Andromache Nosterii

"I knew then that I was looking at the next Imperial Archon of Sylvania; and that she had been sent by the Gods to us. It was irrevocable destiny written by the Gods using the stars themselves.”

Selection of the new Imperial Archon, The Oracle of Amemachi Andromache Von Praestegia (nee Xi Nosterii) is Sylvic Elf best known for her reign as the Imperial Archon (Empress) of The Imperial Archonate of Sylvania. Prior to this, she held several other official positions in Sylvania and gradually worked her way up through the lower ranks of internal government before becoming the main leader of the nation.

Her claim on the position of Imperial Archon is derived from, and reinforced by, a combination of a prophecy given by the Oracle of Amemachi, and her "divine birthright" as the daughter of the lesser deities of Sylvania, Nox and Lux. The period of time in Sylvania under her reign is referred to as “the age of Nox and Lux.”

Her primary residence was in the Sylvanian Imperial Capital of Noxwind. However, she previously held several other residences, most notably in Oleapolis and Luxwind where she spent much of her time managing the internal affairs of the nation. She remains the only Imperial Archon whose primary domain was internal affairs; she demonstrated almost no interest in geopolitical issues, favouring a more isolationist approach for the majority of her reign.

Early Life
Historical records from the Luxwind Archive state that Andromache was born in an area close to the city of Pompaelo in what was at the time, West Aristios. Shortly after her birth, her mother, Lux, returned to Noxwind with her; however she was immediately and forcibly removed from the city by the Oracle of Noxwind (later the Oracle of Amemachi), whom declared that her destiny was awaiting her in the South where she would venture to found to the city of Luxwind with a company of pilgrims and the future Duke, Ulysses and the late Archon Gigi Adventura.

Andromache was subsequently sent back to West Aristios by the Archbishop of Noxwind and adopted by Unknown Nosterii (Gerràt en Olea), making her one of the last remaining members of the Gerràt family in Sylvania.

The Gerràt family would later merge with the Imperial Olea family while Andromache was still a very young child. However, her father Unknown would voluntarily disown himself from the family due to disagreeing with the conduct of Otto en Olea, claiming that his deeds were dishonorable and brought shame upon the family name. He then changed his surname to "Nosterii" with Andromache using this name to present day, alongside the last name of “Xi” in reference to the Noxwind Noble House of Xi which her birth parents were members of prior to their ascension to divinity. She later took the surname Von Praestegia following her marriage to Hxrry Von Praestegia.

She has made several public statements that she views herself as "Eastern Nox-Sylvanian” and that she has little interest in the culture of West Aristios. Despite this, she speaks High Aristii moderately well due to the teachings of her adoptive father Unknown Nosterii. She also shows some degree of deference for her Aristii heritage and was known to be far more amenable towards Aristios than her predecessors; (much to the distress of Miyenxin.)

Her origin story and subsequent rise to power is briefly referenced in the great Sylvanian Epic “The Scent of Irises.” Andromache is mentioned briefly in the beginning of the epic by the Oracle and she is seen at the ending; ascending to power as the Empress of Sylvania alongside her platonic companion, Emperor Redfoo.

Early political career
Despite her family traditionally holding positions of great power and amassing vast wealth, Andromache received no favors from higher Sylvanian society. She was unaware of who her biological parents were, with those who knew refusing to disclose her origin to her. As a result, she began her political career at the very bottom after moving to Noxwind, where she would find work as a laborer, building medium-scale projects within the city. Andromache also served as one of the chief immigration officers for Noxwind for an extended period of time, bringing many new citizens into the previously underpopulated East. This in turn inadvertently created a housing crisis in Noxwind as the supply of homes quickly became scarce as the population continued to grow exponentially.

Her building work would soon prove useful and she became a member of the Noxwind Town Council, where she worked on several projects to improve the city. Most notably, Andromache constructed several apartment buildings and houses to help reduce the housing crisis which had become a major problem within Noxwind owning to mass immigration into the city by the time she was a Noxwind Councillor.

After several months working for the Noxwind Town Council, Andromache ran for the position of Senator on the Noxwind ballot. She was heavily supported by the Archon Harry Von Prastegia, who threatened to execute any person who voted against her. Andromache received a massive majority of the vote and was elected on the first round of counting. She would go on to be re-elected multiple times up until she resigned from elected office to become the Duchess of the Nox Heartlands and commence management of the province.

