Yardia Aeruma (born in Simbopolis, Federation of Tugal — died in Silver City, Despotate of Silvermoon) was an absolutist despot of the Aerumaen dynasty in the Despotate of Silvermoon who ruled from age twenty-four until her execution in the Silver City Civil Conflict, where she and the Aerumaen Silvermoon dynasty was overthrown.
Early life and rise to power[]
Yardia Aeruma was born to Aerumaen despot Iami Aeruma, the daughter of founding father Alma Aeruma, who conceived her in a one night stand upon a diplomatic visit to the city of Oporto Arawica in the Federation of Tugal with wealthy Tugali merchant Xaymacia Burradur a relative of King Aguas I, who was in power at the time. Upon discovering her pregnancy, Alma Aeruma hid his daughter from the world, smuggling her to the Tugali city of Simbopolis in her third trimester on "diplomatic business" in the wake of the devastation wrought by the Great Simbopolis Flash Flood. When Yardia was born, Alma smuggled both Iami and Yardia back into the country, stating that Yardia had been adopted from the hardest-hit slum in the Simbopolis metropolitan area.
When Alma Aeruma died and Iami took power at age 16, she continued to hide Yardia from the world; Iami Aeruma had guardians keep watch over her and sent her to receive her education in the city-state of Nova Riviera, the newest and fastest growing addition to the Tugali Federation. Yardia became the first educated ruler of any civilization on planet Antioch, and became adept at each of the six spoken languages of the Tugali Federation. Regularly visiting her mother and acquiring a job within the Tugali government structure, Aeruma became well-acquainted with the local and federal government styles of both nations. After achieving doctorate degrees in economics, linguistics, and political science from the University of Oporto Arawica, she reached the position of Minister of Finance and Trade under twenty-year old King Aguas II, a title that she served at adeptly until Iami Aeruma recalled her to Silvermoon permanently. At this point, Yardia Aeruma was twenty-two years old.
Iami and Yardia agreed to reveal their bloodline relationship to the public after a private discussion. The news was met with both uproar for their current despot's infidelity and applause for her honesty, although most Aerumaen citizens agreed that Yardia Aeruma was not a valid successor to the Aerumaen throne. However, as Iami Aeruma was unmarried and childless save for Yardia when she suddenly died of heart failure, the Aerumaens had no choice but to crown Yardia Aeruma as despot over the land.
Reign and death[]
Yardia Aeruma came to the throne facing widespread opposition; her illegitimate birth raised resentment from her citizens and from nations and local nomadic tribes that had formerly been Aerumaen allies. The only ruler who she was on good terms with was King Aguas II, who she served under as Minister of Finance and Trade; she was his trusted advisor for most of her later teenage years, and the two advised each other on a number of matters. By her own devices and Aguas II's counsel, she was able to solve the economic problems that had plagued Silvermoon that her mother's reign had left behind by adopting a system of mercantilism or Colbertism in which she and Aguas II united the economies of their nations and cut all imports, focusing on industrializing their nations and utilizing the agricultural hinterlands of their nations to the fullest extent before exporting the excess to Tugal, who had the good standing with possible trading partners that Aeruma lacked entirely. The two eventually married each other, and Aeruma bore two children by him: Prince Undra Aeruma, her successor in Silvermoon, and Prince Rayrames I, Aguas II's successor in Tugal. The measures were successful; the emphasis of the economies of both Tugal and Silvermoon, the lindori trade, lost its place as the sole generator of wealth, and the growth of the agricultural hinterland created a food surplus that accelerated the population growth of both nations. Aeruma used this new-found wealth to construct the Grand Argentine Palace, which was built on a tall bridge platform that crossed the Argent River in the center of Silver City, and the Cielos Aqueduct, which tapped into the Argent-Cielos Reservoir created by the Cielos Dam, and accelerated the growth of Silver City and Cape Argent City even further. Aeruma spent millions on modernized sanitation systems and desalinization plants in Cape Argent City, and millions more on ordinances that kept the Argent River clean and restricted lindori mining in some regions. Aeruma had thousands of trees in the Lindori Forest were felled to construct extensive ports in Silver City, Cape Argent City, and Cielos, which accelerated economic growth. Her immensely successful reign turned much of her former opposition to her side.
Aeruma constructed fortifications all along the countryside and on the Argent River Estuary, recruiting troops to create what would become the largest military in the entirety of Antioch at the time, an army of 10,000 professional soldiers. However, these final endeavors began to tear away at the Aerumaen treasury after Aguas II died and Rayrames I began to de-emphasize importing goods from Silvermoon. Within six years, the massive expenses that Aeruma's constructs demanded bankrupted the Silvermoon nation. Opponents blamed Aeruma's illegitimate birth and rioted; under the leadership of Qardiqa Yzadha, a resistance formed and riots broke out all over the nation. Aeruma's forces were overwhelmed, and she was captured attempting to escape Silver City and returned to the Grand Argentine Palace, placed under house arrest, as Yzadha took power.
As his first act of ruling, Yzadha publically disgraced Aeruma in front of her son, dragged her through the streets to the old freighter Новото селище, and executed her personally by decapitating her with a blunted axe onboard in the sight of all people.
Legacy[]
Yzadha slandered Yardia Aeruma and staked all of Silvermoon's problems on her failures and her illegitimate birth. Shortly after making the speech, he sent Undra Aeruma and his 2,000 or so supporters off on the Новото селище, exiling them; the flight of Undra Aeruma would take the Aerumaen dynasty line to the continent Karalla, where it would survive in the State of Tabatin. The Aerumaen memory of Yardia Aeruma is generally negative, given much of the propaganda the Yzadha rulers have spread about the previous ruling dynasty.