she, with her superior eleven-year-old intellect, knew to be correct. It didn't matter how many scoldings or confinements that her nannies and nurses subjected her to; she merely bucked more against the rigid scheduling of her life.
Her parents finally realized that something had to change after Jeselin had been found in the capitol city, cornered by a gang of thugs interested in the "pretty little girl." She did not respond to negative consequences; if anything, it only made her more rebellious. And so, they sat down with the child and worked out a treaty of sorts.
Gymnastics, martial arts, and painting were cut from her curriculum. She was allowed to venture down into the city once a week in lieu of lessons. In exchange, she had to attend the lessons she was required to attend, and could not go to the city unaccompanied.  She was also to obey those in charge, and if she had an issue, to take it up with her parents first.
The "treaty" held for over a year, but soon, Jeselin got bored and spent more and more time in the stables and away from any royal duties. Her parents' plan to introduce her to the Royal Court at thirteen, like all young adults, was looking less and less likely. Any threats from her parents were followed up with threats of her own, and Jeselin was only getting smarter about how to manipulate those around her. She and her parents were held in a delicate deadlock for a few months before Lucrezia bought Jeselin a beautiful, young black stallion as a birthday present. She challenged Jeselin to train the horse herself and pointed out that all of the Court children had their own horses, as well, and that Jeselin would need a beast she knew inside and out to win any competitions.
Jeselin rose to the challenge admirably, giving Brona lavish attention and firm hand while also unwittingly giving her parents a little leverage. Brona was dear to her, and thus, she was willing to do anything for him; even things that had nothing to do with him.
By fourteen, the worst of her rebellious years were over, and she became aware that she would have to step it up if she was to take the throne one day. She continued to work with Brona to let off steam, but she stopped her whimsical visits to Levani City on her own and put an abrupt halt to all of her lessons. Instead, she informed her parents that she would be shadowing them in an attempt to learn the ways of ruling an entire kingdom. Endor was hesitant due to Jeselin's young age, but Lucrezia insisted that Jeselin be allowed this opportunity.
It was a good decision on Lucrezia's part. Jeselin took to the nuances of ruling with a bright passion, rising to the challenge time and again. She renewed studies of her own in order to answer questions her parents couldn't, and when they went abroad for various meetings and conferences, she joined them.
At fifteen, the Jengva Empire declared war on the Allial Realm, with the Western Territories as the front lines, thrusting Jeselin into the unfamiliar territory of war. Endor had fine strategists at his beck and call, and he was not so dull on such matters, himself. Lucrezia, out of her element, assisted Jeselin with Brona's training and how to behave in Court. Mother and daughter grew very close. Endor and his daughter also struck up a relationship as Jeselin discovered that war could loosely be described as a game, and it was a game she was determined to excel at.
Days before Jeselin's seventeenth birthday, tragedy struck the palace. Lucrezia had been out on one of the hunts she was so fond of when a Jengva assassin, camped in a tree, shot the High Queen through the neck. She died instantly.
Jeselin took the blow badly. She withdrew from the Court and began sneaking out of the palace in the night to get fresh air and a new perspective. For the first time in her life, she wanted nothing to do with the throne.  It and all of its petty grievances had taken her mother away from her. Nothing was important. She had no desire to appease the nobles their idiotic whims at the cost of the people; people she grew to care about throughout the next two years. She taught herself how to speak and dress like a commoner, and she taught herself how to care about the people she ruled. She spent time with them, learned of their needs, and realized that a few nobles of her father's Court had been stepping over their bounds for years. She brought the issue up with Endor, who opposed Jeselin's claims. He insisted that their loyalty had earned them a few perks to a "thankless" job, and reminded Jeselin of all he did for his people.
"We have to take care of our people, too, Jeselin," he told her firmly, and that was the end of any such arguments.
She met Nikolai, a lowly bartender trying to scrape by, over a year after her mother's death. The two fell in love, though Nikolai wouldn't know for months that the mysterious girl he'd met was High Royalty. Jeselin had a bad run-in with one of her many suitors in Court, was wearily scolded by a father once again at wit's end with his headstrong daughter, and decided that day that on her twentieth birthday, when she was to become a woman, she was abdicating the throne. She'd had enough of its petty squabbles.
