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Empress Haebaragi

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The Most Radiant Empress Haebaragi[1] was the first Empress regnant of Cantha and the daughter of Emperor Bitgaram.[2][3] She disbanded both the corrupt Celestial Ministry and the Ministry of Purity during her governmental reforms.[4] Her forces defeated the Ministry of Purity at Zen Daijun Temple in 1747 CC (1237 AE).[5][6]

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Haebaragi was born as the daughter of Emperor Bitgaram to the Imperial Family of the Empire of the Dragon. After the Zhaitan Disaster had destroyed Old Kaineng City in 1729 CC (1219 AE), her father led the efforts to build New Kaineng City on the lands south of the drowned capital. When Haebaragi heard that Minister Jimin of the newly established Ministry of Security had massacred logal naga to claim their land for the new capital, she sided with Minister Doh Taelin of the Ministry of Archives and disagreed with Jimin's needless acts of violence in 1730 CC (1220 AE).[2] Some time after the Zhaitan Disaster, Minister Tao of the Celestial Ministry was revealed to be a corrupt, high-ranking official of the criminal Am Fah gang who had taken bribes from ship captains. Although the Am Fah had disbanded after the Zhaitan Disaster when most of their ranks had been killed in the Undercity Massacre, Emperor Bitgaram and Haebaragi both made great efforts in working to cleanse the new city of Old Kaineng's problematic history. Minister Tao was arrested shortly after the reveal, and her family was exiled for her corruption and association with the violent gang.[7]

Emperor Bitgaram retreated to the Imperial Family's estate in Shing Jea Island in ill health in 1737 CC (1227 AE) and left Haebaragi to lead the construction efforts in his stead.[3] The emperor eventually grew even more ill and became unfit to govern while Haebaragi was still too young to succeed him, so the Imperial Court voted on a regent in the interim years starting in 1738 CC (1228 AE). Minister Yeongi was the head of the Ministry of Purity at the time and, seeing an opportunity for more power, argued that the powers invested in his office to combat the Risen gave him the authority to overrule the regent candidate brought by the Imperial Court. The declaration led to a heated dispute decided along razor-thin margins in favor of the minister.[8]

Haebaragi defeated the Crimson Skull pirates in the Crimson Battle at Haiju Plains in 1741 CC (1231 AE) with help from the tengu shaman Daigo, after which Shing Jea Island was greeted with relative peace.[9]

Empress of Cantha[edit]

Haebaragi succeeded her father once she had reached legal age to be crowned as the first Empress regnant of Cantha in 1743 CC (1233 AE). She clashed with both the Ministry of Purity and the remnants of the Celestial Ministry a few years into her reign in an effort to weed out bureaucratic corruption from her empire. Haebaragi's first order as empress was to make peace with a small tengu village just south of the ministry headquarters. Jimin, however, defied her by killing the tengu ambassador on the spot, claiming loyalty to Minister Yeongi's image of a "pure Cantha". Haebaragi was able to call off the attack, giving the rest of the tengu villagers enough time to flee to the Echovald Forest.[10]

These actions gathered the empress much support, and the Ministry of Purity preemptively retreated to a safer location in order to rally support for a coup. In order to completely wipe out the corruption that had gathered in the ministries, Haebaragi placed Minister Jimin under probation and disbanded what was left of the Celestial Ministry after the reforms which her father had begun years earlier in favor of a more inclusive and open governance.[11][12] Her actions caused a series of violent outbreaks by protesting ministers at which she responded with disbanding the Ministry of Purity.[4] This in turn led to a final clash with the Ministry of Purity's forces led by Minister Yeongi at Zen Daijun Temple, which ended in the empress's victory in 1747 CC (1237 AE) after tengu holdouts came to her aid to turn the tide of battle.[5][6][13]

In 1750 CC (1240 AE), Haebaragi learned that Mori Village had been operating without a charter in the Echovald Forest territory for a period of three years, so she had the Ministry of Interior send letters which urged the villagers to fill out and submit the attached documents, along with the necessary funds to cover their back taxes, to the ministry. However, Mori Village neglected to do the necessary paperwork, which led to the ministry sending more letters over the course of two years until the paperwork was finally finished.[1]

Legacy[edit]

Haebaragi paved the way for female rulers of Cantha as the first empress regnant, ending the traditional patriarchal succession. Her reforms, which followed her father's first attempts to change imperial bureaucracy, led to the creation of the modern ministries in Cantha to succeed the corrupt Celestial Ministry and the Ministry of Purity. Thanks to her actions, the tengu were no longer persecuted and could become full-fledged Canthans if they so chose.

Trivia[edit]

  • Haebaragi (해바라기) means 'sunflower' in Korean, consisting of hae (‘해, meaning 'sun'), and baragi (바라기) from baraboda (바라보다, meaning 'looking at').
  • Haebaragi's Tears is a landmark named after her.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Pile of Old Letters
  2. ^ a b New Kaineng Zoning Record 0039
  3. ^ a b New Kaineng Zoning Record 0072
  4. ^ a b History of the Ministry of Fire
  5. ^ a b Collected Ministry Edicts, 1747 CC
  6. ^ a b Dissolution of the Ministry of Purity, 1747 CC
  7. ^ History of the Ministry of Air
  8. ^ Ministry of Justice Rulings, 1738–1741 CC
  9. ^ Historic Plaque
  10. ^ New Kaineng Zoning Record 0111
  11. ^ New Kaineng Zoning Record 0132
  12. ^ Purist Document Fragment
  13. ^ Old Friends
    <Character name>: I'm a little rusty on my Canthan history, but things seem...different from what I would've expected.
    Lady Kasmeer Meade: Well, there was a tsunami when Zhaitan arose; lot of Kaineng was destroyed, uninhabitable.
    Lady Kasmeer Meade: Maybe worse than Lion's Arch.
    Marjory Delaqua: Apparently filthy with Risen—Zhaitan, of course—
    Lady Kasmeer Meade: —Which led to a rebellion against the Ministry of Purity—pretty bloody one, too—
    Marjory Delaqua: —Massive civil war, who knows how long—sounds like things were pretty bad, until some tengu holdouts joined up—
    Lady Kasmeer Meade: —Turned the tide, maybe. Still trying to piece it all together. But yeah, not exactly what we expected.
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