Senate Career
Upon election to the Senate, Andromache began proposing bills aimed at improving the internal affairs and economy of Sylvania. Her ideas were broadly supported by Archon Harry Von Praestegia, with whom she would go on to work closely with during her time in the Senate to complete major national projects, such as the Noxwind Market and the Sanctum of Luxwind which would later become the de facto Senate building and seat of power for Sylvania. However, her early political career was not without controversy; as she was well known to opportunistically write bills aimed at having her political opponents executed or banished from Sylvania, with many believing that this was a clear attempt to maintain her influence and power in office rather than pursuing their deaths for any actual legitimate reasons or crimes against the state. On multiple occasions, Andromache had attempted to use the Senate voting mechanism to banish or execute several officials who were seen as direct competition for promotions that she sought. However, she would later be vindicated when it was revealed that she had correctly deduced that Ingo was leaking government documents and had called for them to be “deported to the AWE.”

Duchess of the Nox Heartlands
Several months after her election, Andromache was appointed as the Imperial Lieutenant of the Nox Heartlands; though her focus still remained primarily on Noxwind for the duration of her appointment. It was not long after this that she was outright promoted to being the Duchess of the Nox Heartlands, a role that she was well suited to as she had become absorbed by, and somewhat obsessed with, Eastern Sylvanian religious and cultural views.

Her management of the Nox Heartlands province proved exceptional; as the population continued to increase in major cities such as Noxwind and Fosdinas and Eastern Sylvanian culture began to rapidly spread South to Luxwind. She continued managing the province for several months with great success, up until her retirement from provincial management when she was appointed as the Archon Sanctus.

Archon Sanctus of Sylvania
A prophecy was issued by the Oracle of Amemachi, stating that Andromache was destined to become an Archon of Sylvania and that her time would soon come to assume power and restore cultureand religion to the East. Soon after his revelation, the death of her predecessor had left the position vacant and she assumed power over the Church of Nox Lucis as the Archon Sanctus soon afterwards,

Andromache’s primary concern as the Archon Sanctus was to revive the culture of Eastern Sylvania; chiefly in the Nox and Lux Heartlands provinces which were well populated, but seen as lacking in any form of culture or events. She heavily favored the Fosdinas Stars hockey team and encouraged many people in the East to support and attend their matches.

The cultural revolution of East Sylvania escalated and evolved rapidly when a second great reformation of the faith of Nox Lucis took place in Luxwind; with Andromache vowing to revive it long after the population had seemingly abandoned their faith and had largely forgotten about the Gods. To this end, she heavily promoted the religion and began passing several laws forbidding blasphemy in the East against the three deities of Sylvania: Sylvia, Nox and Lux-Sori. This would eventually lead to the rise of religious extremism in some parts of Eastern Sylvania; primarily in the city of Noxwind where the Cult of Nox began ritually murdering prisoners of war to appease the God of Death, Nox. It was well known that Andromache was a religious fanatic and as time went by, she slowly began to move Sylvania towards becoming a theocracy by enforcing the Codex of the Holy Laws of Sylvania in the East.

The Pledge of the East
Contrary to previous Archons, Andromache's primary interest was on Eastern Sylvania. She had little interest in provinces outside of it and often expressed distaste for visiting Miyenxin in particular, citing their "hate campaign against Sylvania and their heretical beliefs."

Lux Border Dispute
During her appointment as the Archon Sanctus, Andromache had begun to grow suspicious of the populace of the city of Alzaria, a town which bordered the Lux Heartlands. Her suspicion initially formed when reports began to be filed against several local Councillors of the town stating that the Mayor had begun proclaiming himself as a God-King; and that the population had started to worship him rather than the Gods of the Sylvanian pantheon. At the time Andromache was reluctant to condemn people for heresy without substantial evidence due to the punishment for such being the death penalty. In addition, she had a broad tolerance for different ideas and faiths during her early reign as Archon Sanctus and had little desire to condemn people for holding differing beliefs. She remarked often that she was a pacifist who sought solutions though peaceful means rather than through force; however she was unable to ignore the situation. The reports caused her to believe that Alzaria may have been slowly becoming culturally incompatible with the rest of East Sylvania; and that they were very likely harboring secessionist ideas.