Not long after Jeselin turned nineteen, Endor began seeing another woman, much to Jeselin's chagrin. Aleria had twin sons and was beautiful as a morning sunrise, but was selfish, greedy, and had almost none of the wisdom and deft skill that Lucrezia had, as far as Jeselin was concerned. Jeselin resented the High Queen and her slick, self-serving ways, and made sure that the entire palace knew of her misgivings. However, Aleria did serve a purpose, and that was to provide heirs. Her twin brothers were rough and unpolished, but surprisingly, she grew to love them dearly in a short amount of time.  The small worries that her father would be without an heir were assuaged.
And so, she bided her time, waiting for the day she would officially be a woman, and dreamed of a life with Nikolai. She tried to throw herself into something other than being sullen and moody, but it was becoming clear that she was retreating from everything. Endor blamed the death of Lucrezia for his daughter's slump, and decided to plan a honeymoon, despite the bad turn the war had taken. He left the entire royal affairs to Jeselin for two weeks, despite Aleria's protests, in hopes of showing Jeselin that others depended on her to survive.
However, Jeselin ruled while her father was away with an iron fist, and while this approach brought fortune on some fronts, including a smashing success on the battlefield and an upsurge of new recruits wanting to fight for the Acting High Queen on the front lines, it left the Court in a shambles as Jeselin mistrustfully dealt with old allies in harsh ways.

Description
High Princess Jeselin sen Devocheaux

Jeselin was born to High King Endor von Devocheaux and High Queen Lucrezia sen Devocheaux in the 438th year of the Antiquity Era. She was their first and only child together. From her birth to age four, she was confined primarily to her nursery with no less than twenty nursemaids. She ate off of silver spoons and drank from crystal goblets, and her parents took her on their monthly outings about Levani City to showcase the heir to the throne. She wasn't a particularly fussy infant or toddler, and her mental capacities grew at a normal rate.  Though her eyes eventually evened out to be the deep green that both her mother and father shared, her hair grew in as white as snow and straight as a pin; another trait inherited from her mother.
At five, Jeselin suddenly acquired large numbers of tutors, for although the High King and Queen were royalty, they were confused as to what their daughter should excel at, and thus opted for everything for her to choose from later. Her visits to Levani City stopped altogether, confining Jeselin in the palace for the next several years of her life. From the moment she got up in the morning to the moment she went to bed, her day was packed. For the first six hours of the day, she learned about protocol, the history of the world with emphasis on the Western Territories and the Antiquity Era, an art form of her choice (between painting and writing poetry – she chose the former), and how to speak with the inflections and word choices particular to her station as heir to the throne. She was allowed a short break for lunch, and then her afternoons consisted of horsemanship, gymnastics, dance, and martial arts.  Following that would be dinner with her parents or the entire court, depending upon what season it was. Dinner was often a three-hour affair; long by anyone's standards, and even longer for a child. It left her about two hours before she was sent to bed, and hour of which was spent preparing for bed. During her elusive free time, Jeselin read a great many books, some smuggled in from the outside capitol city.
Despite her packed schedule, Jeselin thrived under the pressure and learned new material at an alarming rate. She was a shrewd child, outspoken and unafraid of questioning confusing or contradictory material. When she was nine, her parents allowed her to accompany them on rides about the palace grounds, increasing the girl's interest in horsemanship.
Not long after her eleventh birthday, Jeselin hit puberty. The vibrant and well-behaved child who obeyed her elders' wishes with minimal grumbling suddenly became willful, headstrong, and outspoken about everything that she, with her superior eleven-year-old intellect, knew to be correct. It didn't matter how many scoldings or confinements that her nannies and nurses subjected her to; she merely bucked more against the rigid scheduling of her life.
Her parents finally realized that something had to change after Jeselin had been found in the capitol city, cornered by a gang of thugs interested in the "pretty little girl." She did not respond to negative consequences; if anything, it only made her more rebellious. And so, they sat down with the child and worked out a treaty of sorts.
Gymnastics, martial arts, and painting were cut from her curriculum. She was allowed to venture down into the city once a week in lieu of lessons. In exchange, she had to attend the lessons she was required to attend, and could not go to the city unaccompanied.  She was also to obey those in charge, and if she had an issue, to take it up with her parents first.
The "treaty" held for over a year, but soon, Jeselin got bored and spent more and more time in the stables and away from any royal duties. Her parents' plan to introduce her to the Royal Court at thirteen, like all young adults, was looking less and less likely. Any threats from her parents were followed up with threats of her own, and Jeselin was only getting smarter about how to manipulate those around her. She and her parents were held in a delicate deadlock for a few months before Lucrezia bought Jeselin a beautiful, young black stallion as a birthday present. She challenged Jeselin to train the horse herself and pointed out that all of the Court children had their own horses, as well, and that Jeselin would need a beast she knew inside and out to win any competitions.
