Mao Meili

Mao Meili (Celestial script: 毛美麗）(full title: Governor Mao Meili of Nir Province) is a Celestial Elf from the city of Helemar, in the Aurlûnor Velande. She is currently a member of the Aurlûnor imperial court and is governor of the province of Nir.

Early Life and Teaching Career
Born less than half a century ago, she is very young by the standards of the elves. However, this has not stopped her in her pursuit of bettering the world. 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 Helemar 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 capitol of Lhûmar, she was left poor, and lived in the Helemar slums for a while, teaching informally among the children of the fishermen, miners, and dockworkers while working odd jobs.

After nearly two years on the grind, the Helemar 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 Helemar and kept up her teaching job for about nine years.

Reconstruction Work
However, the city of Helemar 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 Helemar, 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 early April of 2021, 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 GreenToss Coup Crisis, 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.Currently, things are rather stable and pleasantly uneventful in the life of Governor Mao, who has mostly taken to a managerial role in the province of Nir and helping in the construction of more buildings in Helemar. She also occasionally advises the Velereth in domestic affairs. It yet unknown if she has grander ambitions, but her role as a local leader has given the people of the city much faith in her guidance.