Shortly after this, the Mayor of Alzaria elected to merge the city with the neighboring town of Consilium, a move which outraged several government officials as it created an internal/provincial border dispute within Sylvania. This also created an uproar in the Senate; as the government was not consulted about the plan in advance. Consilium was part of the province of the Lux Heartlands, and by absorbing it, Alzaria had halved the size of the province. A heated argument broke out between the Duke of the Lux Heartlands, Ulysses Lux, and the Deputy Mayor of Alzaria; with the former arguing that they had no right or authority to interfere in his province and that they were heretics.

As the Archon Sanctus was responsible for managing internal affairs, Andromache traveled to Luxwind to meet with the disputing parties and quickly ruled that the provincial borders were to be immediately restored. As a result, Alzaria was forced to release Consilium and return the town to being an independent city within the Lux Heartlands province. Initially, they resisted the order, complaining that they were dissatisfied with the reasoning provided by Andromache regarding the combined cities sizes being indefensible in the event of a war. Eventually, Andromache simply told them that she did not care to hear their complaints any longer, that the borders were to be restored under her authority as Archon Sanctus and that she would harshly punish any further “acts of heretical, sand hobo stupidity.”

Dismantling of the Alzarian Coalition
Despite the issue seemingly being resolved, Andromache did not abandon her suspicion of Alzaria, now believing that they were attempting to gain control over as much land as they could in Sylvania before revolting. Andromache would go on to condemn Alzaria in the Senate, claiming that they did not view themselves as Sylvanian and that they harbored treasonous ideas. Her distrust of the Alzarians led her to send several spies to monitor their activities over the course of several months. This would prove vitally important, as her spies uncovered that Alzaria were working with several groups and individuals who were hostile towards Sylvania to not just declare Alzaria independent, but to destroy the whole nation.

Alzaria had gathered a rather broad coalition, mostly comprised of long-term enemies of Sylvania such as Morladron and Santos; along with several opportunists such as Karino and Svarga. Andromache remarked that, while the threat they posed was low, she would not tolerate any conspiracies against her nation and invoked the Curse of the Purple Iris; a curse wielded specifically by Lux aligned Archons of Sylvania that served to sew discontent and problems within the enemy alliance. This would soon prove successful; with the coalition falling apart internally and laying blame upon each other for their secret negotiations being leaked.

With the evidence of the plan in hand, Andromache would soon arrive at the gates of Alzaria accompanied by the Archon Bellus Baleroin Von Praestegia, the KSKD, members of the Hands and the Cult of Nox. She met with the interim Mayor of Alzaria who had been abandoned by the rebel leaders alongside the rest of the population after their treason had been revealed. Andromache offered them the choice to surrender, hand over control of the city to her and in exchange for their cooperation, no harm would come to them; failing this she would order a crusade against the city and raze it to the ground. They surrendered immediately with no resistance in the hope that the deal would be upheld.

Despite this however, Andromache ordered the entire population of the city to be killed; primarily as they refused to convert to Nox Lucis and wanted to continue to worship the former Mayor Alzar who was now considered a separatist traitor. This led to the Cult of Nox and the KSKD slaughtering any Alzarians they could find, destroying the entire cultural and religious history of Alzaria in the process. This however, was only the beginning of her campaign against the coalition that they had formed. With the Alzarians dead, she turned her attention to Lugnica, a rebel controlled town in the Sylvanian province of Redoriv.

Assault on Lugnica
With the threat of Alzaria dealt with, Andromache and the Archon Decorus Nora launched an assault against the town of Lugnica; a small settlement in Redoriv which had colluded with the rebels. In advance of the attack, Lugnica declared itself independent from Sylvania and stated that the city was now the capital of the nation of Svarga. Seeing an opportunity to destroy an enemy capital, a requirement for the ascension of more recent generations of Archons to become a true Imperial Archon, Andromache declared war on Svarga and marched the Imperial Army of Sylvania across the entire world to genocide them and claim her right to the title of Imperial Archon.

They were met with almost no resistance; as the incompetent leaders of the Svargan army could not deduce the correct time for the battle, leading to mass confusion and an easy siege of the town. It fell quickly and became another capital in Sylvania’s collection; the first acquired by Andromache, cementing her claim on the title of Imperial Archon should she desire it in the future.