Jeselin rose to the challenge admirably, giving Brona lavish attention and firm hand while also unwittingly giving her parents a little leverage. Brona was dear to her, and thus, she was willing to do anything for him; even things that had nothing to do with him.
By fourteen, the worst of her rebellious years were over, and she became aware that she would have to step it up if she was to take the throne one day. She continued to work with Brona to let off steam, but she stopped her whimsical visits to Levani City on her own and put an abrupt halt to all of her lessons. Instead, she informed her parents that she would be shadowing them in an attempt to learn the ways of ruling an entire kingdom. Endor was hesitant due to Jeselin's young age, but Lucrezia insisted that Jeselin be allowed this opportunity.
It was a good decision on Lucrezia's part. Jeselin took to the nuances of ruling with a bright passion, rising to the challenge time and again. She renewed studies of her own in order to answer questions her parents couldn't, and when they went abroad for various meetings and conferences, she joined them.
At fifteen, the Jengva Empire declared war on the Allial Realm, with the Western Territories as the front lines, thrusting Jeselin into the unfamiliar territory of war. Endor had fine strategists at his beck and call, and he was not so dull on such matters, himself. Lucrezia, out of her element, assisted Jeselin with Brona's training and how to behave in Court. Mother and daughter grew very close. Endor and his daughter also struck up a relationship as Jeselin discovered that war could loosely be described as a game, and it was a game she was determined to excel at.
Days before Jeselin's seventeenth birthday, tragedy struck the palace. Lucrezia had been out on one of the hunts she was so fond of when a Jengva assassin, camped in a tree, shot the High Queen through the neck. She died instantly.
Jeselin took the blow badly. She withdrew from the Court and began sneaking out of the palace in the night to get fresh air and a new perspective. For the first time in her life, she wanted nothing to do with the throne.  It and all of its petty grievances had taken her mother away from her. Nothing was important. She had no desire to appease the nobles their idiotic whims at the cost of the people; people she grew to care about throughout the next two years. She taught herself how to speak and dress like a commoner, and she taught herself how to care about the people she ruled. She spent time with them, learned of their needs, and realized that a few nobles of her father's Court had been stepping over their bounds for years. She brought the issue up with Endor, who opposed Jeselin's claims. He insisted that their loyalty had earned them a few perks to a "thankless" job, and reminded Jeselin of all he did for his people.
"We have to take care of our people, too, Jeselin," he told her firmly, and that was the end of any such arguments.
She met Nikolai, a lowly bartender trying to scrape by, over a year after her mother's death. The two fell in love, though Nikolai wouldn't know for months that the mysterious girl he'd met was High Royalty. Jeselin had a bad run-in with one of her many suitors in Court, was wearily scolded by a father once again at wit's end with his headstrong daughter, and decided that day that on her twentieth birthday, when she was to become a woman, she was abdicating the throne. She'd had enough of its petty squabbles.
Not long after Jeselin turned nineteen, Endor began seeing another woman, much to Jeselin's chagrin. Aleria had twin sons and was beautiful as a morning sunrise, but was selfish, greedy, and had almost none of the wisdom and deft skill that Lucrezia had, as far as Jeselin was concerned. Jeselin resented the High Queen and her slick, self-serving ways, and made sure that the entire palace knew of her misgivings. However, Aleria did serve a purpose, and that was to provide heirs. Her twin brothers were rough and unpolished, but surprisingly, she grew to love them dearly in a short amount of time.  The small worries that her father would be without an heir were assuaged.
And so, she bided her time, waiting for the day she would officially be a woman, and dreamed of a life with Nikolai. She tried to throw herself into something other than being sullen and moody, but it was becoming clear that she was retreating from everything. Endor blamed the death of Lucrezia for his daughter's slump, and decided to plan a honeymoon, despite the bad turn the war had taken. He left the entire royal affairs to Jeselin for two weeks, despite Aleria's protests, in hopes of showing Jeselin that others depended on her to survive.
However, Jeselin ruled while her father was away with an iron fist, and while this approach brought fortune on some fronts, including a smashing success on the battlefield and an upsurge of new recruits wanting to fight for the Acting High Queen on the front lines, it left the Court in a shambles as Jeselin mistrustfully dealt with old allies in harsh ways.