Empress Beagri

Empress Beagri of the Ancient Viri Empire, not to be confused with Princess Beagri-Orxune of the same, was the first and only Viri Empress. Like her namesake, she contributed hugely to both the welfare and legacy of her people.   After the second wave of Regent Wars following the death of her father Emperor Son-Vir, she took the throne herself by force at the age of sixteen. She had the support of the common people and the army, who by now were sick of the decades of clashes between different lords attempting to seize power for themselves. Many refused to recognise her authority, as the Viri had never had a female on the throne before, but all those that challenged her found themselves on the wrong end of a blade. Empress Beagri was ruthless in establishing her authority and any rebellion was quickly and efficiently quelled.   Her early years on the throne were about strengthening the foundations of the Empire. She quietened unrest in occupied regions, improved infrastructure, and looked into areas which made them vulnerable, ultimately returning to her namesake's work. Princess Beagri had, a number of royal generations ago, advised the Council of Princes on many matters, including improving living conditions for non-Viri citizens of the Empire, and setting reasonable limits to irresponsibly dangerous behavior. Given how Empress Beagri's father had been unwillingly pushed into high-risk sports as a young child, the latter was a personal issue for her.   Throughout her time on the throne, Empress Beagri adopted a more diplomatic approach to problems rather than threatening with military power. This had the effect of improving relations between the Viri and the non-Viri within the Empire. She made many small changes which nevertheless made huge difference to the lives under her rule.   When she turned twenty-five, she hit a problem: normally, Princesses married at this age. While she was not a princess but Empress, the overwhelming opinion of everyone around her was that she should do this anyway. However given she was the first female Empress, the law was unclear whether marrying would give her husband the right to usurp her and become Regent until an heir was produced. What was certain was that once an heir came, she would lose the throne for sure. Empress Beagri was unwilling to give up her power until she had achieved everything she wanted, and refused all proposals.   During the two years she resisted the pressure, she attempted to pass a law that nobody could force a woman to marry if it was not her choice. It was strongly opposed, because everyone thought it was her way of trying to get out of her responsibility to produce an heir to the throne. However it provided the groundwork that was needed to pass it into law twenty years later.   Faced with the decision between giving into the pressure to marry, or risk restarting the Regent Wars, Empress Beagri finally announced she would, but she was going to take another leaf out of her namesake's book, and choose a man who had not sought her power. While Princess Beagri had had her eye caught by a middle-class gentleman, Empress Beagri went one step further, venturing disguised into the Virisi City slums. Marrying a man of the lowest possible class guaranteed that nobody would want him taking her throne, giving her more time.   In the four more years before Beagri gave birth to her son, she worked harder than she ever had during her reign. While, at the end of it, she had not even come close to achieving her ambitions of ending otan slavery, reforming the criminal justice system, reforming land ownership, and making education more affordable, and didn't live to see any of those accomplished, her work on them was crucial to each when they eventually came to pass.   Her son Son-Bea, as predicted, was declared Emperor the day he was born, demoting her to Regent. When he took the reigns of the Empire himself, he successfully passed the law that his mother had been opposed on, giving women the fundamental right to refuse to marry and to take to court anybody who pressured them to do so.   This was revolutionary for women's rights in the Viri Empire, and the region following the end of the Empire, and is even directly quoted in the Unification of the Teardrop Sea Islands which was drawn up over 10,000 years later.