Mao Meili

Mao Meili is a Celestial Elf from the city of Hloamar, in the Aurlûnor Velande. She is currently the Chancellor of the Aurlûnor Velande and the Celestial Sage of Light in the Twin Dragon Temple. She was also the governor and warden of the province of Nir for several decades before being succeeded by Governor Sun Lei.

Her full title is officially "Her Enlightened highness, Chancellor Mao Meili of Nir Province, Celestial Sage of Light". Most people reasonably insist on a shorter name to refer to her. In Ryzan, she goes by the name Alina Valentinovna Voloseva, or simply Alina for short, or Meili of Nir" in some other countries where she is acting outside of the Aurlûnoren state.

OOC, she is played by granabam.

Early Life and Teaching Career
Mao was born in 816 ACA to a family in what was then the Takumakken city of Sokalis. From an early age, she had a knack for leadership (although she was otherwise rather shy and introverted) and much curiosity about the world. From here she went on to study various works, including the scriptures of Twin Dragon and various historical and scientific texts.

Born to a family of merchants, she had enough money to afford getting a much higher education than many other denizens of the city of Hloamar and Nir region proper, which had only relatively recently transferred back into the control of the Velande. However after receiving her education in the imperial capital of Lhûmar, she was left poor, and lived in the Hloamar slums for a while, teaching informally among the children of the fishermen, miners, and dock workers while working odd jobs.

After several years on the grind, the Hloamar Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Magic, the largest provincial school, finally had an opening available for Mao, who was previously on a waitlist. She jumped at the opportunity, settling in the relatively prestigious middle class neighborhood of Old Town Hloamar and kept up her teaching job for about nineteen years.

There are rumors of her doing controversial stunts while she was in college; these are completely falsified and are not serious accounts but merely shitposts.

Reconstruction Work
However, the city of Hloamar fell upon rather hard times during the troubled times known as the Barbarian Rallies. During a barbarian raid, much of it was razed in the Great Fire of Hloamar, including most of the old Takumakken-style architecture. Seeing the destruction of the town, and the absolute sorry state the city was left in with many civilians homeless or even dead, Mao took it upon herself to rebuild the city. Along with Inquisitor Zax, the two tore down the rotten and burnt buildings of old Sokalis and the old temple of Sokalis, which was a heretic building merely repurposed to be a temple to the Four Sages. The reconstruction of the city began in the late 890s ACA (483 AJC), with the first buildings in the city rebuilt being in the Old Town and a brand new fishing dock. Construction began on the Academy's new building as the old cathedral was torn down.

It was during this time that Nir was under direct military governorship and administratively a subsection of Lhûmar. The Velereth Sareariel Lelya-Earcala was looking for suitable governors of the province. Following a speech given by Meili and seeing the reconstruction efforts that impressed even Stoney himself, the Velereth made her decision and appointed this young teacher to the prestigious role of Imperial Governor.

Governorship
As governor, Mao has overseen several construction projects. The construction of the new Temple of the Four Sages, completion of the Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Magic, and the construction of the Imperial Navy Dockyard have all been completed under her initiative. In the Imperial Court, the city was decided to be the seat of the Aurlûnor Imperial Navy as the dry docks have started activity constructing warships. The expansion of the mines and neighborhoods, though she has not had direct input, have also occurred under her watch.

During the Yun 15th Crisis of 864 ACA (458 AJC), war with the Ryzani Republic seemed to loom on the horizon. Mao pledged to fight if war did indeed break out, and donated large amounts of the city's resources for the construction of defenses and weapons for fighting a protracted defensive war against Ryzan. The city's gates were boarded up and anti-Ryzani propaganda was posted on the walls. Luckily, the crisis was resolved diplomatically and war would not break out.

In the period after, things were rather stable and pleasantly uneventful in the life of Governor Mao, who had mostly taken to a managerial role in the province of Nir, helping in the construction of more buildings in Hloamar. She would also occasionally advise the Velereth in domestic affairs, and in the founding of the town of Cúamwan in the colony of Isilunde.

Golden Age Career
As of 864 ACA and the restructuring of the Twin Dragon religious hierarchy and bureaucracy, Meili was declared the acting Warden of Nir province- the highest local religious authority. Later in 869 ACA (463 AJC), Meili achieved priestess status as declared by the Velereth, becoming one of the few followers of the Twin Dragon faith to be considered truly enlightened.

Taking particular interest in strengthening the AVN, she has been constructing multiple ships for the navy's use. This has only accelerated with the discovery of Sinawendor (Eldham), as it was deemed necessary to have a large acting navy for protection of trade vessels against pirates and the navies of any belligerent nations, in the case of war.

Following a temporary leave by the Velereth, Meili was promoted to Chancellor in 871 ACA, and was to act as the head of interior government under the regent Sel Leyla-Earcala. Upon the Velereth's return, Mao remained the chancellor of state affairs and is the highest member of the royal court apart from members of the royal family.

Immortalization
As the year changed to 891 ACA (485 AJC), Mao began to focus inwards on herself. After the events of the Battle of Sawiya Oasis, including the entire religious-political-environmental conflict of the crisis, Mao went into a state of seclusion, meditating for days at a time. However, after several visions and an astral projection into the Vale itself, she had discovered something that she had not expected- immortality. Becoming recognized as the Celestial Sage of Light for her commitment to upholding order among chaos, she is the second person to cultivate herself to spiritual immortality in this manner, second only to the Velereth herself. She can still in theory be physically killed, however. (Please do not do this.)

Following this, her life has nonetheless remained the same. She engages in internal affairs and diplomacy with other nations, and in her free time enjoys reading and spending time with friends (many of them also government members).

Regency & Foreign Exploits
In the late 940s ACA, Meili began applying for citizenship in several other countries across the continent. She gained citizenship in the Ryvenate of Ryzan, Bardonia (and thus the Soleannan Imperium), and Andorn prior to its collapse. She even began running for office in the Imperium's Congress and the Ryzani Duma (albeit unwillingly in the latter case). Following the Red Sun Campaign, she was promoted to Regent as the Velereth abdicated, making her the sole remaining head of state in Aurlunor. From here, she initiated a period of reforms to bolster the economy and national security. However, considering this the peak of her career, she is expected to retire from politics as soon as the Velereth position is reformed and the regency period ends. She seeks to retire abroad, to focus on her faith and start a family.