Background
Andromache was walking with Harry Von Praestegia admiring the scenery of the Nox city of Rothenburg when they noticed that the Imperial Archon Matt Olermo-Fielyna appeared to be sleeping on a bench nearby. Upon approaching him, they found that he was dead, and a note rested on his chest naming Andromache as his heir apparent to the position of Imperial Archon.

Power Sharing Agreement with Imperial Archon Redfoo
[Soon]

Direct Rule from Luxwind
[Soon]

Attempted Assassination
Andromache was one of several high ranked government officials who were almost murdered by the Goddess Sylvia in the “Red Iris Sacrifices.” Sylvia had long become paranoid and fearful of her own impending death with the death of Eldham approaching and was desperate to avoid her fate. As she had attached herself to the land of Sylvania and drew her power from it, Sylvia had inadvertently trapped herself and became aware that she would die when Eldham was struck by the comet. In order to free herself from her fate, Sylvia murdered almost the entirety of House Xi in a desperate attempt to extract both the Blood of Nox and Essence of Lux from their descendants to gain access to their powers of chronomancy; so as to prevent herself from being frozen in time and dying to the comet. Additionally, she attempted to murder several other government officials and even regular citizens of Sylvania in desperation, hoping that their blood would contain some traces of the powers of Nox or Lux.

Andromache narrowly avoided death; surviving only due to her chief advisor, the Minister of Culture Zanno Thrai, showing up to her residence in Noxwind to scold her for being late for a meeting. This resulted in him subsequently finding her unconscious and unresponsive. She was taken to the city of Consilium and brought to the Temple of Sori (Lux) where it was hoped that a holy relic, The Ashes of Sori, could be used to awaken her after her wounds had healed.

The Noxwind Necromancy Scandal
Shortly after her removal from Noxwind, several members of the Cult of Nox traveled to Consilium, where they would break into the Temple of Lux and return Andromache to her home within the city with the intention of awakening her through the use of human sacrifice. It is unknown how many people were killed during the profane ritual, with dozens of prisoners of war being thrown into the Sacrificial Pit of Nox to awaken the ill-fated Imperial Archon. It was rumoured that despite the ritual being successful, that Andromache was now in debt to the God Nox; as he had released her soul form the veil between Sylvania and the Underworld. The rumours would later be confirmed as truthful; with Andromache burning down the City of Port Sarlimari, the former Santonian capital, to pay her debt to Nox.

The Battle of Noxwind
Upon awakening, Andromache was furious to learn of the ongoing war and the losses that had been incurred during her absence. She was particularly irate when she was informed that planned attacks on both Riverheim and Noxwind were imminent and that the majority of the residents had been evacuated to Amemachi. In her rage, she took the ultimate step and invoked the power of Nox to curse the enemy army. "'Nox, God of Night who sits upon high, listen so closely and hear the sound of my cry. Nox, God of Dusk what do your eyes see? An army marches towards Noxwind City. Nox, God of Death I beg you, take my soul! I invoke the Curse of the Black Iris to keep this land whole!'"The Curse of the Black Iris was considered to be the worst of all curses that an Archon could inflict upon their enemies. It had previously been used only once by the late Archon Sanctus Gigi Adventura, who had used it to hex Morladron following their threats against Riverheim, resulting in their total collapse and the later destruction of their former capital. By invoking the curse, Andromache had fully given her soul over to Nox; resulting in a dramatic change in her disposition. Most notably, she was no longer sympathetic towards the USSE; remarking that she would "slaughter them at the gates of Noxwind" and that she would "ensure that every last one who approaches this sacred and holy land will be tortured in the Underworld by Nox for ten thousand years.” 

Divine Elated Eldham Zenith of Nations United upon Theocratic Soils
[History is still being made]

Controversies
Genocides & War Crimes

Despite her initial claims that she was a pacifist, Andromache was responsible for several genocides and committed numerous violent war crimes during her reign both as Archon Sanctus and as the Imperial Archon. She was heavily involved in the cultural genocide of Santos; deliberately and ruthlessly destroying any trace of their culture when Sylvania took their land; citing the fact that Santos were "heretics" and that she detested them for involving themselves in the Alzarian-led coalition against Sylvania. She infamously gave a speech to the Senate of Sylvania stating that no punishment she could inflict on them would be great enough and that “everything they get, they deserve for their plans to genocide the population of Sylvania and partition Noxwind.” Additionally, she was obligated by divine law to burn down their former capital; having used ritual sacrifice to save herself from death and incurring a debt to the God of Death, Nox.

