Queen Daratba

Queen Daratba Ziriba began as a high-born idealist who wanted to reform Calazen and its dynastic system. Her rebellious attitude and ambitions led her into an alliance with Esam when both of them were young sorcerers in the imperial court, as he was a charismatic prodigy apprenticed to one of her more distant relatives. The two conspired to seize the throne and then married to consolidate their claims. But Daratba had little true love for Esam and soon grew to resent her increasingly-megalomaniacal husband. While Esam conquered, Daratba ruled at home. She lost her idealism and became cynical over the years; while she was a competent leader, she was hardly the revolutionary firebrand she had imagined herself to be when she was younger. Esam grew to despise and belittle Daratba; Daratba became insecure and paranoid, trapped between a toxic husband and a scheming court. She took out her resentments on her children, especially Ritara. She became detached and apathetic to rulership, handing off more and more authority to her brother Sadamsi while she hid and self-medicated. The end of Esam's wars and reigns of terror did allow Daratba a chance to collect herself and overcome her own demons later in life, when she became known as the 'golden queen' who kept Calazen safe while Esam had conquered.   Daratba's later years were marked by an ambitious reformism and a passion of charitable works. Daratba held court for the poor, personally administered alms, mediated disputes, and worked to free families from generational indenture. Many of these efforts had roots in her earlier ambitions and her failed reform attempts after she and Esam seized power - but were far more successful in peacetime and with a supportive emperor.