The Matrilineal Oburean Dynasty

The Zouducurian people have been lead exclusively by queens of the Oburean Dynasty for nearly as long as they have been present on Darluna. Prior to coming to the continent,  usually their rulers had been male kings, with their surviving wife queens sometimes filling the leadership role temporarily.   The Zouducurian people fled en masse to Darluna centuries ago when they lost their homeland. At the time, they coincidentally had a male king. During the diaspora, the king died when his ship struck a rock and sank. Luckily, his wife, Queen Miaa Lisse Obur managed to grab a plank and float to shore. The Zouducurians, already a superstitious people going through great turmoil, considered her to be lucky and favored by the gods.    Normally, a surviving queen still of marrying age would take a husband from among the nobles to crown a new king. With protocol severely disrupted by the flight from Zouducria and the loss of many of the treasures involved with "spiritual divorce," it was unclear how Queen Miaa could be made ready for remarriage. Her only child with the king was Princess Niah'mena, so she was not able to put up a son as an alternative.    Lacking for options, Miaa and her court were at an impasse. During this delay, the people witnessed several signs that they had been blessed by their Queen's luck and divine favor. The land they expected to pass through on their way to seek charity from other cities held a lush valley that was previously almost completely hidden from view. This land became New Zouducuria. Water was found with nearly no effort. A tangled field was discovered to be the remains of an ancient orchard, overgrown but already producing much needed food. Near the field was a massive crack in the valley exposing a rich iron ore seam.    An interpretation of these events manifested as the notion that this new land had new forms of luck. The test came when Miaa arranged to retire and hand over the reigns to her daughter, Niah'mena. The princess was expected by protocol to swiftly marry and crown a king. However, the very day she was named queen, prospectors found gold in the valley's mountain streams, and that night there were a multitude of shooting stars. That cinched it for even the least superstitious among them.    The Queen's crown was reforged with the surviving royal gemstones and the line of Miaa Lisse Obur was named the divinely chosen monarch's dynasty.