Andromache was also responsible for the genocide of Alzaria; deceptively promising the remaining population that they would be allowed to live peacefully if they did not resist her capture of the city after their leaders attempted a revolt from Sylvania. Despite this promise, Andromache immediately went back on her word and the entire population of the city were brutally slaughtered in the streets by the Cult of Nox, members of the Hands and the Noxwind branch of the KSKD. She proceeded to denounce the former leaders of the town as "the worst of all heretics" and had the corpses of the citizens who had been murdered thrown from the walls of the city as a final act of disrespect.

Additionally, Andromache participated heavily in the cultural genocide of Morladron; ordering their former capital of New Riverheim to be torn to the ground so that they would gain nothing back from attempting to recapture it from Sylvania. She had any books from Morladron burned on inquisitional pyres and even demolished their quartz buildings to export the materials to Luxwind as a form of retribution for them attempting to assault the city during a prior war.

Similar to her prior arrangements, she was obligated to genocide the population of Shirokaneza to appease the God Nox following the Battle of Noxwind.

Senate Control
As the leader of Internal Affairs within Sylvania, Andromache was responsible for leading the government of Sylvania and hosted the weekly sitting of the Senate of Sylvania. Bill proposals to the Senate were subject to inspection prior to voting, with Andromache retaining the power to VETO any bill that she disliked. The composition of the Sylvanian Senate was based upon population; with more seats being allocated to more densely populated areas. When the Senate was reinstated after the end of the feudal system, Andromache and Hxrry Von Praestegia formed a voting bloc to maintain control over the Senate, with allied Senators being instructed on how to vote on specific bills prior to the vote being called. The bloc was a broad coalition of Eastern Sylvanian representatives including several high profile members such as the Duke of the Lux Heartlands Ulysses Lux, the Shogun of Amemachi Astro, the Minister of Development Gapple, the Minister of Culture Zanno Thrai and every Senator from Noxwind who were all members of the Imperialist Party of Noxwind. Her sphere of influence over the internal landscape of Sylvania put the entire lower government effectively under her complete control; much to the dismay of the Imperial Archon Matt Olermo-Fielynia.

Marriage to The High King of Soolia, Charles Godd-Fjell
Prior to the signing of the Sylvanian-Soolia MDP treaty, a period of negotiation was open between the two nations with much debate on how the treaty could be ensured on a long term basis. Eventually, diplomats on both sides agreed that the treaty should be reinforced by a marriage between leaders of both nations.

This lead to a heated debate within the Senate of Sylvania; which was, at the time, predominantly under the control of the Eastern Sylvanian voting bloc that broadly supported the Archon Sanctus Andromache. Several bills were proposed within a few days, all calling for a ban on political marriages of Archons to other nation leaders, some even arguing that no citizen of any rank should be married to a foreign nation leader. The Anti-Altar Diplomacy Act was passed with a majority of 60% by the Senate of Sylvania, giving Andromache the opportunity to dissolve her politically motivated marriages.

Further controversy occurred when it was revealed that Andromache was having an affair with the Sylvanian Imperial General Velarin Castelle (later Archon Velarin), leading to allegations that the marriage contract was not being upheld and that relations between Sylvania and Soolia would soon collapse if she continued in her misdeeds.

Further to this, the High King Charles Godd-Fjell went “missing” shortly after Andromache was seen conversing with several members of the KSKD and the Cult of Nox, leading to mass speculation in Sylvania that she had hired mercenaries to murder him and dispose of his body. Additionally, many also speculated that she had arranged his death with his successor the High Queen of Soolia and later, Queen of Midjor, Boreal.

Despite the apparent distaste she expressed for Charles during their marriage, Andromache was profoundly affected by his alleged death and mourned him for several months stating that “You know, for all his faults I had indeed grown somewhat fond of him. I certainly didn’t love the man in a romantic way, but he was a good friend, a trusted companion and an ally to Sylvania.” Andromache expressed reluctance to remarry after his death, citing that she was in a period of “respectful mourning.”