Riven Skorne
Overview
Riven Skorne was Duchess of New Ides by right of blood, Imperial Consort of The Second Lilaris Empire by right of marriage to Empress Kara A. Ehrveil, and the figure who steered New Ides out of its Larrist period after the death of Isaac Acentino. She and Kara were both still serving in their ceremonial offices under the Provincial Constitution at the time of The Blaze.
Background
Inheritance of New Ides
Riven assumed leadership of New Ides in the immediate aftermath of the Night of the Veil, the coordinated strike that killed Isaac Acentino alongside the rest of the Larry Cult's leadership. Her claim rested on the ducal bloodline of New Ides and was uncontested. She inherited a state whose institutions had been bent toward Larrism under its previous sovereign, and whose international standing had collapsed in the wake of the Princess Salem Incident and the Whitefall secession.
Renouncing Larrism
Her first acts in office were directed at the Larrist apparatus Isaac had built. Institutional accommodations the cult had received under his crown were withdrawn, Larrist content was removed from Idesian state policy, and the duchy stopped acknowledging the faith in any official capacity. By the time of the Idesian Accord, Larrism retained no formal political standing within New Ides.
She also restored the polity's original name. Isaac had restyled the duchy as the Idesian Empire at the height of his Larrist period. Riven let the imperial styling lapse and reaffirmed the older name of New Ides, signaling both a break from Isaac's rule and a return to the duchy's pre-Larrist identity.
The Idesian Accord and Marriage to Kara
Kara and Riven had been acquainted before Isaac's death. Kara's private writing from the period documents a long-running attraction she did not expect to act on, and the Rainbow Crosswalk that Kara hand-painted in New Terranova Proper was understood between them as a private signal. Riven noticed.
The two were married in Dominion Hall. The accompanying Idesian Accord formally restored New Ides as a Duchy of the Empire under Riven, recognized her as Duchess of New Ides by right of blood and Imperial Consort by right of marriage, and named Kara First Patron of New Ides as a ceremonial title within her wife's domain. The anniversary of the Accord was declared the Day of Reunion, a minor imperial holiday.
The Accord also reinstated the Idesian Guard as a ceremonial and civil defense force subordinate to Imperial Command but answering first to the Duchess, and returned the New Ides seat on the Imperial Council to her.
Under the Constitution
When Kara and Nordvik Alvaldi converted the Empire into the United Provinces of Lilaris, the Twin Thrones were reduced to ceremonial offices held by the Scions of House Ehrveil and House Alvaldi. Riven continued as Kara's consort during this period and as Duchess of New Ides under the new constitutional framework's provincial autonomy provisions.
She and Kara were still serving in their respective offices when The Blaze arrived. What became of either of them in the collapse is unknown.
Legacy
Riven is remembered primarily for the speed and quiet of her break with Larrism. The Idesian Empire under Isaac had become a destabilizing force in the late epoch, and its conversion back into a normal Imperial duchy under her stewardship was effectively bloodless. She is also, by way of the Idesian Accord and her marriage to Kara, the figure through whom New Ides reentered the Empire on permanent terms.
Sources
- The Idesian Accord (her formal recognition and the restoration of New Ides)
- Kara A. Ehrveil (Kara's account of their relationship)
- Kara's Diary (private writing covering the courtship and marriage)
- Larrism (the regime Riven dismantled)
Riven (left) and Kara A. Ehrveil. Art by TheRedCookie.